Implementation of optimal phase-covariant cloning machines

The optimal phase covariant cloning machine (PQCM) broadcasts the information associated to an input qubit into a multi-qubit systems, exploiting a partial a-priori knowledge of the input state. This additional a priori information leads to a higher fidelity than for the universal cloning. The present article first analyzes different experimental schemes to implement the 1->3 PQCM. The method is then generalized to any 1->M machine for odd value of M by a theoretical approach based on the general angular momentum formalism. Finally different experimental schemes based either on linear or non-linear methods and valid for single photon polarization encoded qubits are discussed.