Classical Error-correcting Codes in Quantum Communications

This thesis investigates the feasibility of utilising classical error-correcting codes in quantum communications, specifically in the entanglement-assisted communication of classical information over quantum depolarising channels. A classical-quantum communication system is presented, which relies on error-correction in the classical domain to achieve a classical information rate that approaches the entanglement-assisted capacity of a depolarising channel. Classical information is transmitted over the quantum channel by means of the superdense coding protocol. Different scenarios for the system are considered, including the noiseless and noisy distribution of initial entanglement resources and the use of higher-order entangled states. The overall transmission model corresponding to each scenario is shown to reduce to a classical, discrete and memoryless channel. The capacities of these equivalent classical channels are derived, and an inherent capacity loss when binary classical error correcting codes are employed is identified, motivating the use of non-binary codes. It is ultimately demonstrated that duo-binary turbo codes outperform binary turbo codes in all investigated scenarios, a result of the former's ability to exploit correlations between the pairs of classical bits communicated via the superdense coding protocol