  Quantum mechanics has led not only to new physical theories, but also a new
understanding of information and computation. Quantum information began by
yielding new methods for achieving classical tasks such as factoring and key
distribution but also suggests a completely new set of quantum problems, such
as sending quantum information over quantum channels or efficiently performing
particular basis changes on a quantum computer. This thesis contributes two
new, purely quantum, tools to quantum information theory--coherent classical
communication in the first half and an efficient quantum circuit for the Schur
transform in the second half.

Quantum Physics