Semidefinite programming for self-consistent quantum measurement tomography

We propose an estimation method for quantum measurement tomography (QMT) based on a semidefinite program (SDP), and discuss how it may be employed to detect experimental errors, such as shot noise and/or faulty preparation of the input states on near-term quantum computers. Moreover, if the positive operator-valued measure (POVM) we aim to characterize is informationally complete, we put forward a method for self-consistent tomography, i.e., for recovering a set of input states and POVM effects that is consistent with the experimental outcomes and does not assume any a priori knowledge about the input states of the tomography. Contrary to many methods that have been discussed in the literature, our method does not rely on additional assumptions such as low noise or the existence of a reliable subset of input states.