We introduce a reliable compressive procedure to uniquely characterize any given low-rank quantum measurement using a minimal set of probe states that is based solely on data collected from the unknown measurement itself. The procedure is most compressive when the measurement constitutes pure detection outcomes, requiring only an informationally complete number of probe states that scales linearly with the system dimension. We argue and provide numerical evidence showing that the minimal number of probe states needed is even generally below the numbers known in the closely-related classical phase-retrieval problem because of the quantum constraint. We also present affirmative results with polarization experiments that illustrate significant compressive behaviors for both two- and four-qubit detectors just by using random product probe states.
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