  Quantum amplifier channels are at the core of several physical processes. Not
only do they model the optical process of spontaneous parametric
down-conversion, but the transformation corresponding to an amplifier channel
also describes the physics of the dynamical Casimir effect in superconducting
circuits, the Unruh effect, and Hawking radiation. Here we study the
communication capabilities of quantum amplifier channels. Invoking a recently
established minimum output-entropy theorem for single-mode phase-insensitive
Gaussian channels, we determine capacities of quantum-limited amplifier
channels in three different scenarios. First, we establish the capacities of
quantum-limited amplifier channels for one of the most general communication
tasks, characterized by the trade-off between classical communication, quantum
communication, and entanglement generation or consumption. Second, we establish
capacities of quantum-limited amplifier channels for the trade-off between
public classical communication, private classical communication, and secret key
generation. Third, we determine the capacity region for a broadcast channel
induced by the quantum-limited amplifier channel, and we also show that a fully
quantum strategy outperforms those achieved by classical coherent detection
strategies. In all three scenarios, we find that the capacities significantly
outperform communication rates achieved with a naive time-sharing strategy.
