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Łukasz Cywiński

Publications and source records attributed to Łukasz Cywiński.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Qubit-environment entanglement generation and the spin echo

We analyze the relationship between qubit-environment entanglement that can be created during the pure dephasing of the qubit and the effectiveness of the spin echo protocol. We focus here on mixed states of the environment. We show that while the echo protocol can obviously counteract classical environmental noise, it can also undo dephasing associated with qubit-environment entanglement, and there is no obvious difference in its efficiency in these two cases. Additionally, we show that qubit-environment entanglement can be generated at the end of the echo protocol even when it is absent at the time of application of the local operation on the qubit (the π pulse). We prove that this can occur only at isolated points in time, after fine-tuning of the echo protocol duration. Finally, we discuss the conditions under which the observation of specific features of the echo signal can serve as a witness of the entangling nature of the joint qubit-environment evolution.

quant-ph↗

Noise representations of open system dynamics

We analyze the conditions under which the dynamics of a quantum system open to a given environment can be simulated with an external noisy field that is a surrogate for the environmental degrees of freedom. We show that such a field is either a subjective or an objective surrogate; the former is capable of simulating the dynamics only for the specific system--environment arrangement, while the latter is an universal simulator for any system interacting with the given environment. Consequently, whether the objective surrogate field exists and what are its properties is determined exclusively by the environment. Thus, we are able to formulate the sufficient criterion for the environment to facilitate its surrogate, and we identify a number of environment types that satisfy it. Finally, we discuss in what sense the objective surrogate field representation can be considered classical and we explain its relation to the formation of system--environment entanglement, and the back-action exerted by the system onto environment.

quant-ph↗

Appearance of objectivity for NV centers interacting with dynamically polarized nuclear environment

Quantum-to-classical transition still eludes a full understanding. Out of its multiple aspects, one has recently gained an increased attention - the appearance of objective world out of the quantum. One particularly idea is that objectivity appears thanks to specific quantum state structures formation during the evolution, known as Spectrum Broadcast Structures (SBS). Despite that quite some research was already performed on this strongest and most fundamental form of objectivity, its practical realization in a concrete physical medium has not been analyzed so far. In this work, we study the possibility to simulate objectivization process via SBS formation using widely studied Nitrogen-Vacancy centers in diamonds. Assuming achievable limits of dynamical polarization technique, we show that for high, but experimentally viable polarizations ($p>0.5$) of nuclear spins and for magnetic fields lower than $\approx \! 20$ Gauss the state of the NV center and its nearest polarized environment approaches reasonably well an SBS state.

quant-ph↗

Relationship between subjecting the qubit to dynamical decoupling and to a sequence of projective measurements

We consider a qubit coupled to another system (its environment), and discuss the relationship between the effects of subjecting the qubit to either a dynamical decoupling sequence of unitary operations, or a sequence of projective measurements. We give a formal statement concerning equivalence of a sequence of coherent operations on a qubit, precisely operations from a minimal set $\left\{\mathbf{I}_Q,\hatσ_x\right\}$, and a sequence of projective measurements of $\hatσ_x$ observable. Using it we show that when the qubit is subjected to $n$ such successive projective measurements at certain times, the expectation value of the {\it last} measurement can be expressed as a linear combination of expectation values of $\hatσ_x$ observed after subjecting the qubit to dynamical decoupling sequences of $π$ pulses, with $k\leq n$ of them applied at subsets of these times. Performing a sequence of measurements on the qubit gives then access to the same properties of the environment and qubit-environment coupling that are affecting the coherence observed in a dynamical decoupling experiment. Analysing the latter has been widely used to characterize the environmental dynamics (perform so-called noise spectroscopy), so our result shows how the results obtained with dynamical decoupling based protocols are related to those that can be obtained just by performing multiple measurements on the qubit. We also discuss in more detail the application of the general result to the case of the qubit undergoing pure dephasing, and outline possible extensions to higher-dimensional (a qudit or multiple qubits) systems.

quant-ph↗

Influence of nuclear spin polarization on spin echo signal of NV center qubit

We consider the spin echo dynamics of a nitrogen-vacancy center qubit based the $S\!= \! 1$ ground state spin manifold, caused by a dynamically polarized nuclear environment. We show that the echo signal acquires then a nontrivially time-dependent phase shift. This effect should be observable for polarization $\approx \! 0.5$ of nuclei within $\sim \! 1$ nm from the qubit, and for the NV center initialized in a superposition of $m\! = \! 0$ and either $m\! =\! 1$ or $m\! =\! -1$ states. This phase shift is much smaller when the NV center is prepared in a superposition of $m\! = \! 1$ and $m\! =\! -1$ states, i.e. when the qubit couples to the spin environment in a way analogous to that of spin-$1/2$. For nuclear environment devoid of spins strongly coupled to the qubit, the phase shift is well described within Gaussian approximation, which provides an explanation for the dependence of the shift magnitude on the choice of states on which the qubit is based, and makes it clear that its presence is related to the linear response of the environment perturbed by an evolving qubit. Consequently, its observation signifies the presence environment-mediated self-interaction of the qubit, and hence, it invalidates the notion that the nuclear environment acts as a source of external noise driving the qubit. We also show how a careful comparison of the echo signal from qubits based on $m\! = \! 0,1$ and $m\! =\! \pm 1$ manifolds, can distinguish between effectively Gaussian and non-Gaussian environment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Spectroscopy of classical environmental noise with a qubit subjected to projective measurements

We show theoretically how a correlation of multiple measurements on a qubit undergoing pure dephasing can be expressed as environmental noise filtering. The measurement of such correlations can be used for environmental noise spectroscopy, and the family of noise filters achievable in such a setting is broader than the one achievable with a standard approach, in which dynamical decoupling sequences are used. We illustrate the advantages of this approach by considering the case of noise spectrum with sharp features at very low frequencies. We also show how appropriately chosen correlations of a few measurements can detect the non-Gaussian character of certain environmental noises, particularly the noise affecting the qubit at the so-called optimal working point.

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Qubit-environment Negativity versus Fidelity of conditional environmental states for an NV-center spin qubit interacting with a nuclear environment

We study the evolution of qubit-environment entanglement, quantified using Negativity, for NV-center spin qubits interacting with an environment of $^{13}$C isotope partially polarized nuclear spins in the diamond lattice. We compare it with the evolution of the Fidelity of environmental states conditional on the pointer states of the qubit, which can serve as a tool to distinguish between entangling and non-entangling decoherence in pure-dephasing scenarios. The two quantities show remarkable agreement during the evolution in a wide range of system parameters, leading to the conclusion that the amount of entanglement generated between the qubit and the environment is proportional to the trace that the joint evolution leaves in the environment.

quant-ph↗

Adiabatic electron charge transfer between two quantum dots in presence of 1/f noise

Controlled adiabatic transfer of a single electron through a chain of quantum dots has been recently achieved in GaAs and Si/SiGe based quantum dots, opening prospects for turning stationary spin qubits into mobile ones, and solving in this way the problem of long-distance communication between quantum registers in a scalable quantum computing architecture based on quantum dots. We consider theoretically the process of such an electron transfer between two tunnel-coupled quantum dots, focusing on control by slowly varying the detuning of energy levels in the dots. We take into account the fluctuations in detuning caused by $1/f$-type noise that is ubiquitous in semiconductor nanostructures, and analyze their influence on probability of successful transfer of an electron in a spin eigenstate. With numerical and analytical calculations we show that probability of electron not being transferred due to $1/f^β$ noise in detuning is $\propto σ^2 t^{β-1}/v$, where $σ$ characterizes the noise amplitude, $t$ is the interdot tunnel coupling, and $v$ is the detuning sweep rate. Interestingly, this means that the noise-induced errors in charge transfer are independent of $t$ for $1/f$ noise. For realistic parameters taken from experiments on silicon-based quantum dots, we obtain the minimal probability of charge transfer failure between a pair of dots is limited by $1/f$ noise in detuning to be the on order of $0.01$. This means that in order to reliably transfer charges across many quantum dots, charge noise in the devices should be further suppressed, or tunnel couplings should be increased, in order to allow for faster transfer (and less exposure to noise), while not triggering the deterministic Landau-Zener excitation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Low-frequency spin qubit detuning noise in highly purified $^{28}$Si/SiGe

The manipulation fidelity of a single electron qubit gate-confined in a $^{28}$Si/SiGe quantum dot has recently been drastically improved by nuclear isotope purification. Here, we identify the dominant source for low-frequency qubit detuning noise in a device with an embedded nanomagnet, a remaining $^{29}$Si concentration of only 60$\,$ppm in the strained $^{28}$Si quantum well layer and a spin echo decay time $T_2^{\text{echo}}=128\,μ$s. The power spectral density (PSD) of the charge noise explains both the observed transition of a $1/f^2$- to a $1/f$-dependence of the detuning noise PSD as well as the observation of a decreasing time-ensemble spin dephasing time from $T_2^* \approx 20\,μ$s with increasing measurement time over several hours. Despite their strong hyperfine contact interaction, the few $^{73}$Ge nuclei overlapping with the quantum dot in the barrier do not limit $T_2^*$, as their dynamics is frozen on a few hours measurement scale. We conclude that charge noise and the design of the gradient magnetic field is the key to further improve the qubit fidelity.

quant-ph↗

How to detect qubit-environment entanglement generated during qubit dephasing

We propose a straightforward experimental protocol to test whether qubit-environment entanglement is generated during pure dephasing of a qubit. The protocol is implemented using only measurements and operations on the qubit - it does not involve the measurement of the system-environment state of interest, but the preparation and measurement of the qubit in two simple variations. A difference in the time dependencies of qubit coherence between the two cases testifies to the presence of entanglement in the state of interest. Furthermore, it signifies that the environment-induced noise experienced by the qubit cannot be modeled as a classical stochastic process independent of the qubit state. We demonstrate the operation of this protocol on a realistically modeled nitrogen vacancy center spin qubit in diamond interacting with a nuclear spin environment, and show that the generation of entanglement should be easily observable in this case.

quant-ph↗

Hyperfine interaction for holes in quantum dots: k.p model

We formulate the multi-band kp theory of hyperfine interactions for semiconductor nanostructures in the envelope function approximation. We apply this theoretical description to the fluctuations of the longitudinal and transverse Overhauser field experienced by a hole for a range of InGaAs quantum dots of various compositions and geometries. We find that for a wide range of values of $d$-shell admixture to atomic states forming the top of the valence band, the transverse Overhauser field caused by this admixture is of the same order of magnitude as the longitudinal one, and band mixing adds only a minor correction to this result. In consequence, the kp results are well reproduced by a simple box model with the effective number of ions determined by the wave function participation number, as long as the hole is confined in the compositionally uniform volume of the dot, which holds in a wide range of parameters, excluding very flat dots.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Characterization of a quasi-static environment with a qubit

We consider a qubit initalized in a superposition of its pointer states, exposed to pure dephasing due to coupling to a quasi-static environment, and subjected to a sequence of single-shot measurements projecting it on chosen superpositions. We show how with a few of such measurements one can significantly diminish one's ignorance about the environmental state, and how this leads to increase of coherence of the qubit interacting with a properly post-selected environmental state. We give theoretical results for the case of a quasi-static environment that is a source of an effective field of Gaussian statistics acting on a qubit, and for a nitrogen-vacancy center qubit coupled to a nuclear spin bath, for which the Gaussian model applies qualitatively provided one excludes from the environment nuclei that are strongly coupled to the qubit. We discuss the reason for which the most probable sequences of measurement results are the ones consisting of identical outcomes, and in this way we shed light on recent experiment (D. D. Bhaktavatsala Rao et al., arXiv:1804.07111) on nitrogen-vacancy centers.

quant-ph↗

The dynamical-decoupling-based spatiotemporal noise spectroscopy

Here we demonstrate how the standard, temporal-only, dynamical-decoupling-based noise spectroscopy method can be extended to also encompass the spatial degree of freedom. This spatiotemporal spectroscopy utilizes a system of multiple qubits arranged in a line that are undergoing pure dephasing due to environmental noise. When the qubits are driven by appropriately coordinated sequences of $π$ pulses the multi-qubit register becomes decoupled from all components of the noise, except for those characterized by frequencies and wavelengths specified by the pulse sequences. This allows for employment of the procedure for reconstruction of the two-dimensional spectral density that quantifies the power distribution among spatial and temporal harmonic components of the noise.

quant-ph↗

Decoherence-assisted detection of entanglement of two qubit states

We show that the decoherence, which in the long run destroys quantum features of a system, can be used to reveal the entanglement in a two-qubit system. To this end, we consider a criterion that formally resembles the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality. In our case the local observables are set by the coupling of each qubit to the environmental noise, controlled with the dynamical decoupling method. We demonstrate that the constructed inequality is an entanglement criterion---it can only be violated by non-separable initial two-qubit states, provided that the local noises are correlated. We also show that for a given initial state, this entanglement criterion can be repurposed as a method of discriminating between Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise generated by the environment of the qubits. The latter application is important for ongoing research on using qubits to characterize the dynamics of environment that perturbs them and causes their decoherence

quant-ph↗

Decoherence of two entangled spin qubits coupled to an interacting sparse nuclear spin bath: application to nitrogen vacancy centers

We consider pure dephasing of Bell states of electron spin qubits interacting with a sparse bath of nuclear spins. Using the newly developed two-qubit generalization of cluster correlation expansion method, we calculate the spin echo decay of $|Ψ\rangle$ and $|Φ\rangle$ states for various interqubit distances. Comparing the results with calculations in which dephasing of each qubit is treated independently, we identify signatures of influence of common part of the bath on the two qubits. At large interqubit distances, this common part consists of many nuclei weakly coupled to both qubits, so that decoherence caused by it can be modeled by considering multiple uncorrelated sources of noise (clusters of nuclei), each of them weakly affecting the qubits. Consequently, the resulting genuinely two-qubit contribution to decoherence can be described as being caused by classical Gaussian noise. On the other hand, for small interqubit distances the common part of the environment contains clusters of spins that are strongly coupled to both qubits, and their contribution to two-qubit dephasing has visibly non-Gaussian character. We show that one van easily obtain information about non-Gaussianity of environmental noise affecting the qubits from the comparison of dephasing of $|Ψ\rangle$ and $|Φ\rangle$ Bell states. Numerical results are obtained for two nitrogen vacancy centers interacting with a bath of $^{13}$C nuclei of natural concentration, for which we obtain that Gaussian description of correlated part of environmental noise starts to hold for centers separated by about 3 nm.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Accuracy of dynamical-decoupling-based spectroscopy of Gaussian noise

The fundamental assumption of dynamical decoupling based noise spectroscopy is that the coherence decay rate of qubit (or qubits) driven with a sequence of many pulses, is well approximated by the environmental noise spectrum spanned on frequency comb defined by the sequence. Here we investigate the precise conditions under which this commonly used spectroscopic approach is quantitatively correct. To this end we focus on two representative examples of spectral densities: the long-tailed Lorentzian, and finite-ranged Gaussian---both expected to be encountered when using the qubit for nano-scale nuclear resonance imaging. We have found that, in contrast to Lorentz spectrum, for which the corrections to the standard spectroscopic formulas can easily be made negligible, the spectra with finite range are more challenging to reconstruct accurately. For Gaussian line-shape of environmental spectral density, direct application of the standard dynamical decoupling based spectroscopy leads to erroneous attribution of long-tail behavior to the reconstructed spectrum. Fortunately, artifacts such as this, can be completely avoided with the simple extension to standard reconstruction method.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Equivalence of qubit-environment entanglement and discord generation via pure dephasing interactions and the consequences thereof

We find that when a qubit initialized in a pure state experiences pure dephasing due to interaction with an environment, separable qubit-environment states generated during the evolution also have zero quantum discord with respect to the environment. What follows is that the set of separable states which can be reached during the evolution has zero volume and hence, such effects as sudden death of qubit-environment entanglement are very unlikely. In case of the discord with respect to the qubit, a vast majority of separable states qubit-environment is discordant, but in specific situations zero-discord states are possible. This is conceptually important since there is a connection between the discordance with respect to a given subsystem and the possibility of describing the evolution of this subsystem using completely positive maps. Finally, we use the formalism to find an exemplary evolution of an entangled state of two qubits that is completely positive, occurs solely due to interaction of only one of the qubits with its environment (so one could guess that it corresponds to a local operation, since it is local in a physical sense), but which nevertheless causes the enhancement of entanglement between the qubits. While this simply means that the considered evolution is completely positive, but does not belong to LOCC, it shows how much caution has to be exercised when identifying evolution channels that belong to that class.

quant-ph↗

Localization of a magnetic moment using a two-qubit probe

A nanomagnet precessing in an external magnetic field can be treated as a source of narrow-bandwidth magnetic noise, that leaves characteristic fingerprints in decoherence of a nearby spin qubit undergoing dynamical decoupling. We show how, by measurements of two-qubit coherence, a noise sensor composed of qubit pair can be used to reconstruct the position of the nanomagnet. Such localization of noise source is possible with only two qubit probes, because the course of coherence decay under appropriately designed dynamical decoupling sequences contain information not only about noises experienced by each qubit, but also about their cross-correlations. We test the applicability of the proposed protocol on an example of two qubits coupled to the nanomagnet via dipolar interaction. We also show how, using a two-qubit sensor possessing a particular symmetry, one can localize the nanomagnet even when the sensor-magnet coupling law is unknown.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗