arXiv subjects

Alan Gardin

Publications and source records attributed to Alan Gardin.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Many-body symmetry-protected zero boundary modes of synthetic photo-magnonic crystals

The topological classification of insulators and superconductors, the "ten-fold way", is grounded on fermionic many-body symmetries and has had a dramatic impact on many fields of physics. Therefore, it seems equally important to investigate a similar approach for bosons as tightly analogous to the fermionic prototype as possible. There are, however, several obstacles coming from the fundamental physical differences between fermions and bosons. Here, we propose a theory of free boson topology (topological classification and bulk-boundary correspondence) protected by bosonic many-body symmetry operations, namely, squeezing transformations, particle number, and bosonic time reversal. We identify two symmetry classes that are topologically non-trivial in one dimension. They include key models like the bosonic Kitaev chain, protected by a squeezing symmetry within our framework, and the celebrated bosonic SSH model, protected by a squeezing symmetry and particle number. To provide a robust experimental platform for testing our theory, we introduce a new quantum meta-material: photo-magnonic crystals. They are remarkable for their experimental flexibility and natural affinity for displaying band topological physics at microwave frequencies. We engineer a many-body symmetry-protected topological photo-magnonic chain with boundary modes mandated by a Pfaffian invariant. Using an electromagnetic finite-element modelling, we simulate its reflection and transmission and identify experimental signatures of its boundary modes. The experimental tuning of the crystal to its symmetry-protected topological phase is also addressed. Our modelling of the photo-magnonic chain provides a thorough blueprint for its experimental realisation and the unambiguous observation of its exotic physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Level attraction from interference in two-tone driving

Coherent and dissipative couplings, respectively characterised by energy level repulsion and attraction, each have different applications for quantum information processing. Thus, a system in which both coherent and dissipative couplings are tunable on-demand and in-situ is tantalising. A first step towards this goal is the two-tone driving of two bosonic modes, whose experimental signature was shown to exhibit controllable level repulsion and attraction by changing the phase and amplitude of one drive. However, whether the underlying physics is that of coherent and dissipative couplings has not been clarified, and cannot be concluded solely from the measured resonances (or anti-resonances) of the system. Here, we show how the physics at play can be analysed theoretically. Combining this theory with realistic finite-element simulations, we deduce that the observation of level attraction originates from interferences due to the measurement setup, and not dissipative coupling. Beyond the clarification of a novel origin for level attraction attributed to interference, our work demonstrate how effective Hamiltonians can be derived to appropriately describe the physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Level attraction in a quasi-closed cavity

We provide a comprehensive analytical description of the effective coupling associated with an antiresonance within a hybrid system comprised of a quasi-closed photonic cavity and a ferrimagnetic material. Whilst so-called level attraction between a resonant system inside an open cavity is well understood, the physical underpinnings of this phenomena within quasi-closed cavities have remained elusive. Leveraging the input-output theory, we successfully differentiate between the repulsive and attractive aspects of this coupling. Our proposed model demonstrates that by understanding the phase-jump at the resonances and the studied antiresonance, we can predict the nature of the effective coupling of the antiresonance for a given position of the ferrimagnet in the cavity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Engineering synthetic gauge fields through the coupling phases in cavity magnonics

Cavity magnonics, which studies the interaction of light with magnetic systems in a cavity, is a promising platform for quantum transducers and quantum memories. At microwave frequencies, the coupling between a cavity photon and a magnon, the quasi-particle of a spin wave excitation, is a consequence of the Zeeman interaction between the cavity's magnetic field and the magnet's macroscopic spin. For each photon/magnon interaction, a coupling phase factor exists, but is often neglected in simple systems. However, in "loop-coupled" systems, where there are at least as many couplings as modes, the coupling phases become relevant for the physics and lead to synthetic gauge fields. We present experimental evidence of the existence of such coupling phases by considering two spheres made of Yttrium-Iron-Garnet and two different re-entrant cavities. We predict numerically the values of the coupling phases, and we find good agreement between theory and the experimental data. These results show that in cavity magnonics, one can engineer synthetic gauge fields, which can be useful for cavity-mediated coupling and engineering dark mode physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Manifestation of the coupling phase in microwave cavity magnonics

The interaction between microwave photons and magnons is well understood and originates from the Zeeman coupling between spins and a magnetic field. Interestingly, the magnon/photon interaction is accompanied by a phase factor which can usually be neglected. However, under the rotating wave approximation, if two magnon modes simultaneously couple with two cavity resonances, this phase cannot be ignored as it changes the physics of the system. We consider two such systems, each differing by the sign of one of the magnon/photon coupling strengths. This simple difference, originating from the various coupling phases in the system, is shown to preserve, or destroy, two potential applications of hybrid photon/magnon systems, namely dark mode memories and cavity-mediated coupling. The observable consequences of the coupling phase in this system is akin to the manifestation of a discrete Pancharatnam-Berry phase, which may be useful for quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Non-adiabatic quantum control of valley states in silicon

Non-adiabatic quantum effects, often experimentally observed in semiconductors nano-devices such as single-electron pumps operating at high frequencies, can result in undesirable and uncontrollable behaviour. However, when combined with the valley degree of freedom inherent to silicon, these unfavourable effects may be leveraged for quantum information processing schemes. By using an explicit time evolution of the Schrodinger equation, we study numerically non-adiabatic transitions between the two lowest valley states of an electron in a quantum dot formed in a SiGe/Si heterostructure. The presence of a single atomic layer step at the top SiGe/Si interface opens an anti-crossing in the electronic spectrum as the centre of the quantum dot is varied. We show that an electric field applied perpendicularly to the interface allows tuning of the anti-crossing energy gap. As a result, by moving the electron through this anti-crossing, and by electrically varying the energy gap, it is possible to electrically control the probabilities of the two lowest valley states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗