arXiv subjects

F. Nori

Publications and source records attributed to F. Nori.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Enhancing Nonreciprocity through Squeezing-Induced Symmetry Breaking

Reservoir engineering enables unidirectional energy and signal flow. We establish squeezing-induced symmetry breaking between two cavities as a guiding principle for exponentially amplifying reservoir-mediated nonreciprocity. Rather than a simple scaling of the coupling, this mechanism strategically redistributes the squeezing resources to relax experimental requirements, as single-cavity squeezing alone demands a much larger squeezing strength. Moreover, reservoir squeezing does not alter the system symmetry, but reshapes the noise correlations and thereby changes the system dynamics. The proposed mechanism improves the performance of the quantum battery by several orders of magnitude, including stored energy, charging power, and ergotropy, with the analytical expressions provided. Extending to the optical isolation, we observe a second-order exponential enhancement of the output signal. Our results open a new avenue for nonreciprocal quantum information processing and nonreciprocal quantum device design.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Using PT-symmetric Qubits to Break the Tradeoff Between Fidelity and the Degree of Quantum Entanglement

A noteworthy discovery is that the minimal evolution time is smaller for parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric systems compared to Hermitian setups. Moreover, there is a significant acceleration of two-qubit quantum entanglement preparation near the exceptional point (EP), or spectral coalescence, within such system. Nevertheless, an important problem often overlooked for quantum EP-based devices is their fidelity, greatly affected by the process of dissipation or post-selection, creating an inherent trade-off relation between the degree of entanglement and fidelity. Our study demonstrates that this limitation can be effectively overcome by harnessing an active $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric system, which possesses balanced gain and loss, enabling maximal entanglement with rapid speed, high fidelity, and greater resilience to non-resonant errors. This new approach can efficiently prepare multi-qubit entanglement and use not only bipartite but also tripartite entanglement, as illustrative examples, even when the precise gain-loss balance is not strictly maintained. Our analytical findings are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations, confirming the potential of truly $\mathcal{PT}$-devices as a powerful tool for creating and engineering diverse quantum resources for applications in quantum information technology

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Selecting active matter according to motility in an acoustofluidic setup: Self-propelled particles and sperm cells

Active systems -- including sperm cells, living organisms like bacteria, fish, birds, or active soft matter systems like synthetic ''microswimmers'' -- are characterized by motility, i.e., the ability to propel using their own ''engine''. Motility is the key feature that distinguishes active systems from passive or externally driven systems. In a large ensemble, motility of individual species can vary in a wide range. Selecting active species according to their motility represents an exciting and challenging problem. We propose a new method for selecting active species based on their motility using an acoustofluidic setup where highly motile species escape from the acoustic trap. This is demonstrated in simulations and in experiments with self-propelled Janus particles and human sperm. The immediate application of this method is selecting highly motile sperm for medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Due to the tunable acoustic trap, the proposed method is more flexible than the existing passive microfluidic methods. The proposed selection method based on motility can also be applied to other active systems that require selecting highly motile species or removing immotile species.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2023

Extension of Noether's theorem in PT-symmetric systems and its experimental demonstration in an optical setup

Noether's theorem is one of the fundamental laws in physics, relating the symmetry of a physical system to its constant of motion and conservation law. On the other hand, there exist a variety of non-Hermitian parity-time (PT)-symmetric systems, which exhibit novel quantum properties and have attracted increasing interest. In this work, we extend Noether's theorem to a class of significant PT -symmetric systems for which the eigenvalues of the PT-symmetric Hamiltonian H change from purely real numbers to purely imaginary numbers,and introduce a generalized expectation value of an operator based on biorthogonal quantum mechanics. We find that the generalized expectation value of a time-independent operator is a constant of motion when the operator presents a standard symmetry in the PT -symmetry unbroken regime, or a chiral symmetry in the PT-symmetry broken regime. In addition, we experimentally investigate the extended Noether's theorem in PT -symmetric single-qubit and two-qubit systems using an optical setup. Our experiment demonstrates the existence of the constant of motion and reveals how this constant of motion can be used to judge whether the PT -symmetry of a system is broken. Furthermore, a novel phenomenon of masking quantum information is first observed in a PT -symmetric two-qubit system. This study not only contributes to full understanding of the relation between symmetry and conservation law in PT -symmetric physics, but also has potential applications in quantum information theory and quantum communication protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Roadmap on structured waves

Structured waves are ubiquitous for all areas of wave physics, both classical and quantum, where the wavefields are inhomogeneous and cannot be approximated by a single plane wave. Even the interference of two plane waves, or a single inhomogeneous (evanescent) wave, provides a number of nontrivial phenomena and additional functionalities as compared to a single plane wave. Complex wavefields with inhomogeneities in the amplitude, phase, and polarization, including topological structures and singularities, underpin modern nanooptics and photonics, yet they are equally important, e.g., for quantum matter waves, acoustics, water waves, etc. Structured waves are crucial in optical and electron microscopy, wave propagation and scattering, imaging, communications, quantum optics, topological and non-Hermitian wave systems, quantum condensed-matter systems, optomechanics, plasmonics and metamaterials, optical and acoustic manipulation, and so forth. This Roadmap is written collectively by prominent researchers and aims to survey the role of structured waves in various areas of wave physics. Providing background, current research, and anticipating future developments, it will be of interest to a wide cross-disciplinary audience.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Dynamical Control of Quantum Heat Engines Using Exceptional Points

A quantum thermal machine is an open quantum system coupled to hot and cold thermal baths. Thus, its dynamics can be well understood using the concepts and tools from non-Hermitian quantum systems. A hallmark of non-Hermiticity is the existence of exceptional points where the eigenvalues of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian or an Liouvillian superoperator and their associated eigenvectors coalesce. Here, we report the experimental realisation of a single-ion heat engine and demonstrate the effect of the Liouvillian exceptional points on the dynamics and the performance of a quantum heat engine. Our experiments have revealed that operating the engine in the exact- and broken-phases, separated by a Liouvillian exceptional point, respectively during the isochoric heating and cooling strokes of an Otto cycle produces more work and output power and achieves higher efficiency than executing the Otto cycle completely in the exact phase where the system has an oscillatory dynamics and higher coherence. This result opens interesting possibilities for the control of quantum heat engines and will be of interest to other research areas that are concerned with the role of coherence and exceptional points in quantum processes and in work extraction by thermal machines.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Observation of polarization singularities and topological textures in sound waves

Polarization singularities and topological polarization structures are generic features of inhomogeneous vector wave fields of any nature. However, their experimental studies mostly remain restricted to optical waves. Here we report observation of polarization singularities, topological Mobius-strip structures and skyrmionic textures in 3D polarization fields of inhomogeneous sound waves. Our experiments are made in the ultrasonic domain using nonparaxial propagating fields generated by space-variant 2D acoustic sources. We also retrieve distributions of the 3D spin density in these fields. Our results open the avenue to investigations and applications of topological features and nontrivial 3D vector properties of structured sound waves.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2022

Field-theory spin and momentum in water waves

Spin is a fundamental yet nontrivial intrinsic angular-momentum property of quantum particles or fields, which appears within relativistic field theory. The spin density in wave fields is described by the theoretical Belinfante-Rosenfeld construction based on the difference between the canonical and kinetic momentum densities. These quantities are usually considered as abstract and non-observable per se. Here, we demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that the Belinfante-Rosenfeld construction naturally arises in gravity (water surface) waves. There, the canonical momentum is associated with the generalized Stokes-drift phenomenon, while the spin is generated by subwavelength circular motion of water particles. Thus, we directly observe these fundamental field-theory properties as microscopic mechanical properties of a classical wave system. Our findings shed light onto the nature of spin and momentum in wave fields, demonstrate the universality of relativistic field-theory concepts, and offer a new platform for their studies.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2021

Revealing higher-order light and matter energy exchanges using quantum trajectories in ultrastrong coupling

The dynamics of open quantum systems is often modelled using master equations, which describe the expected outcome of an experiment (i.e., the average over many realizations of the same dynamics). Quantum trajectories, instead, model the outcome of ideal single experiments -- the ``clicks'' of a perfect detector due to, e.g., spontaneous emission. The correct description of quantum jumps, which are related to random events characterizing a sudden change in the wave function of an open quantum system, is pivotal to the definition of quantum trajectories. In this article, we extend the formalism of quantum trajectories to open quantum systems with ultrastrong coupling (USC) between light and matter by properly defining jump operators in this regime. In such systems, exotic higher-order quantum-state- and energy-transfer can take place without conserving the total number of excitations in the system. The emitted field of such USC systems bears signatures of these higher-order processes, and significantly differs from similar processes at lower coupling strengths. Notably, the emission statistics must be taken at a single quantum trajectory level, since the signatures of these processes are washed out by the ``averaging'' of a master equation. We analyze the impact of the chosen unravelling (i.e., how one collects the output field of the system) for the quantum trajectories and show that these effects of the higher-order USC processes can be revealed in experiments by constructing histograms of detected quantum jumps. We illustrate these ideas by analyzing the excitation of two atoms by a single photon~[Garziano et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.117, 043601 (2016)]. For example, quantum trajectories reveal that keeping track of the quantum jumps from the atoms allow to reconstruct both the oscillations between one photon and two atoms, as well as emerging Rabi oscillations between the two atoms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Polarization singularities and Möbius strips in sound and water-surface waves

We show that polarization singularities, generic for any complex vector field but so far mostly studied for electromagnetic fields, appear naturally in inhomogeneous yet monochromatic sound and water-surface (e.g., gravity or capillary) wave fields in fluids or gases. The vector properties of these waves are described by the velocity or displacement fields characterizing the local oscillatory motion of the medium particles. We consider a number of examples revealing C-points of purely circular polarization and polarization Möbius strips (formed by major axes of polarization ellipses) around the C-points in sound and gravity wave fields. Our results (i) offer a new readily accessible platform for studies of polarization singularities and topological features of complex vector wavefields and (ii) can play an important role in characterizing vector (e.g., dipole) wave-matter interactions in acoustics and fluid mechanics.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2020

Deterministic loading and phase shaping of microwaves onto a single artificial atom

Loading quantum information deterministically onto a quantum node is an important step towards a quantum network. Here, we demonstrate that coherent-state microwave photons, with an optimal temporal waveform, can be efficiently loaded onto a single superconducting artificial atom in a semi-infinite one-dimensional (1D) transmission-line waveguide. Using a weak coherent state (average photon number N<<1 with an exponentially rising waveform, whose time constant matches the decoherence time of the artificial atom, we demonstrate a loading efficiency of above 94% from 1D semi-free space to the artificial atom. We also show that Fock-state microwave photons can be deterministically loaded with an efficiency of 98.5%. We further manipulate the phase of the coherent state exciting the atom, enabling coherent control of the loading process. Our results open up promising applications in realizing quantum networks based on waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Transverse spinning of unpolarized light

It is well known that spin angular momentum of light, and therefore that of photons, is directly related to their circular polarization. Naturally, for totally unpolarized light, polarization is undefined and the spin vanishes. However, for nonparaxial light, the recently discovered transverse spin component, orthogonal to the main propagation direction, is largely independent of the polarization state of the wave. Here we demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that this transverse spin survives even in nonparaxial fields (e.g., tightly focused or evanescent) generated from a totally unpolarized light source. This counterintuitive phenomenon is closely related to the fundamental difference between the degrees of polarization for 2D paraxial and 3D nonparaxial fields. Our results open an avenue for studies of spin-related phenomena and optical manipulation using unpolarized light.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Acoustic Radiation Force and Torque on Small Particles as Measures of the Canonical Momentum and Spin Densities

We examine acoustic radiation force and torque on a small (subwavelength) absorbing isotropic particle immersed in a monochromatic (but generally inhomogeneous) sound-wave field. We show that by introducing the monopole and dipole polarizabilities of the particle, the problem can be treated in a way similar to the well-studied optical forces and torques on dipole Rayleigh particles. We derive simple analytical expressions for the acoustic force (including both the gradient and scattering forces) and torque. Importantly, these expressions reveal intimate relations to the fundamental field properties introduced recently for acoustic fields: the canonical momentum and spin angular momentum densities. We compare our analytical results with previous calculations and exact numerical simulations. We also consider an important example of a particle in an evanescent acoustic wave, which exhibits the mutually-orthogonal scattering (radiation-pressure) force, gradient force, and torque from the transverse spin of the field.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2019

Spin-Hall effect of light at a tilted polarizer

We describe the spin-Hall effect of light (as well as the angular Goos-Hänchen effect) at a tilted linear-dichroic plate, such as a usual linear polarizer. Although the spin-Hall effect at a tilted polarizer was previous associated with the geometric spin-Hall effect of light (which was contrasted to the regular spin-Hall effect) [J. Korger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 113902 (2014)], we show that the effect is actually an example of the regular spin-Hall effect that occurs at tilted anisotropic plates [K. Y. Bliokh et al., Optica 3, 1039 (2016)]. Moreover, our approach reveals the angular spin-Hall shift, which is absent in the "geometric" approach. We verify our theory experimentally using the method of quantum weak measurements.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Large collective Lamb shift of two distant superconducting artificial atoms

Virtual photons can mediate interaction between atoms, resulting in an energy shift known as a collective Lamb shift. Observing the collective Lamb shift is challenging, since it can be obscured by radiative decay and direct atom-atom interactions. Here, we place two superconducting qubits in a transmission line terminated by a mirror, which suppresses decay. We measure a collective Lamb shift reaching 0.8% of the qubit transition frequency and exceeding the transition linewidth. We also show that the qubits can interact via the transmission line even if one of them does not decay into it.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Resolution of Gauge Ambiguities in Ultrastrong-Coupling Cavity QED

Gauge invariance is the cornerstone of modern quantum field theory. Recently, it has been shown that the quantum Rabi model, describing the dipolar coupling between a two-level atom and a quantized electromagnetic field, violates this principle. This widely used model describes a plethora of quantum systems and physical processes under different interaction regimes. In the ultrastrong coupling regime, it provides predictions which drastically depend on the chosen gauge. This failure is attributed to the finite-level truncation of the matter system. We show that a careful application of the gauge principle is able to restore gauge invariance even for extreme light-matter interaction regimes. The resulting quantum Rabi Hamiltonian in the Coulomb gauge differs significantly from the standard model and provides the same physical results obtained by using the dipole gauge. It contains field operators to all orders that cannot be neglected when the coupling strength is high. These results shed light on subtleties of gauge invariance in nonperturbative and extreme interaction regimes, which are now experimentally accessible, and solve all the long-lasting controversies arising from gauge ambiguities in the quantum Rabi and Dicke models.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Angular momenta, helicity, and other properties of dielectric-fiber and metallic-wire modes

Spin and orbital angular momenta (AM) of light are well studied for free-space electromagnetic fields, even nonparaxial. One of the important applications of these concepts is the information transfer using AM modes, often via optical fibers and other guiding systems. However, the self-consistent description of the spin and orbital AM of light in optical media (including dispersive and metallic cases) was provided only recently [K.Y. Bliokh et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 073901 (2017)]. Here we present the first accurate calculations, both analytical and numerical, of the spin and orbital AM, as well as the helicity and other properties, for the full-vector eigenmodes of cylindrical dielectric and metallic (nanowire) waveguides. We find remarkable fundamental relations, such as the quantization of the canonical total AM of cylindrical guided modes in the general nonparaxial case. This quantization, as well as the noninteger values of the spin and orbital AM, are determined by the generalized geometric and dynamical phases in the mode fields. Moreover, we show that the spin AM of metallic-wire modes is determined, in the geometrical-optics approximation, by the transverse spin of surface plasmon-polaritons propagating along helical trajectories on the wire surface. Our work provides a solid platform for future studies and applications of the AM and helicity properties of guided optical and plasmonic waves.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Electromagnetic helicity in complex media

Optical helicity density is usually discussed for monochromatic electromagnetic fields in free space. It plays an important role in the interaction with chiral molecules or nanoparticles. Here we introduce the optical helicity density in a dispersive isotropic medium. Our definition is consistent with biorthogonal Maxwell electromagnetism in optical media, the Brillouin energy density, as well as with the recently-introduced canonical momentum and spin of light in dispersive media. We consider a number of examples, including electromagnetic waves in dielectrics, negative-index materials, and metals, as well as interactions of light in a medium with chiral and magnetoelectric molecules.

physics.optics↗