arXiv subjects

Franco Nori

Publications and source records attributed to Franco Nori.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and no-go theorems in quantum information

Recently, apparent nonphysical implications of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics (NHQM) have been discussed in the literature. In particular, the apparent violation of the no-signaling theorem, discrimination of nonorthogonal states, and the increase of quantum entanglement by local operations were reported, and therefore NHQM was not considered as a fundamental theory. Here we show that these and other no-go principles (including the no-cloning and no-deleting theorems) of conventional quantum mechanics still hold in finite-dimensional non-Hermitian quantum systems, including parity-time symmetric and pseudo-Hermitian cases, if its formalism is properly applied. We have developed a modified formulation of NHQM based on the geometry of Hilbert spaces which is consistent with the conventional quantum mechanics for Hermitian systems. Using this formulation the validity of these principles can be shown in a simple and uniform approach.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Unconventional Cavity Optomechanics: Nonlinear Control of Phonons in the Acoustic Quantum Vacuum

We study unconventional cavity optomechanics and the acoustic analogue of radiation pressure to show the possibility of nonlinear coherent control of phonons in the acoustic quantum vacuum. Specifically, we study systems where a quantized optical field effectively modifies the frequency of an acoustic resonator. We present a general method to enhance such a nonlinear interaction by employing an intermediate qubit. Compared with conventional optomechanical systems, the roles of mechanical and optical resonators are interchanged, and the boundary condition of the phonon resonator can be modulated with an ultrahigh optical frequency. These differences allow to test some quantum effects with parameters which are far beyond the reach of conventional cavity optomechanics. Based on this novel interaction form, we show that various nonclassical quantum effects can be realized. Examples include an effective method for modulating the resonance frequency of a phonon resonator (e.g., a surface-acoustic-wave resonator), demonstrating mechanical parametric amplification, and the dynamical Casimir effect of phonons originating from the acoustic quantum vacuum. Our results demonstrate that unconventional optomechanics offers a versatile hybrid platform for quantum engineering of nonclassical phonon states in quantum acoustodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Ideal Quantum Nondemolition Readout of a Flux Qubit Without Purcell Limitations

Dispersive coupling based on the Rabi model with large detuning is widely used for quantum nondemolition (QND) qubit readout in quantum computation. However, the measurement speed and fidelity are usually significantly limited by the Purcell effects, i.e.: Purcell decay, critical photon numbers, and qubit-dependent Kerr nonlinearity. To avoid these effects, we propose how to realize an ideal QND readout of a gradiometric flux qubit with a tunable gap via its non-perturbative dispersive coupling (NPDC) to a frequency-tunable measurement resonator. We show that this NPDC-based readout mechanism is free of dipole-field interactions, and that the qubit-QND measurement is not deteriorated by intracavity photons. Both qubit-readout speed and fidelity can \emph{avoid the Purcell limitations}. Moreover, NPDC can be conveniently turned on and off via an external control flux. We show how to extend this proposal to a multi-qubit architecture for a joint qubit readout.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Mean-field validity in a dissipative critical system: Liouvillian gap, $\mathbb{PT}$-symmetric antigap, and permutational symmetry in the $XYZ$ model

We study the all-to-all connected $XYZ$ (anisotropic-Heisenberg) spin model with local and collective dissipations, comparing the results of mean field theory with the solution of the Lindblad quantum evolution. Leveraging the permutational symmetry of the model [N. Shammah et al., Phys Rev. A 98, 063815 (2018)], we find exactly (up to numerical precision) the steady state up to $N=95$ spins. We characterize criticality, studying, as a function of the number of spins $N$, the spin structure factor, the magnetization, the Liouvillian gap and the Von Neumann entropy of the steady state. Exploiting the weak $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry of the model, we efficiently calculate the Liouvillian gap, introducing the idea of an antigap. For small anisotropy, we find a paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase transition in agreement with the mean-field theory. For large anisotropy, instead, we find a significant discrepancy from the scaling of the low-anisotropy ferromagnetic phase. We also study other more experimentally-accessible witnesses of the transition, which can be used for finite-size studies, namely the bimodality coefficient and the angular averaged susceptibility. In contrast to the bimodality coefficient, the angular averaged susceptibility fails to capture the onset of the transition, in striking difference with respect to lower-dimensional studies. We also analyze the competition between local dissipative processes (which disentangle the spin system) and collective dissipative ones (generating entanglement). The nature of the phase transition is almost unaffected by the presence of these terms. Our results mark a stark difference with the common intuition that an all-to-all connected system should fall onto the mean-field solution also for intermediate number of spins.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Probing the dynamical phase transition with a superconducting quantum simulator

Non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems, which are difficult to study via classical computation, have attracted wide interest. Quantum simulation can provide insights into these problems. Here, using a programmable quantum simulator with 16 all-to-all connected superconducting qubits, we investigate the dynamical phase transition in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model with a quenched transverse field. Clear signatures of the dynamical phase transition, merging different concepts of dynamical criticality, are observed by measuring the non-equilibrium order parameter, nonlocal correlations, and the Loschmidt echo. Moreover, near the dynamical critical point, we obtain the optimal spin squeezing of $-7.0\pm 0.8$ decibels, showing multipartite entanglement useful for measurements with precision five-fold beyond the standard quantum limit. Based on the capability of entangling qubits simultaneously and the accurate single-shot readout of multi-qubit states, this superconducting quantum simulator can be used to study other problems in non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Emission of photon pairs by mechanical stimulation of the squeezed vacuum

To observe the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) induced by a moving mirror is a long-standing challenge because the mirror velocity needs to approach the speed of light. Here, we present an experimentally feasible method for observing this mechanical DCE in an optomechanical system. It employs a detuned, parametric driving to squeeze a cavity mode, so that the mechanical mode, with a typical resonance frequency, can parametrically and resonantly couple to the squeezed cavity mode, thus leading to a resonantly amplified DCE in the squeezed frame. The DCE process can be interpreted as {\it mechanically-induced two-photon hyper-Raman scattering} in the laboratory frame. Specifically, {\it a photon pair} of the parametric driving absorbs a single phonon and then is scattered into an anti-Stokes sideband. We also find that the squeezing, which additionally induces and amplifies the DCE, can be extremely small. Our method requires neither an ultra-high mechanical-oscillation frequency (i.e., a mirror moving at nearly the speed of light) nor an ultrastrong single-photon optomechanical coupling and, thus, could be implemented in a wide range of physical systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Two-photon blockade and photon-induced tunneling generated by squeezing

Inspired by the recent experiment of Hamsen et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 133604 (2017)], which demonstrated two-photon blockade in a driven nonlinear system (composed of a harmonic cavity with a driven atom), we show that two-photon blockade and other nonstandard types of photon blockade and photon-induced tunneling can be generated in a driven harmonic cavity without an atom or any other kind of nonlinearity, but instead coupled to a nonlinear (i.e., squeezed) reservoir. We also simulate these single- and two-photon effects with squeezed coherent states and displaced squeezed thermal states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Experimental demonstration of one-shot coherence distillation: High-dimensional state conversions

We experimentally investigate problems of one-shot coherence distillation [Regula, Fang, Wang, and Adesso, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 010401 (2018)]. Based on a set of optical devices, we design a type of strictly incoherent operation (SIO), which is applicable in high-dimensional cases and can be applied to accomplish the transformations from higher-dimensional states to lower-dimensional states. Furthermore, a relatively complete process of the one-shot coherence distillation is experimentally demonstrated for three- and four-dimensional input states. Experimental data reveal an interesting result: higher coherence distillation rates (but defective) can be reached by tolerating a larger error. Our finding paves a fresh way in the experimental investigation of quantum coherence conversions through various incoherent operations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Observing information backflow from controllable non-Markovian multi-channels in diamond

Any realistic quantum system is inevitably subject to an external environment. This environment makes the open-system dynamics significant for many quantum tech-nologies, such as entangled-state engineering, quantum simulation, and quantum sensing. The information flow of a system to its environment usually induces a Markovian process, while the backflow of information from the environment exhibits non-Markovianity. The practical environment, usually consisting of a large number of degrees of freedom, is hard to control, despite some attempts on controllable transitions from Markovian to non-Markovian dynamics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the engineering of multiple dissipative channels by controlling the adjacent nuclear spins of a nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond. With a controllable non-Markovian dynamics of the open system, we observe that the quantum Fisher information flows to and from the environment using different noisy channels. Our work contributes to the developments of both noisy quantum metrology and quantum open systems from the view points of metrologically useful entanglement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Dissipation-induced bistability in the two-photon Dicke model

The Dicke model is a paradigmatic quantum-optical model describing the interaction of a collection of two-level systems with a single bosonic mode. Effective implementations of this model made it possible to observe the emergence of superradiance, i.e., cooperative phenomena arising from the collective nature of light-matter interactions. Via reservoir engineering and analogue quantum simulation techniques, current experimental platforms allow us not only to implement the Dicke model, but also to design more exotic interactions, such as the two-photon Dicke model. In the Hamiltonian case, this model presents an interesting phase diagram characterized by two quantum criticalities: a superradiant phase transition and a spectral collapse, that is, the coalescence of discrete energy levels into a continuous band. Here, we investigate the effects of both qubit and photon dissipation on the phase transition and on the instability induced by the spectral collapse. Using a mean-field decoupling approximation, we analytically obtain the steady-state expectation values of the observables signaling a symmetry breaking, identifying a first-order phase transition from the normal to the superradiant phase. Our stability analysis unveils a very rich phase diagram, which features stable, bistable, and unstable phases depending on dissipation rate.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Resource-efficient analyzer of Bell and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of multiphoton systems

We propose a resource-efficient error-rejecting entangled-state analyzer for polarization-encoded multiphoton systems. Our analyzer is based on two single-photon quantum-nondemolition detectors, where each of them is implemented with a four-level emitter (e.g., a quantum dot) coupled to a one-dimensional system (such as a micropillar cavity or a photonic nanocrystal waveguide). The analyzer works in a passive way and can completely distinguish $2^n$ Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger~(GHZ) states of $n$ photons without using any active operation or fast switching. The efficiency and fidelity of the GHZ-state analysis can, in principle, be close to unity, when an ideal single-photon scattering condition is fulfilled. For a nonideal scattering, which typically reduces the fidelity of a GHZ-state analysis, we introduce a passively error-rejecting circuit to enable a near-perfect fidelity at the expense of a slight decrease of its efficiency. Furthermore, the protocol can be directly used to perform a two-photon Bell-state analysis. This passive, resource-efficient, and error-rejecting protocol can, therefore, be useful for practical quantum networks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Ultradense Tailored Vortex Pinning Arrays in Superconducting YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ Thin Films Created by Focused He Ion Beam Irradiation for Fluxonics Applications

Magnetic fields penetrate a type-II superconductor as magnetic flux quanta, called vortices. In a clean superconductor they arrange in a hexagonal lattice, while by adding periodic artificial pinning centers many other arrangements can be realized. Using the focused beam of a helium ion microscope we have fabricated periodic patterns of dense pinning centers with spacings as small as 70 nm in thin films of the cuprate superconductor YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$. In these ultradense kagomé-like patterns, the voids lead to magnetic caging of vortices, resulting in unconventional commensurability effects that manifest themselves as peaks in the critical current and minima in the resistance versus applied magnetic field up to $\sim 0.4\,$T. The various vortex patterns at different magnetic fields are analyzed by molecular dynamics simulations of vortex motion, and the magnetic field dependence of the critical current is confirmed. These findings open the way for a controlled manipulation of vortices in cuprate superconductors by artificial sub-100 nm pinning landscapes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Quantum bits with Josephson junctions

Already in the first edition of this book (Barone and Paterno, "Fundamentals and Physics and Applications of the Josephson Effect", Wiley 1982), a great number of interesting and important applications for Josephson junctions were discussed. In the decades that have passed since then, several new applications have emerged. This chapter treats one such new class of applications: quantum optics and quantum information processing (QIP) based on superconducting circuits with Josephson junctions. In this chapter, we aim to explain the basics of superconducting quantum circuits with Josephson junctions and demonstrate how these systems open up new prospects, both for QIP and for the study of quantum optics and atomic physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Quantifying the nonclassicality of pure dephasing

One of the central problems in quantum theory is to characterize, detect, and quantify quantumness in terms of classical strategies. Dephasing processes, caused by non-dissipative information exchange between quantum systems and environments, provides a natural platform for this purpose, as they control the quantum-to-classical transition. Recently, it has been shown that dephasing dynamics itself can exhibit (non)classical traits, depending on the nature of the system-environment correlations and the related (im)possibility to simulate these dynamics with Hamiltonian ensembles---the classical strategy. Here we establish the framework of detecting and quantifying the nonclassicality for pure dephasing dynamics. The uniqueness of the canonical representation of Hamiltonian ensembles is shown, and a constructive method to determine the latter is presented. We illustrate our method for qubit, qutrit, and qubit-pair pure dephasing and describe how to implement our approach with quantum process tomography experiments. Our work is readily applicable to present-day quantum experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Topological band theory for non-Hermitian systems from the Dirac equation

We identify and investigate two classes of non-Hermitian systems, i.e., one resulting from Lorentz-symmetry violation (LSV) and the other from a complex mass (CM) with Lorentz invariance, from the perspective of quantum field theory. The mechanisms to break, and approaches to restore, the bulk-boundary correspondence in these two types of non-Hermitian systems are clarified. The non-Hermitian system with LSV shows a non-Hermitian skin effect, and its topological phase can be characterized by mapping it to the Hermitian system via a non-compact $U(1)$ gauge transformation. In contrast, there exists no non-Hermitian skin effect for the non-Hermitian system with CM. Moreover, the conventional bulk-boundary correspondence holds in this (CM) system. We also consider a general non-Hermitian system in the presence of both LSV and CM, and we generalize its bulk-boundary correspondence.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

A quantum interference capacitor based on double-passage Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana interferometry

The implementation of quantum technologies in electronics leads naturally to the concept of coherent single-electron circuits, in which a single charge is used coherently to provide enhanced performance. In this work, we propose a coherent single-electron device that operates as an electrically-tunable capacitor. This system exhibits a sinusoidal dependence of the capacitance with voltage, in which the amplitude of the capacitance changes and the voltage period can be tuned by electric means. The device concept is based on double-passage Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana interferometry of a coupled two-level system that is further tunnel-coupled to an electron reservoir. We test this model experimentally by performing Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana interferometry in a single-electron double quantum dot coupled to an electron reservoir and show that the voltage period of the capacitance oscillations is directly proportional to the excitation frequency and that the amplitude of the oscillations depends on the dynamical parameters of the system: intrinsic relaxation and coherence time, as well as the tunneling rate to the reservoir. Our work opens up an opportunity to use the non-linear capacitance of double quantum dots to obtain enhanced device functionalities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Many-body effects in twisted bilayer graphene at low twist angles

We study the zero-temperature many-body properties of twisted bilayer graphene with a twist angle equal to the so-called `first magic angle'. The system low-energy single-electron spectrum consists of four (eight, if spin label is accounted) weakly-dispersing partially degenerate bands, each band accommodating one electron per Moir{é} cell per spin projection. This weak dispersion makes electrons particularly susceptible to the effects of interactions. Introducing several excitonic order parameters with spin-density-wave-like structure, we demonstrate that (i)~the band degeneracy is partially lifted by the interaction, and (ii)~the details of the low-energy spectrum becomes doping-dependent. For example, at or near the undoped state, interactions separate the eight bands into two quartets (one quartet is almost filled, the other is almost empty), while for two electrons per Moiré cell, the quartets are pulled apart, and doublets emerge. When the doping is equal to one or three electrons per cell, the doublets split into singlets. Hole doping produces similar effects. As a result, electronic properties (e.g., the density of states at the Fermi energy) demonstrate oscillating dependence on the doping concentration. This allows us to reproduce qualitatively the behavior of the conductance observed recently in experiments [Cao et al., Nature {\bf 556}, 80 (2018)]. Near half-filling, the electronic spectrum loses hexagonal symmetry indicating the appearance of a many-body nematic state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Fast and high-fidelity generation of steady-state entanglement using pulse modulation and parametric amplification

We explore an intriguing alternative for a fast and high-fidelity generation of steady-state entanglement. By exponentially enhancing the atom-cavity interaction, we obtain an exponentially-enhanced effective cooperativity of the system, which results in a high fidelity of the state generation. Meanwhile, we modulate the amplitudes of the driving fields to accelerate the population transfer to a target state, e.g., a Bell state. An exponentially-shortened stabilization time is thus predicted. Specifically, when the cooperativity of the system is $C=30$, the fidelity of the acceleration scheme reaches $98.5\%$, and the stabilization time is about 10 times shorter than that without acceleration. Moreover, we find from the numerical simulation that the acceleration scheme is robust against systematic and stochastic (amplitude-noise) errors.

quant-ph↗