arXiv subjects

Gershon Kurizki

Publications and source records attributed to Gershon Kurizki.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Work Generation from Thermal Noise by Quantum Phase-Sensitive Observation

We put forward the concept of work extraction from thermal noise by phase-sensitive (homodyne) measurements of the noisy input followed by (outcome-dependent) unitary manipulations of the post-measured state. For optimized measurements, noise input with more than one quantum on average is shown to yield heat-to-work conversion with efficiency and power that grow with the mean number of input quanta, detector efficiency and its inverse temperature. This protocol is shown to be advantageous compared to common models of information and heat engines.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Quantum Zeno and Anti-Zeno probes of noise correlations in photon polarisation

We experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, noise diagnostics by repeated quantum measurements. Specifically, we establish the ability of a single photon, subjected to random polarisation noise, to diagnose non-Markovian temporal correlations of such a noise process. In the frequency domain, these noise correlations correspond to colored noise spectra, as opposed to the ones related to Markovian, white noise. Both the noise spectrum and its corresponding temporal correlations are diagnosed by probing the photon by means of frequent, (partially-)selective polarisation measurements. Our main result is the experimental demonstration that noise with positive temporal correlations corresponds to our single photon undergoing a dynamical regime enabled by the quantum Zeno effect (QZE), while noise characterized by negative (anti-) correlations corresponds to regimes associated with the anti-Zeno effect (AZE). This demonstration opens the way to a new kind of noise spectroscopy based on QZE and AZE in photon (or other single-particle) state probing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Minimal quantum heat manager boosted by bath spectral filtering

We reveal the potentially important role of a general mechanism that has hitherto not been invoked in quantum heat management schemes, namely, spectral filtering of the coupling between the heat baths in the setup and the quantum system that controls the heat flow. Such filtering is enabled by interfaces between the system and the baths by means of harmonic-oscillator modes whose resonant frequencies and coupling strengths are used as control parameters of the system-bath coupling spectra. We show that this uniquely quantum-electrodynamic mechanism, here dubbed bath spectral filtering, boosts the performance of a minimal quantum heat manager comprised of two interacting qubits or an analogous optomechanical system, allowing this device to attain either perfect heat diode action or strongly enhanced heat transistor action.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantized refrigerator for an atomic cloud

We propose to implement a quantized thermal machine based on a mixture of two atomic species. One atomic species implements the working medium and the other implements two (cold and hot) baths. We show that such a setup can be employed for the refrigeration of a large bosonic cloud starting above and ending below the condensation threshold. We analyze its operation in a regime conforming to the quantized Otto cycle and discuss the prospects for continuous-cycle operation, addressing the experimental as well as theoretical limitations. Beyond its applicative significance, this setup has a potential for the study of fundamental questions of quantum thermodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Anti-Zeno quantum advantage in fast-driven heat machines

Developing quantum machines which can outperform their classical counterparts, thereby achieving quantum supremacy or quantum advantage, is a major aim of the current research on quantum thermodynamics and quantum technologies. Here we show that a fast-modulated cyclic quantum heat machine operating in the non-Markovian regime can lead to significant heat-current and power boosts induced by the anti-Zeno effect. Such boosts signify a quantum advantage over almost all heat-machines proposed thus far that operate in the conventional Markovian regime, where the quantumness of the system-bath interaction plays no role. The present effect owes its origin to the time-energy uncertainty relation in quantum mechanics, which may result in enhanced system-bath energy exchange for modulation periods shorter than the bath correlation-time.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Solitons supported by intensity-dependent dispersion

Soliton solutions are studied for paraxial wave propagation with intensity-dependent dispersion. Although the corresponding Lagrangian density has a singularity, analytical solutions, derived by the pseudo-potential method and the corresponding phase diagram, exhibit one- and two-humped solitons with almost perfect agreement to numerical solutions. The results obtained in this work reveal a hitherto unexplored area of soliton physics associated with nonlinear corrections to wave dispersion.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2019

Precision limits of tissue microstructure characterization by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Characterization of microstructures in live tissues is one of the keys to diagnosing early stages of pathology and understanding disease mechanisms. However, the extraction of reliable information on biomarkers based on microstructure details is still a challenge, as the size of features that can be resolved with non-invasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is orders of magnitude larger than the relevant structures. Here we derive from quantum information theory the ultimate precision limits for obtaining such details by MRI probing of water-molecule diffusion. We show that already available MRI pulse sequences can be optimized to attain the ultimate precision limits by choosing control parameters that are uniquely determined by the expected size, the diffusion coefficient and the spin relaxation time $T_{2}$. By attaining the ultimate precision limit per measurement, the number of measurements and the total acquisition time may be drastically reduced compared to the present state of the art. These results will therefore allow MRI to advance towards unravelling a wealth of diagnostic information.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Enhanced precision bound of low-temperature quantum thermometry via dynamical control

High-precision low-temperature thermometry is a challenge for experimental quantum physics and quantum sensing. Here we consider a thermometer modelled by a dynamically-controlled multilevel quantum probe in contact with a bath. Dynamical control in the form of periodic modulation of the energy-level spacings of the quantum probe can dramatically increase the maximum accuracy bound of low-temperatures estimation, by maximizing the relevant quantum Fisher information. As opposed to the diverging relative error bound at low temperatures in conventional quantum thermometry, periodic modulation of the probe allows for low-temperature thermometry with temperature-independent relative error bound. The proposed approach may find diverse applications related to precise probing of the temperature of many-body quantum systems in condensed matter and ultracold gases, as well as in different branches of quantum metrology beyond thermometry, for example in precise probing of different Hamiltonian parameters in many-body quantum critical systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Spin-bath polarization via disentanglement

Spin bath polarization is the key to enhancing the sensitivity of quantum sensing and information processing. Significant effort has been invested in identifying the consequences of quantumness and its control for spin-bath polarization. Here, by contrast, we focus on the adverse role of quantum correlations (entanglement) in a spin bath that can impede its cooling in many realistic scenarios. We propose to remove this impediment by modified cooling schemes, incorporating probe-induced disentanglement via alternating, non-commuting probe-bath interactions, so as to suppress the buildup of quantum correlations in the bath. The resulting bath polarization is thereby exponentially enhanced. The underlying thermodynamic principles have far-reaching implications for quantum technological applications

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Collectively enhanced thermalization via multiqubit collisions

We investigate the evolution of a target qubit caused by its multiple random collisions with $N$-qubit clusters. Depending on the cluster state, the evolution of the target qubit may correspond to its effective interaction with a thermal bath, a coherent (laser) drive, or a squeezed bath. In cases where the target qubit relaxes to a thermal state its dynamics can exhibit a quantum advantage, whereby the target-qubit temperature can be scaled up proportionally to $N^2$ and the thermalization time can be shortened by a similar factor, provided the appropriate coherence in the cluster is prepared by non-thermal means. We dub these effects quantum super-thermalization due to its analogies to super-radiance. Experimental realizations of these effects are suggested.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Are quantum thermodynamic machines better than their classical counterparts?

Interesting effects arise in cyclic machines where both heat and ergotropy transfer take place between the energising bath and the system (the working fluid). Such effects correspond to unconventional decompositions of energy exchange between the bath and the system into heat and work, respectively, resulting in efficiency bounds that may surpass the Carnot efficiency. However, these effects are not directly linked with quantumness, but rather with heat and ergotropy, the likes of which can be realised without resorting to quantum mechanics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Temperature control in dissipative cavities by entangled dimers

We show that the temperature of a cavity field can be drastically varied by its interaction with suitably-entangled atom pairs (dimers) traversing the cavity under realistic atomic decoherence. To this end we resort to the hitherto untapped resource of naturally entangled dimers whose state can be simply controlled via molecular dissociation, collisions forming the dimer, or unstable dimers such as positronium. Depending on the chosen state of the dimer, the cavity-field mode can be driven to a steady-state temperature that is either much lower or much higher than the ambient temperature, despite adverse effects of cavity loss and atomic decoherence. Entangled dimers enable much broader range of cavity temperature control than single `phaseonium' atoms with coherently-superposed levels. Such dimers are shown to constitute highly caloric fuel that can ensure high efficiency or power in photonic thermal engines. Alternatively, they can serve as controllable thermal baths for quantum simulation of energy exchange in photosynthesis or quantum annealing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Thermodynamic principles and implementations of quantum machines

The efficiency of cyclic heat engines is limited by the Carnot bound. This bound follows from the second law of thermodynamics and is attained by engines that operate between two thermal baths under the reversibility condition whereby the total entropy does not increase. By contrast, the efficiency of engines powered by quantum non-thermal baths has been claimed to surpass the thermodynamic Carnot bound. The key to understanding the performance of such engines is a proper division of the energy supplied by the bath to the system into heat and work, depending on the associated change in the system entropy and ergotropy. Due to their hybrid character, the efficiency bound for quantum engines powered by a non-thermal bath does not solely follow from the laws of thermodynamics. Hence, the thermodynamic Carnot bound is inapplicable to such hybrid engines. Yet, they do not violate the principles of thermodynamics. An alternative means of boosting machine performance is the concept of heat-to-work conversion catalysis by quantum non-linear (squeezed) pumping of the piston mode. This enhancement is due to the increased ability of the squeezed piston to store ergotropy. Since the catalyzed machine is fueled by thermal baths, it adheres to the Carnot bound. We conclude by arguing that it is not quantumness per se that improves the machine performance, but rather the properties of the baths, the working fluid and the piston that boost the ergotropy and minimize the wasted heat in both the input and the output.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Cooperative many-body enhancement of quantum thermal machine power

We study the impact of cooperative many-body effects on the operation of periodically-driven quantum thermal machines, particularly heat engines and refrigerators. In suitable geometries, $N$ two-level atoms can exchange energy with the driving field and the (hot and cold) thermal baths at a faster rate than a single atom due to their SU(2) symmetry that causes the atoms to behave as a collective spin-$N/2$ particle. This cooperative effect boosts the power output of heat engines compared to the power output of $N$ independent, incoherent, heat engines. In the refrigeration regime, similar cooling-power boost takes place.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Optical Two-Atom Thermal Diode

We put forward a quantum-optical model for a thermal diode based on heat transfer between two thermal baths through a pair of interacting qubits. We find that if the qubits are coupled by a Raman field that induces an anisotropic interaction, heat flow can become non-reciprocal and undergoes rectification even if the baths have equal dissipation rates and/or the qubits are resonant. The heat flow rectification is explained by four-wave mixing and Raman transitions between dressed states of the interacting qubits and are governed by a global master equation. The anisotropic two-qubit interaction is the key for this present simple quantum thermal diode, whose resonant operation allows for high-efficiency rectification of large heat currents. Effects of spatial overlap of the baths are addressed. We also discuss the possible realizations of the model system in various platforms including optomechanical systems, systems of trapped ions, and circuit QED.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Quantum engine efficiency bound beyond the second law of thermodynamics

According to the second law, the efficiency of cyclic heat engines is limited by the Carnot bound that is attained by engines that operate between two thermal baths under the reversibility condition whereby the total entropy does not increase. Quantum engines operating between a thermal and a squeezed-thermal bath have been shown to surpass this bound. Yet, their maximum efficiency cannot be determined by the reversibility condition, which may yield an unachievable efficiency bound above unity. Here we identify the fraction of the exchanged energy between a quantum system and a bath that necessarily causes an entropy change and derive an inequality for this change. This inequality reveals an efficiency bound for quantum engines energised by a non-thermal bath. This bound does not imply reversibility, unless the two baths are thermal. It cannot be solely deduced from the laws of thermodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Threshold behavior of free electron lasers without inversion

The interaction between noncolinear laser and relativistic electron beams in static magnetic undulator has been studied within the framework of dispersion equations. For a free-electron laser without inversion (FELWI), the threshold parameters are found. The large-amplification regime should be used to bring an FELWI above the threshold laser power.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2017

Polarization Properties of the Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

In the present paper, we investigate the polarization properties of the cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) with an isotropic/anisotropic defect inside them. Possibilities of amplification of the polarization plane rotation and stabilization of the light polarization azimuth by these systems are investigated in details.

physics.optics↗