arXiv subjects

Matteo G. A. Paris

Publications and source records attributed to Matteo G. A. Paris.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Continuous-time quantum walks on planar lattices and the role of the magnetic field

We address the dynamics of continuous-time quantum walk (CTQW) on planar 2D lattice graphs, i.e. those forming a regular tessellation of the Euclidean plane (triangular, square, and honeycomb lattice graphs). We first consider the free particle: on square and triangular lattice graphs we observe the well-known ballistic behavior, whereas on the honeycomb lattice graph we obtain a sub-ballistic one, although still faster than the classical diffusive one. We impute this difference to the different amount of coherence generated by the evolution and, in turn, to the fact that, in 2D, the square and the triangular lattices are Bravais lattices, whereas the honeycomb one is non-Bravais. From the physical point of view, this means that CTQWs are not universally characterized by the ballistic spreading. We then address the dynamics in the presence of a perpendicular uniform magnetic field and study the effects of the field by two approaches: (i) introducing the Peierls phase-factors, according to which the tunneling matrix element of the free particle becomes complex, or (ii) spatially discretizing the Hamiltonian of a spinless charged particle in the presence of a magnetic field. Either way, the dynamics of an initially localized walker is characterized by a lower spread compared to the free particle case, the larger is the field the more localized stays the walker. Remarkably, upon analyzing the dynamics by spatial discretization of the Hamiltonian (vector potential in the symmetric gauge), we obtain that the variance of the space coordinate is characterized by pseudo-oscillations, a reminiscence of the harmonic oscillator behind the Hamiltonian in the continuum, whose energy levels are the well-known Landau levels.

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arXiv2019

Critical Quantum metrology with a finite-component quantum phase transition

Physical systems close to a quantum phase transition exhibit a divergent susceptibility, suggesting that an arbitrarily-high precision may be achieved by exploiting quantum critical systems as probes to estimate a physical parameter. However, such an improvement in sensitivity is counterbalanced by the closing of the energy gap, which implies a critical slowing down and an inevitable growth of the protocol duration. Here, we design different metrological protocols that make use of the superradiant phase transition of the quantum Rabi model, a finite-component system composed of a single two-level atom interacting with a single bosonic mode. We show that, in spite of the critical slowing down, critical quantum optical systems can lead to a quantum-enhanced time-scaling of the quantum Fisher information, and so of the measurement sensitivity.

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arXiv2019

Quantum phase communication channels assisted by non-deterministic noiseless amplifiers

We address quantum $M$-ary phase-shift keyed (PSK) communication channels in the presence of phase diffusion, and analyze the use of probabilistic noiseless linear amplifiers (NLA) to enhance performance of coherent signals. We consider both static and dynamical phase diffusion and assess the performances of the channel for ideal and realistic phase receivers. Our results show that NLA employed at the stage of signal preparations is a useful resource, especially in the regime of weak signals. We also discuss the interplay between the use of NLA, and the memory effects occurring with dynamical noise, in determining the capacity of the channel.

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arXiv2019

Experimental investigation of the effect of classical noise on quantum non-Markovian dynamics

We provide an experimental study of the relationship between the action of different classical noises on the dephasing dynamics of a two-level system and the non-Markovianity of the quantum dynamics. The two-level system is encoded in the photonic polarization degrees of freedom and the action of the noise is obtained via a spatial light modulator, thus allowing for an easy engineering of different random environments. The quantum non-Markovianity of the dynamics driven by classical Markovian and non-Markovian noise, both Gaussian and non-Gaussian, is studied by means of the trace distance. Our study clearly shows the different nature of the notion of non-Markovian classical process and non-Markovian quantum dynamics.

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arXiv2019

Naimark extension for the single-photon canonical phase measurement

We address the implementation of the positive operator-valued measure (POVM) describing the optimal M-outcomes discrimination of the polarization state of a single photon. Initially, the POVM elements are extended to projective operators by Naimark theorem, then the resulting projective measure is implemented by a Knill-Laflamme-Milburn scheme involving an optical network and photon counters. We find the analytical expression of the Naimark extension and the detection scheme that realise it for an arbitrary number of outcomes M = 2^N.

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arXiv2019

Quantum walker as a probe for its coin parameter

In discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) the walker's coin space entangles with the position space after the very first step of the evolution. This phenomenon may be exploited to obtain the value of the coin parameter $θ$ by performing measurements on the sole position space of the walker. In this paper, we evaluate the ultimate quantum limits to precision for this class of estimation protocols, and use this result to assess measurement schemes having limited access to the position space of the walker in one dimension. We find that the quantum Fisher information (QFI) of the walker's position space $H_w(θ)$ increases with $θ$ and with time which, in turn, may be seen as a metrological resource. We also find a difference in the QFI of {\em bounded} and {\em unbounded} DTQWs, and provide an interpretation of the different behaviors in terms of interference in the position space. Finally, we compare $H_w(θ)$ to the full QFI $H_f(θ)$, i.e., the QFI of the walkers position plus coin state, and find that their ratio is dependent on $θ$, but saturates to a constant value, meaning that the walker may probe its coin parameter quite faithfully.

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arXiv2019

Squeezing phase diffusion

We address the use of optical parametric oscillator (OPO) to counteract phase-noise in quantum optical communication channels, and demonstrate reduction of phase diffusion for coherent signals travelling through a suitably tuned OPO. In particular, we theoretically and experimentally show that there is a threshold value on the phase-noise, above which OPO can be exploited to squeeze phase noise. The threshold depends on the energy of the input coherent state, and on the relevant parameters of the OPO, i.e. gain and input/output and crystal loss rates.

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arXiv2019

Process estimation in qubit systems: a quantum decision theory approach

We address quantum decision theory as a convenient framework to analyze process discrimination and estimation in qubit systems. In particular we discuss the following problems: i) how to discriminate whether or not a given unitary perturbation has been applied to a qubit system; ii) how to determine the amplitude of the minimum detectable perturbation. In order to solve the first problem, we exploit the so-called Bayes strategy, and look for the optimal measurement to discriminate, with minimum error probability, whether or not the unitary transformation has been applied to a given signal. Concerning the second problem, the strategy of Neyman and Pearson is used to determine the ultimate bound posed by quantum mechanics to the minimum detectable amplitude of the qubit transformation. We consider both pure and mixed initial preparations of the qubit, and solve the corresponding binary decision problems. We also analyze the use of entangled qubits in the estimation protocol and found that entanglement, in general, improves stability rather than precision. Finally, we take into account the possible occurrence of different kinds of background noise and evaluate the corresponding effects on the discrimination strategies.

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arXiv2019

Quantum metrology out of equilibrium

We address open quantum systems out-of-equilibrium as effective quantum probes for the characterisation of their environment. We discuss estimation schemes for parameters driving a de-phasing evolution of the probe and then focus on qubits, establishing a relationship between the quantum Fisher information and the residual coherence of the probe. Finally, we apply our results to the characterisation of the ohmicity parameter of a bosonic environment.

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arXiv2019

Quantum Probes for Ohmic Environments at Thermal Equilibrium

It is often the case that the environment of a quantum system may be described as a bath of oscillators with Ohmic density of states. In turn, the precise characterization of these classes of environments is a crucial tool to engineer decoherence or to tailor quantum information protocols. Recently, the use of quantum probes in characterizing Ohmic environments at zero-temperature has been discussed, showing that a single qubit provides precise estimation of the cutoff frequency. On the other hand, thermal noise often spoil quantum probing schemes, and for this reason we here extend the analysis to complex system at thermal equilibrium. In particular, we discuss the interplay between thermal fluctuations and time evolution in determining the precision {attainable by} quantum probes. Our results show that the presence of thermal fluctuations degrades the precision for low values of the cutoff frequency, i.e. values of the order $ω_c \lesssim T$ (in natural units). For larger values of $ω_c$ decoherence is mostly due to the structure of environment, rather than thermal fluctuations, such that quantum probing by a single qubit is still an effective estimation procedure.

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arXiv2019

Lattice quantum magnetometry

We put forward the idea of lattice quantum magnetometry, i.e. quantum sensing of magnetic fields by a charged (spinless) particle placed on a finite two-dimensional lattice. In particular, we focus on the detection of a locally static transverse magnetic field, either homogeneous or inhomogeneous, by performing ground state measurements. The system turns out to be of interest as quantum magnetometer, since it provides a non-negligible quantum Fisher information (QFI) in a large range of configurations. Moreover, the QFI shows some relevant peaks, determined by the spectral properties of the Hamiltonian, suggesting that certain values of the magnetic fields may be estimated better than the others, depending on the value of other tunable parameters. We also assess the performance of coarse-grained position measurement, showing that it may be employed to realize nearly optimal estimation strategies.

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arXiv2019

Quantum sensing of curvature

We address the problem of sensing the curvature of a manifold by performing measurements on a particle constrained to the manifold itself. In particular, we consider situations where the dynamics of the particle is quantum mechanical and the manifold is a surface embedded in the three-dimensional Euclidean space. We exploit ideas and tools from quantum estimation theory to quantify the amount of information encoded into a state of the particle, and to seek for optimal probing schemes, able to actually extract this information. Explicit results are found for a free probing particle and in the presence of a magnetic field. We also address precision achievable by position measurement, and show that it provides a nearly optimal detection scheme, at least to estimate the radius of a sphere or a cylinder.

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arXiv2019

Non-Markovianity is not a resource for quantum spatial search on a star graph subject to generalized percolation

Continuous-time quantum walks may be exploited to enhance spatial search, i.e., for finding a marked element in a database structured as a complex network. However, in practical implementations, the environmental noise has detrimental effects, and a question arises on whether noise engineering may be helpful in mitigating those effects on the performance of the quantum algorithm. Here we study whether time-correlated noise inducing non-Markovianity may represent a resource for quantum search. In particular, we consider quantum search on a star graph, which has been proven to be optimal in the noiseless case, and analyze the effects of independent random telegraph noise (RTN) disturbing each link of the graph. Upon exploiting an exact code for the noisy dynamics, we evaluate the quantum non-Markovianity of the evolution, and show that it cannot be considered as a resource for this algorithm, since its presence is correlated with lower probabilities of success of the search.

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arXiv2019

Quantum state engineering by non-deterministic noiseless linear amplification

We address quantum state engineering of single- and two-mode states by means of non-deterministic noiseless linear amplifiers (NLAs) acting on Gaussian states. In particular, we show that NLAs provide an effective scheme to generate highly non-Gaussian and non-classical states. Additionally, we show that the amplification of a two-mode squeezed vacuum state (twin-beam) may highly increase entanglement.

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arXiv2019

The walker speaks its graph: global and nearly-local probing of the tunnelling amplitude in continuous-time quantum walks

We address continuous-time quantum walks on graphs, and discuss whether and how quantum-limited measurements on the walker may extract information on the tunnelling amplitude between the nodes of the graphs. For a few remarkable families of graphs, we evaluate the ultimate quantum bound to precision, i.e. we compute the quantum Fisher information (QFI), and assess the performances of incomplete measurements, i.e. measurements performed on a subset of the graph's nodes. We also optimize the QFI over the initial preparation of the walker and find the optimal measurement achieving the ultimate precision in each case. As the topology of the graph is changed, a non-trivial interplay between the connectivity and the achievable precision is uncovered.

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arXiv2019

Qubit systems subject to unbalanced random telegraph noise: quantum correlations, non-Markovianity and teleportation

We address the dynamics of quantum correlations in a two-qubit system subject to unbalanced random telegraph noise (RTN) and discuss in details the similarities and the differences with the balanced case. We also evaluate quantum non-Markovianity of the dynamical map. Finally, we discuss the effects of unbalanced RTN on teleportation, showing that noise imbalance mitigates decoherence and preserves teleportation fidelity.

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arXiv2018

Continuous-time quantum walks on dynamical percolation graphs

We address continuous-time quantum walks on graphs in the presence of time- and space-dependent noise. Noise is modeled as generalized dynamical percolation, i.e. classical time-dependent fluctuations affecting the tunneling amplitudes of the walker. In order to illustrate the general features of the model, we review recent results on two paradigmatic examples: the dynamics of quantum walks on the line and the effects of noise on the performances of quantum spatial search on the complete and the star graph. We also discuss future perspectives, including extension to many-particle quantum walk, to noise model for on-site energies and to the analysis of different noise spectra. Finally, we address the use of quantum walks as a quantum probe to characterize defects and perturbations occurring in complex, classical and quantum, networks.

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arXiv2018

Resource theory of quantum non-Gaussianity and Wigner negativity

We develop a resource theory for continuous-variable systems grounded on operations routinely available within current quantum technologies. In particular, the set of free operations is convex and includes quadratic transformations and conditional coarse-grained measurements. The present theory lends itself to quantify both quantum non-Gaussianity and Wigner negativity as resources, depending on the choice of the free-state set --- i.e., the convex hull of Gaussian states or the states with positive Wigner function, respectively. After showing that the theory admits no maximally resourceful state, we define a computable resource monotone --- the Wigner logarithmic negativity. We use the latter to assess the resource content of experimentally relevant states --- e.g., photon-added, photon-subtracted, cubic-phase, and cat states --- and to find optimal working points of some resource concentration protocols. We envisage applications of this framework to sub-universal and universal quantum information processing over continuous variables.

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