arXiv subjects

Naeem Akhtar

Publications and source records attributed to Naeem Akhtar.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Maximal Fisher Budget Forces Blind Directions in Bipartite Collective SU(d) Metrology

For pure two-qudit probes used in a single fixed setting to estimate a common SU(d) transformation, maximal total Fisher sensitivity and full local identifiability are mutually exclusive. We derive exact identities that determine the trace of the quantum Fisher information matrix from two measurable probe properties: exchange symmetry and collective polarization. Every maximizer is exchange symmetric and maximally entangled. Its Fisher matrix has equal sensitivity in every visible direction, while $d(d-1)/2$ generator directions are blind. More generally, weak compatibility, defined by vanishing mean generator commutators, forces at least $\lfloor d/2\rfloor$ blind directions for every pure bipartite probe. A probe-defined antiunitary invariant classifies the complete Fisher spectrum at maximal entanglement, and approaches to the optimum that preserve exchange symmetry have a divergent Holevo cost. The bipartite obstruction is sharp in particle number: for $N\geq 3$, generalized GHZ probes can satisfy weak compatibility, attain the corresponding $N$-partite Fisher trace bound, and retain full local identifiability. Hence, Fisher sensitivity, weak compatibility, identifiability, and attainable precision are distinct resources in quantum metrology with noncommuting generators.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Finer sub-Planck structures and displacement sensitivity of SU(1,1) circular states

Quantum states with sub-Planck features exhibit sensitivity to phase-space displacements beyond the standard quantum limit, making them useful for quantum metrology. In the context of the SU(1,1) group, sub-Planck features have been constructed through the superposition of four Perelomov coherent states on the hyperbolic plane (the SU(1,1) compass state). However, these structures differ in scale along different phase-space directions (anisotropic features), resulting in nonuniform sensitivity enhancement to phase-space displacements. Here, we construct $N$-component compass states, which are obtained by superposing $N \geq 6$ SU(1,1) coherent states with an even total number, evenly arranged along a circular path on the hyperbolic plane; that is, all components lie at the same distance from the origin and have equal angular spacing of $\frac{2\pi}{N}$. We observe that these generalized SU(1,1) compass states exhibit isotropic sub-Planck structures, leading to an isotropic enhancement in sensitivity to phase-space displacements that progressively increases with larger $N$. These states are directly relevant to quantum platforms supporting Kerr-type interactions between two bosonic modes, where the underlying SU(1,1) dynamical symmetry enables the generation of multicomponent SU(1,1) compass states. Specifically, the compact evolution of SU(1,1) coherent states under the considered dynamics enables the generation of multicomponent SU(1,1) compass states at specific times. We also investigate the effects of thermal decoherence on these multicomponent compass states within a frequency-resolved Lindblad framework, demonstrating the evolution and degradation of their nonclassical signatures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Decoherence across phase-space scales: From compass states to general quantum states

Environmental decoherence occurs when a quantum system interacts with its surroundings, progressively reducing quantum interference and coherence, complicating the preservation of critical quantum features over time, especially during experimental implementation. The quantum features of a state can be represented in phase space via the Wigner function, which manifests across multiple scales, with decoherence potentially influencing each scale differently, as examined in this work. We consider the compass state and its photon-added and photon-subtracted variants (optimized compass states) as our representative examples, each of which exhibits phase-space features with dimensions beyond the Planck scale, making them suitable for quantum sensing applications. We investigate the interaction of these states with a heat reservoir by employing a range of well-established theoretical tools. We observe that compass states with finer-scale phase-space features are more fragile to decoherence, with parameters favoring greater sub-Planckness in phase space concomitantly increasing the fragility of these compass states to decoherence. Our findings are then validated for generic quantum states interacting with the heat reservoir, for which we provide analytical and numerical investigations, exploring the relationship between quantum state robustness to decoherence and the sizes of their phase-space features; that is, phase-space features at smaller scales decay faster under decoherence, and vice versa.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Floquet engineering of point-gapped topological superconductors

Non-Hermitian systems exhibit two distinct topological classifications based on their gap structure: line-gap and point-gap topologies. Although point-gap topology is intrinsic to non-Hermitian systems, its systematic construction remains a challenge. Here, we present the Floquet engineering approach for realizing point-gapped topological superconductors. By combining Floquet theory with particle-hole symmetry (PHS), we show that a point gap hosting robust Majorana edge modes emerges at the overlap of Floquet bands with opposite winding numbers. In the thermodynamic limit, even weak non-Hermiticity opens a point gap from a gapless spectrum, driving a topological phase transition and breaking non-Bloch parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry. This transition is accompanied by the appearance of the Floquet $Z_2$ skin effect. Furthermore, the point-gapped topological phase and the non-Bloch $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry exhibit size-dependent phenomena driven by the critical skin effect. Our work offers a new pathway for exploring the point-gapped topological phases in non-Hermitian systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Enhancement in temperature sensing of a reservoir by Kerr-nonlinear resonator

The challenge of developing high-precision temperature sensors is an important issue that has recently received a lot of attention. In this work, we introduce an estimation technique to precisely measure the temperature of a quantum reservoir using a Kerr-nonlinear resonator with drive. Thermalization in our suggested protocol is assessed using Uhlmann-Jozsa fidelity, and then we utilize quantum Fisher information to evaluate the metrological potential of our thermometry scheme. We observe that increasing the Kerr nonlinearity coefficient and driving amplitude significantly enhances precision in the temperature estimation. Furthermore, we also explore the underlying physical mechanisms by analyzing probe purity in the steady state and evaluating the performance of homodyne versus heterodyne detection methods. Our results demonstrate that neither of these Gaussian measurements is optimal; instead, optimal homodyne detection always surpasses heterodyne detection.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Multicomponent cat states with sub-Planckian structures and their optomechanical analogues

We investigate the superposition of coherent states, emphasizing quantum states with distinct Wigner phase-space features relevant to quantum information applications. In this study, we introduce generalized versions of the compass state, which display enhanced phase-space characteristics compared with the conventional compass state, typically a superposition of four coherent states. Our findings reveal that, unlike sub-Planckian structures and phase-space sensitivity of the compass state, these generalized states produce isotropic sub-Planckian structures and sensitivity to phase-space displacements. We demonstrate that these desirable phase-space characteristics are maintained in superpositions comprising at least six distinct coherent states. Furthermore, we show that increasing the number of coherent states in the superposition preserves these characteristics, provided the number remains even. We examine an optomechanical system capable of generating the proposed quantum states, resulting in optomechanical counterparts with nearly identical phase-space structures, thereby suggesting the feasibility of physically realizing these generalized compass states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Sub-shot-noise sensitivity via superpositions of two deformed kitten states

In the present work we explore nonclassical effects in the phase space of two superposed kitten states induced by photon addition and subtraction operations applied in different sequences. We investigate two scenarios: In the first, photon addition is applied to the state, followed by photon subtraction, while in the second, the order of operations is reversed. We demonstrate that applying multiphoton operations to the state results in notable nearly isotropic sub-Planck structures, with the characteristics of these structures being influenced by the photon addition and subtraction. Increasing the number of added photons compresses the sub-Planck structures in both cases. Photon subtraction, however, has the opposite effect on the sub-Planck structures in the first case and no effect in the second. Furthermore, we observe that the optimal choices of multiphoton operations lead to improved isotropy of sub-Planck structures in our cases. The presence of the sub-Planck structures in our states leads to improved sensitivity to displacements, exceeding the standard quantum limit, as verified across all the depicted scenarios.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Compasslike states in a thermal reservoir and fragility of their nonclassical features

Superposed photon-added and photon-subtracted squeezed-vacuum states exhibit sub-Planck phase-space structures and metrological potential similar to the original compass states (superposition of four coherent states), but are more closely tied to modern experiments. Here, we observe that these compasslike states are highly susceptible to loss of quantum coherence when placed in contact with a thermal reservoir; that is, the interaction with the thermal reservoir causes decoherence, which progressively suppresses the capacity of these states to exhibit interference traits. We focus on the sub-Planck structures of these states and find that decoherence effects on these features are stronger with increasing the average thermal photon number of the reservoir, the squeezing parameter, or the quantity of added (or subtracted) photons to the squeezed-vacuum states. Furthermore, we observe that the sub-Planck structures of the photon-subtracted case survive comparatively longer in the thermal reservoir than their counterparts in the photon-added case, and prolonged contact with the thermal reservoir converts these compasslike states into a classical state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Sub-Planck structures and sensitivity of the superposed photon-added or photon-subtracted squeezed-vacuum states

The Wigner function of the compass state (a superposition of four coherent states) develops phase-space structures of dimension much less than the Planck scale, which are crucial in determining the sensitivity of these states to phase-space displacements. In the present work, we introduce compass-like states that may have connection to the contemporary experiments, which are obtained by either adding photons to or subtracting photons from the superposition of two squeezed-vacuum states. We show that, when a significant quantity of photons is added (or subtracted), the Wigner function of these states are shown to have phase-space structures of an area that is substantially smaller than the Planck scale. In addition, these states exhibit sensitivity to displacements that is much higher than the standard quantum limit. Finally, we show that both the size of the sub-Planck structures and the sensitivity of our states are strongly influenced by the average photon number, with the photon addition case having a higher average photon number leading to the smaller sub-Planck structures and, consequently, being more sensitive to displacement than the photon subtraction case. Our states offer unprecedented resolution to the external perturbations, making them suitable for quantum sensing applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Enhanced entanglement and controlling quantum steering in a Laguerre-Gaussian cavity optomechanical system with two rotating mirrors

Gaussian quantum steering is a type of quantum correlation in which two entangled states exhibit asymmetry. We present an efficient theoretical scheme for controlling quantum steering and enhancing entanglement in a Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) rotating cavity optomechanical system with an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) driven by coherent light. The numerical simulation results show that manipulating system parameters such as parametric gain $χ$, parametric phase $θ$, and rotating mirror frequency, among others, significantly improves mirror-mirror and mirror-cavity entanglement. In addition to bipartite entanglement, we achieve mirror-cavity-mirror tripartite entanglement. Another intriguing discovery is the control of quantum steering, for which we obtained several results by investigating it for various system parameters. We show that the steering directivity is primarily determined by the frequency of two rotating mirrors. Furthermore, for two rotating mirrors, quantum steering is found to be asymmetric both one-way and two-way. As a result, we can assert that the current proposal may help in the understanding of non-local correlations and entanglement verification tasks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

A rotational-cavity optomechanical system with two revolving cavity mirrors: optical response and fast-slow light mechanism

We investigate the optical behavior of a single Laguerre-Gaussian cavity optomechanical system consisting of two mechanically rotating mirrors. We explore the effects of various physical parameters on the double optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) of the system and provide a detailed explanation of the underlying physical mechanism. We show that the momentum is not the cause of the current double-OMIT phenomena; rather, it results from the orbital angular momentum between the optical field and the rotating mirrors. Additionally, the double-OMIT is simply produced using a single Laguerre-Gaussian cavity optomechanical system rather than by integrating many subsystems or adding the atomic medium as in earlier studies. We also investigate the impact of fast and slow light in this system. Finally, we show that the switching between ultrafast and ultraslow light can be realized by adjusting the angular momentum, which is a new source of regulating fast-slow light.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Sub-Planck phase-space structure and sensitivity for SU(1,1) compass states

We investigate the sub-Planck-scale structures associated with the SU(1,1) group by establishing that the Planck scale on the hyperbolic plane can be considered as the inverse of the Bargmann index $k$. Our discussion involves SU(1,1) versions of Wigner functions, and the quantum-interference effect is easily visualized through plots of these Wigner functions. Specifically, the superpositions of four Perelomov SU(1,1) coherent states (compass state) yield nearly isotropic sub-Planck structures in phase space scaling as $\frac1{k}$ compared with $\frac1{\sqrt{k}}$ scaling for individual SU(1,1) coherent states and anisotropic quadratically improved scaling for superpositions of two SU(1,1) coherent states (cat state). We show that displacement sensitivity exhibits the same quadratic improvement to scaling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Sub-Planck structures: Analogies between the Heisenberg-Weyl and SU(2) groups

Coherent-state superpositions are of great importance for many quantum subjects, ranging from foundational to technological, e.g., from tests of collapse models to quantum metrology. Here we explore various aspects of these states, related to the connection between sub-Planck structures present in their Wigner function and their sensitivity to displacements (ultimately determining their metrological potential). We review this for the usual Heisenberg-Weyl algebra associated to a harmonic oscillator, and extend it to find analogous results for the $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ algebra, typically associated with angular momentum. In particular, in the Heisenberg-Weyl case, we identify phase-space structures with support smaller than the Planck action in both Schrödinger-cat-state mixtures and superpositions, the latter known as compass states. However, as compared to coherent states, compass states are shown to have $\sqrt{N}$-enhanced sensitivity against displacements in all phase-space directions ($N$ is the average number of quanta), whereas cat states and cat mixtures show such enhanced sensitivity only for displacements in specific directions. We then show that these same properties apply for analogous SU(2) states provided (i) coherent states are restricted to the equator of the sphere that plays the role of phase space for this group, (ii) we associate the role of the Planck action to the size of SU(2) coherent states in such a sphere, and (iii) we associate the role of $N$ with the total angular momentum.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantum tetrachotomous states: Superposition of four coherent states on a line in phase space

The well studied quantum optical Schrödinger cat state is a superposition of two distinguishable states, with quantum coherence between these macroscopically distinguishable states being of foundational and, in the context of quantum-information processing, practical use. We refer to these quantum-optical cat states as quantum dichotomous states, reflecting that the state is a superposition of two options, and we introduce the term quantum multichotomous state to refer to a superposition of multiple macroscopically distinguishable options. For a single degree of freedom, such as position, we construct the quantum multichotomous states as a superposition of Gaussian states on the position line in phase space. Using this nomenclature, a quantum tetrachotomous state (QTS) is a coherent superposition of four macroscopically distinguishable states. We define, analyze and show how to create such states, and our focus on the QTS is due to their exhibition of much richer phenomena than for the quantum dichotomous states with lessons to going to general multichotomous states with the quantum comb state as a limiting case. Our characterization of the QTS involves the Wigner function, its marginal distributions, and the photon-number distribution, and we discuss the QTS's approximate realization in a multiple coupled-well system.

quant-ph↗