arXiv subjects

Nikolay V. Vitanov

Publications and source records attributed to Nikolay V. Vitanov.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Relations between the single-pass and double-pass transition probabilities in quantum systems with two and three states

In the experimental determination of the population transfer efficiency between discrete states of a coherently driven quantum system it is often inconvenient to measure the population of the target state. Instead, after the interaction that transfers the population from the initial state to the target state, a second interaction is applied which brings the system back to the initial state, the population of which is easy to measure and normalize. If the transition probability is $p$ in the forward process, then classical intuition suggests that the probability to return to the initial state after the backward process should be $p^2$. However, this classical expectation is generally misleading because it neglects interference effects. This paper presents a rigorous theoretical analysis based on the SU(2) and SU(3) symmetries of the propagators describing the evolution of quantum systems with two and three states, resulting in explicit analytic formulas that link the two-step probabilities to the single-step ones. Explicit examples are given with the popular techniques of rapid adiabatic passage and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. The present results suggest that quantum-mechanical probabilities degrade faster in repeated processes than classical probabilities. Therefore, the actual single-pass efficiencies in various experiments, calculated from double-pass probabilities, might have been greater than the reported values.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantum sensing of the phase space displacement parameters using a single trapped ion

We introduce a quantum sensing protocol for detecting the parameters characterizing the phase space displacement by using a single trapped ion as a quantum probe. We show that thanks to the laser-induced coupling between the ion's internal states and the motion mode the estimation of the two conjugated parameters describing the displacement can be efficiently performed by a set of measurements of the atomic state populations. Furthermore, we introduce a three-parameter protocol capable to detect the magnitude, the transverse direction and the phase of the displacement. We characterize the uncertainty of the two- and three-parameter problems in terms of the Fisher information and show that state projective measurement saturates the fundamental quantum Cramer-Rao bound.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Arbitrarily Accurate Pulse Sequences for Robust Dynamical Decoupling

We introduce universally robust sequences for dynamical decoupling, which simultaneously compensate pulse imperfections and the detrimental effect of a dephasing environment to an arbitrary order, work with any pulse shape, and improve performance for any initial condition. Moreover, the number of pulses in a sequence grows only linearly with the order of error compensation. Our sequences outperform the state-of-the-art robust sequences for dynamical decoupling. Beyond the theoretical proposal, we also present convincing experimental data for dynamical decoupling of atomic coherences in a solid-state optical memory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in physics, chemistry and beyond

The technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), which allows efficient and selective population transfer between quantum states without suffering loss due to spontaneous emission, was introduced in 1990 (Gaubatz \emph{et al.}, J. Chem. Phys. \textbf{92}, 5363, 1990). Since then STIRAP has emerged as an enabling methodology with widespread successful applications in many fields of physics, chemistry and beyond. This article reviews the many applications of STIRAP emphasizing the developments since 2000, the time when the last major review on the topic was written (Vitanov \emph{et al.}, Adv. At. Mol. Opt. Phys. \textbf{46}, 55, 2001). A brief introduction into the theory of STIRAP and the early applications for population transfer within three-level systems is followed by the discussion of several extensions to multi-level systems, including multistate chains and tripod systems. The main emphasis is on the wide range of applications in atomic and molecular physics (including atom optics, cavity quantum electrodynamics, formation of ultracold molecules, precision experiments, etc.), quantum information (including single- and two-qubit gates, entangled-state preparation, etc.), solid-state physics (including processes in doped crystals, nitrogen-vacancy centers, superconducting circuits, etc.), and even some applications in classical physics (including waveguide optics, frequency conversion, polarization optics, etc.). Promising new prospects for STIRAP are also presented (including processes in optomechanics, detection of parity violation in molecules, spectroscopy of core-nonpenetrating Rydberg states, and population transfer with X-ray pulses).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

High-precision force sensing using a single trapped ion

We introduce quantum sensing schemes for measuring very weak forces with a single trapped ion. They use the spin-motional coupling induced by the laser-ion interaction to transfer the relevant force information to the spin-degree of freedom. Therefore, the force estimation is carried out simply by observing the Ramsey-type oscillations of the ion spin states. Three quantum probes are considered, which are represented by systems obeying the Jaynes-Cummings, quantum Rabi (in 1D) and Jahn-Teller (in 2D) models. By using dynamical decoupling schemes in the Jaynes-Cummings and Jahn-Teller models, our force sensing protocols can be made robust to the spin dephasing caused by the thermal and magnetic field fluctuations. In the quantum-Rabi probe, the residual spin-phonon coupling vanishes, which makes this sensing protocol naturally robust to thermally-induced spin dephasing. We show that the proposed techniques can be used to sense the axial and transverse components of the force with a sensitivity beyond the yN $/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ range, i.e. in the xN$ /\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ (xennonewton, $10^{-27}$). The Jahn-Teller protocol, in particular, can be used to implement a two-channel vector spectrum analyzer for measuring ultra-low voltages.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Spontaneous-symmetry-breaking assisted quantum sensors

We propose a quantum sensing scheme for measuring weak forces based on a symmetry-breaking adiabatic transition in the quantum Rabi model. We show that the system described by the Rabi Hamiltonian can serve as a sensor for extremely weak forces with sensitivity beyond the yN $/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ range. We propose an implementation of this sensing protocol using a single trapped ion. A major advantage of our scheme is that the force detection is performed by projective measurement of the population of the spin states at the end of the transition, instead of the far slower phonon number measurement used hitherto.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Composite two-qubit gates

We design composite controlled-phase gates, which compensate errors in the phase of a single gate. The errors can be of various nature, such as relative, absolute or both. We present composite sequences which are robust to relative errors up to the 6th order, with the number of the constituent gates growing just linearly with the desired accuracy, and we describe a method to achieve even higher accuracy. We show that the absolute error can be canceled entirely with only two gates. We describe an ion-trap implementation of our composite gates, in which simultaneous cancellation of the error in both the pulse area and the detuning is achieved.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Dynamics of a two-state system through a real level crossing

The dynamics of a two-state system whose energies undergo a real crossing at some instant of time is studied. At this instant, both the coupling and the detuning vanish simultaneously, which leads to an exact degeneracy of the eigenenergies of the system. It is found that the dynamics of the system is primarily determined by the manner in which the degeneracy occurs. This interesting behavior is reminiscent of a symmetry breaking process, since the totally symmetric situation occurring at the crossing is significantly altered by infinitesimal quantities, which remove the degeneracy, with very important dynamical implications from there on. A very simple analytical formula is derived, which is found to describe the population changes very accurately.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Efficient construction of three- and four-qubit quantum gates by global entangling gates

We present improved circuits for the control-control-phase (Toffoli) gate and the control-swap (Fredkin) gate using three and four global two-qubit gates, respectively. This is a nearly double speed-up compared to the conventional circuits, which require five (for Toffoli) and seven (for Fredkin) conditional two-qubit gates. We apply the same approach to construct the conditional four-qubit phase gate by seven global two-qubit gates. We also present construction of the Toffoli and the Fredkin gates with five nearest-neighbour interactions. Our constructions do not employ ancilla qubits or ancilla internal states and are particularly well suited for ion qubits and for circuit QED systems, where the entangling operations can be implemented by global addressing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Highly efficient broadband polarization retarders and tunable polarization filters made of composite stacks of ordinary wave plates

By using the formal analogy between the evolution of the state vector in quantum mechanics and the Jones vector in polarization optics, we construct and demonstrate experimentally efficient broadband half-wave polarization retarders and tunable narrowband polarization filters. Both the broadband retarders and the filters are constructed by the same set of stacked standard multi-order optical wave plates rotated at different angles with respect to their fast polarization axes: for a certain set of angles this device behaves as a broadband polarization retarder while for another set of angles it turns into a narrowband polarization filter. We demonstrate that the transmission profile of our filter can be centered around any desired wavelength in a certain vicinity of the design wavelength of the wave plates solely by selecting appropriate rotation angles.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Quantum simulation of superexchange magnetism in linear ion crystals

We present a system for the simulation of Heisenberg models with spins $s=\frac{1}{2}$ and $s=1$ with a linear crystal of trapped ions. We show that the laser-ion interaction induces a Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard interaction between the atomic V-type level structure and the two phonon species. In the strong-coupling regime the collective atom and phonon excitations become localized at each lattice site and form an effective spin system with varying length. We show that the quantum-mechanical superexchange interaction caused by the second-order phonon hopping processes creates a Heisenberg-type coupling between the individual spins. Trapped ions allow to control the superexchange interactions by adjusting the trapping frequencies, the laser intensity, and the detuning.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

High-fidelity error-resilient composite phase gates

We present a method to construct high-fidelity quantum phase gates, which are insensitive to errors in various experimental parameters. The phase gates consist of a pair of two sequential broadband composite pulses, with a phase difference $π+α/2$ between them, where $α$ is the desired gate phase. By using composite pulses which compensate systematic errors in the pulse area, the frequency detuning, or both the area and the detuning, we thereby construct composite phase gates which compensate errors in the same parameters. Particularly interesting are phase gates which use the recently discovered universal composite pulses, which compensate systematic errors in any parameter of the driving field, which keep the evolution Hermitian (e.g., pulse amplitude and duration, pulse shape, frequency detuning, Stark shifts, residual frequency chirps, etc.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Can electrostatic field lift spin degeneracy?

There are two well known mechanisms which lead to lifting of energy spin degeneracy of single electron systems - magnetic field and spin-orbit coupling. We investigate the possibility for existence of a third mechanism in which electrostatic field can lead to lifting of spin-degeneracy directly without the mediation of spin-orbit coupling. A novel argument is provided for the need of spin-orbit coupling different from the usual relativistic considerations. It is shown that due to preserved translational invariance spin splitting purely by electrostatic field is not possible for Bloch states. A possible lifting of spin degeneracy by electrostatic field characterized by broken inversion and translational invariance is considered.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Correction of Arbitrary Errors in Population Inversion of Quantum Systems by Universal Composite Pulses

We introduce universal broadband composite pulse sequences for robust high-fidelity population inversion in two-state quantum systems, which compensate deviations in any experimental parameter (e.g. pulse amplitude, pulse duration, detuning from resonance, Stark shifts, unwanted frequency chirp, etc.) and are applicable with any pulse shape. We demonstrate the efficiency and universality of these composite pulses by experimental data on rephasing of atomic coherences in a $\text{Pr}^{3+}\text{:}\text{Y}_2\text{SiO}_5$ crystal.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Arbitrarily accurate passband composite pulses for dynamical suppression of amplitude noise

We introduce flexible high-fidelity passband (PB) composite pulse sequences constructed by concatenation of recently derived arbitrarily large and arbitrarily accurate broadband $\mathcal{B}$ and narrowband $\mathcal{N}$ composite sequences. Our PB sequences allow to produce flexible and tunable nearly rectangular two-state inversion profiles as a function of the individual pulse area because the width and the rectangularity of these profiles can be adjusted at will. Moreover, these PB sequences suppress excitation around pulse area $0$ and $2π$, and suppress deviations from complete population inversion around pulse area $π$ to arbitrarily high orders. These features makes them a valuable tool for high-fidelity qubit operations in the presence of relatively strong amplitude noise. We construct two types of PB pulses: $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{B})$ in which a broadband pulse is nested into a narrowband pulse, and $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{N})$ in which a narrowband pulse is nested into a broadband pulse; the latter sequences deliver narrower profiles. We derive exact analytic formulas for the composite phases of the PB pulses and exact analytic formulas for the inversion profiles. These formulas allow an easy estimation of the experimental resources needed for any desired qubit inversion profile.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Broadband optical isolator in fibre optics

We propose a broadband optical diode, which is composed of one achromatic reciprocal quarter-wave plate and one non-reciprocal quarter-wave plate, both placed between two crossed polarizers. The presented design of achromatic wave plates relies on an adiabatic evolution of the Stokes vector, thus, the scheme is robust and efficient. The possible simple implementation using fiber optics is suggested.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Composite stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

We introduce a high-fidelity technique for coherent control of three-state quantum systems, which combines two popular control tools --- stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and composite pulses. By using composite sequences of pairs of partly delayed pulses with appropriate phases the nonadiabatic transitions, which prevent STIRAP from reaching unit fidelity, can be canceled to an arbitrary order by destructive interference, and therefore the technique can be made arbitrarily accurate. The composite phases are given by simple analytic formulas, and they are universal for they do not depend on the specific pulse shapes, the pulse delay and the pulse areas.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Creation of arbitrary Dicke and NOON states of trapped-ion qubits by global addressing with composite pulses

We propose a fast and efficient technique to create classes of highly entangled states of trapped ions, such as arbitrary Dicke states and superpositions of them, e.g. NOON states. The ions are initialized in the phonon ground state and are addressed globally with a composite pulse that is resonant with the first motional sideband. The technique operates on comparatively short time scales, as resonant interactions allow one to use the minimum laser pulse area. The number of single pulses from the composite sequence is equal to the number of ions, thus the implementation complexity grows only linearly with the size of the system. The approach does not require individual addressing of the ions in the trap and can be applied both inside and outside the Lamb-Dicke regime.

quant-ph↗