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Patrick Navez

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Navez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

When Repulsion Creates Pairing: A New Perspective on Unconventional Superconductivity

Despite the repulsive Coulomb law and the Pauli statistics that do not favor bound states, attraction between electrons or holes is nevertheless possible in the context of many body interaction and of valley potential landscapes, reminiscent of exotic superconducting materials. In particular, in 1965, Kohn and Luttinger published a note revealing that the dynamical screening of the repulsive Coulomb interaction leads, under certain conditions, to an effective attraction necessary for the formation of Cooper pairs. We propose such a formalism adapted to the cuprates, where the screening arises from the superexchange dynamics of virtual holes in the oxygen orbitals of the $Cu O_2$ plane. Inspired from the Bardeen-Copper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, we can derive some predictions for the temperature-doping phase diagram (pseudo-gap, strange metal, antiferromagnetism, superconducting, and normal states) in semi-quantitative agreement with observations.

cond-mat.supr-con

Bose condensation and Bogoliubov excitation in resonator-embedded superconducting qubit network

Superconducting qubit networks (SQNs) embedded in a low-dissipative resonator is a promising device allowing one not only to establish the collective quantum dynamics on a macroscopic scale but also to greatly enhance the sensitivity of detectors of microwave photons. A quantum ac Stark effect provided by coupling between an SQN and microwave photons of a resonator, leads to a strong nonlinear interaction between photons. Here, we present a two-tone spectroscopy experiment in which a set of 10 superconducting flux qubits is coupled to the input R- resonator and the output T- transmission line. An external microwave pump field close to the resonance frequency populates macroscopically the resonator mode as a Bose-Einstein condensate, while a second probe beam scans the resonances referred also as Bogoliubov-like excitations. The corresponding excitation frequency measured from the transmission coefficient, |S21(f)| displays an abrupt change of the resonant dip position once the power of the pump field overcomes a critical value Pcr. This sharp shift occurs in a narrow region of pump frequencies, and can be tuned by an applied magnetic field. It is a signature of bistability of the photon number inside the resonator, in agreement with theory.

quant-ph

Screened superexchange mechanism for superconductivity applied to cuprates

In 1965, Kohn and Luttinger published a note revealing that dynamical screening of the repulsive Coulomb interaction leads under certain conditions to an effective attraction necessary for the formation of Cooper pairs. We propose such a formalism adapted to the cuprates where the screening arises from the superexchange dynamics of virtual holes in the oxygen orbitals of the $Cu O_2$ plane. Using an adequate Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, the basic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) method and the {\it ab initio} data on orbitals (energy, hopping, interaction), we derive some predictions for the temperature-doping phase diagram (pseudo-gap, strange metal, antiferromagnetism, superconducting and normal states) and for the doping dependant band energy spectrum in semi-quantitative agreement with observations.

cond-mat.supr-con

Quantum determinism and completeness restored by indistinguishability and long-time particle detection

We argue that measurement data in quantum physics can be rigorously interpreted only as a result of a statistical, macroscopic process, taking into account the indistinguishable character of identical particles. Quantum determinism is in principle possible on the condition that a fully-fledged quantum-field-theoretic model is used to describe the measurement device in interaction with the studied object as one system. In contrast, any approach that relies on Born's rule discriminates the dynamics of a quantum system from that of the detector with which it interacts during measurement. In this work, we critically analyze the validity of this measurement postulate applied to single-event signals. In fact, the concept of ``individual'' particle becomes inadequate once both indistinguishability and a scattering approach allowing an unlimited interaction time for an effective detection, are considered as they should be, hence preventing the separability of two successive measurement events. In this context, measurement data should therefore be understood only as a result of statistics over many events. Accounting for the intrinsic noise of the sources and the detectors, we also show with the illustrative cases of the Schr\"odinger cat and the Bell experiment that once the Born rule is abandoned on the level of a single particle, realism, locality and causality are restored. We conclude that indiscernibility and long-time detection process make quantum physics not fundamentally probabilistic.

physics.gen-ph

Doublon-holon pair creation in Mott-Hubbard systems in analogy to QED

Via the hierarchy of correlations, we study doublon-holon pair creation in the Mott state of the Fermi-Hubbard model induced by a time-dependent electric field. Special emphasis is placed on the analogy to electron-positron pair creation from the vacuum in quantum electrodynamics (QED). We find that the accuracy of this analogy depends on the spin structure of the Mott background. For Ising type anti-ferromagnetic order, we derive an effective Dirac equation. A Mott state without any spin order, on the other hand, does not explicitly display such a quasi-relativistic behavior.

cond-mat.str-el

Interface potential and line tension for Bose-Einstein condensate mixtures near a hard wall

Within Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) theory we derive the interface potential V (l) which describes the interaction between the interface separating two demixed Bose-condensed gases and an optical hard wall at a distance l. Previous work revealed that this interaction gives rise to extraordinary wetting and prewetting phenomena. Calculations that explore non-equilibrium properties by using l as a constraint provide a thorough explanation for this behavior. We find that at bulk two-phase coexistence, V (l) for both complete wetting and partial wetting is monotonic with exponential decay. Remarkably, at the first-order wetting phase transition, V(l) is independent of l. This anomaly explains the infinite continuous degeneracy of the grand potential reported earlier. As a physical application, using V(l) we study the three-phase contact line where the interface meets the wall under a contact angle theta. Employing an interface displacement model we calculate the structure of this inhomogeneity and its line tension tau. Contrary to what happens at a usual first-order wetting transition in systems with short-range forces, tau does not approach a nonzero positive constant for theta going to zero, but instead approaches zero (from below) as would be expected for a critical wetting transition. This hybrid character of tau is a consequence of the absence of a barrier in V(l) at wetting. For a typical V(l) we provide a conjecture for the exact line tension within GP theory.

cond-mat.quant-gas

SQUID-based interferometric accelerometer

Optics and more recently coherent matter waves enabled inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes to reach high levels of resolution and sensitivity. As these technologies rest on physical phenomena that require particular setups and working conditions such as, e.g., kilometers of optical fibers or ultralow temperatures, their application range is limited because of lack of portability. Here, we propose a path forward considering a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) to detect and measure acceleration, using electronic interferometry. The operation of such an accelerometer rests on the ability of the Cooper pairs to record their wave function phase change as the device is subjected either to a transverse acceleration or vibrations. We provide numerical evidence for the feasibility of SQUID-based accelerometers that can be used for transverse acceleration and oscillatory motion measurement.

quant-ph

Entangling continuous variables with a qubit array

We show that an array of qubits embedded in a waveguide can emit entangled pairs of microwave photon beams. The quadratures obtained from a homodyne detection of these outputs beams form a pair of correlated continuous variables similarly to the EPR experiment. The photon pairs are produced by the decay of plasmon-like collective excitations in the qubit array. The maximum intensity of the resulting beams is only bounded by the number of emitters. We calculate the excitation decay rate both into a continuum of photon state and into a one-mode cavity. We also determine the frequency of Rabi-like oscillations resulting from a detuning.

quant-ph

Classical spin simulations with a quantum two-spin correction

Classical simulations of high-temperature nuclear spin dynamics in solids are known to accurately predict relaxation for spin 1/2 lattices with a large number of interacting neighbors. Once the number of interacting neighbors becomes four or smaller, classical simulations lead to noticeable discrepancies. Here we attempt to improve the performance of the classical simulations by adding a term representing two-spin quantum correlations. The method is tested for a spin-1/2 chain. It exhibits good performance at shorter times, but, at longer times, it is hampered by a singular behavior of the resulting equations of motion.

cond-mat.str-el

Martingale Strategy for Modeling Quantum Adiabatic Evolution

We propose a strategy for modeling the behavior of an adiabatic quantum computer described by an Ising Hamiltonian with $N$ sites and the coordination number $Z$. The method is based on the $1/Z$ expansion for the density matrix of the system. In each order, the ground state energy is found neglecting the higher-order correlations between the sites, as long as the set of equations remains non-singular. The conditions of the appearance of a singularity, equivalent to the disappearance of energy gap in the given approximation, can be directly obtained from the equations. Then the next order in the expansion must be used, at the price of an $N$-fold increase in computational resources. This "martingale" strategy allows reducing the computational costs to a power of $N$ rather than $2^N$, with a finite probability of success. The strategy is illustrated by the case of a two-spin system and extended to a large number of qubits. Comparing the predictions to the experimental results obtained by using an adiabatic quantum computer would help quantify the importance of multi-site correlations, and the influence of decoherence, on its operation.

quant-ph

Resilience of $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry against stochasticity in a gain-loss balanced oscillator

We investigate the effects of dichotomous noise added to a classical harmonic oscillator in the form of stochastic time-dependent gain and loss states, whose durations are sampled from two distinct exponential waiting time distributions. Despite the stochasticity, stability criteria can be formulated when averaging over many realizations in the asymptotic time limit and serve to determine the boundary line in parameter space that separates regions of growing amplitudes from those of decaying ones. Furthermore, the concept of $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry remains applicable for such a stochastic oscillator and we use it to distinguish between an underdamped symmetric phase and an overdamped asymmetric phase. In the former case, the limit of stability is marked by the same average duration for the gain and loss states, whilst in the the latter case, a higher duration of the loss state is necessary to keep the system stable. The overdamped phase has an ordered structure imposing a position-velocity ratio locking and is viewed as a phase transition from the underdamped phase, which instead displays a broad and more disordered, but nevertheless, $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetric structure. We also address the short time limit and the dynamics of the moments of the position and the velocity with the aim of revealing the extremely rich dynamics offered by this apparently quite simple mechanical system. The notions established so far may be extended and applied in the stabilization of light propagation in metamaterials and optical fibres with randomly distributed regions of asymmetric active and passive media.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Matter-wave interferometers using TAAP rings

We present two novel matter-wave Sagnac interferometers based on ring- shaped time-averaged adiabatic potentials (TAAP). For both the atoms are put into a superposition of two different spin states and manipulated independently using elliptically polarized rf-fields. In the first interferometer the atoms are accelerated by spin-state-dependent forces and then travel around the ring in a matter-wave guide. In the second one the atoms are fully trapped during the entire interferometric sequence and are moved around the ring in two spin-state-dependent "buckets". Corrections to the ideal Sagnac phase are investigated for both cases. We experimentally demonstrate the key atom-optical elements of the interferometer such as the independent manipulation of two different spin states in the ring-shaped potentials under identical experimental conditions.

quant-ph

The large coordination number expansion of a lattice Bose gas at finite temperature

The expansion of the partition function for large coordination number $Z$ is a long standing method and has formerly been used to describe the Ising model at finite temperatures. We extend this approach and study the interacting Bose gas at finite temperatures. An analytical expression for the free energy is derived which is valid for weakly interacting and strongly interacting bosons. The transition line which separates the superfluid phase from Mott insulating/normal gas phase is shown for fillings $\langle\hat n\rangle=1$ and $\langle\hat n\rangle=2$. For unit filling, our findings agree qualitatively with Quantum Monte-Carlo results. Contrary to the well-known mean-field result, the shift of the critical temperature in the weakly interacting regime is apparent.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Quasi-particle approach for general lattice Hamiltonians

In many condensed-matter systems, it is very useful to introduce a quasi-particle approach, which is based on some sort of linearization around a suitable background state. In order to be a systematic and controlled approximation, this linearization should be justified by an expansion into powers of some small control parameter. Here, we present a method for general lattice Hamiltonians with large coordination numbers Z >> 1, which is based on an expansion into powers of 1/Z. In order to demonstrate the generality of our method, we apply it to various spin systems, as well as the Bose and Fermi Hubbard model.

cond-mat.str-el

Correlations in the Bose & Fermi Hubbard Model

We study the Bose-Hubbard and Fermi-Hubbard model in the limit of large coordination numbers Z (i.e., many tunnelling partners). Via a controlled expansion into powers of 1/Z, we establish a hierarchy of correlations, which facilitates an approximate analytic solution of the quantum evolution. For the Bose-Hubbard model, we derive the growth of phase coherence after a quench from the Mott to the superfluid phase. For a quench within the Mott phase, we find that various local observables approach a quasi-equilibrium state after a finite period of time. However, this state is not thermal, i.e., real thermalisation -- if it occurs -- requires much longer time scales. For a tilted lattice in the Mott state, we calculate the tunnelling probability and find a remarkable analogy to the Sauter-Schwinger effect (i.e., electron-positron pair creation out of the vacuum due to a strong electric field). These analytical results are compared to numerical simulations for finite lattices in one and two dimensions and we find qualitative agreement. Finally, we generalize these studies to the more involved case of the Fermi-Hubbard model.

quant-ph

Quantum stochastic description of collisions in a canonical Bose gas

We derive a stochastic process that describes the kinetics of a one-dimensional Bose gas in a regime where three body collisions are important. In this situation the system becomes non integrable offering the possibility to investigate dissipative phenomena more simply compared to higher dimensional gases. Unlike the quantum Boltzmann equation describing the average momentum distribution, the stochastic approach allows a description of higher-order correlation functions in a canonical ensemble. As will be shown, this ensemble differs drastically from the grand canonical one. We illustrate the use of this method by determining the time evolution of the momentum mode particle number distribution and the static structure factor during the evaporative cooling process.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Sauter-Schwinger like tunneling in tilted Bose-Hubbard lattices in the Mott phase

We study the Mott phase of the Bose-Hubbard model on a tilted lattice. On the (Gutzwiller) mean-field level, the tilt has no effect -- but quantum fluctuations entail particle-hole pair creation via tunneling. For small potential gradients (long-wavelength limit), we derive a quantitative analogy to the Sauter-Schwinger effect, i.e., electron-positron pair creation out of the vacuum by an electric field. For large tilts, we obtain resonant tunneling related to Bloch oscillations.

quant-ph

Excitation dynamics in a lattice Bose gas within the time-dependent Gutzwiller mean-field approach

The dynamics of the collective excitations of a lattice Bose gas at zero temperature is systematically investigated using the time-dependent Gutzwiller mean-field approach. The excitation modes are determined within the framework of the linear-response theory as solutions of the generalized Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations valid in the superfluid and Mott-insulator phases at arbitrary values of parameters. The expression for the sound velocity derived in this approach coincides with the hydrodynamic relation. We calculate the transition amplitudes for the excitations in the Bragg scattering process and show that the higher excitation modes give significant contributions. We simulate the dynamics of the density perturbations and show that their propagation velocity in the limit of week perturbation is satisfactorily described by the predictions of the linear-response analysis.

cond-mat.quant-gas