arXiv subjects

Paul Menczel

Publications and source records attributed to Paul Menczel.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Strongly-coupled non-Markovian waveguide QED with input-output HEOM

We consider the problem of modeling a single qubit in contact with a one-dimensional waveguide beyond the standard perturbative and Markovian approximations. Using the recently developed input-output hierarchical equations of motion (io-HEOM), we investigate multiple examples of such waveguides, characterized by different spectral densities. Our examples highlight that the io-HEOM method can accurately capture non-Markovianity in waveguide QED from two distinct origins. The first source of non-Markovianity is spatially non-local coupling between the qubit and the waveguide. By examining two examples with non-local coupling, we show how the coupling function affects the steady-state bound photons, and demonstrate the release of these photons when the qubit energy is quenched. The second source of non-Markovianity is non-linear dispersion. We illustrate this scenario using the example of a cavity array with point-like coupling, where the non-linear dispersion leads to persistent oscillations due to Van Hove singularities in the spectral density.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Full counting statistics and first-passage times in quantum Markovian processes: Ensemble relations, metastability, and fluctuation theorems

We develop a comprehensive framework for characterizing fluctuations in quantum transport and nonequilibrium thermodynamics using two complementary approaches: full counting statistics and first-passage times. Focusing on open quantum systems governed by Markovian Lindblad dynamics, we derive general ensemble relations that connect the two approaches at all times, and we clarify how the steady states reached at long times relate to those reached at large jump counts. In regimes of metastability, long-lived intermediate states cause violations of experimentally testable cumulant relations, as we discuss. We also formulate a fluctuation theorem governing the probability of rare fluctuations in the first-passage time distributions based on results from full counting statistics. Our results apply to general integer-valued trajectory observables that do not necessarily increase monotonically in time. Three illustrative applications, a two-state emitter, a driven qubit, and a variant of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, highlight the physical implications of our results and provide guidelines for practical calculations. Our framework provides a complete picture of first-passage time statistics in Markovian quantum systems, encompassing multiple earlier results, and it has direct implications for current experiments in quantum optics, superconducting circuits, and nanoscale heat engines.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

QuTiP 5: The Quantum Toolbox in Python

QuTiP, the Quantum Toolbox in Python, has been at the forefront of open-source quantum software for the past 13 years. It is used as a research, teaching, and industrial tool, and has been downloaded millions of times by users around the world. Here we introduce the latest developments in QuTiP v5, which are set to have a large impact on the future of QuTiP and enable it to be a modern, continuously developed and popular tool for another decade and more. We summarize the code design and fundamental data layer changes as well as efficiency improvements, new solvers, applications to quantum circuits with QuTiP-QIP, and new quantum control tools with QuTiP-QOC. Additional flexibility in the data layer underlying all ``quantum objects'' in QuTiP allows us to harness the power of state-of-the-art data formats and packages like JAX, CuPy, and more. We explain these new features with a series of both well-known and new examples. The code for these examples is available in a static form on GitHub and as continuously updated and documented notebooks in the qutip-tutorials package.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Non-Hermitian Pseudomodes for Strongly Coupled Open Quantum Systems: Unravelings, Correlations and Thermodynamics

The pseudomode framework provides an exact description of the dynamics of an open quantum system coupled to a non-Markovian environment. Using this framework, the influence of the environment on the system is studied in an equivalent model, where the open system is coupled to a finite number of unphysical pseudomodes that follow a time-local master equation. Building on the insight that this master equation does not need to conserve the hermiticity of the pseudomode state, we here ask for the most general conditions on the master equation that guarantee the correct reproduction of the system's original dynamics. We demonstrate that our generalized approach decreases the number of pseudomodes that are required to model, for example, underdamped environments at finite temperature. We also provide an unraveling of the master equation into quantum jump trajectories of non-Hermitian states, which further facilitates the utilization of the pseudomode technique for numerical calculations by enabling the use of easily parallelizable Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we show that pseudomodes, despite their unphysical nature, provide a natural picture in which physical processes, such as the creation of system-bath correlations or the exchange of heat, can be studied. Hence, our results pave the way for future investigations of the system-environment interaction leading to a better understanding of open quantum systems far from the Markovian weak-coupling limit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Fixing detailed balance in ancilla-based dissipative state engineering

Dissipative state engineering is a general term for a protocol which prepares the ground state of a complex many-body Hamiltonian using engineered dissipation or engineered environments. Recently, it was shown that a version of this protocol, where the engineered environment consists of one or more dissipative qubit ancillas tuned to be resonant with the low-energy transitions of a many-body system, resulted in the combined system evolving to reasonable approximation to the ground state. This potentially broadens the applicability of the method beyond non-frustrated systems, to which it was previously restricted. Here we argue that this approach has an intrinsic limitation because the ancillas, seen as an effective bath by the system in the weak-coupling limit, do not give the detailed balance expected for a true zero-temperature environment. Our argument is based on the study of a similar approach employing linear coupling to bosonic ancillas. We explore overcoming this limitation using a recently developed technique from open-quantum-systems called pseudomodes. With a simple example model of a 1D quantum Ising chain, we show that detailed balance can be fixed, and a more accurate estimation of the ground state obtained, at the cost of two additional unphysical dissipative modes and the extrapolation error of implementing those modes in physical systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

A pseudo-fermion method for the exact description of fermionic environments: from single-molecule electronics to Kondo resonance

We develop a discrete fermion approach for modelling the strong interaction of an arbitrary system interacting with continuum electronic reservoirs. The approach is based on a pseudo-fermion decomposition of the continuum bath correlation functions, and is only limited by the accuracy of this decomposition. We show that to obtain this decomposition one can allow for imaginary pseudo-fermion parameters, and strong damping in individual pseudo-fermions, without introducing unwanted approximations. For a non-interacting single-resonant level, we benchmark our approach against an analytical solution and an exact hierachical-equations-of-motion approach. We also show that, for the interacting case, this simple method can capture the strongly correlated low-temperature physics of Kondo resonance.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

A Cooper-Pair Box Coupled to Two Resonators: An Architecture for a Quantum Refrigerator

Superconducting circuits present a promising platform with which to realize a quantum refrigerator. Motivated by this, we fabricate and perform spectroscopy of a gated Cooper-pair box, capacitively coupled to two superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators with different frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate the strong coupling of a charge qubit to two superconducting resonators, with the ability to perform voltage driving of the qubit at GHz frequencies. We go on to discuss how the measured device could be modified to operate as a cyclic quantum refrigerator by terminating the resonators with normal-metal resistors acting as heat baths.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations for coherently driven open quantum systems

In classical Markov jump processes, current fluctuations can only be reduced at the cost of increased dissipation. To explore how quantum effects influence this trade-off, we analyze the uncertainty of steady-state currents in Markovian open quantum systems. We first consider three instructive examples and then systematically minimize the product of uncertainty and entropy production for small open quantum systems. As our main result, we find that the thermodynamic cost of reducing fluctuations can be lowered below the classical bound by coherence. We conjecture that this cost can be made arbitrarily small in quantum systems with sufficiently many degrees of freedom. Our results thereby provide a general guideline for the design of thermal machines in the quantum regime that operate with high thermodynamic precision, meaning low dissipation and small fluctuations around average values.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

QuTiP-BoFiN: A bosonic and fermionic numerical hierarchical-equations-of-motion library with applications in light-harvesting, quantum control, and single-molecule electronics

The "hierarchical equations of motion" (HEOM) method is a powerful exact numerical approach to solve the dynamics and find the steady-state of a quantum system coupled to a non-Markovian and non-perturbative environment. Originally developed in the context of physical chemistry, it has also been extended and applied to problems in solid-state physics, optics, single-molecule electronics, and biological physics. Here we present a numerical library in Python, integrated with the powerful QuTiP platform, which implements the HEOM for both bosonic and fermionic environments. We demonstrate its utility with a series of examples. For the bosonic case, we include demonstrations of fitting arbitrary spectral densities, and an example of the dynamics of energy transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson photosynthetic complex, showing how a suitable non-Markovian environment can protect against pure dephasing. We also demonstrate how the HEOM can be used to benchmark different strategies for dynamical decoupling of a spin from its environment, and show that the Uhrig pulse-spacing scheme is less optimal than equally spaced pulses when the environment's spectral density is very broad. For the fermionic case, we present an integrable single-impurity example, used as a benchmark of the code, and a more complex example of an impurity strongly coupled to a single vibronic mode, with applications to single-molecule electronics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum jump approach to microscopic heat engines

Modern technologies could soon make it possible to investigate the operation cycles of quantum heat engines by counting the photons that are emitted and absorbed by their working systems. Using the quantum jump approach to open-system dynamics, we show that such experiments would give access to a set of observables that determine the trade-off between power and efficiency in finite-time engine cycles. By analyzing the single-jump statistics of thermodynamic fluxes such as heat and entropy production, we obtain a family of general bounds on the power of microscopic heat engines. Our new bounds unify two earlier results and admit a transparent physical interpretation in terms of single-photon measurements. In addition, these bounds confirm that driving-induced coherence leads to an increase in dissipation that suppresses the efficiency of slowly driven quantum engines in the weak-coupling regime. A nanoscale heat engine based on a superconducting qubit serves as an experimentally relevant example and a guiding paradigm for the development of our theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Thermodynamics of Cyclic Quantum Amplifiers

We develop a generic model for a cyclic quantum heat engine that makes it possible to coherently amplify a periodically modulated input signal without the need to couple the working medium to multiple reservoirs at the same time. Instead, we suggest an operation principle that is based on the spontaneous creation of population inversion in incomplete relaxation processes induced by periodic temperature variations. Focusing on Lindblad dynamics and systems with equally spaced energy levels, e.g. qubits or quantum harmonic oscillators, we derive a general working criterion for such cyclic quantum amplifiers. This criterion defines a class of candidates for suitable working media and applies to arbitrary control protocols. For the minimal case of a cyclic three-level amplifier, we show that our criterion is tight and explore the conditions for optimal performance.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Limit cycles in periodically driven open quantum systems

We investigate the long-time behavior of quantum N-level systems that are coupled to a Markovian environment and subject to periodic driving. As our main result, we obtain a general algebraic condition ensuring that all solutions of a periodic quantum master equation with Lindblad form approach a unique limit cycle. Quite intuitively, this criterion requires that the dissipative terms of the master equation connect all subspaces of the system Hilbert space during an arbitrarily small fraction of the cycle time. Our results provide a natural extension of Spohn's algebraic condition for the approach to equilibrium to systems with external driving.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Two-Stroke Optimization Scheme for Mesoscopic Refrigerators

Refrigerators use a thermodynamic cycle to move thermal energy from a cold reservoir to a hot one. Implementing this operation principle with mesoscopic components has recently emerged as a promising strategy to control heat currents in micro and nano systems for quantum technological applications. Here, we combine concepts from stochastic and quantum thermodynamics with advanced methods of optimal control theory to develop a universal optimization scheme for such small-scale refrigerators. Covering both the classical and the quantum regime, our theoretical framework provides a rigorous procedure to determine the periodic driving protocols that maximize either cooling power or efficiency. As a main technical tool, we decompose the cooling cycle into two strokes, which can be optimized one by one. In the regimes of slow or fast driving, we show how this procedure can be simplified significantly by invoking suitable approximations. To demonstrate the practical viability of our scheme, we determine the exact optimal driving protocols for a quantum microcooler, which can be realized experimentally with current technology. Our work provides a powerful tool to develop optimal design strategies for engineered cooling devices and it creates a versatile framework for theoretical investigations exploring the fundamental performance limits of mesoscopic thermal machines.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Photon counting statistics of a microwave cavity

The development of microwave photon detectors is paving the way for a wide range of quantum technologies and fundamental discoveries involving single photons. Here, we investigate the photon emission from a microwave cavity and find that distribution of photon waiting times contains information about few-photon processes, which cannot easily be extracted from standard correlation measurements. The factorial cumulants of the photon counting statistics are positive at all times, which may be intimately linked with the bosonic quantum nature of the photons. We obtain a simple expression for the rare fluctuations of the photon current, which is helpful in understanding earlier results on heat transport statistics and measurements of work distributions. Under non-equilibrium conditions, where a small temperature gradient drives a heat current through the cavity, we formulate a fluctuation-dissipation relation for the heat noise spectra. Our work suggests a number of experiments for the near future, and it offers theoretical questions for further investigation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Universal First-Passage-Time Distribution of Non-Gaussian Currents

We investigate the fluctuations of the time elapsed until the electric charge transferred through a conductor reaches a given threshold value. For this purpose, we measure the distribution of the first-passage times for the net number of electrons transferred between two metallic islands in the Coulomb blockade regime. Our experimental results are in excellent agreement with numerical calculations based on a recent theory describing the exact first-passage-time distributions for any non-equilibrium stationary Markov process. We also derive a simple analytical approximation for the first-passage-time distribution, which takes into account the non-Gaussian statistics of the electron transport, and show that it describes the experimental distributions with high accuracy. This universal approximation describes a wide class of stochastic processes and can be used beyond the context of mesoscopic charge transport. In addition, we verify experimentally a fluctuation relation between the first-passage-time distributions for positive and negative thresholds.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗