arXiv subjects

Quimey Pears Stefano

Publications and source records attributed to Quimey Pears Stefano.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Upper bound to optical forces through the multipolar control of optical beams

Optical tweezers enable the manipulation of microscopic objects using light, yet the fundamental limits to the optical forces that can be exerted on matter remain unknown. Here we derive a general upper bound to the maximum optical force that can be applied to a particle, based on an expansion of electromagnetic fields into well-defined helicity multipolar modes. This method finds the optimal force for any kind of fields external to the particle, including evanescent fields. We apply the method to homogeneous spherical particles in a stable trap and identify the field distributions that saturate this bound for the trapping stiffness. We further provide experimentally accessible strategies to approach these optimal conditions, including configurations using counterpropagating and single-beam traps. Experiments demonstrate a threefold enhancement of trapping forces relative to conventional designs, while theoretical predictions indicate that order-of-magnitude improvements are achievable for larger particles and high angular momentum beams. Our results establish fundamental design principles for maximizing optical forces and define the ultimate limits of optical manipulation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Controlling the centre of mass motion of levitated particles using structured wavefronts

Optically levitated particles have great potential to form the basis of novel quantum- enhanced sensors. These systems are very well suited for inertial sensing, as the particles are isolated from the environment when they are levitated at low pressures. However, there are many challenges in the experimental realization that may affect the performance of these systems. For example, optical aberrations in the wavefront of the trapping laser which arise from optical elements or misalignment have a great impact on the trapping potential. The detrimental effect of optical aberrations has not been thoroughly studied, and usually they are iteratively corrected, giving some conflicting results depending on the figures of merit that are used. In this work, we present a thorough study of the effects of structuring the wavefront of the trapping beams. We observe that clean beams, i.e. highly focused beams with unaberrated wavefronts, may be used to optimize the longitudinal frequencies, at the cost of the transversal ones. Our work is based in a combination of experimental studies using a complete basis of orthogonal polynomials (Zernike polynomials) to control the wavefront and a set of numerical calculations, which allow us to compare the impact of structured wavefronts on the quality of traps for optically levitated particles in vacuum. This will have direct applications in quantum sensing and fundamental studies of quantum mechanics, as it allows the reduction of optical backaction and thermal decoherence of the particles.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Optical forces, helicity, angular momentum and how they are all intertwined

The theoretical description of optical forces and torques on micron_sized particles is a crucial area of research and has formed the foundation for advancements in optical trapping and manipulation technologies. In this study, we derive analytical expressions for optical forces and torques on micron_sized spherical particles illuminated by focused Laguerre_Gaussian (LG) beams, employing the well_defined helicity multipolar decomposition of electromagnetic fields and Mie theory. We developed a multifunctional program, Multipolar Optical Forces Toolbox, based on this theoretical framework. The program, available on GitHub, was used to generate optical trapping stability maps. These maps predict trap stability across a wide range of system parameters and serve as a practical tool for designing advanced optical trapping experiments. Our analysis reveals the important role of helicity p and orbital angular momentum l on the dynamics of particles trapped off_axis in LG beams and demonstrates the unique nature of the tangential torque. Our findings also highlight notable differences in longitudinal optical forces resulting from pure helicity modifications in Gaussian beams. Furthermore, we showcase the ability of LG beams to isolate Mie resonances, offering a novel approach to locate the spectral positions of the resonances of high multipolar modes. These insights deepen the understanding of helicity in LG optical traps and pave the way for the development of more advanced optical manipulation techniques.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Parallelized projective measurements for spatial photonic qudits estimation

We present a quantum state tomography method that enables the reconstruction of \emph{arbitrary} $d-$dimensional quantum states encoded in the discretized transverse momentum of photons, by using \emph{only} $d+1$ experimental settings. To this end, we identify a family of bases with the property that the outcomes of a projective measurement are \emph{spatially multiplexed} on the interference pattern of the projected state. Using the proposed scheme we performed, as a proof-of-principle, an experimental reconstruction of $d=6-$dimensional states, for which a complete set of mutually unbiased bases does not exist. We obtained fidelity values above 0.97 for both pure and mixed states, reducing the number of experimental settings from $42$ to only $7$.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Selective and efficient quantum process tomography for non-trace preserving maps: a superconducting quantum processor implementation

Alternatively to the full reconstruction of an unknown quantum process, the so-called selective and efficient quantum process tomography (SEQPT) allows estimating, individually and up to the required accuracy, a given element of the matrix that describes such an operation with a polynomial amount of resources. The implementation of this protocol has been carried out with success to characterize the evolution of a quantum system that is well described by a trace preserving quantum map. Here, we deal with a more general type of quantum process that does not preserve the trace of the input quantum state, which naturally arises in the presence of imperfect devices and system-environment interactions, in the context of quantum information science or quantum dynamics control. In that case, we show that with the aid of {\it a priori} information on the losses structure of the quantum channel, the SEQPT reconstruction can be adapted to reconstruct the non-trace-preserving map. We explicitly describe how to implement the reconstruction in an arbitrary Hilbert space of finite dimension $d$. The method is experimentally verified on a superconducting quantum processor of the IBM Quantum services, by estimating several non trace-preserving quantum processes in dimensions up to $d=6$. Our results show that it is possible to efficiently reconstruct non trace-preserving processes, with high precision, and with significantly higher fidelity than when the process is assumed to be trace-preserving.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Experimental characterization of quantum processes: a selective and efficient method in arbitrary finite dimension

The temporal evolution of a quantum system can be characterized by quantum process tomography, a complex task that consumes a number of physical resources scaling exponentially with the number of subsystems. An alternative approach to the full reconstruction of a quantum channel allows selecting which coefficient from its matrix description to measure, and how accurately, reducing the amount of resources to be polynomial. The possibility of implementing this method is closely related to the possibility of building a complete set of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) whose existence is known only when the dimension of the Hilbert space is the power of a prime number. However, an extension of the method that uses tensor products of maximal sets of MUBs, has been introduced recently. Here we explicitly describe how to implement this algorithm to selectively and efficiently estimate any parameter characterizing a quantum process in a non-prime power dimension, and we conducted for the first time an experimental verification of the method in a Hilbert space of dimension $d=6$. That is the small space for which there is no known a complete set of MUBs but it can be decomposed as a tensor product of two other Hilbert spaces of dimensions $D_1=2$ and $D_2=3$, for which a complete set of MUBs is known. The $6$-dimensional states were codified in the discretized transverse momentum of the photon wavefront. The state preparation and detection stages are dynamically programmed with the use of only-phase spatial light modulators, in a versatile experimental setup that allows to implement the algorithm in any finite dimension.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Determination of spatial quantum states by using Point Diffraction Interferometry

We present a method to reconstruct pure spatial qudits of arbitrary dimension $d$, which is based on a point diffraction interferometer. In the proposed scheme, the quantum states are codified in the discretized transverse position of a photon field, once they are sent through an aperture with $d$ slits, and a known background is added to provide a phase reference. To characterize these photonic quantum states, the complete phase wavefront is reconstructed through a phase-shifting technique. Combined with a multipixel detector, the acquisition can be parallelized, and only four interferograms are required to reconstruct any pure qudit, independently of the dimension $d$. We tested the method experimentally, for reconstructing states of dimension $d=6$ randomly chosen. A mean fidelity values of $0.95$ is obtained. Additionally, we develop an experimental scheme that allows to estimate phase aberrations affecting the wavefront upon propagation, and thus improve the quantum state estimation. In that regard, we present a proof-of-principle demonstration that shows the possibility to correct the influence of turbulence in a free-space communication, recovering mean fidelity values comparable to the propagation free of turbulence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

A set of $4d-3$ observables to determine any pure qudit state

We present a tomographic method which requires only $4d-3$ measurement outcomes to reconstruct \emph{any} pure quantum state of arbitrary dimension $d$. Using the proposed scheme we have experimentally reconstructed a large number of pure states of dimension $d=7$, obtaining a mean fidelity of $0.94$. Moreover, we performed numerical simulations of the reconstruction process, verifying the feasibility of the method for higher dimensions. In addition, the \emph{a priori} assumption of purity can be certified within the same set of measurements, what represents an improvement with respect to other similar methods and contributes to answer the question of how many observables are needed to uniquely determine any pure state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Characterizing $d-$dimensional quantum channels by means of quantum process tomography

In this work we propose a simple optical architecture, based on phase-only programmable spatial light modulators, in order to characterize general processes on photonic spatial quantum systems in a $d>2$ Hilbert space. We demonstrate the full reconstruction of typical noises affecting quantum computing, as amplitude shifts, phase shifts, and depolarizing channel in dimension $d=5$. We have also reconstructed simulated atmospheric turbulences affecting a free-space transmission of qudits in dimension $d=4$. In each case, quantum process tomography (QPT) was performed in order to obtain the matrix $χ$ that fully describe the corresponding quantum channel, $\mathcal{E}$. Fidelities between the states experimentally obtained after go through the channel and the expected ones are above $97\%$.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Determination of any pure spatial qudits from a minimum number of measurements by phase stepping interferometry

We present a proof-of-principle demonstration of a method to characterize \textit{any} pure spatial qudit of arbitrary dimension $d$, which is based on the classic phase shift interferometry technique. In the proposed scheme a total of only $4 d$ measurement outcomes are needed, implying a significant reduction with respect to the standard schemes for quantum state tomography which require of the order of $d^2$. By using this technique, we have experimentally reconstructed a large number of states ranging from $d=2$ up to $14$ with mean fidelity values higher than $0.97$. For that purpose the qudits were codified in the discretized transverse momentum-position of single photons, once they are sent through an aperture with $d$ slits. We provide an experimental implementation of the method based in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, which allows to reduce the number of measurement settings to 4 since the $d$ slits can be measured simultaneously. Furthermore, it can be adapted to consider the reconstruction of the unknown state from the outcome frequencies of $4d-3$ fixed projectors independently of the encoding or the nature of the quantum system, allowing to implement the reconstruction method in a general experiment.

quant-ph↗