arXiv subjects

Rosario Lo Franco

Publications and source records attributed to Rosario Lo Franco.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Enhancing nonclassical bosonic correlations in a Quantum Walk network through experimental control of disorder

The presence of disorder and inhomogeneities in quantum networks has often been unexpectedly beneficial for both quantum and classical resources. Here, we experimentally realize a controllable inhomogenous Quantum Walk dynamics, which can be exploited to investigate the effect of coherent disorder on the quantum correlations between two indistinguishable photons. Through the imposition of suitable disorder configurations, we observe two photon states which exhibit an enhancement in the quantum correlations between two modes of the network, compared to the case of an ordered Quantum Walk. Different configurations of disorder can steer the system towards different realizations of such an enhancement, thus allowing spatial and temporal manipulation of quantum correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum information spreading in a disordered quantum walk

We design a quantum probing protocol using Quantum Walks to investigate the Quantum Information spreading pattern. We employ Quantum Fisher Information, as a figure of merit, to quantify extractable information about an unknown parameter encoded within the Quantum Walk evolution. Although the approach is universal, we focus on the coherent static and dynamic disorder to investigate anomalous and classical transport as well as Anderson localization. Our results show that a Quantum Walk can be considered as a readout device of information about defects and perturbations occurring in complex networks, both classical and quantum.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Hilbert-Schmidt speed as an efficient tool in quantum metrology

We investigate how the Hilbert-Schmidt speed (HSS), a special type of quantum statistical speed, can be exploited as a powerful and easily computable tool for quantum phase estimation in a $n$-qubit system. We find that, when both the HSS and quantum Fisher information (QFI) are computed with respect to the phase parameter encoded into the initial state of the $n$-qubit register, the zeros of the HSS dynamics are essentially the same as those of the QFI dynamics. Moreover, the positivity (negativity) of the time-derivative of the HSS exactly coincides with the positivity (negativity) of the time-derivative of the QFI. Our results also provide strong evidence for contractivity of the HSS under completely positive and trace preserving maps in high-dimensional systems, as predicted in previous studies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Witnessing non-Markovian effects of quantum processes through Hilbert-Schmidt speed

Non-Markovian effects can speed up the dynamics of quantum systems while the limits of the evolution time can be derived by quantifiers of quantum statistical speed. We introduce a witness for characterizing the non-Markovianity of quantum evolutions through the Hilbert-Schmidt speed (HSS), which is a special type of quantum statistical speed. This witness has the advantage of not requiring diagonalization of evolved density matrix. Its sensitivity is investigated by considering several paradigmatic instances of open quantum systems, such as one qubit subject to phase-covariant noise and Pauli channel, two independent qubits locally interacting with leaky cavities, V-type and $Λ$-type three-level atom (qutrit) in a dissipative cavity. We show that the proposed HSS-based non-Markovianity witness detects memory effects in agreement with the well-established trace distance-based witness, being sensitive to system-environment information backflows.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Dynamics of spatially indistinguishable particles and entanglement protection

We provide a general framework which allows one to obtain the dynamics of $N$ noninteracting spatially indistinguishable particles locally coupled to separated environments. The approach is universal, being valid for both bosons and fermions and for any type of system-environment interaction. It is then applied to study the dynamics of two identical qubits under paradigmatic Markovian noises, such as phase damping, depolarizing and amplitude damping. We find that spatial indistinguishability of identical qubits is a controllable intrinsic property of the system which protects quantum entanglement against detrimental noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Robust entanglement preparation against noise by controlling spatial indistinguishability

Initialization of composite quantum systems into highly entangled states is usually a must to allow their use for quantum technologies. However, the presence of unavoidable noise in the preparation stage makes the system state mixed, thus limiting the possibility of achieving this goal. Here we address this problem in the context of identical particle systems. We define the entanglement of formation for an arbitrary state of two identical qubits within the operational framework of spatially localized operations and classical communication (sLOCC). We then introduce an entropic measure of spatial indistinguishability under sLOCC as an information resource. We show that spatial indistinguishability, even partial, may shield entanglement from noise, guaranteeing Bell inequality violations. These results prove the fundamental role of particle identity as a control for efficient noise-protected entanglement generation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Experimental control of remote spatial indistinguishability of photons to realize entanglement and teleportation

Remote spatial indistinguishability of identical subsystems as a direct controllable quantum resource at distant sites has not been yet experimentally proven. We design a setup capable to tune the spatial indistinguishability of two photons by independently adjusting their spatial distribution in two distant regions, which leads to polarization entanglement starting from uncorrelated photons. The amount of entanglement uniquely depends on the degree of remote spatial indistinguishability, quantified by an entropic measure $\mathcal{I}$, which enables teleportation with fidelities above the classical threshold. This experiment realizes a basic nonlocal entangling gate by the inherent nature of identical quantum subsystems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantumness and memory of one qubit in a dissipative cavity under classical control

Hybrid quantum-classical systems constitute a promising architecture for useful control strategies of quantum systems by means of a classical device. Here we provide a comprehensive study of the dynamics of various manifestations of quantumness with memory effects, identified by non-Markovianity, for a qubit controlled by a classical field and embedded in a leaky cavity. We consider both Leggett-Garg inequality and quantum witness as experimentally-friendly indicators of quantumness, also studying the geometric phase of the evolved (noisy) quantum state. We show that, under resonant qubit-classical field interaction, a stronger coupling to the classical control leads to enhancement of quantumness despite a disappearance of non-Markovianity. Differently, increasing the qubit-field detuning (out-of-resonance) reduces the nonclassical behavior of the qubit while recovering non-Markovian features. We then find that the qubit geometric phase can be remarkably preserved irrespective of the cavity spectral width via strong coupling to the classical field. The controllable interaction with the classical field inhibits the effective time-dependent decay rate of the open qubit. These results supply practical insights towards a classical harnessing of quantum properties in a quantum information scenario.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Validating and controlling quantum enhancement against noise by motion of a qubit

Experimental validation and control of quantum traits for an open quantum system are important for any quantum information purpose. We consider a traveling atom qubit as a quantum memory with adjustable velocity inside a leaky cavity, adopting a quantum witness as a figure of merit for quantumness assessment. We show that this model constitutes an inherent physical instance where the quantum witness does not work properly if not suitably optimized. We then supply the optimal intermediate blind measurements which make the quantum witness a faithful tester of quantum coherence. We thus find that larger velocities protect quantumness against noise, leading to lifetime extension of hybrid qubit-photon entanglement and to higher phase estimation precision. Control of qubit motion thus reveals itself as a quantum enhancer.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Activating remote entanglement in a quantum network by local counting of identical particles

Quantum information and communication processing within quantum networks usually employs identical particles. Despite this, the physical role of quantum statistical nature of particles in large-scale networks remains elusive. Here, we show that just the indistinguishability of fermions makes it possible a new mechanism of entanglement transfer in many-node quantum networks. This process activates remote entanglement among distant sites, which do not share a common past, by only locally counting identical particles and classical communication. These results constitute the key achievement of the present technique and open the way to a more stable multistage transfer of nonlocal quantum correlations based on fermions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Entanglement transfer in a noisy cavity network with parity-deformed radiation fields

We investigate the effects of parity-deformed radiation fields on the dynamics of entanglement transfer to distant noninteracting atom qubits. These qubits are embedded in two separated lossy cavities connected by a leaky fiber, which acts as a cavity buffer with delocalized modes. The process is studied within a single-excitation subspace, the parity-deformed cavity photons allowing the introduction of static local classical fields which function as a control. The mechanism of state transfer is analyzed in comparison to the uncontrolled case. We find that the transfer evolution exhibits an asymmetry with respect to atom-field detuning, being sensitive to the sign of the detuning. Under a linear interaction controlled by the local classical fields, we show that the entanglement distribution can be both amplified and preserved against the noise. These results motivate developments towards the implementation or simulation of the purely theoretical model employing parity-deformed fields.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Indistinguishability-enabled coherence for quantum metrology

Quantum coherence plays a fundamental and operational role in different areas of physics. A resource theory has been developed to characterize the coherence of distinguishable particles systems. Here we show that indistinguishability of identical particles is a source of coherence, even when they are independently prepared. In particular, under spatially local operations, states that are incoherent for distinguishable particles, can be coherent for indistinguishable particles under the same procedure. We present a phase discrimination protocol, in which we demonstrate the operational advantage of using two indistinguishable particles rather than distinguishable ones. The coherence due to the quantum indistinguishability significantly reduces the error probability of guessing the phase using the most general measurements.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Effects of indistinguishability in a system of three identical qubits

Quantum correlations of identical particles are important for quantum-enhanced technologies. The recently introduced non-standard approach to treat identical particles [G. Compagno et al., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 376, 20170317 (2018)] is here exploited to show the effect of particle indistinguishability on the characterization of entanglement of three identical qubits. We show that, by spatially localized measurements in separated regions, three independently-prepared separated qubits in a pure elementary state behave as distinguishable ones, as expected. On the other hand, delocalized measurements make it emerge a measurement-induced entanglement. We then find that three independently-prepared boson qubits under complete spatial overlap exhibit genuine three-partite entanglement. These results evidence the effect of spatial overlap on identical particle entanglement and show that the latter depends on both the quantum state and the type of measurement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Validity of Landauer principle and quantum memory effects via collision models

We study the validity of Landauer principle in the non-Markovian regime by means of collision models where the intracollisions inside the reservoir cause memory effects generating system-environment correlations. We adopt the system-environment correlations created during the dynamical process to assess the effect of non-Markovianity on the Landauer principle. Exploiting an exact equality for the entropy change of the system, we find the condition for the violation of the Landauer principle, which occurs when the established system-environment correlations become larger than the entropy production of the system. We then generalize the study to the non-equilibrium situation where the system is surrounded by many reservoirs at different temperatures.Our results, verified through collision models with Heisenberg-type interactions, suggest that the complexity of the environment does not play a significant role in the qualitative mechanisms underlying the violation of the Landauer principle under non-Markovian processes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Protecting quantum resources via frequency modulation of qubits in leaky cavities

Finding strategies to preserve quantum resources in open systems is nowadays a main requirement for reliable quantum-enhanced technologies. We address this issue by considering structured cavities embedding qubits driven by a control technique known as frequency modulation. We first study a single qubit in a lossy cavity to determine optimal modulation parameters and qubit-cavity coupling regime allowing a gain of four orders of magnitude concerning coherence lifetimes. We relate this behavior to the inhibition of the qubit effective decay rate rather than to stronger memory effects (non-Markovianity) of the system. We then exploit these findings in a system of noninteracting qubits embedded in separated cavities to gain basic information about scalability of the procedure. We show that the determined modulation parameters enable lifetimes of quantum resources, such as entanglement, discord and coherence, three orders of magnitude longer than their natural (uncontrolled) decay times. We discuss the feasibility of the system within the circuit-QED scenario, typically employed in the current quantum computer prototypes. These results provide new insights towards efficient experimental strategies against decoherence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society

Nearing a century since its inception, quantum mechanics is as lively as ever. Its signature manifestations, such as superposition, wave-particle duality, uncertainty principle, entanglement and nonlocality, were long confronted as weird predictions of an incomplete theory, paradoxes only suitable for philosophical discussions, or mere mathematical artifacts with no counterpart in the physical reality. Nevertheless, decades of progress in the experimental verification and control of quantum systems have routinely proven detractors wrong. While fundamental questions still remain wide open on the foundations and interpretations of quantum mechanics, its modern technological applications have captured the fascination of the general public and are having a transformative impact on society. This brief article acts as Introduction to a Special Issue in the Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society A, following from a dedicated Scientific Discussion Meeting where these fascinating topics were explored, giving rise to stimulating debates among speakers and audience. The present issue thus aims at conveying the spirit of those discussions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Indistinguishability of elementary systems as resource for quantum information processing

Typical elements of quantum networks are made by identical systems, which are the basic particles constituting a resource for quantum information processing. Whether the indistinguishability due to particle identity is an exploitable quantum resource remains an open issue. Here we study independently prepared identical particles showing that, when they spatially overlap, an operational entanglement exists which can be made manifest by means of separated localized measurements. We prove this entanglement is physical in that it can be directly exploited to activate quantum information protocols, such as teleportation. These results establish that particle indistinguishability is a utilizable quantum feature and open the way to new quantum-enhanced applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Temperature effects on quantum non-Markovianity via collision models

Quantum non-Markovianity represents memory during the system dynamics, which is typically weakened by the temperature. We here study the effects of environmental temperature on the non-Markovianity of an open quantum system by virtue of collision models. The environment is simulated by a chain of ancillary qubits that are prepared in thermal states with a finite temperature $T$. Two distinct non-Markovian mechanisms are considered via two types of collision models, one where the system $S$ consecutively interacts with the ancillas and a second where $S$ collides only with an intermediate system $S'$ which in turn interacts with the ancillas. We show that in both models the relation between non-Markovianity and temperature is non-monotonic. In particular, revivals of non-Markovianity may occur as temperature increases. We find that the physical reason behind this behavior can be revealed by examining a peculiar system-environment coherence exchange, leading to ancillary qubit coherence larger than system coherence which triggers information backflow from the environment to the system. These results provide insights on the mechanisms underlying the counterintuitive phenomenon of temperature-enhanced quantum memory effects.

quant-ph↗