arXiv subjects

T S Mahesh

Publications and source records attributed to T S Mahesh.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Quantum Sensing via Large Spin-Clusters in Solid-State NMR: Optimal coherence order for practical sensing

Quantum entanglement has long been recognized as an important resource for quantum sensing. In this work, we demonstrate the use of multiple-quantum solid-state NMR for quantum sensing by creating, manipulating, and detecting large clusters of correlated nuclear spins. We show that such clusters can sensitively detect pulse-width jitters in radio-frequency control fields at the level of tens of nanoseconds. By analyzing the response of high-order quantum coherences to these control-field jitters, we investigate the critical interplay between the enhanced sensitivity offered by large coherence orders, their relative distributions, and their varying susceptibility to decoherence. We further demonstrate that, even within a non-uniform distribution of coherence orders, there exists an optimal maximum coherence order that maximizes sensing efficiency. To support our interpretation, we supplement the experimental results with a simplified numerical model that estimates the corresponding quantum Fisher information. These results support the solid-state NMR platform as a valuable testbed for investigating many-body quantum metrology protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Direct Experimental Observation of Quantum Mpemba Effect without Bath Engineering

The quantum Mpemba effect refers to the phenomenon of a quantum system in an initial state, far away from equilibrium, relaxing much faster than a state comparatively nearer to equilibrium. We experimentally demonstrate that this highly counterintuitive effect can occur naturally during the thermalization of quantum systems. Considering dipolar relaxation as the dominant decoherence process, we theoretically derive the conditions that can lead to the Mpemba effect in nuclear spins. After experimentally preparing nuclear spin states dictated by those conditions, we observe the occurrence of the Mpemba effect when they are left to thermalize without any external control. We also experimentally observe the genuine quantum Mpemba effect during thermalization of nuclear spins. Our results establish that both these effects are natural in thermalization of quantum systems, and may show up without the need for any bath engineering.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Experimental Verification of Many-Body Entanglement Using Thermodynamic Quantities

The phenomenon of quantum entanglement underlies several important protocols that enable emerging quantum technologies. Entangled states, however, are extremely delicate and often get perturbed by tiny fluctuations in their external environment. Certification of entanglement is therefore immensely crucial for the successful implementation of protocols involving this resource. In this work, we propose a set of entanglement criteria for multi-qubit systems that can be easily verified by measuring certain thermodynamic quantities. In particular, the criteria depend on the difference in optimal global and local works extractable from an isolated quantum system under global and local interactions, respectively. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate the proposed scheme on nuclear spin registers of up to 10 qubits using the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance architecture. We prepare noisy Bell-diagonal state and noisy Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger class of states in star-topology systems and certify their entanglement through our thermodynamic criteria. Along the same line, we also propose an entanglement certification scheme in many-body systems when only partial or even no knowledge about the state is available.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Observing Algebraic Variety of Lee-Yang Zeros in Asymmetrical Systems via a Quantum Probe

Lee-Yang (LY) zeros, points on the complex plane of physical parameters where the partition function goes to zero, have found diverse applications across multiple disciplines like statistical physics, protein folding, percolation, complex networks etc. However, experimental extraction of the complete set of LY zeros for general asymmetrical classical systems remains a crucial challenge to put those applications into practice. Here, we propose a qubit-based method to simulate an asymmetrical classical Ising system, enabling the exploration of LY zeros at arbitrary values of physical parameters like temperature, internal couplings etc. Without assuming system symmetry, the full set of LY zeros forms an algebraic variety in a higher-dimensional complex plane. To determine this variety, we pro ject it into sets representing magnitudes (amoeba ) and phases (coamoeba ) of LY zeros. Our approach uses a probe qubit to initialize the system and to extract LY zeros without assuming any control over the system qubits. This is particularly important as controlling system qubits can get intractable with the increasing complexity of the system. Initializing the system at an amoeba point, coamoeba points are sampled by measuring probe qubit dynamics. Iterative sampling yields the entire algebraic variety. Experimental demonstration of the protocol is achieved through a three-qubit NMR register. This work expands the horizon of quantum simulation to domains where identifying LY zeros in general classical systems is pivotal. Moreover, by extracting abstract mathematical objects like amoeba and coamoeba for a given polynomial, our study integrates pure mathematical concepts into the realm of quantum simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Long-Lived Singlet State in an Oriented Phase and its Survival across the Phase Transition Into an Isotropic Phase

Long-lived singlet states (LLS) of nuclear spin pairs have been extensively studied and utilized in the isotropic phase via liquid state NMR. However, there are hardly any reports of LLS in the anisotropic phase that allows contribution from the dipolar coupling in addition to the scalar coupling, thereby opening many exciting possibilities. Here we report observing LLS in a pair of nuclear spins partially oriented in the nematic phase of a liquid crystal solvent. The spins are strongly interacting via the residual dipole-dipole coupling. We observe LLS in the oriented phase living up to three times longer than the usual spin-lattice relaxation time constant ($T_1$). Upon heating, the system undergoes a phase transition from nematic into isotropic phase, wherein the LLS is up to five times longer lived than the corresponding $T_1$. Interestingly, the LLS prepared in the oriented phase can survive the transition from the nematic to the isotropic phase. As an application of LLS in the oriented phase, we utilize its longer life to measure the small translational diffusion coefficient of solute molecules in the liquid crystal solvent. Finally, we propose utilizing the phase transition to lock or unlock access to LLS.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Counterdiabatic driving for long-lived singlet state preparation

The quantum adiabatic method, which maintains populations in their instantaneous eigenstates throughout the state evolution, is an established and often a preferred choice for state preparation and manipulation. Though it minimizes the driving cost significantly, its slow speed is a severe limitation in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era technologies. Since adiabatic paths are extensive in many physical processes, it is of broader interest to achieve adiabaticity at a much faster rate. Shortcuts to adiabaticity techniques which overcome the slow adiabatic process by driving the system faster through non-adiabatic paths, have seen increased attention recently. The extraordinarily long lifetime of the long-lived singlet states (LLS) in nuclear magnetic resonance, established over the past decade, has opened several important applications ranging from spectroscopy to biomedical imaging. Various methods, including adiabatic methods, are already being used to prepare LLS. In this article, we report the use of counterdiabatic driving (CD) to speed up LLS preparation with faster drives. Using NMR experiments, we show that CD can give stronger LLS order in shorter durations than conventional adiabatic driving.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

NMR investigations of quantum battery using star-topology spin systems

Theoretical explorations have revealed that quantum batteries can exploit quantum correlation to achieve faster charging, thus promising exciting applications in future technologies. Using NMR architecture, here we experimentally investigate various aspects of quantum battery with the help of nuclear spin systems in star-topology configuration. We first carry out numerical analysis to study how charging a quantum battery depends on the relative purity factors of charger and battery spins. By experimentally measuring the polarization of the battery spin undergoing charging, we estimate the battery energy and establish the theoretically predicted quantum advantage. We propose using the quantum advantage, which depends on the entanglement among chargers and battery, as a measure for estimating the size of the entangled cluster. We develop a simple iterative method to realize asymptotic charging avoiding oscillatory behaviour of charging and discharging. Finally, we introduce a load spin and realize a charger-battery-load circuit and experimentally demonstrate battery energy consumption after varying durations of battery storage, for up to two minutes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Quantum Optimal Control: Practical Aspects and Diverse Methods

Quantum controls realize the unitary or nonunitary operations employed in quantum computers, quantum simulators, quantum communications, and other quantum information devices. They implement the desired quantum dynamics with the help of electric, magnetic, or electromagnetic control fields. Quantum optimal control (QOC) deals with designing an optimal control field modulation that most precisely implements a desired quantum operation with minimum energy consumption and maximum robustness against hardware imperfections as well as external noise. Over the last two decades, numerous QOC methods have been proposed. They include asymptotic methods, direct search, gradient methods, variational methods, machine learning methods, etc. In this review, we shall introduce the basic ideas of QOC, discuss practical challenges, and then take an overview of the diverse QOC methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Star-topology Registers: NMR and Quantum Information Perspectives

Quantum control of large spin registers is crucial for many applications ranging from spectroscopy to quantum information. A key factor that determines the efficiency of a register for implementing a given information processing task is its network topology. One particular type, called star-topology, involves a central qubit uniformly interacting with a set of ancillary qubits. A particular advantage of the star-topology quantum registers is in the efficient preparation of large entangled states, called NOON states, and their generalized variants. Thanks to the robust generation of such correlated states, spectral simplicity, ease of polarization transfer from ancillary qubits to the central qubit, as well as the availability of large spin-clusters, the star-topology registers have been utilized for several interesting applications over the last few years. Here we review some recent progress with the star-topology registers, particularly via nuclear magnetic resonance methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Experimental verification of quantum heat exchange fluctuation relation

We experimentally verify the Jarzynski and Wöjcik quantum heat exchange fluctuation relation by implementing the interferometric technique in liquid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance setup and study the exchange heat statistics between two weakly coupled spin-1/2 quantum systems. In presence of uncorrelated initial state with individual spins prepared in local Gibbs thermal states at different temperatures, the exchange fluctuation symmetry is verified for arbitrary transient time. In contrast, when the initial preparation includes correlation, the fluctuation symmetry breaks down and further leads to an apparent spontaneous flow of heat from cold to hot. Our experimental approach is general and can be systematically extended to study heat statistics for more complex out-of-equilibrium many-body quantum systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Temporal order in periodically driven spins in star-shaped clusters

We experimentally study the response of star-shaped clusters of initially unentangled $N=4$, 10 and 37 nuclear spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ moments to an inexact $π$-pulse sequence, and show that an Ising coupling between the centre and the satellite spins results in robust period-two magnetization oscillations. The period is stable against bath-effects but the amplitude decays with a time scale that depends on the inexactness of the pulse. Simulations reveal a semiclassical picture where the rigidity of the period is due to a randomizing effect of the Larmor precession under the magnetization of surrounding spins. The time scales with stable periodicity increase with net initial magnetization even in the presence of perturbations, indicating a robust temporal ordered phase for large systems with finite magnetization per spin.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗