arXiv subjects

Verònica Ahufinger

Publications and source records attributed to Verònica Ahufinger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Topological bound states in a lattice of rings with nearest-neighbour interactions

We study interaction-induced bound states in a system of ultracold bosons loaded into the states with orbital angular momentum in a one-dimensional staggered lattice of rings. We consider the hard-core limit and strong nearest-neighbour interactions such that two particles in next neighbouring sites are bound. Focusing on the manifold of such bound states, we have derived the corresponding effective model for doublons. With orbital angular momentum $l=1$, the original physical system is described as a Creutz ladder by using the circulations as a synthetic dimension, and the effective model obtained consists of two Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chains and two Bose-Hubbard chains. Therefore, the system can exhibit topologically protected edge states. In a structure that alternates $l=1$ and $l=0$ states, the original system can be mapped to a diamond chain. In this case, the effective doublon model corresponds to a Creutz ladder with extra vertical hoppings between legs and can be mapped to two SSH chains if all the couplings in the original system are equal. Tuning spatially the amplitude of the couplings destroys the inversion symmetry of these SSH chains, but enables the appearance of multiple flat bands.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Geometrical control of topology with orbital angular momentum modes

We study how the topological properties of a one-dimensional staggered lattice, loaded into states with orbital angular momentum $l=1$, can be controlled simply by tuning the relative angle between sites. The original system under consideration can be depicted as a Creutz ladder model when unwrapping the different state circulations in a synthetic dimension. Depending on the hopping strengths of the chain, different topological regimes may be accessed by changing the ladder angle, as determined by the value of the winding number of the chain. We analytically and numerically explore the different available regimes, and determine the number of topologically protected edge states that exist in each case. We also study the emergence of band inversion across topological transitions and show that it agrees with the winding number calculations, thus serving as an additional topological marker. Then, we propose a realistic experimental implementation in a photonic waveguide system, where the topological transition manifests as a sudden change of the behavior of the propagation of light in the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Robust certification of high-dimensional quantum devices

Certifying quantum behavior from classically accessible data is essential for secure communication and scalable quantum technologies. While powerful certification methods such as Bell nonlocality and quantum steering exist, their implementation typically requires entanglement or additional assumptions, and experimental demonstrations mainly focus on low-dimensional systems. In minimal prepare-and-measure scenarios, where a sender encodes information into quantum states and a receiver performs a single measurement, robust certification becomes particularly challenging, especially in the presence of noise and in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Here, we propose, design, and experimentally implement a protocol that certifies quantumness between two distant parties without the need for preshared resources or measurement incompatibility. The experiments are carried out using the orbital angular momentum degrees of freedom of single photons, chosen for providing increased dimensionality that is scalable. We demonstrate the robustness of the protocol through rank-stability analysis of the observed correlations, which enables the certification of non-classicality even in the presence of noise. Our results provide a practical route to validate high-dimensional quantum communication systems and open new possibilities for secure and dimension-efficient quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Impurity flat band states in the diamond chain

Flat band (FB) systems, featuring dispersionless energy bands, have garnered significant interest due to their compact localized states (CLSs). However, a detailed account on how local impurities affect the physical properties of overlapping CLSs is still missing. Here we study a diamond chain with a finite magnetic flux per plaquette that exhibits a gapped midspectrum FB with non-orthogonal CLSs, and develop a framework for projecting operators onto such non-orthogonal bases. This framework is applied to the case of an open diamond chain with small local impurities in the midchain plaquette, and analytical expressions are derived for FB states influenced by these impurities. For equal impurities in top and bottom sites under diagonal disorder, we show how the impurity states experience an averaged disorder dependent on their spatial extension, leading to enhanced robustness against disorder. For a single impurity, an exotic topological phase with a half-integer winding number is discovered, which is linked to a single in-gap edge state under open boundary conditions. Numerical simulations validate the analytical predictions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Flux-mediated effective Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in an impurity decorated diamond chain

In flat-band systems with non-orthogonal compact localized states (CLSs), onsite perturbations couple neighboring CLSs and generate exponentially-decaying impurity states, whose degree of localization depends on lattice parameters. In this work, a diamond chain with constant magnetic flux per plaquette is decorated with several controlled onsite impurities in a patterned arrangement, generating an effective system that emerges from the flat band. The coupling distribution of the effective system is determined by the relative distance between impurities and the value of the flux, which can be chosen to engineer a wide variety of models. We employ a staggered distribution of impurities that effectively produces the well-known Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, and show that the topological edge states display an enhanced robustness to non-chiral disorder due to an averaging effect over their extension. Finally, we provide a route to implement the system experimentally using optical waveguides that guide orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. This work opens the way for the design of topologically protected impurity states in other flat-band systems or physical platforms with non-orthogonal bases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Topological $n$-root Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in a non-Hermitian photonic ring system

Square-root topology is one of the newest additions to the ever expanding field of topological insulators (TIs). It characterizes systems that relate to their parent TI through the squaring of their Hamiltonians. Extensions to $2^n$-root topology, where $n$ is the number of squaring operations involved in retrieving the parent TI, were quick to follow. Here, we go one step further and develop the framework for designing general $n$-root TIs, with $n$ any positive integer, using the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model as the parent TI from which the higher-root versions are constructed. The method relies on using loops of unidirectional couplings as building blocks, such that the resulting model is non-Hermitian and embedded with a generalized chiral symmetry. Edge states are observed at the $n$ branches of the complex energy spectrum, appearing within what we designate as a ring gap, shown to be irreducible to the usual point or line gaps. We further detail on how such an $n$-root model can be realistically implemented in photonic ring systems. Near perfect unidirectional effective couplings between the main rings can be generated via mediating auxiliary rings with modulated gains and losses. These induce high imaginary gauge fields that strongly supress couplings in one direction, while enhancing them in the other. We use these photonic lattices to validate and benchmark the analytical predictions. Our results introduce a new class of high-root topological models, as well as a route for their experimental realization.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Flat-band induced local Hilbert space fragmentation

We demonstrate that a complete class of flat-band lattices with underlying commutative local symmetries exhibit a locally fragmented Hilbert space. The equitable partition theorem ensures distinct parities for the compact localized states (CLSs) present in this class of flat-band lattices and the extended eigenstates of the system. In the presence of on-site bosonic interactions, such models exhibit a conserved quantity, the parity of the number of particles located in all the CLSs in a unit cell. As a consequence, the Hilbert space presents local fragmentation, which is only revealed upon rotating the basis of the Hamiltonian that decouples the CLSs at the single-particle level. We find that the fragmentation is strong and also robust to the addition of long-range interactions. As an example, we numerically analyze the fragmentation of the one-dimensional Pyrochlore chain, which exhibits both nonintegrable sectors, effective single-particle sectors, and frozen states. We also show that the entanglement entropies form a nested-dome structure typical of these fragmented systems and that thermalization is restricted to each sub-sector.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Bosonic orbital Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in a lattice of rings

We study the topological properties of interacting and non-interacting bosons loaded in the orbital angular momentum states $l=1$ in a lattice of rings with alternating distances. At the single-particle level, the two circulation states within each site lead to two decoupled Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices with correlated topological phases. We characterize the topological configuration of these lattices in terms of the alternating distances, as well as their single-particle spectrum and topologically protected edge states. Secondly, we add on-site interactions for the two-boson case, which lead to the appearance of multiple bound states and edge bound states. We investigate the doublon bands in terms of a strong-link model and we analyze the resulting subspaces using perturbation theory in the limit of strong interactions. All analytical results are benchmarked against exact diagonalization simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Quantum-jump analysis of frequency up-conversion amplification without inversion in a four-level scheme

In this work, we use the quantum-jump approach to study light-matter interactions in a four-level scheme giving rise to frequency up-conversion amplification without inversion (AWI). The results obtained apply to the case of neutral Hg vapour where, recently, it has been reported AWI of a probe field in the UV regime, opening the way for lasing without inversion in this range of frequencies. We show that, in this scheme, the key element to obtain maximum amplification is the fulfillment of the three-photon resonance condition, which favors coherent evolution periods associated with the probe field gain. We also investigate the parameter values in order to optimize amplification. The present study extends the theoretical understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in AWI.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Local Hilbert space fragmentation and weak thermalization in Bose-Hubbard diamond necklaces

We study Bose-Hubbard models in a family of diamond necklace lattices with $n$ central sites. The single-particle spectrum of these models presents compact localized states (CLSs) that occupy the up and down sites of each diamond. By performing an appropriate basis rotation, the fragmentation of the many-boson Hilbert space becomes apparent in the adjacency graph of the Hamiltonian, showing disconnected sub-sectors with a wide range of dimensions. The models present a conserved quantity related to the occupation of the single-particle CLSs that uniquely identifies the different sub-sectors of the many-boson Hilbert space. Due to the fragmentation of the Hilbert space, the distribution of entanglement entropies of the system presents a nested-dome structure. We find weak thermalization through sub-sector-restricted entanglement evolution and a wide range of entanglement entropy scalings from area-law to logarithmic growth. Additionally, we observe how the distinguishability between the different domes increases with the number of central sites and we explain the mechanism behind this fact by analyzing the graph structure of the Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Mode pumping in photonic lattices using a single tailored auxiliary waveguide

In this work, we propose a completely general method to pump the gapped topological modes of a lattice of optical waveguides by controlling the propagation constant of an auxiliary waveguide and its coupling to the main lattice. In this way, we can transform a single-waveguide excitation on the auxiliary waveguide into a specific mode of the lattice. We also demonstrate the possibility of transferring supermodes between two waveguide lattices using the same method. We illustrate the results by pumping and transferring the topological modes of Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices. For both scenarios, we show that purities above 99\% can be achieved with parameter values within experimental reach. Additionally, we demonstrate how the technique can be used to pump the bulk modes of the lattice for low number of waveguides or enable mode conversion between waveguide lattices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Many-body Aharonov-Bohm caging in a lattice of rings

We study a system of a few ultracold bosons loaded into the states with orbital angular momentum $l=1$ of a one-dimensional staggered lattice of rings. Local eigenstates with winding numbers $+l$ and $-l$ form a Creutz ladder with a real dimension and a synthetic one. States with opposite winding numbers in adjacent rings are coupled through complex tunnelings, which can be tuned by modifying the central angle $ϕ$ of the lattice. We analyze both the single-particle case and the few boson bound-state subspaces for the regime of strong interactions using perturbation theory, showing how the geometry of the system can be engineered to produce an effective $π$-flux through the plaquettes. We find non-trivial topological band structures and many-body Aharonov-Bohm caging in the $N$-particle subspaces even in the presence of a dispersive single-particle spectrum. Additionally, we study the family of models where the angle $ϕ$ is introduced at an arbitrary lattice periodicity $Γ$. For $Γ>2$, the $π$-flux becomes non-uniform, which enlarges the spatial extent of the Aharonov-Bohm caging as the number of flat bands in the spectrum increases. All the analytical results are benchmarked through exact diagonalization.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

High Efficiency Topological Pumping with Discrete Supersymmetry Transformations

Making use of the isospectrality of Supersymmetry transformations, we propose a general and high-fidelity method to prepare gapped topological modes in discrete systems from a single-site excitation. The method consists of adiabatically connecting two superpartner structures, deforming the input state into the desired mode. We demonstrate the method by pumping topological states of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in an optical waveguide array, where the adiabatic deformation is performed along the propagation direction. We obtain fidelities above $F=0.99$ for a wide range of coupling strengths when pumping edge and interface states.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Supersymmetry-enhanced Stark-Chirped Rapid-Adiabatic-Passage in multimode optical waveguides

We propose a method to efficiently pump an excited mode of a multimode optical waveguide starting from a fundamental-mode input by combining Stark-Chirped Rapid Adiabatic Passage (SCRAP) and Supersymmetry (SUSY) transformations. In a two-waveguide set, we implement SCRAP by modulating the core refractive index of one waveguide, which is evanescently coupled to its SUSY partner. SCRAP provides an efficient transfer of light intensity between the modes of different waveguides, while SUSY allows to control which modes are supported. Using both techniques allows to achieve fidelities above 99% for the pumping of the excited mode of a two-mode waveguide. Additionally, we show that SCRAP can be exploited to spatially separate superpositions of fundamental and excited modes, and how SUSY can also improve the results for this application.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Effective triangular ladders with staggered flux from spin-orbit coupling in 1D optical lattices

Light-induced spin-orbit coupling is a flexible tool to study quantum magnetism with ultracold atoms. In this work we show that spin-orbit coupled Bose gases in a one-dimensional optical lattice can be mapped into a two-leg triangular ladder with staggered flux following a lowest-band truncation of the Hamiltonian. The effective flux and the ratio of the tunneling strengths can be independently adjusted to a wide range of values. We identify a certain regime of parameters where a hard-core boson approximation holds and the system realizes a frustrated triangular spin ladder with tunable flux. We study the properties of the effective spin Hamiltonian using the density-matrix renormalization-group method and determine the phase diagram at half-filling. It displays two phases: a uniform superfluid and a bond-ordered insulator. The latter can be stabilized only for low Raman detuning. Finally, we provide experimentally feasible trajectories across the parameter space of the SOC system that cross the predicted phase transition.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Orbital angular momentum dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in two stacked rings

We investigate the stability and dynamics of the orbital angular momentum modes of a repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in two tunnel-coupled rings in a stack configuration. Within mean-field theory, we derive a two-state model for the system in the case in which we populate equally both rings with a single orbital angular momentum mode and include small perturbations in other modes. Analyzing the fixed point solutions of the model and the associated classical Hamiltonian, we characterize the destabilization of the stationary states and the subsequent dynamics. By populating a single orbital angular momentum mode with an arbitrary population imbalance between the rings, we derive analytically the boundary between the regimes of Josephson oscillations and macroscopic quantum self-trapping and study numerically the stability of these solutions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Optimal conditions for spatial adiabatic passage of a Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate spatial adiabatic passage of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a triple well potential within the three-mode approximation. By rewriting the dynamics in the so-called time-dependent dark/dressed basis, we analytically derive the optimal conditions for the non-linear parameter and the on-site energies of each well to achieve a highly efficient condensate transport. We show that the non-linearity yields a high-efficiency plateau for the condensate transport as a function of the on-site energy difference between the outermost wells, favoring the robustness of the transport. We also analyze the case of different non-linearities in each well, which, for certain parameter values, leads to an increase of the width of this plateau.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Atomic-frequency-comb quantum memory via piecewise adiabatic passage

In this work, we propose a method to create an atomic frequency comb (AFC) in hot atomic vapors using the piecewise adiabatic passage (PAP) technique. Due to the Doppler effect, the trains of pulses used for PAP give rise to a velocity-dependent transfer of the atomic population from the initial state to the target one, thus forming a velocity comb whose periodicity depends not only on the repetition rate of the applied pulses but also on the specific atomic transitions considered. We highlight the advantages of using this transfer technique with respect to standard methods and discuss, in particular, its application to store a single telecom photon in an AFC quantum memory using a high density Ba atomic vapor.

quant-ph↗