arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W. J. Munro.
In a recent paper, Liu et al. [Nat. Commun. 6:6726 (2015)] claim to perform the first room temperature entanglement-enhanced phase measurement in a solid-state system. We argue here that this claim is incorrect: their measurement is not enhanced because of the entanglement in their system, but instead the enhancement comes from the fact that the phase shift is applied twice to their state.
Optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) is a way to characterize the NV centers. Recently, a remarkably sharp dip was observed in the ODMR with a high-density ensemble of NV centers, and this was reproduced by a theoretical model in [Zhu et al., Nature Communications 5, 3424 (2014)], showing that the dip is a consequence of the spin-1 properties of the NV centers. Here, we present much more details of analysis to show how this model can be applied to investigate the properties of the NV centers. By using our model, we have reproduced the ODMR with and without applied magnetic fields. Also, we theoretically investigate how the ODMR is affected by the typical parameters of the ensemble NV centers such as strain distributions, inhomogeneous magnetic fields, and homogeneous broadening width. Our model could provide a way to estimate these parameters from the ODMR, which would be crucial to realize diamond-based quantum information processing.
A hybrid system that combines the advantages of a superconducting flux qubit and an electron spin ensemble in diamond is one of the promising devices to realize quantum information processing. Exploring the properties of the superconductor diamond system is essential for the efficient use of this device. When we perform spectroscopy of this system, significant power broadening is observed. However, previous models to describe this system are known to be applicable only when the power broadening is negligible. Here, we construct a new approach to analyze this system with strong driving, and succeed to reproduce the spectrum with the power broadening. Our results provide an efficient way to analyze this hybrid system.
In optical interferometry multi-mode entanglement is often assumed to be the driving force behind quantum enhanced measurements. Recent work has shown this assumption to be false: single mode quantum states perform just as well as their multi-mode entangled counterparts. We go beyond this to show that when photon losses occur - an inevitability in any realistic system - multi-mode entanglement is actually detrimental to obtaining quantum enhanced measurements. We specifically apply this idea to a superposition of coherent states, demonstrating that these states show a robustness to loss that allows them to significantly outperform their competitors in realistic systems. A practically viable measurement scheme is then presented that allows measurements close to the theoretical bound, even with loss. These results promote a new way of approaching optical quantum metrology using single-mode states that we expect to have great implications for the future.
One of the promising systems to realize quantum computation is a hybrid system where a superconducting flux qubit plays a role of a quantum processor and the NV center ensemble is used as a quantum memory. We have theoretically and experimentally studied the effect of magnetic fields on this hybrid system, and found that the lifetime of the vacuum Rabi oscillation is improved by applying a few mT magnetic field to the NV center ensemble. Here, we construct a theoretical model to reproduce the vacuum Rabi oscillations with/without magnetic fields applied to the NV centers, and we determine the reason why magnetic fields can affect the coherent properties of the NV center ensemble. From our theoretical analysis, we quantitatively show that the magnetic fields actually suppress the inhomogeneous broadening from the strain in the NV centers.
In this article we present a simple repeater scheme based on the negatively-charged nitrogen vacancy centre in diamond (NV-). Each repeater node is built from simple modules comprising an optical cavity containing a single NV-, with one nuclear spin from 15N as quantum memory. The operation in the module only uses deterministic processes and interactions and achieves high fidelity (>99%) operation, and modules are connected by optical fiber. In the repeater node architecture, the processes between modules by photons can be in principle deterministic, however current limitations on optical components lead to the processes to be probabilistic but heralded. The most resource modest repeater architecture contains at least two modules at each node, and the repeater nodes are than connected by telecom wavelength entangled photon pairs. We discuss the performance of quantum repeaters starting from the minimum-resource strategy with several modules (~10) and then incorporating more resource-intense strategies step by step. Our architecture enables large-scale quantum information networks with existing technology.
Quantum mechanics allows entanglement enhanced measurements to be performed, but loss remains an obstacle in constructing realistic quantum metrology schemes. However, recent work has revealed that entangled coherent states (ECSs) have the potential to perform robust sub-classical measurements [J. Joo et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 83601 (2011)]. Up to now no read out scheme has been devised which exploits this robust nature of ECSs, but we present here an experimentally accessible method of achieving precision close to the theoretical bound, even with loss. We show substantial improvements over unentangled "classical" states and highly-entangled NOON states for a wide range of loss values, elevating quantum metrology to a realizable technology in the near future.
In this article we investigate the dynamics of a single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center (NV-) coupled to the spin of the nucleus of a 15-nitrogen atom and show that high fidelity gate operations are possible without the need for complicated composite pulse sequences. These operations include both the electron and nuclear spin rotations, as well as an entangling gate between them. These are experimentally realizable gates with current technology of sufficiently high fidelities that they can be used to build graph states for quantum information processing tasks.
We study the effects of continuous measurement of the field mode during the collapse and revival of spin Schrödinger cat states in the Tavis-Cummings model of N qubits (two-level quantum systems) coupled to a field mode. We show that a compromise between relatively weak and relatively strong continuous measurement will not completely destroy the collapse and revival dynamics while still providing enough signal-to-noise resolution to identify the signatures of the process in the measurement record. This type of measurement would in principle allow the verification of the occurrence of the collapse and revival of a spin Schrödinger cat state.
Quantum physics is known to allow for completely new ways to create, manipulate and store information. Quantum communication - the ability to transmit quantum information - is a primitive necessary for any quantum internet. At its core, quantum communication generally requires the formation of entangled links between remote locations. The performance of these links is limited by the classical signaling time between such locations - necessitating the need for long lived quantum memories. Here we present the design of a communications network which neither requires the establishment of entanglement between remote locations nor the use of long-lived quantum memories. The rate at which quantum data can be transmitted along the network is only limited by the time required to perform efficient local gate operations. Our scheme thus potentially provides higher communications rates than previously thought possible.
In addition to being a very interesting quantum phenomenon, Schrödinger cat swapping has the potential for application in the preparation of quantum states that could be used in metrology and other quantum processing. We study in detail the effects of field decoherence on a cat-swapping system comprising a set of identical qubits, or spins, all coupled to a field mode. We demonstrate that increasing the number of spins actually mitigates the effects of field decoherence on the collapse and revival of a spin Schrödinger cat, which could be of significant utility in quantum metrology and other quantum processing.
Single photons provide excellent quantum information carriers, but current schemes for preparing, processing and measuring them are inefficient. For example, down-conversion provides heralded, but randomly timed single photons, while linear-optics gates are inherently probabilistic. Here, we introduce a deterministic scheme for photonic quantum information. Our single, versatile process---coherent photon conversion---provides a full suite of photonic quantum processing tools, from creating high-quality heralded single- and multiphoton states free of higher-order imperfections to implementing deterministic multiqubit entanglement gates and high-efficiency detection. It fulfils all requirements for a scalable photonic quantum computing architecture. Using photonic crystal fibres, we experimentally demonstrate a four-colour nonlinear process usable for coherent photon conversion and show that current technology provides a feasible path towards deterministic operation. Our scheme, based on interacting bosonic fields, is not restricted to optical systems, but could also be implemented in optomechanical, electromechanical and superconducting systems which exhibit extremely strong intrinsic nonlinearities.
We study a dissipative quantum mechanical model of the projective measurement of a qubit. We demonstrate how a correspondence limit, damped quantum oscillator can realise chaotic-like or periodic trajectories that emerge in sympathy with the projection of the qubit state, providing a model of the measurement process.
We have investigated high-precision measurements, beyond the standard quantum limit, utilizing non-classical states. Although entanglement has been considered a resource for achieving the Heisenberg limit in measurements, we show that any advantage expected from using entanglement is dependent on the measurement in question. We investigate several measurement scenarios and illustrate the role of entanglement as a resource for quantum high-precision measurement. In particular, we demonstrate that there is a regime wherein entanglement not only does not help, but prevents the achievement of the fundamental limit.
We investigate a doubly resonant optical cavity containing a Kerr nonlinear medium that couples two modes by a cross phase modulation. One of these modes is driven by a single photon pulsed field, and the other mode is driven by a coherent state. We find an intrinsic phase noise mechanism for the cross phase shift on the coherent beam which can be attributed to the random emission times of single photons from the cavity. An application to a weak nonlinearity phase gate is discussed.
We propose an entanglement beam splitter (EBS) using a quantum-dot spin in a double-sided optical microcavity. In contrast to the conventional optical beam splitter, the EBS can directly split a photon-spin product state into two constituent entangled states via transmission and reflection with high fidelity and high efficiency (up to 100 percent). This device is based on giant optical circular birefringence induced by a single spin as a result of cavity quantum electrodynamics and the spin selection rule of trion transition (Pauli blocking). The EBS is robust and it is immune to the fine structure splitting in a realistic quantum dot. This quantum device can be used for deterministically creating photon-spin, photon-photon and spin-spin entanglement as well as a single-shot quantum non-demolition measurement of a single spin. Therefore, the EBS can find wide applications in quantum information science and technology.
Our objective was to design a quantum repeater capable of achieving one million entangled pairs per second over a distance of 1000km. We failed, but not by much. In this letter we will describe the series of developments that permitted us to approach our goal. We will describe a mechanism that permits the creation of entanglement between two qubits, connected by fibre, with probability arbitrarily close to one and in constant time. This mechanism may be extended to ensure that the entanglement has high fidelity without compromising these properties. Finally, we describe how this may be used to construct a quantum repeater that is capable of creating a linear quantum network connecting two distant qubits with high fidelity. The creation rate is shown to be a function of the maximum distance between two adjacent quantum repeaters.
Dedicated research into the design and construction of a large scale Quantum Information Processing (QIP) system is a complicated task. The design of an experimentally feasible quantum processor must draw upon results in multiple fields; from experimental efforts in system control and fabrication through to far more abstract areas such as quantum algorithms and error correction. Recently, the adaptation of topological coding models to physical systems in optics has illustrated a possible long term pathway to truly large scale QIP. As the topological model has well defined protocols for Quantum Error Correction (QEC) built in as part of its construction, a more grounded analysis of the {\em classical} processing requirements is possible. In this paper we analyze the requirements for a classical processing system, designed specifically for the topological cluster state model. We demonstrate that via extensive parallelization, the construction of a classical "front-end" system capable of processing error correction data for a large topological computer is possible today.