Search

Quantum state transfer is one of the basic tasks in quantum information processing. We here propose a theoretical approach to realize arbitrary entangled state transfer through a qubit chain, which is a class of extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models and accommodates multiple topological edge states separated from the bulk states. We show that an arbitrary entangled state, from $2$-qubit to $\mathcal{N}$-qubit, can be encoded in the corresponding edge states, and then adiabatically transferred from one end to the other of the chain. The dynamical phase differences resulting from the time evolutions of different edge states can be eliminated by properly choosing evolution time. Our approach is robust against both the qubit-qubit coupling disorder and the evolution time disorder. For the concreteness of discussions, we assume that such a chain is constructed by an experimentally feasible superconducting qubit system, meanwhile, our proposal can also be applied to other systems.

The identification of time-varying parameters (e.g., directly inaccessible in situ signals in vacuum and low-temperature environments) is prevalent for characterizing the dynamics of quantum processes. Under certain circumstances, they can be identified from time-resolved measurements via Ramsey interferometry experiments, but only with specially designed probe systems can the parameters be explicitly read out, and a rigorous identifiability analysis is lacking, i.e., whether the measurement data are sufficient for unambiguous identification. In this paper we formulate this problem as the invertibility of the input-output mapping associated with the quantum system for which an algebraic identifiability criterion is derived based on the system's relative degree. The invertibility analysis also leads to an inversion-based algorithm for numerically identifying the parameters, which is computationally much more efficient than nonlinear regression methods. The effectiveness of the criterion are demonstrated by numerical examples.

Based on the cavity magnomechanical system, which consists of a microwave cavity and a small ferromagnetic sphere, we propose a scheme to construct a parity-time- $\left(\mathcal{PT}\ensuremath{-}\right)$ symmetric-like system formed by the active magnon mode and passive cavity mode. The effective gain of the magnon mode is achieved by resonantly driving the yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere and can be modulated by the power of the driving field. We show the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase transition following the variation of magnon-photon coupling strength in microwave regime. We find that the transmission amplitudes and time delays on the first- and second-order sidebands in the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric-like system can be enhanced for three to four orders, compared to the magnomechanical system, once the magnon-photon coupling strength is tuned to the critical point in the broken-$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry regime. Particularly, we also show the switching between different transmission spectra (amplification or magnomechanically induced absorption) and time delay (positive or negative) on the first-order Stokes sideband can be achieved by modulating the power of the control field, cavity-waveguide coupling parameter, and magnon-photon coupling strength. Our study shows that the cavity magnomechanical system is a promising platform for exploring $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric-like paradigms in microwave field, and a good candidate for the microwave control on both the first- and high-order sidebands simultaneously. Our study may inspire further applications in frequency combs and low-power magnomechanical amplifier.

In non-Hermitian coupled-resonator networks, the eigenvectors of degenerate eigenmodes may become parallel due to the singularity at so-called exceptional points (EP). To exploit the extraordinary parametric sensitivity at EPs, an important problem is, given an arbitrary set of resonators, how to generate a desired EP by properly coupling them together. This paper provides the solution for the case of three resonators. We show that all physically admissible EPs can be realized with either weakly coupled linear networks or strongly coupled circular networks, and the latter type of EPs has not been reported in the literature. Each admissible EP eigenvalue is associated with two and only two resonator-network realizations, and the formulas for calculating the required coupling constants are provided. The characteristics of these EPs are illustrated by the sharp change of transmission spectra near them, which verifies the enhanced sensitivity induced by the singularity of EPs. The obtained results lay a basis for designing EP structures towards broader applications.

We study photon, phonon statistics and the cross-correlation between photons and phonons in a quadratically coupled optomechanical system. Photon blockade, phonon blockade and strongly anticorrelated photons and phonons can be observed in the same parameter regime with the effective nonlinear coupling between the optical and mechanical modes, enhanced by a strong optical driving field. Interestingly, an optimal value of the effective nonlinear coupling strength for the photon blockade is not within the strong nonlinear coupling regime. This abnormal phenomenon results from the destructive interference between different paths for two-photon excitation in the optical mode with a moderate effective nonlinear coupling strength. Further more, we show that phonon (photon) pairs and correlated photons and phonons can be generated in the strong nonlinear coupling regime with a proper detuning between the weak mechanical driving field and mechanical mode. Our results open up a way to generate anticorrelated and correlated photons and phonons, which may have important applications in quantum information processing., 9 pages, 6 figures

We propose a bosonic Josephson junction (BJJ) in two nonlinear mechanical resonator coupled through two-phonon exchange interaction induced by quadratic optomechanical couplings. The nonlinear dynamic equations and effective Hamiltonian are derived to describe behaviors of the BJJ. We show that the BJJ can work in two different dynamical regimes: Josephson oscillation and macroscopic self-trapping. The system can transfer from one regime to the other one when the self-interaction and asymmetric parameters exceed their critical values. We predict that a transition from Josephson oscillation to macroscopic self-trapping can be induced by the phonon damping in the asymmetric BJJs. Our results opens up a way to demonstrate BJJ with two-phonon exchange interaction and can be applied to other systems, such as the optical and microwave systems., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

Nonclassical light fields can be generated from two coupled cavities that are interacted with a two-level system. This scheme is drawing extensive attention because the mode coupling can reduce the requirement of coupling constants between the light fields and the two-level system. However, the effect of phase differences between different coupling constants on photon antibunching is always neglected. Considering a two-level system interacting with two coupled cavities, we analyze the statistical properties of the cavity field and show that the photon antibunching can be affected by the phase differences of coupling constants between the two-level system and the cavity modes, or between the cavity modes and the driving fields, and thus we can engineer the phases to optimally modulate single-photon sources or nonclassical light fields.

Although a universal quantum computer is still far from reach, the tremendous advances in controllable quantum devices, in particular with solid-state systems, make it possible to physically implement "quantum simulators". Quantum simulators are physical setups able to simulate other quantum systems efficiently that are intractable on classical computers. Based on solid-state qubit systems with various types of nearest-neighbor interactions, we propose a complete set of algorithms for simulating pairing Hamiltonians. Fidelity of the target states corresponding to each algorithm is numerically studied. We also compare algorithms designed for different types of experimentally available Hamiltonians and analyze their complexity. Furthermore, we design a measurement scheme to extract energy spectra from the simulators. Our simulation algorithms might be feasible with state-of-the-art technology in solid-state quantum devices., 12 papges and 16 figures

We propose a method to decouple the nanomechanical resonator in optomechanical systems from the environmental noise by introducing a chaotic coherent feedback loop. We find that the chaotic controller in the feedback loop can modulate the dynamics of the controlled optomechanical system and induce a broadband response of the mechanical mode. This broadband response of the mechanical mode will cut off the coupling between the mechanical mode and the environment and thus suppress the environmental noise of the mechanical modes. As an application, we use the protected optomechanical system to act as a quantum memory. It is shown that the noise-decoupled optomechanical quantum memory is efficient for storing information transferred from coherent or squeezed light.

We study a general theory of phonon lasing [I. S. Grudinin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 083901 (2010)] in coupled optomechancial systems. We derive the dynamical equation of the phonon lasing using supermodes formed by two cavity modes. A general threshold condition for phonon lasing is obtained. We also show the differences between phonon lasing and photon lasing, generated by photonic supermodes and two-level atomic systems, respectively. We find that the phonon lasing can be realized in certain parameter regime near the threshold. The phase diagram and second-order correlation function of the phonon lasing are also studied to show some interesting phenomena that cannot be observed in the common photon lasing with the two-level systems., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

Some optomechanical systems can be transparent to a probe field when a strong driving field is applied. These systems can provide an optomechanical analogue of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). We study the transmission of a probe field through a hybrid optomechanical system consisting of a cavity and a mechanical resonator with a two-level system (qubit). The qubit might be an intrinsic defect inside the mechanical resonator, a superconducting artificial atom, or another two-level system. The mechanical resonator is coupled to the cavity field via radiation pressure and to the qubit via the Jaynes-Cummings interaction. We find that the dressed two-level system and mechanical phonon can form two sets of three-level systems. Thus, there are two transparency windows in the discussed system. We interpret this effect as an optomechanical analog of two-color EIT (or double-EIT). We demonstrate how to switch between one and two EIT windows by changing the transition frequency of the qubit. We show that the absorption and dispersion of the system are mainly affected by the qubit-phonon coupling strength and the transition frequency of the qubit., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

We study the microwave absorption of a driven three-level quantum system, which is realized by a superconducting flux quantum circuit (SFQC), with a magnetic driving field applied to the two upper levels. The interaction between the three-level system and its environment is studied within the Born-Markov approximation, and we take into account the effects of the driving field on the damping rates of the three-level system. We study the linear response of the driven three-level SFQC to a weak probe field. The linear magnetic susceptibility of the SFQC can be changed by both the driving field and the bias magnetic flux. When the bias magnetic flux is at the optimal point, the transition from the ground state to the second excited state is forbidden and the three-level SFQC has a ladder-type transition. Thus, the SFQC responds to the probe field like natural atoms with ladder-type transitions. However, when the bias magnetic flux deviates from the optimal point, the three-level SFQC has a cyclic transition, thus it responds to the probe field like a combination of natural atoms with ladder-type transitions and natural atoms with $\Lambda$-type transitions. In particular, we provide detailed discussions on the conditions for realizing electromagnetically induced transparency and Autler-Townes splitting in three-level SFQCs., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures

A strong photon-photon nonlinear interaction is a necessary condition for a photon blockade. Moreover, this nonlinearity can also result in a bistable behavior in the cavityfield. We analyze the relation between the detecting field and the photon blockade in a superconducting circuit-QED system, and show that a photon blockade cannot occur when the detecting field is in the bistable regime. This photon blockade is the microwave-photonics analog of the Coulomb blockade. We further demonstrate that the photon transmission through such a system can be controlled (from photon blockade to transparency) by the detecting field. Numerical calculations show that our proposal is experimentally realizable with current technology.

We propose a method to generate entangled states of the vibrational modes of N membranes which are coupled to a cavity mode via the radiation pressure. Using sideband excitations, we show that arbitrary entangled states of vibrational modes of different membranes can be produced in principle by sequentially applying a series of classical pulses with desired frequencies, phases and durations. As examples, we show how to synthesize several typical entangled states, for example, Bell states, NOON states, GHZ states and W states. The environmental effect, information leakage, and experimental feasibility are briefly discussed. Our proposal can also be applied to other experimental setups of optomechanical systems, in which many mechanical resonators are coupled to a common sing-mode cavity field via the radiation pressure., 15 pages, 10 figures

In contrast to recent studies [Rabl, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 063601 (2011); Nunnenkamp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 063602 (2011)] on photon blockade that prevents subsequent photons from resonantly entering the cavity in optomechanical systems, we study the photon-induced tunneling that increases the probability of admitting subsequent photons in those systems. In particular, we analytically and numerically show how twoor three-photon tunneling can occur by avoiding single-photon blockade. Our study provides another way on photon control using a single mechanical resonator in optomechanical systems., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We study how an oscillating mirror affects the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) of an atomic ensemble, which is confined in a gas cell placed inside a micro-cavity with an oscillating mirror in one end. The oscillating mirror is modeled as a quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator. The cavity field acts as a probe light of the EIT system and also produces a light pressure on the oscillating mirror. The back-action from the mirror to the cavity field results in several (from one to five) steady-states for this atom-assisted optomechanical cavity, producing a complex structure in its EIT. We calculate the susceptibility with respect to the few (from one to three) stable solutions found here for the equilibrium positions of the oscillating mirror. We find that the EIT of the atomic ensemble can be significantly changed by the oscillating mirror, and also that the various steady states of the mirror have different effects on the EIT., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

Analyses of phenomena exhibiting finite-time decay of quantum entanglement have recently attracted considerable attention. Such decay is often referred to as sudden vanishing (or sudden death) of entanglement, which can be followed by its sudden reappearance (or sudden rebirth). We analyze various finite-time decays (for dissipative systems) and analogous periodic vanishings (for unitary systems) of nonclassical correlations as described by violations of classical inequalities and the corresponding nonclassicality witnesses (or quantumness witnesses), which are not necessarily entanglement witnesses. We show that these sudden vanishings are universal phenomena and can be observed: (i) not only for two- or multi-mode but also for single-mode nonclassical fields, (ii) not solely for dissipative systems, and (iii) at evolution times which are usually different from those of sudden vanishings and reappearances of quantum entanglement., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

We propose a hybrid system to realize long information storage and fast quantum operation via Rydberg atoms and superconducting qubits (SCQs). The internal states of a Rydberg atom are coupled to a nanomechanical resonator. The atom-resonator coupling is achieved via an electric field generated by the quantized motions of the resonator and temporarily exciting the atom to Rydberg states. The coupling can be made large enough to allow quantum manipulation and measurement of the resonator via the atom. The resonator can also be coupled to a SCQ, and therefore the tripartite system can provide a quantum interface between the SCQ and the atom via the nanomechanical resonator.

We propose a quantum algorithm for finding eigenvalues of non-unitary matrices. We show how to construct, through interactions in a quantum system and projective measurements, a non-Hermitian or non-unitary matrix and obtain its eigenvalues and eigenvectors. This proposal combines ideas of frequent measurement, measured quantum Fourier transform, and quantum state tomography. It provides a generalization of the conventional phase estimation algorithm, which is limited to Hermitian or unitary matrices., 7 pages, 4 figures

Using exponential quadratic operators, we present a general framework for studying the exact dynamics of system-bath interaction in which the Hamiltonian is described by the quadratic form of bosonic operators. To demonstrate the versatility of the approach, we study how the environment affects the squeezing of quadrature components of the system. We further propose that the squeezing can be enhanced when parity kicks are applied to the system.

We propose how to realize a three-step controlled-phase gate of one qubit simultaneously controlling $n$ qubits in a cavity or coupled to a resonator. The $n$ two-qubit controlled-phase gates, forming this multiqubit phase gate, can be performed simultaneously. The operation time of this phase gate is independent of the number $n$ of qubits. This phase gate controlling at once $n$ qubits is insensitive to the initial state of the cavity mode and can be used to produce an analogous cnot gate simultaneously acting on $n$ qubits. We present two alternative approaches to implement this gate. One approach is based on tuning the qubit frequency while in the other method the resonator frequency is tuned. Using superconducting qubits coupled to a resonator as an example, we show how to implement the proposed gate with one superconducting qubit simultaneously controlling $n$ qubits selected from $N$ qubits coupled to a resonator ($1lnlN$). We also give a discussion on realizing the proposed gate with atoms, by using one cavity initially in an arbitrary state.

Using the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, we derive an effective Hamiltonian for an optomechanical system that leads to a nonlinear Kerr effect in the system's vacuum. The oscillating mirror at one edge of the optomechanical system induces a squeezing effect in the intensity spectrum of the cavity field. A near-resonant laser field is applied at the other edge to drive the cavity field, in order to enhance the Kerr effect. We also propose a quantum-nondemolition-measurement setup to monitor a system with two cavities separated by a common oscillating mirror, based on our effective Hamiltonian approach., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

When a two-qubit system is initially maximally entangled, two independent decoherence channels, one per qubit, would greatly reduce the entanglement of the two-qubit system when it reaches its stationary state. We propose a method on how to minimize such a loss of entanglement in open quantum systems. We find that the quantum entanglement of general two-qubit systems with controllable parameters can be controlled by tuning both the single-qubit parameters and the two-qubit coupling strengths. Indeed, the maximum fidelity ${F}_{\text{max}}$ between the stationary entangled state, ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}$, and the maximally entangled state, ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{m}$, can be about $2/3\ensuremath{\approx}\text{max}{\text{tr}({\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{m})}={F}_{\text{max}}$, corresponding to a maximum stationary concurrence, ${C}_{\text{max}}$, of about $1/3\ensuremath{\approx}C({\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\ensuremath{\infty}})={C}_{\text{max}}$. This is significant because the quantum entanglement of the two-qubit system can be produced and kept, even for a long time. We apply our proposal to several types of two-qubit superconducting circuits and show how the entanglement of these two-qubit circuits can be optimized by varying experimentally controllable parameters.

We show an efficient purification protocol in solid-state qubits by replacing the usual bilateral CNOT gate by the bilateral iSWAP gate. We also show that this replacement can be applied to breeding and hashing protocols, which are useful for quantum state purification. These replacements reduce the number of fragile and cumbersome two-qubit operations, making more feasible quantum-information-processing with solid-state qubits. As examples, we also present quantitative analyses for the required time to perform state purification using either superconducting or semiconducting qubits., 10 pages, 5 figures

We systematically study the interaction between two quantized optical fields and a cyclic atomic ensemble driven by a classic optical field. This so-called atomic cyclic ensemble consists of three-level atoms with $\ensuremath{\Delta}$-type transitions due to the symmetry breaking, which can also be implemented in the superconducting quantum circuit by Yu-xi Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 087001 (2005)]. We explore the dynamic mechanisms to creating the quantum entanglements among photon states, and between photons and atomic collective excitations by the coherent manipulation of the atom-photon system. It is shown that the quantum information can be completely transferred from one quantized optical mode to another, and the quantum information carried by the two quantized optical fields can be stored in the collective modes of this atomic ensemble by adiabatically controlling the classic field Rabi frequencies.

Based on the conditional quantum dynamics of laser-ion interaction, we propose an efficient theoretical scheme to deterministically generate quantum pure states of a single trapped cold ion without performing the Lamb-Dicke approximation. An arbitrary quantum state can be created by using a series of classical laser beams with selected frequencies, initial phases and durations. As special examples, we further show how to create or approximate several typical macroscopic quantum states, such as the phase state and (even/odd) coherent states. Unlike previous schemes operated in the Lamb-Dicke regime, the present one does well for arbitrary strength coupling between the internal and external degrees of freedom of the ion. The experimental realizability of this approach is also discussed., Comment: 6 pages, no figure. submitted

The non-resonant interaction between the high-density excitons in a quantum well and a single mode cavity field is investigated. An analytical expression for the physical spectrum of the excitons is obtained. The spectral properties of the excitons, which are initially prepared in the number states or the superposed states of the two different number states by the resonant femtosecond pulse pumping experiment, are studied. Numerical study of the physical spectrum is carried out and a discussion of the detuning effect is presented., 7 pages, 8 figures

The effect of the exciton-exciton interaction on the resonance fluorescence of quantum-well excitons is studied. At relative low exciton density, the resonance fluorescence exists only when the exciton-exciton interaction is not negligible. The fluorescence spectrum changes from one peak to two peaks when the pump light intensity is increased beyond a critical value. The fluorescence light is antibunching when the mean exciton number in the quantum well is more than 0.5. The difference between exciton resonance fluorescence and two-level atom resonance fluorescence is presented.