## Journals

### Long term test of a fast and compact Quantum Random Number Generator. (arXiv:1807.03989v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Random numbers are an essential resource to many applications, including cryptography and Monte Carlo simulations. Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) represent the ultimate source of randomness, as the numbers are obtained by sampling a physical quantum process that is intrinsically probabilistic. However, they are yet to be widely employed to replace deterministic pseudo random number generators (PRNG) for practical applications. QRNGs are regarded as interesting devices. However they are slower than PRNGs for simulations and are typically seen as clumsy laboratory prototypes, prone to failures and unreliable for cryptographic applications. Here we overcome these limitations and demonstrate a compact and self-contained QRNG capable of generating random numbers at a pace of 8 Gbit/s uninterruptedly for 71 days. During this period, the physical parameters of the quantum process were monitored in real time by self-checking functions implemented in the generator itself. At the same time, the output random numbers were analyzed with the most stringent suites of statistical tests. The analysis shows that the QRNG under test sustained the continuous operation without physical instabilities or hardware failures. At the same time, the output random numbers were analyzed with the most stringent suites of statistical tests, which were passed during the whole operation time. This extensive trial demonstrates the reliability of a robustly designed QRNG and paves the way to its use in practical applications based on randomness.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Counting the Identities of a Quantum State. (arXiv:1807.03995v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

A marquee feature of quantum behavior is that, upon probing, the microscopic system emerges in one of multiple possible states. While quantum mechanics postulates the respective probabilities, the effective abundance of these simultaneous identities'', if a meaningful concept at all, has to be inferred. To address such problems, we construct and analyze the theory of functions assigning the quantity (effective number) of objects endowed with probability weights. In a surprising outcome, the consistency of such probability-dependent measure assignments entails the existence of a minimal amount, realized by a unique effective number function. This result provides a well-founded solution to identity-counting problems in quantum mechanics. Such problems range from counting the basis states contained in an output of a quantum computation, and relevant in the analysis of quantum algorithms, to a novel way to characterize complex states such as QCD vacuum or eigenstates of quantum spin systems. In accompanying works, we analyze notable consequences of these findings, namely expressing quantum uncertainty as a measure, the ensuing universal treatment of localization phenomena, and effective description of quantum states. At the basic level, our results point to useful extensions for concepts of measure and support, and to a new probability notion of effective choices.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Laser writing of individual atomic defects in a crystal with near-unity yield. (arXiv:1807.04028v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Atomic defects in wide band gap materials show great promise for development of a new generation of quantum information technologies, but have been hampered by the inability to produce and engineer the defects in a controlled way. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond is one of the foremost candidates, with single defects allowing optical addressing of electron spin and nuclear spin degrees of freedom with potential for applications in advanced sensing and computing. Here we demonstrate a method for the deterministic writing of individual NV centers at selected locations with high positioning accuracy using laser processing with online fluorescence feedback. This method provides a new tool for the fabrication of engineered materials and devices for quantum technologies and offers insight into the diffusion dynamics of point defects in solids.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Charger-mediated energy transfer in exactly-solvable models for quantum batteries. (arXiv:1807.04031v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We present a systematic analysis and classification of several models of quantum batteries involving different combinations of two level systems and quantum harmonic oscillators. In particular, we study energy transfer processes from a given quantum system, termed charger, to another one, i.e. the proper battery. In this setting, we analyze different figures of merit, including the charging time, the maximum energy transfer, and the average charging power. The role of coupling Hamiltonians which do not preserve the number of local excitations in the charger-battery system is clarified by properly accounting them in the global energy balance of the model.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Genuine multisite entanglement determination by tensor-network approach in infinite quantum spin chains. (arXiv:1807.04033v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We devise a method based on tensor-network formalism to calculate the genuine multisite entanglement in the ground states of infinite quantum spin-1/2 chains. The ground state is obtained from an initial matrix product state for the infinite spin system by employing the infinite time-evolving block decimation method. We explicitly show how infinite matrix product states with translational invariance provide a natural framework to derive the generalized geometric measure, a computable measure of genuine multisite entanglement, in quantum many-body systems.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Pretty Good State Transfer via Adaptive Quantum Error Correction. (arXiv:1807.04062v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We examine the role of quantum error correction (QEC) in achieving pretty good quantum state transfer over a class of $1$-d spin Hamiltonians. Recasting the problem of state transfer as one of information transmission over an underlying quantum channel, we identify an adaptive QEC protocol that achieves pretty good state transfer. Using an adaptive recovery and approximate QEC code, we obtain explicit analytical and numerical results for the fidelity of transfer over ideal and disordered $1$-d Heisenberg chains. In the case of a disordered chain, we study the distribution of the transition amplitude, which in turn quantifies the stochastic noise in the underlying quantum channel. Our analysis helps us to suitably modify the QEC protocol so as to ensure pretty good state transfer for small disorder strengths and indicates a threshold beyond which QEC does not help in improving the fidelity of state transfer.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Strong coupling of a single photon to a magnetic vortex. (arXiv:1807.04075v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Strong light-matter coupling is a necessary condition for exchanging information in quantum information protocols. It is used to couple different qubits (matter) via a quantum bus (photons) or to communicate different type of excitations, e.g. transducing between light and phonons or magnons. An unexplored, so far, interface is the coupling between light and topologically protected particle like excitations as magnetic domain walls, skyrmions or vortices. Here, we show theoretically that a single photon living in a superconducting cavity can be coupled strongly to the gyrotropic mode of a magnetic vortex in a nanodisc. We combine numerical and analytical calculations for a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator and different realizations of the nanodisc (materials and sizes). We show that, for enhancing the coupling, constrictions fabricated in the resonator are beneficial, allowing to reach the strong coupling in CoFe discs of radius $200-400$ nm having resonance frequencies of few GHz. The strong coupling regime permits to exchange coherently a single photon and quanta of vortex excitations. Thus, our calculations show that the device proposed here serves as a transducer between photons and gyrating vortices, opening the way to complement superconducting qubits with topologically protected spin-excitations like vortices or skyrmions. We finish by discussing potential applications in quantum data processing based on the exploitation of the vortex as a short-wavelength magnon emitter.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Experimental probe of weak value amplification and geometric phase through the complex zeroes of the response function. (arXiv:1807.04103v1 [physics.optics])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

The extraordinary concept of weak value amplification has attracted considerable attention for addressing foundational questions in quantum mechanics and for metrological applications in high precision measurement of small physical parameters. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a fundamental relationship between the weak value of an observable and complex zero of the response function of a system by employing weak value amplification of spin Hall shift of a Gaussian light beam. Using this relationship, we show that arbitrarily large weak value amplification far beyond the conventional weak measurement limit can be experimentally obtained from the position of the minima of the pointer intensity profile corresponding to the real part of the complex zero of the response function. The imaginary part of the complex zero, on the other hand, is related to the spatial gradient of geometric phase of light, which in this particular scenario evolves due to the weak interaction and the pre and post selections of the polarization states. These universal relationships between the weak values and the complex zeros of the response function may provide new insights on weak measurements in a wide class of physical systems. Extremely large weak value amplification and extraction of system parameters outside the region of validity of conventional weak measurements may open up a new paradigm of weak measurement enhancing its metrological applications.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Tunable bandwidth and nonlinearities in an atom-photon interface with subradiant states. (arXiv:1807.04105v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Optical non-linearities at the single photon level are key features to build efficient photon-photon gates and to implement quantum networks. Such optical non-linearities can be obtained using an ideal two-level system such as a single atom coupled to an optical cavity. While efficient, such atom-photon interface however presents a fixed bandwidth, determined by the spontaneous emission time and thus the spectral width of the cavity-enhanced two-level transition, preventing an efficient transmission to bandwidth-mismatched atomic systems in a single quantum network. In the present work, we propose a tunable atom-photon interface making use of the direct dipole-dipole coupling of two slightly different atomic systems. We show that, when weakly coupled to a cavity mode and directly coupled through dipole-dipole interaction, the subradiant mode of two slightly-detuned atomic systems is optically addressable and presents a widely tunable bandwidth and single-photon nonlinearity.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Essays. (arXiv:1807.04126v1 [physics.pop-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

A collection of short expository essays by the author on various topics in quantum mechanics, quantum cosmology, and physics in general.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Higher-order quantum hydrodynamics for supersolids. (arXiv:1807.04149v1 [cond-mat.quant-gas])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Supersolids are theoretically predicted quantum states that break the continuous rotational and translational symmetries of liquids while preserving superfluid transport properties. Over the last decade, much progress has been made in understanding and characterizing supersolid phases through numerical simulations for specific interaction potentials. The formulation of an analytically tractable framework for generic interactions still poses theoretical challenges. By going beyond the usually considered quadratic truncations, we derive a systematic higher-order generalization of the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field model in conceptual similarity with the Swift-Hohenberg theory of pattern formation. We demonstrate the tractability of this broadly applicable approach by determining the ground state phase diagram and the dispersion relations for the supersolid lattice vibrations in terms of the potential parameters. Our analytical predictions agree well with numerical results from direct hydrodynamic simulations and earlier quantum Monte-Carlo studies. The underlying framework is universal and can be extended to anisotropic pair potentials with complex Fourier-space structure.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Weakly gravitating isotropic waveguides. (arXiv:1807.04156v1 [gr-qc])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We analyse the effect of post-Newtonian gravitational fields on propagation of light in a cylindrical waveguide in both a straight configuration and a spool configuration. We derive an equation for the dependence of the wave vector upon the vertical location of the waveguide. It is shown that the gravitational field produces a small shift in the wave vector, which we determine, while the spooling creates additional modes which could perhaps be measurable in future accurate experiments.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Unusual area-law violation in random inhomogeneous systems. (arXiv:1807.04179v1 [cond-mat.str-el])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

The discovery of novel entanglement patterns in quantum many-body systems is a prominent research direction in contemporary physics. Here we provide the example of a spin chain with random and inhomogeneous couplings that in the ground state exhibits a very unusual area law violation. In the clean limit, i.e., without disorder, the model is the rainbow chain and has volume law entanglement. We show that, in the presence of disorder, the entanglement entropy exhibits a power-law growth with the subsystem size, with an exponent 1/2. By employing the Strong Disorder Renormalization Group (SDRG) framework, we show that this exponent is related to the survival probability of certain random walks. The ground state of the model exhibits extended regions of short-range singlets (that we term bubble'' regions) as well as rare long range singlet (rainbow'' regions). Crucially, while the probability of extended rainbow regions decays exponentially with their size, that of the bubble regions is power law. We provide strong numerical evidence for the correctness of SDRG results by exploiting the free-fermion solution of the model. Finally, we investigate the role of interactions by considering the random inhomogeneous XXZ spin chain. Within the SDRG framework and in the strong inhomogeneous limit, we show that the above area-law violation takes place only at the free-fermion point of phase diagram. This point divides two extended regions, which exhibit volume-law and area-law entanglement, respectively.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Towards a complete cohomology invariant for non-locality and contextuality. (arXiv:1807.04203v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

The sheaf theoretic description of non-locality and contextuality by Abramsky and Brandenburger sets the ground for a topological study of these peculiar features of quantum mechanics. This viewpoint has been recently developed thanks to sheaf cohomology, which provides a sufficient condition for contextuality of empirical models in quantum mechanics and beyond. Subsequently, a number of studies proposed methods to detect contextuality based on different cohomology theories. However, none of these cohomological descriptions succeeds in giving a full invariant for contextuality applicable to concrete examples. In the present work, we introduce a cohomology invariant for possibilistic and strong contextuality which is applicable to the vast majority of empirical models.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Measurement-immune quantum key distribution: Photon key distribution. (arXiv:1807.04233v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Over the last three decades, quantum key distribution (QKD) has been intensively studied for the unconditional security in quantum cryptography satisfied by quantum mechanics. Due to the limitations of deterministic single photon generations and quantum repeaters, however, the progress of QKD is still far behind from commercial implementations. Moreover, imperfect measurement is the major loophole of the unconditional security in practice. Here, a measurement-immune QKD is presented by using coherence optics in a phase-controlled double Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) compatible to the current fiber-optic networks to overcome the limitations of current QKDs, where the unconditional security is provided by indistinguishability between two superposed paths of MZI. The proposed measurement-immune QKD is sustained for both quantum and coherent lights and robust to noisy environments owing to the directional determinacy in the MZI regardless of light instability in both intensity and phase.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Photon-mediated interactions between quantum emitters in a diamond nanocavity. (arXiv:1807.04265v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

Photon-mediated interactions between quantum systems are essential for realizing quantum networks and scalable quantum information processing. We demonstrate such interactions between pairs of silicon-vacancy (SiV) color centers strongly coupled to a diamond nanophotonic cavity. When the optical transitions of the two color centers are tuned into resonance, the coupling to the common cavity mode results in a coherent interaction between them, leading to spectrally-resolved superradiant and subradiant states. We use the electronic spin degrees of freedom of the SiV centers to control these optically-mediated interactions. Our experiments pave the way for implementation of cavity-mediated quantum gates between spin qubits and for realization of scalable quantum network nodes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Fault-tolerant quantum metrology. (arXiv:1807.04267v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We show how fault-tolerant quantum metrology can overcome noise beyond our control -- associated with sensing the parameter, as well as under our control -- in preparing and measuring probes and ancillae. To that end, we introduce noise thresholds to quantify the noise resilience of parameter estimation schemes. We demonstrate improved noise thresholds over the non-fault tolerant schemes. We use quantum Reed-Muller codes to retrieve more information about a single phase parameter being estimated in the presence of full-rank Pauli noise. Further improvements in fault-tolerant quantum metrology could be achieved by optimising in tandem parameter-specific estimation schemes and transversal quantum error correcting codes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### An Area Law for One Dimensional Quantum Systems. (arXiv:0705.2024v4 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We prove an area law for the entanglement entropy in gapped one dimensional quantum systems. The bound on the entropy grows surprisingly rapidly with the correlation length; we discuss this in terms of properties of quantum expanders and present a conjecture on completely positive maps which may provide an alternate way of arriving at an area law. We also show that, for gapped, local systems, the bound on Von Neumann entropy implies a bound on R\'{e}nyi entropy for sufficiently large $\alpha<1$ and implies the ability to approximate the ground state by a matrix product state.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Finite-time response function of uniformly accelerated entangled atoms. (arXiv:1608.03365v6 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We examine the transition probability from the ground state to a final entangled state of a system of uniformly accelerated two-level atoms weakly coupled with a massless scalar field in Minkowski vacuum. Using time-dependent perturbation theory we evaluate the finite-time response function and we identify the mutual influence of atoms via the quantum field as a coherence agent in each response function terms. The associated thermal spectrum perceived by the atoms is found for a finite time interval. By considering modifications of specific parameters of our setup, we also analyze how the transition probabilities are affected by the smoothness of the switching of the atom-field coupling. In addition, we study the mean life of the symmetric maximally entangled state for different accelerations. Our calculations reveal that smooth switching is more efficient than sudden switching concerning the reduction of the decay of the entangled state. The possible relevance of our results is discussed.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Large scale quantum entanglement in de Sitter spacetime. (arXiv:1707.08414v2 [gr-qc] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-07-12 23:45

We investigate quantum entanglement between two symmetric spatialregions in de Sitter space with the Bunch-Davies vacuum. As a discretized model of the scalar field for numerical simulation, we consider a harmonic chain model. Using the coarse-grained variables for the scalar field, it is shown that the multipartite entanglement on the superhorizon scale exists by checking the monogamy relation for the negativity which quantifies the entanglement between the two regions. Further, we consider the continuous limit of this model without coarse-graining and find that non-zero values of the logarithmic negativity exist even if the distance between two spatial regions is larger than the Hubble horizon scale.

Categories: Journals, Physics