## Journals

### Entanglement dynamics in a Kerr spacetime. (arXiv:1712.07151v2 [gr-qc] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

We consider the entanglement dynamics between two-level atoms in a rotating black hole background. In our model the two-atom system is envisaged as an open system coupled with a massless scalar field prepared in one of the physical vacuum states of interest. We employ the quantum master equation in the Born-Markov approximation in order to describe the time evolution of the atomic subsystem. We investigate two different states of motion for the atoms, namely static atoms and also stationary atoms with zero angular momentum. The purpose of this work is to expound the impact on the creation of entanglement coming from the combined action of the different physical processes underlying the Hawking effect and the Unruh-Starobinskii effect. We demonstrate that, in the scenario of rotating black holes, the degree of quantum entanglement is significantly modified due to the phenomenon of superradiance in comparison with the analogous cases in a Schwarzschild spacetime. In the perspective of a zero angular momentum observer (ZAMO), one is allowed to probe entanglement dynamics inside the ergosphere, since static observers cannot exist within such a region. On the other hand, the presence of superradiant modes could be a source for violation of complete positivity. This is verified when the quantum field is prepared in the Frolov-Thorne vacuum state. In this exceptional situation, we raise the possibility that the loss of complete positivity is due to the breakdown of the Markovian approximation, which means that any arbitrary physically admissible initial state of the two atoms would not be capable to hold, with time evolution, its interpretation as a physical state inasmuch as negative probabilities are generated by the dynamical map.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Current rectification in double quantum dot through fermionic reservoir engineering. (arXiv:1712.07441v2 [cond-mat.mes-hall] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Reservoir engineering is a powerful tool for the robust generation of quantum states or transport properties. Using both a weak-coupling quantum master equation and the exact solution, we show that directional transport of electrons through a double quantum dot can be achieved through an appropriately designed electronic environment. Directionality is attained through the interference of coherent and dissipative coupling. The relative phase is tuned with an external magnetic field, such that directionality can be reversed, as well as turned on and off dynamically. Our work introduces fermionic reservoir engineering, paving the way to a new class of nanoelectronic devices.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Securing quantum key distribution systems using fewer states. (arXiv:1801.03202v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two remote users to establish a secret key in the presence of an eavesdropper. The users share quantum states prepared in two mutually-unbiased bases: one to generate the key while the other monitors the presence of the eavesdropper. Here, we show that a general $d$-dimension QKD system can be secured by transmitting only a subset of the monitoring states. In particular, we find that there is no loss in the secure key rate when dropping one of the monitoring states. Furthermore, it is possible to use only a single monitoring state if the quantum bit error rates are low enough. We apply our formalism to an experimental $d=4$ time-phase QKD system, where only one monitoring state is transmitted, and obtain a secret key rate of $17.4 \pm 2.8$ Mbits/s at a 4 dB channel loss and with a quantum bit error rate of $0.045\pm0.001$ and $0.044\pm0.001$ in time and phase bases, respectively, which is 58.4 % of the secret key rate that can be achieved with the full setup. This ratio can be increased, potentially up to 100 %, if the error rates in time and phase basis are reduced. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to substantially simplify the design of high-dimension QKD systems, including those that use the spatial or temporal degrees-of-freedom of the photon, and still outperform qubit-based ($d = 2$) protocols.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Finite-key analysis on the 1-decoy state QKD protocol. (arXiv:1801.03443v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

It has been shown that in the asymptotic case of infinite-key length the 2-decoy state QKD protocol outperforms the 1-decoy state protocol. Here, we present a finite-key analysis of the 1-decoy method. Interestingly, we find that for practical block sizes of up to $10^8$ bits, the 1-decoy protocol achieves for almost all experimental settings higher secret key rates than the 2-decoy protocol. Since using only one decoy is also easier to implement, we conclude that it is the best choice for practical QKD.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Floquet engineering of optical solenoids and quantized charge pumping along tailored paths in two-dimensional Chern insulators. (arXiv:1802.06815v2 [cond-mat.quant-gas] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

The insertion of a local magnetic flux, as the one created by a thin solenoid, plays an important role in gedanken experiments of quantum Hall physics. By combining Floquet engineering of artificial magnetic fields with the ability of single-site addressing in quantum-gas microscopes, we propose a scheme for the realization of such local solenoid-type magnetic fields in optical lattices. We show that it can be employed to manipulate and probe elementary excitations of a topological Chern insulator. This includes quantized adiabatic charge pumping along tailored paths inside the bulk, as well as the controlled population of edge modes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Parcels of Universe or why Schr\"odinger and Fourier are so relatives?. (arXiv:1804.05204v1 [eess.SP] CROSS LISTED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

This lecture is about the surprising connection between the Fourier heat equation and the Schr\"odinger wave equation. In fact, if the independent "time" variable in the heat equation is replaced by the time variable multiplied by $i=\sqrt{-1}$, the heat equation becomes the Schr\"odinger equation. Two quite different physical phenomena are put in close connection: the heat diffusion in a material and the probability amplitude of particles in an atom. It is a fact of life that the movements of a small particle floating randomly in a fluid, the well-known Brownian motion, is regulated by the Fourier equation while the probabilistic behavior of the matter around us, the quantum world, is driven by the Schr\"odinger equation but no known stochastic process seems at work here. The apparent simplicity of the formal connection by a "time-rotation", a Wick rotation as it is commonly known, seems to point otherwise. Why this connection? Is there any physical intuitive explanation? Is there any practical value? In this paper, the authors try to shed some light on the above questions. The recent concept of volume quantization in noncommutative geometry, due to Connes, Chamseddine and Mukhanov, points again to stochastic processes also underlying the quantum world making Fourier and Schr\"odinger strict relatives.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Optimized Configuration Interaction Approach for Trapped Multiparticle Systems Interacting Via Contact Forces. (arXiv:1804.05585v1 [cond-mat.quant-gas] CROSS LISTED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

For one-dimensional systems with delta-contact interactions, the convergence of the exact-diagonalization method with a basis of harmonic oscillator eigenfunctions with frequency parameter optimized through the miniminization of the eigenenergy of the desired level is tested. We present calculations for model systems of identical bosons with harmonic and double-well potentials. Our results show promising potential for diminishing the computational cost of numerical simulations of various systems of trapped ultracold atoms.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Amplification of the coupling strength in a hybrid quantum system. (arXiv:1709.06433v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Realization of strong coupling between two different quantum systems is important for fast transferring quantum information between them, but its implementation is difficult in some hybrid quantum systems. Here we propose a scheme to enhance the coupling strength between a single nitrogen-vacancy center and a superconducting circuit via squeezing. The main recipe of our scheme is to construct a unitary squeezing transformation by directly tuning the specifically-designed superconducting circuit. Using the experimentally accessible parameters of the circuit, we find that the coupling strength can be largely amplified by applying the squeezing transformations to the system. This provides a new path to enhance the coupling strengths in hybrid quantum systems.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Numerical solution of stochastic master equations using stochastic interacting wave functions. (arXiv:1709.08223v3 [physics.comp-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

We develop a new approach for solving stochastic quantum master equations with mixed initial states. First, we obtain that the solution of the jump-diffusion stochastic master equation is represented by a mixture of pure states satisfying a system of stochastic differential equations of Schr\"odinger type. Then, we design three exponential schemes for these coupled stochastic Schr\"odinger equations, which are driven by Brownian motions and jump processes. Hence, we have constructed efficient numerical methods for the stochastic master equations based on quantum trajectories. The good performance of the new numerical integrators is illustrated by simulations of two quantum measurement processes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Dual-phase-modulated plug-and-play measurement-device-independent continuous-variable quantum key distribution. (arXiv:1803.06777v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

We suggest an improved plug-and-play measurement-device-independent (MDI) continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) via the dual-phase modulation (DPM), aiming to solve an implementation problem with no extra performance penalty. The synchronous loophole of different lasers from Alice and Bob can be elegantly eliminated in the plug-and-play configuration, which gives birth to the convenient implementation when comparing to the Gaussian-modulated coherent-state protocol. While the local oscillator (LO) can be locally generated by the trusted part Charlie, the LO-aimed attacks can be accurately detected in the data post-processing. We derive the security bounds of the DPM-based MDI-CVQKD against optimal Gaussian collective attacks. Taking the finite-size effect into account, the secret key rate can be increased due to the fact that almost all raw keys of the MDI-CVQKD system can be fully exploited for the final secret key generation without sacrificing raw keys in parameter estimation. Moreover, we give an experimental concept of the proposed scheme which can be deemed guideline for final implementation.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Robustness of optimal transport in disordered interacting many-body networks. (arXiv:1803.05974v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

The robustness of quantum transport under various perturbations is analyzed in disordered interacting many-body systems, which are constructed from the embedded Gaussian random matrix ensembles (EGE). The transport efficiency can be enhanced drastically, if centrosymmetry (csEGE) is imposed. When the csEGE is perturbed with an ordinary EGE, the transport efficiency in the optimal cases is reduced significantly, while in the sub-optimal cases the changes are less pronounced. Qualitatively the same behavior is observed, when parity and centrosymmetry are broken by block perturbations. Analyzing the influence of the environment coupling, optimal transport is observed at a certain coupling strength, while too weak and too strong coupling reduce the transport. Taking into account the effects of decoherence, in the EGE the transport efficiency approaches its maximum at a finite non-zero decoherence strength (environment assisted transport). In the csEGE the efficiency decays monotonically with the decoherence but is always larger than in the EGE.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Comparing Zeeman qubits to hyperfine qubits in the context of the surface code: $^{174}$Yb$^{+}$ and $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$. (arXiv:1803.02545v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Many systems used for quantum computing possess additional states beyond those defining the qubit. Leakage out of the qubit subspace must be considered when designing quantum error correction codes. Here we consider trapped ion qubits manipulated by Raman transitions. Zeeman qubits do not suffer from leakage errors but are sensitive to magnetic fields to first-order. Hyperfine qubits can be encoded in clock states that are insensitive to magnetic fields to first-order, but spontaneous scattering during the Raman transition can lead to leakage. Here we compare a Zeeman qubit ($^{174}$Yb$^+$) to a hyperfine qubit ($^{171}$Yb$^+$) in the context of the surface code. We find that the number of physical qubits required to reach a specific logical qubit error can be reduced by using $^{174}$Yb$^+$ if the magnetic field can be stabilized with fluctuations smaller than $10$ $\mu$G.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### QuEST and High Performance Simulation of Quantum Computers. (arXiv:1802.08032v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

We introduce QuEST, the Quantum Exact Simulation Toolkit, and compare it to ProjectQ, qHipster and a recent distributed implementation of Quantum++. QuEST is the first open source, OpenMP and MPI hybridised, GPU accelerated simulator written in C, capable of simulating generic quantum circuits of general single-qubit gates and many-qubit controlled gates. Using the ARCUS Phase-B and ARCHER supercomputers, we benchmark QuEST's simulation of random circuits of up to 38 qubits, distributed over up to 2048 distributed nodes, each with up to 24 cores. We directly compare QuEST's performance to ProjectQ's on single machines, and discuss the differences in distribution strategies of QuEST, qHipster and Quantum++. QuEST shows excellent scaling, both strong and weak, on multicore and distributed architectures.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Vibrational modes of negatively charged silicon-vacancy centers in diamond from ab initio calculations. (arXiv:1605.02955v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Silicon-vacancy (SiV) center in diamond is a photoluminescence (PL) center with a characteristic zero-phonon line energy at 1.681~eV that acts as a solid-state single photon source and, potentially, as a quantum bit. The majority of the luminescence intensity appears in the zero-phonon line; nevertheless, about 30\% of the intensity manifests in the phonon sideband. Since phonons play an important role in the operation of this system, it is of importance to understand the vibrational properties of the SiV center in detail. To this end, we carry out density functional theory calculations of dilute SiV centers by embedding the defect in supercells of a size of a few thousand atoms. We find that there exist two well-pronounced quasi-local vibrational modes (resonances) with $a_{2u}$ and $e_u$ symmetries, corresponding to the vibration of the Si atom along and perpendicular to the defect symmetry axis, respectively. Isotopic shifts of these modes explain the isotopic shifts of prominent vibronic features in the experimental SiV PL spectrum. Moreover, calculations show that the vibrational frequency of the $a_{2u}$ mode increases by about 25\% in the excited state with respect to the ground state, while the frequency of the $e_u$ mode increases only slightly. These changes explain experimentally observed isotopic shifts of the zero-phonon line energy. We also emphasize possible dangers of extracting isotopic shifts of vibrational resonances from finite-size supercell calculations, and instead propose a method to do this efficiently.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Radiation Forces and the Abraham-Minkowski Problem. (arXiv:1801.01545v3 [physics.class-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Recent years have witnessed a number of beautiful experiments in radiation optics. Our purpose with this mini-review is to highlight some developments of radiation pressure physics in general, and thereafter to focus on the importance of the mentioned experiments in regard to the classic Abraham-Minkowski problem. That means, what is the "correct" expression for electromagnetic momentum density in continuous matter. In our opinion one sees relatively often that authors over-interpret the importance of their experimental findings with respect to the momentum problem. Most of these experiments are actually unable to discriminate between these energy-momentum tensors at all, since they can be easily described in terms of force expressions that are common for Abraham and Minkowski. Moreover, we emphasize the inherent ambiguity in applying formal conservation principles to the radiation field in a dielectric, the reason being that the electromagnetic field in matter is only a subsystem which has to be supplemented by the mechanical subsystem to be closed. Finally, we make some suggestions regarding the connection between macroscopic electrodynamics and the Casimir effect, suggesting that there is a limit for the magnitudes of cutoff parameters in QFT related to surface tension in ordinary hydromechanics.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Geometric effects resulting from square and circular confinements for a particle constrained to a space curve. (arXiv:1711.05453v4 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

Investigating the geometric effects resulting from the detailed behaviors of the confining potential, we consider square and circular confinements to constrain a particle to a space curve. We find a torsion-induced geometric potential and a curvature-induced geometric momentum just in the square case, while a geometric gauge potential solely in the circular case. In the presence of electromagnetic field, a geometrically induced magnetic moment couples with magnetic field as an induced Zeeman coupling only for the circular confinement, also. As spin-orbit interaction is considered, we find some additional terms for the spin-orbit coupling, which are induced not only by torsion, but also curvature. Moreover, in the circular case, the spin also couples with an intrinsic angular momentum, which describes the azimuthal motions mapped on the space curve. As an important conclusion for the thin-layer quantization approach, some substantial geometric effects result from the confinement boundaries. Finally, these results are proved on a helical wire.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Quantifying Absorption in the Transactional Interpretation. (arXiv:1711.04501v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Wed, 2018-04-18 05:45

The Transactional Interpretation offers a solution to the measurement problem by identifying specific physical conditions precipitating the non-unitary measurement transition' of von Neumann. Specifically, the transition occurs as a result of absorber response (a process lacking in the standard approach to the theory). The purpose of this Letter is to make clear that, despite recent claims to the contrary, the concepts of absorber' and `absorber response,' as well as the process of absorption, are physically and quantitatively well-defined in the transactional picture. In addition, the Born Rule is explicitly derived for radiative processes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Dirac Equation in ($1+1$)-Dimensional Curved Spacetime and the Multiphoton Quantum Rabi Model

Author(s): J. S. Pedernales, M. Beau, S. M. Pittman, I. L. Egusquiza, L. Lamata, E. Solano, and A. del Campo

We introduce an exact mapping between the Dirac equation in (1+1)-dimensional curved spacetime (DCS) and a multiphoton quantum Rabi model (QRM). A background of a (1+1)-dimensional black hole requires a QRM with one- and two-photon terms that can be implemented in a trapped ion for the quantum simul...

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 160403] Published Tue Apr 17, 2018

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Residual and Destroyed Accessible Information after Measurements

Author(s): Rui Han, Gerd Leuchs, and Markus Grassl

When quantum states are used to send classical information, the receiver performs a measurement on the signal states. The amount of information extracted is often not optimal due to the receiver’s measurement scheme and experimental apparatus. For quantum nondemolition measurements, there is potenti...

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 160501] Published Tue Apr 17, 2018

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Spatiotemporal light-beam compression from nonlinear mode coupling

Author(s): Katarzyna Krupa, Alessandro Tonello, Vincent Couderc, Alain Barthélémy, Guy Millot, Daniele Modotto, and Stefan Wabnitz

We experimentally demonstrate simultaneous spatial and temporal compression in the propagation of light pulses in multimode nonlinear optical fibers. We reveal that the spatial beam self-cleaning recently discovered in graded-index multimode fibers is accompanied by significant temporal reshaping an...

[Phys. Rev. A 97, 043836] Published Tue Apr 17, 2018

Categories: Journals, Physics