The cascade, lambda and vee type of three-level systems are shown to be described by three different Hamiltonians in the SU(3) basis. We investigate the Bloch space structure of each configuration by solving the corresponding Bloch equation and show that at resonance, the seven-dimensional Bloch sphere ${\mathcal S}^7$ is broken into two distinct subspaces ${\mathcal S}^2{\times}{\mathcal S}^4$ due to the existence of a pair of quadratic constants. We also give a possible representation of the qutrit wave function and discuss its equivalence with the three-level system.
An ability to describe quantum states directly by average values of measurement outcomes is provided by the Bloch vector. For an informationally complete set of measurements one can construct unique Bloch vector for any quantum state. However, not every Bloch vector corresponds to a quantum state. It seems that only for two dimensional quantum systems it is easy to distinguish proper Bloch vectors from improper ones, i.e. the ones corresponding to quantum states from the other ones. I propose an alternative approach to the problem in which more than one vector is used. In particular, I show th…
Geometric intuition is a crucial tool to obtain deeper insight into many concepts of physics. A paradigmatic example of its power is the Bloch ball, the geometrical representation for the state space of the simplest possible quantum system, a two-level system (or qubit). However, already for a three-level system (qutrit) the state space has eight dimensions, so that its complexity exceeds the grasp of our three-dimensional space of experience. This is unfortunate, given that the geometric object describing the state space of a qutrit has a much richer structure and is in many ways more represe…
We present a surprisingly simple three-dimensional Bloch sphere representation of a qutrit, i.e., a single three-level quantum system. We start with a symmetric state of a two-qubit system and relate it to the spin-1 representation. Using this representation we associate each qutrit state with a three-dimensional vector $\mathbf{a}$ and a metric tensor $\mathbf{\hatΓ}$ which satisfy $\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{\hatΓ} \cdot \mathbf{a}\leq 1$. This resembles the well known condition for qubit Bloch vectors in which case $\mathbf{\hatΓ}=\hat{I}$. In our case the vector $\mathbf{a}$ corresponds to sp…
We present an analysis of spontaneous emission in a 3-level atom as an example of a qutrit state under the action of noisy quantum channels. We choose a 3-level atom with V-configuration to be the qutrit state. Gell-Mann matrices and a generalized Bloch vector (8-dimensional) are used to describe the qutrit density operator. Using the time-evolution equations of atomic variables we find the Kraus representation of spontaneous emission quantum channel (SE channel). Furthermore, we consider a generalized Werner state of two qutrits and investigate the separability condition. We give similar anal…
We have given a novel formulation of the exact solutions for the lambda, vee and cascade three-level systems where the Hamiltonian of each configuration is expressed in the SU(3) basis. The solutions are discussed from the perspective of the Bloch equation and the atom-field entanglement scenario. For the semiclassical systems, the Bloch space structure of each configuration is studied by solving the corresponding Bloch equation and it is shown that at resonance, the eight-dimensional Bloch sphere is broken up into two distinct subspaces due to the existence of a pair of quadratic constants. B…
The geometry of the generalized Bloch sphere $Ω_3$, the state space of a qutrit, is studied. Closed form expressions for $Ω_3$, its boundary $\partial Ω_3$, and the set of extremals $Ω_3^{\rm ext}$ are obtained by use of an elementary observation. These expressions and analytic methods are used to classify the 28 two-sections and the 56 three-sections of $Ω_3$ into unitary equivalence classes, completing the works of earlier authors. It is shown, in particular, that there are families of two-sections and of three-sections which are equivalent geometrically but not unitarily, a feature that doe…
We have implemented a Walsh-Hadamard gate, which performs a quantum Fourier transform, in a superconducting qutrit. The qutrit is encoded in the lowest three energy levels of a capacitively shunted flux device, operated at the optimal flux-symmetry point. We use an efficient decomposition of the Walsh-Hadamard gate into two unitaries, generated by off-diagonal and diagonal Hamiltonians respectively. The gate implementation utilizes simultaneous driving of all three transitions between the three pairs of energy levels of the qutrit, one of which is implemented with a two-photon process. The gat…
We discuss the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) in lambda, cascade and vee type three-level systems where the Hamiltonian and the Lindblad term of each configuration are expressed in the $SU(3)$ representation. At steady state, the Optical Bloch Equations of each configuration are solved to obtain the dispersion and absorption profiles of the probe field along with their group velocities. When the EIT condition is achieved at resonance, the population oscillation shows which of the bare states are contributing to form the dark state. Our study reveals that the dark state for the …
We classify the Markov chains that can be generated on the set of quantum states by a unitarily evolving 3-dim quantum system (qutrit) that is repeatedly measured with a projective measurement (PVM) consisting of one rank-2 projection and one rank-1 projection. The dynamics of such a system can be visualized as taking place on the union of a Bloch ball and a single point, which correspond to the respective projections. The classification is given in terms of the eigenvalues of the 2x2 matrix that describes the dynamics arising on the Bloch ball, i.e., on the 2-dim subsystem. We also express th…
Milz and Strunz ({\it J. Phys. A}: {\bf{48}} [2015] 035306) recently studied the probabilities that two-qubit and qubit-qutrit states, randomly generated with respect to Hilbert-Schmidt (Euclidean/flat) measure, are separable. They concluded that in both cases, the separability probabilities (apparently exactly $\frac{8}{33}$ in the two-qubit scenario) hold {\it constant} over the Bloch radii ($r$) of the single-qubit subsystems, jumping to 1 at the pure state boundaries ($r=1$). Here, firstly, we present evidence that in the qubit-qutrit case, the separability probability is uniformly distrib…
The qutrit comes next in complexity after qubit as a resource for quantum information processing. The qubit density matrix can be easily visualized using Bloch sphere representation of its states. In contrast, this simplicity is in general unavailable for the 8-dimensional state space of a qutrit. In this work a new way to visualize them in a 3-dimensional Cartesian space is presented and compared with earlier similar efforts.
We obtain formulas (bot. p. 12)--including $\frac{2}{121}$ and $\frac{4 \left(242 \sqrt{3} π-1311\right)}{9801}$--for the eight atoms (Fig. 11), summing to 1, which span a 256-dimensional three-set (P, S, PPT) entanglement-probability boolean algebra for the two-qutrit Hiesmayr-Loffler states. PPT denotes positive partial transpose, while P and S provide the Li-Qiao necessary and}sufficient conditions for entanglement. The constraints ensuring entanglement are $s> \frac{16}{9} \approx 1.7777$ and $p> \frac{2^{27}}{3^{18} \cdot 7^{15} \cdot13} \approx 5.61324 \cdot 10^{-15}$. Here, $s$ is the s…
We detect a certain pattern of behavior of separability probabilities $p(r_A,r_B)$ for two-qubit systems endowed with Hilbert-Schmidt, and more generally, random induced measures, where $r_A$ and $r_B$ are the Bloch radii ($0 \leq r_A,r_B \leq 1$) of the qubit reduced states ($A,B$). We observe a relative repulsion of radii effect, that is $p(r_A,r_A) < p(r_A,1-r_A)$, except for rather narrow "crossover" intervals $[\tilde{r}_A,\frac{1}{2}]$. Among the seven specific cases we study are, firstly, the "toy" seven-dimensional $X$-states model and, then, the fifteen-dimensional two-qubit states ob…
Experimental challenges and prospects for quantum-enhanced energy conversion: Stationary Fano coherence in V-type qutrits interacting with polarized incoherent radiation
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-INO)（意大利国家光学研究所）；European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Università degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学非线性光谱学欧洲实验室）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学物理与天文学系）；Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-ISC)（意大利复杂系统研究所）
