A local orthogonal transformation that transforms any centrosymmetric (CS) matrix of fourth order to the X form is found. A picewise-analytic-numerical formula Q=min{Q_π/2,Q_θ,Q_0}, where Q_π/2 and Q_0 are analytical expressions and the branch Q_θ is found by numerical searching the optimal measurement angle θ\in(0,π/2), is proposed to calculate the quantum discord Q of general X state. The developed approaches are applied to a quantitative description of recently predicted flickerings (periodic birth and death) of the quantum-information pair correlation between nuclear 1/2 spin of atoms or molecules of a gas (for examples Xe^129) in a finite asymmetric volume in the presence of a strong magnetic field.
The effect of Gaussian fluctuations of nanopores filled with a gas of spin-carrying molecules ($s=1/2$) on the multiple quantum (MQ) NMR dynamics is investigated at different variances and correlation times of the fluctuations. We show that the fluctuations smooth out the evolution of MQ NMR coherence intensities which rapidly oscillate as functions of time in the absence of fluctuations. The growth and decay of the MQ coherence clusters in the fluctuating nanopore are also investigated.
We investigate the dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord of two qubits in liquid state homonuclear NMR. Applying a phenomenological description for NMR under relaxation process, and taking a group of typical parameters of NMR, we show that when a zero initial state $|00> $ experiences a relaxation process, its entanglement disappears completely after a sequence of so-called sudden deaths and revivals, while the quantum discord retains remarkable values after a sequence of oscillations. That is to say, the quantum discord is more robust than entanglement.
We consider the quantum discord in a two-particle spin-1/2 system (dimer) governed by the standard multiple quantum (MQ) Hamiltonian and reveal the relation between the discord and the intensity of the second-order MQ coherence. Since the coherence intensities may be measured in experiment, we obtain a method of detecting the quantum discord in experiment. Comparison of discord and concurrence is represented.
Quantum correlations in multiple quantum (MQ) NMR experiments are investigated in two-spin systems (dimers). In the initial moment of time one spin is in a pure quantum polarized state and the other spin is in the thermodynamic equilibrium state defined by the temperature of the sample. MQ NMR dynamics of dimers is investigated. It is shown that MQ NMR coherences of only the zeroth and second orders emerge in such a system. The intensities of those coherences are calculated. Entangled states appear in the course of the system evolution in the MQ NMR experiment. The quantum discord is obtained …
We investigate evolution of quantum correlations in ensembles of two-qubit nuclear spin systems via nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. We use discord as a measure of quantum correlations and the Werner state as an explicit example. We first introduce different ways of measuring discord and geometric discord in two-qubit systems and then describe the following experimental studies: (a) We quantitatively measure discord for Werner-like states prepared using an entangling pulse sequence. An initial thermal state with zero discord is gradually and periodically transformed into a mixed state wi…
We consider the multiple quantum (MQ) NMR dynamics of a gas of spin carrying molecules in nanocavities. MQ NMR dynamics is determined by the residual dipole-dipole interactions which are not averaged completely due to the molecular diffusion in nanopores. Since the averaged non-secular Hamiltonian describing MQ NMR dynamics depends on only one coupling constant, this Hamiltonian commutes with the square of the total spin angular momentum $\hat I^2$. We use the basis of common eigenstates of $\hat I^2$ and the projection of $I$ on the external magnetic field for investigation of MQ NMR dynamics…
Entanglement and quantum discord for a pair of nuclear spins $s=1/2$ in a nanopore filled with a gas of spin-carrying molecules (atoms) are studied. The correlation functions describing dynamics of dipolar coupled spins in a nanopore are found. The dependence of spin-pair entanglement on the temperature and the number of spins is obtained from the reduced density matrix, which is centrosymmetric (CS). An analytic expression for the concurrence is obtained for an arbitrary CS density matrix. It is shown that the quantum discord as a measure of quantum correlations attains a significant value at…
We review the theoretical and the experimental aspects regarding the quantification and identification of quantum correlations in liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) systems at room temperature. We start by introducing a formal method to obtain the quantum discord and its classical counterpart in systems described by a deviation matrix. Next, we apply such a method to experimentally demonstrate that the peculiar dynamics, with a sudden change behaviour, of quantum discord under decoherence, theoretically predicted only for phase-noise channels, is also present even under the effect o…
A bipartite quantum system in a mixed state can exhibit nonclassical correlations, which can go beyond quantum entanglement. While quantum discord is the standard measure of quantifying such general quantum correlations, the nonclassicality can be determined by simpler means via the measurement of witness operators. We experimentally construct a positive map to witness nonclassicality of two qubits in an NMR system. The map can be decomposed so that a single run of an experiment on an ensemble of spins suffices to detect the nonclassicality in the state, if present. We let the state evolve in …
Quantum discord is a function of density-matrix elements (and through them, e.~g., of temperature, applied fields, time, and so forth). The domain of such a function in the case of two-qubit system with X or centrosymmetric (CS) density matrix can consist at most of three subdomains: two ones, where the quantum discord is expressed in closed analytical forms (Q_0 and Q_{π/2}), and an intermediate subdomain in which for determining the quantum discord Q_θit is required to solve numerically a one-dimensional minimization problem to find the optimal measurement angle θ\in(0,π/2). Exact equations …
We found an universal local unitary (orthogonal) transformation which transforms any centrosymmetric (CS) density matrix ρ_{CS} into the X density matrix ρ_X: H\otimes Hρ_{CS}H\otimes H=ρ_X, where H is the Hadamard transformation. Because quantum discord is invariant under the local unitary transformations, this remarkable property allows to get the discord of general two-qubit CS states in the analytical form using the corresponding well-known formulas for the X states. Examples of systems with CS density matrices provided from the recent literature, including XXZ spin model with the Dzyalosh…
We introduce the quantum-house effect, a non-local phenomenon which apparently does not require quantum discord to be present. It suffices for the effect if neither subsystem of a bipartite system is in a pure state. This way, the quantum-house effect completely fills the gap between trivial correlations and quantum discord. However, we discuss why the situation is more subtle than that, by showing that in a concrete cryptographic setting called "the quantum-house game", the ability to produce quantum discord is in fact necessary for the quantum-house effect to work. Then, we suggest a princip…
The discovery of the intriguing phenomenon that certain kinds of quantum correlations remain impervious to noise up to a specific point in time and then suddenly decay, has generated immense recent interest. We exploit dynamical decoupling sequences to prolong the persistence of time-invariant quantum discord in a system of two NMR qubits decohering in independent dephasing environments. We experimentally prepare two-qubit Bell-diagonal quantum states that interact with individual dephasing channels and demonstrate the effect of dynamical decoupling on the preservation of both quantum and clas…
In conventional NMR experiments, the Zeeman energy gaps of the nuclear spin ensembles are much lower than their thermal energies, and accordingly exhibit tiny polarizations. Generally such low-purity quantum states are devoid of quantum entanglement. However, there exist certain nonclassical correlations which can be observed even in such systems. In this chapter, we discuss three such quantum correlations, namely, quantum contextuality, Leggett-Garg temporal correlations, and quantum discord. In each case, we provide a brief theoretical background and then describe some results from NMR exper…
The existence of quantum correlation (as revealed by quantum discord), other than entanglement and its role in quantum-information processing (QIP), is a current subject for discussion. In particular, it has been suggested that this nonclassical correlation may provide computational speedup for some quantum algorithms. In this regard, bulk nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been successfully used as a test bench for many QIP implementations, although it has also been continuously criticized for not presenting entanglement in most of the systems used so far. In this paper, we report a theoret…
The threshold between classical and nonclassical two-qubit states is drawn at the place when these states can no longer be described by classical correlations, i.e., quantum discord or entanglement appear. However, to check if the correlations are classical (in terms of quantum discord and entanglement) it is sufficient to witness the lack of quantum discord because its zero value implies the lack of entanglement. We explain how the indicator of quantum discord introduced by Girolami and Adesso [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 150403 (2012)] can be practically measured in linear-optical systems using st…
We experimentally emulate interaction induced blockade and local spin freezing in two and three qubit Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) architecture. These phenomena are identical to the Rydberg blockade and Rydberg biased freezing. In Rydberg blockade, the simultaneous excitation of two or more atoms is blocked due to the level shift induced by the strong Van der Waal's interaction. In such a strong interaction regime, one can also observe Rydberg biased freezing, wherein the dynamics is confined to a subspace, with the help of multiple drives with unequal amplitudes. Here we drive NMR qubits …
Quantum correlations are investigated theoretically in a two-spin system with the dipole-dipole interactions in the NMR multiple-pulse spin-locking experiments. We consider two schemes of the multiple-pulse spin-locking. The first scheme consists of $π/2$-pulses only and the delays between the pulses can differ. The second scheme contains $φ$-pulses ($0<φ<π$) and has equal delays between them. We calculate entanglement for both schemes for an initial separable state. We show that entanglement is absent for the first scheme at equal delays between $π/2$-pulses at arbitraty temperatures. Entangl…
Quantum algorithms are known for presenting more efficient solutions to certain computational tasks than any corresponding classical algorithm. It has been thought that the origin of the power of quantum computation has its roots in non-classical correlations such as entanglement or quantum discord. However, it has been recently shown that even a single pure qudit is sufficient to design an oracle-based algorithm which solves a black-box problem faster than any classical approach to the same problem. In particular, the algorithm that we consider determines whether eight permutation functions d…
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was successfully employed to test several protocols and ideas in Quantum Information Science. In most of these implementations the existence of entanglement was ruled out. This fact introduced concerns and questions about the quantum nature of such bench tests. In this article we address some issues related to the non-classical aspects of NMR systems. We discuss some experiments where the quantum aspects of this system are supported by quantum correlations of separable states. Such quantumness, beyond the entanglement-separability paradigm, is revealed via a de…
This thesis deals with the generation, estimation and preservation of novel quantum states of two and three qubits, on an NMR quantum information processor. Using the maximum likelihood ansatz, we have developed a method for state estimation such that the reconstructed density matrix does not have negative eigenvalues and the errors are within the space of valid density operators. Due to interactions with the environment, unwanted changes occur in the system, leading to decoherence. Controlling decoherence is one of the biggest challenges to be overcome to build quantum computers. We have used…
