Quantum probing consists of suitably exploiting a simple, small, and controllable quantum system to characterize a larger and more complex system. Here, we address the estimation of the cutoff frequency of the Ohmic spectral density of a harmonic reservoir by quantum probes. To this aim, we address the use of single-qubit and two-qubit systems and different kinds of coupling with the bath of oscillators. We assess the estimation precision by the quantum Fisher information of the sole quantum probe as well as the corresponding quantum signal-to-noise ratio. We prove that, for most of the values of the Ohmicity parameter, a simple probe such as a single qubit is already optimal for the precise estimation of the cutoff frequency. Indeed for those values, upon considering a two-qubit probe either in a Bell or in separable state, we do not find improvement to the estimation precision. However, we also showed that there exist few conditions where employing two qubits in a Bell state interacting with a common bath is more suitable for precisely estimating the cutoff frequency.
It is often the case that the environment of a quantum system may be described as a bath of oscillators with Ohmic density of states. In turn, the precise characterization of these classes of environments is a crucial tool to engineer decoherence or to tailor quantum information protocols. Recently, the use of quantum probes in characterizing Ohmic environments at zero-temperature has been discussed, showing that a single qubit provides precise estimation of the cutoff frequency. On the other hand, thermal noise often spoil quantum probing schemes, and for this reason we here extend the analys…
We address a particular instance where open quantum systems may be used as quantum probes for an emergent property of a complex system, as the temperature of a thermal bath. The inherent fragility of the quantum probes against decoherence is the key feature making the overall scheme very sensitive. The specific setting examined here is that of quantum thermometry, which aims to exploits decoherence as resource to estimate the temperature of a sample. We focus on temperature estimation for a bosonic bath at equilibrium in the Ohmic regime (ranging from sub-Ohmic to super- Ohmic), by using pairs…
We investigate the optimal dynamical decoupling sequence for a qubit coupled to an ohmic environment. By analytically computing the derivatives of the decoherence function, the optimal pulse locations are found to satisfy a set of nonlinear equations which can be easily solved. These equations incorporates the environment information such as high-energy (UV) cutoff frequency ω_c, giving a complete description of the decoupling process. The solutions explain previous experimental and theoretical results of locally optimized dynamical decoupling (LODD) sequence in high-frequency dominated enviro…
We address the discrimination of structured baths at different temperatures by dephasing quantum probes. We derive the exact reduced dynamics and evaluate the minimum error probability achievable by three different kinds of quantum probes, namely a qubit, a qutrit and a quantum register made of two qubits. Our results indicate that dephasing quantum probes are useful in discriminating low values of temperature, and that lower probabilities of error are achieved for intermediate values of the interaction time. A qutrit probe outperforms a qubit one in the discrimination task, whereas a register…
We put forward a measure based on Gaussian steering to quantify the non-Markovianity of continuous-variable (CV) Gaussian quantum channels. We employ the proposed measure to assess and compare the non-Markovianity of a quantum Brownian motion (QBM) channel, originating from the interaction with Ohmic and sub-Ohmic environments with spectral densities described by a Lorentz-Drude cutoff, both at high and low temperatures, showing that sub-Ohmic, high temperature environments lead to highly non-Markovian evolution, with cyclic backflows of Gaussian steerability from the environment to the system…
We study the suppression of qubit dephasing through Uhrig dynamical decoupling (UDD) in nontrivial environments modeled within the spin-boson formalism. In particular, we address the case of (i) a qubit coupled to a bosonic bath with power-law spectral density, and (ii) a qubit coupled to a single harmonic oscillator that dissipates energy into a bosonic bath, which embodies an example of a structured bath for the qubit. We then model the influence of random time jitter in the UDD protocol by sorting pulse-application times from Gaussian distributions centered at appropriate values dictated by…
We use a non-Markovian approach to study the decoherence dynamics of a qubit in either a low- or high-frequency bath modeling the qubit environment. This approach is based on a unitary transformation and does not require the rotating-wave approximation. We show that for low-frequency noise, the bath shifts the qubit energy towards higher energies (blue shift), while the ordinary high-frequency cutoff Ohmic bath shifts the qubit energy towards lower energies (red shift). In order to preserve the coherence of the qubit, we also investigate the quantum Zeno effect in two cases: low- and high-freq…
An approach based on a non-Markovian time-convolutionless polaron master equation is used to probe the quantum dynamics of a chromophore-qubit in a super-Ohmic bath. Utilizing a measure of non-Markovianity based on dynamical fixed points, we study the effects of the environment temperature and the coupling strength on the non-Markovian behavior of the chromophore in a super-Ohmic bath. It is found that an increase in the temperature results in a reduction in the backflow information from the environment to the chromophore, and therefore, a suppression of non-Markovianity. In the weak coupling …
We address open quantum systems out-of-equilibrium as effective quantum probes for the characterisation of their environment. We discuss estimation schemes for parameters driving a de-phasing evolution of the probe and then focus on qubits, establishing a relationship between the quantum Fisher information and the residual coherence of the probe. Finally, we apply our results to the characterisation of the ohmicity parameter of a bosonic environment.
In this study, we have proposed a method based on non-equilibrium effects to generate the superposition of macroscopically distinguishable quantum states, known as Schrodinger cat states, by using a Mach-Zehnder interferometry type experiment. Interaction of the input number state with a Kerr medium in the presence of a couple of heat baths in different temperatures in interaction picture and without imposing Markov assumption is considered. We have shown that the study of dynamics of the cat states under non-equilibrium condition open a way for the robustness of quantum features against the d…
We address parameter estimation for complex/structured systems and suggest an effective estimation scheme based on continuous-variables quantum probes. In particular, we investigate the use of a single bosonic mode as a probe for Ohmic reservoirs, and obtain the ultimate quantum limits to the precise estimation of their cutoff frequency. We assume the probe prepared in a Gaussian state and determine the optimal working regime, i.e. the conditions for the maximization of the quantum Fisher information in terms of the initial preparation, the reservoir temperature and the interaction time. Upon …
We consider a scenario in which qubit-like probes are used to sense an external field that linearly affects their energy splitting. Following the frequency estimation approach in which one optimizes the state and sensing time of the probes to maximize the sensitivity, we provide a systematic study of the attainable precision under the impact of noise originating from independent bosonic baths. We invoke an explicit microscopic derivation of the probe dynamics using the spin-boson model with weak coupling of arbitrary geometry and clarify how the secular approximation leads to a phase-covariant…
We study the small mass limit (or: the Smoluchowski-Kramers limit) of a class of quantum Brownian motions with inhomogeneous damping and diffusion. For Ohmic bath spectral density with a Lorentz-Drude cutoff, we derive the Heisenberg-Langevin equations for the particle's observables using a quantum stochastic calculus approach. We set the mass of the particle to equal $m = m_{0} ε$, the reduced Planck constant to equal $\hbar = ε$ and the cutoff frequency to equal $Λ= E_Λ/ε$, where $m_0$ and $E_Λ$ are positive constants, so that the particle's de Broglie wavelength and the largest energy scale…
We theoretically analyze the entanglement generation and dynamics by coupled Josephson junction qubits. Considering a current-biased Josephson junction (CBJJ), we generate maximally entangled states. In particular, the entanglement dynamics is considered as a function of the decoherence parameters, such as the temperature, the ratio $r\equivω_c/ω_0$ between the reservoir cutoff frequency $ω_c$ and the system oscillator frequency $ω_0$, % between $ω_0$ the characteristic frequency of the %quantum system of interest, and $ω_c$ the cut-off frequency of %Ohmic reservoir and the energy levels split…
Quantum probing is the art of exploiting simple quantum systems interacting with a complex environment to extract precise information about some environmental parameters, e.g. the temperature of the environment or its spectral density. Here we analyze the performance of a single-qubit probe in characterizing Ohmic bosonic environments at thermal equilibrium. In particular, we analyze the effects of tuning the interaction Hamiltonian between the probe and the environment, going beyond the traditional paradigm of pure dephasing. In the weak-coupling and short-time regime, we address the dynamics…
Small, controllable quantum systems, known as quantum probes, have been proposed to estimate various parameters characterizing complex systems such as the environments of quantum systems. These probes, prepared in some initial state, are allowed to interact with their environment, and subsequent measurements reveal information about different quantities characterizing the environment such as the system-environment coupling strength, the cutoff frequency, and the temperature. These estimates have generally been made by considering only the way that the probe undergoes decoherence. However, we s…
A probing scheme is considered with an accessible and controllable qubit, used to probe an out-of equilibrium system consisting of a second qubit interacting with an environment. Quantum spontaneous synchronization between the probe and the system emerges in this model and, by tuning the probe frequency, can occur both in-phase and in anti-phase. We analyze the capability of machine learning in this probing scheme based on quantum synchronization. An artificial neural network is used to infer, from a probe observable, main dissipation features, such as the environment Ohmicity index. The effic…
Orthogonality Edges in Strong-Coupling Quantum Work Statistics
School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理科学学院）；Institute of Fundamental Physics and Quantum Technology and School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University（宁波大学基础物理与量子技术研究所及物理科学与技术学院）；Department of Physics, University of Sargodha（萨格达大学物理系）
There is growing belief that the next decade will see the emergence of sensing devices based on the laws of quantum physics that outperform some of our current sensing devices. For example, in frequency estimation, using a probe prepared in an entangled state can, in principle, lead to a precision gain compared to a probe prepared in a separable state. Even in the presence of some forms of decoherence, it has been shown that the precision gain can increase with the number of probe particles $N$. Usually, however, the entangled and separable state preparation and readout times are assumed to be…
We calculate the transmission spectra of a flux qubit coupled to a dissipative resonator in the ultrastrong coupling regime. Such a qubit-oscillator system constitutes the building block of superconducting circuit QED platforms. The calculated transmission of a weak probe field quantifies the response of the qubit, in frequency domain, under the sole influence of the oscillator and of its dissipative environment, an Ohmic heat bath. We find the distinctive features of the qubit-resonator system, namely two-dip structures in the calculated transmission, modified by the presence of the dissipati…
In this work, we study the thermodynamics of a two-level system (qubit) embedded in a finite-temperature structured-bath under periodical measurements. The system under measurements will reach a quasi-steady state, whose effective temperature can be maintained lower than that of the surrounding environment. To study the influence of the environmental oscillators from different regimes of frequency on the qubit, the spectrum of the bath consisting of a large number of bosonic harmonic oscillators can be approximately divided into three parts according to their effects of cooling or heating. Due…
The standard weak-coupling approximations associated to open quantum systems have been extensively used in the description of a two-level quantum system, qubit, subjected to relatively weak dissipation compared with the qubit frequency. However, recent progress in the experimental implementations of controlled quantum systems with increased levels of on-demand engineered dissipation has motivated precision studies in parameter regimes that question the validity of the approximations, especially in the presence of time-dependent drive fields. In this paper, we address the precision of weak-coup…
We study a quantum harmonic oscillator linearly coupled through the position operator $\hat{q}$ to a first bath and through the momentum operator $\hat{p}$ to a second bath yielding an Ohmic-Drude dissipation. We analyse the oscillator's fluctuations as a function of the ratio between the strength of the two couplings, focusing in particular on the situation in which the two dissipative interactions are comparable. Analytic formulas are derived in the relevant regimes corresponding to the low temperature limit and when the Drude high frequency cutoff is much larger than all other frequencies. …
We consider a model for a Planck scale ultraviolet cutoff which is based on Shannon sampling. Shannon sampling originated in information theory, where it expresses the equivalence of continuous and discrete representations of information. When applied to quantum field theory, Shannon sampling expresses a hard ultraviolet cutoff in the form of a bandlimitation. This introduces nonlocality at the cutoff scale in a way that is more subtle than a simple discretization of space: quantum fields can then be represented as either living on continuous space or, entirely equivalently, as living on any o…
Cavity optomechanical system can exhibit higher-order sideband comb effect when it is driven by a control field $ω_{c}$ and a probe field $ω_{p}$, and works in the non-perturbative regime, as was shown in a previous work [Xiong et al., Opt. Lett. 38, 353 (2013)]. The repetition frequency of such a comb is equal to the mechanical frequency $ω_{b}$ and is untunable, which limits the precision of the comb. Here we address this problem by driving the system with an additional strong probe field $ω_{f}$, and the detuning between $ω_{f}$ and $ω_{c}$ is equal to $ω_{b}/n$ (here $n$ is an integer), i.…
We consider the impact of a weakly coupled environment comprising a light scalar field on the open dynamics of a quantum probe field, resulting in a master equation for the probe field that features corrections to the coherent dynamics, as well as decoherence and momentum diffusion. The light scalar is assumed to couple to matter either through a nonminimal coupling to gravity or, equivalently, through a Higgs portal. Motivated by applications to experiments such as atom interferometry, we assume that the probe field can be initialized, by means of external driving, in a state that is not an e…
