The recently established resource theory of quantum coherence allows for a quantitative understanding of the superposition principle, with applications reaching from quantum computing to quantum biology. While different quantifiers of coherence have been proposed in the literature, their efficient estimation in today's experiments remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a collective measurement scheme for estimating the amount of coherence in quantum states, which requires entangled measurements on two copies of the state. As we show by numerical simulations, our scheme outperforms other estimation methods based on tomography or adaptive measurements, leading to a higher precision in a large parameter range for estimating established coherence quantifiers of qubit and qutrit states. We show that our method is accessible with today's technology by implementing it experimentally with photons, finding a good agreement between experiment and theory.
Collective behavior where a set of elements interact and generate effects that are beyond the reach of the individual non interacting elements, are always of great interest in physics. Quantum collective effects that have no classical analogue are even more intriguing. In this work we show how to construct collective quantum heat machines and explore their performance boosts with respect to regular machines. Without interactions between the machines the individual units operate in a stochastic, non-quantum manner. The construction of the collective machine becomes possible by introducing two s…
We demonstrate fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an Erbium doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of Erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient and the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the a…
Bright, entangled multiphoton sources based on atom photon interactions are an essential requirement in the realization of several quantum information and quantum computation schemes based on photonic quantum systems. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a four photon polarization entangled GHZ state obtained from Doppler broadened atomic ensembles of 87Rb atoms. Owing to collective two photon coherence in the Doppler broadened cascade-type atomic system, our setup enables the generation of robust four photon GHZ states with a fidelity of 0.82 and a measured four photon average coincidence rate…
We consider the dissipative charging process of quantum batteries in terms of a collisional model, where the batteries are coupled to a heat bath using non-energy preserving interactions. First, we show that for low temperatures the collective process can attain a charging power that increases polynomically with the number of batteries. The scaling we find is $N^3$ that, while being grater than the bound obtained for unitary processes, it has a lower efficiency. Then, we study the dissipative charging process of single battery using a time dependent Hamiltonian that generates coherences in the…
We report a prolonged coherence time of the collective spin wave of a thermal 87Rb atomic ensemble in a paraffin coated cell. The spin wave is prepared through a stimulated Raman Process. The long coherence time time is achieved by prolonging the lifetime of the spins with paraffin coating and minimize dephasing with optimal experimental configuration. The observation of the long time delayed-stimulated Stokes signal in the writing process suggests the prolonged lifetime of the prepared spins; a direct measurement of the decay of anti-Stokes signal in the reading process shows the coherence ti…
We implement dynamic control of a superradiant, cold atom $^{87}$Rb Raman laser to realize the equivalent of conditional Ramsey spectroscopy for sensing atomic phase shifts. Our method uses the non-demolition mapping of the collective quantum phase of an ensemble of two-level atoms onto the phase of a detected cavity light field. We show that the fundamental precision of the non-demolition measurement can theoretically approach the standard quantum limit on phase estimation for a coherent spin state, the traditional benchmark for Ramsey spectroscopy. Finally, we propose a hybrid optical lattic…
Thermal vapor quantum battery based on collective atomic spins
Zhejiang University of Technology（浙江工业大学）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Southwest Jiaotong University（西南交通大学）；Zhejiang University of Science and Technology（浙江科技大学）；Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）
We formulate the Frobenius-norm-based measures for quantum coherence and asymmetry respectively. In contrast to the resource theory of coherence and asymmetry, we construct a natural measure of quantum coherence inspired from optical coherence theory while the group theoretical approach is employed to quantify the asymmetry of quantum states. Besides their simple structures and explicit physical meanings, we observe that these quantities are intimately related to the purity (or linear entropy) of the corresponding quantum states. Remarkably, we demonstrate that the proposed coherence quantifie…
We study an array of dissipative tunnel-coupled cavities, each interacting with an incoherently pumped two-level emitter. For cavities in the lasing regime, we find correlations between the light fields of distant cavities, despite the dissipation and the incoherent nature of the pumping mechanism. These correlations decay exponentially with distance for arrays in any dimension but become increasingly long ranged with increasing photon tunneling between adjacent cavities. The interaction-dominated and the tunneling-dominated regimes show markedly different scaling of the correlation length whi…
One of the most pertinent problems in the debate on non-trivial quantum effects in biology concerns natural photosynthesis. Since sunlight is composed of thermal photons, it was argued to be unable to induce quantum coherence in matter, and that quantum mechanics is therefore irrelevant for the dynamical processes following photoabsorption. Our present analysis of a toy ``molecular aggregate" -- composed of two dipole-dipole interacting two-level atoms treated as an open quantum system -- however shows that incoherent excitations indeed can trigger coherent dynamics that persist: We demonstrat…
In quantum thermodynamics, the standard approach to estimate work fluctuations in unitary processes is based on two projective measurements, one performed at the beginning of the process and one at the end. The first measurement destroys any initial coherence in the energy basis, thus preventing later interference effects. In order to decrease this back-action, a scheme based on collective measurements has been proposed in~[PRL 118, 070601 (2017)]. Here, we report its experimental implementation in an optical system. The experiment consists of a deterministic collective measurement on identica…
One of the most elusive problems in quantum mechanics is the transition between classical and quantum physics. This problem can be traced back to the Schrödinger's cat. A key element that lies at the center of this problem is the lack of a clear understanding and characterization of macroscopic quantum states. Our understanding of Macroscopic Quantumness relies on states such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger(GHZ) or the NOON state. Here we take a first principle approach to this problem. We start from coherence as the key quantity that captures the notion of quantumness and demand the quantu…
The dynamics of entanglement between three - level atoms coupled to the common vacuum is investigated. We show that the collective effects such as collective damping, dipole - dipole interaction and the cross coupling between orthogonal dipoles, play a crucial role in the process of creation of entanglement. In particular, the additional cross coupling enhances the production of entanglement. For the specific initial states we find that the effect of delayed sudden birth of entanglement, recently invented by Ficek and Tanas [Phys. Rev. A 77, o54301(2008)] in the case of two - level atoms, can …
A near perfect, storage time-extended photon echo-based quantum memory protocol has been analyzed by solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for a backward scheme in a three-level system. The backward photon echo scheme is combined with a controlled coherence conversion process via control Rabi flopping to a third state, where the control Rabi flopping collectively shifts the phase of the ensemble coherence. The propagation direction of photon echoes is coherently determined by the phase matching condition between the data (quantum) and the control (classical) pulses. Herein we discuss the classic…
Cavity-mediated coherence protection and one-axis twisting for spins in solids
California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris（巴黎化学学院，巴黎文理研究大学，法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎化学研究院）
We propose the concept of pair-wise coherence to study the relation between the l1 norm of coherence and the quantum interference in Young's multi-photon multi-path experiments, where the input photons may be entangled each other. We find that only the local coherence of each single photon can make quantum interference and the collective coherence between photons has no contribution to quantum interference. The visibility of interference fringe is commonly less than the l1norm of coherence of the corresponding input state, suggesting that the l1 norm of coherence is only the necessary but not …
We describe a theoretical scheme that allows for transfer of quantum states of atomic collective excitation between two macroscopic atomic ensembles localized in two spatially-separated domains. The conception is based on the occurrence of double-exciton dark states due to the collective destructive quantum interference of the emissions from the two atomic ensembles. With an adiabatically coherence manipulation for the atom-field couplings by stimulated Ramann scattering, the dark states will extrapolate from an exciton state of an ensemble to that of another. This realizes the transport of qu…
We consider two co-moving atoms on a stationary trajectory and develop a formalism to characterize the properties of such atoms. We give a criterion under which quantum coherence (QC) is frozen to a nonzero value and show that the frozen condition (FC) is not so sensitive to the initial condition of state. We introduce the concept super- and subradiant spontaneous excitation rates which plays an equivalent role as conventional collective emission rates in the evolution of quantum coherence. We also give the general relationship between the quantities characterizing properties of atoms in therm…
I present a general scheme through which the evidence of a superposition involving distinct classical-like states of a macroscopic system can be probed. The scheme relies on a qubit being coupled to a macroscopic harmonic oscillator in such a way that it can be used to both prepare and probe a macroscopic superposition. Two potentially realizable implementations, one with a flux qubit coupled to a LC circuit, and the other with an ion-trap qubit coupled to the collective motion of several ions, are proposed.
Quantum coherence was recently formalized as a physical resource to measure the strength of superposition. Based on the resource theory, we present a systematic framework that connects a coherence measure to the security of quantum key distribution. By considering a generic entanglement-based key distribution protocol under the collective attack scenario, we show that the key rate can be quantified by the coherence of the shared bipartite states. This framework allows us to derive the key rate of the BB84 and six-state protocols. By utilizing fine-grained parameters, we also derive the improve…
The theory of phase control of coherence, entanglement and quantum steering is developed for an optomechanical system composed of a single mode cavity containing a partially transmitting dielectric membrane and driven by short laser pulses. The closed loop in the coupling creates interfering channels which depend on the relative phase of the coupling strengths of the field modes to the mechanical mode. We show several interesting phase dependent effects such as reversible population transfer from one field mode to the other, creation of collective modes, and induced coherence without induced e…
We present a complete theoretical description of atomic storage states in the multimode framework by including spatial coherence in atomic collective operators and atomic storage states. We show that atomic storage states are Dicke states with the maximum cooperation number. In some limits, a set of multimode atomic storage states has been established in correspondence with multimode Fock states of the electromagnetic field. This gives better understanding of both the quantum and coherent information of optical field can be preserved and recovered in ultracold medium. In this treatment, we dis…
Macroscopic quantum phenomena such as lasers, Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluids, and superconductors are of great importance in foundations and applications of quantum mechanics. In particular, quantum superposition of a large number of spins in solids is highly desirable for both quantum information processing and ultrasensitive magnetometry. Spin ensembles in solids, however, have rather short collective coherence time (typically less than microseconds). Here we demonstrate that under realistic conditions it is possible to maintain macroscopic quantum superposition of a large spin ensem…
We consider finite sized atomic systems with varying number of particles which have dipolar interactions among them and also under the collective driving and dissipative effect of thermal photon environment. Focusing on the simple case of two atoms, we investigate the impact of different parameters of the model on the coherence contained in the system. We observe that even though the system is initialized in a completely incoherent state, it evolves to a state with a finite amount of coherence and preserve that coherence in the long-time limit in the presence of thermal photons. We propose a n…
Photon echo-based quantum memories demonstrated in rare-earth doped solids over the last decade have solved the major constraint of population inversion in conventional photon echoes by using collective atom phase controls. Both atomic frequency comb and gradient echoes have also made a breakthrough in higher echo efficiency, where conventional photon echo efficiency remains at a few per cent. Here we review, analyze, and discuss the collective atom phase control applied to conventional photon echoes for quantum memory applications to clarify fundamental physics of coherent transients in a thr…
Using an ensemble of atoms in an optical cavity, we engineer a family of nonlocal Heisenberg Hamiltonians with continuously tunable anisotropy of the spin-spin couplings. We thus gain access to a rich phase diagram, including a paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic Ising phase transition that manifests as a diverging magnetic susceptibility at the critical point. The susceptibility displays a symmetry between Ising interactions and XY (spin-exchange) interactions of the opposite sign, which is indicative of the spatially extended atomic system behaving as a single collective spin. Images of the magnet…
We carry out a theoretical study of the collective spontaneous emission (superradiance) from an ultrathin film comprised of three-level atoms with $V$-configuration of the operating transitions. As the thickness of the system is small compared to the emission wavelength inside the film, the local-field correction to the averaged Maxwell field is relevant. We show that the interplay between the low-frequency quantum coherence within the subspace of the upper doublet states and the local-field correction may drastically affect the branching ratio of the operating transitions. This effect may be …
Present schemes involving the quantum non-demolition interaction between atomic samples and off-resonant light pulses allow us to store quantum information corresponding to a single harmonic oscillator (mode) in one multiatomic system. We discuss the possibility to involve several coherences of each atom so that the atomic sample can store information contained in several quantum modes. This is achieved by the coupling of different magnetic sublevels of the relevant hyperfine level by additional Raman pulses. This technique allows us to design not only the quantum non-demolition coupling, but …
Synchronisation is a collective phenomenon widely investigated in classical oscillators and, more recently, in quantum systems. However, it remains unclear what features distinguish synchronous behaviour in these two scenarios. Recent works have shown that investigating the dynamics of synchronisation in open quantum systems can give insight into this issue. Here we study transient synchronisation in a bio-inspired vibronic dimer, where the dynamics of electronic excitation is mediated by coherent interactions with intramolecular vibrational modes. We show that the synchronisation dynamics of …
Quantum coherence is the most fundamental of all quantum quantifiers, underlying other well-known quantities such as entanglement, quantum discord, and Bell correlations. It can be distributed in a multipartite system in various ways -- for example, in a bipartite system it can exist within subsystems (local coherence) or collectively between the subsystems (global coherence) and exhibits a trade-off relation. In quantum systems with more than two subsystems, there are more trade-off relations, due to the various decomposition ways of the coherence. In this paper, we experimentally verify thes…
We describe a detector that measures the mutual coherence of two optical fields directly using quantum interference, free from photon noise of the individual irradiances. Our approach utilizes Raman transition in an atomic system where the state evolution is driven by the mutual coherence of the fields interacting with the atoms. Feedback control is used to balance the interaction of the fields being characterized, providing a measure of the mutual coherence. We show that the sensitivity of the coherence measurement can be enhanced significantly above that of conventional interferometric metho…
We have found missing terms and incorrect signs in the secular master equations reported by Del Pino et. al., New J. Phys., 17 (2015), 053040 for vibrational polariton relaxation. Inclusion of these terms and signs are essential to yield correct (vanishing) pure dephasing rates between polariton states, as well as coherence transfer pathways between polaritons and dark states. We provide corrected expressions for the master equations as well as comparisons with the results reported by the authors. Even though the main conclusions of the article are not significantly altered, the corrections ar…
Heat exchanges are the essence of Thermodynamics. In order to investigate non-equilibrium effects like quantum coherence and correlations in heat flows we introduce the concept of apparent temperature. Its definition is based on the expression of the heat flow between out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. Such apparent temperatures contain crucial information on the role and impact of correlations and coherence in heat exchanges. In particular, both behave as populations, affecting dramatically the population balance and therefore the apparent temperatures and the heat flows. We show how seminal…
Dicke superrandiance is a cooperative phenomenon which arises from the collective coupling of an ensemble of atoms to the electromagnetic radiation. Here we discuss the quantifying of quantum coherence for the Dicke model of superradiance in the mean-field approximation. We found the single-atom $l_1$-norm of coherence is given by the square root of the normalized average intensity of radiation emitted by the superradiant system. This validates quantum coherence as a useful figure of merit towards the understanding of superradiance phenomenon in the mean-field approach. In particular, this res…
Quantum enhancement of information-mediated energy transfer
The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Quantum-Phase Electronics Center (QPEC), The University of Tokyo（量子相位电子中心（QPEC），东京大学）；Inamori Research Institute for Science (InaRIS)（稻盛科学研究所（InaRIS））
Lightwave periodic driving of nearly dissipation-less currents has recently emerged as a universal control concept for both superconducting (SC) and topological electronics applications. While exciting progress has been made towards THz-driven superconductivity, our understanding of the interactions able to drive non-equilibrium pairing is still limited, partially due to the lack of direct measurements of high-order correlation functions. Such measurements would exceed conventional single-particle spectroscopies and perturbative responses to fully characterize quantum states far-from-equilibri…
We propose that an optically excited heavy hole in a quantum dot can drive the surrounding nuclear spins into a quiescent collective state, leading to significantly prolonged coherence time for the electron spin qubit. This provides a general paradigm to combat decoherence by environmental control without involving the active qubit in quantum information processing. It also serves as a unified solution to some open problems brought about by two recent experiments [X. Xu et al., Nature 459, 1105 (2009) and C. Latta et al., Nature Phys. 5, 758 (2009)].
Coupling a qubit coherently to an ensemble is the basis for collective quantum memories. A driven quantum dot can deterministically excite low-energy collective modes of a nuclear spin ensemble in the presence of lattice strain. We propose to gate a quantum state transfer between this central electron and these low-energy excitations -- spin waves -- in the presence of a strong magnetic field, where the nuclear coherence time is long. We develop a microscopic theory capable of calculating the exact time evolution of the strained electron-nuclear system. With this, we evaluate the operation of …
