In this paper we investigate the dynamics of the quantum Zeno subspaces which are the eigenspaces of the interaction Hamiltonian, belonging to different eigenvalues. Using the perturbation theory and the adiabatic approximation, we get a general expression of the jump probability between different Zeno subspaces. We applied this result in some examples. In these examples, as the coupling constant of the interactions increases, the measurement keeps the system remaining in its initial subspace and the quantum Zeno effect takes place.
The quantum Zeno evolution of a quantum system takes place in a proper subspace of the total Hilbert space. The physical and mathematical features of the "Zeno subspaces" depend on the measuring apparatus: when this is included in the quantum description, the Zeno effect becomes a mere consequence of the dynamics and, remarkably, can be cast in terms of an adiabatic theorem, with a dynamical superselection rule. We look at several examples and focus on quantum computation and decoherence-free subspaces.
A quantum Zeno dynamics can be obtained by means of frequent measurements, frequent unitary kicks or a strong continuous coupling and yields a partition of the total Hilbert space into quantum Zeno subspaces, among which any transition is hindered. We focus on the "continuous" version of the quantum Zeno effect and look at several interesting examples. We first analyze these examples in practical terms, towards applications, then propose a novel experiment.
The quantum Zeno effect is recast in terms of an adiabatic theorem when the measurement is described as the dynamical coupling to another quantum system that plays the role of apparatus. A few significant examples are proposed and their practical relevance discussed. We also focus on decoherence-free subspaces.
We discuss the partitioning of the Hilbert space of a quantum system induced by the interaction with another system at thermal equilibrium, showing that the higher the temperature the more effective is the formation of Zeno subspaces. We show that our analysis keeps its validity even in the case of interaction with a bosonic reservoir, provided appropriate limitations of the relevant bandwidth.
We investigate the discrete-time quantum walk evolution under the influence of the periodic measurements in position subspace. The undisturbed survival probability of the particle at the position subspace, $P(0, t)$ is compared with the survival probability after frequent ($n$) measurements at interval $τ= t/n$, $P(0, τ)^n$. We show that $P(0, τ)^n > P(0, t)$ leading to the quantum Zeno effect in the position subspace when a parameter $θ$ in the quantum coin operations and frequency of measurements is greater than the critical value, $θ> θ_{c}$ and $n>n_{c}$. This Zeno effect in the subspace p…
Effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonians describing decaying systems are derived and analyzed in connection with the occurrence of possible Hilbert space partitioning, resulting in a confinement of the dynamics. In some cases, this fact can be interpreted properly as Zeno effect or Zeno dynamics, according to the dimension of the subspace one focuses on; in some other cases, the interpretation is more complicated and traceable back to a mix of Zeno phenomena and lack of resonance. Depending on the complex phases of the diagonal terms of the Hamiltonian, the system reacts in different ways, requiri…
We study the short-time and medium-time behavior of the survival probability of decaying states in the framework of the $N$-level Friedrichs model. The degenerated and nearly degenerated systems are discussed in detail. We show that in these systems decay can be considerably slowed down or even stopped by appropriate choice of initial conditions. We analyze the behaviour of the multilevel system within the so-called Zeno era. We examine and compare two different definitions of the Zeno time. We demonstrate that the Zeno era can be considerably enlarged by proper choice of the system parameters…
Repeated observations inhibit the coherent evolution of quantum states through the quantum Zeno effect. In multi-qubit systems this effect provides new opportunities to control complex quantum states. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that repeatedly projecting joint observables of multiple spins creates coherent quantum Zeno subspaces and simultaneously suppresses dephasing caused by the environment. We encode up to two logical qubits in these subspaces and show that the enhancement of the dephasing time with increasing number of projections follows a scaling law that is independent of the …
We investigate the evolution of a quantum system under the influence of sequential measurements. The measurement scheme distinguishes whether or not the system is in a specified state $| {f_n}>$ at the $n^{\rm th}$ step, where $| {f_n}>$ varies with $n$. Dark evolution corresponds to the situation when all measurements give negative results. We show that dark evolution is unitary in the continuous measurement limit. We derive the effective Hamiltonian, and indicate how $| {f_n}>$ controls quantum state transport.
We experimentally demonstrate the freezing of evolution of quantum states in one- and two-dimensional subspaces of two qubits, on an NMR quantum information processor. State evolution was frozen and leakage of the state from its subspace to an orthogonal subspace was successfully prevented using super-Zeno sequences, comprising of a set of inverting radio frequency (rf) pulses punctuated by pre-selected time intervals. We demonstrate the efficacy of the scheme by preserving different types of states, including separable and maximally entangled states in one- and two-dimensional subspaces of tw…
We construct an algorithm for suppressing the transitions of a quantum mechanical system, initially prepared in a subspace P of the full Hilbert space of the system, to outside this subspace by subjecting it to a sequence of unequally spaced short-duration pulses. Each pulse multiplies the amplitude of the vectors in the subspace by -1. The number of pulses required by the algorithm to limit the leakage probability to $ε$ in time $T$ increases as $T \exp[ \sqrt{\log(T^2/ε)}]$, compared to $T^2 ε^{-1}$ in the standard quantum Zeno effect.
The evolution of a quantum system undergoing very frequent measurements takes place in a proper subspace of the total Hilbert space (quantum Zeno effect). When the measuring apparatus is included in the quantum description, the Zeno effect becomes a pure consequence of the dynamics. We show that for continuous measurement processes the quantum Zeno evolution derives from an adiabatic theorem. The system is forced to evolve in a set of orthogonal subspaces of the total Hilbert space and a dynamical superselection rule arises. The dynamical properties of this evolution are investigated and sever…
Quantum Zeno Dynamics is the phenomenon that the observation or strong driving of a quantum system can freeze its dynamics to a subspace, effectively truncating the Hilbert space of the system. It represents the quantum version of the famous flying arrow Zeno paradox. Here, we study how temporal stochasticity in the system observation (or driving) affects the survival probability of the system in the subspace. In particular, we introduce a strong and a weak Zeno regime for which we quantify the confinement by providing an analytical expression for this survival probability. We investigate seve…
We discuss a proposal for the efficient generation of the maximally entangled atomic N-GHZ state in a spinor-1 condensate by driving internal state atomic Raman transitions using (classical) laser fields. We illustrate the dynamics in terms of a quantum Zeno subspace, and identify the resultant atomic elastic collision in facilitating the deterministic entanglement creation. Our proposal can be readily implemented in several laboratories where ferromagnetic spinor condensates (of $^{87}$Rb atoms) are investigated.
The Zeno effect occurs in quantum systems when a very strong measurement is applied, which can alter the dynamics in non-trivial ways. Despite being dissipative, the dynamics stay coherent within any degenerate subspaces of the measurement. Here we show that such a measurement can turn a single-qubit operation into a two- or multi-qubit entangling gate, even in a non-interacting system. We demonstrate this gate between two effectively non-interacting transmon qubits. Our Zeno gate works by imparting a geometric phase on the system, conditioned on it lying within a particular non-local subspace…
Three different manifestations of the quantum Zeno effect are discussed, compared and shown to be physically equivalent. We look at frequent projective measurements, frequent unitary "kicks" and strong continuous coupling. In all these cases, the Hilbert space of the system splits into invariant "Zeno" subspaces, among which any transition is hindered.
One main goal of quantum control is to steer a quantum system toward an expected state or dynamics. For measurement-induced quantum control, measurements serve as the only control, which is like the cases in quantum Zeno and anti-zeno effects. In this paper, this scenario will be investigated in a general $N$-level quantum system. It is proved that, when the intial and expected states are both pure, the control space could be reduced to an effective subspace spanned by these two states only. This result will greatly simplify the measurement-induced control strategy of an $N$-level quantum syst…
We investigate the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects in quantum dissipative systems by employing a hierarchical equations of motion approach which is beyond the usual Markovian approximation, the rotating wave approximation, and the perturbative approximation. The quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno dynamics of a biased qubit-boson model and a biased qutrit-boson model are provided as illustrative examples. It is found that (i) there exists multiple Zeno-anti-Zeno crossover phenomena, (ii) the non-Markovian characteristic of the bath may be favorable for the accessibility of the Zeno dynamics, and (ii…
If frequent measurements ascertain whether a quantum system is still in a given subspace, it remains in that subspace and a quantum Zeno effect takes place. The limiting time evolution within the projected subspace is called quantum Zeno dynamics. This phenomenon is related to the limit of a product formula obtained by intertwining the time evolution group with an orthogonal projection. By introducing a novel product formula we will give a characterization of the quantum Zeno effect for finite-rank projections, in terms of a spectral decay property of the Hamiltonian in the range of the projec…
If frequent measurements ascertain whether a quantum system is still in its initial state, transitions to other states are hindered and the quantum Zeno effect takes place. However, in its broader formulation, the quantum Zeno effect does not necessarily freeze everything. On the contrary, for frequent projections onto a multidimensional subspace, the system can evolve away from its initial state, although it remains in the subspace defined by the measurement. The continuing time evolution within the projected "quantum Zeno subspace" is called "quantum Zeno dynamics:" for instance, if the meas…
We introduce an efficient iterative method to prepare a target state in Hilbert spaces with high dimensionality using a combination of unitary evolution, measurements, and quantum Zeno dynamics. The latter confines the evolution within Zeno subspaces of decreasing size. This gives an exponential speed up relative to the case of states evolving in the full Hilbert space between projective measurements. We demonstrate our approach on the control problem of rapidly transferring a superfluid into the Mott insulator in the Bose-Hubbard model. We discuss the general applicability of the method by pr…
Protecting Quantum States via the Super-Zeno Effect and Anticoherence
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学核科学研究所）；School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Hainan University（海南大学物理与电子工程学院）；Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics, HSE University（高等经济大学季霍诺夫莫斯科电子与数学研究所）
We discuss an implementation of Quantum Zeno Dynamics in a Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics experiment. By performing repeated unitary operations on atoms coupled to the field, we restrict the field evolution in chosen subspaces of the total Hilbert space. This procedure leads to promising methods for tailoring non-classical states. We propose to realize `tweezers' picking a coherent field at a point in phase space and moving it towards an arbitrary final position without affecting other non-overlapping coherent components. These effects could be observed with a state-of-the-art apparatus.
We propose a method to generate large cluster states without using conditional (e.g., CNOT, C-phase) gates. Indeed, an arbitrarily large cluster state can be generated and expanded almost deterministically by single-qubit rotations and a special non-deterministic collective detection. If the rotation of each step is sufficiently small, the quantum Zeno effect will guarantee that the state is projected into the intended subspace after each measurement, and an almost-perfect cluster state can be produced. We also propose a possible implementation of this approach using superconducting flux qubit…
Quantum entanglement is important quanum resources in quantum information sicence. Here we propose an approach to {preparing} atomic quantum entanglement in a hybrid atom-cavity-fiber system. Using quantum Zeno dynamics method, the system evolution states are always split into a series of Zeno invariant {subspaces} consisting of dark and bright states. By choosing the initial state of the system, the bright states are all neglected and only dark states are kept to build the effective Hamiltonian. By tuning the system parameters, two-atom multiple-dimensional entanglement, two-atom Bell state, …
We consider an ensemble of atoms with $Λ$-type level structure trapped in a single-mode cavity, and propose a geometric scheme of coherent manipulation of quantum states on the subspace of zero-energy states within the quantum Zeno subspace of the system. We find that the particular subspace inherits the decoherence-free nature of the quantum Zeno subspace and features a symmetry-protected degeneracy, fulfilling all the conditions for a universal scheme of arbitrary unitary operations on it.
Periodic deterministic bang-bang dynamical decoupling and the quantum Zeno effect are known to emerge from the same physical mechanism. Both concepts are based on cycles of strong and frequent kicks provoking a subdivision of the Hilbert space into independent subspaces. However, previous unification results do not capture the case of random bang-bang dynamical decoupling, which can be advantageous to the deterministic case but has an inherently acyclic structure. Here, we establish a correspondence between random dynamical decoupling and the quantum Zeno effect by investigating the average ov…
Repeated measurements of a quantum particle to check its presence in a region of space was proposed long ago [G. R. Allcock, Ann. Phys. {\bf 53}, 286 (1969)] as a natural way to determine the distribution of times of arrival at the orthogonal subspace, but the method was discarded because of the quantum Zeno effect: in the limit of very frequent measurements the wave function is reflected and remains in the original subspace. We show that by normalizing the small bits of arriving (removed) norm, an ideal time distribution emerges in correspondence with a classical local-kinetic-energy distribu…
We propose a new approach to the implementation of quantum gates in which decoherence during the gate operations is strongly reduced. This is achieved by making use of an environment induced quantum Zeno effect that confines the dynamics effectively to a decoherence-free subspace.
Quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects in an asymmetric nonlinear optical coupler are studied. The asymmetric nonlinear optical coupler is composed of a linear waveguide ($χ^{\left(1\right)}$) and a nonlinear waveguide ($χ^{\left(2\right)}$) interacting with each other through the evanescent waves. The nonlinear waveguide has quadratic nonlinearity and it operates under second harmonic generation. A completely quantum mechanical description is used to describe the system. The closed form analytic solutions of Heisenberg's equations of motion for the different field modes are obtained using Sen-Man…
The quantum Zeno effect arises due to frequent observation. That implies the existence of some experimenter and its interaction with the system. In this contribution, we examine what happens for a closed system if one considers a quantum Zeno type of question, namely: "what is the probability of a system, remaining always in a particular subspace". This has implications to the arrival time problem that is also discussed. We employ the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory, as this is the better developed formulation of closed system quantum mechanics, and in particular, dealing with …
It is well known that repeated projective measurements can either speed up (the Zeno effect) or slow down (the anti-Zeno effect) quantum evolution. Until now, however, studies of these effects for a two-level system interacting strongly with its environment have focused on repeatedly preparing the excited state of the two-level system via the projective measurements. In this paper, we consider the repeated preparation of an arbitrary state of a two-level system that is interacting strongly with an environment of harmonic oscillators. To handle the strong interaction, we perform a polaron trans…
Measurement is one of the most counter-intuitive aspects of quantum physics. Frequent measurements of a quantum system lead to quantum Zeno dynamics where time evolution becomes confined to a subspace defined by the projections. However, weak measurement performed at a finite rate is also capable of locking the system into such a Zeno subspace in an unconventional way: by Raman-like transitions via virtual intermediate states outside this subspace, which are not forbidden. Here, we extend this concept into the realm of non-Hermitian dynamics by showing that the stochastic competition between m…
The evolution of a quantum system undergoing very frequent measurements takes place in a subspace of the total Hilbert space (quantum Zeno effect). The dynamical properties of this evolution are investigated and several examples are considered.
We argue that under very general conditions, there is a significant complication in amplitudes for spacetimes regions constructed from path integrals. This is the fact that the concrete implementation of the restrictions on paths over an interval of time corresponds, in an operator language, to sharp monitoring at every moment of time in the given time interval. Such processes suffer from the quantum Zeno effect -- the continual monitoring of a quantum system in a Hilbert subspace prevents its state from leaving that subspace. As a consequence, path integral amplitudes defined in this seemingl…
We unify the quantum Zeno effect (QZE) and the "bang-bang" (BB) decoupling method for suppressing decoherence in open quantum systems: in both cases strong coupling to an external system or apparatus induces a dynamical superselection rule that partitions the open system's Hilbert space into quantum Zeno subspaces. Our unification makes use of von Neumann's ergodic theorem and avoids making any of the symmetry assumptions usually made in discussions of BB. Thus we are able to generalize BB to arbitrary fast and strong pulse sequences, requiring no symmetry, and to show the existence of two alt…
Many quantum control tasks aim at manipulating the state of a quantum mechanical system within a finite subspace of states. However, couplings to the outside are often inevitable. Here we discuss strategies which keep the system in the controlled subspace by applying strong interactions onto the outside. This is done by drawing analogies to simple toy models and to the quantum Zeno effect. Special attention is paid to the constructive use of dissipation in the protection of subspaces.
Frequent observation of a quantum system leads to quantum Zeno physics, where the system evolution is constrained to states commensurate with the measurement outcome. We show that, more generally, the system can evolve between such states through higher-order virtual processes that pass through states outside the measurement subspace. We derive effective Hamiltonians to describe this evolution, and the dependence on the time between measurements. We demonstrate application of this phenomena to prototypical quantum many-body system examples, spin chains and atoms in optical lattices, where it f…
We analyze the quantum Zeno dynamics that takes place when a field stored in a cavity undergoes frequent interactions with atoms. We show that repeated measurements or unitary operations performed on the atoms probing the field state confine the evolution to tailored subspaces of the total Hilbert space. This confinement leads to non-trivial field evolutions and to the generation of interesting non-classical states, including mesoscopic field state superpositions. We elucidate the main features of the quantum Zeno mechanism in the context of a state-of-the-art cavity quantum electrodynamics ex…
Quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects are studied in a symmetric nonlinear optical coupler, which is composed of two nonlinear ($χ^{\left(2\right)}$) waveguides that are interacting with each other via the evanescent waves. Both the waveguides operate under second harmonic generation. However, to study quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects one of them is considered as the system and the other one is considered as the probe. Considering all the fields involved as weak, a completely quantum mechanical description is provided, and the analytic solutions of Heisenberg's equations of motion for all the f…
The dynamics of a quantum system undergoing frequent measurements (quantum Zeno effect) is investigated. Using asymptotic analysis, the system is found to evolve unitarily in a proper subspace of the total Hilbert space. For spatial projections, the generator of the "Zeno dynamics" is the Hamiltonian with Dirichlet boundary conditions.
Experimental realization of quantum Zeno dynamics for robust quantum metrology
Shenzhen University（深圳大学）；Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong)（粤港澳大湾区量子科学中心（广东））；China Jiliang University（中国计量大学）；Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学）
The quantum Zeno effect is well-known for fixing a system to an eigenstate by frequent measurements. It is also known that applying frequent unitary pulses induces a Zeno subspace that can also pin the system to an eigenspace. Both approaches have been studied as means to maintain a system in a certain subspace. Extending the two concepts, we consider making the measurements/pulses dynamical so that the state can move with the motion of the measurement axis/pulse basis. We show that the system stays in the dynamical eigenbasis when the measurements/pulses are slowly changing. Explicit bounds f…
A complete suppression of the exponential decay in a qubit (interacting with a squeezed vacuum reservoir) can be achieved by frequent measurements of adequately chosen observables. The observables and initial states (Zeno subspace) for which the effect occurs depend on the squeezing parameters of the bath. We show these_quantum Zeno dynamics_ to be substantially different for selective and non-selective measurements. In either case, the approach to the Zeno limit for a finite number of measurements is also studied numerically. The calculation is extended from one to two qubits, where we see bo…
A system under constant observation is practically freezed to the measurement subspace. If the system driving is a random classical field, the survival probability of the system in the subspace becomes a random variable described by the Stochastic Quantum Zeno Dynamics (SQZD) formalism. Here, we study the time and ensemble average of this random survival probability and demonstrate how time correlations in the noisy environment determine whether the two averages do coincide or not. These environment time correlations can potentially generate non-Markovian dynamics of the quantum system dependi…
Optimal schedule of multi-channel quantum Zeno dragging with application to solving the k-SAT problem
Berkeley Center for Quantum Information and Computation（伯克利量子信息与计算中心）；Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校化学系）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’École Normale Supérieure Inria, ENS, Mines ParisTech, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室（Inria、ENS、巴黎矿业学院、PSL大学、索邦大学））
In a quantum world, a watched arrow never moves. This is the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE). Repeatedly asking a quantum system "are you still in your initial state?" blocks its coherent evolution through measurement back-action. Quantum Zeno Dynamics (QZD) leaves more freedom to the system. Instead of pinning it to a single state, it sets a border in its evolution space. Repeatedly asking the system "did you cross the border?" makes it impenetrable. Since the border can be designed at will by choosing the measured observable, QZD allows one to tailor the system's evolution space. Recent proposals,…
The evolution of a quantum system subjected to infinitely many measurements in a finite time interval is confined in a proper subspace of the Hilbert space. This phenomenon is called "quantum Zeno effect": a particle under intensive observation does not evolve. This effect is at variance with the classical evolution, which obviously is not affected by any observations. By a semiclassical analysis we will show that the quantum Zeno effect vanishes at all orders, when the Planck constant tends to zero, and thus it is a purely quantum phenomenon without classical analog, at the same level of tunn…
Ulm University（乌尔姆大学）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Ulm University（乌尔姆大学理论物理研究所）；Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST)（集成量子科学与技术中心）
Path integrals appear to offer natural and intuitively appealing methods for defining quantum-mechanical amplitudes for questions involving spacetime regions. For example, the amplitude for entering a spatial region during a given time interval is typically defined by summing over all paths between given initial and final points but restricting them to pass through the region at any time. We argue that there is, however, under very general conditions, a significant complication in such constructions. This is the fact that the concrete implementation of the restrictions on paths over an interva…
