Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

Abstract: We theoretically propose a novel quantum interferometer in which the NOON state interferometer (NOONI) is combined with the Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer (HOMI). This interferometer combined the advantages of both the NOONI that depends on biphoton frequency sum, and the HOMI that depends on biphoton frequency difference into a single interferometer. It can thus simultaneously obtain the spectral correlation information of biphotons in both frequency sum and difference by taking the Fourier transform from a single time-domain quantum interferogram, which provides a method for complete spectral characterization of an arbitrary two-photon state with exchange symmetry. A direct application of such an interferometer can be found in quantum Fourier-transform spectroscopy where direct spectral measurement is difficult. Furthermore, as it can realize the measurement of time intervals on three scales at the same time, we expect that it can provide a new method in quantum metrology. Finally, we discuss another potential application of such an interferometer in the generation and characterization of high-dimensional and phase-controlled frequency entanglement.

Abstract: We report the co-propagation, over 50 km of SSMF, of the quantum channel (1310 nm) of a QKD system with ~17 dBm total power of DWDM data channels (1550 nm range). A metric to evaluate Co-propagation Efficiency is proposed.

Abstract: A coherent electromagnetic field can be described by its amplitude, frequency, and phase. All these properties can influence the interaction between the field and an atom. Here we demonstrate the phase shaping of microwaves that are loaded onto a superconducting artificial atom in a semiinfinite 1D transmission line, a setup corresponding to an atom in front of a mirror. In particular, we input a weak exponentially rising pulse with phase modulation to the atom-mirror system. We observe that field-atom interaction can be tuned from nearly full interaction (loading efficiency, i.e., amount of energy transferred from the field to the atom, of 94.5 %) to effectively no interaction (loading efficiency 3.5 %).

Abstract: While local unitary transformations are used for identifying quantum states which are in the same topological class, non-local unitary transformations are also important for studying the transition between different topological classes. In particular, it is an important task to find suitable non-local transformations that systematically sweep different topological classes. Here, regarding the role of dimension in the topological classes, we introduce partially local unitary transformations namely Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) disentanglers which reduce the dimension of the initial topological model by a layer-by-layer disentangling mechanism. We apply such disentanglers to two-dimensional (2D) topological quantum codes and show that they are converted to many copies of Kitaev's ladders. It implies that the GHZ disentangler causes a transition from an intrinsic topological phase to a symmetry-protected topological phase. Then, we show that while Kitaev's ladders are building blocks of both color code and toric code, there are different patterns of entangling ladders in 2D color code and toric code. It shows that different topological features of these topological codes are reflected in different patterns of entangling ladders. In this regard, we propose that the layer-by-layer disentangling mechanism can be used as a systematic method for classification of topological orders based on finding different patterns of the long-range entanglement in topological lattice models.

Abstract: In a recent paper, Hance, Rarity and Ladyman [Phys. Rev. Res. {\bf 5}, 023048 (2023)] criticized recent proposals connecting weak values and the past of a quantum particle. I argue that their conclusion follows from a conceptual error in understanding the approach to the past of the particle they discuss.

Abstract: All kinds of device loopholes give rise to a great obstacle to practical secure quantum key distribution (QKD). In this article, inspired by the original side-channel-secure protocol [Physical Review Applied 12, 054034 (2019)], a new QKD protocol called phase-coding side-channel-secure (PC-SCS) protocol is proposed. This protocol can be immune to all uncorrelated side channels of the source part and all loopholes of the measurement side. A finite-key security analysis against coherent attack of the new protocol is given. The proposed protocol only requires modulation of two phases, which can avoid the challenge of preparing perfect vacuum states. Numerical simulation shows that a practical transmission distance of 300 km can be realized by the PC-SCS protocol.

Abstract: Quantum simulation provides a computationally-feasible approach to model and study many problems in chemistry, condensed-matter physics, or high-energy physics where quantum phenomenon define the systems behaviour. In high-energy physics, quite a few possible applications are investigated in the context of gauge theories and their application to dynamic problems, topological problems, high-baryon density configurations, or collective neutrino oscillations. In particular, schemes for simulating neutrino oscillations are proposed using a quantum walk framework. In this study, we approach the problem of simulating neutrino oscillation from the perspective of open quantum systems by treating the position space of quantum walk as environment. We have obtained the recurrence relation for Kraus operator which is used to represent the dynamics of the neutrino flavor change in the form of reduced coin states. We establish a connection between the dynamics of reduced coin state and neutrino phenomenology, enabling one to fix the simulation parameters for a given neutrino experiment and reduces the need for extended position space to simulate neutrino oscillations. We have also studied the behavior of linear entropy as a measure of entanglement between different flavors in the same framework.

Abstract: Neural network quantum states as ansatz wavefunctions have shown a lot of promise for finding the ground state of spin models. Recently, work has been focused on extending this idea to mixed states for simulating the dynamics of open systems. Most approaches so far have used a purification ansatz where a copy of the system Hilbert space is added which when traced out gives the correct density matrix. Here, we instead present an extension of the Restricted Boltzmann Machine which directly represents the density matrix in Liouville space. This allows the compact representation of states which appear in mean-field theory. We benchmark our approach on two different version of the dissipative transverse field Ising model which show our ansatz is able to compete with other state-of-the-art approaches.

Abstract: The Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phase is usually associated with a line integral of the electromagnetic vector potential generated by an external current source, such as a solenoid. According to this interpretation, the AB phase of a nonclosed path cannot be observed, as the integral depends on the gauge choice of the vector potential. Recent attempts to explain the AB effect through the interaction between a charged particle and an external current, mediated by the exchange of quantum photons, have assumed that the AB phase shift is proportional to the change in interaction energy between the charged particle and the external current source. As a result, these attempts argue that the AB phase change along a path does not depend on the gauge choice, and that the AB phase shift for a nonclosed path is in principle measurable. In this paper, we critically examine this claim and demonstrate that the phase obtained through this approach is actually gauge-dependent and not an observable for a nonclosed path. We also provide a brief critical discussion of the proposed experiment for observing the AB phase shift of a nonclosed path.

Abstract: The violation of Bell inequality not only provides the most radical departure of quantum theory from classical concepts, but also paves the way of applications in such as device independent randomness certification. Here, we derive the tight upper bound of the maximum quantum value for chained Bell inequality with arbitrary number of measurements on each party. \lxh{ The constraints where the upper bound saturates are also presented. This method provides us the necessary and sufficient conditions for some quantum states to violate the chained Bell inequality with arbitrary number of measurements}. Based on the tight upper bound we present the lower bounds on the device independent randomness with respect to the Werner states. \lxh{In particular, we present lower bounds on the randomness generation rates of chained Bell inequality for different number of measurements, which are compared with the family of Bell inequalities proposed by Wooltorton et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 150403 (2022)]. Our results show that chained Bell inequality with three measurements has certain advantages at a low level of noise and could be used to improve randomness generation rates in practice.

Abstract: Projective measurements in quantum theory have a very simple algebraic definition, but their information theoretic significance is quite elusive. Here we introduce a simple order relation based on the concentration of Fisher information, which complements the familiar data-processing order. Under this order relation, the information theoretic significance of projective measurements stands out immediately. Notably, projective measurements are exactly those quantum measurements whose extracted Fisher information is as concentrated as possible, which we call Fisher-sharp measurements. We also introduce the concept of sharpness index and show that it is completely determined by the finest projective measurement among the coarse graining of a given measurement.

Abstract: Verifying entanglement between parties is essential for creating a secure quantum network, and Bell tests are the most rigorous method for doing so. However, if there is any signaling between the parties, then the violation of these inequalities can no longer be used to draw conclusions about the presence of entanglement. This is because signaling between the parties allows them to coordinate their measurement settings and outcomes, which can give rise to a violation of Bell inequalities even if the parties are not genuinely entangled. There is a pressing need to examine the role of signaling in quantum communication protocols from multiple perspectives, including communication security, physics foundations, and resource utilization while also promoting innovative technological applications. Here, we propose a semi-device independent protocol that allows us to numerically correct for effects of correlations in experimental probability distributions, caused by statistical fluctuations and experimental imperfections. Our noise robust protocol presents a relaxation of a tomography-based optimisation method called the steering robustness, that uses semidefinite programming to numerically identify the optimal quantum steering inequality without the need for resource-intensive tomography. The proposed protocol is numerically and experimentally analyzed in the context of random, misaligned measurements, correcting for signalling where necessary, resulting in a higher probability of violation compared to existing state-of-the-art inequalities. Our work demonstrates the power of semidefinite programming for entanglement verification and brings quantum networks closer to practical applications.

Abstract: A quantum sensing network is used to simultaneously detect and measure physical quantities, such as magnetic fields, at different locations. However, there is a risk that the measurement data is leaked to the third party during the communication. Many theoretical and experimental efforts have been made to realize a secure quantum sensing network where a high level of security is guaranteed. In this paper, we propose a protocol to estimate statistical quantities of the target fields at different places without knowing individual value of the target fields. We generate an enanglement between $L$ quantum sensors, let the quantum sensor interact with local fields, and perform specific measurements on them. By calculating the quantum Fisher information to estimate the individual value of the magnetic fields, we show that we cannot obtain any information of the value of the individual fields in the limit of large $L$. On the other hand, in our protocol, we can estimate theoretically any moment of the field distribution by measuring a specific observable and evaluated relative uncertainty of $k$-th ($k=1,2,3,4$) order moment. Our results are a significant step towards using a quantum sensing network with security inbuilt.

Abstract: Variational Quantum Algorithms (VQA) have emerged with a wide variety of applications. One question to ask is either they can efficiently be implemented and executed on existing architectures. Current hardware suffers from uncontrolled noise that can alter the expected results of one calculation. The nature of this noise is different from one technology to another. In this work, we chose to investigate a technology that is intrinsically resilient to bit-flips: cat qubits. To this end, we implement two noise models. The first one is hardware-agnostic -- in the sense that it is used in the literature to cover different hardware types. The second one is specific to cat qubits. We perform simulations on two types of problems that can be formulated with VQAs (Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) and the Variatinoal Quantum Linear Soler (VQLS)), study the impact of noise on the evolution of the cost function and extract noise level thresholds from which a noise-resilient regime can be considered. By tackling compilation issues, we discuss the need of implementing hardware-specific noise models as hardware-agnostic ones can lead to misleading conclusions regarding the regime of noise that is acceptable for an algorithm to run.

Abstract: We consider a heterogeneous network of quantum computing modules, sparsely connected via Bell states. Operations across these connections constitute a computational bottleneck and they are likely to add more noise to the computation than operations performed within a module. We introduce several techniques for transforming a given quantum circuit into one implementable on a network of the aforementioned type, minimising the number of Bell states required to do so. We extend previous works on circuit distribution over fully connected networks to the case of heterogeneous networks. On the one hand, we extend the hypergraph approach of [Andres-Martinez & Heunen. 2019] to arbitrary network topologies. We additionally make use of Steiner trees to find efficient realisations of the entanglement sharing within the network, reusing already established connections as often as possible. On the other hand, we extend the embedding techniques of [Wu, et al. 2022] to networks with more than two modules. Furthermore, we discuss how these two seemingly incompatible approaches can be made to cooperate. Our proposal is implemented and benchmarked; the results confirming that, when orchestrated, the two approaches complement each other's weaknesses.

Abstract: Achieving homogeneous performance metrics between nominally identical pixels is challenging for the operation of arrays of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Here, we utilize local helium ion irradiation to post-process and tune single-photon detection efficiency, switching current, and critical temperature of individual devices on the same chip. For 12nm thick highly absorptive SNSPDs, which are barely single-photon sensitive prior to irradiation, we observe an increase of the system detection efficiency from $< 0.05\,\%$ to $(55.3 \pm 1.1)\,\%$ following irradiation. Moreover, the internal detection efficiency saturates at a temperature of 4.5 K after irradiation with $1800\, \mathrm{ions}\, \mathrm{nm}^{-2}$. For irradiated 10 nm thick detectors we observe a doubling of the switching current (to $20\, \mu\mathrm{A}$) compared to 8 nm SNSPDs of similar detection efficiency, increasing the amplitude of detection voltage pulses. Investigations of the scaling of superconducting thin film properties with irradiation up to a fluence of $2600\, \mathrm{ions}\, \mathrm{nm}^{-2}$ revealed an increase of sheet resistance and a decrease of critical temperature towards high fluences. A physical model accounting for defect generation and sputtering during helium ion irradiation is presented and shows good qualitative agreement with experiments.

Abstract: One major objective of controlling classical chaotic dynamical systems is exploiting the system's extreme sensitivity to initial conditions in order to arrive at a predetermined target state. In a recent letter [Phys.~Rev.~Lett. 130, 020201 (2023)], a generalization of this targeting method to quantum systems was demonstrated using successive unitary transformations that counter the natural spreading of a quantum state. In this paper further details are given and an important quite general extension is established. In particular, an alternate approach to constructing the coherent control dynamics is given, which introduces a new time-dependent, locally stable control Hamiltonian that continues to use the chaotic heteroclinic orbits previously introduced, but without the need of countering quantum state spreading. Implementing that extension for the quantum kicked rotor generates a much simpler approximate control technique than discussed in the letter, which is a little less accurate, but far more easily realizable in experiments. The simpler method's error can still be made to vanish as $\hbar \rightarrow 0$.

Abstract: Quantum algorithms are getting extremely popular due to their potential to significantly outperform classical algorithms. Yet, applying quantum algorithms to optimization problems meets challenges related to the efficiency of quantum algorithms training, the shape of their cost landscape, the accuracy of their output, and their ability to scale to large-size problems. Here, we present an approximate gradient-based quantum algorithm for hardware-efficient circuits with amplitude encoding. We show how simple linear constraints can be directly incorporated into the circuit without additional modification of the objective function with penalty terms. We employ numerical simulations to test it on MaxCut problems with complete weighted graphs with thousands of nodes and run the algorithm on a superconducting quantum processor. We find that for unconstrained MaxCut problems with more than 1000 nodes, the hybrid approach combining our algorithm with a classical solver called CPLEX can find a better solution than CPLEX alone. This demonstrates that hybrid optimization is one of the leading use cases for modern quantum devices.

Abstract: Entanglement detection by local measurements, which can possibly be performed by far distant observers, are of particular interest for applications in quantum key distribution and quantum communication. In this paper sufficient conditions for arbitrary dimensional bipartite entanglement detection based on correlation matrices and joint probability distributions of such local measurements are investigated. In particular, their dependence on the nature of the local measurements is explored for typical bipartite quantum states and for measurements involving local orthonormal hermitian operators bases (LOOs) or generalized measurements based on informationally complete positive operator valued measures of the recently introduced $(N,M)$-type ($(N,M)$-POVMs) \cite{NMPOVM}. It is shown that symmetry properties of $(N,M)$-POVMs imply that sufficient conditions for bipartite entanglement detection exhibit peculiar scaling properties relating different equally efficient local entanglement detection scenarios. For correlation-matrix based bipartite local entanglement detection, for example, this has the consequence that LOOs and all informationally complete $(N,M)$-POVMs are equally powerful. With the help of a hit-and-run Monte-Carlo algorithm the effectiveness of local entanglement detection of typical bipartite quantum states is explored numerically. For this purpose Euclidean volume ratios between locally detectable entangled states and all bipartite quantum states are determined.

Abstract: We investigate the phase diagram at the boundary of an infinite two-dimensional cluster state subject to bulk measurements using tensor network methods. The state is subjected to uniform measurements $M = \cos{\theta}Z+\sin{\theta}X$ on the lower boundary qubits and all bulk qubits. Our results show that the boundary of the system exhibits volume-law entanglement at the measurement angle $\theta = \pi/2$ and area-law entanglement for any $\theta < \pi/2$. Within the area-law phase, a phase transition occurs at $\theta_c=1.371$. The phase with $\theta \in(\theta_c,\pi/2)$ is characterized by a non-injective matrix product state, which cannot be realized as the unique ground state of a 1D local, gapped Hamiltonian. Instead, it resembles a cat state with spontaneous symmetry breaking. These findings demonstrate that the phase diagram of the boundary of a two-dimensional system can be more intricate than that of a standard one-dimensional system.

Abstract: A pair of interferometers can be coupled by allowing one path from each to overlap such that if the particles meet in this overlap region, they annihilate. It was shown by one of us over thirty years ago that such annihilation-coupled interferometers can exhibit apparently paradoxical behaviour. More recently, Bose et al. and Marletto and Vedral have considered a pair of interferometers that are phase-coupled (where the coupling is through gravitational interaction). In this case one path from each interferometer undergoes a phase-coupling interaction. We show that these phase-coupled interferometers exhibit the same apparent paradox as the annihilation-coupled interferometers, though in a curiously dual manner.

Abstract: We extend the deterministic-control quantum Turing machine (dcq-TM) model to incorporate mixed state inputs and outputs. Moreover, we define dcq-computable states as those that can be accurately approximated by a dcq-TM, and we introduce (conditional) Kolmogorov complexity of quantum states. We show that this notion is machine independent and that the set of dcq-computable states coincides with states having computable classical representations. Furthermore, we prove an algorithmic information version of the no-cloning theorem stating that cloning most quantum states is as difficult as creating them. Finally, we also propose a correlation-aware definition for algorithmic mutual information and shown that it satisfies symmetry of information property.

Abstract: We present experimental demonstrations of accurate and unambiguous single-shot discrimination between three quantum channels using a single trapped $^{40}\text{Ca}^{+}$ ion. The three channels cannot be distinguished unambiguously using repeated single channel queries, the natural classical analogue. We develop techniques for using the 6-dimensional $\text{D}_{5/2}$ state space for quantum information processing, and we implement protocols to discriminate quantum channel analogues of phase shift keying and amplitude shift keying data encodings used in classical radio communication. The demonstrations achieve discrimination accuracy exceeding $99\%$ in each case, limited entirely by known experimental imperfections.

Abstract: The Weyl operators give a convenient basis of $M_n(\mathbb{C})$ which is also orthonormal with respect to the Hilbert-Schmidt inner product. The properties of such a basis can be generalised to the notion of a nice error basis(NEB), as introduced by E. Knill. We can use an NEB of $M_n(\mathbb{C})$ to construct an NEB for $Lin(M_n(\mathbb{C}))$, the space of linear maps on $M_n(\mathbb{C})$. Any linear map on $M_n(\mathbb{C})$ will then correspond to a $n^2\times n^2$ coefficient matrix in the basis decomposition with respect to such an NEB of $Lin(M_n(\mathbb{C}))$. Positivity, complete (co)positivity or other properties of a linear map can be characterised in terms of such a coefficient matrix.

Abstract: We propose a procedure for the robust preparation of maximally entangled states of identical fermionic qubits, studying the role played by particle statistics in the process. The protocol exploits externally activated noisy channels to reset the system to a known state. The subsequent interference effects generated at a beam splitter result in a mixture of maximally entangled Bell states and NOON states. We also discuss how every maximally entangled state of two fermionic qubits distributed over two spatial modes can be obtained from one another by fermionic passive optical transformations. Using a pseudospin-insensitive, non-absorbing, parity check detector, the proposed technique is thus shown to deterministically prepare any arbitrary maximally entangled state of two identical fermions. These results extend recent findings related to bosonic qubits. Finally, we analyze the performance of the protocol for both bosons and fermions when the externally activated noisy channels are not used and the two qubits undergo standard types of noise. The results supply further insights towards viable strategies for noise-protected entanglement exploitable in quantum-enhanced technologies.

Abstract: Squeezing is essential to many quantum technologies and our understanding of quantum physics. Here we develop a theory of steady-state squeezing that can be generated in the closed and open quantum Rabi as well as Dicke model. To this end, we eliminate the spin dynamics which effectively leads to an abstract harmonic oscillator whose eigenstates are squeezed with respect to the physical harmonic oscillator. The generated form of squeezing has the unique property of time-independent uncertainties and squeezed dynamics, a novel type of quantum behavior. Such squeezing might find applications in continuous back-action evading measurements and should already be observable in optomechanical systems and Coulomb crystals.

Abstract: We analyze the accuracy and sample complexity of variational Monte Carlo approaches to simulate the dynamics of many-body quantum systems classically. By systematically studying the relevant stochastic estimators, we are able to: (i) prove that the most used scheme, the time-dependent Variational Monte Carlo (tVMC), is affected by a systematic statistical bias or exponential sample complexity when the wave function contains some (possibly approximate) zeros, an important case for fermionic systems and quantum information protocols; (ii) show that a different scheme based on the solution of an optimization problem at each time step is free from such problems; (iii) improve the sample complexity of this latter approach by several orders of magnitude with respect to previous proofs of concept. Finally, we apply our advancements to study the high-entanglement phase in a protocol of non-Clifford unitary dynamics with local random measurements in 2D, first benchmarking on small spin lattices and then extending to large systems.

Abstract: Scaling bottlenecks the making of digital quantum computers, posing challenges from both the quantum and the classical components. We present a classical architecture to cope with a comprehensive list of the latter challenges {\em all at once}, and implement it fully in an end-to-end system by integrating a multi-core RISC-V CPU with our in-house control electronics. Our architecture enables scalable, high-precision control of large quantum processors and accommodates evolving requirements of quantum hardware. A central feature is a microarchitecture executing quantum operations in parallel on arbitrary predefined qubit groups. Another key feature is a reconfigurable quantum instruction set that supports easy qubit re-grouping and instructions extensions. As a demonstration, we implement the widely-studied surface code quantum computing workflow, which is instructive for being demanding on both the controllers and the integrated classical computation. Our design, for the first time, reduces instruction issuing and transmission costs to constants, which do not scale with the number of qubits, without adding any overheads in decoding or dispatching. Rather than relying on specialized hardware for syndrome decoding, our system uses a dedicated multi-core CPU for both qubit control and classical computation, including syndrome decoding. This simplifies the system design and facilitates load-balancing between the quantum and classical components. We implement recent proposals as decoding firmware on a RISC-V system-on-chip (SoC) that parallelizes general inner decoders. By using our in-house Union-Find and PyMatching 2 implementations, we can achieve unprecedented decoding capabilities of up to distances 47 and 67 with the currently available SoCs, under realistic and optimistic assumptions of physical error rate $p=0.001 and p=0.0001, respectively, all in just 1 \textmu s.