Universal dynamical decoherence control of noisy single-and multi-qubit systems

In this article we develop, step by step, the framework for universal dynamical control of two-level systems (TLS) or qubits experiencing amplitude- or phase-noise (AN or PN) due to coupling to a thermal bath. A comprehensive arsenal of modulation schemes is introduced and applied to either AN or PN, resulting in completely analogous formulae for the decoherence rates, thus underscoring the unified nature of this universal formalism. We then address the extension of this formalism to multipartite decoherence control, where symmetries are exploited to overcome decoherence.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figure

Observation of anomalous decoherence effect in a quantum bath at room temperature

Decoherence of quantum objects is critical to modern quantum sciences and technologies. It is generally believed that stronger noises cause faster decoherence. Strikingly, recent theoretical research discovers the opposite case for spins in quantum baths. Here we report experimental observation of the anomalous decoherence effect for the electron spin-1 of a nitrogen-vacancy centre in high-purity diamond at room temperature. We demonstrate that under dynamical decoupling, the double-transition can have longer coherence time than the single-transition, even though the former couples to the nuclear spin bath as twice strongly as the latter does. The excellent agreement between the experimental and the theoretical results confirms the controllability of the weakly coupled nuclear spins in the bath, which is useful in quantum information processing and quantum metrology.Comment: 22 pages, related paper at http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.557

Optimized dynamical control of state transfer through noisy spin chains

We propose a method of optimally controlling the tradeoff of speed and fidelity of state transfer through a noisy quantum channel (spin-chain). This process is treated as qubit state-transfer through a fermionic bath. We show that dynamical modulation of the boundary-qubits levels can ensure state transfer with the best tradeoff of speed and fidelity. This is achievable by dynamically optimizing the transmission spectrum of the channel. The resulting optimal control is robust against both static and fluctuating noise in the channel's spin-spin couplings. It may also facilitate transfer in the presence of diagonal disorder (on site energy noise) in the channel.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1310.162

Quantum Computers and Decoherence: Exorcising the Demon from the Machine

Decoherence is the main obstacle to the realization of quantum computers. Until recently it was thought that quantum error correcting codes are the only complete solution to the decoherence problem. Here we present an alternative that is based on a combination of a decoherence-free subspace encoding and the application of strong and fast pulses: ``encoded recoupling and decoupling'' (ERD). This alternative has the advantage of lower encoding overhead (as few as two physical qubits per logical qubit suffice), and direct application to a number of promising proposals for the experimental realization of quantum computers.Comment: 15 pages, no figures. Invited contribution to the proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Fluctuations and Noise. Section 8 contains a new result: how to eliminate off-resonant transitions induced by generic "bang-bang" pulses, by using a special type of "bang-bang" pulse

Thermal Baths as Quantum Resources: More Friends than Foes?

In this article we argue that thermal reservoirs (baths) are potentially useful resources in processes involving atoms interacting with quantized electromagnetic fields and their applications to quantum technologies. One may try to suppress the bath effects by means of dynamical control, but such control does not always yield the desired results. We wish instead to take advantage of bath effects, that do not obliterate "quantumness" in the system-bath compound. To this end, three possible approaches have been pursued by us: (i) Control of a quantum system faster than the correlation time of the bath to which it couples: Such control allows us to reveal quasi-reversible/coherent dynamical phenomena of quantum open systems, manifest by the quantum Zeno or anti-Zeno effects (QZE or AZE, respectively). Dynamical control methods based on the QZE are aimed not only at protecting the quantumness of the system, but also diagnosing the bath spectra or transferring quantum information via noisy media. By contrast, AZE-based control is useful for fast cooling of thermalized quantum systems. (ii) Engineering the coupling of quantum systems to selected bath modes: This approach, based on field -atom coupling control in cavities, waveguides and photonic band structures, allows to drastically enhance the strength and range of atom-atom coupling through the mediation of the selected bath modes. More dramatically, it allows us to achieve bath-induced entanglement that may appear paradoxical if one takes the conventional view that coupling to baths destroys quantumness. (iii) Engineering baths with appropriate non-flat spectra: This approach is a prerequisite for the construction of the simplest and most efficient quantum heat machines (engines and refrigerators). We may thus conclude that often thermal baths are "more friends than foes" in quantum technologies.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figure

Weak coupling study of decoherence of a qubit in disordered magnetic environments

We study the decoherence of a qubit weakly coupled to frustrated spin baths. We focus on spin-baths described by the classical Ising spin glass and the quantum random transverse Ising model which are known to have complex thermodynamic phase diagrams as a function of an external magnetic field and temperature. Using a combination of numerical and analytical methods, we show that for baths initally in thermal equilibrium, the resulting decoherence is highly sensitive to the nature of the coupling to the environment and is qualitatively different in different parts of the phase diagram. We find an unexpected strong non-Markovian decay of the coherence when the random transverse Ising model bath is prepared in an initial state characterized by a finite temperature paramagnet. This is contrary to the usual case of exponential decay (Markovian) expected for spin baths in finite temperature paramagnetic phases, thereby illustrating the importance of the underlying non-trivial dynamics of interacting quantum spinbaths.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figure