14 research outputs found
Amplified opto-mechanical transduction of virtual radiation pressure
Here we describe how, utilizing a time-dependent opto-mechanical interaction,
a mechanical probe can provide an amplified measurement of the virtual photons
dressing the quantum ground state of an ultra strongly-coupled light-matter
system. We calculate the thermal noise tolerated by this measurement scheme,
and discuss a range of experimental setups in which it could be realized.Comment: 7 + 12 pages, 1 figur
Leggett-Garg inequality violations with a large ensemble of qubits
We investigate how discrete internal degrees of freedom in a quasimacroscopic system affect the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality, a test of macroscopic realism based on temporal correlation functions. As a specific example, we focus on an ensemble of qubits subject to collective and individual noise. This generic model can describe a range of physical systems, including atoms in cavities, electron or nuclear spins in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, erbium in Y2SiO5, bismuth impurities in silicon, or arrays of superconducting circuits, to indicate but a few. Such large ensembles are potentially more macroscopic than other systems that have been used so far for testing the Leggett-Garg inequality and open a route toward probing the boundaries of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. We find that, because of the nontrivial internal structure of such an ensemble, the behavior of different measurement schemes, under the influence of noise, can be surprising. We discuss which measurement schemes are optimal for flux qubits and NV centers, and some of the technological constraints and difficulties for observing such violations with present-day experiments
Random-access quantum memory using chirped pulse phase encoding
Quantum memories capable of faithfully storing and recalling quantum states
on-demand are powerful ingredients in bulding quantum networks
[arXiv:0806.4195] and quantum information processors [arXiv:1109.3743]. As in
conventional computing, key attributes of such memories are high storage
density and, crucially, random access, or the ability to read from or write to
an arbitrarily chosen register. However, achieving such random access with
quantum memories [arXiv:1904.09643] in a dense, hardware-efficient manner
remains a challenge, for example requiring dedicated cavities per qubit
[arXiv:1109.3743] or pulsed field gradients [arXiv:0908.0101]. Here we
introduce a protocol using chirped pulses to encode qubits within an ensemble
of quantum two-level systems, offering both random access and naturally
supporting dynamical decoupling to enhance the memory lifetime. We demonstrate
the protocol in the microwave regime using donor spins in silicon coupled to a
superconducting cavity, storing up to four multi-photon microwave pulses and
retrieving them on-demand up to 2~ms later. A further advantage is the natural
suppression of superradiant echo emission, which we show is critical when
approaching unit cooperativity. This approach offers the potential for
microwave random access quantum memories with lifetimes exceeding seconds
[arXiv:1301.6567, arXiv:2005.09275], while the chirped pulse phase encoding
could also be applied in the optical regime to enhance quantum repeaters and
networks