Observing controlled state collapse in a single mechanical oscillator via a direct probe of energy variance

Due to their central role in our classical intuition of the physical world and their potential for interacting with the gravitational field, mechanical degrees of freedom are of special interest in testing the nonclassical predictions of quantum theory at ever larger scales. The projection postulate of quantum theory predicts that, for certain types of measurements, continuously measuring a system induces a stochastic collapse of the state of the system toward a random eigenstate. Here we propose an optomechanical scheme to observe this fundamental effect in a vibrational mode of a mechanical membrane. The observation in the scheme is direct (it is not inferred via an a priori assumption of the projection postulate for the mechanical mode) and is made possible through an in situ probe of the mechanical energy variance. In the scheme, quantum theory predicts that a steady state is reached as the measurement-induced collapse is counteracted by dissipation to the unmonitored environment. Numerical simulations show this to result in a monotonic decrease in the time-averaged energy variance as the ratio of continuous measurement strength to dissipation is increased. The measurement strength in the proposed scheme is tunable in situ, and the behavior predicted by the simulations therefore implies a way to verifiably control the time-averaged variance of a mechanical wave function over the course of a single quantum trajectory. The scheme's ability to directly probe the energy variance of the mechanical mode may also enable further investigations of the effects on the mechanical state of coupling the mechanical mode to other quantum systems

Steady States of Infinite-Size Dissipative Quantum Chains via Imaginary Time Evolution

Directly in the thermodynamic limit, we show how to combine imaginary and real time evolution of tensor networks to efficiently and accurately find the nonequilibrium steady states (NESS) of one-dimensional dissipative quantum lattices governed by the Lindblad master equation. The imaginary time evolution first bypasses any highly correlated portions of the real-time evolution trajectory by directly converging to the weakly correlated subspace of the NESS, after which real time evolution completes the convergence to the NESS with high accuracy. We demonstrate the power of the method with the dissipative transverse field quantum Ising chain. We show that a crossover of an order parameter shown to be smooth in previous finite-size studies remains smooth in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 5+3 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Symmetry between repulsive and attractive interactions in driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard systems

The driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model can be experimentally realized with either negative or positive onsite detunings, inter-site hopping energies, and onsite interaction energies. Here we use one-dimensional matrix product density operators to perform a fully quantum investigation of the dependence of the non-equilibrium steady states of this model on the signs of these parameters. Due to a symmetry in the Lindblad master equation, we find that simultaneously changing the sign of the interaction energies, hopping energies, and chemical potentials leaves the local boson number distribution and inter-site number correlations invariant, and the steady-state complex conjugated. This shows that all driven-dissipative phenomena of interacting bosons described by the Lindblad master equation, such as "fermionization" and "superbunching", can equivalently occur with attractive or repulsive interactions.Comment: single column 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Phonon number quantum jumps in an optomechanical system

We describe an optomechanical system in which the mean phonon number of a single mechanical mode conditionally displaces the amplitude of the optical field. Using homodyne detection of the output field we establish the conditions under which phonon number quantum jumps can be inferred from the measurement record: both the cavity damping rate and the measurement rate of the phonon number must be much greater than the thermalization rate of the mechanical mode. We present simulations of the conditional dynamics of the measured system using the stochastic master equation. In the good-measurement limit, the conditional evolution of the mean phonon number shows quantum jumps as phonons enter and exit the mechanical resonator via the bath.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. minor revisions since first versio

Deterministic many-resonator W entanglement of nearly arbitrary microwave states via attractive Bose-Hubbard simulation

Multipartite entanglement of large numbers of physically distinct linear resonators is of both fundamental and applied interest, but there have been no feasible proposals to date for achieving it. At the same time, the Bose-Hubbard model with attractive interactions (ABH) is theoretically known to have a phase transition from the superfluid phase to a highly entangled nonlocal superposition, but observation of this phase transition has remained out of experimental reach. In this theoretical work, we jointly address these two problems by (1) proposing an experimentally accessible quantum simulation of the ABH phase transition in an array of tunably coupled superconducting circuit microwave resonators and (2) incorporating the simulation into a highly scalable protocol that takes as input any microwave-resonator state with negligible occupation of number states vertical bar 0 > and vertical bar 1 > and nonlocally superposes it across the whole array of resonators. The large-scale multipartite entanglement produced by the protocol is of the W type, which is well known for its robustness. The protocol utilizes the ABH phase transition to generate the multipartite entanglement of all of the resonators in parallel, and is therefore deterministic and permits an increase in resonator number without any increase in protocol complexity; the number of resonators is limited instead by system characteristics such as resonator-frequency disorder and inter-resonator coupling strength. Only one local and two global controls are required for the protocol. We numerically demonstrate the protocol with realistic system parameters and estimate that current experimental capabilities can realize the protocol with high fidelity for greater than 40 resonators. Because superconducting-circuit microwave resonators are capable of interfacing with other devices and platforms such as mechanical resonators and (potentially) optical fields, this proposal provides a route toward large-scale W-type entanglement in those systems as well

Two-dimensional Nanolithography Using Atom Interferometry

We propose a novel scheme for the lithography of arbitrary, two-dimensional nanostructures via matter-wave interference. The required quantum control is provided by a pi/2-pi-pi/2 atom interferometer with an integrated atom lens system. The lens system is developed such that it allows simultaneous control over atomic wave-packet spatial extent, trajectory, and phase signature. We demonstrate arbitrary pattern formations with two-dimensional 87Rb wavepackets through numerical simulations of the scheme in a practical parameter space. Prospects for experimental realizations of the lithography scheme are also discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figure

Insight into the molecular pathophysiology of myelodysplastic syndromes: targets for novel therapy

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders characterized by abnormal cellular differentiation and maturation with variable progression to acute leukemia. Over the last decade, scientific discoveries have unraveled specific pathways involved in the complex pathophysiology of MDS. Prominent examples include aberrations in cytokines and their signaling pathways (such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon-gamma, SMAD proteins), mutations in genes encoding the RNA splicing machinery (SF3B1, SRSF2, ZRSR2, and U2AF1 genes), mutations in genes disrupting the epigenetic machinery (TET2, DNMT3A, DNMT3B, EZH2, ASXL1). In addition, abnormalities in regulatory T-cell dynamics and atypical interactions between the bone marrow microenvironment, stroma and progenitor cells, and abnormal maintenance of telomeres are also notable contributors to the complex pathogenesis of MDS. These pathways represent potential targets for novel therapies. Specific therapies include drugs targeting aberrant DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling, modulating/activating the immune system to enhance tumor-specific cellular immune responses and reduce anomalous cytokine signaling, and blocking abnormal interaction between hematopoietic progenitors and stromal cells

Two-dimensional Nanolithography Using Atom Interferometry

Abstract We propose a novel scheme for the lithography of arbitrary, two-dimensional nanostructures via matter-wave interference. The required quantum control is provided by a π/2-π -π /2 atom interferometer with an integrated atom lens system. The lens system is developed such that it allows simultaneous control over atomic wave-packet spatial extent, trajectory, and phase signature. We demonstrate arbitrary pattern formations with two-dimensional 87 Rb wave-packets through numerical simulations of the scheme in a practical parameter space. Prospects for experimental realizations of the lithography scheme are also discussed