Quantum Discord for Investigating Quantum Correlations without Entanglement in Solids

Quantum systems unfold diversified correlations which have no classical counterparts. These quantum correlations have various different facets. Quantum entanglement, as the most well known measure of quantum correlations, plays essential roles in quantum information processing. However, it has recently been pointed out that quantum entanglement cannot describe all the nonclassicality in the correlations. Thus the study of quantum correlations in separable states attracts widely attentions. Herein, we experimentally investigate the quantum correlations of separable thermal states in terms of quantum discord. The sudden change of quantum discord is observed, which captures ambiguously the critical point associated with the behavior of Hamiltonian. Our results display the potential applications of quantum correlations in studying the fundamental properties of quantum system, such as quantum criticality of non-zero temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Experimental Time-Optimal Universal Control of Spin Qubits in Solids

Quantum control of systems plays an important role in modern science and technology. The ultimate goal of quantum control is to achieve high-fidelity universal control in a time-optimal way. Although high-fidelity universal control has been reported in various quantum systems, experimental implementation of time-optimal universal control remains elusive. Here, we report the experimental realization of time-optimal universal control of spin qubits in diamond. By generalizing a recent method for solving quantum brachistochrone equations [X. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 170501 (2015)], we obtained accurate minimum-time protocols for multiple qubits with fixed qubit interactions and a constrained control field. Single- and two-qubit time-optimal gates are experimentally implemented with fidelities of 99% obtained via quantum process tomography. Our work provides a time-optimal route to achieve accurate quantum control and unlocks new capabilities for the emerging field of time-optimal control in general quantum systems.National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grants 2013CB921800 and 2016YFB0501603)National Natural Science Foundation (China) (Grants 11227901, 31470835, and 11275183)Chinese Academy of Sciences. Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant XDB01030400)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Project CCF-1350397

Dopant-assisted stabilization of negatively charged single nitrogen-vacancy centers in phosphorus-doped diamond at low temperatures

Charge state instabilities have been a bottleneck for the implementation of solid-state spin systems and pose a major challenge to the development of spin-based quantum technologies. Here we investigate the stabilization of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV$^-$) centers in phosphorus-doped diamond at liquid helium temperatures. Photoionization of phosphorous donors in conjunction with charge diffusion at the nanoscale enhances NV$^0$ to NV$^-$ conversion and stabilizes the NV$^-$ charge state without the need for an additional repump laser. The phosphorus-assisted stabilization is explored and confirmed both with experiments and our theoretical model. Stable photoluminescence-excitation spectra are obtained for NV$^-$ centers created during the growth. The fluorescence is continuously recorded under resonant excitation to real-time monitor the charge state and the ionization and recombination rates are extracted from time traces. We find a linear laser power dependence of the recombination rate as opposed to the conventional quadratic dependence, which is attributed to the photo-ionization of phosphorus atoms.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure