Dynamics of a qubit while simultaneously monitoring its relaxation and dephasing

Decoherence originates from the leakage of quantum information into external degrees of freedom. For a qubit the two main decoherence channels are relaxation and dephasing. Here, we report an experiment on a superconducting qubit where we retrieve part of the lost information in both of these channels. We demonstrate that raw averaging the corresponding measurement records provides a full quantum tomography of the qubit state where all three components of the effective spin-1/2 are simultaneously measured. From single realizations of the experiment, it is possible to infer the quantum trajectories followed by the qubit state conditioned on relaxation and/or dephasing channels. The incompatibility between these quantum measurements of the qubit leads to observable consequences in the statistics of quantum states. The high level of controllability of superconducting circuits enables us to explore many regimes from the Zeno effect to underdamped Rabi oscillations depending on the relative strengths of driving, dephasing and relaxation.Comment: Supplemental videos can be found at http://physinfo.fr/publications/Ficheux1710.html and supplemental information can be found as an ancillary file on arxi

Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in optically thick media

Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation is a sensitive technique for measuring magnetic fields. Here, the shot-noise-limited magnetometric sensitivity is analyzed for the case of optically-thick media and high light power, which has been the subject of recent experimental and theoretical investigations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

On the central quadric ansatz: integrable models and Painleve reductions

It was observed by Tod and later by Dunajski and Tod that the Boyer-Finley (BF) and the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (dKP) equations possess solutions whose level surfaces are central quadrics in the space of independent variables (the so-called central quadric ansatz). It was demonstrated that generic solutions of this type are described by Painleve equations PIII and PII, respectively. The aim of our paper is threefold: -- Based on the method of hydrodynamic reductions, we classify integrable models possessing the central quadric ansatz. This leads to the five canonical forms (including BF and dKP). -- Applying the central quadric ansatz to each of the five canonical forms, we obtain all Painleve equations PI - PVI, with PVI corresponding to the generic case of our classification. -- We argue that solutions coming from the central quadric ansatz constitute a subclass of two-phase solutions provided by the method of hydrodynamic reductions.Comment: 12 page

Using Spontaneous Emission of a Qubit as a Resource for Feedback Control

Persistent control of a transmon qubit is performed by a feedback protocol based on continuous heterodyne measurement of its fluorescence. By driving the qubit and cavity with microwave signals whose amplitudes depend linearly on the instantaneous values of the quadratures of the measured fluorescence field, we show that it is possible to stabilize permanently the qubit in any targeted state. Using a Josephson mixer as a phase-preserving amplifier, it was possible to reach a total measurement efficiency $\eta$=35%, leading to a maximum of 59% of excitation and 44% of coherence for the stabilized states. The experiment demonstrates multiple-input multiple-output analog Markovian feedback in the quantum regime.Comment: Supplementary material can be found as an ancillary objec

Targeting BAFF and APRIL in systemic lupus erythematosus and other antibody-associated diseases.

The B cell-stimulating molecules, BAFF (B cell activating factor) and APRIL (a proliferation-inducing ligand), are critical factors in the maintenance of the B cell pool and humoral immunity. In addition, BAFF and APRIL are involved in the pathogenesis of a number of human autoimmune diseases, with elevated levels of these cytokines detected in the sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), IgA nephropathy, Sjögren's syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. As such, both molecules are rational targets for new therapies in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases, and several inhibitors of BAFF or BAFF and APRIL together have been investigated in clinical trials. These include the BAFF/APRIL dual inhibitor, atacicept, and the BAFF inhibitor, belimumab, which is approved as an add-on therapy for patients with active SLE. Post hoc analyses of these trials indicate that baseline serum levels of BAFF and BAFF/APRIL correlate with treatment response to belimumab and atacicept, respectively, suggesting a role for the two molecules as predictive biomarkers. It will, however, be important to refine future testing to identify active forms of BAFF and APRIL in the circulation, as well as to distinguish between homotrimer and heteromer configurations. In this review, we discuss the rationale for dual BAFF/APRIL inhibition versus single BAFF inhibition in autoimmune disease, by focusing on the similarities and differences between the physiological and pathogenic roles of the two molecules. A summary of the preclinical and clinical data currently available is also presented

Widely tunable, non-degenerate three-wave mixing microwave device operating near the quantum limit

We present the first experimental realization of a widely frequency tunable, non-degenerate three-wave mixing device for quantum signals at GHz frequency. It is based on a new superconducting building-block consisting of a ring of four Josephson junctions shunted by a cross of four linear inductances. The phase configuration of the ring remains unique over a wide range of magnetic fluxes threading the loop. It is thus possible to vary the inductance of the ring with flux while retaining a strong, dissipation-free, and noiseless non-linearity. The device has been operated in amplifier mode and its noise performance has been evaluated by using the noise spectrum emitted by a voltage biased tunnel junction at finite frequency as a test signal. The unprecedented accuracy with which the crossover between zero-point-fluctuations and shot noise has been measured provides an upper-bound for the noise and dissipation intrinsic to the device.Comment: Accepted for Physical Review Letters. Supplementary material can be found in the source packag

The Mass Distributions of Starless and Protostellar Cores in Gould Belt Clouds

Using data from the SCUBA Legacy Catalogue (850 um) and Spitzer Space Telescope (3.6 - 70 um), we explore dense cores in the Ophiuchus, Taurus, Perseus, Serpens, and Orion molecular clouds. We develop a new method to discriminate submillimeter cores found by SCUBA as starless or protostellar, using point source photometry from Spitzer wide field surveys. First, we identify infrared sources with red colors associated with embedded young stellar objects (YSOs). Second, we compare the positions of these YSO-candidates to our submillimeter cores. With these identifications, we construct new, self-consistent starless and protostellar core mass functions (CMFs) for the five clouds. We find best fit slopes to the high-mass end of the CMFs of -1.26 +/- 0.20, -1.22 +/- 0.06, -0.95 +/- 0.20, and -1.67 +/- 0.72 for Ophiuchus, Taurus, Perseus, and Orion, respectively. Broadly, these slopes are each consistent with the -1.35 power-law slope of the Salpeter IMF at higher masses, but suggest some differences. We examine a variety of trends between these CMF shapes and their parent cloud properties, potentially finding a correlation between the high-mass slope and core temperature. We also find a trend between core mass and effective size, but we are very limited by sensitivity. We make similar comparisons between core mass and size with visual extinction (for A_V >= 3) and find no obvious trends. We also predict the numbers and mass distributions of cores that future surveys with SCUBA-2 may detect in each of these clouds.Comment: 56 pages, 18 figures, fixed typo in Eq 1, results in paper remain unchange

Contact resistance in graphene-based devices

We report a systematic study of the contact resistance present at the interface between a metal (Ti) and graphene layers of different, known thickness. By comparing devices fabricated on 11 graphene flakes we demonstrate that the contact resistance is quantitatively the same for single-, bi-, and tri-layer graphene ($\sim800 \pm 200 \Omega \mu m$), and is in all cases independent of gate voltage and temperature. We argue that the observed behavior is due to charge transfer from the metal, causing the Fermi level in the graphene region under the contacts to shift far away from the charge neutrality point

A self-consistent theory for graphene transport

We demonstrate theoretically that most of the observed transport properties of graphene sheets at zero magnetic field can be explained by scattering from charged impurities. We find that, contrary to common perception, these properties are not universal but depend on the concentration of charged impurities $n_{\rm imp}$. For dirty samples ($250 \times 10^{10} {\rm cm}^{-2} < n_{\rm imp} < 400 \times 10^{10} {\rm cm}^{-2}$), the value of the minimum conductivity at low carrier density is indeed $4 e^2/h$ in agreement with early experiments, with weak dependence on impurity concentration. For cleaner samples, we predict that the minimum conductivity depends strongly on $n_{\rm imp}$, increasing to $8 e^2/h$ for $n_{\rm imp} \sim 20 \times 10^{10}{\rm cm}^{-2}$. A clear strategy to improve graphene mobility is to eliminate charged impurities or use a substrate with a larger dielectric constant.Comment: To be published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. US

Entanglement and squeezing in a two-mode system: theory and experiment

We report on the generation of non separable beams produced via the interaction of a linearly polarized beam with a cloud of cold cesium atoms placed in an optical cavity. We convert the squeezing of the two linear polarization modes into quadrature entanglement and show how to find out the best entanglement generated in a two-mode system using the inseparability criterion for continuous variable [Duan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2722 (2000)]. We verify this method experimentally with a direct measurement of the inseparability using two homodyne detections. We then map this entanglement into a polarization basis and achieve polarization entanglement.Comment: submitted to J. Opt. B for a Special Issue on Foundations of Quantum Optic