12,169 research outputs found
The Lueders Postulate and the Distinguishability of Observables
The Lueders postulate is reviewed and implications for the distinguishability
of observables are discussed. As an example the distinguishability of two
similar observables for spin-1/2 particles is described. Implementation issues
are briefly analyzed.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of ICFNCS, Hong Kong, 200
Proof of the Standard Quantum Limit for Monitoring Free-Mass Position
The measurement result of the moved distance for a free mass m during the
time t between two position measurements cannot be predicted with uncertainty
smaller than sqrt{hbar t/2m}. This is formulated as a standard quantum limit
(SQL) and it has been proven to always hold for the following position
measurement: a probe is set in a prescribed position before the measurement.
Just after the interaction of the mass with the probe, the probe position is
measured, and using this value, the measurement results of the pre-measurement
and post-measurement positions are estimated.Comment: 4 pages, no figur
Quantum Control Landscapes
Numerous lines of experimental, numerical and analytical evidence indicate
that it is surprisingly easy to locate optimal controls steering quantum
dynamical systems to desired objectives. This has enabled the control of
complex quantum systems despite the expense of solving the Schrodinger equation
in simulations and the complicating effects of environmental decoherence in the
laboratory. Recent work indicates that this simplicity originates in universal
properties of the solution sets to quantum control problems that are
fundamentally different from their classical counterparts. Here, we review
studies that aim to systematically characterize these properties, enabling the
classification of quantum control mechanisms and the design of globally
efficient quantum control algorithms.Comment: 45 pages, 15 figures; International Reviews in Physical Chemistry,
Vol. 26, Iss. 4, pp. 671-735 (2007
Correlated interaction fluctuations in photosynthetic complexes
The functioning and efficiency of natural photosynthetic complexes is
strongly influenced by their embedding in a noisy protein environment, which
can even serve to enhance the transport efficiency. Interactions with the
environment induce fluctuations of the transition energies of and interactions
between the chlorophyll molecules, and due to the fact that different
fluctuations will partially be caused by the same environmental factors,
correlations between the various fluctuations will occur. We argue that
fluctuations of the interactions should in general not be neglected, as these
have a considerable impact on population transfer rates, decoherence rates and
the efficiency of photosynthetic complexes. Furthermore, while correlations
between transition energy fluctuations have been studied, we provide the first
quantitative study of the effect of correlations between interaction
fluctuations and transition energy fluctuations, and of correlations between
the various interaction fluctuations. It is shown that these additional
correlations typically lead to changes in interchromophore transfer rates,
population oscillations and can lead to a limited enhancement of the light
harvesting efficiency
Quantum Parrondo's game with random strategies
We present a quantum implementation of Parrondo's game with randomly switched
strategies using 1) a quantum walk as a source of ``randomness'' and 2) a
completely positive (CP) map as a randomized evolution. The game exhibits the
same paradox as in the classical setting where a combination of two losing
strategies might result in a winning strategy. We show that the CP-map scheme
leads to significantly lower net gain than the quantum walk scheme
Reduction of Effective Terahertz Focal Spot Size By Means Of Nested Concentric Parabolic Reflectors
An ongoing limitation of terahertz spectroscopy is that the technique is
generally limited to the study of relatively large samples of order 4 mm across
due to the generally large size of the focal beam spot. We present a nested
concentric parabolic reflector design which can reduce the terahertz focal spot
size. This parabolic reflector design takes advantage of the feature that
reflected rays experience a relative time delay which is the same for all
paths. The increase in effective optical path for reflected light is equivalent
to the aperture diameter itself. We have shown that the light throughput of an
aperture of 2 mm can be increased by a factor 15 as compared to a regular
aperture of the same size at low frequencies. This technique can potentially be
used to reduce the focal spot size in terahertz spectroscopy and enable the
study of smaller samples
Nonmonotonic energy harvesting efficiency in biased exciton chains
We theoretically study the efficiency of energy harvesting in linear exciton
chains with an energy bias, where the initial excitation is taking place at the
high-energy end of the chain and the energy is harvested (trapped) at the other
end. The efficiency is characterized by means of the average time for the
exciton to be trapped after the initial excitation. The exciton transport is
treated as the intraband energy relaxation over the states obtained by
numerically diagonalizing the Frenkel Hamiltonian that corresponds to the
biased chain. The relevant intraband scattering rates are obtained from a
linear exciton-phonon interaction. Numerical solution of the Pauli master
equation that describes the relaxation and trapping processes, reveals a
complicated interplay of factors that determine the overall harvesting
efficiency. Specifically, if the trapping step is slower than or comparable to
the intraband relaxation, this efficiency shows a nonmonotonic dependence on
the bias: it first increases when introducing a bias, reaches a maximum at an
optimal bias value, and then decreases again because of dynamic (Bloch)
localization of the exciton states. Effects of on-site (diagonal) disorder,
leading to Anderson localization, are addressed as well.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Journal of Chemical Physic
Magnetoconductance switching in an array of oval quantum dots
Employing oval shaped quantum billiards connected by quantum wires as the
building blocks of a linear quantum dot array, we calculate the ballistic
magnetoconductance in the linear response regime. Optimizing the geometry of
the billiards, we aim at a maximal finite- over zero-field ratio of the
magnetoconductance. This switching effect arises from a relative phase change
of scattering states in the oval quantum dot through the applied magnetic
field, which lifts a suppression of the transmission characteristic for a
certain range of geometry parameters. It is shown that a sustainable switching
ratio is reached for a very low field strength, which is multiplied by
connecting only a second dot to the single one. The impact of disorder is
addressed in the form of remote impurity scattering, which poses a temperature
dependent lower bound for the switching ratio, showing that this effect should
be readily observable in experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Classical Correlations and Entanglement in Quantum Measurements
We analyze a quantum measurement where the apparatus is initially in a mixed
state. We show that the amount of information gained in a measurement is not
equal to the amount of entanglement between the system and the apparatus, but
is instead equal to the degree of classical correlations between the two. As a
consequence, we derive an uncertainty-like expression relating the information
gain in the measurement and the initial mixedness of the apparatus. Final
entanglement between the environment and the apparatus is also shown to be
relevant for the efficiency of the measurement.Comment: to appear in Physical Review Letter
Transferring elements of a density matrix
We study restrictions imposed by quantum mechanics on the process of matrix
elements transfer. This problem is at the core of quantum measurements and
state transfer. Given two systems \A and \B with initial density matrices
and , respectively, we consider interactions that lead to
transferring certain matrix elements of unknown into those of the
final state of \B. We find that this process eliminates the
memory on the transferred (or certain other) matrix elements from the final
state of \A. If one diagonal matrix element is transferred, , the memory on each non-diagonal element
is completely eliminated from the final density operator of
\A. Consider the following three quantities \Re \la_{a\not =b}, \Im
\la_{a\not =b} and \la_{aa}-\la_{bb} (the real and imaginary part of a
non-diagonal element and the corresponding difference between diagonal
elements). Transferring one of them, e.g., \Re\tir_{a\not = b}=\Re\la_{a\not =
b}, erases the memory on two others from the final state of \A.
Generalization of these set-ups to a finite-accuracy transfer brings in a
trade-off between the accuracy and the amount of preserved memory. This
trade-off is expressed via system-independent uncertainty relations which
account for local aspects of the accuracy-disturbance trade-off in quantum
measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 2 table
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