603 research outputs found
Parameter estimation, model reduction and quantum filtering
This thesis explores the topics of parameter estimation and model reduction in the context of quantum filtering. The last is a mathematically rigorous formulation of continuous quantum measurement, in which a stream of auxiliary quantum systems is used to infer the state of a target quantum system. Fundamental quantum uncertainties appear as noise which corrupts the probe observations and therefore must be filtered in order to extract information about the target system. This is analogous to the classical filtering problem in which techniques of inference are used to process noisy observations of a system in order to estimate its state. Given the clear similarities between the two filtering problems, I devote the beginning of this thesis to a review of classical and quantum probability theory, stochastic calculus and filtering. This allows for a mathematically rigorous and technically adroit presentation of the quantum filtering problem and solution. Given this foundation, I next consider the related problem of quantum parameter estimation, in which one seeks to infer the strength of a parameter that drives the evolution of a probe quantum system. By embedding this problem in the state estimation problem solved by the quantum filter, I present the optimal Bayesian estimator for a parameter when given continuous measurements of the probe system to which it couples. For cases when the probe takes on a finite number of values, I review a set of sufficient conditions for asymptotic convergence of the estimator. For a continuous-valued parameter, I present a computational method called quantum particle filtering for practical estimation of the parameter. Using these methods, I then study the particular problem of atomic magnetometry and review an experimental method for potentially reducing the uncertainty in the estimate of the magnetic field beyond the standard quantum limit. The technique involves double-passing a probe laser field through the atomic system, giving rise to effective non-linearities which enhance the effect of Larmor precession allowing for improved magnetic field estimation. I then turn to the topic of model reduction, which is the search for a reduced computational model of a dynamical system. This is a particularly important task for quantum mechanical systems, whose state grows exponentially in the number of subsystems. In the quantum filtering setting, I study the use of model reduction in developing a feedback controller for continuous-time quantum error correction. By studying the propagation of errors in a noisy quantum memory, I present a computation model which scales polynomially, rather than exponentially, in the number of physical qubits of the system. Although inexact, a feedback controller using this model performs almost indistinguishably from one using the full model. I finally review an exact but polynomial model of collective qubit systems undergoing arbitrary symmetric dynamics which allows for the efficient simulation of spontaneous-emission and related open quantum system phenomenon
Collective Uncertainty in Partially-Polarized and Partially-Decohered Spin-1/2 Systems
It has become common practice to model large spin ensembles as an effective
pseudospin with total angular momentum J = N x j, where j is the spin per
particle. Such approaches (at least implicitly) restrict the quantum state of
the ensemble to the so-called symmetric Hilbert space. Here, we argue that
symmetric states are not generally well-preserved under the type of decoherence
typical of experiments involving large clouds of atoms or ions. In particular,
symmetric states are rapidly degraded under models of decoherence that act
identically but locally on the different members of the ensemble. Using an
approach [Phys. Rev. A 78, 052101 (2008)] that is not limited to the symmetric
Hilbert space, we explore potential pitfalls in the design and interpretation
of experiments on spin-squeezing and collective atomic phenomena when the
properties of the symmetric states are extended to systems where they do not
apply.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
A Method of Improving the Predictive Validity of the Predictive Screening Test of Articulation
No abstract provided by author
A Method of Improving the Predictive Validity of the Predictive Screening Test of Articulation
No abstract provided by author
Collective processes of an ensemble of spin-1/2 particles
When the dynamics of a spin ensemble are expressible solely in terms of
symmetric processes and collective spin operators, the symmetric collective
states of the ensemble are preserved. These many-body states, which are
invariant under particle relabeling, can be efficiently simulated since they
span a subspace whose dimension is linear in the number of spins. However, many
open system dynamics break this symmetry, most notably when ensemble members
undergo identical, but local, decoherence. In this paper, we extend the
definition of symmetric collective states of an ensemble of spin-1/2 particles
in order to efficiently describe these more general collective processes. The
corresponding collective states span a subspace which grows quadratically with
the number of spins. We also derive explicit formulae for expressing arbitrary
identical, local decoherence in terms of these states.Comment: 12 pages, see 0805.2910 for simulations using these method
Efficient feedback controllers for continuous-time quantum error correction
We present an efficient approach to continuous-time quantum error correction
that extends the low-dimensional quantum filtering methodology developed by van
Handel and Mabuchi [quant-ph/0511221 (2005)] to include error recovery
operations in the form of real-time quantum feedback. We expect this paradigm
to be useful for systems in which error recovery operations cannot be applied
instantaneously. While we could not find an exact low-dimensional filter that
combined both continuous syndrome measurement and a feedback Hamiltonian
appropriate for error recovery, we developed an approximate reduced-dimensional
model to do so. Simulations of the five-qubit code subjected to the symmetric
depolarizing channel suggests that error correction based on our approximate
filter performs essentially identically to correction based on an exact quantum
dynamical model
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