1,721,024 research outputs found
Cramér-Rao bound for time-continuous measurements in linear Gaussian quantum systems
We describe a compact and reliable method to calculate the Fisher information for the estimation of a dynamical parameter in a continuously measured linear Gaussian quantum system. Unlike previous methods in the literature, which involve the numerical integration of a stochastic master equation for the corresponding density operator in a Hilbert space of infinite dimension, the formulas here derived depend only on the evolution of first and second moments of the quantum states and thus can be easily evaluated without the need of any approximation. We also present some basic but physically meaningful examples where this result is exploited, calculating analytical and numerical bounds on the estimation of the squeezing parameter for a quantum parametric amplifier and of a constant force acting on a mechanical oscillator in a standard optomechanical scenario
Information/disturbance trade-off in single and sequential measurements on a qudit signal
We address the trade-off between information gain and state disturbance in measurement performed on qudit systems and devise a class of optimal measurement schemes that saturate the ultimate bound imposed by quantum mechanics to estimation and transmission fidelities. The schemes are minimal, i.e. they involve a single additional probe qudit, and optimal, i.e. they provide the maximum amount of information compatible with a given level of disturbance. The performances of optimal single-user schemes in extracting information by sequential measurements in a N-user transmission line are also investigated, and the optimality is analyzed by explicit evaluation of fidelities. We found that the estimation fidelity does not depend on the number of users, neither for single-measure inference nor for collective one, whereas the transmission fidelity decreases with N. The resulting trade-off is no longer optimal and degrades with increasing N. We found that optimality can be restored by an effective preparation of the probe states and present explicitly calculations for the 2-user case
Optimal quantum estimation of the coupling constant of Jaynes-Cummings interaction
We address the estimation of the coupling constant of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian for a coupled qubit-oscillator system. We evaluate the quantum Fisher Information (QFI) for the system undergone the Jaynes-Cummings evolution, considering that the probe initial state is prepared in a Fock state for the oscillator and in a generic pure state for the qubit; we obtain that the QFI is exactly equal to the number of excitations present in the probe state. We then focus on the two subsystems, namely the qubit and the oscillator alone, deriving the two QFIs of the two reduced states, and comparing them with the previous result. Next we focus on possible measurements on the system, and we find out that if population measurement on the qubit and Fock number measurement on the oscillator are performed together, the Cramer-Rao bound is saturated, that is the corresponding Fisher Information (FI) is always equal to the QFI. We compare also the performances of these energy measurements performed alone, that is when one of the two subsystem is ignored. We show that, when the qubit is prepared in either the ground or the excited state, the local measurements are still optimal. Finally we investigate the case when the harmonic oscillator is prepared in a thermal state and observe how, particularly for small values of the coupling constant, the QFI increases with the average number of thermal photons of the initial state
Quantum estimation of a two-phase spin rotation
We study the estimation of an infinitesimal rotation of a spin-j
system, characterised by two unknown phases, and compare
the estimation precision achievable with two different strategies.
The first is a standard ‘joint estimation’ strategy, in which
a single probe state is used to estimate both parameters, while
the second is a ‘sequential’ strategy in which the two phases
are estimated separately, each on half of the total number of
system copies.
In the limit of small angles we show that, although the joint
estimation approach yields in general a better performance,
the two strategies possess the same scaling of the total phase
sensitivity with respect to the spin number j, namely ' 1/j.
Finally, we discuss a simple estimation strategy based on spin
squeezed states and spin measurements, and compare its
performance with the ultimate limits to the estimation precision
that we have derived above
Robustness of tripartite entanglement transfer from bosonic modes to localized qubits
We address entanglement transfer from a three-mode bosonic system to a tripartite systems of spatially separated flying or fixed qubits through the interaction with their local environments. We focus on the robustness of entanglement transfer against several effects, including off-resonant interactions for both qubit-local environ- ment and local environment-bosonic mode subsystems, and also explor- ing the effect of changing the coupling constants, with the possibility to have different values for each qubit-local environment interaction. For the entangled bosonic modes we consider both Gaussian states and qubit-like states, comparing three different Generalized Schmidt De- compositions forms widely used in the literature and analyzing how the deviation from qubit-like approximation influences entanglement trans- fer. Finally, we investigate the multimode coupling between bosonic modes and each local environment showing a comparison between vari- ous qubit-like initial states and discussing how to improve the efficiency of entanglement transfer
Quantifying the non Gaussian character of a quantum state by quantum relative entropy
We introduce a measure to quantify the non-Gaussian character of a quantum state: the quantum relative entropy between the state under examination and a reference Gaussian state. We analyze in detail the properties of our measure and illustrate its relationships with relevant quantities in quantum information such as the
Holevo bound and the conditional entropy; in particular, a necessary condition for the Gaussian character of a quantum channel is also derived. The evolution of non-Gaussianity is analyzed for quantum states undergoing
conditional Gaussification toward twin beams and de-Gaussification driven by Kerr interaction. Our analysis allows us to assess non-Gaussianity as a resource for quantum information and, in turn, to evaluate the performance of Gaussification and de-Gaussification protocols
Conditional and unconditional Gaussian quantum dynamics
This article focuses on the general theory of open quantum systems in the Gaussian regime and explores a number of diverse ramifications and consequences of the theory. We shall first introduce the Gaussian framework in its full generality, including a classification of Gaussian (also known as ‘general-dyne’) quantum measurements. In doing so, we will give a compact proof for the parametrisation of the most general Gaussian completely positive map, which we believe to be missing in the existing literature. We will then move on to consider the linear coupling with a white noise bath, and derive the diffusion equations that describe the evolution of Gaussian states under such circumstances. Starting from these equations, we outline a constructive method to derive general master equations that apply outside the Gaussian regime. Next, we include the general-dyne monitoring of the environmental degrees of freedom and recover the Riccati equation for the conditional evolution of Gaussian states. Our derivation relies exclusively on the standard quantum mechanical update of the system state, through the evaluation of Gaussian overlaps. The parametrisation of the conditional dynamics we obtain is novel and, at variance with existing alternatives, directly ties in to physical detection schemes. We conclude our study with two examples of conditional dynamics that can be dealt with conveniently through our formalism, demonstrating how monitoring can suppress the noise in optical parametric processes as well as stabilise systems subject to diffusive scattering
Quantum state transfer through noisy quantum cellular automata
We model the transport of an unknown quantum state on one dimensional qubit lattices by means of a quantum cellular automata (QCA) evolution. We do this by first introducing a class of discrete noisy dynamics, in the first excitation sector, in which a wide group of classical stochastic dynamics is embedded within the more general formalism of quantum operations. We then extend the Hilbert space of the system to accommodate a global vacuum state, thus allowing for the transport of initial on-site coherences besides excitations, and determine the dynamical constraints that define the class of noisy QCA in this subspace. We then study the transport performance through numerical simulations, showing that for some instances of the dynamics perfect quantum state transfer is attainable. Our approach provides one with a natural description of both unitary and open quantum evolutions, where the homogeneity and locality of interactions allow one to take into account several forms of quantum noise in a plausible scenario
Dynamical recurrence and the quantum control of coupled oscillators
Controllability-the possibility of performing any target dynamics by applying a set of available operations-is a fundamental requirement for the practical use of any physical system. For finite-dimensional systems, such as spin systems, precise criteria to establish controllability, such as the so-called rank criterion, are well known. However, most physical systems require a description in terms of an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space whose controllability properties are poorly understood. Here, we investigate infinite-dimensional bosonic quantum systems-encompassing quantum light, ensembles of bosonic atoms, motional degrees of freedom of ions, and nanomechanical oscillators-governed by quadratic Hamiltonians (such that their evolution is analogous to coupled harmonic oscillators). After having highlighted the intimate connection between controllability and recurrence in the Hilbert space, we prove that, for coupled oscillators, a simple extra condition has to be fulfilled to extend the rank criterion to infinite-dimensional quadratic systems. Further, we present a useful application of our finding, by proving indirect controllability of a chain of harmonic oscillators
Continuous-variable phase estimation with unitary and random linear disturbance
We address the problem of continuous-variable quantum phase estimation in the presence of linear disturbance at the Hamiltonian level by means of Gaussian probe states. In particular we discuss both unitary and random disturbance by considering the parameter which characterizes the unwanted linear term present in the Hamiltonian as fixed (unitary disturbance) or random with a given probability distribution (random disturbance). We derive the optimal input Gaussian states at fixed energy, maximizing the quantum Fisher information over the squeezing angle and the squeezing energy fraction, and we discuss the scaling of the quantum Fisher information in terms of the output number of photons, nout. We observe that, in the case of unitary disturbance, the optimal state is a squeezed vacuum state and the quadratic scaling is conserved. As regards the random disturbance, we observe that the optimal squeezing fraction may not be equal to one and, for any nonzero value of the noise parameter, the quantum Fisher information scales linearly with the average number of photons. Finally, we discuss the performance of homodyne measurement by comparing the achievable precision with the ultimate limit imposed by the quantum Cramér-Rao bound
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