Exact decoherence dynamics of a single-mode optical field

We apply the influence-functional method of Feynman and Vernon to the study of a single-mode optical field that interacts with an environment at zero temperature. Using the coherent-state formalism of the path integral, we derive a generalized master equation for the single-mode optical field. Our analysis explicitly shows how non-Markovian effects manifest in the exact decoherence dynamics for different environmental correlation time scales. Remarkably, when these are equal to or greater than the time scale for significant change in the system, the interplay between the backaction-induced coherent oscillation and the dissipative effect of the environment causes the non-Markovian effect to have a significant impact not only on the short-time behavior but also on the long-time steady-state behavior of the system.     

Remote preparation of a class of three-qubit states

We propose a remote state preparation (RSP) scheme of a three-particle Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) class state by using three 2-qubit maximally entangled states as the quantum channel. The success probability of preparation and classical communication cost are calculated. Generally speaking, conditioned on Alice’s classical message, with probability 1/4 Bob can successfully prepare the original state by performing one appropriate unitary operation. However, for four kinds of special states, the success probability of preparation can be increased to 1/2 or even 1 after consuming some extra bits.     

Linear transformations of quantum states

This paper considers the most general linear transformation of a quantum state. We enumerate the conditions necessary to retain a physical interpretation of the transformed state: hermiticity, normalization and complete positivity. We show that these can be formulated in terms of an associated transformation introduced by Choi in 1975. We extend his treatment and display the mathematical argumentation in a manner closer to that used in traditional quantum physics. We contend that our approach displays the implications of the physical requirements in a simple and intuitive way. In addition, defining an arbitrary vector, we may derive a probability distribution over the spectrum of the associated transformation. This fixes the average of the eigenvalue independently of the vector chosen. The formal results are illustrated by a couple of examples.     

Entanglement dynamics and decoherence of two-qutrit states under an XY quantum environment

The time evolution of entanglement and coherence of two-qutrit states under an XY quantum environment which can exhibit a quantum phase transition has been analyzed. From our results, we find that the quantum phase transition can enhance the entanglement decay and coherence loss when the system is weakly coupled to the environment. Furthermore, the effect of the anisotropy parameter and the size of the environment on entanglement dynamics and coherence has also been discussed.     

Behavior of quantum coherence of Ξ-type four-level atom under bang-bang control

In this paper, we have studied the bang-bang (BB) decoupling scheme to suppress the phase decoherence, the amplitude decoherence and the general decoherence in a four-level Ξ-type atom system. The corresponding dynamical decoupling groups are given for designing the decoupling pulse sequences to suppress these three kinds of decoherence, respectively. Results show that in a proper time scale, the decoupling operations suppress the decoherence effectively. Especially in the ideal limits, it can suppress the decoherence completely. We also give the time scale in which the BB control works well. Numerical simulations show that, the larger cycle times N, the better effect of the BB decoupling operations under a fixed time scale.     

Robustness investigations on quantum entanglement and quantum discord of coupled qubits in squeezed vacuum reservoir

We investigate the quantum discord of coupled qubits in squeezed vacuum reservoir and compare it with the quantum entanglement of system. We find that the quantum discord and entanglement perform completely oppositely with the change of squeezed parameters. Quantum discord survives longer with the increase of squeezed amplitude parameter and entanglement death faster on the contrary. Under high squeezed amplitude parameter, the quantum discord can keep nonzero which indicate that the quantum discord is more robust than entanglement. We also find that the purity reduction of the initial quantum state will lead to the decay of concurrence or quantum discord. However, the quantum discord damps remarkably more slowly and survives longer than concurrence.     

On Wigner functions and a damped star product in dissipative phase-space quantum mechanics

Dito and Turrubiates recently introduced an interesting model of the dissipative quantum mechanics of a damped harmonic oscillator in phase space. Its key ingredient is a non-Hermitian deformation of the Moyal star product with the damping constant as deformation parameter. We compare the Dito-Turrubiates scheme with phase-space quantum mechanics (or deformation quantization) based on other star products, and extend it to incorporate Wigner functions. The deformed (or damped) star product is related to a complex Hamiltonian, and so necessitates a modified equation of motion involving complex conjugation. We find that with this change the Wigner function satisfies the classical equation of motion. This seems appropriate since non-dissipative systems with quadratic Hamiltonians share this property.     

Scheme for implementing perfect quantum dense coding with three-atom W-class state in cavity QED

We propose an experimentally feasible scheme of implementing perfect quantum dense coding with three-atom W-class state in cavity QED. In this scheme atoms interact simultaneously with a highly detuned cavity field and the cavity is only virtually excited, thus the scheme is insensitive to the cavity decay, which is very important in view of experiment. Moreover, we also propose a scheme of transmitting three bits of classical information by sending one qubit and one classical bit with 3-qubit W-class and GHZ states.     

A generalized microscopic model of quantum jump superoperators

In this paper, we discuss a microscopic model for the detector-field system in the theory of the quantum counting process. The detector-field system is described by a generalized Jaynes-Cummings model, from which we derive an analytic expression of the general quantum jump superoperators. To illustrate the universality and convenience of our method, we consider two specific examples with the help of the analytic expression.     

Stability investigation on quantum correlations of coupled qubits in non-Markovian process

Utilizing the concurrence and the quantum discord as the measure method, in this paper we compare and investigate the dynamic evolution features of quantum correlations of coupled qubits in non-Markovian process. We focus attention on decoherence effect influences the stability of quantum correlations. The investigation results show that because of the decoherence influence between the system and environment, the concurrence always evolves with time in oscillation form in the way of deaths and survivals, however, the quantum discord time evolution does not appear the deaths and survivals. The quantum discord survives obviously longer than concurrence, which indicates that quantum discord has a stronger ability to resist decoherence than entanglement. Through regulating and controlling the purity and entanglement of the initial quantum state, we can effectively suppress the decay of the quantum correlations, which is advantaged to complete the quantum information processing.     

Quantum circuits for controlled teleportation of two-particle entanglement via a W state

A protocol for three-party controlled quantum teleportation is discussed. It is shown that an unknown two-particle entanglement can be teleported to any one of two receivers via the only one three-particle W state. We summarize all different unitary transformations performed by the receiver with a concise formula. The quantum circuits for the generalized measurement described by positive operator-valued measure (POVM), which is utilized to probabilistically distinguish the two non-orthogonal states, are explicitly constructed by means of quantum Toffoli gates. The efficient quantum circuits for implementing the teleportation are also provided.     

Multiparty secret sharing of quantum information via cavity QED

The scheme on multiparty secret sharing of an atomic quantum state information via entanglement swapping in cavity QED [Y.Q. Zhang, X.R. Jin, S. Zhang, Phys. Lett. A 341 (2005) 380] is revisited and accordingly an improved version is proposed. The possible decoherence effect in the original version can be avoided after revision of assuming the prior distribution of entanglement. Moreover, the success probability of teleportation has been raised from 6.25% in the original version to 100% in the present version.     

A fault-tolerant one-way quantum computer

We describe a fault-tolerant one-way quantum computer on cluster states in three dimensions. The presented scheme uses methods of topological error correction resulting from a link between cluster states and surface codes. The error threshold is 1.4% for local depolarizing error and 0.11% for each source in an error model with preparation-, gate-, storage-, and measurement errors.     

Comment on “Controlled DSQC using five-qubit entangled states and two-step security test”

A controlled deterministic secure quantum communication protocol [X.M. Xiu, L. Dong, Y.J. Cao, F. Chi, Opt. Commun. 282 (2009) 333] with five-qubit entangled states was proposed recently. The aim of Xiu et al. was that the successful realization of communication between Alice and Bob needed the cooperation of a controller, Charlie. However, we show that the controller Charlie’s role could be excluded unknowingly. Moreover, an eavesdropper can entangle an ancilla without introducing any error in the first security test and then she can distill a quarter of the secret messages from her entangled ancilla.     

Measurement-induced nonlocality and geometric quantum discord in two SC-charge qubits

By using geometric quantum discord and measurement-induced nonlocality, quantum correlations are investigated for two superconducting (SC) charge qubits that share a large Josephson junction where the field is assumed to be prepared initially in a coherent state. It is found that the difference between measure measurement-induced nonlocality and geometric quantum discord, of the final state of the two SC-charge qubits system which is especial case of X-states, is equal to a constant value. It is found that the quantum correlations and entanglement of the qubits are very sensitive to the mean number of the coherent photons. The entanglement exists in small intervals of death quantum discord and measurement-induced nonlocality. This is further evidence in support of the fact that quantum correlation and entanglement are not synonymous.     

Hamiltonian quantum dynamics with separability constraints

Schroedinger equation on a Hilbert space H, represents a linear Hamiltonian dynamical system on the space of quantum pure states, the projective Hilbert space PH. Separable states of a bipartite quantum system form a special submanifold of PH. We analyze the Hamiltonian dynamics that corresponds to the quantum system constrained on the manifold of separable states, using as an important example the system of two interacting qubits. The constraints introduce nonlinearities which render the dynamics nontrivial. We show that the qualitative properties of the constrained dynamics clearly manifest the symmetry of the qubits system. In particular, if the quantum Hamilton’s operator has not enough symmetry, the constrained dynamics is nonintegrable, and displays the typical features of a Hamiltonian dynamical system with mixed phase space. Possible physical realizations of the separability constraints are discussed.     

Characteristic time and maximum mixedness: Single mode Gaussian states in dissipative channels

We derive an upper limit for the mixedness of single bosonic mode Gaussian states propagating in dissipative channels. It is a function of the initial squeezing and temperature of the channel only. Moreover the time at which von Neumann's entropy reaches its maximum value coincides with that of complete loss of coherence, thus defining a quantum-classical transition.     

Loss of nonclassical properties of quantum states in linear phase-insensitive processes with arbitrary time-dependent parameters

Conditions of disappearance of different “nonclassical” properties (usual and high-order squeezing, sub-Poissonian statistics, negativity of s-parametrized quasidistributions) are derived for a quantum oscillator, whose evolution is governed by the standard master equation of quantum optics with arbitrary time-dependent coefficients.