Weak measurements as an instance of non-ideal measurements

We introduce weak measurements (WM) as a type of non-ideal measurement (NIM) coupling the system and the measuring device in a specific manner involving a weak interaction followed by post-selection. For the particular case of a WM measurement of spin, we solve the quantum dynamics for the coupled system-meter ensemble exactly for any type of non-ideal measurement. The standard WM regime is obtained as a limiting case; eccentric ??semi-weak?? values not only appear in other cases of NIM, but can also have a larger magnitude than the usual weak values. A couple of examples comparing the merits of the WM regime and of the exact treatment in situations of potential interest to quantum information applications are considered.     

Interpreting weak value amplification with a toy realist model

Constructing an ontology for quantum theory is challenging, in part due to measurement back-action. The Aharonov-Albert-Vaidman weak measurement formalism provides a method to predict measurement results (weak values) when back-action is negligible. The weak value appears analogous to a classical conditional mean, yet can be complex and unbounded. We study weak values in the context of a recent quantum optical experiment involving two-photon interactions. The results of the experiment are reinterpreted within a realist ‘stochastic optics’ model of light. We show that the conditional means of the intensities in the model correspond to the experimentally observed weak values and study the breakdown of the model outside the experimentally probed regime in the limit where the weak value predicts ‘anomalous’ results.     

Continuous weak measurement and nonlinear dynamics in a cold spin ensemble

A weak continuous quantum measurement of an atomic spin ensemble can be implemented via Faraday rotation of an off-resonance probe beam, and may be used to create and probe nonclassical spin states and dynamics. We show that the probe light shift leads to nonlinearity in the spin dynamics and limits the useful Faraday measurement window. Removing the nonlinearity allows a nonperturbing measurement on the much longer time scale set by decoherence. The nonlinear spin Hamiltonian is of interest for studies of quantum chaos and real-time quantum state estimation.     

Dynamics of super-quantum discord and direct control with weak measurement in open quantum system

Super-quantum discord(SQD) with weak measurement is regarded as a kind of quantum correlation in quantum information processing. We compare and analyze the dynamical evolutions of SQD, quantum discord(QD), and quantum entanglement(QE) between two qubits in the correlated dephasing environmental model. The results indicate that(i) owing to the much smaller influence of weak measurement on the coherence of the system than that of von Neumann projection measurement, SQD with weak measurement is larger than QD, and(ii) dynamical evolution of QD or QE monotonically goes to zero with time, while SQD monotonically tends to a stable value and a freezing phenomenon occurs. The stable value after freezing mainly depends on the measurement strength and the purity of the initial quantum state.     

Quantum Deletion of Copies of Two Non-orthogonal Quantum States via Weak Measurement

We propose a scenario to increase the probability of probabilistic quantum deletion and to enhance the fidelity of approximate quantum deletion for two non-orthogonal states via weak measurement.More interestingly,by pretreating the given non-orthogonal states,the probability of probabilistic quantum deletion and fidelity of approximate quantum deletion can reach 1.Since outcomes of the weak measurement that we required are probabilistic,we perform the subsequent deleting process only when the outcome of weak measurement is "yes" Remarkably,we find that our scenario has better performance in quantum information process;for example,it costs less quantum resources and time.     

Weak values and the Leggett-Garg inequality in solid-state qubits

An implementation of weak values is investigated in solid-state qubits. We demonstrate that a weak value can be nonclassical if and only if a Leggett-Garg inequality can also be violated. Generalized weak values are described in which post-selection occurs on a range of weak measurement results. Imposing classical weak values permits the derivation of Leggett-Garg inequalities for bounded operators. Our analysis is presented in terms of kicked quantum nondemolition measurements on a quantum double-dot charge qubit.     

High Fidelity Symmetric Telecloning and Entanglement Distribution of Spin Quantum States by Weak Measurement and Reversal

We propose a physical realization of robust symmetric telecloning scheme for spin quantum states by employing the weak measurement and reversal (WMR) operation. Using proper WMR, the ultrahigh telecloning fidelity and long distance of quantum state transfer with certain success probability can be achieved. More interestingly, the lowest average telecloning fidelity can attain 80 %, which is almost independent of the spin chain length. We also study the properties of entanglement distribution via the spin chain for arbitrary two-qubit entangled pure states as inputs and find that the WMR operation indeed helps for protecting distributed entanglement.     

Enhanced Parameter Estimation with Periodically Driven Quantum Probe

I propose a quantum metrology protocol for measuring frequencies and weak forces based on a periodic modulating quantum Jahn–Teller system composed of a single spin and two bosonic modes. I show that, in the first order of the frequency drive, the time-independent effective Hamiltonian describes spin-dependent interaction between the two bosonic modes. In the limit of high-frequency drive and low bosonic frequency, the quantum Jahn–Teller system exhibits critical behavior which can be used for high-precision quantum estimation. A major advantage of the scheme is the robustness of the system against spin decoherence, which allows it to perform parameter estimation with measurement time not limited by spin dephasing.     

Effect of Quantum Point Contact Measurement on Electron Spin State in Quantum Dots

We study the time evolution of two electron spin states in a double quantum-dot system, which includes a nearby quantum point contact （QPC） as a measurement device. We find that the QPC measurement induced decoherence is in the microsecond timescale. We also find that the enhanced QPC measurement will trap the system in its initial spin states, which is consistent with the quantum Zeno effect.     

Modular-value-based metrology with spin coherent pointers

We discuss an optimal modular-value-based measurement with a spin coherent pointer: A quantum system is exposed to a field whose strength is to be estimated through its modular value. We evaluate the quantum Fisher information as a figure of merit. We found that the modular-value-based measurement can reach the same ultimate precision limit of the estimation as those of measurements without postselections. The quantum Fisher information can be increased when the dimension of the pointer state increases. We also consider the pointer under a phase-flip error. Our study should motivate researchers to apply the modular-value-based measurements for quantum metrology.     

Protecting Qutrit-Qutrit Entanglement Under the Generalized Amplitude Decoherence of the Finite Temperature

We investigate the dynamics and protection of quantum entanglement of a qutrit-qutrit system under local amplitude damping channels with finite temperature. We consider two different initial states. We find that the qutrit-qutrit entanglement decays monotonically as the decoherence strength increases, and may go through entanglement sudden death at higher temperature. Special attention is paid to how to protect the quantum entanglement from decoherence by weak measurement and quantum measurement reversal. Our results show that the entanglement increases with the increase of weak measurement strength when the temperature is lower. However, the protections of entanglement by weak measurement and quantum measurement reversal are almost failed and the decays of entanglement goes up with the increase of weak measurement strength for different decoherence strength when the temperature is higher, even entanglement suffers sudden death.

     

Quantum computing by optical control of electron spins

We review the progress and main challenges in implementing large-scale quantum computing by optical control of electron spins in quantum dots (QDs). Relevant systems include self-assembled QDs of III–V or II–VI compound semiconductors (such as InGaAs and CdSe), monolayer fluctuation QDs in compound semiconductor quantum wells, and impurity centres in solids, such as P-donors in silicon and nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. The decoherence of the electron spin qubits is discussed and various schemes for countering the decoherence problem are reviewed. We put forward designs of local nodes consisting of a few qubits which can be individually addressed and controlled. Remotely separated local nodes are connected by photonic structures (microcavities and waveguides) to form a large-scale distributed quantum system or a quantum network. The operation of the quantum network consists of optical control of a single electron spin, coupling of two spins in a local nodes, optically controlled quantum interfacing between stationary spin qubits in QDs and flying photon qubits in waveguides, rapid initialization of spin qubits and qubit-specific single-shot non-demolition quantum measurement. The rapid qubit initialization may be realized by selectively enhancing certain entropy dumping channels via phonon or photon baths. The single-shot quantum measurement may be in situ implemented through the integrated photonic network. The relevance of quantum non-demolition measurement to large-scale quantum computation is discussed. To illustrate the feasibility and demand, the resources are estimated for the benchmark problem of factorizing 15 with Shor's algorithm.     

Simulating the effect of weak measurements by a phase damping channel and determining different measures of bipartite correlations in nuclear magnetic resonance

Quantum discord is a measure based on local projective measurements which captures quantum correlations that may not be fully captured by entanglement. A change in the measurement process, achieved by replacing rank-one projectors with a weak positive operator-valued measure (POVM), allows one to define weak variants of quantum discord. In this work, we experimentally simulate the effect of a weak POVM on a nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor. The two-qubit system under investigation is part of a three-qubit system, where one of the qubits is used as an ancillary to implement the phase damping channel. The strength of the weak POVM is controlled by varying the strength of the phase damping channel. We experimentally observed two weak variants of quantum discord namely, super quantum discord and weak quantum discord, in two-qubit Werner and Bell-diagonal states. The resultant dynamics of the states is investigated as a function of the measurement strength.     

Can a future choice affect a past measurement’s outcome?

An EPR experiment is studied where each particle within the entangled pair undergoes a few weak measurements (WMs) along some pre-set spin orientations, with the outcomes individually recorded. Then the particle undergoes one strong measurement along an orientation chosen at the last moment. Bell-inequality violation is expected between the two final measurements within each EPR pair. At the same time, statistical agreement is expected between these strong measurements and the earlier weak ones performed on that pair. A contradiction seemingly ensues: (i) Bell’s theorem forbids spin values to exist prior to the choice of the orientation measured; (ii) A weak measurement is not supposed to determine the outcome of a successive strong one; and indeed (iii) Almost no disentanglement is inflicted by the WMs; and yet (iv) The outcomes of weak measurements statistically agree with those of the strong ones, suggesting the existence of pre-determined values, in contradiction with (i). Although the conflict can be solved by mere mitigation of the above restrictions, the most reasonable resolution seems to be that of the Two-State-Vector Formalism (TSVF), namely, that the choice of the experimenter has been encrypted within the weak measurement’s outcomes, even before the experimenters themselves know what their choice will be.     

Weak values of a quantum observable and the cross-Wigner distribution

We study the weak values of a quantum observable from the point of view of the Wigner formalism. The main actor here is the cross-Wigner transform of two functions, which is in disguise the cross-ambiguity function familiar from radar theory and time-frequency analysis. It allows us to express weak values using a complex probability distribution. We suggest that our approach seems to confirm that the weak value of an observable is, as conjectured by several authors, due to the interference of two wavefunctions, one coming from the past, and the other from the future.     

Quantum Decoherence of Neutrino Oscillation and Weak Measurement about Its Group Velocity

We theoretically explore the possibility of observing the quantum decoherence of neutrino oscillation due to the vacuum dispersion, that the wave-packet of neutrino spatially splits according to the different velocities of two mass eigenstates. We find that if this decoherence could be observed and the range of values of the mixing angle is known, then the superluminal neutrino phenomena could occur for some mixing angles as the consequence of a weak measurement about flavor mixing in the neutrino propagation. Our calculation gives the explicit dependence of group velocity shift to the decoherence factor and the weak value of neutrino's pre and post-selected states. We also study the related problems for the neutrino oscillation with three generations.     

Enhancing robustness of multiparty quantum correlations using weak measurement

Multipartite quantum correlations are important resources for the development of quantum information and computation protocols. However, the resourcefulness of multipartite quantum correlations in practical settings is limited by its fragility under decoherence due to environmental interactions. Though there exist protocols to protect bipartite entanglement under decoherence, the implementation of such protocols for multipartite quantum correlations has not been sufficiently explored. Here, we study the effect of local amplitude damping channel on the generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state, and use a protocol of optimal reversal quantum weak measurement to protect the multipartite quantum correlations. We observe that the weak measurement reversal protocol enhances the robustness of multipartite quantum correlations. Further it increases the critical damping value that corresponds to entanglement sudden death. To emphasize the efficacy of the technique in protection of multipartite quantum correlation, we investigate two proximately related quantum communication tasks, namely, quantum teleportation in a one sender, many receivers setting and multiparty quantum information splitting, through a local amplitude damping channel. We observe an increase in the average fidelity of both the quantum communication tasks under the weak measurement reversal protocol. The method may prove beneficial, for combating external interactions, in other quantum information tasks using multipartite resources.     

Interacting quantum dot coupled to a kondo spin: a universal Hamiltonian study

We study a Kondo spin coupled to a mesoscopic interacting quantum dot that is described by the "universal Hamiltonian." The problem is solved numerically by diagonalizing the system Hamiltonian in a good-spin basis and analytically in the weak and strong Kondo coupling limits. The ferromagnetic exchange interaction within the dot leads to a stepwise increase of the ground-state spin (Stoner staircase), which is modified nontrivially by the Kondo interaction. We find that the spin-transition steps move to lower values of the exchange coupling for weak Kondo interaction, but shift back up for sufficiently strong Kondo coupling. The interplay between Kondo and ferromagnetic exchange correlations can be probed with experimentally tunable parameters.     

Continuous quantum measurement with independent detector cross correlations

We investigate the advantages of using two independent, linear detectors for continuous quantum measurement. For single-shot measurement, the detection process may be quantum limited if the detectors are twins. For weak continuous measurement, cross correlations allow a violation of the Korotkov-Averin bound for the detector's signal-to-noise ratio. The joint weak measurement of noncommuting observables is also investigated, and we find the cross correlation changes sign as a function of frequency, reflecting a crossover from incoherent relaxation to coherent, out of phase oscillations. Our results are applied to a double quantum-dot charge qubit, simultaneously measured by two quantum point contacts.