Local distinguishability of multipartite unitary operations

We show that any two different unitary operations acting on an arbitrary multipartite quantum system can be perfectly distinguished by local operations and classical communication when a finite number of runs is allowed. Intuitively, this result indicates that the lost identity of a nonlocal unitary operation can be recovered locally. No entanglement between distant parties is required.     

Asymptotic evolution of random unitary operations

We analyze the asymptotic dynamics of quantum systems resulting from large numbers of iterations of random unitary operations. Although, in general, these quantum operations cannot be diagonalized it is shown that their resulting asymptotic dynamics is described by a diagonalizable superoperator. We prove that this asymptotic dynamics takes place in a typically low dimensional attractor space which is independent of the probability distribution of the unitary operations applied. This vector space is spanned by all eigenvectors of the unitary operations involved which are associated with eigenvalues of unit modulus. Implications for possible asymptotic dynamics of iterated random unitary operations are presented and exemplified in an example involving random controlled-not operations acting on two qubits.     

Catalysis in nonlocal quantum operations

We show how entanglement can be used, without being consumed, to accomplish unitary operations that could not be performed without it. When applied to infinitesimal transformations, our method makes equivalent, in the sense of Hamiltonian simulation, a whole class of otherwise inequivalent two-qubit interactions. The new catalysis effect also implies the asymptotic equivalence of all such interactions.     

Optimal cloning of unitary transformation

After proving a general no-cloning theorem for black boxes, we derive the optimal universal cloning of unitary transformations, from one to two copies. The optimal cloner is realized by quantum channels with memory, and greatly outperforms the optimal measure-and-reprepare cloning strategy. Applications are outlined, including two-way quantum cryptographic protocols.     

Local discrimination scheme for some unitary operations

It has been shown that for two different multipartite unitary operations U_1 and U_2, when tr(U_1~?U_2) = 0, they can always be perfectly distinguished by local operations and classical communication in the single-run scenario. However, how to find the detailed scheme to complete the local discrimination is still a fascinating problem. In this paper, aiming at some U_1 and U_2 acting on the bipartite and tripartite space respectively, especially for U_1~?U_2 locally unitary equivalent to the high dimensional X-type hermitian unitary matrix V with trV = 0, we put forward the explicit local distinguishing schemes in the single-run scenario.     

Multiple multicontrol unitary operations: Implementation and applications

The efficient implementation of computational tasks is critical to quantum computations. In quantum circuits, multicontrol unitary operations are important components. Here, we present an extremely efficient and direct approach to multiple multicontrol unitary operations without decomposition to CNOT and single-photon gates. With the proposed approach, the necessary two-photon operations could be reduced from O(n³) with the traditional decomposition approach to O(n), which will greatly relax the requirements and make large-scale quantum computation feasible. Moreover, we propose the potential application to the (n-k)-uniform hypergraph state.     

Probabilistically implementing nonlocal operations between two distant qutrits

We propose a method to probabilistically implement a nonlocal operation, $% \exp {[}\i\xi U_{A}U_{B}{]}$, between two distant qutrits $A$ and $B$, where $% \xi \in [0,2\pi ]$ and $U_{A}$, $U_{B}$ are local unitary and Hermitian operations for qutrits $A$ and $B$ respectively. The consumptions of resource for one performance of the method are a single non-maximally entangled qutrit state and 1-trit classical communication. For a given $\xi $% , the successful probability of the method depends on the forms of both entanglement resource and Bob's partial-measurement basis. We systematically discuss the optimal successful probabilities and their corresponding conditions for three cases: adjustable entanglement resource, adjustable partial-measurement basis, adjustable entanglement resource and partial-measurement basis. It is straightforward to generalize the method for producing nonlocal unitary operations between any two $N$-level systems.     

Entanglement is not necessary for perfect discrimination between unitary operations

We show that a unitary operation (quantum circuit) secretly chosen from a finite set of unitary operations can be determined with certainty by sequentially applying only a finite amount of runs of the unknown circuit. No entanglement or joint quantum operations are required in our scheme. We further show that our scheme is optimal in the sense that the number of the runs is minimal when discriminating only two unitary operations.     

The second law of thermodynamics under unitary evolution and external operations

The von Neumann entropy cannot represent the thermodynamic entropy of equilibrium pure states in isolated quantum systems. The diagonal entropy, which is the Shannon entropy in the energy eigenbasis at each instant of time, is a natural generalization of the von Neumann entropy and applicable to equilibrium pure states. We show that the diagonal entropy is consistent with the second law of thermodynamics upon arbitrary external unitary operations. In terms of the diagonal entropy, thermodynamic irreversibility follows from the facts that quantum trajectories under unitary evolution are restricted by the Hamiltonian dynamics and that the external operation is performed without reference to the microscopic state of the system.     

Entanglement evolution in multipartite cavity-reservoir systems under local unitary operations

We analyze the entanglement evolution of two cavity photons being affected by the dissipation of two individual reservoirs. Under an arbitrary local unitary operation on the initial state, it is shown that there is only one parameter which changes the entanglement dynamics. For the bipartite subsystems, we show that the entanglement of the cavity photons is correlated with that of the reservoirs, although the local operation can delay the time at which the photon entanglement disappears and advance the time at which the reservoir entanglement appears. Furthermore, via a new defined four-qubit entanglement measure and two three-qubit entanglement measures, we study the multipartite entanglement evolution in the composite system, which allows us to analyze quantitatively both bipartite and multipartite entanglement within a unified framework. In addition, we also discuss the entanglement evolution with an arbitrary initial state.     

Irreversibility of a quantum walk induced by controllable decoherence employing random unitary operations

Quantum walk is different from random walk in reversibility and interference. Observation of the reduced re- versibility in a realistic quantum walk is of scientific interest in understanding the unique quantum behavior. We propose an idea to experimentally investigate the decoherence-induced irreversibility of quantum walks with trapped ions in phase space via the average fidelity decay. By introducing two controllable decoherence sources, i.e., the phase damping channel (i.e., dephasing) and the high temperature amplitude reservoir (i.e., dissipation), in the intervals between the steps of quantum walk, we find that the high temperature amplitude reservoir shows more detrimental effects than the phase damping channel on quantum walks. Our study also shows that the average fidelity decay works better than the position variance for characterizing the transition from quantum walks to random walk. Experimental feasibility to monitor the irreversibility is justified using currently available techniques.     

Generation of the nonlocal quantum entanglement of three three-level particles by local operations

We propose a scheme to realize the nonlocal quantum entanglement of three three-level particles by using a three-particle entangled state of three levels as a quantum channel with the aid of some local unitary transformations. This scheme can be directly generalized to the nonlocal quantum entanglement of N three-level particles.     

Optimal multiqubit operations for Josephson charge qubits

We introduce a method for finding the required control parameters for a quantum computer that yields the desired quantum algorithm without invoking elementary gates. We concentrate on the Josephson charge-qubit model, but the scenario is readily extended to other physical realizations. Our strategy is to numerically find any desired double- or triple-qubit gate. The motivation is the need to significantly accelerate quantum algorithms in order to fight decoherence.     

Optimal control for unitary preparation of many-body states: application to Luttinger liquids

Many-body ground states can be prepared via unitary evolution in cold atomic systems. Given the initial state and a fixed time for the evolution, how close can we get to a desired ground state if we can tune the Hamiltonian in time? Here we study this optimal control problem focusing on Luttinger liquids with tunable interactions. We show that the optimal protocol can be obtained by simulated annealing. We find that the optimal interaction strength of the Luttinger liquid can have a nonmonotonic time dependence. Moreover, the system exhibits a marked transition when the ratio τ/L of the preparation time to the system size exceeds a critical value. In this regime, the optimal protocols can prepare the states with almost perfect accuracy. The optimal protocols are robust against dynamical noise.     

Dynamics of geometric phase for composite quantum system under nonlocal unitary transformation: a case study of dimer system

In this paper, we explore the dynamical properties of geometric phase for a composite quantum system under the nonlocal unitary evolution. As an illustrative example, the analytical expressions of geometric phase are derived for the dimer system. We find that geometric phase presents some interesting properties with coupling strengths (corresponding to nonlocal unitary evolution), such as dynamical oscillation behavior with time evolution, monotonicity, symmetry, etc. We show that the geometric phase and entanglement have the same period for some conditions. Moreover, we discuss geometric phase of the whole system and its subsystems. Our investigations show that geometric phase can reflect some inherent properties of the system: it signals a transition from self-trapping to delocalization.     

Optimal squeezing and entanglement from noisy Gaussian operations

We investigate the creation of squeezing via operations subject to noise and losses and ask for the optimal use of such devices when supplemented by noiseless passive operations. Both single and repeated uses of the device are optimized analytically and it is proven that in the latter case the squeezing converges exponentially fast to its asymptotic optimum, which we determine explicitly. For the case of multiple iterations we show that the optimum can be achieved with fixed intermediate passive operations. Finally, we relate the results to the generation of entanglement and derive the maximal two-mode entanglement achievable within the considered scenario.     

Optimal poling of nonlinear photonic crystals for frequency conversion

Nonlinear photonic crystals formed by two-dimensional periodic poling of the quadratic susceptibility chi(2) can support quasi-phase-matched harmonic generation. The frequency-conversion efficiency depends on the photonic crystal's poling pattern through certain Fourier coefficients of the poling function. A procedure is described for finding those poling patterns that are most efficient for any specific quasi-phase-matched frequency-conversion scheme.     

Optimal oxide-aperture for improving the power conversion efficiency of VCSEL arrays

The maximum power conversion efficiencies of the top-emitting,oxide-confined,two-dimensional integrated 2×2 and4×4 vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser(VCSEL) arrays with the oxide-apertures of 6 μm,16 μm,19 μm,26 μm,29 μm,36 μm,39 μm,and 46 urn are fabricated and characterized,respectively.The maximum power conversion efficiencies increase rapidly with the augment of oxide-aperture at the beginning and then decrease slowly.A maximum value of27.91%at an oxide-aperture of 18.6 μm is achieved by simulation.The experimental data are well consistent with the simulation results,which are analyzed by utilizing an empirical model.     

Optimal nonlocal boundary control of the wide-angle parabolic equation for inversion of a waveguide acoustic field

This paper applies the concept of optimal boundary control for solving inverse problems in shallow water acoustics. To treat the controllability problem, a continuous analytic adjoint model is derived for the Claerbout wide-angle parabolic equation (PE) using a generalized nonlocal impedance boundary condition at the water-bottom interface. While the potential of adjoint methodology has been recently demonstrated for ocean acoustic tomography, this approach combines the advantages of exact transparent boundary conditions for the wide-angle PE with the concept of adjoint-based optimal control. In contrast to meta-heuristic approaches the inversion procedure itself is directly controlled by the waveguide physics and, in a numerical implementation based on conjugate gradient optimization, many fewer iterations are required for assessment of an environment that is supported by the underlying subbottom model. Furthermore, since regularization schemes are particularly important to enhance the performance of full-field acoustic inversion, special attention is devoted to the application of penalization methods to the adjoint optimization formalism. Regularization incorporates additional information about the desired solution in order to stabilize ill-posed inverse problems and identify useful solutions, a feature that is of particular importance for inversion of field data sampled on a vertical receiver array in the presence of measurement noise and modeling uncertainty. Results with test data show that the acoustic field and the bottom properties embedded in the control parameters can be efficiently retrieved.     

Mechanization of operations within a noncommutative algebraic structure: Application to the unitary transformation of the Hamiltonian of a polyatomic molecule

A method for the reduction of a canonical transformation of the Hamiltonian of a molecule to a simple matricial product is presented through its application to the vibrorotational Hamiltonian of linear triatomic molecules. This example illustrates the effectiveness and the generality of the method.