Preparation of multi-photon Fock states and quantum entanglement properties in circuit QED

We demonstrate the controllable generation of multi-photon Fock states in circuit quantum electrodynamics （circuit QED）. The external bias flux regulated by a counter can effectively adjust the bias time on each superconducting flux qubit so that each flux qubit can pass in turn through the circuit cavity and thereby avoid the effect of decoherence. We further investigate the quantum correlation dynamics of coupling superconducting qubits in a Fock state. The results reveal that the lower the photon number of the light field in the number state, the stronger the interaction between qubits is, then the more beneficial to maintaining entanglement between qubits it will be.     

Exact broken-symmetry states and Hartree–Fock solutions for quantum dots at high magnetic fields

Wigner molecules formed at high magnetic fields in circular and elliptic quantum dots are studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and unrestricted Hartree–Fock (UHF) methods with multicenter basis of displaced lowest Landau level wave functions. The broken symmetry states with semi-classical charge density constructed from superpositions of the ED solutions are compared to the UHF results. UHF overlooks the dependence of the few-electron wave functions on the actual relative positions of electrons localized in different charge puddles and partially compensates for this neglect by an exaggerated separation of charge islands which are more strongly localized than in the exact broken-symmetry states.     

Admissible states in quantum phase space

We address the question of which phase space functionals might represent a quantum state. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for both pure and mixed phase space quantum states. From the pure state quantum condition we obtain a formula for the momentum correlations of arbitrary order and derive explicit expressions for the wave functions in terms of time-dependent and independent Wigner functions. We show that the pure state quantum condition is preserved by the Moyal (but not by the classical Liouville) time evolution and is consistent with a generic stargenvalue equation. As a by-product Baker's converse construction is generalized both to an arbitrary stargenvalue equation, associated to a generic phase space symbol, as well as to the time-dependent case. These results are properly extended to the mixed state quantum condition, which is proved to imply the Heisenberg uncertainty relations. Globally, this formalism yields the complete characterization of the kinematical structure of Wigner quantum mechanics. The previous results are then succinctly generalized for various quasi-distributions. Finally, the formalism is illustrated through the simple examples of the harmonic oscillator and the free Gaussian wave packet. As a by-product, we obtain in the former example an integral representation of the Hermite polynomials.     

Classical analogue of displaced Fock states and quantum correlations in Glauber-Fock photonic lattices

Coherent states and their generalizations, displaced Fock states, are of fundamental importance to quantum optics. Here we present a direct observation of a classical analogue for the emergence of these states from the eigenstates of the harmonic oscillator. To this end, the light propagation in a Glauber-Fock waveguide lattice serves as equivalent for the displacement of Fock states in phase space. Theoretical calculations and analogue classical experiments show that the square-root distribution of the coupling parameter in such lattices supports a new family of intriguing quantum correlations not encountered in uniform arrays. Because of the broken shift invariance of the lattice, these correlations strongly depend on the transverse position. Consequently, quantum random walks with this extra degree of freedom may be realized in Glauber-Fock lattices.     

On the phase uncertainty of Fock states and “nonlocal realism”

Based on the study of the effects of the suppression of cross-correlation of photons on a beam splitter and preparation of squeezed states, an experimental proof is proposed for the lack of determinate values of the phase and phase difference of photons in Fock states. It is shown that this conclusion unveils the intrinsic inconsistency of interpreting quantum mechanics on the basis of the nonlocal theory of hidden variables and proves the inadequacy of the latter.     

Magneto-dimensional resonance. Pseudospin phase and hidden quantum number

The Schrödinger operator for a spinless charge inside a layer with parabolic confinement profile and homogeneous magnetic field is considered. The Lorentz (cyclotron) and the confinement frequencies are assumed to be equal to each other. After inclination of the layer normal from the magnetic field direction there appears a pseudospin su(2)-field removing the resonance degeneracy of Landau levels. Under deviations of the layer surface from the plane shape, a longitudinal geometric current is created. In circulations around surface warping, there is a nontrivial quantum phase transition generated by an element of the π₁-homotopy group and a hidden degree of freedom (spectral degeneracy) associated with a “charge” of geometric poles on the layer. The quantization rule contains an additional parity index related to the algebraic number of geometric poles and the Landau level number. The resonance pseudospin phase-shift represents an example of general Aharonov–Bohm type topologic phenomena in quantum (semiclassical or adiabatic) systems with delta-function singularities in symplectic structure.     

Entangled phase states via quantum beam splitter

We study the entanglement effect of beam splitter on the temporally stable phase states. Specifically, we consider the eigenstates (phase states) of a unitary phase operator resulting from the polar decomposition of ladder operators of generalized Weyl-Heisenberg algebras possessing finite dimensional representation space. The linear entropy that measures the degree of entanglement at the output of the beam splitter is analytically obtained. We find that the entanglement is not only strongly dependent on the Hilbert space dimension but also quite related to strength the parameter ensuring the temporal stability of the phase states. Finally, we discuss the evolution of the entangled phase states.     

Reduction of quantum phase fluctuations in intermediate states

Recently we have shown that the reduction of the Carruthers-Nieto symmetric quantum phase fluctuation parameter (U) with respect to its coherent state value corresponds to an antibunched state, but the converse is not true. Consequently reduction of U is a stronger criterion of nonclassicality than the lowest order antibunching. Here we have studied the possibilities of reduction of U in intermediate states by using the Barnett-Pegg formalism. We have shown that the reduction of phase fluctuation parameter U can be seen in different intermediate states, such as binomial state, generalized binomial state, hypergeometric state, negative binomial state, and photon added coherent state. It is also shown that the depth of nonclassicality can be controlled by various parameters related to intermediate states. Further, we have provided specific examples of antibunched states, for which U is greater than its Poissonian state value.     

AC-field-induced quantum phase transitions in density of states

We investigate the joint effects of the intralead electron interaction and an externalalternating gate voltage on the time-averaged local density of states (DOSs) of a quantumdot coupled to two Luttinger-liquid leads in the Kondo regime. A rich dependence of theDOSs on the driving amplitude and intralead interaction is demonstrated. We show that thefeature is quite different for different interaction strengths in the presence of the acfield. It is shown that the photon-assisted transport processes cause an additionalsplitting of the Kondo peak or dip, which exhibits photon-assisted single-channel (1CK) ortwo-channel Kondo (2CK) physics behavior. The phase transition between photon-assisted 1CKand 2CK physics occurs when the interaction strength is moderately strong. The inelasticchannels associated with photon-assisted electron tunneling can dominate electrontransport for weak interaction when the ac amplitude is greater than the frequency by oneorder of magnitude. In the limit of strong interaction the DOSs scale as a power-lawbehavior which is strongly affected by the ac field.     

Detection of hidden localized states by the quantum Hall effect in graphene

We fabricated a monolayer graphene transistor device in the shape of the Hall-bar structure, which produced an exactly symmetric signal following the sample geometry. During electrical characterization, the device showed the standard integer quantum Hall effect of monolayer graphene except for a broader range of several quantum Hall plateaus corresponding to small filling factors in the electron region. We investigated this anomaly on the basis of localized states owing to the presence of possible electron traps, whose energy levels were estimated to be near the Dirac point. In particular, the inequality between the filling of electrons and holes was ascribed to the requirement of excess electrons to fill the trap levels. The relations between the quantum Hall plateau, Landau level, and filling factor were carefully analyzed to reveal the details of the localized states in this graphene device.     

Causal non-local character of quantum statistics

Developing Tersoff and Bayers ideas one shows that quantum statistics result from distinguishable particles correlated by causal non-local actions-at-a-distance. The difference between classical and quantum statistics thus results from the uncontrollable non-local character of stochastic interactions connecting particles imbedded in Dirac's random aether.     

Cascade of quantum phase transitions in tunnel-coupled edge states

We report on the cascade of quantum phase transitions exhibited by tunnel-coupled edge states across a quantum Hall line junction. We identify a series of quantum critical points between successive strong and weak tunneling regimes in the zero-bias conductance. Scaling analysis shows that the conductance near the critical magnetic fields B(c) is a function of a single scaling argument /B-B(c)/T(-kappa), where the exponent kappa=0.42. This puzzling resemblance to a quantum Hall-insulator transition points to the importance of interedge correlation between the coupled edge states.     

Geometric phase for adiabatic evolutions of general quantum states

The concept of a geometric phase (Berry's phase) is generalized to the case of noneigenstates, which is applicable to both linear and nonlinear quantum systems. This is particularly important to nonlinear quantum systems, where, due to the lack of the superposition principle, the adiabatic evolution of a general state cannot be described in terms of eigenstates. For linear quantum systems, our new geometric phase reduces to a statistical average of Berry's phases. Our results are demonstrated with a nonlinear two-level model.     

Fock states of flavor neutrinos are unphysical

It is shown that it is possible to construct an infinity of Fock spaces of flavor neutrinos depending on arbitrary unphysical mass parameters, in agreement with the theory of Blasone and Vitiello in the version proposed by Fujii, Habe and Yabuki. However, we show by reductio ad absurdum that these flavor neutrino Fock spaces are clever mathematical constructs without physical relevance, because the hypothesis that neutrinos produced or detected in charged-current weak interaction processes are described by flavor neutrino Fock states implies that measurable quantities depend on the arbitrary unphysical flavor neutrino mass parameters. Received: 26 August 2004, Published online: 18 January 2005 PACS: 14.60.Pq, 14.60.Lm     

Preparation of Fock states and quantum entanglement via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage using a four-level atom

We study the behaviour of an atom-cavity system exposed to a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) process in a four-level system, with a coupling scheme which generate two degenerate dark states. We find that the non-adiabatic interaction of the two dark states guarantees that the cavity Fock states can always be generated by both intuitively and counterintuitively ordered pulses. Furthermore, we propose a method to entangle two atoms. Depending on the ordering of the pulses two orthogonal entangled states can be prepared. Since these entangled states do not have component of the excited states included, the technique is robust against the detrimental consequences of spontaneous emission. Received 20 March 2001     

Continuous topological phase transitions between clean quantum hall states

Continuous transitions between states and the same symmetry but different topological orders are studied. Clean quantum Hall (QH) liquids with neutral nonbosonic quasiparticles are shown to have such transitions under the right conditions. For clean bilayer (mmn) states, a continuous transition to other QH states (including non-Abelian states) can be driven by increasing interlayer repulsion/tunneling. The effective theories describing the critical points at some transitions are obtained.     

The hidden geometry of the quantum Euclidean space

We briefly describe how to introduce the basic notions of noncommutative differential geometry on the 3-dim quantum space covariant under the quantum group of rotations SO _q(3).