Dephasing Channel Research Articles

Quantum Temporal Steering in a Dephasing Channel With Quantum Criticality

AbstractWe investigate the quantum temporal steering (TS), i.e., a temporal analogue of Einstein‐Podolsky‐Rosen steering, in a dephasing channel which is modeled by a central spin half surrounded by a spin‐1/2 XY chain where quantum phase transition happens. The TS parameter and the TS weight are employed to characterize the TS dynamics. We analytically obtain the dependence of on the decoherence factor. The numerical results show an obvious suppression of and when the XY chain approaches to the critical point. In view of the significance of quantum channel, we develop a new concept, TS weight power, in order to quantify the capacity of the quantum channel in dominating TS behavior. This new quantity enables us to indicate the quantum criticality of the environment by the quantum correlation of TS in the coupled system.

Coherence-generating power of quantum dephasing processes

We provide a quantification of the capability of various quantum dephasing processes to generate coherence out of incoherent states. The measures defined, admitting computable expressions for any finite Hilbert space dimension, are based on probabilistic averages and arise naturally from the viewpoint of coherence as a resource. We investigate how the capability of a dephasing process (e.g., a non-selective orthogonal measurement) to generate coherence depends on the relevant bases of the Hilbert space over which coherence is quantified and the dephasing process occurs, respectively. We extend our analysis to include those Lindblad time evolutions which, in the infinite time limit, dephase the system under consideration and calculate their coherence generating power as a function of time. We further identify specific families of such time evolutions that, although dephasing, have optimal (over all quantum processes) coherence generating power for some intermediate time. Finally, we investigate the coherence generating capability of random dephasing channels.

Capacity estimation and verification of quantum channels with arbitrarily correlated errors

The central figure of merit for quantum memories and quantum communication devices is their capacity to store and transmit quantum information. Here, we present a protocol that estimates a lower bound on a channel’s quantum capacity, even when there are arbitrarily correlated errors. One application of these protocols is to test the performance of quantum repeaters for transmitting quantum information. Our protocol is easy to implement and comes in two versions. The first estimates the one-shot quantum capacity by preparing and measuring in two different bases, where all involved qubits are used as test qubits. The second verifies on-the-fly that a channel’s one-shot quantum capacity exceeds a minimal tolerated value while storing or communicating data. We discuss the performance using simple examples, such as the dephasing channel for which our method is asymptotically optimal. Finally, we apply our method to a superconducting qubit in experiment.

Hilbert–Schmidt quantum coherence in multi-qudit systems

Using Bloch's parametrization for qudits ($d$-level quantum systems), we write the Hilbert-Schmidt distance (HSD) between two generic $n$-qudit states as an Euclidean distance between two vectors of observables mean values in $\mathbb{R}^{\Pi_{s=1}^{n}d_{s}^{2}-1}$, where $d_{s}$ is the dimension for qudit $s$. Then, applying the generalized Gell Mann's matrices to generate $SU(d_{s})$, we use that result to obtain the Hilbert-Schmidt quantum coherence (HSC) of $n$-qudit systems. As examples, we consider in details one-qubit, one-qutrit, two-qubit, and two copies of one-qubit states. In this last case, the possibility for controlling local and non-local coherences by tuning local populations is studied and the contrasting behaviors of HSC, $l_{1}$-norm coherence, and relative entropy of coherence in this regard are noticed. We also investigate the decoherent dynamics of these coherence functions under the action of qutrit dephasing and dissipation channels. At last, we analyze the non-monotonicity of HSD under tensor products and report the first instance of a consequence (for coherence quantification) of this kind of property of a quantum distance measure.

Sequences of information backflow in local dephasing channels with spectral gaps

The flow of quantum information in local dephasing channels is analyzed over short and long times in case the structured reservoir of frequency modes exhibits a spectral gap in the density of modes over low frequencies. The presence of the low-frequency gap with upper cut-off frequency [Formula: see text] produces an infinite sequence of long-time intervals over which information backflow appears. Though generally irregular, the time intervals exhibit, under certain conditions, upper bounds: the [Formula: see text]th episode of information backflow has already started at the instant [Formula: see text], and already ended at the instant [Formula: see text], for every [Formula: see text]. The intervals become regular over long times, tend to the asymptotic length [Formula: see text], as the supremum value, and are described analytically in terms of the structure of the spectral density near the upper cut-off frequency of the spectral gap. Consequently, engineering structured reservoirs of frequency modes with a spectral gap over low frequencies produces in local dephasing channels regular sequences of information backflow and recoherence over long times, along with non-Markovian evolution.

Bath Energy for Correlated Initial States vs. Information Flow in Local Dephasing Channels

Variations of the bath energy are compared with the information flow in local dephasing channels. Special correlated initial conditions are prepared from the thermal equilibrium of the whole system, by performing a selective measurement on the qubit. The spectral densities under study are ohmic-like at low frequencies and include logarithmic perturbations of the power-law profiles. The bath and the correlation energy alternately increase or decrease, monotonically, over long times, according to the value of the ohmicity parameter, following logarithmic and power laws. Consider initial conditions such that the environment is in a thermal state, factorized from the state of the qubit. In the superohmic regime the long-time features of the information flow are transferred to the bath and correlation energy, by changing the initial condition from the factorized to the specially correlated, even with different temperatures. In fact, the low-frequency structures of the spectral density that provide information backflow with the factorized initial condition, induce increasing (decreasing) bath (correlation) energy with the specially correlated initial configuration. By performing the same change of initial conditions, the spectral properties providing information loss, produce decrease (increase) of the bath (correlation) energy.

Robustness and fragility of Markovian dynamics in a qubit dephasing channel

The Markovian dynamics of a qubit is investigated in the scheme of random unitary dynamics, where Kraus operators are changed by an extra noise. The behavior of Markovianity is explored in the perturbed scenario. We provide a new algorithm for checking CP-divisibility (Markovianity) of a dynamical map.

Fundamental limits of repeaterless quantum communications

Quantum communications promises reliable transmission of quantum information, efficient distribution of entanglement and generation of completely secure keys. For all these tasks, we need to determine the optimal point-to-point rates that are achievable by two remote parties at the ends of a quantum channel, without restrictions on their local operations and classical communication, which can be unlimited and two-way. These two-way assisted capacities represent the ultimate rates that are reachable without quantum repeaters. Here, by constructing an upper bound based on the relative entropy of entanglement and devising a dimension-independent technique dubbed ‘teleportation stretching’, we establish these capacities for many fundamental channels, namely bosonic lossy channels, quantum-limited amplifiers, dephasing and erasure channels in arbitrary dimension. In particular, we exactly determine the fundamental rate-loss tradeoff affecting any protocol of quantum key distribution. Our findings set the limits of point-to-point quantum communications and provide precise and general benchmarks for quantum repeaters.

Regular patterns in the information flow of local dephasing channels

Consider local dephasing processes of a qubit that interacts with a structured reservoir of frequency modes or a thermal bath, with Ohmic-like spectral density (SD). It is known that non-Markovian evolution appears uniquely above a temperature-dependent critical value of the Ohmicity parameter, and non-Markovianity can be induced by properly engineering the external environment. In the same scenario, we find that the flow of quantum information shows regular patterns: alternate directions appear in correspondence of periodical intervals of the Ohmicity parameter $\alpha_0$. The information flows back into the system over long times for $2+4n<\alpha_0<4+4n$, at zero temperature, and for $3+4n<\alpha_0<5+4n$, at non-vanishing temperatures, where $n=0,1,2,\ldots$. Otherwise, the long time information flows into the environment. In the transition from vanishing to arbitrary non-vanishing temperature, the long time back-flow of information is stable for $3+4n<\alpha_0<4+4n$, while it is reverted for $2+4n<\alpha_0<3+4n$ and $4+4n<\alpha_0<5+4n$. The patterns of the information flow are not altered if the low frequency Ohmic-like profiles of the SDs are perturbed with additional factors that consist in arbitrary powers of logarithmic forms. Consequently, the flow of information can be controlled, directed and reverted over long times by engineering a wide variety of reservoirs that includes and continuously departs from the Ohmic-like structure at low frequencies. Non-Markovianity and recoherence appear according to the same rules along with the back-flow of information.

Strong Converse Rates for Quantum Communication

We revisit a fundamental open problem in quantum information theory, namely whether it is possible to transmit quantum information at a rate exceeding the channel capacity if we allow for a non-vanishing probability of decoding error. Here we establish that the Rains information of any quantum channel is a strong converse rate for quantum communication: For any sequence of codes with rate exceeding the Rains information of the channel, we show that the fidelity vanishes exponentially fast as the number of channel uses increases. This remains true even if we consider codes that perform classical post-processing on the transmitted quantum data. As an application of this result, for generalized dephasing channels we show that the Rains information is also achievable, and thereby establish the strong converse property for quantum communication over such channels. Thus we conclusively settle the strong converse question for a class of quantum channels that have a non-trivial quantum capacity.

Witnessing quantum capacities of correlated channels

We test a general method to detect lower bounds of the quantum channel capacity for two-qubit correlated channels. We consider in particular correlated dephasing, depolarising and amplitude damping channels. We show that the method is easily implementable, it does not require a priori knowledge about the channels, and it is very efficient, since it does not rely on full quantum process tomography.

Coupling a single electron spin to a microwave resonator: controlling transverse and longitudinal couplings

Microwave-frequency superconducting resonators are ideally suited to perform dispersive qubit readout, to mediate two-qubit gates, and to shuttle states between distant quantum systems. A prerequisite for these applications is a strong qubit–resonator coupling. Strong coupling between an electron-spin qubit and a microwave resonator can be achieved by correlating spin- and orbital degrees of freedom. This correlation can be achieved through the Zeeman coupling of a single electron in a double quantum dot to a spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field generated by a nearby nanomagnet. In this paper, we consider such a device and estimate spin–resonator couplings of order ∼1 MHz with realistic parameters. Further, through realistic simulations, we show that precise placement of the double-dot relative to the nanomagnet allows to select between a purely longitudinal coupling (commuting with the bare spin Hamiltonian) and a purely transverse (spin non-conserving) coupling. Additionally, we suggest methods to mitigate dephasing and relaxation channels that are introduced in this coupling scheme. This analysis gives a clear route toward the realization of coherent state transfer between a microwave resonator and a single electron spin in a GaAs double quantum dot with a fidelity above 90%. Improved dynamical decoupling sequences, low-noise environments, and longer-lived microwave cavity modes may lead to substantially higher fidelities in the near future.

System-environment correlations for dephasing two-qubit states coupled to thermal baths

Based on the exact dynamics of a two-qubit system and environment, we investigate system-environment (SE) quantum and classical correlations. The coupling is chosen to represent a dephasing channel for one of the qubits and the environment is a proper thermal bath. First we discuss the general issue of dilation for qubit phase damping. Based on the usual thermal bath of harmonic oscillators, we derive criteria of separability and entanglement between an initial $X$ state and the environment. Applying these criteria to initial Werner states, we find that entanglement between the system and environment is built up in time for temperatures below a certain critical temperature $T_{\mathrm{crit}}$. On the other hand, the total state remains separable during those short times that are relevant for decoherence and loss of entanglement in the two-qubit state. Close to $T_{\mathrm{crit}}$ the SE correlations oscillate between separable and entangled. Even though these oscillations are also observed in the entanglement between the two qubits, no simple relation between the loss of entanglement in the two-qubit system and the build-up of entanglement between the system and environment is found.

Quantum coding with finite resources.

The quantum capacity of a memoryless channel determines the maximal rate at which we can communicate reliably over asymptotically many uses of the channel. Here we illustrate that this asymptotic characterization is insufficient in practical scenarios where decoherence severely limits our ability to manipulate large quantum systems in the encoder and decoder. In practical settings, we should instead focus on the optimal trade-off between three parameters: the rate of the code, the size of the quantum devices at the encoder and decoder, and the fidelity of the transmission. We find approximate and exact characterizations of this trade-off for various channels of interest, including dephasing, depolarizing and erasure channels. In each case, the trade-off is parameterized by the capacity and a second channel parameter, the quantum channel dispersion. In the process, we develop several bounds that are valid for general quantum channels and can be computed for small instances.

Non-Markovian dynamics in two-qubit dephasing channels with an application to superdense coding

We study the performance of two measures of non-Markovianity in detecting memory effects in two-qubit dephasing channels. By combining independent Markovian and non-Markovian noise on the qubits, our results show that the trace distance measure is able to detect the memory effects when at least one of the local channels displays non-Markovianity. A measure based on channel capacity, in turn, becomes non-zero when the global two-qubit dynamics shows memory effects. We apply these schemes to a well-known superdense coding protocol and demonstrate an optimal noise configuration to maximize the information transmission with independent local noises.

One-Way Quantum Deficit for 2 ⊗ d Systems

We investigate one-way quantum deficit for $2\otimes d$ systems. Analytical expressions of one-way quantum deficit under both von Neumann measurement and weak measurement are presented. As an illustration, qubit-qutrit systems are studied in detail. It is shown that there exists non-zero one-way quantum deficit even quantum entanglement vanishes. Moreover, one-way quantum deficit via weak measurement turns out to be weaker than that via von Neumann measurement. The dynamics of entanglement and one-way quantum deficit under dephasing channels is also investigated.

Dynamical response theory for driven-dissipative quantum systems

We discuss dynamical response theory of driven-dissipative quantum systems described by Markovian Master Equations generating semi-groups of maps. In this setting thermal equilibrium states are replaced by non-equilibrium steady states and dissipative perturbations are considered besides the Hamiltonian ones. We derive explicit expressions for the linear dynamical response functions for generalized dephasing channels and for Davies thermalizing generators. We introduce the notion of maximal harmonic response and compute it exactly for a single qubit channel. Finally, we analyze linear response near dynamical phase transitions in quasi-free open quantum systems. It is found that the effect of the dynamical phase transition shows up in a peak at the edge of the spectrum in the imaginary part of the dynamical response function.

Which verification qubits perform best for secure communication in noisy channel?

In secure quantum communication protocols, a set of single qubits prepared using 2 or more mutually unbiased bases or a set of $n$-qubit ($n\geq2$) entangled states of a particular form are usually used to form a verification string which is subsequently used to detect traces of eavesdropping. The qubits that form a verification string are referred to as decoy qubits, and there exists a large set of different quantum states that can be used as decoy qubits. In the absence of noise, any choice of decoy qubits provides equivalent security. In this paper, we examine such equivalence for noisy environment (e.g., in amplitude damping, phase damping, collective dephasing and collective rotation noise channels) by comparing the decoy-qubit assisted schemes of secure quantum communication that use single qubit states as decoy qubits with the schemes that use entangled states as decoy qubits. Our study reveals that the single qubit assisted scheme perform better in some noisy environments, while some entangled qubits assisted schemes perform better in other noisy environments. Specifically, single qubits assisted schemes perform better in amplitude damping and phase damping noisy channels, whereas a few Bell-state-based decoy schemes are found to perform better in the presence of the collective noise. Thus, if the kind of noise present in a communication channel (i.e., the characteristics of the channel) is known or measured, then the present study can provide the best choice of decoy qubits required for implementation of schemes of secure quantum communication through that channel.

Role of initial system-bath correlation on coherence trapping.

We study the coherence trapping of a qubit correlated initially with a non-Markovian bath in a pure dephasing channel. By considering the initial qubit-bath correlation and the bath spectral density, we find that the initial qubit-bath correlation can lead to a more efficient coherence trapping than that of the initially separable qubit-bath state. The stationary coherence in the long time limit can be maximized by optimizing the parameters of the initially correlated qubit-bath state and the bath spectral density. In addition, the effects of this initial correlation on the maximal evolution speed for the qubit trapped to its stationary coherence state are also explored.

Characterizing non-Markovianity via quantum interferometric power

Non-Markovian evolution in open quantum systems is often characterized in terms of the backflow of information from environment to system and is thus an important facet in investigating the performance and robustness of quantum information protocols. In this work, we explore non-Markovianity through the breakdown of monotonicity of a metrological figure of merit, called the quantum interferometric power, which is based on the minimal quantum Fisher information obtained by local unitary evolution of one part of the system, and can be interpreted as a quantifier of quantum correlations beyond entanglement. We investigate our proposed non-Markovianity indicator in two relevant examples. First, we consider the action of a single-party dephasing channel on a maximally entangled two-qubit state, by applying the Jamio{\l}kowski-Choi isomorphism. We observe that the proposed measure is consistent with established non-Markovianity quantifiers defined using other approaches based on dynamical divisibility, distinguishability, and breakdown of monotonicity for the quantum mutual information. Further, we consider the dynamics of two-qubit Werner states, under the action of a local, single-party amplitude damping channel, and observe that the nonmonotonic evolution of the quantum interferometric power is more robust than the corresponding one for entanglement in capturing the backflow of quantum information associated with the non-Markovian process. Implications for the role of non-Markovianity in quantum metrology and possible extensions to continuous variable systems are discussed.