Nonclassical Quantum Research Articles

Entanglement generation by strong coupling between surface lattice resonance and exciton in an Al nanoarray-coated WS2 quantum emitter

Strong light–matter interaction plays a central role in realizing quantum photonic technologies. The entanglement state, which results from the hybridization of excitons and cavity photons, forms the foundation of quantum information science. In this work, an entanglement state is achieved by manipulating the mode coupling between surface lattice resonance and quantum emitter into the strong coupling regime. At the same time, a Rabi splitting of 40 meV is observed. A full quantum model based on the Heisenberg picture is used to describe this unclassical phenomenon, and it perfectly explains the interaction and dissipation process. In addition, the observed concurrency degree of the entanglement state is 0.5, presenting the quantum nonlocality. This work effectively contributes to the understanding of nonclassical quantum effects arising from strong coupling and will intrigue more interesting potential applications in quantum optics.

Canonical description of quantum dynamics* *Contribution to the Special Collection ‘Koopman Methods in Classical and Quantum-Classical Mechanics’.

Some of the important non-classical aspects of quantum mechanics can be described in more intuitive terms if they are reformulated in a geometrical picture based on an extension of the classical phase space. This contribution presents various phase-space properties of moments describing a quantum state and its dynamics. An example of a geometrical reformulation of a non-classical quantum effect is given by an equivalence between conditions imposed by uncertainty relations and centrifugal barriers, respectively.

Controlling quantum effects in enhanced strong-field ionisation with machine-learning techniques

We study non-classical pathways and quantum interference in enhanced ionisation of diatomic molecules in strong laser fields using machine learning techniques. Quantum interference provides a ‘bridge’, which facilitates intramolecular population transfer. Its frequency is higher than that of the field, intrinsic to the system and depends on several factors, for instance the state of the initial wavepacket or the internuclear separation. Using dimensionality reduction techniques, namely t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding and principal component analysis, we investigate the effect of multiple parameters at once and find optimal conditions for enhanced ionisation in static fields, and controlled ionisation release for two-colour driving fields. This controlled ionisation manifests itself as a step-like behaviour in the time-dependent autocorrelation function. We explain the features encountered with phase-space arguments, and also establish a hierarchy of parameters for controlling ionisation via phase-space Wigner quasiprobability flows, such as specific coherent superpositions of states, electron localisation and internuclear-distance ranges.

Nonclassical correlated optical multistability at low photon level for cavity electromagnetically induced transparency

We study the nonequilibrium dynamic behaviors in a driven-dissipative single-atom cavity electromagnetically induced transparency. The optical bistability and multistability beyond a Kerr nonlinearity are observed utilizing the optical Stark shift induced strong nonlinearity. We show that the nonequilibrium dynamical phase transition between bistability and multistability is highly tunable by the system parameters in a large parameter region. The first-order dissipative optical bistability (multistability) always corresponds to the photon-bunching quantum statistics, which indicates that the quantum fluctuations and correlations play important roles in nonequilibrium dynamics. Interestingly, bistability and multistability with photon-bunching quantum statistics occurring at extremely low steady-state cavity photon number are observed, even under a very strong cavity driven field. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the unique cavity steady-state solution of the full quantum calculation is excellently consistent with the lowest solution based on the semiclassical mean-field approach in bistability and multistability regimes when the cavity photon number is much less than unity, albeit these nonclassical quantum states should possess strong quantum fluctuations in this parameter regime. Our results pave the way to exploring nonclassical correlated optical multistability in quantum regime, which may bring exciting opportunities for potential applications from quantum information processing to quantum metrology.

Transfer of non-classical features and quantum states of light in circularly coupled waveguide arrays

We investigate the applicability of the circular arrays of coupled single-mode optical waveguides in transferring the non-classical state of light for quantum information processing. We study the nonclassical states of light, such as a single-photon Fock state, a two-photon NOON state, a single-mode squeezed state and a two-mode squeezed state as inputs to the lattice, which are key resources for various applications in the field of quantum information science. In addition, for comparison, we also examine a coherent state. We investigate the transport of non-classical features and quantum states of light from one waveguide mode to another. For the single and two-mode squeezed states, we perform a detailed study of the evolution of the squeezing. Our work highlights the potential of the circular arrays of optical waveguides platform for the transport of non-classical features and quantum states of light. We expect our results should have applications in the physical implementation of photonic quantum technologies.

Quasinormal Mode Expansion Theory for Mesoscale Plasmonic Nanoresonators: An Analytical Treatment of Nonclassical Electromagnetic Boundary Condition

Nonclassical quantum effects will significantly affect the optical response of plasmonic nanoresonators with mesoscale feature sizes between about 2 and 20nm, and can be fully described by the nonclassical electromagnetic boundary condition (NEBC) expressed with the surface-response Feibelman d parameters. In this Letter, a quasinormal mode (QNM) expansion theory under the NEBC is proposed. By adopting the easily solved classical QNMs under the classical electromagnetic boundary condition as a complete set of basis functions, rigorous expansions of the nonclassical source-free QNMs and source-excited electromagnetic field under the nonperturbative NEBC are provided. With the obtained nonclassical QNMs as basis functions, expansions of the nonclassical source-excited field and Green's function tensor are further obtained. These expansions have a fully analytical dependence on the NEBC and classical QNMs, thus transparently unveiling their impact on the nonclassical QNMs and source-excited electromagnetic field. For instance, a new expression of mode volume is proposed for analyzing the nonclassically corrected Purcell factor. The proposed theory is physically intuitive and computationally efficient which is enabled by the dominance of a small set of classical QNMs, thus providing an efficient tool for understanding and designing mesoscale plasmonic nanoresonators.

Direct Observation of Dynamically Localized Quantum Optical States.

Quantum-correlated biphoton states play an important role in quantum communication and processing, especially considering the recent advances in integrated photonics. However, it remains a challenge to flexibly transport quantum states on a chip, when dealing with large-scale sophisticated photonic designs. The equivalence between certain aspects of quantum optics and solid-state physics makes it possible to utilize a range of powerful approaches in photonics, including topologically protected boundary states, graphene edge states, and dynamic localization. Optical dynamic localization allows efficient protection of classical signals in photonic systems by implementing an analogue of an external alternating electric field. Here, we report on the observation of dynamic localization for quantum-correlated biphotons, including both the generation and the propagation aspects. As a platform, we use sinusoidal waveguide arrays with cubic nonlinearity. We record biphoton coincidence count rates as evidence of robust generation of biphotons and demonstrate the dynamic localization features in both spatial and temporal space by analyzing the quantum correlation of biphotons at the output of the waveguide array. Experimental results demonstrate that various dynamic modulation parameters are effective in protecting quantum states without introducing complex topologies. Our Letter opens new avenues for studying complex physical processes using photonic chips and provides an alternative mechanism of protecting communication channels and nonclassical quantum sources in large-scale integrated quantum optics.

Transformation of coherent state in Hadamard gate via multi-photon catalysis

Based on two-mode continuous Hadamard gate (TCHG) and multi-photon catalysis, this paper presents a scheme to generate non-classical quantum states via coherent state. When considering the m-photon input and m-photon detection in a-mode, the output state is obtained for the input coherent in b-mode. An interesting finding is that as the amplitude of the output coherent state increases, both the detection efficiency and the fidelity of the output quantum state gradually approach zero. Thus, only certain low-intensity quantum light field states can pass through Hadamard gate. In addition, the quantum statistical distribution and squeezing properties of the output quantum states are also analyzed in detail. Our results show that TCHG is a powerful tool for generating non-classical quantum states under multi-photon catalysis.

Nonlocal quantum correlations in a bipartite quantum system coupled to a bosonic non-Markovian reservoir

In this paper, we explore the dynamics of nonlocal correlations in a two-qubit system, that is, first prepared in a Gisin state and then interacts with a bosonic non-Markovian environment. We employ uncertainty-induced nonlocality (UIN) and the Horodecki measure (Bell function) to characterize the degree of nonclassical correlations and quantum nonlocality in the system, taking into account the influence of the non-Markovian reservoir. The dynamics of the UIN and the Bell nonlocality are next examined using the various parameters that define the non-Markovian reservoir and the initial Gisin state. Our results show that the amount of nonlocal correlations and the degree of violation of Bell’s inequality can be modulated by varying the physical parameters characterizing the non-Markovian reservoir and the initial Gisin state. We also show that in some specific cases, the system exhibits nonclassical correlations while the evolved Gisin state does not violate Bell’s inequality. Our results also confirm that UIN is robust than Bell’s nonlocality in the presence of decoherence induced by the interaction with the non-Markovian reservoir.

Remotely preparing optical Schrödinger cat states via homodyne detection in nondegenerate triple-photon spontaneous downconversion

Optical downconversion is a key resource for generating nonclassical states. Very recently, direct nondegenerate triple-photon spontaneous downconversion (NTPSD) with bright photon triplets and strong third-order correlations has been demonstrated in a superconducting device (2020 Phys. Rev. X 10 011011). Besides, linear and nonlinear tripartite entanglement in this process have also been predicted (2018 Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 043601; 2020 Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 020502). In this paper, we consider the generation of nonclassical optical quantum superpositions and investigate nonlinear quantum steering effects in NTPSD. We find that large-size Schrödinger cat states of one downconverted mode can be achieved when the other two modes are subjected to homodyne detection. Also, a two-photon Bell entangled state can be generated when only one mode is homodyned. We further reveal that such ability of remote state steering originates from nonlinear quantum steerable correlations among the triplets. This is specifically embodied by the seeming violation of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation for the inferred variances of two noncommutating higher-order quadratures of downconverted modes, based on the outcomes of homodyne detection on the other mode, i.e., nonlinear quantum steering, compared to original Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering. Our results demonstrate non-Gaussian nonclassical features in NTPSD and would be useful for the fundamental tests of quantum physics and implementations of optical quantum technologies.

Creating and destroying coherence with quantum channels

The emerging quantum technologies rely on our ability to establish and control quantum systems in nonclassical states, exhibiting entanglement and quantum coherence. It is thus crucial to understand how entanglement and coherence can be created in the most efficient way. In this work we study optimal ways to create a large amount of quantum coherence via quantum channels. For this, we compare different scenarios, where the channel is acting on an incoherent state, on states which have coherence, and also on subsystems of multipartite quantum states. We show that correlations in multipartite systems do not enhance the ability of a quantum channel to create coherence. We also study the ability of quantum channels to destroy coherence, proving that a channel can destroy more coherence when acting on a subsystem of a bipartite state. Crucially, we also show that the destroyed coherence on multipartite system can exceed the upper bound of those on the single system when the total state is entangled. Our results significantly simplify the evaluation of coherence generating capacity of quantum channels, which we also discuss.

On characterising assemblages in Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen scenarios

Characterising non-classical quantum phenomena is crucial not only from a fundamental perspective, but also to better understand its capabilities for information processing and communication tasks. In this work, we focus on exploring the characterisation of Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen inference (a.k.a. steering): a signature of non-classicality manifested when one or more parties in a Bell scenario have their systems and measurements described by quantum theory, rather than being treated as black boxes. We propose a way of characterising common-cause assemblages from the correlations that arise when the trusted party performs tomographically-complete measurements on their share of the experiment, and discuss the advantages and challenges of this approach. Within this framework, we show that so-called almost quantum assemblages satisfy the principle of macroscopic noncontextuality, and demonstrate that a subset of almost quantum correlations recover almost quantum assemblages in this approach.

Emulation of quantum measurements with mixtures of coherent states

We propose a methodology to emulate quantum phenomena arising from any nonclassical quantum state using only a finite set of mixtures of coherent states. This allows us to successfully reproduce well-known quantum effects using resources that can be much more feasibly generated in the laboratory. We present a simple procedure to experimentally carry out quantum-state emulation with coherent states, illustrate it emulating multiphoton NOON states with few phase-averaged coherent states, and demonstrate its capabilities in observing fundamental quantum mechanical effects, such as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, violating Bell inequalities and witnessing quantum nonclassicality.

Finding pythons in unexpected places

We argue that novel (highly nonclassical) quantum extremal surfaces (QESs) play a crucial role in reconstructing the black hole interior even for isolated, single-sided, non-evaporating black holes (i.e. with no auxiliary reservoir). Specifically, any code subspace where interior outgoing modes can be excited will have a QES in its maximally mixed state. We argue that as a result, reconstruction of interior outgoing modes is always exponentially complex. Our construction provides evidence in favor of a strong python’s lunch proposal: that nonminimal QESs are the exclusive source of exponential complexity in the holographic dictionary. We also comment on the relevance of these QESs to the geometrization of state dependence in the typicality arguments for firewalls.

L-algebras and three main non-classical logics

The semantics of three main branches of non-classical logic, intuitionistic, many-valued, and quantum logic, is unified by the concept of L-algebra. The corresponding three classes of algebras (Heyting algebras, MV-algebras, and orthomodular lattices) are associated to specializations of a bounded L-algebra, given by simple equations. Three basic specializations lead to three more classes of algebras, including quantized Heyting algebras which have not been considered before. All these algebras are obtained from a new class of L-algebras which simultaneously satisfy general versions of Glivenko's and Mundici's theorems.

Statistical properties of non-Gaussian quantum states generated via thermal state truncation

Quantum scissors devices proposed by Pegg are beneficial to obtain highly nonclassical quantum states and indispensable for meeting the requirements of quantum information and computation. In this paper, via inputting and detecting single photon states, quantum scissor operation is equivalent to a mixed superposition of three pure state projection operators, which means that the output states are always truncated for any input state. We theoretically prepare a class of non-Gaussian quantum states via thermal state truncation and investigate their statistical properties using average photon number, gain intensity and signal to noise ratio. It is shown that the intensity gain and signal to noise ratio greater than one can be achieved by modulating the thermal parameter and the transmissivity, which realizes the signal amplification and enhancement. Besides, quantum scissor operation can generate the highly non-classical quantum state by investigating the negativity volume of Wigner function. These results indicate that the usage of the new non-Gaussian states may have potential applications in certain quantum information processing.

Efficient modal analysis of plasmonic nanoparticles: from retardation to nonclassical regimes

Abstract With recent developments in nanotechnologies, metal nanoparticles permeate a wide range of dimension scales, from light wavelength-scale domains down to a few nanometers approaching electronic scales. The electrodynamics at metal surfaces hosts a rich interplay between plasmon oscillations, retardation effects of light, and nonclassical (quantum) effects of electrons. Incorporating all these effects and modeling optical responses of nanoparticles generally rely on pure numerical methods, which are, however, disadvantageous in physical interpretations and computational speed. Herein, we establish a modal method that accurately predicts plasmon responses of metal nanoparticles, including both retardation and nonclassical corrections on an equal footing. The proposed method, based on electrostatic plasmon modes, is parameterized by a set of geometrically dependent factors, which, once computed, can be repeatedly used for same-shaped nanoparticles independent of size and material composition. The predictive accuracy of the method is examined for single nanoparticles, multi-scale plasmonic architectures—such as dimer structures with deep-nanometer gap—and geometrically deformed structures, with feature dimensions ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers.

A machine learning approach to Bayesian parameter estimation

Bayesian estimation is a powerful theoretical paradigm for the operation of the approach to parameter estimation. However, the Bayesian method for statistical inference generally suffers from demanding calibration requirements that have so far restricted its use to systems that can be explicitly modeled. In this theoretical study, we formulate parameter estimation as a classification task and use artificial neural networks to efficiently perform Bayesian estimation. We show that the network’s posterior distribution is centered at the true (unknown) value of the parameter within an uncertainty given by the inverse Fisher information, representing the ultimate sensitivity limit for the given apparatus. When only a limited number of calibration measurements are available, our machine-learning-based procedure outperforms standard calibration methods. Our machine-learning-based procedure is model independent, and is thus well suited to “black-box sensors”, which lack simple explicit fitting models. Thus, our work paves the way for Bayesian quantum sensors that can take advantage of complex nonclassical quantum states and/or adaptive protocols. These capabilities can significantly enhance the sensitivity of future devices.

Meaning-Preserving Translations of Non-classical Logics into Classical Logic: Between Pluralism and Monism

In order to prove the validity of logical rules, one has to assume these rules in the metalogic. However, rule-circular ‘justifications’ are demonstrably without epistemic value (sec. 1). Is a non-circular justification of a logical system possible? This question attains particular importance in view of lasting controversies about classical versus non-classical logics. In this paper the question is answered positively, based on meaning-preserving translations between logical systems. It is demonstrated that major systems of non-classical logic, including multi-valued, paraconsistent, intuitionistic and quantum logics, can be translated into classical logic by introducing additional intensional operators into the language (sec. 2–5). Based on this result it is argued that classical logic is representationally optimal. In sec. 6 it is investigated whether non-classical logics can be likewise representationally optimal. The answer is predominantly negative but partially positive. Nevertheless the situation is not symmetric, because classical logic has important ceteris paribus advantages as a unifying metalogic.

Tunable photon blockade with a single atom in a cavity under electromagnetically induced transparency

We present an experimental proposal to achieve a strong photon blockade by employing electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with a single alkaline-earth-metal atom trapped in an optical cavity. In the presence of optical Stark shift, both the second-order correlation function and cavity transmission exhibit asymmetric structures between the red and blue sidebands of the cavity. For a weak control field, the photon quantum statistics for the coherent transparency window (i.e., atomic quasi-dark-state resonance) are insensitive to the Stark shift, which should also be immune to the spontaneous emission of the excited state by taking advantage of the intrinsic dark-state polariton of EIT. Interestingly, by exploiting the interplay between the Stark shift and control field, the strong photon blockade at atomic quasi-dark-state resonance has an optimal second-order correlation function g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) ∼ 10 − 4 and a high cavity transmission simultaneously. The underlying physical mechanism is ascribed to the Stark shift enhanced spectrum anharmonicity and the EIT hosted strong nonlinearity with loss-insensitive atomic quasi-dark-state resonance, which is essentially different from the conventional proposal with emerging Kerr nonlinearity in cavity-EIT. Our results reveal a new strategy to realize high-quality single photon sources, which could open up a new avenue for engineering nonclassical quantum states in cavity quantum electrodynamics.