Quantum Switch Research Articles

Noisy quantum metrology with the assistance of indefinite causal order

A generic qubit unitary operator affected by depolarizing noise is duplicated and inserted in a quantum switch process realizing a superposition of causal orders. The characterization of the resulting switched quantum channel is worked out for its action on the joint state of the probe-control qubit pair. The switched channel is then specifically investigated for the important metrological task of phase estimation on the noisy unitary operator, with the performance assessed by the Fisher information, classical or quantum. A comparison is made with conventional techniques of estimation where the noisy unitary is directly probed in a one-stage or two-stage cascade with definite order, or several uses of them with two or more qubits. In the switched channel with indefinite order, specific properties are reported, meaningful for estimation and not present with conventional techniques. It is shown that the control qubit, although it never directly interacts with the unitary, can nevertheless be measured alone for effective estimation, while discarding the probe qubit that interacts with the unitary. Also, measurement of the control qubit maintains the possibility of efficient estimation in difficult conditions where conventional estimation becomes less efficient, as with ill-configured input probes, or in blind situations when the axis of the unitary is unknown. Effective estimation by measuring the control qubit remains possible even when the input probe tends to align with the axis of the unitary, or with a fully depolarized input probe, while in these conditions conventional estimation gets inoperative. Measurement of the probe qubit of the switched channel is also shown to add useful capabilities for phase estimation. The results contribute to the analysis of switched quantum channels with indefinite order for information processing, and uncover new possibilities for qubit metrology.

On the Capacity Region of Bipartite and Tripartite Entanglement Switching

We study a quantum switch serving a set of users in a star topology. The function of the switch is to create bipartite or tripartite entangled state among users at the highest possible rates at a fixed ratio. We model a set of randomized switching policies. Discovering that some are better than others, we present analytical results for the case where the switch stores one qubit per user, and find that the best policies outperform a time division multiplexing (TDM) policy for sharing the switch between bipartite and tripartite state generation. This performance improvement decreases as the number of users grows. The model is easily augmented to study the capacity region in the presence of qubit decoherence, obtaining similar results. Moreover, decoherence appears to have little effect on capacity. We also study a smaller class of policies when the switch stores two qubits per user.

On the Exact Analysis of an Idealized Quantum Switch

Protocols that exploit quantum communication technology offer two advantages: they can either extend or render feasible the capabilities of their classical counterparts, or they exhibit functionality entirely unachievable through classical means alone. For an example of the former, quantum key distribution protocols such as E91 [2] and BBM92 [1] can in principle yield information-theoretic security by using entanglement to generate secure key bits. These raw secret key bits can then be distilled into a one-time pad to encode messages sent between two parties. For an example of the latter, distributed quantum sensing frameworks such as [3] and [11] employ entanglement to overcome the standard quantum limit [4].

Spin filtering and magnetically-controlled quantum switch in multiple triangular rings consisting of quantum dots

Electron transport characteristics through a system consisting of a series of triangular quantum dot rings are studied utilizing the non-equilibrium Green’s function. In the presence of a magnetic field, an additional anti-resonance point occurs in the conductance spectrum. As the number of triangular quantum dot rings increases, two anti-resonance points evolve into two well-defined insulating bands. The insulating band disappears as the magnetic flux takes an appropriate value, and therefore, an effective magnetically-controlled quantum switch can be achieved. If a Zeeman magnetic field is introduced, a spin-polarized window (SPW) can be formed, suggesting a physical scheme of a spin filtering. As the intradot Coulomb interactions are taken into consideration, more SPWs can be obtained. This work sheds lights onto the design of future quantum devices.

Nonequilibrium phase transition in transport through a driven quantum point contact

We study transport of noninteracting fermions through a periodically driven quantum point contact (QPC) connecting two tight-binding chains. Initially, each chain is prepared in its own equilibrium state, generally with a bias in chemical potentials and temperatures. We examine the heating rate (or, alternatively, energy increase per cycle) in the nonequilibrium time-periodic steady state established after initial transient dynamics. We find that the heating rate vanishes identically when the driving frequency exceeds the bandwidth of the chain. We first establish this fact for a particular type of QPC where the heating rate can be calculated analytically. Then we verify numerically that this nonequilibrium phase transition is present for a generic QPC. Finally, we derive this effect perturbatively in leading order for cases when the QPC Hamiltonian can be considered as a small perturbation. Strikingly, we discover that for certain QPCs the current averaged over the driving cycle also vanishes above the critical frequency, despite a persistent bias. This shows that a driven QPC can act as a frequency-controlled quantum switch.

Single plasmon router with two quantum dots side coupled to two plasmonic waveguides with a junction

We proposed a new multichannel scheme of quantum routing for single plasmons with two quantum dots (QDs) side coupled to two plasmonic waveguides, one of which is infinite and the other is semi-infinite, with a junction. We investigated theoretically the routing properties of the proposed system for the incident single plasmons, such as the transmission, reflection, and transfer rates via the real-space approach. Our results show that in such a coupled system, the incident single plasmons can be routed by controlling the parameters, such as the detuning, the atomic transition frequencies, the coupling strengths, and the spacing between QDs. In particular, we showed that the transfer rate of single plasmons could be greatly changed according to the position of the junction. Our multichannel scheme for routing of single plasmons could be utilized for realizing quantum devices, such as quantum switches, directional couplers, and quantum routers.

Topological quantum switch and controllable one-dimensional conducting paths in antimonene facilitated by breaking the inversion symmetry

Based on the recently found non-trivial topology of buckled antimonene, we propose the conceptual design of a quantized switch that is protected by topology and a mechanism to create configurable 1D wire channels. We show that the topologically required edge states in this system can be turned on and off by breaking the inversion symmetry (reducing the symmetry from $S_6$ to $C_3$), which can be achieved by gating the system. This is shown to create a field-effect quantum switch projected by topology. Secondly we show that by locally gating the system with different polarity in different areas, a soliton-like domain wall is created at their interface, which hosts a protected electronic state, in which transport could be accessed by gated doping.

Application of quantum dot system: Optically-controlled quantum switch and photon-electron pumping effect

We design a four-quantum-dot system subjected to a time-dependent external field. The average current through the quantum dot system is obtained by using the method of non-equilibrium Green's function. By adjusting either the amplitude or frequency of the time-dependent external field, the average current can be converted between zero and non-zero. Based on this property, the system can be designed as an optically-controlled quantum switch device. When the asymmetric time-dependent external field is irradiated to the left and right electrodes, negative current can be observed in the current spectrum, i.e., the photon-electron pumping effect. The present work sheds lights onto design and quantum computation of future nano-devices.

Erratum to: Mechanically controlled quantum switch defined on a curved 2DEG

In the original article, the first author’s name was mistakenly written as S. Seyyare Aksul. It must be corrected to S. Seyyare Aksu. The publisher apologizes for the mistake.

On the exact analysis of an idealized quantum switch

We study an entanglement distribution switch that serves k users in a star topology. The function of the switch is to facilitate end-to-end bipartite entangled state generation for pairs of users. We study a simple variant of this problem, wherein all links connecting the users to the switch are identical, the effects of state decoherence are negligible, and the switch can store an arbitrary number of qubits. We model the system using a discrete-time Markov chain and obtain the capacity of the switch. When the switch operates at capacity, we also present a numerical method for computing the expected number of qubits stored at the switch, which depends on the number of users k and the probability of successful entanglement generation at the link level p. We then compare the results of our exact analysis to that of a continuous-time Markov chain model of a quantum switch and argue that the latter is a reasonable approximation to the more realistic model presented in this work.

Superposition of causal order enables quantum advantage in teleportation under very noisy channels

We show that the fidelity offered by the standard teleportation protocol under noisy channels applied successively can be significantly improved, when used in conjunction with a quantum switch. In particular, we find that for two such teleportation channels conjugated with an indefinite causal order, teleportation fidelity beyond the classical threshold is achieved for significantly larger noise than would be possible conventionally. One can even make the effective teleportation channel perfectly faithful for very large noise. We also discuss the generalization of our scheme for more than two pathways, and define a figure of merit in that context.

Analysis of a multiple-quantum-dots embedded ring structure for potential optically-controlled quantum switch or spin filter

We theoretically study the average current through a ring embedded with multiple quantum dots in each arm subjected to a time-dependent external field. A current resonance band can be observed in a six-quantum-dot system. In the presence of a time-dependent external field, mutual transformation occurs between the resonance band and antiresonance band, indicating an effective optically-controlled quantum switch can be realized in a wider quantum dot’s energy regime. As the Zeeman effect is introduced, the conversion between 100 and − 100% for spin polarization p can be realized by adjusting the frequency of time-dependent external field, suggesting a physical scheme of an optically-controlled spin filter. The present work sheds lights onto the design and quantum computation of future nano-devices.

Experiments on quantum causality

Quantum causality extends the conventional notion of the fixed causal structure by allowing channels and operations to act in an indefinite causal order. The importance of such an indefinite causal order ranges from the foundational—e.g., towards a theory of quantum gravity—to the applied—e.g., for advantages in communication and computation. In this review, the authors will walk through the basic theory of indefinite causal order and focus on experiments that rely on a physically realizable indefinite causal ordered process—the quantum switch.

Communication through coherent control of quantum channels

A completely depolarising quantum channel always outputs a fully mixed state and thus cannot transmit any information. In a recent Letter\cite{ebler18}, it was however shown that if a quantum state passes through two such channels in a quantum superposition of different orders---a setup known as the ``quantum switch''---then information can nevertheless be transmitted through the channels. Here, we show that a similar effect can be obtained when one coherently controls between sending a target system through one of two identical depolarising channels. Whereas it is tempting to attribute this effect in the quantum switch to the indefinite causal order between the channels, causal indefiniteness plays no role in this new scenario. This raises questions about its role in the corresponding effect in the quantum switch. We study this new scenario in detail and we see that, when quantum channels are controlled coherently, information about their specific implementation is accessible in the output state of the joint control-target system. This allows two different implementations of what is usually considered to be the same channel to therefore be differentiated. More generally, we find that to completely describe the action of a coherently controlled quantum channel, one needs to specify not only a description of the channel (e.g., in terms of Kraus operators), but an additional ``transformation matrix'' depending on its implementation.

Mechanically controlled quantum switch defined on a curved 2DEG

To investigate quantum nature of two dimensional electrons subject to high perpendicular magnetic fields, usually a planar electronic Fabry-P\'erot interferometer is utilized. In this work, we investigate an interferometer defined on a curved heterostructure. In the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the cylindrical axis, the location and the properties of the edge channels depend on the radial component of the magnetic field. Considering a curved structure, we perform numerical and semi-analytical calculations to determine widths of the incompressible edge states. We observe that the edge states form a closed loop for certain magnetic field strengths yielding observation of conductance oscillations, which can be manipulated by changing the Azimuthal angle mechanically. In addition, we investigate the effect of spin polarization on the edge state distribution considering Zeeman splitting and obtained odd integer edge states. The proposed experiment would yield a novel method to clarify the ongoing debate on the origin of conductance oscillations, namely whether they stem from Aharonov-Bohm phase or charging effects

On the Analysis of a Multipartite Entanglement Distribution Switch

We study a quantum switch that distributes maximally entangled multipartite states to sets of users. The entanglement switching process requires two steps: first, each user attempts to generate bipartite entanglement between itself and the switch; and second, the switch performs local operations and a measurement to create multipartite entanglement for a set of users. In this work, we study a simple variant of this system, wherein the switch has infinite memory and the links that connect the users to the switch are identical. Further, we assume that all quantum states, if generated successfully, have perfect fidelity and that decoherence is negligible. This problem formulation is of interest to several distributed quantum applications, while the technical aspects of this work result in new contributions within queueing theory. Via extensive use of Lyapunov functions, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of the system and closed-form expressions for the switch capacity and the expected number of qubits in memory.

On the Analysis of a Multipartite Entanglement Distribution Switch

We study a quantum switch that distributes maximally entangled multipartite states to sets of users. The entanglement switching process requires two steps: first, each user attempts to generate bipartite entanglement between itself and the switch; and second, the switch performs local operations and a measurement to create multipartite entanglement for a set of users. In this work, we study a simple variant of this system, wherein the switch has infinite memory and the links that connect the users to the switch are identical. Further, we assume that all quantum states, if generated successfully, have perfect fidelity and that decoherence is negligible. This problem formulation is of interest to several distributed quantum applications, while the technical aspects of this work result in new contributions within queueing theory. Via extensive use of Lyapunov functions, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of the system and closed-form expressions for the switch capacity and the expected number of qubits in memory.

Causal orders, quantum circuits and spacetime: distinguishing between definite and superposed causal orders

We study the notion of causal orders for the cases of (classical and quantum) circuits and spacetime events. We show that every circuit can be immersed into a classical spacetime, preserving the compatibility between the two causal structures. Using the process matrix formalism, we analyse the realisations of the quantum switch using 4 and 3 spacetime events in classical spacetimes with fixed causal orders, and the realisation of a gravitational switch with only 2 spacetime events that features superpositions of different gravitational field configurations and their respective causal orders. We show that the current quantum switch experimental implementations do not feature superpositions of causal orders between spacetime events, and that these superpositions can only occur in the context of superposed gravitational fields. We also discuss a recently introduced operational notion of an event, which does allow for superpositions of respective causal orders in flat spacetime quantum switch implementations. We construct two observables that can distinguish between the quantum switch realisations in classical spacetimes, and gravitational switch implementations in superposed spacetimes. Finally, we discuss our results in the light of the modern relational approach to physics.

A quantum network node with crossed optical fibre cavities

Quantum networks provide unique possibilities for resolving open questions on entanglement and promise innovative applications ranging from secure communication to scalable computation. While two quantum nodes coupled by a single channel are adequate for basic quantum communication tasks between two parties, fully functional large-scale quantum networks require a web-like architecture with multiply connected nodes. Efficient interfaces between network nodes and channels can be implemented with optical cavities. Using two optical fibre cavities coupled to one atom, we here realise a quantum network node that connects to two quantum channels. It functions as a passive, heralded and high-fidelity quantum memory that requires neither amplitude- and phase-critical control fields nor error-prone feedback loops. Our node is robust, fits naturally into larger fibre-based networks, can be scaled to more cavities, and thus provides clear perspectives for a quantum internet including qubit controlled quantum switches, routers, and repeaters.

Quantum Switch for the Quantum Internet: Noiseless Communications Through Noisy Channels

Counter-intuitively, quantum mechanics enables quantum particles to propagate simultaneously among multiple space-time trajectories. Hence, a quantum information carrier can travel through different communication channels in a quantum superposition of different orders, so that the relative time-order of the communication channels becomes indefinite. This is realized by utilizing a quantum device known as quantum switch. In this paper, we investigate, from a communication-engineering perspective, the use of the quantum switch within the quantum teleportation process, one of the key functionalities of the Quantum Internet. Specifically, a theoretical analysis is conducted to quantify the performance gain that can be achieved by employing a quantum switch for the entanglement distribution process within the quantum teleportation with respect to the case of absence of quantum switch. This analysis reveals that, by utilizing the quantum switch, the quantum teleportation is heralded as a noiseless communication process with a probability that, remarkably and counter-intuitively, increases with the noise levels affecting the communication channels considered in the indefinite-order time combination.