Strong Coupling Regime Research Articles

Spin-Valley Coupling Anisotropy and Noise in CMOS Quantum Dots

One of the main advantages of silicon spin qubits over other solid-state qubits is their inherent scalability and compatibility with the 300-mm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technology that is already widely used in the semiconductor industry, while maintaining high readout and gate fidelities. We demonstrate the detection of a single electron spin using energy-selective readout in a CMOS-fabricated nanowire device with an integrated charge detector. We measure a valley splitting of 0.3 meV and 0.16 meV in two similar devices. The anisotropy of the spin-valley mixing is measured and shown to follow the dependence expected from the symmetry of the local confinement, indicating low disorder in the region of the quantum dot. Finally the charge noise in the strong spin-valley coupling regime is investigated and found to induce fluctuations in the qubit energy in the range of $0.6\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\text{GHz}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$.

Molecular orbital theory in cavity QED environments

Coupling between molecules and vacuum photon fields inside an optical cavity has proven to be an effective way to engineer molecular properties, in particular reactivity. To ease the rationalization of cavity induced effects we introduce an ab initio method leading to the first fully consistent molecular orbital theory for quantum electrodynamics environments. Our framework is non-perturbative and explains modifications of the electronic structure due to the interaction with the photon field. In this work, we show that the newly developed orbital theory can be used to predict cavity induced modifications of molecular reactivity and pinpoint classes of systems with significant cavity effects. We also investigate electronic cavity-induced modifications of reaction mechanisms in vibrational strong coupling regimes.

Two-color second-order sideband generation via magnon Kerr nonlinearity in a cavity magnonical system

We investigate the enhanced generation of the optical second-order sideband (OSS) via magnon Kerr nonlinearity from a cavity magnonical hybrid system consisting of a single small yttrium iron garnet (YIG) crystal sphere and a three-dimensional (3D) rectangular cavity driven with a weak probe and a strong control field. Beyond the linear approximation, we solve the nonlinear Heisenberg–Langevin equations for achieving the analytical solutions by employing the perturbation technique. Using the experimentally achievable parameter settings, we demonstrate that the OSS generation can be significantly enhanced via increasing the magnon Kerr nonlinearity even if the coupling between the cavity and magnon is weak. Interestingly, two-color OSS generation can be observed when the cavity-magnon coupling is in the strong-coupling regime, which results from the magnonical polaritons induced by the hybrid of cavity and magnon modes. The present results illustrate the potential to utilize magnon Kerr nonlinearity for enhancing optical higher-order sidebands and controlling optical frequency combs, as well as to guide the design of experimental implementation.

Photoinduced dynamic tailoring of near-field coupled terahertz metasurfaces and its effect on Coulomb parameters

In modern-day photonic integrated circuits, near-field Coulomb interaction plays an important role in device performance. In fact, harvesting the Coulomb effect intelligently can immensely help to realize advanced photonic devices on micro and nano length scales. In this context, electrically coupled terahertz metasurfaces are investigated for weak and strong near-field coupling regimes under the influence of variable photoexcitation. Our study demonstrates active tuning of metasurface resonances at relatively low pump powers (up to 10 mW (pump fluence of 12.7 µJ cm−2) and 20 mW (pump fluence of 25.4 µJ cm−2) for strong and weak near-field coupling regimes, respectively). We attribute photoinduced modifications of substrate electronic properties along with modifications of near-field interactions to be responsible for the resonance modulations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Coulomb effect parameter can be dynamically tunable with variable pump power. Our study reveals that the change in Coulomb parameter is more pronounced for the weak near-field coupling regime (more than six times enhancement in Coulomb parameter) in comparison to the strong near-field coupling regime. In addition, the optical switching of the fundamental resonance is validated utilizing numerically simulated patterns of surface current and electric field. We envisage that such active modulation of Coulomb effects in near-field coupled metasurfaces can lead to the realization of dynamically tunable terahertz metaphotonic devices.

Coherent perfect absorption in Tavis-Cummings models.

We theoretically study the conditions under which two laser fields can undergo Coherent Perfect Absorption (CPA) when shined on a single-mode bi-directional optical cavity coupled with two two-level quantum emitters (natural atoms, artificial atoms, quantum dots, qubits, etc.). In addition to being indirectly coupled through the cavity-mediated field, in our Tavis-Cummings model, the two quantum emitters (QEs) are allowed to interact directly via the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI). Under the mean-field approximation and low-excitation assumption, in this work, we particularly focus on the impact of DDI on the existence of CPA in the presence of decoherence mechanisms (spontaneous emission from the QEs and the leakage of photons from the cavity walls). We also present a dressed-state analysis of the problem to discuss the underlying physics related to the allowed polariton state transitions in the Jaynes-Tavis-Cummings ladder. As a key result, we find that in the strong-coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics, the strong DDI and the emitter-cavity detuning can act together to achieve the CPA at two laser frequencies tunable by the inter-atomic separation which are not possible to attain with a single QE in the presence of detuning. Our CPA results are potentially applicable in building quantum memories that are an essential component in long-distance quantum networking.

Magnon mode transition in synthetic antiferromagnets induced by perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

In this work, we numerically studied the static and dynamic properties of synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFs) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). The observed high/low frequency magnon is either optical/acoustic or left/right-hand mode depending on the strength of PMA, i.e., a PMA-induced magnon mode transition. For weaker PMA, the ground magnetization state of the SAFs is in-plane magnetized exhibiting the optical/acoustic magnon mode with high/low frequency. While for stronger PMA, the ground magnetization state of the SAFs is perpendicularly magnetized and characterized by the presence of the left- and right-hand magnon modes. Furthermore, by tilting the external field toward the SAF film plane, hybridization between the acoustic and the optical magnon modes can be realized and approaches a strong coupling regime by modulating the strength of PMA and the magnitude of interlayer exchange coupling. Our findings provide new insight into the magnetization dynamics in synthetic antiferromagnets with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for quantum magnonics.

Improving the efficiency of open-quantum-system simulations using matrix product states in the interaction picture

Modeling open quantum systems---quantum systems coupled to a bath---is of value in condensed-matter theory, cavity quantum electrodynamics, nanosciences, and biophysics. The real-time simulation of open quantum systems was advanced significantly by the recent development of chain mapping techniques and the use of matrix product states that exploit the intrinsic entanglement structure in open quantum systems. The computational cost of simulating open quantum systems, however, remains high when the bath is excited to high-lying quantum states. We develop an approach to reduce the computational costs in such cases. The interaction representation for the open quantum system is used to distribute excitations among the bath degrees of freedom so that the occupation of each bath oscillator is ensured to be low. The interaction picture also causes the matrix dimensions to be much smaller in a matrix product state of a chain-mapped open quantum system than in the Schr\"odinger picture. Using the interaction representation accelerates the calculations by one to two orders of magnitude over the existing matrix-product-state method. In the regime of strong system-bath coupling and high temperatures, the speedup can be as large as three orders of magnitude. The approach developed here is especially promising to simulate the dynamics of open quantum systems in high-temperature and strong-coupling regimes.

The Interplay between Compact and Molecular Structures in Tetraquarks

Due to the cluster reducibility of multiquark operators, a strong interplay exists in tetraquarks between the compact structures, resulting from the direct confining forces acting on quarks and gluons, and the molecular structure, dominated by the mesonic clusters. This issue is studied within an effective field theory approach, where the compact tetraquark is treated as an elementary particle. The key ingredient of the analysis is provided by the primary coupling constant of the compact tetraquark to the two mesonic clusters, considered here in the framework of a scalar interaction. Under the influence of this coupling, an initially formed compact tetraquark bound state evolves towards a new structure, where a molecular configuration is also present. In the strong-coupling limit, the evolution may end with a shallow bound state of the molecular type. The strong-coupling regime is also favored by the large Nc properties of QCD. The interplay between compact and molecular structures may provide a natural explanation of the existence of many shallow bound states.

Master equation for the quantum Rabi model in the adiabatic regime

A qubit--harmonic-oscillator open system coupled to thermal baths was considered and the master equation describing the evolution of the open system was deduced when the qubit transition frequency is $\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.1$ the oscillator frequency. The master equation is valid in all the qubit-oscillator state space and holds for all values of the qubit-oscillator coupling including the ultrastrong and deep strong coupling regimes. It only requires an oscillator frequency much larger than the relaxation rates. The qubit-oscillator coupling can enhance or decrease both the relaxation rates and the frequency shifts induced by the thermal baths. It was found that weak, sinusoidal qubit driving forces the qubit-oscillator open system to behave like a driven qubit whose evolution is governed by equations similar to those of the Bloch vector in the optical Bloch equations and whose transition frequency decreases with increasing qubit-oscillator coupling strength. Finally, it was shown how one can reach the adiabatic regime by using sinusoidal qubit driving with large driving frequency and the concepts of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ pulses were generalized to manipulate transitions between dressed states.

Tunable cryogenic terahertz cavity for strong light-matter coupling in complex materials.

We report here the realization and commissioning of an experiment dedicated to the study of the optical properties of light-matter hybrids constituted of crystalline samples embedded in an optical cavity. The experimental assembly developed offers the unique opportunity to study the weak and strong coupling regimes between a tunable optical cavity in cryogenic environment and low energy degrees of freedom, such as phonons, magnons, or charge fluctuations. We describe here the setup developed that allows for the positioning of crystalline samples in an optical cavity of different quality factors, the tuning of the cavity length at cryogenic temperatures, and its optical characterization with a broadband time domain THz spectrometer (0.2-6 THz). We demonstrate the versatility of the setup by studying the vibrational strong coupling in CuGeO3 single crystal at cryogenic temperatures.

Decoherence Induced by a Spin Chain: Role of Initial Prepared States

We study the decoherence process induced by a spin chain environment on a central spin consisting of R spins and we apply it on the dynamics of quantum correlations (QCs) of three interacting qubits. To see the impact of the initially prepared state of the spin chain environment on the decoherence process, we assume the spin chain environment prepared in two main ways, namely, either the ground state or the vacuum state in the momentum space. We develop a general heuristic analysis when the spin chain environment is prepared in these states, to understand the decoherence process against the physical parameters. We show that the decoherence process is mainly determined by the choice of the initially prepared state, the number of spins of the chain, the coupling strength, the anisotropy parameter and the position from the quantum critical point. In fact, in the strong coupling regime, the decoherence process does not appear for the environment prepared in the vacuum state and it behaves oscillatory in the case of evolution from the ground state. On the other hand, in the weak coupling regime and far from the quantum critical point, decoherence induced by the ground state is weaker than that of the vacuum state. Finally, we show that QCs are completely shielded from decoherence in the case of evolution from the W state and obey the same dynamics as the decoherence factors for the GHZ state.

Impact of ferromagnetic electrode length and thickness on Magnetic Tunnel Junction-Based Molecular Spintronic Devices (MTJMSD)

A knowledge gap exists about the impact of variation in length and thickness of ferromagnetic(FM) electrodes on molecular spintronics devices' ability to manifest molecular coupling impact. Magnetic Tunnel Junction-Based Molecular Spintronic Devices (MTJMSDs) are potential candidates for inventing highly correlated materials and devices and investigating the fundamental science of organic spintronics. This paper reports our experimental observations providing the dramatic impact of variation in ferromagnetic electrode length and thickness on paramagnetic molecule-based MTJMSD. Room temperature transport studies were performed to investigate the effect of FM electrode thickness. On the other hand, magnetic force microscopy measurements were conducted to understand the effect of FM electrode length extending beyond the molecular junction area, i.e., the site where paramagnetic molecules bridged between two FM. In the strong molecular coupling regime, transport study suggested thickness variation caused ∼1000 to million-fold differences in junction conductivity. MFM study revealed near-zero magnetic contrast for pillar-shaped MTJMSD without any extended FM electrode. However, MFM images showed a multitude of microscopic magnetic phases on cross junction shaped MTJMSD where FM electrodes extended beyond the junction area. To understand the intriguing experimental results, we conducted an in-depth theoretical study using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach. MCS study utilized a Heisenberg atomic model of cross junction shaped MTJMSD to gain insights about room temperature transport and MFM experimental observations of microscopic MTJMSD. To make this study applicable for a wide variety of MTJMSDs, we systematically studied the effect of variation in molecular coupling strength between magnetic molecules and ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes of various dimensions. Our theoretical results suggest 25 atoms thick FM electrode show very weak molecular coupling impact and of the same order of experimentally studied FM electrode dimensions showing weak effect. Also, MCS results agree with experimentally observed multiple magnetic phases on lengthy FM electrodes of an MTJMSD.

Dissipative Phase Transition with Driving-Controlled Spatial Dimension and Diffusive Boundary Conditions.

We investigate theoretically and experimentally a first-order dissipative phase transition, with diffusive boundary conditions and the ability to tune the spatial dimension of the system. The considered physical system is a planar semiconductor microcavity in the strong light-matter coupling regime, where polariton excitations are injected by a quasiresonant optical driving field. The spatial dimension of the system from 1D to 2D is tuned by designing the intensity profile of the driving field. We investigate the emergence of criticality by increasing the spatial size of the driven region. The system is nonlinear due to polariton-polariton interactions and the boundary conditions are diffusive because the polaritons can freely diffuse out of the driven region. We show that no phase transition occurs using a 1D driving geometry, while for a 2D geometry we do observe both in theory and experiments the emergence of a first-order phase transition. The demonstrated technique allows all-optical and insitu control of the system geometry, providing a versatile platform for exploring the many-body physics of photons.

Femtosecond Dynamics of a Polariton Bosonic Cascade at Room Temperature.

Whispering gallery modes in a microwire are characterized by a nearly equidistant energy spectrum. In the strong exciton-photon coupling regime, this system represents a bosonic cascade: a ladder of discrete energy levels that sustains stimulated transitions between neighboring steps. Here, by using a femtosecond angle-resolved spectroscopic imaging technique, the ultrafast dynamics of polaritons in a bosonic cascade based on a one-dimensional ZnO whispering gallery microcavity are explicitly visualized. Clear ladder-form build-up processes from higher to lower energy branches of the polariton condensates are observed, which are well reproduced by modeling using rate equations. Remarkably, a pronounced superbunching feature, which could serve as solid evidence for bosonic cascades, is demonstrated by the measured second-order time correlation factor. In addition, the nonlinear polariton parametric scattering dynamics on a time scale of hundreds of femtoseconds are revealed. Our understandings pave the way toward ultrafast coherent control of polaritons at room temperature.

Tuning nonequilibrium heat current and two-photon statistics via composite qubit-resonator interaction

Quantum thermal transport and two-photon statistics serve as two representative nonequilibrium features in circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) systems. Here we investigate quantum heat flow and two-photon correlation function at steady state in a composite qubit-resonator model, where one qubit shows both transverse and longitudinal couplings to a single-mode optical resonator. With weak qubit-resonator interaction, we unravel two microscopic transport pictures, i.e., cotunneling and cyclic heat exchange processes corresponding to transverse and longitudinal couplings, respectively. The nonmonotonic behavior of the heat current is exhibited by tuning the temperature bias with the weak longitudinal coupling. At strong qubit-resonator coupling, the heat current also exhibits a nonmonotonic feature by increasing qubit-resonator coupling strength, which tightly relies on the scattering processes between the qubit and the corresponding thermal bath. Furthermore, the longitudinal coupling is preferred to enhance heat current in the strong qubit-resonator coupling regime. For two-photon correlation function, it exhibits an antibunching-to-bunching transition by tuning the composite angle, which is mainly dominated by the modulation of the energy gap between the first and the second excited eigenstates. Our results are expected to deepen the understanding of nonequilibrium thermal transport and nonclassical photon radiation based on the cQED platform.

Steady state in strong system-bath coupling regime: Reaction coordinate versus perturbative expansion.

Motivated by the growing importance of strong system-bath coupling in several branches of quantum information and related technological applications, we analyze and compare two strategies currently used to obtain (approximately) steady states in strong-coupling regime. The first strategy is based on perturbative expansions while the second one uses reaction coordinate mapping. Focusing on the widely used spin-boson model, we show that the predictions of these two strategies coincide in many situations. This confirms and strengthens the relevance of both techniques. Beyond that, it is also crucial to know precisely their respective range of validity. In that perspective, thanks to their different limitations, we use one to benchmark the other. We introduce and successfully test some very simple validity criteria for both strategies, bringing some answers to the question of the validity range.

Mediated interaction between polarons in a one-dimensional Bose gas

We study a weakly-interacting one-dimensional Bose gas with two impurities coupled locally to the boson density. We derive analytical results for the induced interaction between the impurities at arbitrary coupling and separation $r$. At $r\lesssim \xi$, where $\xi$ denotes the healing length of the Bose gas, the interaction is well described by the mean-field contribution. Its form changes as the coupling is increased, approaching a linear function of $r$ at short distances in the regime of strong coupling. The mean-field contribution decays exponentially at arbitrary coupling for $r\gg\xi$. At such long distances, however, the effect of quantum fluctuations becomes important, giving rise to a long-ranged quantum contribution to the induced interaction. At longest distances it behaves as $1/r^3$, while at strong coupling we find an intermediate distance regime with a slower decay, $1/r$. The quantum contribution in the crossover regime is also calculated. The induced interaction between impurities (i.e., polarons) is attractive and leads to the formation of their bound state, known as bipolaron. We discuss its binding energy.

Cold-atom quantum simulator for string and hadron dynamics in non-Abelian lattice gauge theory

We propose an analog quantum simulator for simulating real-time dynamics of $(1+1)$-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theory well within the existing capacity of ultracold-atom experiments. The scheme calls for the realization of a two-state ultracold fermionic system in a one-dimensional bipartite lattice, and the observation of subsequent tunneling dynamics. Being based on the loop string hadron formalism of $SU(2)$ lattice gauge theory, this simulation technique is completely $SU(2)$ invariant and simulates accurate dynamics of physical phenomena such as string breaking and/or pair production. The scheme is scalable and particularly effective in simulating the theory in the weak-coupling regime, and also a bulk limit of the theory in the strong-coupling regime up to certain approximations. This paper also presents a numerical benchmark comparison of the exact spectrum and real-time dynamics of lattice gauge theory to that of the atomic Hamiltonian with an experimentally realizable range of parameters.

Unique Electronic Excitations at Highly Localized Plasmonic Field.

ConspectusUnder visible light illuminations, noble metal nanostructures can condense photon energy into the nanoscale region. By precisely tuning the metal nanostructures, the ultimate confinement of photoenergy at the molecular scale can be obtained. At such a confined photon energy field, various unique photoresponses of molecules, such as efficient visible light energy conversion processes or efficient multielectron transfer reactions, can be observed. Light-matter interactions also increase with the condensation of photons with nanoscale regions, leading to efficient light energy utilizations. Moreover, the strong field confinement can often modulate electronic excitations beyond normal selection rules. Such unique electronic excitations could realize innovative photoenergy conversion systems. On the other hand, such interactions lead to changes in the optical absorption property of the system via the formation of hybridized electronic energy states. This hybridized state is expected to have the potential to modulate the chemical reaction pathways. Taking these facts into consideration, a probe for the molecular absorption process with high sensitivity allows us to find novel ways for further precise tuning of light-matter interactions. In this Account, we review phenomena of unique electronic excitations from the perspective of our previous investigations using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy at electrified interfaces. Because the enhancement mechanism of Raman scattering at interfaces is deeply correlated with the photon absorption process accompanied by the electronic excitations between molecules and electrode surfaces, the detailed SERS investigations of the well-defined system can provide information on the electronic excitation processes. Through SERS observations of single-molecule junctions at electrodes or well-defined low-dimensional carbon materials, we have observed the characteristic Raman bands containing additional polarization tensors, indicating the occurrence of electronic polarization induced by electronic excitations based on a distinct selection rule. The origins for the observed facts were attributed to the highly condensed electric field producing the huge intensity gradient at the nano scale. The electrochemical potential control of the system would be valuable for the control of the excitation process. Additionally, from Raman spectra of dye molecules coupled to the plasmonic field, the changes in the Raman scattering intensity depending on the strength of interactions suggested the modulation of the absorption characteristics of the system. In addition, we have proved that the electrochemical potential control method can be a powerful tool for the active tuning of the light-matter interaction, leading to the change in the light absorption property. The molecular behaviors of dyes in the strong-coupling regime were reversibly tuned to show intense SERS. The current descriptions provide novel insights for these unique electronic excitations, realized by the plasmon excitation, that lead to advanced photoenergy conversions beyond the limits of present systems.

Scanning Nuclear Spin Level Anticrossings by Constant-Adiabaticity Magnetic Field Sweeping of Parahydrogen-Induced 13C Polarization.

The polarization transfer between 1H protons and 13C heteronuclei is of central importance in the development of parahydrogen-based hyperpolarization techniques dedicated to the production of 13C-hyperpolarized molecular probes. Here we unveil the spin conversion efficiency in the polarization transfer between parahydrogen-derived protons and 13C nuclei of an ethyl acetate biomolecule, formed by the homogeneous hydrogenation of vinyl acetate with parahydrogen, obtained by applying constant-adiabaticity sweep profiles at ultralow magnetic fields. The experiments employed natural C-13 abundance. Spin level anticrossings can be detected experimentally using a scanning approach and are selected to improve the polarization transfer efficiency. 13C polarization of up to 12% is readily achieved on the carbonyl center. The results demonstrate the simplicity, reproducibility, and high conversion efficiency of the technique, opening the door for a refined manipulation of hyperpolarized spins in both basic science experiments (e.g., state-selected spectroscopy in the strong-coupling regime) and biomedical nuclear magnetic resonance applications.