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arXiv:1401.5780 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Hamiltonian Identification from Measurement Time Traces

Jun Zhang, Mohan Sarovar

Published Aug 18, 2014• 131 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Precise identification of parameters governing quantum processes is a critical task for quantum information and communication technologies. In this Letter, we consider a setting where system evolution is determined by a parametrized Hamiltonian, and the task is to estimate these parameters from temporal records of a restricted set of system observables (time traces). Based on the notion of system realization from linear systems theory, we develop a constructive algorithm that provides estimates of the unknown parameters directly from these time traces. We illustrate the algorithm and its robustness to measurement noise by applying it to a one-dimensional spin chain model with variable couplings.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.113.080401

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Journal of Mathematical Physics•Aug 1, 1987•1 citation
Precise identification of parameters governing quantum processes is a critical task for quantum information and communication technologies. In this Letter, we consider a setting where system evolution is determined by a parametrized Hamiltonian, and the task is to estimate these parameters from temporal records of a restricted set of system observables (time traces). Based on the notion of system realization from linear systems theory, we develop a constructive algorithm that provides estimates of the unknown parameters directly from these time traces. We illustrate the algorithm and its robustness to measurement noise by applying it to a one-dimensional spin chain model with variable couplings.
Estimating the parameters that dictate the dynamics of a quantum system is an important task for quantum information processing and quantum metrology, as well as fundamental physics. In this paper we develop a method for parameter estimation for Markovian open quantum systems using a temporal record of measurements on the system. The method is based on system realization theory and is a generalization of our previous work on identification of Hamiltonian parameters [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 080401 (2014)].
In this brief, we present a Hamiltonian-identification method for a closed quantum system whose time-trace observables are measured with colored measurement noise. The dynamics of the quantum system are described by a Liouville equation that can be converted into a coherence vector representation. Since the measurement process is disturbed by classical colored noise, we introduce an augmented system model to describe the total dynamics, where the classical colored noise is parameterized. Based on the augmented system model as well as the measurement data, we can find a realization of the quantum system with unknown parameters by employing an eigenstate-realization algorithm. The unknown parameters can be identified using a transfer-function-based technique. An example of a two-qubit system with colored measurement noise is shown to verify the effectiveness of our method.
In this paper, we present a gradient algorithm for identifying unknown parameters in an open quantum system from the measurements of time traces of local observables. The open system dynamics is described by a general Markovian master equation based on which the Hamiltonian identification problem can be formulated as minimizing the distance between the real time traces of the observables and those predicted by the master equation. The unknown parameters can then be learned with a gradient descent algorithm from the measurement data. We verify the effectiveness of our algorithm in a circuit QED system described by a Jaynes-Cummings model whose Hamiltonian identification has been rarely considered. We also show that our gradient algorithm can learn the spectrum of a non-Markovian environment based on an augmented system model.
Parameter identification of quantum systems is a fundamental task in developing practical quantum technology. In this article, we study the identification of time-varying decoherence rates for open quantum systems. Given the measurement data of local observables, this can be formulated as an optimization problem. We expand the unknown decoherence rates into Fourier series and take the expansion coefficients as optimization variables. We then convert it into a minimax problem and apply a sequential linear programming technique to solve it. Numerical study on a two-qubit quantum system with a time-varying decoherence rate demonstrates the effectiveness of our algorithm.
This thesis presents a collection of projects spanning different sub-fields of quantum science, undertaken with the goal of understanding and advancing quantum technologies. Broadly, it can be divided into two thematic parts — parameter estimation and open system dynamics. Each project addresses inverse and ill-posed problems in Physics, which lie at the heart of developing robust and scalable quantum devices.A central theme in quantum technology is the challenge of inference of microscopic system parameters from limited, indirect observations. The first part of the thesis investigates this through the problem of Hamiltonian reconstruction via local measurements. Indirect estimation of couplings in quantum systems relies on the measurement of the spectrum and the overlap of eigenvectors with some reference state. For a one-dimensional chain, this data can be obtained by local measurement on one end of the chain, thereby reducing the need for full Hamiltonian tomography. Information about couplings is extracted from the temporal data obtained by measuring the expectation values of the time evolution 𝑒−𝑖𝐻𝑡 for a reference state. In Chapter 3, we analyze the robustness of this estimation scheme under perturbations arising from beyond nearest neighbour interactions. We show that the error scales linearly with the strength of such interactions and on average, the error increases with the distance of interaction between sites.Chapter 4 examines whether coupling information can be extracted from local thermal measurements, using expectation values of the Gibbs state at varying temperatures rather than temporal data. We develop a procedure to obtain the coefficients of the Taylor expansion of these expectation values and relate them to the Hamiltonian parameters. For very small chains, this mapping can be carried out analytically, while for larger systems it reveals the algebraic structure that links local measurements to the underlying couplings and highlights the trade-offs between measurement resources, numerical stability, and identifiability. The analysis also clarifies how additional local fields or self-interaction terms enhance the information content of thermal data, suggesting a role for local thermal probes as practical tools for Hamiltonian verification and parameter estimation.Building on the ideas of controlling and inferring information about a quantum system, we now turn to active intervention through adaptive measurement. In Chapter 5, we develop a process tensor driven procedure for cooling the spin bath that is coupled to a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. By modeling the sequence of intermediate quantum instruments acting on a correlated system-environment process, we optimize a pair of completely positive (CP) maps to maximize the population in a lower-energy state. Unlike existing approaches that rely solely on positive operator valued measures (POVMs), our method encompasses a broader class of CP maps, including adaptive feed-forward and mixed operations. We explicitly account for initial correlation between system and environment and distinguish between the controllable and uncontrollable parts of the dynamics. Our framework supports non-Markovian operations and benchmarks them against optimal Markovian strategies. The optimization is performed via Semi-definite Programming (SDP), ensuring global optimality. We also assess robustness to Hamiltonian noise and provide a proposal for implementation using NV center in diamonds.Finally, Chapter 6 explore the relaxation dynamics of topological qubits, focusing on a tetron qubit formed from two uncoupled Kitaev chains coupled to a finite fermionic bath. Using the correlation matrix formalism for purely quadratic couplings, we show that the relaxation is fundamentally independent of temperature when either the bath is large, or the zero-mode energy of the system is close to zero. This challenges a key assumption in the field that cooling enhances coherence. Interestingly, we find that introducing glassy disorder into the system slows down relaxation, offering a potential route to prolong qubit lifetimes.Collectively, these studies form a coherent narrative around extraction, control and utilization of quantum information under fundamental constraints. By tackling such inverse and often ill-posed problems, this thesis contributes new tools and insights essential for the realization of future quantum technologies.
A method for inverting observations on quantum mechanical systems to obtain estimates of unknown parameters residing in the Hamiltonian is presented. The quantal system is represented in matrix form with respect to a chosen basis, and it is assumed that the associated expansion coefficients are truncated to a finite dimension. The uncontrollable laboratory noise will be modeled by means of an inhomogeneous white noise process so that the experimental observations are represented as stochastic variables satisfying a stochastic differential equation. It will be assumed that measurements obtained from an experiment are now equivalent to a realization of these stochastic variables. It is known from filtering theory that the minimum variance estimate of the unknown parameters in the quantal model is now given by the expectation of the unknowns conditional on this realization. This estimator can be calculated analytically from the associated a posteriori probability density if the original quantal system does not contain any random elements. This probability density for the unknown matrix elements is calculated, and it is demonstrated that for a full Hamiltonian matrix the asymptotic variance of the parameter estimator decreases as a third power in time and a fourth power in the initial conditions. Some differences with the minimum least-square method are mentioned, and a few issues of numerical implementation are discussed.