Quantum harmonic oscillator state synthesis by reservoir engineering
Daniel Kienzler, Hsiang-Yu Lo, B. C. Keitch, Ludwig E. de Clercq, Florian Leupold, Frieder Lindenfelser, Matteo Marinelli, Vlad Negnevitsky, Jonathan Home
The robust generation of quantum states in the presence of decoherence is a primary challenge for explorations of quantum mechanics at larger scales. Using the mechanical motion of a single trapped ion, we utilize reservoir engineering to generate squeezed, coherent, and displaced-squeezed states as steady states in the presence of noise. We verify the created state by generating two-state correlated spin-motion Rabi oscillations, resulting in high-contrast measurements. For both cooling and measurement, we use spin-oscillator couplings that provide transitions between oscillator states in an engineered Fock state basis. Our approach should facilitate studies of entanglement, quantum computation, and open-system quantum simulations in a wide range of physical systems.
The robust generation of quantum states in the presence of decoherence is a primary challenge for explorations of quantum mechanics at larger scales. Using the mechanical motion of a single trapped ion, we utilize reservoir engineering to generate squeezed, coherent, and displaced-squeezed states as steady states in the presence of noise. We verify the created state by generating two-state correlated spin-motion Rabi oscillations, resulting in high-contrast measurements. For both cooling and measurement, we use spin-oscillator couplings that provide transitions between oscillator states in an engineered Fock state basis. Our approach should facilitate studies of entanglement, quantum computation, and open-system quantum simulations in a wide range of physical systems.
Generating nonclassical states of a macroscopic mechanical object has been a subject of considerable interest. It offers a route toward fundamental test of quantum mechanics in an unexplored regime. However, a macroscopic quantum state is very susceptible to decoherence due to the environment. One way to generate robust quantum states is quantum reservoir engineering. In this work, we utilize the reservoir engineering scheme to generate a steady quantum squeezed state of a micron-scale mechanical oscillator in an electromechanical system. Together with the backaction evading measurement technique, we demonstrate a quantum nondemolition measurement of the mechanical quadratures to characterize the quantum squeezed state. By measuring the quadrature variances of the mechanical motion, more than 3dB squeezing below the zero-point level has been achieved.
We study theoretically a three-mode optomechanical system where two mechanical oscillators are independently coupled to a single cavity mode. By optimized two-tone or four-tone driving of the cavity, one can prepare the mechanical oscillators in an entangled two-mode squeezed state, even if they start in a thermal state. The highly pure, symmetric steady state achieved allows the optimal fidelity of standard continuous-variable teleportation protocols to be achieved. In contrast to other reservoir engineering approaches to generating mechanical entanglement, only a single reservoir is required to prepare the highly pure entangled steady state, greatly simplifying experimental implementation. The entanglement may be verified via a bound on the Duan inequality obtained from the cavity output spectrum. A similar technique may be used for the preparation of a highly pure two-mode squeezed state of two cavity modes, coupled to a common mechanical oscillator.
Abstract Coupled harmonic oscillators are ubiquitous in physics and play a prominent role in quantum science. They are a cornerstone of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, where second quantization relies on harmonic oscillator operators to create and annihilate particles. Descriptions of quantum tunneling, beamsplitters, coupled potential wells, ``hopping terms'', decoherence, and many other phenomena rely on coupled harmonic oscillators. However, the ability to couple separate quantum harmonic oscillators directly, with coupling rates that substantially exceed decoherence rates, has remained elusive. Here, we realize high-fidelity coherent exchange of single motional quanta between harmonic oscillators -- in this case, spectrally separated harmonic modes of motion of a trapped ion crystal -- where the timing, strength, and phase of the coupling are controlled through an oscillating electric potential with suitable spatial variation. The coupling rate can be made much larger than the decoherence rates, enabling demonstrations of high-fidelity quantum state transfer, entanglement of motional modes, and Hong-Ou-Mandel-type interference. We also project a harmonic oscillator into its ground state by measurement and preserve that state during repetitions of the projective measurement, an important prerequisite for non-destructive syndrome measurement in continuous-variable quantum error correction. Controllable coupling between harmonic oscillators has potential applications in quantum information processing with continuous variables, quantum simulation, and precision measurements. It can also enable cooling and quantum logic spectroscopy involving motional modes of trapped ions that are not directly accessible.
A trapped-ion harmonic oscillator represents a rich and well-controlled platform for tests of quantum physics, with applications to quantum simulations, quantum sensing, and quantum information processing. Owing to its net charge, the ion's motion is affected by changes in the electric potential. Consequently, electric field and potential curvature noise will limit the coherence of the ion's harmonic oscillation. While in some respects, this serves as a limitation in the performance of the trapped ion system (for example, in the fidelity of two-qubit gates or quantum simulations with motional quanta), it also opens an opportunity to use the ion as a precise field sensor and to use engineered quantum states of motion to enhance the sensitivity to these fields beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL). This thesis describes the implementation of such applications on a single beryllium ion confined in a Paul trap. In the thesis, I present the theory of an ideal harmonic oscillator and the implementation of this system using the motion of a single trapped ion, including producing special quantum states of motion; these states include the energy eigenstates of the harmonic oscillator, called number states, up to n=100, superpositions of number states of the form (1/√2)(|0> + |n>), with n up to 18, and coherently displaced number states with an average occupation up to approximately 300. I describe how we use these quantum states of motion for precise sensing of fluctuations of the harmonic oscillator frequency. The sensitivity of the (1/√2)(|0> + |n>) state ideally follows the 1/n Heisenberg scaling for frequency sensitivity. Additionally, I describe investigations of the spectrum of motional frequency noise using a series of coherent displacements of the motion of the ion, with features similar to Ramsey and dynamical decoupling sequences for two-level systems. While these displaced states don't improve sensitivity over the SQL, they can be simply and rapidly implemented with trapped ions. I discuss extensions to all of these experiments, including to multiple ions in a new trap designed to confine 3 or 4 ions in individually tunable potential wells.
Full coherent control and generation of nonclassical superpositions of the quantum harmonic oscillator are not only of fundamental interest but are crucial for applications in quantum simulations, quantum-enhanced metrology, and continuous-variable quantum computation. Here, we create arbitrary superpositions of nonclassical and non-Gaussian states of a quantum harmonic oscillator using the motion of a trapped ion coupled to its internal spin states. We interleave spin-dependent nonlinear interactions with midcircuit spin measurements that herald the probabilistic preparation of superpositions of squeezed, trisqueezed, and quadsqueezed states, which have not previously been experimentally demonstrated. We achieve independent control over the complex-valued squeezing parameter and the probability amplitude of each constituent, as well as their spatial separation. We directly observe the nonclassical nature of these states in the form of Wigner negativity following a full-state reconstruction. Our methods apply to any system where a quantum harmonic oscillator is coupled to a spin.
Entanglement and squeezing are two useful resources in quantum technologies. Recent studies have increasingly focused on generating these nonclassical features in macroscopic objects. However, establishing entanglement and squeezing in the degrees of freedom of mechanical motion of macroscopic objects is generally hindered by thermal fluctuations of their environments. Here, we propose a scheme to generate steady-state squeezing and entanglement between two rotating mirrors of a Laguerre-Gaussian cavity by quantum squeezed-reservoir engineering. It is revealed that, by injecting a broadband squeezed light into the cavity, stable squeezing in the relative momentum and entanglement between the two rotating mirrors are created. Compared to the previous work where only the entanglement between the two rotating mirrors appears under the condition of different angular frequencies, our result highlights the stable entanglement of the two mirrors with identical frequency and the simultaneous presence of the entanglement and squeezing of the two mirrors. Our finding deepens our understanding of macroscopic quantum phenomena of Laguerre-Gaussian cavity optomechanical system.