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arXiv:1502.06863 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Quantum sweeps, synchronization, and Kibble-Zurek physics in dissipative quantum spin systems

Loïc Henriet, Karyn Le Hur

Published Feb 8, 2016• 21 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We address dissipation effects on the nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of an ensemble of spins-$\frac{1}{2}$ coupled via an Ising interaction. Dissipation is modeled by a (Ohmic) bath of harmonic oscillators at zero temperature and correspond either to the sound modes of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein (quasi-)condensate or to the zero-point fluctuations of a long transmission line. We consider the dimer comprising two spins and the quantum Ising chain with long-range interactions and develop an (mathematically and numerically) exact stochastic approach to address nonequilibrium protocols in the presence of an environment. For the two-spin case, we first investigate the dissipative quantum phase transition induced by the environment through quantum quenches and study the effect of the environment on the synchronization properties. Then we address Landau-Zener-Stueckelberg-Majorana protocols for two spins and for the spin array. In this latter case, we adopt a stochastic mean-field point of view and present a Kibble-Zurek-type argument to account for interaction effects in the lattice. Such dissipative quantum spin arrays can be realized in ultracold atoms, trapped ions, and mesoscopic systems and are related to Kondo lattice models.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.93.064411

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We introduce and apply a numerically exact method for investigating the real-time dissipative dynamics of quantum impurities embedded in a macroscopic environment beyond the weak-coupling limit. We focus on the spin-boson Hamiltonian that describes a two-level system interacting with a bosonic bath of harmonic oscillators. This model is archetypal for investigating dissipation in quantum systems and tunable experimental realizations exist in mesoscopic and cold-atom systems. It finds abundant applications in physics ranging from the study of decoherence in quantum computing and quantum optics to extended dynamical mean-field theory. Starting from the real-time Feynman-Vernon path integral, we derive an exact stochastic Schr\odinger equation that allows to compute the full spin density matrix and spin-spin correlation functions beyond weak coupling. We greatly extend our earlier work (P. P. Orth, A. Imambekov, K. Le Hur, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 82}, 032118 (2010)) by fleshing out the core concepts of the method and by presenting a number of interesting applications. Methodologically, we present an analogy between the dissipative dynamics of a quantum spin and that of a classical spin in a random magnetic field. This analogy is used to recover the well-known Non-Interacting-Blip-Approximation (NIBA) in the weak-coupling limit. We explain in detail how to compute spin-spin autocorrelation functions. As interesting applications of our method, we explore the non-Markovian effects of the initial spin-bath preparation on the dynamics of the coherence σx(t)\sigma^x(t)σx(t) and of σz(t)\sigma^z(t)σz(t) under a Landau-Zener sweep of the bias field. We also compute to a high precision the asymptotic long-time dynamics of σz(t)\sigma^z(t)σz(t) without bias and demonstrate the wide applicability of our approach by calculating the spin dynamics at non-zero bias and different temperatures.
This thesis deals with the study of dynamical properties of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. We introduce in particular a general class of Spin-Boson models, which describe for example light-matter interaction or dissipative phenomena. We contribute to the development of a stochastic approach to describe the spin dynamics in these models. In this context, the effect of the bosonic environment is encapsulated into additional stochastic degrees of freedom whose time-correlations are determined by spectral properties of the bosonic environment. We use this approach to study many-body phenomena such as the dissipative quantum phase transition induced by an ohmic bosonic environment. Synchronization phenomena as well as dissipative topological transitions are identified. We also progress in the study of arrays of interacting light-matter systems. These theoretical developments follow recent experimental achievements, which could ensure a quantitative study of these phenomena. This notably includes ultra-cold atoms, trapped ions and cavity and circuit electrodynamics setups. We finally investigate hybrid systems comprising electronic quantum dots coupled to electromagnetic resonators, which enable us to provide a spectroscopic analysis of many-body phenomena linked to the Kondo effect. We also introduce thermoelectric applications in these devices.
We analyze the static and dynamic properties of two Ising-coupled quantum spins embedded in a common bosonic bath as an archetype of dissipative quantum mechanics. First, we elucidate the ground-state phase diagram for an Ohmic and a sub-Ohmic bath using a combination of bosonic numerical renormalization group (NRG), analytical techniques, and intuitive arguments. Second, by employing the time-dependent NRG we investigate the system's rich dynamical behavior arising from the complex interplay between spin-spin and spin-bath interactions. Interestingly, spin oscillations can synchronize due to the proximity of the common non-Markovian bath and the system displays highly entangled steady states for certain nonequilibrium initial preparations. We complement our nonperturbative numerical results by exact analytical solutions when available and provide quantitative limits on the applicability of the perturbative Bloch-Redfield approach at weak coupling.
We analyze the quantum phase transitions taking place in a one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model with long-range couplings that decay algebraically with distance. We are interested in the Kibble-Zurek universal scaling laws emerging in nonequilibrium dynamics and in the potential for the unambiguous observation of such behavior in a realistic experimental setup based on trapped ions. To this end, we determine the phase diagram of the model and the critical exponents characterizing its quantum phase transitions by means of density-matrix renormalization group calculations and finite-size scaling theory, which allows us to obtain good estimates for different range of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Beyond critical equilibrium properties, we tackle a nonequilibrium scenario in which quantum Kibble-Zurek scaling laws may be retrieved. Here, it is found that the predicted nonequilibrium universal behavior, i.e., the scaling laws as a function of the quench rate and critical exponents, can be observed in systems comprising an experimentally feasible number of spins. Finally, a scheme is introduced to simulate the algebraically decaying couplings accurately by means of a digital quantum simulation with trapped ions. Our results suggest that quantum Kibble-Zurek physics can be explored and observed in state-of-the-art experiments with trapped ions realizing long-range Ising models.