Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1607.04508 · Physical Review A

Spatio-orientational decoherence of nanoparticles

Benjamin A. Stickler, Birthe Papendell, Klaus Hornberger

Published Sep 16, 2016• 46 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Motivated by trapping and cooling experiments with nonspherical nanoparticles, we discuss how their combined rotational and translational quantum state is affected by the interaction with a gaseous environment. Based on the quantum master equation in terms of orientation-dependent scattering amplitudes, we evaluate the localization rate for gas collisions off an anisotropic van der Waals--type potential and for photon scattering off an anisotropic dielectric. We also show how pure angular momentum diffusion arises from these open quantum dynamics in the limit of weak anisotropies.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.94.033828

Related papers

Quantum angular momentum diffusion of rigid bodies

Birthe Papendell, Benjamin A. Stickler, Klaus Hornberger

We show how to describe the diffusion of the quantized angular momentum vector of an arbitrarily shaped rigid rotor as induced by its collisional interaction with an environment.We present the general form of the Lindblad-type master equation and relate it to the orientational decoherence of an asymmetric nanoparticle in the limit of small anisotropies.The corresponding diffusion coefficients are derived for gas particles scattering off large molecules and for ambient photons scattering off dielectric particles, using the elastic scattering amplitudes.

arXiv:1712.05596•New Journal of Physics•Nov 10, 2017•30 citations

Rotational Alignment Decay and Decoherence of Molecular Superrotors

Benjamin A. Stickler, Farhad Taher Ghahramani, Klaus Hornberger

We present the quantum master equation describing the coherent and incoherent dynamics of a rapidly rotating molecule in the presence of a thermal background gas. The master equation relates the rate of rotational alignment decay and decoherence to the microscopic scattering amplitudes, which we calculate for anisotropic van der Waals scattering. For large rotational energies, we find quantitative agreement of the resulting alignment decay rate with recent superrotor experiments.

arXiv:1806.09921•Physical Review Letters•Dec 14, 2018•14 citations

Desorption-induced decoherence of nanoparticle motion

Jonas Schäfer, Benjamin A. Stickler, Klaus Hornberger

We derive the quantum master equation predicting how the translational and rotational dynamics of a nanoparticle is affected by the emission of surface adsorbates. This is motivated by recent experiments which prepared the motion of internally hot silica particles in the deep quantum regime. In the limit of a well localized nanoparticle the rotranslational dynamics can be characterized by diffusion rates in quantitative agreement with classical expectations. The theory is also suited to describe the decoherence effect of outgassing and sublimation.

arXiv:2503.05475•Physical Review A•Jul 7, 2025•2 citations

Collapse-induced orientational localization of rigid rotors [Invited]

Björn Schrinski, Benjamin A. Stickler, Klaus Hornberger

We show how the ro-translational motion of anisotropic particles is affected by the model of continuous spontaneous localization (CSL), the most prominent hypothetical modification of the Schrödinger equation restoring realism on the macroscale. We derive the master equation describing collapse-induced spatio-orientational decoherence and demonstrate how it leads to linear- and angular-momentum diffusion. Since the associated heating rates scale differently with the CSL parameters, the latter can be determined individually by measuring the random motion of a single levitated nanorotor.

arXiv:1702.00181•Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Apr 13, 2017•33 citations

Decoherence of rotational degrees of freedom

Changchun Zhong, F. Robicheaux

The mechanism of decoherence for a mesoscopic quantum system with rotational degrees of freedom is studied. From a simple model of elastic scattering, we show that the nondiagonal density-matrix elements of the system exponentially decay. The decay rate depends on the difference of scattering amplitudes for different rotational configurations, leading to the gradual loss of quantum coherence between the pointer states in the orientational space. For a dielectric ellipsoid immersed in a photon-gas environment (assuming no absorption), the decay rate is found to be proportional to the seventh power of the temperature. For an ellipsoidal object interacting with massive particles, the decay rate is proportional to the 5/2 power of the temperature. Both are different from the case of translational decoherence induced by the same environment scattering. For photon scattering, the coherence time in the rotational degrees of freedom is shown to be much shorter than that in the translational degrees of freedom.

arXiv:1605.03160•Physical Review A•Nov 11, 2016•36 citations

Rotational decoherence due to thermal photon scattering

Hamid Reza Naeij

The use of rotational degrees of freedom of quantum systems in quantum technologies is limited by environmental effects under decoherence mechanism. Here, we study the mechanism of decoherence based on a new formalism of elastic scattering for a nonspherical quantum system prepared in a superposition of rotational degrees of freedom. We show that for a dielectric ellipsoid immersed in an environment composed of thermal photons the rotational decoherence rate depends on the angular differences between the two configurations of the system and the seventh power of the temperature which is different from the translational one. Then we analyze the effect of different values of angular momentum quantum numbers of the environmental spherical harmonics on the rotational decoherence rate.

arXiv:2210.06133•Oct 12, 2022•0 citations
Motivated by trapping and cooling experiments with nonspherical nanoparticles, we discuss how their combined rotational and translational quantum state is affected by the interaction with a gaseous environment. Based on the quantum master equation in terms of orientation-dependent scattering amplitudes, we evaluate the localization rate for gas collisions off an anisotropic van der Waals--type potential and for photon scattering off an anisotropic dielectric. We also show how pure angular momentum diffusion arises from these open quantum dynamics in the limit of weak anisotropies.
We show how to describe the diffusion of the quantized angular momentum vector of an arbitrarily shaped rigid rotor as induced by its collisional interaction with an environment.We present the general form of the Lindblad-type master equation and relate it to the orientational decoherence of an asymmetric nanoparticle in the limit of small anisotropies.The corresponding diffusion coefficients are derived for gas particles scattering off large molecules and for ambient photons scattering off dielectric particles, using the elastic scattering amplitudes.
We derive the quantum master equation predicting how the translational and rotational dynamics of a nanoparticle is affected by the emission of surface adsorbates. This is motivated by recent experiments which prepared the motion of internally hot silica particles in the deep quantum regime. In the limit of a well localized nanoparticle the rotranslational dynamics can be characterized by diffusion rates in quantitative agreement with classical expectations. The theory is also suited to describe the decoherence effect of outgassing and sublimation.
We show how the ro-translational motion of anisotropic particles is affected by the model of continuous spontaneous localization (CSL), the most prominent hypothetical modification of the Schrödinger equation restoring realism on the macroscale. We derive the master equation describing collapse-induced spatio-orientational decoherence and demonstrate how it leads to linear- and angular-momentum diffusion. Since the associated heating rates scale differently with the CSL parameters, the latter can be determined individually by measuring the random motion of a single levitated nanorotor.
The mechanism of decoherence for a mesoscopic quantum system with rotational degrees of freedom is studied. From a simple model of elastic scattering, we show that the nondiagonal density-matrix elements of the system exponentially decay. The decay rate depends on the difference of scattering amplitudes for different rotational configurations, leading to the gradual loss of quantum coherence between the pointer states in the orientational space. For a dielectric ellipsoid immersed in a photon-gas environment (assuming no absorption), the decay rate is found to be proportional to the seventh power of the temperature. For an ellipsoidal object interacting with massive particles, the decay rate is proportional to the 5/2 power of the temperature. Both are different from the case of translational decoherence induced by the same environment scattering. For photon scattering, the coherence time in the rotational degrees of freedom is shown to be much shorter than that in the translational degrees of freedom.
The use of rotational degrees of freedom of quantum systems in quantum technologies is limited by environmental effects under decoherence mechanism. Here, we study the mechanism of decoherence based on a new formalism of elastic scattering for a nonspherical quantum system prepared in a superposition of rotational degrees of freedom. We show that for a dielectric ellipsoid immersed in an environment composed of thermal photons the rotational decoherence rate depends on the angular differences between the two configurations of the system and the seventh power of the temperature which is different from the translational one. Then we analyze the effect of different values of angular momentum quantum numbers of the environmental spherical harmonics on the rotational decoherence rate.