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arXiv:1706.09584

Non-demolition measurements of observables with general spectra

Miguel Ballesteros, Nick Crawford, Martin Fraas, Jürg Martin Fröhlich, Baptiste Schubnel

Published Jun 29, 2017• 2 citations
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Abstract

It has recently been established that, in a non-demolition measurement of an observable $\mathcal{N}$ with a finite point spectrum, the density matrix of the system approaches an eigenstate of $\mathcal{N}$, i.e., it "purifies" over the spectrum of $\mathcal{N}$. We extend this result to observables with general spectra. It is shown that the spectral density of the state of the system converges to a delta function exponentially fast, in an appropriate sense. Furthermore, for observables with absolutely continuous spectra, we show that the spectral density approaches a Gaussian distribution over the spectrum of $\mathcal{N}$. Our methods highlight the connection between the theory of non-demolition measurements and classical estimation theory.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1706.09584

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It has recently been established that, in a non-demolition measurement of an observable N\mathcal{N}N with a finite point spectrum, the density matrix of the system approaches an eigenstate of N\mathcal{N}N, i.e., it "purifies" over the spectrum of N\mathcal{N}N. We extend this result to observables with general spectra. It is shown that the spectral density of the state of the system converges to a delta function exponentially fast, in an appropriate sense. Furthermore, for observables with absolutely continuous spectra, we show that the spectral density approaches a Gaussian distribution over the spectrum of N\mathcal{N}N. Our methods highlight the connection between the theory of non-demolition measurements and classical estimation theory.
Given N quantum systems prepared according to the same density operator $\ensuremath{\rho},$ we propose a measurement on the N-fold system that approximately yields the spectrum of $\ensuremath{\rho}.$ The projections of the proposed observable decompose the Hilbert space according to the irreducible representations of the permutations on N points, and are labeled by Young frames, whose relative row lengths estimate the eigenvalues of $\ensuremath{\rho}$ in decreasing order. We show convergence of these estimates in the limit $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{N}\ensuremath{\infty},$ and that the probability for errors decreases exponentially with a rate we compute explicitly.
The fundamental question of when a static or dynamic system should be deemed intrinsically quantum remains a challenge to address in absolute terms. In this regard, a critical requirement lies in the certification (ideally, in real-time) of the emergence and persistence of genuine quantum features, principally entanglement and quantum superposition. Quantum Non-Demolition Measurements (QNDM) serve as the appropriate instrument for this certification, both from a theoretical and experimental standpoint. In this review paper, we explain, with accessible clarity, how the implementation of QNDM can be directly linked to a necessary and sufficient condition for the presence of genuinely quantum features in the system's state monitored over time in finite-dimensional systems, establishing a conceptual parallel with Leggett-Garg inequalities. Using concrete examples that detail the detection of negative terms in the quasi-probability density function resulting from QNDM, we introduce the core concepts for quantumness certification. As specific examples, we discuss an application where the quantum-to-classical transition due to the interaction with an environment can be tracked by QNDM. Moreover, we argue about the robustness of QNDM protocols in the presence of noise sources and their advantages with respect to standard Leggett-Garg inequalities defined by two-time correlators.
An extensive debate on quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement, reviewed in Grangier et al (1998 Nature 396 537), finds that true QND measurements must have both non-classical state-preparation capability and non-classical information-damage tradeoff. Existing figures of merit for these non-classicality criteria require direct measurement of the signal variable and are thus difficult to apply to optically-probed material systems. Here we describe a method to demonstrate both criteria without need for to direct signal measurements. Using a covariance matrix formalism and a general noise model, we compute meter observables for QND measurement triples, which suffice to compute all QND figures of merit. The result will allow certified QND measurement of atomic spin ensembles using existing techniques.
We consider the question of asymptotic stability of quantum trajectories undergoing quantum non-demolition imperfect measurement, that is to say the convergence of the estimated trajectory towards the true trajectory whose parameters and initial state are not necessarily known. We give conditions on the estimated initial state and regions of validity for the estimated parameters so that this convergence is ensured. We illustrate these results through numerical simulations on the physical example [1] and discuss the asymptotic stability for a more realistic general case where decoherence acts on the system. In this case, the evolution is described by new Kraus operators which do not satisfy the quantum non-demolition property.
We consider the question of asymptotic stability of quantum trajectories undergoing quantum non-demolition imperfect measurement, that is to say the convergence of the estimated trajectory towards the true trajectory whose parameters and initial state are not necessarily known. We give conditions on the estimated initial state and regions of validity for the estimated parameters so that this convergence is ensured. We illustrate these results through numerical simulations on the physical example [1] and discuss the asymptotic stability for a more realistic general case where decoherence acts on the system. In this case, the evolution is described by new Kraus operators which do not satisfy the quantum non-demolition property.
We further develop Kernel Quantum State Estimation (KQSE), a fully data-driven nonparametric method for continuous variable quantum state reconstruction and characterization, introduced in our recent work and rooted in nonparametric kernel density estimation (KDE). Unlike approaches relying on finite-dimensional basis truncations, parametric ansätze, or prior models, KQSE combines a new kernel estimator of the characteristic function of the tomographic quadrature distribution with suitable kernel integral transformations. The characteristic function is estimated directly from experimental homodyne or heterodyne data and subsequently transformed to estimate quantum state representations and characteristics, including the Wigner function and the density matrix kernel. Observing that several other physically relevant representations and characteristics admit transformations of a closely related form, we derive convergence rates for the corresponding broad class of KQSE-based estimators. The resulting framework covers all phase-space representations, the photon-number tomogram, trace products of quantum states, and purity. We derive mean squared error convergence rates for these kernel transformed estimators and show that the corresponding KQSE applications inherit the near optimal rate O(T^{-1}), where TTT is the total number of measurements. The proposed theory applies equally to Gaussian and non-Gaussian continuous variable quantum states without imposing a Fock space cutoff. Numerical experiments on simulated Gaussian and non-Gaussian states and real homodyne data demonstrate the advantages of KQSE over state-of-the-art methods, establishing it as a statistically consistent and computationally modest framework for continuous variable quantum state estimation and characterization, particularly in the non-Gaussian regime.