We investigate the minimal Hilbert-space dimension for a system to be synchronized. We first show that qubits cannot be synchronized due to the lack of a limit cycle. Moving to larger spin values, we demonstrate that a single spin 1 can be phase locked to a weak external signal of similar frequency and exhibits all the standard features of the theory of synchronization. Our findings rely on the Husimi Q representation based on spin coherent states which we propose as a tool to obtain a phase portrait.
We investigate the minimal Hilbert-space dimension for a system to be synchronized. We first show that qubits cannot be synchronized due to the lack of a limit cycle. Moving to larger spin values, we demonstrate that a single spin 1 can be phase locked to a weak external signal of similar frequency and exhibits all the standard features of the theory of synchronization. Our findings rely on the Husimi Q representation based on spin coherent states which we propose as a tool to obtain a phase portrait.
We study synchronization in a two-node network built out of the smallest possible self-sustained oscillator: a spin-1 oscillator. We first demonstrate that phase locking between the quantum oscillators can be achieved, even for limit cycles that cannot be synchronized to an external semiclassical signal. Building upon the analytical description of the system, we then clarify the relation between quantum synchronization and the generation of entanglement. These findings establish the spin-based architecture as a promising platform for understanding synchronization in complex quantum networks.
Recently, it was shown that dissipative quantum systems with three or more levels are able to synchronize to an external signal. Some researchers have stated that this is not possible for two-level systems, as those systems lack a stable limit cycle in unperturbed dynamics, but others have demonstrated, under a different definition of synchronization, that it is possible in qubits in models which include other elements. We show how a quantum two-level system can be understood as containing a valid limit cycle as the starting point of synchronization and that it can synchronize its dynamics to an external weak signal. This is demonstrated by analytically solving the Lindblad equation of a two-level system coupled to an environment, determining the steady state. This is a mixed state with contributions from many pure states, each of which provides a valid limit cycle. We show that this is sufficient to phase lock the dynamics to a weak external signal, hence clarifying synchronization in two-level systems. We use the Husimi Q representation to analyze the synchronization region, defining a synchronization measure which characterizes the strength of the phase locking. Also, we study the stability of the limit cycle and its deformation with the strength of the signal in terms of the components of the Bloch vector of the system. Finally, we generalize a model of the three-level system to illustrate how the stationary fixed point of that model can be changed into a limit cycle similar to the one that we describe for the two-level system.
Synchronizing a few-level quantum system is of fundamental importance to the understanding of synchronization in the deep quantum regime. Whether a two-level system, the smallest quantum system, can be synchronized has been theoretically debated for the past several years. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that a qubit can indeed be synchronized to an external driving signal by using a trapped-ion system. By engineering fully controllable gain and damping processes, an ion qubit is locked to the driving signal and oscillates in phase. Moreover, upon tuning the parameters of the driving signal, we observe characteristic features of the Arnold tongue as well. Our measurements agree remarkably well with numerical simulations based on recent theory on qubit synchronization. By synchronizing the basic unit of quantum information, our study opens up the possibility of exploring the application of quantum synchronization to quantum information processing in the near future.
We study the quantum synchronization of a single spin driven by an external semiclassical signal for spin numbers larger than S=1 , the smallest system to host a quantum self-sustained oscillator. The occurrence of interference-based quantum synchronization blockade is found to be qualitatively different for integer vs. half-integer spin number S . We explain this phenomenon as the interplay between the external signal and the structure of the limit cycle in the generation of coherence in the system. Moreover, we show that the same dissipative limit-cycle stabilization mechanism leads to very different levels of quantum synchronization for integer vs. half-integer S . However, by choosing an appropriate limit cycle for each spin number, comparable levels of quantum synchronization can be achieved for both integer and half-integer spin systems.
Synchronization is a collective phenomenon in which interacting nonlinear oscillators develop a persistent relation between their phases and frequencies. In quantum systems, its description requires connecting the classical dynamics of limit-cycle oscillators with quantum fluctuations, dissipation, and the notion of phase. In this tutorial review, we offer a systematic framework for analyzing synchronization in classical and quantum dynamical systems. Starting from amplitude-phase dynamics, we introduce successively topics of relevance, such as phase locking, the Adler equation, Arnold tongues, and the Kuramoto model, and use these concepts to analyze coupled oscillators and their stability. We then formulate the corresponding description for quantum limit-cycle oscillators using Lindblad master equations and phase-space methods, with explicit examples of two and many coupled oscillators. We further discuss noise, synchronization measures, and the extreme quantum regime, including synchronization in spin systems. The emphasis throughout is on analytical derivations and a practical methodology for identifying synchronized states, determining their stability, and characterizing synchronization in quantum systems. The review is designed as a self-contained guide from which we hope that students can learn the essential concepts and techniques, while researchers can readily find the analytical tools and methodological insights needed to approach new synchronization problems.
It is well known that a system with two or more levels exists a limit cycle and can be synchronized with an external drive when the system and the drive are directly coupled. One might wonder if a system can synchronize with the external drive when they are not coupled directly. In this paper, we examine this case by considering a composite system consisting of two coupled two-level quantum systems, one of which is driven by an external field, while another couples to the driven one. Due to the decoherence caused by environments, the composite system would stay in a mixed state, and an effective limit cycle is formed, so phase locking could occur. We find the phase locking phenomenon in the phase diagram characterized by Husimi Q function, and the synchronization can be generated consequently that we will refer to indirect synchronization. The S function defined in the earlier study can also be used to measure the strength of synchronization. We claim that indirect synchronization is possible. This result provides us with a method to synchronize a quantum system that coupled to its neighbour without interacting with external drive directly.