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:1902.10355 · The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting

On catching and reversing a quantum jump mid-flight

Zlatko Minev, S.O. Mundhada, S. Shankar, P. Reinhold, R. Gutiérrez-Jáuregui, R.J. Schoelkopf, Mazyar Mirrahimi, H.J. Carmichael, Michel Devoret

Published Jan 1, 2019• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present results that experimentally demonstrate that the quantum jump from the ground state to an excited state of a superconducting artificial three-level atom can be tracked, caught, and reversed as it follows a predictable “flight.”
DOI
10.1364/cqo.2019.tu5b.1

Related papers

To catch and reverse a quantum jump mid-flight

Zlatko Minev, Shantanu Mundhada, Shyam Shankar +6 more

arXiv:1803.00545•Nature•Jun 1, 2019•352 citations

Tracking Multi-State Quantum Jumps in a Superconducting Circuit

Neda Forouzani, Dian Tan, Mahdi Naghiloo +1 more

Bulletin of the American Physical Society•Mar 17, 2016•0 citations

To Catch and Reverse a Quantum Jump Mid-Flight (In Russian)

Zlatko Minev, Shantanu Mundhada, Shyam Shankar

Quantum physics was invented to account for two fundamental features of measurement results their discreetness and randomness. Emblematic of these features is the Bohr idea of quantum jumps between two discrete energy levels of an atom. Experimentally, quantum jumps were first observed in an atomic ion driven by a weak deterministic force while under strong continuous energy measurement. The times at which the discontinuous jump transitions occur are reputed to be fundamentally unpredictable. Can there be, despite the indeterminism of quantum physics, a possibility to know if a quantum jump is about to occur or not? Here, we answer this question affirmatively by experimentally demonstrating that the jump from the ground to an excited state of a superconducting artificial three-level atom can be tracked as it follows a predictable flight, by monitoring the population of an auxiliary energy level coupled to the ground state. The experimental results demonstrate that the jump evolution when completed is continuous, coherent, and deterministic. Furthermore, exploiting these features and using real-time monitoring and feedback, we catch and reverse a quantum jump mid-flight, thus deterministically preventing its completion. Our results, which agree with theoretical predictions essentially without adjustable parameters, support the modern quantum trajectory theory and provide new ground for the exploration of real-time intervention techniques in the control of quantum systems, such as early detection of error syndromes.

•Jul 1, 2019•0 citations

Experimental investigations of the problem of the quantum jump with the help of superconductor nanostructures

Vladimir L. Gurtovoi, Aleksandr I. Il'in, А. В. Никулов

arXiv:2007.12566•Physics Letters A•Jun 18, 2020•13 citations

The quantum path most taken

Andrew N. Jordan

I will describe theory and experiments with superconducting qubits revealing how a quantum gets from state A to state B, while being both measured and driven simultaneously. This most probable path may be found using a principle of least action.

Latin America Optics and Photonics Conference•Jan 1, 2014•0 citations

Quantum Jumps: Schrödinger’s Objections and the Contemporary Points of View

Sotirios A. Sakkopoulos

In 1913, when Bohr’s atom allowed electron jumps between discrete orbits, it was impossible to experiment on single atoms and study individually these jumps. Many people considered them not real, but something artificial for the explanation of the linear spectra of atoms. Especially Schrödinger rejected the image of negatively charged electrons orbiting around the nucleus and in particular their jumps from orbit to orbit. Finally, in 1986 single atoms (ions) laser cooled and confined in an electromagnetic trap gave the possibility to investigate experimentally electron jumps to and fro a metastable state. Recently, physicists experimenting on a macroscopic superconducting circuit with discrete quantum states analogous to a natural atom were able to halt and reverse quantum jumps mid-flight revealing very interesting details of them.

Sumerianz Journal of Scientific Research•Dec 17, 2021•0 citations
Quantum physics was invented to account for two fundamental features of measurement results their discreetness and randomness. Emblematic of these features is the Bohr idea of quantum jumps between two discrete energy levels of an atom. Experimentally, quantum jumps were first observed in an atomic ion driven by a weak deterministic force while under strong continuous energy measurement. The times at which the discontinuous jump transitions occur are reputed to be fundamentally unpredictable. Can there be, despite the indeterminism of quantum physics, a possibility to know if a quantum jump is about to occur or not? Here, we answer this question affirmatively by experimentally demonstrating that the jump from the ground to an excited state of a superconducting artificial three-level atom can be tracked as it follows a predictable flight, by monitoring the population of an auxiliary energy level coupled to the ground state. The experimental results demonstrate that the jump evolution when completed is continuous, coherent, and deterministic. Furthermore, exploiting these features and using real-time monitoring and feedback, we catch and reverse a quantum jump mid-flight, thus deterministically preventing its completion. Our results, which agree with theoretical predictions essentially without adjustable parameters, support the modern quantum trajectory theory and provide new ground for the exploration of real-time intervention techniques in the control of quantum systems, such as early detection of error syndromes.
In 1913, when Bohr’s atom allowed electron jumps between discrete orbits, it was impossible to experiment on single atoms and study individually these jumps. Many people considered them not real, but something artificial for the explanation of the linear spectra of atoms. Especially Schrödinger rejected the image of negatively charged electrons orbiting around the nucleus and in particular their jumps from orbit to orbit. Finally, in 1986 single atoms (ions) laser cooled and confined in an electromagnetic trap gave the possibility to investigate experimentally electron jumps to and fro a metastable state. Recently, physicists experimenting on a macroscopic superconducting circuit with discrete quantum states analogous to a natural atom were able to halt and reverse quantum jumps mid-flight revealing very interesting details of them.