Quantum correlations are key information about the structures and dynamics of quantum many-body systems. There are many types of high-order quantum correlations with different time orderings, but only a few of them are accessible to the existing detection methods. Recently, a quantum-sensing approach based on sequential weak measurement was proposed to selectively extract arbitrary types of correlations. However, its experimental implementation is still elusive. Here we demonstrate the extraction of arbitrary types of quantum correlations. We generalized the original weak measurement scheme to a protocol using synthesized quantum channels, which can be applied to more universal scenarios including both single and ensemble quantum systems. In this quantum channel method, various controls on the sensors are superimposed to select the sensor-target evolution along a specific path for measuring a desired quantum correlation. Using the versatility of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, we successfully extract the second- and fourth-order correlations of a nuclear-spin target by another nuclear-spin sensor. The full characterization of quantum correlations provides a new tool for understanding quantum many-body systems, exploring fundamental quantum physics, and developing quantum technologies.
Quantum correlations are key information about the structures and dynamics of quantum many-body systems. There are many types of high-order quantum correlations with different time orderings, but only a few of them are accessible to the existing detection methods. Recently, a quantum-sensing approach based on sequential weak measurement was proposed to selectively extract arbitrary types of correlations. However, its experimental implementation is still elusive. Here we demonstrate the extraction of arbitrary types of quantum correlations. We generalized the original weak measurement scheme to a protocol using synthesized quantum channels, which can be applied to more universal scenarios including both single and ensemble quantum systems. In this quantum channel method, various controls on the sensors are superimposed to select the sensor-target evolution along a specific path for measuring a desired quantum correlation. Using the versatility of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, we successfully extract the second- and fourth-order correlations of a nuclear-spin target by another nuclear-spin sensor. The full characterization of quantum correlations provides a new tool for understanding quantum many-body systems, exploring fundamental quantum physics, and developing quantum technologies.
Correlations of fluctuations are essential to understanding many-body systems and key information for advancing quantum technologies. To fully describe the dynamics of a physical system, all time-ordered correlations (TOCs), i.e., the dynamics-complete set of correlations are needed. The current measurement techniques can only access a limited set of TOCs, and there has been no systematic and feasible solution for extracting the dynamic-complete set of correlations hitherto. Here we propose a platform-universal protocol to selectively detect arbitrary types of TOCs via quantum channels. In our method, the quantum channels are synthesized with various controls, and engineer the evolution of a sensor-target system along a specific path that corresponds to a desired correlation. Using nuclear magnetic resonance, we experimentally demonstrate this protocol by detecting a specific type of fourth-order TOC that has never been accessed previously. We also show that the knowledge of the TOCs can be used to significantly improve the precision of quantum optimal control. Our method provides a new toolbox for characterizing the quantum many-body states and quantum noise, and hence for advancing the fields of quantum sensing and quantum computing.
Conventional nonlinear spectroscopy, which use classical probes, can only access a limited set of correlations in a quantum system. Here we demonstrate that quantum nonlinear spectroscopy, in which a quantum sensor and a quantum object are first entangled and the sensor is measured along a chosen basis, can extract arbitrary types and orders of correlations in a quantum system. We measured fourth-order correlations of single nuclear spins that cannot be measured in conventional nonlinear spectroscopy, using sequential weak measurement via a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The quantum nonlinear spectroscopy provides fingerprint features to identify different types of objects, such as Gaussian noises, random-phased AC fields, and quantum spins, which would be indistinguishable in second-order correlations. This work constitutes an initial step toward the application of higher-order correlations to quantum sensing, to examining the quantum foundation (by, e.g., higher-order Leggett-Garg inequality), and to studying quantum many-body physics.
Correlations of fluctuations are the driving forces behind the dynamics and thermodynamics in quantum many-body systems. For qubits embedded in a quantum bath, the correlations in the bath are key to understanding and combating decoherence-a critical issue in quantum information technology. However, there is no systematic method for characterizing the many-body correlations in quantum baths beyond the second order or the Gaussian approximation. Here we present a scheme to characterize the correlations in a quantum bath to arbitrary order. The scheme employs a weak measurement of the bath via the projective measurement of a central system. The bath correlations, including both the "classical" and the "quantum" parts, can be reconstructed from the correlations of the measurement outputs. The possibility of full characterization of many-body correlations in a quantum bath forms the basis for optimizing quantum control against decoherence in realistic environments, for studying the quantum characteristics of baths, and for the quantum sensing of correlated clusters in quantum baths.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) plays a central role in developing quantum information sciences and technologies. Key features such as its non-invasive nature and the ability to process information on nuclear spins by versatile quantum control designs with electromagnetic fields, have made NMR to become a powerful technique for sensing systems from atomic and molecular scales with spectroscopy to millimeters in imaging. This brief overview provides quantum sensing tools with which we are contributing from Latin America, by combining quantum dynamical control and estimation strategies with NMR methods to probe physical, chemical, and biological processes. It introduces the basic and key concepts on how controlled spin-sensors can monitor the correlation dynamics of their environment, and selectively and optimally infer its relevant parameters. Then these concepts are illustrated with state-of-the-art implementations for characterizing (i) biological tissue microstructure with diffusion weighting imaging, (ii) quantum information dynamics and scrambling in out-of-equilibrium systems with solid-state NMR quantum simulations, and (iii) molecular structures by selective estimation of spin–spin couplings and online learning control designs with experimental proposals. We expect these concepts will motivate the development of quantum dynamical control of spin sensors to monitor systems in a variety of fields, and in particular to exploit the non-invasive strength of NMR, e.g. in biomedical diagnosis. • Quantum control and estimation tools probe physical, chemical, biological processes. • Efficient quantum sensing for maximizing relevant environmental information. • Biological tissue microstructure characterization with diffusion weighting imaging. • Assessing fragility of quantum information dynamics in out-of-equilibrium systems. • Selective estimation of spin–spin couplings and online learning control designs.
Quantum sensing, using quantum properties of sensors, can enhance resolution, precision, and sensitivity of imaging, spectroscopy, and detection. An intriguing question is: Can the quantum nature (quantumness) of sensors and targets be exploited to enable schemes that are not possible for classical probes or classical targets? Here we show that measurement of the quantum correlations of a quantum target indeed allows for sensing schemes that have no classical counterparts. As a concrete example, in the case that the second-order classical correlation of a quantum target could be totally concealed by non-stationary classical noise, the higher-order quantum correlations can single out a quantum target from the classical noise background, regardless of the spectrum, statistics, or intensity of the noise. Hence a classical-noise-free sensing scheme is proposed. This finding suggests that the quantumness of sensors and targets is still to be explored to realize the full potential of quantum sensing. New opportunities include sensitivity beyond classical approaches, non-classical correlations as a new approach to quantum many-body physics, loophole-free tests of the quantum foundation, et cetera.
Abstract The correlations of fluctuations are key to studying fundamental quantum physics and quantum many‐body dynamics. They are also useful information for understanding and combating decoherence in quantum technology. Nonlinear spectroscopy and noise spectroscopy are powerful tools to characterize fluctuations, but they can access only very few among the many types of higher‐order correlations. A systematic quantum sensing approach, called quantum nonlinear spectroscopy (QNS), is recently proposed for extracting arbitrary types and orders of time‐ordered correlations, using sequential weak measurement via a spin quantum sensor. However, the requirement of a central spin as the quantum sensor limits the versatility of the QNS since usually a central spin interacts only with a small number of particles in proximity and the measurement of single spins needs stringent conditions. Here, the aim is to employ the polarization (a pseudo‐spin) of a coherent light beam as a quantum sensor for QNS. After interacting with a target system (such as a transparent magnetic material), the small Faraday rotation of the linearly polarized light can be measured, which constitutes a weak measurement of the magnetization in the target system. Using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with a designed phase shift, one can post‐select the effects of the light–material interaction to be either a quantum evolution or a quantum measurement of the material magnetization. This way, the correlated difference photon counts of a certain number of measurement shots, each with a designated interference phase, can be made proportional to a certain type and order of correlations of the magnetic fluctuations in the material. The analysis of the signal‐to‐noise ratios shows that the second‐order correlations are detectable in general under realistic conditions and higher‐order correlations are significant when the correlation lengths of the fluctuations are comparable to the laser spot size (such as in systems near the critical points). Since the photon sensor can interact simultaneously with many particles and interferometry is a standard technique, this protocol of QNS is advantageous for studying quantum many‐body systems.