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arXiv:2311.07302 · Physical Review X

Continuous Coherent Quantum Feedback with Time Delays: Tensor Network Solution

Kseniia Vodenkova, Hannes Pichler

Published Sep 9, 2024• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a novel method to solve problems involving quantum optical systems coupled to coherent quantum feedback loops featuring time delays. Our method is based on exact mappings of such non-Markovian problems to equivalent Markovian driven dissipative quantum many-body problems. In this work, we show that the resulting Markovian quantum many-body problems can be solved (numerically) exactly and efficiently using tensor network methods for a series of paradigmatic examples, consisting of driven quantum systems coupled to waveguides at several distant points. In particular, we show that our method allows solving problems in so far inaccessible regimes, including problems with arbitrary long time delays and arbitrary numbers of excitations in the delay lines. We obtain solutions for the full real-time dynamics as well as the steady state in all these regimes. Finally, motivated by our results, we develop a novel mean-field approach, which allows us to find the solution semianalytically, and we identify parameter regimes where this approximation is in excellent agreement with our tensor network results. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.14.031043

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•May 27, 2020•1 citation
In this paper, we develop a novel method to solve problems involving quantum optical systems coupled to coherent quantum feedback loops featuring time delays. Our method is based on exact mappings of such non-Markovian problems to equivalent Markovian driven dissipative quantum many-body problems. In this work, we show that the resulting Markovian quantum many-body problems can be solved (numerically) exactly and efficiently using tensor network methods for a series of paradigmatic examples, consisting of driven quantum systems coupled to waveguides at several distant points. In particular, we show that our method allows solving problems in so far inaccessible regimes, including problems with arbitrary long time delays and arbitrary numbers of excitations in the delay lines. We obtain solutions for the full real-time dynamics as well as the steady state in all these regimes. Finally, motivated by our results, we develop a novel mean-field approach, which allows us to find the solution semianalytically, and we identify parameter regimes where this approximation is in excellent agreement with our tensor network results. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We study the dynamics of photonic quantum circuits consisting of nodes coupled by quantum channels. We are interested in the regime where the time delay in communication between the nodes is significant. This includes the problem of quantum feedback, where a quantum signal is fed back on a system with a time delay. We develop a matrix product state approach to solve the quantum stochastic Schrödinger equation with time delays, which accounts in an efficient way for the entanglement of nodes with the stream of emitted photons in the waveguide, and thus the non-Markovian character of the dynamics. We illustrate this approach with two paradigmatic quantum optical examples: two coherently driven distant atoms coupled to a photonic waveguide with a time delay, and a driven atom coupled to its own output field with a time delay as an instance of a quantum feedback problem.
The dynamics of waveguide-QED systems involving coherent time-delayed feedback give rise to a hierarchy of multitime correlations within the Heisenberg picture due to the induced non-Markovianity. We propose to perform a projection onto a complete set of states in the Hilbert space to decompose the multitime correlations into single-time matrix elements. To illustrate the procedure, we consider the paradigmatic example of a two-level system that couples to a semi-infinite waveguide and interacts with quantum light pulses. Our approach complements the range of available methods as it allows calculating the dynamics under the inclusion of additional dissipation channels in a numerically exact and efficient manner for multiphoton pulses of arbitrary shape where memory requirements are known in advance.
Phase-space methods are powerful tools for the treatment of Markovian open quantum systems: they map the reduced dynamics of a system S, in interaction with an environment E, exactly onto Langevin equations for c-number stochastic variables, as opposed to Heisenberg-Langevin equations for operators. Langevin equations provide analytical insight in key regimes and excel at handling strong nonlinearities and couplings, where other methods often falter. Extending phase-space methods to non-Markovian dynamics, however, has remained a long-standing challenge. Here we address this gap by applying phase-space representations to the full S+E system; integrating out the environmental degrees of freedom then yields a general Langevin framework for S that incorporates both deterministic and stochastic contributions from E. Normally ordered representations, such as the Glauber-Sudarshan P representation and its positive variant due to Drummond and Gardiner, lead to Langevin equations in which (i) non-Markovian effects emerge exclusively in the deterministic terms, via a memory kernel, and (ii) noise contributions vanish when E is initially in the vacuum state. To demonstrate the power of this framework, we address the paradigmatic problem of delayed coherent feedback, in which the system is driven by its own past state, and study its impact on the laser linewidth: we recover the narrowing observed well above threshold and predict an enhanced narrowing just above it. Crucially, the number of stochastic variables scales linearly with the system size, making the framework suitable for problems ranging from a few degrees of freedom to genuinely many-body systems. This opens the way to the systematic study of non-Markovian driven-dissipative quantum systems using the same analytical and numerical tools that have long made phase-space methods so successful in the Markovian regime.
A theory of time-delayed coherent quantum feedback is developed. More specifically, we consider a quantum system coupled to a bosonic reservoir creating a unidirectional feedback loop. It is shown that the dynamics can be mapped onto a fictitious series of cascaded quantum systems, where the system is driven by past versions of itself. The derivation of this model relies on a tensor network representation of the system-reservoir time propagator. For concreteness, this general theory is applied to a driven two-level atom scattering into a coherent feedback loop. We demonstrate how delay effects can qualitatively change the dynamics of the atom and how quantum control can be implemented in the presence of time delays.
Quantum many-body control is among the most challenging problems in quantum science due to its outstanding computational complexity in a general case. We propose an efficient approach to a class of many-body quantum control problems, where time-dependent controls are applied to a sufficiently small subsystem. The method employs a tensor-network scheme to construct a reduced-order model of a subsystem's non-Markovian dynamics. The resulting reduced-order model serves as a digital twin of the original subsystem. Such twins allow significantly more efficient dynamics simulation, which enables the use of a gradient-based optimization toolbox in the control parameter space. This approach to building control protocols takes advantage of non-Markovian dynamics of subsystems by design. We validate the proposed method by solving control problems for quantum spin chains. In particular, the approach automatically identifies control sequences for exciting and guiding quasiparticles to recover and transmit quantum information across the system. In addition, we find generalized spin-echo sequences for a system in a many-body localized phase enabling significant revivals. We expect our approach can be useful for ongoing experiments with noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
The emergence of integrated (or solid state) photonic systems, including quantum dots, waveguides, and cavities, has provided a base to harness quantum optic phenomena for use in current and future quantum technologies. These systems also provide opportunities for exploring fundamentally new regimes in quantum optics. In order to fully realize the potential of these systems, many figures of merit need to be improved, for example by increasing the stability and coherent lifetimes of these systems. Following the notable improvements using measurement-based feedback, time-delayed coherent optical feedback has been proposed as one such method of stabilizing and improving these systems. Furthermore, modelling coherent feedback itself presents an interesting fundamental problem due to its non-Markovian nature. In this thesis, we use quantum trajectory (QT) theory to derive two models for simulating cavity quantum electrodynamic (cavity-QED) systems with time-delayed coherent feedback. First, an explanation of QT theory is given and the related time discretized waveguide (TDW) model is derived. Next we present a model for feedback using the frequency modes of the waveguide and results are presented in the ``one photon in the loop" approximation. We demonstrate how the photon lifetime can be improved in typical cavity-QED with coherent feedback and we explore some nonlinear effects. We then expand the system to allow for two photons in the feedback loop which requires us to use the TDW model. Lastly, this new approach is used to model two two-level systems coupled via a waveguide and connected to a feedback loop. These findings have implications on improving quantum optic systems by creating a new degree of control, as well as for modelling non-Markovian features in quantum optics.