It is often argued that two coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, even when cooled to their ground state, display no inherently quantum features beyond quantized energy levels. Here, we challenge this view by showing that their classical observables can encode genuinely quantum features. In particular, we demonstrate that the characteristic frequency shifts observed in such systems act as a signature of non-classical correlations and ground-state entanglement at zero temperature, specifically two-mode squeezing between the uncoupled modes. From a complementary perspective, these two effects -- frequency shifts and squeezing -- represent the same underlying phenomenon expressed in different mode bases. What appears as a spectral renormalization in one description manifests as entanglement in another. These shifts therefore can serve as an entanglement witness accessible via standard frequency measurements. Furthermore, we show that this underlying squeezing, although not directly measurable, can be exploited to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in precision frequency measurements of individual oscillators without requiring squeezed quantum noise. Our results uncover a new route to quantum-enhanced sensing within systems traditionally regarded as classical, offering fresh insight into how signatures of quantumness persist across the quantum-to-classical boundary.
It is often argued that two coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, even when cooled to their ground state, display no inherently quantum features beyond quantized energy levels. Here, we challenge this view by showing that their classical observables can encode genuinely quantum features. In particular, we demonstrate that the characteristic frequency shifts observed in such systems act as a signature of non-classical correlations and ground-state entanglement at zero temperature, specifically two-mode squeezing between the uncoupled modes. From a complementary perspective, these two effects -- frequency shifts and squeezing -- represent the same underlying phenomenon expressed in different mode bases. What appears as a spectral renormalization in one description manifests as entanglement in another. These shifts therefore can serve as an entanglement witness accessible via standard frequency measurements. Furthermore, we show that this underlying squeezing, although not directly measurable, can be exploited to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in precision frequency measurements of individual oscillators without requiring squeezed quantum noise. Our results uncover a new route to quantum-enhanced sensing within systems traditionally regarded as classical, offering fresh insight into how signatures of quantumness persist across the quantum-to-classical boundary.
When the coupling rate between two quantum systems becomes as large as their characteristic frequencies, it induces dramatic effects on their dynamics and even on the nature of their ground state. The case of a qubit coupled to a harmonic oscillator in this ultrastrong coupling regime has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. Here, we explore the case of two harmonic oscillators in the ultrastrong coupling regime. Probing the properties of their ground state remains out of reach in natural implementations. Therefore, we have realized an analog quantum simulation of this coupled system by dual frequency pumping a nonlinear superconducting circuit. The pump amplitudes directly tune the effective coupling rate. We observe spectroscopic signature of a mode hybridization that is characteristic of the ultrastrong coupling. We experimentally demonstrate a key property of the ground state of this simulated ultrastrong coupling between modes by observing simultaneous single- and two-mode squeezing of the radiated field below vacuum fluctuations.
In this paper, we investigate into the numerical and analytical relationship between the dynamically generated quadrature squeezing and entanglement within a coupled harmonic oscillator system. The dynamical relation between these two quantum features is observed to vary monotically, such that an enhancement in entanglement is attained at a fixed squeezing for a larger coupling constant. Surprisingly, the maximum attainable values of these two quantum entities are found to consistently equal to the squeezing and entanglement of the system ground state. In addition, we demonstrate that the inclusion of a small anharmonic perturbation has the effect of modifying the squeezing versus entanglement relation into a nonunique form and also extending the maximum squeezing to a value beyond the system ground state.
The quantum oscillator model plays a significant role in quantum optics and quantum information and has been one of the hot topics in related research fields. Inspired by the single-mode linear harmonic oscillator and the two-mode entangled state representation, we construct a two-mode coupled harmonic oscillator in this work. Different from the quantum transformation method used in previous literature, the entangled state representation is directly used in this work to solve its energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions easily. The energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of this two-mode coupled harmonic oscillator are continuous compared with those of the one-mode harmonic oscillator. Using the matrix theory of quantum operators, we derive the transformation and inverse transformation of the time evolution operator corresponding to the two-mode coupled harmonic oscillator. In addition, using the entangled state representation, the specific form of the time evolution of the two-mode vacuum state under the action of the oscillator is obtained. Through the analysis of quantum fidelity, it is found that the fidelity of the output quantum state decreases with the oscillator frequency increasing, and the fidelity eventually tends to zero with the increase of time. When analyzing the orthogonal squeezing properties of the output quantum state, this type of two-mode oscillator does not have the orthogonal squeezing effect, but it has a strong quantum dissipation effect instead. This conclusion is further verified by the quasi-probability distribution Q function of the quantum state phase space. Therefore, the two-mode coupled harmonic oscillator has a major reference value in quantum control such as quantum decoherence and quantum information transmission. Like the two-mode squeezed vacuum state, the photon distribution of the output quantum light field corresponding to the two-mode harmonic oscillator presents a super-Poisson distribution, and the photons exhibit a strong anti-bunching effect. Using the three-dimensional discrete plot of the photon number distribution, the super-Poisson distribution and quantum dissipation effect of the output quantum state are intuitively demonstrated. Finally, the SV, which is an entanglement criterion, is used to determine that the output quantum state has a high degree of entanglement. Further numerical analysis shows that the degree of entanglement increases with the action time and the oscillator frequency. In summary, the two-mode coupled harmonic oscillator constructed in this work can be used to prepare highly entangled quantum states through a complete quantum dissipation process. This provides theoretical support for experimental preparing quantum entangled states based on dissipative mechanisms.
Abstract We contribute further to recent theoretical studies of entanglement dynamics in open quantum systems to include a continuous variable N-harmonic oscillator ring system bathed in Ornstein–Uhlenbeck noise. Despite the fact that harmonic oscillator systems are one of the most studied systems in physics, we believe that our work here is unique and sheds a new perspective in terms of a potential application. We present two sets of differential equations that govern the dynamics of N harmonic oscillators derived from first principles, one for a Markovian environment and the other for non-Markovian one. With these two sets, we are able to compare their entanglement dynamics between environments given an initial state of our oscillators. Across several system and environmental parameters, we show that the entanglement dynamics between oscillator pairs in a non-Markovian environment may be significantly enhanced in both magnitude and duration when compared to its Markovian approximation. We showcase this by numerically simulating a specific solution, i.e., we choose N = 4 oscillators, where two harmonic oscillators are initialized as a two-mode squeezed state while the remaining oscillators are vacuum states. By leveraging our N = 4 results, we consider a slightly larger number of oscillators, i.e., N = 6, and show how we can generate a hidden quantum network, in the absence of direct coupling, that may allow multiple parties to secretly and passively entangle oscillators in their possession. This is accomplished by exploiting the environmental memory effect and maintaining resonance with other oscillators or the central frequency in a shared non-Markovian bath, which may allow for autonomous entanglement distribution over a network of oscillators and aid in future quantum technologies.
Quantum harmonic oscillators are a central resource in quantum technologies. Coupling this resource to a two-level system gives rise to spin-oscillator dynamics that can be used for system calibrations, enhanced sensitivity to signals, and the preparation of oscillator entangled states. Chapter 4 introduces a motional-frequency calibration protocol based on a time-reversal, state-dependent force sequence that maps the effects of motional-frequency miscalibration onto a narrow spin-response feature. The chapter also discusses how thermally occupied motional states enhance sensitivity to particular Hamiltonian terms, making them effective probe states. A two-point feedback servo with processing performed on a field-programmable gate array, or FPGA, is used to track the interaction resonance in real time, enabling sub-second updates and continuous correction of frequency drift during data acquisition. Chapter 5 realizes phase-insensitive displacement sensing by embedding spin-dependent squeezing in a time-reversal interferometry sequence. The method prepares a spin-correlated superposition of orthogonally squeezed motional states, yielding a spin-observable response used to estimate displacement amplitudes while remaining agnostic to the signal phase. Experiments with vacuum and number-state probes demonstrate enhanced sensitivity with increasing motional energy. Chapter 6 extends the spin-oscillator toolkit to multi-oscillator control. Optimized phase modulations applied to Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings couplings between a single spin and two motional modes synthesize an effective two-mode squeezing interaction, enabling preparation of two-mode squeezed vacuum states and a non-Gaussian superposition of those states. Joint phase-space tomography reveals multi-mode correlations, and continuous-variable entanglement is certified by the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen criterion and a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt-type continuous-variable Bell test.
Some of the most enduring questions in physics--including the quantum measurement problem and the quantization of gravity--involve the interaction of a quantum system with a classical environment. Two linearly coupled harmonic oscillators provide a simple, exactly soluble model for exploring such interaction. Even the ground state of a pair of identical oscillators exhibits effects on the quantum nature of one oscillator, e.g., a diminution of position uncertainty, and an increase in momentum uncertainty and uncertainty product, from their unperturbed values. Interaction between quantum and classical oscillators is simulated by constructing a quantum state with one oscillator initially in its ground state, the other in a coherent or Glauber state. The subsequent wave function for this state is calculated exactly, both for identical and distinct oscillators. The reduced probability distribution for the quantum oscillator, and its position and momentum expectation values and uncertainties, are obtained from this wave function. The oscillator acquires an oscillation amplitude corresponding to a beating between the normal modes of the system; the behavior of the position and momentum uncertainties can become quite complicated. For oscillators with equal unperturbed frequencies, i.e., at resonance, the uncertainties exhibit a time-dependent quantum squeezing which can be extreme.