Quantum measurement in action

Giuseppe Castagnoli, Dalida Monti, Alexander V. Sergienko

The reason for the higher efficiency exhibited by some quantum algorithms over their classical counterparts is examined by considering the interplay between the reversible actions required to prepare the computer registers in an entangled state before measurement (the "initial actions"), and the final measurement action -- whereas measurement is interpreted in a new way, particularly suited to a problem solving context. This unification shows that the computation process, comprising the measurement outcome, is significantly influenced by both the initial actions and the need to satisfy the constraints set by the final measurement action. Reviewing the existing quantum algorithms in the light of this dual influence, yields new valuable insight in the nature of the quantum computation speed up.

Paul Busch, PEKKA J. LAHTI, Juha-Pekka Pellonpää +1 more

Sankar Davuluri, Yong Li

We propose a new, to the best of our knowledge, method to overcome quantum back-action in a measurement process using oscillators. An optical oscillator is used as a meter to measure the parameters of another open oscillator. The optical oscillator is synthesized such that the optical restoring force counters any perturbations induced by the quantum back-action phenomena. As a result, it is shown that the quantum back-action in continuous measurement is suppressed in the low frequency regime, i.e., for frequencies much smaller than the resonance frequency of the open oscillator. As the meter plays the role of measuring parameters as well as suppressing the quantum back-action, we call it a quantum back-action nullifying meter. As an application of this method, synthesis of the quantum back-action nullifying optical oscillator for suppressing radiation pressure force noise in linear and non-linear optomechanics is described.

Franck Laloë

Tomonori Matsushita, Holger Friedrich Hofmann

Information about the internal properties of a system can only be obtained through interactions of the system with an external meter. However, such interactions generally result in entanglement between the system and the meter, making it difficult to trace the measurement result back to a specific value of the physical property in the system. It is therefore possible that the outcomes of quantum measurements depend in a nontrivial manner on the dynamics of the measurement interaction, possibly providing a physical explanation for the role of measurement contexts in quantum mechanics. Here we show that the effects of the measurement interaction on the meter can be described entirely in terms of the quantum coherent system dynamics associated with the back-action on the system. For sufficiently small back-action uncertainties, the physical property of the system is described by a weak value obtained from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation of the back-action dynamics. At higher measurement resolutions, the observed values are determined by quantum interferences between different amounts of back-action. Eigenvalues emerge when the quantum interferences between different back-actions correspond to a Fourier transform in the back-action parameter. We conclude that the values of physical properties obtained in quantum measurements originate from the quantum coherent properties of the back-action dynamics generated by that physical property during an interaction. Measurement outcomes represent elements of the dynamics and cannot be explained by measurement independent elements of reality.