Abstract. We investigate the creation of entanglement between two quantum emitters interacting with a realistic common stationary electromagnetic field out of thermal equilibrium. In the case of two qubits we show that the absence of equilibrium allows the generation of steady entangled states, which is inaccessible at thermal equilibrium and is realized without any further external action on the two qubits. We first give a simple physical interpretation of the phenomenon in a specific case and then we report a detailed investigation on the dependence of the entanglement dynamics on the various physical parameters involved. Sub- and super-radiant effects are discussed, and qualitative differences in the dynamics concerning both creation and protection of entanglement according to the initial two-qubit state are pointed out.
Abstract. We investigate the creation of entanglement between two quantum emitters interacting with a realistic common stationary electromagnetic field out of thermal equilibrium. In the case of two qubits we show that the absence of equilibrium allows the generation of steady entangled states, which is inaccessible at thermal equilibrium and is realized without any further external action on the two qubits. We first give a simple physical interpretation of the phenomenon in a specific case and then we report a detailed investigation on the dependence of the entanglement dynamics on the various physical parameters involved. Sub- and super-radiant effects are discussed, and qualitative differences in the dynamics concerning both creation and protection of entanglement according to the initial two-qubit state are pointed out.
We investigate the creation of entanglement between two quantum emitters interacting with a realistic common stationary electromagnetic field out of thermal equilibrium. In the case of two qubits we show that the absence of equilibrium allows the generation of steady entangled states, which is inaccessible at thermal equilibrium and is realized without any further external action on the two qubits. We first give a simple physical interpretation of the phenomenon in a specific case and then we report a detailed investigation on the dependence of the entanglement dynamics on the various physical parameters involved. Sub- and super-radiant effects are discussed, and qualitative differences in the dynamics concerning both creation and protection of entanglement according to the initial two-qubit state are pointed out.
We study two two-level atomic quantum systems (qubits) placed close to a body held at a temperature different from that of the surrounding walls. While at thermal equilibrium the two-qubit dynamics is characterized by non-entangled steady thermal states, we show that the absence of thermal equilibrium may bring to the generation of entangled steady states. Remarkably, this entanglement emerges from the two-qubit dissipative dynamic itself, without any further external action on the two qubits, suggesting a new protocol to create and protect entanglement which is intrinsically robust to environmental effects.
We will discuss the behavior of one or more elementary quantum system (atom, molecules, quantum dot, …) interacting with a stationary, simple and rich electromagnetic environment out of thermal equilibrium: The electromagnetic field is produced by a simple configuration of macroscopic objects held at thermal equilibrium at different temperatures. We will show how the internal atomic dynamics can be deeply affected by the non equilibrium configuration leading to unexpected phenomena like a spontaneous inversion of population, new cooling mechanisms obtained by heating the system, and the possibility to create and protect entanglement in a stationary and robust way. Finally, we will discuss how this system may directly allow the realization of atomic quantum thermal machines, with high efficiency and a genuine quantum behavior.
We investigate the thermodynamic constraints on the pivotal task of entanglement generation using out-of-equilibrium states through a model-independent framework with minimal assumptions. We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for a thermal process to generate bipartite qubit entanglement, starting from an initially separable state. Consequently, we identify the set of system states that cannot be entangled, when no external work is invested. In the regime of infinite temperature, we analytically construct this set; while for finite temperature, we provide a simple criterion to verify whether any given initial state is or is not entangleable. Furthermore, we provide an explicit construction of the future thermal cone of entanglement—the set of entangled states that a given separable state can thermodynamically evolve to. We offer a detailed discussion on the properties of this cone, focusing on the interplay between entanglement and its volumetric properties. We conclude with several key remarks on the generation of entanglement beyond two-qubit systems, and discuss its dynamics in the presence of dissipation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
The challenge of harnessing entanglement during the non-equilibrium dynamics of open quantum systems, especially at high temperatures, is highly prominent within recent scientific researches. Due to the ongoing trend of miniaturization of quantum devices that exploit quantum correlations, proposing novel schemes to overcome this challenge is itself a crucial task within current quantum technological research. We contribute to this research by proposing a new scheme to control entanglement dynamics of a non-equilibrium two-qubit Heisenberg XXZ spin chain model in an external magnetic field. The design of the scheme is based on a coupling asymmetry in the model induced by the asymmetrical connection of qubits to two independent thermal reservoirs. While in the absence of the coupling asymmetry, non-equilibrium effects generally suppress the dynamical generation of thermal entanglement, making entanglement production impossible at high mean temperatures of reservoirs, it is shown that this asymmetry in the coupling potentially enables us to generate a maximal non-equilibrium entanglement even in the high mean temperature regime. We show that the coupling asymmetry can also lead to a complete protection of the maximum initial entanglement between the qubits at high mean temperatures of the reservoirs thanks to the non-equilibrium conditions. Depending on the initial state of the two qubits, this can be achieved either by accessing a coherence-free subspace or by fully reviving the initial qubit-qubit entanglement. Furthermore, we investigate the quantum heat transport of the chain, and find that by turning on the asymmetry in the qubit-reservoir coupling, although the chain loses its initial thermal rectification property over time, it regains this property and maintain it until the non-equilibrium steady state is reached. Our results show that, at higher temperature gradients, the chain leverages the steady-state entanglement to completely block the heat released from the hot reservoir. Our findings can be significant for heat management in quantum computing devices such as solid-state thermal circuits.
We study an ensemble of two-level quantum systems (qubits) interacting with a common electromagnetic field in the proximity of a dielectric slab whose temperature is held different from that of some far surrounding walls. We show that the dissipative dynamics of the qubits driven by this stationary and out of thermal equilibrium field allows the production of steady many-body entangled states, different from the case at thermal equilibrium where steady states are always nonentangled. By studying up to ten qubits, we point out the role of symmetry in the entanglement production, which is exalted in the case of permutationally invariant configurations. In the case of three qubits, we find a strong dependence of tripartite entanglement on the spatial disposition of the qubits, and in the case of six qubits we find several highly entangled bipartitions where entanglement can, remarkably, survive for large qubit-qubit distances up to $100\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$.