Abstract Coherence, the fundamental concept underlying quantum computers, is a complex phenomenon that limits their implementation. Coherent states can be non-stationary (i.e., not an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian), and system–environment interactions can cause decoherence. To adapt to environmental factors such as heat, the realization of quantum computers entails cold environments at temperatures close to absolute zero. Nonlinear dynamics can result from open systems (such as system–environment feedback interactions). Here we show that nonlinear maps characterized by a single attractor can cause mixed-density matrices to become pure and that implementing such nonlinear maps may provide a straightforward approach to realizing quantum computers.
Abstract Coherence, the fundamental concept underlying quantum computers, is a complex phenomenon that limits their implementation. Coherent states can be non-stationary (i.e., not an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian), and system–environment interactions can cause decoherence. To adapt to environmental factors such as heat, the realization of quantum computers entails cold environments at temperatures close to absolute zero. Nonlinear dynamics can result from open systems (such as system–environment feedback interactions). Here we show that nonlinear maps characterized by a single attractor can cause mixed-density matrices to become pure and that implementing such nonlinear maps may provide a straightforward approach to realizing quantum computers.
Decoherence represents one of the most fundamental problems in quantum mechanics since its birth. Interest in decoherence has been primarily academic until recently when the advances in experimental techniques in different fields of physics such as superconducting quantum interferometers; quantum optics and neutron interferometry sparked the practical interest in this quantum mechanical phenomenon. One particular field where decoherence is of crucial role is quantum computing, where decoherence stands as one of the main obstacles toward realizing practical progress in the field. On the other hand, the ability to manipulate linear superpositions of quantum states is expected to lead to considerable advances in that field. The purpose of this dissertation is to present a study of decoherence in nonlinear quantum systems. We started by studying the coherent superposition of distinct basis states in a single-degree-of-freedom model of SQUID with a variable potential barrier between the basis flux states. We numerically integrated Schrödinger equation of the system. We found that linear superpositions of the basis states, with relatively little residual excitation, can be formed by pulsed modulation of the potential barrier, provided the pulse duration exceeds the period of small oscillations of the flux. Two pulses applied in sequence exhibit strong interference effects, which we propose to use for an experimental determination of the decoherence time in SQUIDS. In addition, we developed, using quantum field theory techniques, a general formalism to study decoherence in a quantum system due to coupling to a non-linear environment. This formalism can be used to investigate decoherence in many of the existing two state quantum systems proposed for quantum computing and reveals important information about them such as decoherence time. Moreover, we used this formalism to compare decoherence induced in a simple two-state quantum system (qubit) for two different initial states of the environment: canonical (fixed temperature) and microcanonical (fixed energy), for the general case of a fully interacting oscillator environment. We found that even a relatively compact oscillator bath (with effective number of degrees of freedom as low as 10), initially in a microcanonical state, will typically cause decoherence almost indistinguishable from that caused by a macroscopic, thermal environment, except possibly at singularities of the environment's specific heat (critical points). In the latter case the precise magnitude of the difference between the canonical and microcanonical results depends on the critical behavior of the dissipative coefficient, characterizing the interaction of the two-state quantum system with the environment.
Open quantum systems have drawn attention over decades due to its applicability in the foundation of theoretical physics, e.g. statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics and condensed matter physics. The dynamics of open quantum systems has been described as separate entities from their surrounding environment that consists of a very large number of modes, somehow coupled to the mode of the system. Even though the exact solution of the dynamical behavior of the system is impossible to calculate, we obtain a tentative solution using the crucial Markov approximation. The input-output formalism of the quantum Langevin equation (QLE) has been considered as a useful tool which provides a semi-classical description of the dynamics of the system, whereas the master equation provides a complete picture of the dynamics of the system expressed in terms of density matrix. While studying the dynamics of nonlinear system/environment coupling using QLE, we see, for a small value of external field, that the steady state system field does not change much from the steady state field obtained in the absence of nonlinear dissipation. However, in a case where a stronger external field is applied, we see that the deviation becomes substantial from the solution of linear system. We also see that the nonlinear coupling introduces significant difference in the cavity fluctuation spectrum. The description, therefore, provides a potential explanation of parametric effects in terms of nonlinear dissipation phenomena associated with the nonlinear coupling. Even though the theories developed in the context of open quantum systems have proven to be powerful tools, they do not provide a satisfactory platform to be implemented on non-linear Hamiltonians. We often approximate it by linearizing over nonlinear steady state field amplitude, and therefore, the interesting effects are often overlooked. The limitation of the analytics provokes us to simulate open quantum dynamics numerically. The numerical method consists of transformation of the environmental degrees of freedom to a one-dimensional many-body chain, and the computational technique includes numerical diagonalization and renormalization process. The time-adaptive density matrix renormalisation group (t-DMRG) is known as one of the most powerful techniques for the simulation of strongly-correlated many-body quantum systems. In this thesis, along with the theoretical modeling, we implement DMRG numerical scheme for the simulation of canonical S/B model by mapping it to one-dimensional harmonic chain with nearest neighbor interactions, and use the method to investigate the dynamics of the free dissipative system. The thermalization of open quantum systems is also studied by generating minimally entangled typical thermal states (METTS) through imaginary time evolution, and real-time evolving an empty system in the presence of the thermal bath. Further, we simulate coherently driven free dissipative Kerr nonlinear system numerically using Euler's method by solving Heisenberg equation of motion and t-DMRG algorithm, and demonstrate how the numerical results are analogous to classical bistability. By comparing with analytics, we see that the DMRG numerics is analogous to the quantum-mechanical exact solution obtained by mapping the equation of motion of the density matrix of the system to a Fokker-Plank equation. The comparison between two different numerical techniques shows that the semi-classical Euler's method determines the dynamics of the system field of one among two coherent branches, whereas DMRG numerics gives the superposition of both of them. Hence, DMRG-determined time dynamics undergoes generating non-classical states. Our approach of dealing with nonlinearity represents an important contribution in the developments of technique to study the dynamical and steady-state behavior of open quantum systems, which is a fundamental aspect of quantum physics.
We study the influence of the preparation of an open quantum system on its reduced time evolution. In contrast to the frequently considered case of an initial preparation where the total density matrix factorizes into a product of a system density matrix and a bath density matrix the time evolution generally is no longer governed by a linear map nor is this map affine. Put differently, the evolution is truly nonlinear and cannot be cast into the form of a linear map plus a term that is independent of the initial density matrix of the open quantum system. As a consequence, the inhomogeneity that emerges in formally exact generalized master equations is in fact a nonlinear term that vanishes for a factorizing initial state. The general results are elucidated with the example of two interacting spins prepared at thermal equilibrium with one spin subjected to an external field. The second spin represents the environment. The field allows the preparation of mixed density matrices of the first spin that can be represented as a convex combination of two limiting pure states, i.e., the preparable reduced density matrices make up a convex set. Moreover, the map from these reduced density matrices onto the corresponding density matrices of the total system is affine only for vanishing coupling between the spins. In general, the set of the accessible total density matrices is nonconvex.
Open quantum systems and their dynamics are usually studied in terms of reduced density matrices. This approach allows a nonsymmetric description, which is useful when one of the two subsystems is to be considered an environment, at the expense of a loss of information, as tracing out the environmental degrees of freedom is an irreversible process. This has a series of consequences which can be severe. In this work we present an alternative description, which is still nonsymmetric but yet exact: It is based on a parametric representation of composite systems, as obtained by introducing environmental coherent states, such that the principal system get to be described by a set of pure states parametrically dependent on environmental variables. The representation allows one to relate properties which typically arise in studying systems with parametrically dependent Hamiltonians, such as the emergence of geometrical phases, with features which specifically characterize open quantum systems, such as decoherence and entanglement generation.
Quantum systems often exhibit complex and unpredictable behavior, particularly concerning quantum entanglement and decoherence. Traditional models frequently fail to capture the nuanced effects of this phenomenon, leading to inaccurate predictions of system evolution and stability. This paper introduces a novel non-linear decoherence modeling framework, designed to address these limitations by explicitly incorporating non-linear interactions within the decoherence process. We propose a dynamic, multi-scale model that utilizes a tensor-based approach to represent quantum states and their evolution, incorporating a self-stabilizing feedback loop to mitigate decoherence. The framework's core mechanism involves characterizing the decoherence process as a complex, non-linear interaction between the quantum system and its environment, where the strength of this interaction is dynamically adjusted based on the system's state. We demonstrate the framework's efficacy through a series of simulations, showing improved predictions of quantum system stability and evolution compared to existing models.
In the control of classical mechanical systems, feedback has been applied to the generation of desired nonlinear dynamics, e.g., in chaos control. However, how much this can be done is still an open problem in quantum mechanical systems. This paper presents a scheme of enhancing nonlinear quantum effects via the recently developed coherent feedback techniques, which can be shown to outperform the measurement-based quantum feedback scheme that can only generate pseudo-nonlinear quantum effects. Apart from the advantages of our method, an unsolved problem is that the decoherence rate is also increased by the quantum amplifier, which may be solved by introducing, e.g., an integral device or an nonlinear quantum amplifier. Such a proposal is demonstrated via two application examples in quantum optics on chip. In the first example, we show that nonlinear Kerr effect can be generated and amplified to be comparable with the linear effect in a transmission line resonator (TLR). In the second example, we show that by tuning the gains of the quantum amplifiers in a TLR coherent feedback network, the resulting nonlinear effects can generate and manipulate non-Gaussian “light” (microwave field) which exhibits fully quantum sub-Poisson photoncount statistics and photon antibunching phenomenon. The scheme opens up broad applications in engineering nonlinear quantum optics on chip. Particularly, in this study, the concept of feedback nonlinearization which is very useful for quantum feedback control systems is introduced. This is in contrast to the feedback linearization concept used in classical nonlinear feedback control systems.