The quantum dynamics of mesoscopic or macroscopic systems is always complicated by their coupling to many `environmental' modes. At low T these environmental effects are dominated by localized modes, such as nuclear and paramagnetic spins, and defects (which also dominate the entropy and specific heat). This environment, at low energies, maps onto a `spin bath' model. This contrasts with `oscillator bath' models (originated by Feynman and Vernon) which describe delocalized environmental modes such as electrons, phonons, photons, magnons, etc. The couplings to N spin bath modes are independent of N (rather than the ~O(1/( N ) 1/2 ) dependence typical of oscillator baths), and often strong. One cannot in general map a spin bath to an oscillator bath (or vice versa); they constitute distinct `universality classes' of quantum environment. We show how the mapping to spin bath models is made, and then discuss several examples in detail, including moving particles, magnetic solitons, nanomagnets, and SQUIDs, coupled to nuclear and paramagnetic spin environments. We then focus on the `central spin' model, which couples a central two-level system to a background spin bath. It is the spin bath analogue of the famous `spin-boson' oscillator model, and describes, e.g., the tunnelling dynamics of nanoscopic and mesoscopic magnets and superconductors. We show how to average over (or `integrate out') spin bath modes, using an operator instanton technique, to find the central spin dynamics. The formal manouevres involve four separate averages - each average corresponds physically to a different `decoherence' mechanism acting on the central spin dynamics. Each environmental spin has its own topological `spin phase', which by interacting with the phase of the central system, decoheres it - this can happen even without dissipation. We give analytic results for the central spin correlation functions, under various conditions. We then describe the application of this theory to magnetic and superconducting systems. Particular attention is given to recent work on tunnelling magnetic macromolecules, where the role of the nuclear spin bath in controlling the tunnelling is very clear; we also discuss other magnetic systems in the quantum regime, and the influence of nuclear and paramagnetic spins on flux dynamics in SQUIDs. Finally, we discuss decoherence mechanisms and coherence experiments in superconductors and magnets. We show that a spin bath environment causes decoherence even in the T 0 limit. Control of this decoherence will be essential in the effort to construct `qubits' for quantum computers.
The quantum dynamics of mesoscopic or macroscopic systems is always complicated by their coupling to many environmental' modes. At low T these environmental effects are dominated by localized modes, such as nuclear and paramagnetic spins, and defects (which also dominate the entropy and specific heat). This environment, at low energies, maps onto a spin bath' model. This contrasts with oscillator bath' models (originated by Feynman and Vernon) which describe delocalized environmental modes such as electrons, phonons, photons, magnons, etc. The couplings to N spin bath modes are independent of N (rather than the ~O(1/( N ) 1/2 ) dependence typical of oscillator baths), and often strong. One cannot in general map a spin bath to an oscillator bath (or vice versa); they constitute distinct universality classes' of quantum environment. We show how the mapping to spin bath models is made, and then discuss several examples in detail, including moving particles, magnetic solitons, nanomagnets, and SQUIDs, coupled to nuclear and paramagnetic spin environments. We then focus on the central spin' model, which couples a central two-level system to a background spin bath. It is the spin bath analogue of the famous spin-boson' oscillator model, and describes, e.g., the tunnelling dynamics of nanoscopic and mesoscopic magnets and superconductors. We show how to average over (or integrate out') spin bath modes, using an operator instanton technique, to find the central spin dynamics. The formal manouevres involve four separate averages - each average corresponds physically to a different decoherence' mechanism acting on the central spin dynamics. Each environmental spin has its own topological spin phase', which by interacting with the phase of the central system, decoheres it - this can happen even without dissipation. We give analytic results for the central spin correlation functions, under various conditions. We then describe the application of this theory to magnetic and superconducting systems. Particular attention is given to recent work on tunnelling magnetic macromolecules, where the role of the nuclear spin bath in controlling the tunnelling is very clear; we also discuss other magnetic systems in the quantum regime, and the influence of nuclear and paramagnetic spins on flux dynamics in SQUIDs. Finally, we discuss decoherence mechanisms and coherence experiments in superconductors and magnets. We show that a spin bath environment causes decoherence even in the T 0 limit. Control of this decoherence will be essential in the effort to construct qubits' for quantum computers.
We consider here the problem of a "central spin", with spin quantum number S≫1, interacting with a set of microscopic spins. Interactions between the microscopic spins are ignored. This model describes magnetic grains or magnetic macromolecules (ferromagnetically or antiferromagnetically ordered) interacting with nuclear spins and with any surrounding paramagnetic electronic spins. It has also been used to describe Si:P near the metal-insulator transition, and quantum spin glasses. In this paper we consider the possible coherent motion of the central spin. We reduce the model to an effective low-energy Hamiltonian, and then calculate the correlation function using instanton methods. The general solution is given for the unbiased case, for all relevant values of the couplings. Under certain conditions, nuclear spin diffusion also plays a role. The results are then used to calculate the spectral absorption for 2 experimental systems, viz., TbFe3 grains, and ferritin molecules. Our results have general implications for the observation of mesoscopic and macroscopic quantum coherence, and for the foundations of quantum mechanics. They show that a spin environment usually has a very destructive effect on coherence, which cannot be understood using the conventional "oscillator bath" models of quantum environments.
Mesoscopic physics is a sub-discipline of condensed-matter physics that focuses on the properties of solids in a size range intermediate between bulk matter and individual atoms. In particular, it is characteristic of a domain where a certain number of interacting objects can easily be tuned between classical and quantum regimes, thus enabling studies at the border of the two. In magnetism, such a tuning was first realized with large-spin magnetic molecules called single-molecule magnets (SMMs) with archetype Mn(12)-ac. In general, the mesoscopic scale can be relatively large (e.g. micrometre-sized superconducting circuits), but, in magnetism, it is much smaller and can reach the atomic scale with rare earth (RE) ions. In all cases, it is shown how quantum relaxation can drastically reduce classical irreversibility. Taking the example of mesoscopic spin systems, the origin of irreversibility is discussed on the basis of the Landau-Zener model. A classical counterpart of this model is described enabling, in particular, intuitive understanding of most aspects of quantum spin dynamics. The spin dynamics of mesoscopic spin systems (SMM or RE systems) becomes coherent if they are well isolated. The study of the damping of their Rabi oscillations gives access to most relevant decoherence mechanisms by different environmental baths, including the electromagnetic bath of microwave excitation. This type of decoherence, clearly seen with spin systems, is easily recovered in quantum simulations. It is also observed with other types of qubits such as a single spin in a quantum dot or a superconducting loop, despite the presence of other competitive decoherence mechanisms. As in the molecular magnet V(15), the leading decoherence terms of superconducting qubits seem to be associated with a non-Markovian channel in which short-living entanglements with distributions of two-level systems (nuclear spins, impurity spins and/or charges) leading to 1/f noise induce τ(1)-like relaxation of S(z) with dissipation to the bath of two-level systems with which they interact most. Finally, let us mention that these experiments on quantum oscillations are, most of the time, performed in the classical regime of Rabi oscillations, suggesting that decoherence mechanisms might also be treated classically.
We develop a mathematical description of the decoherence caused by "spin baths", such as nuclear spins or magnetic impurities. In contrast to the usual oscillator bath models of quantum environments, decoherence in the spin bath can occur without any dissipation. Given the almost ubiquitous presence of nuclear spins in nature, our results have important consequences for quantum measurement theory, particularly as the decoherence mechanisms in spin baths work very differently from those in oscillator baths.
Quantum dissipation has been the object of study within the physics and chemistry communities for many years. Despite this, the field is in constant evolution, largely due to the fact that novel systems where the understanding of dissipation and dephasing processes is of crucial importance have become experimentally accessible in recent years. Among the ongoing research themes, we mention the defeat of decoherence in solid state-based quantum bits (qubits) (e.g. superconducting qubits or quantum dot based qubits), or dissipation due to non-equilibrium Fermi reservoirs, as is the case for quantum transport through meso- and nanoscale structures. A close inspection of dissipation in such systems reveals that one has to deal with 'unconventional' environments, where common assumptions of, for example, linearity of the bath and/or equilibrium reservoir have to be abandoned. Even for linear baths at equilibrium it might occur that the bath presents some internal structure, due, for example, to the presence of localized bath modes. A large part of this focus issue is devoted to topics related to the rapidly developing fields of quantum computation and information with solid state nanodevices. In these implementations, single and two-qubit gates as well as quantum information transmission takes place in the presence of broadband noise that is typically non-Markovian and nonlinear. On both the experimental and theory side, understanding and defeating such noise sources has become a crucial step towards the implementation of efficient nanodevices. On a more fundamental level, electron and spin transport through quantum dot nanostructures may suffer from 'unconventional' dissipation mechanisms such as the simultaneous presence of spin relaxation and fermionic dissipation, or may represent themselves out of equilibrium baths for nearby mesoscopic systems. Finally, although not expected from the outset, the present collection of articles has revealed that different 'unconventional' questions were still open on the standard harmonic oscillator and spin baths. This includes both fundamental issues, such as the possibility of estimating the specific heat for a free particle in the presence of dissipation, and the development of methods suitable to dealing with long range correlations at zero temperature and with quantum chaotic environments. We believe that the present focus issue on Quantum Dissipation in Unconventional Environments , although certainly not exhaustive, provides an important open-access resource that presents the latest state of the art of research in this field along its different lines. Focus on Quantum Dissipation in Unconventional Environments Contents Coherent control of an effective two-level system in a non-Markovian biomolecular environment J Eckel, J H Reina and M Thorwart Charge transfer dynamics in driven molecular ratchets: quantum Monte Carlo results and rate models L Mühlbacher and J Ankerhold Decoherence in qubits due to low-frequency noise J Bergli, Y M Galperin and B L Altshuler Dephasing by electron–electron interactions in a ballistic Mach–Zehnder interferometer Clemens Neuenhahn and Florian Marquardt Quantum frustration of dissipation by a spin bath D D Bhaktavatsala Rao, Heiner Kohler and Fernando Sols A random matrix theory of decoherence T Gorin, C Pineda, H Kohler and T H Seligman Dissipative dynamics of a biased qubit coupled to a harmonic oscillator: analytical results beyond the rotating wave approximation Johannes Hausinger and Milena Grifoni Dissipative dynamics of a two-level system resonantly coupled to a harmonic mode Frederico Brito and Amir O Caldeira Spin correlations in spin blockade Rafael Sánchez, Sigmund Kohler and Gloria Platero Landau–Zener tunnelling in dissipative circuit QED David Zueco, Peter Hänggi and Sigmund Kohler Quantum oscillations in the spin-boson model: reduced visibility from non-Markovian effects and initial entanglement F K Wilhelm Dynamics of dissipative coupled spins: decoherence, relaxation and effects of a spin-boson bath P Nägele, G Campagnano and U Weiss Spin chain model for correlated quantum channels Davide Rossini, Vittorio Giovannetti and Simone Montangero Finite quantum dissipation: the challenge of obtaining specific heat Peter Hänggi, Gert-Ludwig Ingold and Peter Talkner Dynamics of large anisotropic spin in a sub-ohmic dissipative environment close to a quantum-phase transition Frithjof B Anders Effects of low-frequency noise cross-correlations in coupled superconducting qubits A D'Arrigo, A Mastellone, E Paladino and G Falci From coherent motion to localization: dynamics of the spin-boson model at zero temperature Haobin Wang and Michael Thoss Phonon distributions of a single-bath mode coupled to a quantum dot F Cavaliere, G Piovano, E Paladino and M Sassetti
We study decoherence induced on a two-level system coupled to a one-dimensional quantum spin chain. We consider the cases where the dynamics of the chain is determined by the Ising, XY, or Heisenberg exchange Hamiltonian. This model of quantum baths can be of fundamental importance for the understanding of decoherence in open quantum systems, since it can be experimentally engineered by using atoms in optical lattices. As an example, here we show how to implement a pure dephasing model for a qubit system coupled to an interacting spin bath. We provide results that go beyond the case of a central spin coupled uniformly to all the spins of the bath, in particular showing what happens when the bath enters different phases, or becomes critical; we also study the dependence of the coherence loss on the number of bath spins to which the system is coupled and we describe a coupling-independent regime in which decoherence exhibits universal features, irrespective of the system-environment coupling strength. Finally, we establish a relation between decoherence and entanglement inside the bath. For the Ising and the XY models we are able to give an exact expression for the decay of coherences, while for the Heisenberg bath we resort to the numerical time-dependent density matrix renormalization group.
We systematically investigate the universal spin decoherence dynamics of a localized electron in an arbitrary nuclear spin bath, which can even be far away from equilibrium due to the weak nuclear-lattice interaction. We show that the electron spin relaxation dynamics (as well as spin pure dephasing and Hahn echo decay) can always have a universal behavior as long as the initial state is composed of a sufficiently large amount of spin eigenstates. For a given system, the pattern of the universal dynamics depends on the complicated initial condition only via a single parameter, which measures the amount of phase coherence between different spin eigenstates in the initial state. Our results apply even when the number of the involved nuclei is not large and, therefore, provide a solid foundation in the comparison of the theoretical/numerical results to the experimental measurement. As an example, we also show the numerical results for systems of noninteracting spin bath in a zero magnetic field regime and discuss the features of universal decoherent dynamics.