Christine Muschik

Real-time dynamics of lattice gauge theories with a few-qubit quantum computer

Gauge theories are fundamental to our understanding of interactions between the elementary constituents of matter as mediated by gauge bosons. However, computing the real-time dynamics in gauge theories is a notorious challenge for classical computational methods. This has recently stimulated theoretical effort, using Feynman’s idea of a quantum simulator, to devise schemes for simulating such theories on engineered quantum-mechanical devices, with the difficulty that gauge invariance and the associated local conservation laws (Gauss laws) need to be implemented. Here we report the experimental demonstration of a digital quantum simulation of a lattice gauge theory, by realizing (1 + 1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (the Schwinger model) on a few-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer. We are interested in the real-time evolution of the Schwinger mechanism, describing the instability of the bare vacuum due to quantum fluctuations, which manifests itself in the spontaneous creation of electron–positron pairs. To make efficient use of our quantum resources, we map the original problem to a spin model by eliminating the gauge fields in favour of exotic long-range interactions, which can be directly and efficiently implemented on an ion trap architecture. We explore the Schwinger mechanism of particle–antiparticle generation by monitoring the mass production and the vacuum persistence amplitude. Moreover, we track the real-time evolution of entanglement in the system, which illustrates how particle creation and entanglement generation are directly related. Our work represents a first step towards quantum simulation of high-energy theories using atomic physics experiments—the long-term intention is to extend this approach to real-time quantum simulations of non-Abelian lattice gauge theories.

Harnessing vacuum forces for quantum sensing of graphene motion.

Position measurements at the quantum level are vital for many applications but also challenging. Typically, methods based on optical phase shifts are used, but these methods are often weak and difficult to apply to many materials. An important example is graphene, which is an excellent mechanical resonator due to its small mass and an outstanding platform for nanotechnologies, but it is largely transparent. Here, we present a novel detection scheme based upon the strong, dispersive vacuum interactions between a graphene sheet and a quantum emitter. In particular, the mechanical displacement causes strong changes in the vacuum-induced shifts of the transition frequency of the emitter, which can be read out via optical fields. We show that this enables strong quantum squeezing of the graphene position on time scales that are short compared to the mechanical period.

Synthetic magnetic fluxes and topological order in one-dimensional spin systems

Engineering topological quantum order has become a major field of physics. Many advances have been made by synthesizing gauge fields in cold atomic systems. Here we carry over these developments to other platforms which are extremely well suited for quantum engineering, namely, trapped ions and nano-trapped atoms. Since these systems are typically one-dimensional, the action of artificial magnetic fields has so far received little attention. However, exploiting the long-range nature of interactions, loops with nonvanishing magnetic fluxes become possible even in one-dimensional settings. This gives rise to intriguing phenomena, such as fractal energy spectra, flat bands with localized edge states, and topological many-body states. We elaborate on a simple scheme for generating the required artificial fluxes by periodically driving an XY spin chain. Concrete estimates demonstrating the experimental feasibility for trapped ions and atoms in wave guides are given.

Dissipative quantum error correction and application to quantum sensing with trapped ions

Quantum-enhanced measurements hold the promise to improve high-precision sensing ranging from the definition of time standards to the determination of fundamental constants of nature. However, quantum sensors lose their sensitivity in the presence of noise. To protect them, the use of quantum error-correcting codes has been proposed. Trapped ions are an excellent technological platform for both quantum sensing and quantum error correction. Here we present a quantum error correction scheme that harnesses dissipation to stabilize a trapped-ion qubit. In our approach, always-on couplings to an engineered environment protect the qubit against spin-flips or phase-flips. Our dissipative error correction scheme operates in a continuous manner without the need to perform measurements or feedback operations. We show that the resulting enhanced coherence time translates into a significantly enhanced precision for quantum measurements. Our work constitutes a stepping stone towards the paradigm of self-correcting quantum information processing.Quantum error correction plays a key role in quantum information and metrology, but generally requires complex gates and measurements sequences. Here, the authors use trapped ions to implement a scheme in which always-on coupling to an engineered environment protects the qubit against errors.

Entanglement Generated by Dissipation

We present a robust method for generating entanglement by engineered dissipation. Two atomic ensembles are kept entangled for 0.04s. By combining the purely dissipative mechanism with measurements, steady state entanglement is observed for up to an hour.

Dissipative versus Conditional Generation of Gaussian Entanglement and Spin Squeezing

Spin squeezing of collective atomic spins can be achieved conditionally via probing with light and subsequent homodyne detection, as is done in a Quantum Nondemolition measurement. Recently it has been shown that squeezing can also be created unconditionally by a properly designed dissipative dynamics. We compare the two approaches in a Gaussian description, and optimize over all Gaussian light-matter interactions. We find that in the optimal unconditional scheme based on dissipation the level of squeezing scales as

Quantum repeaters based on trapped ions with decoherence-free subspace encoding

d^{-1/2}

Deterministic quantum state transfer between remote qubits in cavities

. In contrast, the optimal conditional scheme based on measurement of light -- which in fact is not a Quantum Nondemolition measurement -- can provide squeezing which scales as

U(1) Wilson lattice gauge theories in digital quantum simulators

d^{-1}

Two-dimensional quantum repeaters

in the most relevant regime of moderate optical depths. Our results apply directly also to the creation of entanglement in the form of non-local spin squeezing of two atomic ensembles.