Libby Heaney

Extracting quantum work statistics and fluctuation theorems by single-qubit interferometry.

We propose an experimental scheme to verify the quantum nonequilibrium fluctuation relations using current technology. Specifically, we show that the characteristic function of the work distribution for a nonequilibrium quench of a general quantum system can be extracted by Ramsey interferometry of a single probe qubit. Our scheme paves the way for the full characterization of nonequilibrium processes in a variety of quantum systems, ranging from single particles to many-body atomic systems and spin chains. We demonstrate our idea using a time-dependent quench of the motional state of a trapped ion, where the internal pseudospin provides a convenient probe qubit.

Spatial entanglement from off-diagonal long-range order in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate spatial entanglement - particle-number entanglement between regions of space - in an ideal bosonic gas. We quantify the amount of spatial entanglement around the transition temperature for condensation (T{sub C}) by probing the gas with two localized two-level systems. We show that spatial entanglement in the gas is directly related to filling of the ground-state energy level and therefore to the off-diagonal long-range order of the system and the onset of condensation.

Dissipation enhanced vibrational sensing in an olfactory molecular switch

Motivated by a proposed olfactory mechanism based on a vibrationally activated molecular switch, we study electron transport within a donor-acceptor pair that is coupled to a vibrational mode and embedded in a surrounding environment. We derive a polaron master equation with which we study the dynamics of both the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom beyond previously employed semiclassical (Marcus-Jortner) rate analyses. We show (i) that in the absence of explicit dissipation of the vibrational mode, the semiclassical approach is generally unable to capture the dynamics predicted by our master equation due to both its assumption of one-way (exponential) electron transfer from donor to acceptor and its neglect of the spectral details of the environment; (ii) that by additionally allowing strong dissipation to act on the odorant vibrational mode, we can recover exponential electron transfer, though typically at a rate that differs from that given by the Marcus-Jortner expression; (iii) that the ability of the molecular switch to discriminate between the presence and absence of the odorant, and its sensitivity to the odorant vibrational frequency, is enhanced significantly in this strong dissipation regime, when compared to the case without mode dissipation; and (iv) that details of the environment absent from previous Marcus-Jortner analyses can also dramatically alter the sensitivity of the molecular switch, in particular, allowing its frequency resolution to be improved. Our results thus demonstrate the constructive role dissipation can play in facilitating sensitive and selective operation in molecular switch devices, as well as the inadequacy of semiclassical rate equations in analysing such behaviour over a wide range of parameters.

New spin squeezing and other entanglement tests for two mode systems of identical bosons

For any quantum state representing a physical system of identical particles, the density operator must satisfy the symmetrization principle (SP) and conform to super-selection rules (SSR) that prohibit coherences between differing total particle numbers. Here we consider bi-partitite states for massive bosons, where both the system and sub-systems are modes (or sets of modes) and particle numbers for quantum states are determined from the mode occupancies. Defining non-entangled or separable states as those prepared via local operations (on the sub-systems) and classical communication processes, the sub-system density operators are also required to satisfy the SP and conform to the SSR, in contrast to some other approaches. Whilst in the presence of this additional constraint the previously obtained sufficiency criteria for entanglement, such as the sum of the and variances for the Schwinger spin components being less than half the mean boson number, and the strong correlation test of being greater than are still valid, new tests are obtained in our work. We show that the presence of spin squeezing in at least one of the spin components , and is a sufficient criterion for the presence of entanglement and a simple correlation test can be constructed of merely being greater than zero. We show that for the case of relative phase eigenstates, the new spin squeezing test for entanglement is satisfied (for the principle spin operators), whilst the test involving the sum of the and variances is not. However, another spin squeezing entanglement test for Bose–Einstein condensates involving the variance in being less than the sum of the squared mean values for and divided by the boson number was based on a concept of entanglement inconsistent with the SP, and here we present a revised treatment which again leads to spin squeezing as an entanglement test.

Detection and engineering of spatial mode entanglement with ultracold bosons

We outline an interferometric scheme for the detection of bimode and multimode spatial entanglement of finite-temperature interacting Bose gases. Whether entanglement is present in the gas depends on the existence of the single-particle reduced density matrix between different regions of space. We apply the scheme to the problem of a harmonically trapped repulsive boson pair and show that while entanglement is rapidly decreasing with temperature, a significant amount remains for all interaction strengths at zero temperature. Thus, by tuning the interaction parameter, the distribution of entanglement between many spatial modes can be modified.

Bell-inequality test for spatial-mode entanglement of a single massive particle

Experiments showing the violation of Bell inequalities have formed our belief that the world at its smallest is genuinely non-local. While many non-locality experiments use the first quantised picture, the physics of fields of indistinguishable particles, such as bosonic gases, is captured most conveniently by second quantisation. This implies the possibility of non-local correlations, such as entanglement, between modes of the field. In this paper we propose an experimental scheme that tests the theoretically predicted entanglement between modes in space occupied by massive bosons. Moreover, the implementation of the proposed scheme is capable of proving that the particle number superselection rule is not a fundamental necessity of quantum theory but a consequence of not possessing a distinguished reference frame.