M. França Santos

Geometric phase in open systems.

We calculate the geometric phase associated with the evolution of a system subjected to decoherence through a quantum-jump approach. The method is general and can be applied to many different physical systems. As examples, two main sources of decoherence are considered: dephasing and spontaneous decay. We show that the geometric phase is completely insensitive to the former, i.e., it is independent of the number of jumps determined by the dephasing operator.

Controlling the dynamics of a coupled atom-cavity system by pure dephasing

The influence of pure dephasing on the dynamics of the coupling between a two-level atom and a cavity mode is systematically addressed. We have derived an effective atom-cavity coupling rate that is shown to be a key parameter in the physics of the problem, allowing to generalize the known expression for the Purcell factor to the case of broad emitters, and to define strategies to optimize the performances of broad emitterbased single-photon sources. Moreover, pure dephasing is shown to be able to restore lasing in presence of detuning, a further demonstration that decoherence can be seen as a fundamental resource in solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics, offering appealing perspectives in the context of advanced nanophotonic devices. We propose experimental strategies to develop a versatile device that can be operated either as a single-photon source or as a laser, based on the control by decoherence of the coupling between a single quantum dot and a solid-state cavity.

Spin-1/2 geometric phase driven by decohering quantum fields.

We calculate the geometric phase of a spin-1/2 system driven by one and two mode quantum fields subject to decoherence. Using the quantum jump approach, we show that the corrections to the phase in the no-jump trajectory are different when considering adiabatic and nonadiabatic evolutions. We discuss the implications of our results from both fundamental as well as quantum computational perspectives.

Few emitters in a cavity: From cooperative emission to individualization

We study the temporal correlations of the field emitted by an electromagnetic resonator coupled to a mesoscopic number of two-level emitters that are incoherently pumped by a weak external drive. We solve the master equation of the system for increasing number of emitters and as a function of the cavity quality factor, and we identify three main regimes characterized by well-distinguished statistical properties of the emitted radiation. For small cavity decay rates, the emission events are uncorrelated and the number of photons in the emitted field becomes larger than one, resembling the build-up of a laser field inside the cavity. At intermediate decay rates (as compared with the emitter–cavity coupling) and for a few emitters, the statistics of the emitted radiation is bunched and strikingly dependent on the parity of the number of emitters. The latter property is related to the cooperativity of the emitters mediated by their coupling to the cavity mode, and its connection with steady-state subradiance is discussed. Finally, in the bad cavity regime the typical situation of emission from a collection of individual emitters is recovered. We also analyze how the cooperative behavior evolves as a function of pure dephasing, which allows us to recover the case of a classical source made of an ensemble of independent emitters, similar to what is obtained for a very leaky cavity. State-of-the-art techniques of Q-switch of resonant cavities, allied with the recent capability of tuning single emitters in and out of resonance, suggest this system to be a versatile source of different quantum states of light.

Abrupt changes in the dynamics of quantum disentanglement

The evolution of the lower bound of entanglement proposed by Chen et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 210501 (2005)] in high-dimensional bipartite systems under dissipation is studied. Discontinuities for the time derivative of this bound are found depending on the initial conditions for entangled states. These abrupt changes along the evolution of the entanglement bound appear as precursors of sudden death.

Berry's phase in cavity QED: Proposal for observing an effect of field quantization

We propose a feasible experiment to investigate quantum effects in geometric phases, arising when a classical source drives not a single quantum system, but two interacting ones. In particular, we show how to observe a signature of the quantization of the electromagnetic field through a vacuum effect in Berrys phase. To do so, we describe the interaction of an atom and a quantized cavity mode altogether driven by an external quasiclassical field. We also analyze the semiclassical limit recovering the usual Berrys phase results.

A quantum optical valve in a nonlinear-linear resonators junction

Electronic diodes, which enable the rectification of an electrical energy flux, have played a crucial role in the development of current microelectronics after the invention of semiconductor p-n junctions. Analogously, signal rectification at specific target wavelengths has recently become a key goal in optical communication and signal processing. Here we propose a genuinely quantum device with the essential rectifying features being demonstrated in a general model of a nonlinear-linear junction of coupled resonators. It is shown that such a surprisingly simple structure is a versatile valve and may be alternatively tuned to behave as: a photonic diode, a single- or two-photon rectified source turning a classical input into a quantum output depending on the input frequency, or a quantum photonic splitter. Given the relevance of non-reciprocal operations in integrated circuits, the nonlinear-linear junction realizes a crucial building component in prospective quantum photonic applications.

Useful entanglement from the Pauli principle

We address the question whether identical-particle entanglement is a useful resource for quantum information processing. We answer this question positively by reporting a scheme to create entanglement using semiconductor quantum wells. The Pauli exclusion principle forces quantum correlations between the spins of two independent fermions in the conduction band. Selective electron-hole recombination then transfers this entanglement to the polarization of emitted photons, which can subsequently be used for quantum information tasks.

Realistic loophole-free Bell test with atom-photon entanglement.

The establishment of nonlocal correlations, guaranteed through the violation of a Bell inequality, is not only important from a fundamental point of view but constitutes the basis for device-independent quantum information technologies. Although several nonlocality tests have been conducted so far, all of them suffered from either locality or detection loopholes. Among the proposals for overcoming these problems are the use of atom-photon entanglement and hybrid photonic measurements (for example, photodetection and homodyning). Recent studies have suggested that the use of atom-photon entanglement can lead to Bell inequality violations with moderate transmission and detection efficiencies. Here we combine these ideas and propose an experimental setup realizing a simple atom-photon entangled state that can be used to obtain nonlocality when considering realistic experimental parameters including detection efficiencies and losses due to required propagation distances.

Increasing identical particle entanglement by fuzzy measurements

We investigate the effects of fuzzy measurements on spin entanglement for identical particles, both fermions and bosons. We first consider an ideal measurement apparatus and define operators that detect the symmetry of the spatial and spin part of the density matrix as a function of particle distance. Then, moving on to realistic devices that can only detect the position of the particle to within a certain spread, it was surprisingly found that the entanglement between particles increases with the broadening of detection.