Martin B. Plenio

Entanglement measures and purification procedures

We improve previously proposed conditions each measure of entanglement has to satisfy. We present a class of entanglement measures that satisfy these conditions and show that the quantum relative entropy and Bures metric generate two measures of this class. We calculate the measures of entanglement for a number of mixed two spin-1/2 systems using the quantum relative entropy, and provide an efficient numerical method to obtain the measures of entanglement in this case. In addition, we prove a number of properties of our entanglement measure that have important physical implications. We briefly explain the statistical basis of our measure of entanglement in the case of the quantum relative entropy. We then argue that our entanglement measure determines an upper bound to the number of singlets that can be obtained by any purification procedure.

Dephasing-assisted transport: quantum networks and biomolecules

Transport phenomena are fundamental in physics. They allow for information and energy to be exchanged between individual constituents of communication systems, networks or even biological entities. Environmental noise will generally hinder the efficiency of the transport process. However, and contrary to intuition, there are situations in classical systems where thermal fluctuations are actually instrumental in assisting transport phenomena. Here we show that, even at zero temperature, transport of excitations across dissipative quantum networks can be enhanced by local dephasing noise. We explain the underlying physical mechanisms behind this phenomenon and propose possible experimental demonstrations in quantum optics. Our results suggest that the presence of entanglement does not play an essential role for energy transport and may even hinder it. We argue that Nature may be routinely exploiting dephasing noise and show that the transport of excitations in simplified models of light harvesting molecules does benefit from such noise assisted processes. These results point toward the possibility for designing optimized structures for transport, for example in artificial nanostructures, assisted by noise.

The quantum-jump approach to dissipative dynamics in quantum optics

Dissipation, the irreversible loss of energy and coherence, from a microsystem, is the result of coupling to a much larger macrosystem (or reservoir) which is so large that one has no chance of keeping track of all of its degrees of freedom. The microsystem evolution is then described by tracing over the reservoir states, resulting in an irreversible decay as excitation leaks out of the initially excited microsystems into the outer reservoir environment. Earlier treatments of this dissipation described an ensemble of microsystems using density matrices, either in Schroedinger picture with Master equations, or in Heisenberg picture with Langevin equations. The development of experimental techniques to study single quantum systems (for example single trapped ions, or cavity radiation field modes) has stimulated the construction of theoretical methods to describe individual realizations conditioned on a particular observation record of the decay channel, in the environment. These methods, variously described as Quantum Jump, Monte Carlo Wavefunction and Quantum Trajectory methods are the subject of this review article. We discuss their derivation, apply them to a number of current problems in quantum optics and relate them to ensemble descriptions.

Highly efficient energy excitation transfer in light-harvesting complexes: The fundamental role of noise-assisted transport

Excitation transfer through interacting systems plays an important role in many areas of physics, chemistry, and biology. The uncontrollable interaction of the transmission network with a noisy environment is usually assumed to deteriorate its transport capacity, especially so when the system is fundamentally quantum mechanical. Here we identify key mechanisms through which noise such as dephasing, perhaps counter intuitively, may actually aid transport through a dissipative network by opening up additional pathways for excitation transfer. We show that these are processes that lead to the inhibition of destructive interference and exploitation of line broadening effects. We illustrate how these mechanisms operate on a fully connected network by developing a powerful analytical technique that identifies the invariant (excitation trapping) subspaces of a given Hamiltonian. Finally, we show how these principles can explain the remarkable efficiency and robustness of excitation energy transfer from the light-harvesting chlorosomes to the bacterial reaction center in photosynthetic complexes and present a numerical analysis of excitation transport across the Fenna–Matthew–Olson complex together with a brief analysis of its entanglement properties. Our results show that, in general, it is the careful interplay of quantum mechanical features and the unavoidable environmental noise that will lead to an optimal system performance.

Strongly Interacting Polaritons in Coupled Arrays of Cavities

Observing quantum phenomena in strongly correlated many-particle systems is difficult because of the short length- and timescales involved. Exerting control over the state of individual elements within such a system is even more so, and represents a hurdle in the realization of quantum computing devices. Substantial progress has been achieved with arrays of Josephson junctions and cold atoms in optical lattices, where detailed control over collective properties is feasible, but addressing individual sites remains a challenge. Here we show that a system of polaritons held in an array of resonant optical cavities—which could be realized using photonic crystals or toroidal microresonators—can form a strongly interacting many-body system showing quantum phase transitions, where individual particles can be controlled and measured. The system also offers the possibility to generate attractive on-site potentials yielding highly entangled states and a phase with particles much more delocalized than in superfluids.

Logarithmic Negativity: A Full Entanglement Monotone That is not Convex

It is proven that logarithmic negativity does not increase on average under a general positive partial transpose preserving operation (a set of operations that incorporate local operations and classical communication as a subset) and, in the process, a further proof is provided that the negativity does not increase on average under the same set of operations. Given that the logarithmic negativity is not a convex function this result is surprising, as it is generally considered that convexity describes the local physical process of losing information. The role of convexity and, in particular, its relation (or lack thereof) to physical processes is discussed and importance of continuity in this context is stressed.

Improvement of frequency standards with quantum entanglement

The optimal precision of frequency measurements in the presence of decoherence is discussed. We analyze different preparations of n two-level systems as well as different measurement procedures. We show that standard Ramsey spectroscopy on uncorrelated atoms and optimal measurements on maximally entangled states provide the same resolution. The best resolution is achieved using partially entangled preparations with a high degree of symmetry. [S0031-9007(97)04541-9] PACS numbers: 42.50.Ar, 03.65.Bz The rapid development of laser cooling and trapping techniques has opened up new perspectives in high precision spectroscopy. Frequency standards based on laser cooled ions are expected to achieve accuracies of the order of 1 part in 10 14 10 18 [1]. In this Letter we discuss the limits to the maximum precision achievable in the spectroscopy of n two-level atoms in the presence of decoherence. This question is particularly timely in view of current efforts to improve high precision spectroscopy by means of quantum entanglement. In the present context standard Ramsey spectroscopy refers to the situation schematically depicted in Fig. 1. An ion trap is loaded with n ions initially prepared in the same internal state j0l. A Ramsey pulse of frequency v is applied to all ions. The pulse shape and duration are carefully chosen so that it drives the atomic transition j0l

Quantum telecloning and multiparticle entanglement

j 1 lof natural frequency v0 and prepares an equally weighted superposition of the two internal states j0l and j1l for each ion. Next the system evolves freely for a time t followed by the second Ramsey pulse. Finally, the internal state of each particle is measured. Provided that the duration of the Ramsey pulses is much smaller than the free evolution time t, the probability that an ion is found in j1l is given by

Entanglement and Non-Markovianity of Quantum Evolutions

A quantum telecloning process combining quantum teleportation and optimal quantum cloning from one input to M outputs is presented. The scheme relies on the establishment of particular multiparticle entangled states, which function as multiuser quantum information channels. The entanglement structure of these states is analyzed and shown to be crucial for this type of information processing.

Proposal for teleportation of an atomic state via cavity decay

We address the problem of quantifying the non-markovian character of quantum time evolutions of general systems in contact with an environment. We introduce two different measures of non-markovianity that exploit the specific traits of quantum correlations and are suitable for opposite experimental contexts. When complete tomographic knowledge about the evolution is available, our measure provides a necessary and sufficient condition to quantify strictly the non-markovianity. In the opposite case, when no information whatsoever is available, we propose a sufficient condition for non-markovianity. Remarkably, no optimization procedure underlies our derivation, which greatly enhances the practical relevance of the proposed criteria.