Zhi Song

Quantum-state transfer via the ferromagnetic chain in a spatially modulated field

We show that a perfect quantum-state transmission can be realized through a spin chain possessing the commensurate structure of an energy spectrum, which is matched with the corresponding parity. As an exposition of the mirror inversion symmetry discovered by Albanese (e-print quant-ph/0405029), the parity matched commensurability of the energy spectra helps us to present preengineered spin systems for quantum information transmission. Based on these theoretical analyses, we propose a protocol of near-perfect quantum-state transfer by using a ferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with uniform coupling constant, but an external parabolic magnetic field. The numerical results show that the initial Gaussian wave packet in this system with optimal field distribution can be reshaped near perfectly over a longer distance.

Quantum-state transmission via a spin ladder as a robust data bus

We explore the physical mechanism to coherently transfer the quantum information of spin by connecting two spins to an isotropic antiferromagnetic spin ladder system as data bus. Due to a large spin gap existing in such a perfect medium, the effective Hamiltonian of the two connected spins can be archived as that of Heisenberg type, which possesses a ground state with maximal entanglement. We show that the effective coupling strength is inversely proportional to the distance of the two spins and thus the quantum information can be transferred between the two spins separated by a longer distance, i.e. the characteristic time of quantum state transferring linearly depends on the distance.

Topological Characterization of Extended Quantum Ising Models.

We show that a class of exactly solvable quantum Ising models, including the transverse-field Ising model and anisotropic XY model, can be characterized as the loops in a two-dimensional auxiliary space. The transverse-field Ising model corresponds to a circle and the XY model corresponds to an ellipse, while other models yield cardioid, limacon, hypocycloid, and Lissajous curves etc. It is shown that the variation of the ground state energy density, which is a function of the loop, experiences a nonanalytical point when the winding number of the corresponding loop changes. The winding number can serve as a topological quantum number of the quantum phases in the extended quantum Ising model, which sheds some light upon the relation between quantum phase transition and the geometrical order parameter characterizing the phase diagram.

Detection mechanism for quantum phase transition in superconducting qubit array

We demonstrate a universal physical mechanism to probe the macroscopic quantum phase transition based on circuit QED architecture. We found that, with certain parameters, the Josephson junction qubit array behaves as an antiferromagnetic Ising model in transverse field and the coupled transmission line resonator serves as a bosonic quantum probe. Our investigation shows that, at the critical point, the drastic broadening of the spectrum of the probe indicates the quantum phase transition.

Characterizing entanglement by momentum jump in the frustrated Heisenberg ring at a quantum phase transition

We study the pairwise concurrences, a measure of entanglement, of the ground states for the frustrated Heisenberg ring to explore the relation between entanglement and quantum phase transition associated with the momentum jump. The ground-state concurrences between any two sites are obtained analytically and numerically. It shows that the summation of all possible pairwise concurrences is an appropriate candidate to depict the phase transition. We also investigate the role that the momentum takes in the jump of concurrence at the critical points. We find that an abrupt momentum change results in the maximal concurrence difference of two degenerate ground states.

Asymmetric transmission through a flux-controlled non-Hermitian scattering center

We study the possibility of asymmetric transmission induced by a non-Hermitian scattering center embedded in a one-dimensional waveguide, motivated by the aim of realizing quantum diode in a non-Hermitian system. It is shown that a

Effective boson-spin model for nuclei-ensemble-based universal quantum memory

mathcal{PT}

Exact results for the criticality of quench dynamics in quantum Ising models

symmetric non-Hermitian scattering center always has symmetric transmission although the dynamics within the isolated center can be unidirectional, especially at its exceptional point. We propose a concrete scheme based on a flux-controlled non-Hermitian scattering center, which comprises a non-Hermitian triangular ring threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. The analytical solution shows that such a complex scattering center acts as a diode at the resonant energy level of the spectral singularity, exhibiting perfect unidirectionality of the transmission. The connections between the phenomena of the asymmetric transmission and reflectionless absorption are also discussed.

Finite-temperature quantum criticality in a complex-parameter plane

We study the collective excitation of a macroscopic ensemble of polarized nuclei fixed in a quantum dot. Under the approximately homogeneous condition that we explicitly present in this paper, this many-particle system behaves as a single-mode boson interacting with the spin of a single conduction-band electron confined in this quantum dot. Within this effective -spin-boson system, the quantum information carried by the electronic spin can be coherently transferred into the collective bosonic mode of excitation in the ensemble of nuclei. In this sense, the collective bosonic excitation can serve as a stable quantum memory to store the quantum spin information of the electron.

Generation of Bell, W , and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states via exceptional points in non-Hermitian quantum spin systems

Based on the obtained exact results we systematically study the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional spin-1/2 transverse field Ising model with zero- and finite-temperature initial states. We focus on the magnetization of the system after a sudden change of the external field and a coherent time-evolution process. With a zero-temperature initial state, the quench magnetic susceptibility as a function of the initial field strength exhibits strongly similar scaling behaviors to those of the static magnetic susceptibility, and the quench magnetic susceptibility as a function of the final field strength shows a discontinuity at the quantum critical point. This discontinuity remains robust and always occurs at the quantum critical point even for the case of finite-temperature initial systems, which indicates a great advantage of employing quench dynamics to study quantum phase transitions.