Zhihuang Luo

Experimental implementation of adiabatic passage between different topological orders.

Topological orders are exotic phases of matter existing in strongly correlated quantum systems, which are beyond the usual symmetry description and cannot be distinguished by local order parameters. Here we report an experimental quantum simulation of the Wen-plaquette spin model with different topological orders in a nuclear magnetic resonance system, and observe the adiabatic transition between two Z(2) topological orders through a spin-polarized phase by measuring the nonlocal closed-string (Wilson loop) operator. Moreover, we also measure the entanglement properties of the topological orders. This work confirms the adiabatic method for preparing topologically ordered states and provides an experimental tool for further studies of complex quantum systems.

Experimental observation of topological transitions in interacting multispin systems

Topologically ordered phase has emerged as one of most exciting concepts that not only broadens our understanding of phases of matter, but also has been found to have potential application in fault-tolerant quantum computation. The direct measurement of topological properties, however, is still a challenge especially in interacting quantum system. Here we realize one-dimensional Heisenberg spin chains using nuclear magnetic resonance simulators and observe the interaction-induced topological transitions, where Berry curvature in the parameter space of Hamiltonian is probed by means of dynamical response and then the first Chern number is extracted by integrating the curvature over the closed surface. The utilized experimental method provides a powerful means to explore topological phenomena in quantum systems with many-body interactions.

Quantum Image Processing and Its Application to Edge Detection: Theory and Experiment

Processing of digital images is continuously gaining in volume and relevance, with concomitant demands on data storage, transmission and processing power. Encoding the image information in quantum-mechanical systems instead of classical ones and replacing classical with quantum information processing may alleviate some of these challenges. By encoding and processing the image information in quantum-mechanical systems, we here demonstrate the framework of quantum image processing, where a pure quantum state encodes the image information: we encode the pixel values in the probability amplitudes and the pixel positions in the computational basis states. Our quantum image representation reduces the required number of qubits compared to existing implementations, and we present image processing algorithms that provide exponential speed-up over their classical counterparts. For the commonly used task of detecting the edge of an image, we propose and implement a quantum algorithm that completes the task with only one single-qubit operation, independent of the size of the image. This demonstrates the potential of quantum image processing for highly efficient image and video processing in the big data era.

Experimentally probing topological order and its breakdown through modular matrices

Fundamental fingerprints of topological orders may be characterized uniquely and purely by experimental means. Here the authors provide a proof of principle demonstration using interferometric measurement in a two-dimensional lattice system.

Quantum simulation of interaction blockade in a two-site Bose–Hubbard system with solid quadrupolar crystal

The Bose–Hubbard model provides an excellent platform for exploring exotic quantum coherence. Interaction blockade is an important fundamental phenomenon in the two-site Bose–Hubbard system (BHS), which gives a full quantum description for the atomic Bose–Josephson junction. Using the analogy between the two-site BHS and the quadrupolar nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) crystal, we experimentally simulate a two-site Bose–Hubbard system in a NMR quantum simulator composed of the quadrupolar spin-3/2 sodium nuclei of a NaNO3 single crystal, and observe the interesting phenomenon of interaction blockade via adiabatic dynamics control. To our best knowledge, this is the first experimental implementation of the quantum simulation of the interaction blockade using quadrupolar nuclear system. Our work exhibits important applications of quadrupolar NMR in the quantum information science, i.e. a spin-3/2 system can be used as a full 2-qubit su(4) system, if the quadrupole moment is not fully averaged out by fast tumbling in the liquid phase.

Optimal design of measurement settings for quantum-state-tomography experiments

Jun Li,1, 2, ∗ Shilin Huang,2, 3, † Zhihuang Luo,1, 2 Keren Li,4, 2 Dawei Lu,2, 5 and Bei Zeng2, 6, ‡ Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100193, China Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Approximation of reachable sets for coherently controlled open quantum systems: Application to quantum state engineering

Precisely characterizing and controlling realistic open quantum systems is one of the most challenging and exciting frontiers in quantum sciences and technologies. In this Letter, we present methods of approximately computing reachable sets for coherently controlled dissipative systems, which is very useful for assessing control performances. We apply this to a two-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance spin system and implement some tasks of quantum control in open systems at a near optimal performance in view of purity: e.g., increasing polarization and preparing pseudo-pure states. Our work shows interesting and promising applications of environment-assisted quantum dynamics.