Quantum jumps of light recording the birth and death of a photon in a cavity

A microscopic quantum system under continuous observation exhibits at random times sudden jumps between its states. The detection of this quantum feature requires a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement repeated many times during the system's evolution. Whereas quantum jumps of trapped massive particles (electrons, ions or molecules) have been observed, this has proved more challenging for light quanta. Standard photodetectors absorb light and are thus unable to detect the same photon twice. It is therefore necessary to use a transparent counter that can 'see' photons without destroying them. Moreover, the light needs to be stored for durations much longer than the QND detection time. Here we report an experiment in which we fulfil these challenging conditions and observe quantum jumps in the photon number. Microwave photons are stored in a superconducting cavity for times up to half a second, and are repeatedly probed by a stream of non-absorbing atoms. An atom interferometer measures the atomic dipole phase shift induced by the non-resonant cavity field, so that the final atom state reveals directly the presence of a single photon in the cavity. Sequences of hundreds of atoms, highly correlated in the same state, are interrupted by sudden state switchings. These telegraphic signals record the birth, life and death of individual photons. Applying a similar QND procedure to mesoscopic fields with tens of photons should open new perspectives for the exploration of the quantum-to-classical boundary.     

Kerr介质中双模纠缠相干光场与Bell态原子相互作用系统的原子布居数演化

运用全量子理论和数值计算方法, 研究Kerr介质腔中处于Bell态的两个全同二能级纠缠原子与双模纠缠相干光场相互作用系统的原子布居数演化特性. 讨论了双原子体系的初态、 初始光场的平均光子数、 双模纠缠相干光场的纠缠程度及Kerr介质与双模光场的耦合强度对原子布居时间演化特性的影响. 结果表明, 当双原子体系的初态为|β₁₁〉时, 原子布居均不随时间变化; 当双原子体系的初态为|β₀₀〉,|β₀₁〉或|β₁₀〉且初始平均光子数达到一定值时, 演化特性呈现周期性的崩塌-回复效应, 并随初始光子数的增加, 其演化曲线的振荡频率增大, 振幅减小; 双模纠缠相干光场的纠缠程度不影响Rabi振荡频率, 但对振幅影响显著; Kerr介质与光场耦合系数达到一定值时, 对Rabi振荡频率和幅度及原子布居的崩塌-回复周期产生强烈影响.      

热库对原子-场耦合系统中量子非局域性的影响

讨论了光场初态和热库性质对原子场耦合系统中量子非局域性的作用．结果显示，如果腔损耗很弱，热库的平均光子数很小．系统会周期性地展现出量子非局域性．非局域性的消失速度依赖于初始压缩真空态的振幅、热库的平均光子数和腔的衰退系数．场越强、平均光子数和衰退系数越大，非局域性减小得越快。     

强场与级联型三能级原子相互作用中的光子统计演化

采用数值计算方法研究了强相干初态光场与级联型三能级原子相互作用中的光子统计演化。结果表明：光子统计演化呈现Rabi型量子崩塌与回复的性质，随着值的不断增大，场与原子的非线性耦合越来越强，重复地出现回复收缩现象。     

非共振k光子调控光场量子统计特性

将双模纠缠相干光场中一束光场与腔中单个二能级原子发生非共振k光子相互作用,经腔QED演化之后,对原子作选择性测量,通过调节相互作用时间、跃迁光子数和失谐量,实现控制腔外光场量子统计特性的目的.经过比较分析发现相比于单光子过程和非简并多光子过程光场的反聚束和压缩效应变化更加明显.     

A complementarity experiment with an interferometer at the quantum-classical boundary

To illustrate the quantum mechanical principle of complementarity, Bohr described an interferometer with a microscopic slit that records the particle's path. Recoil of the quantum slit causes it to become entangled with the particle, resulting in a kind of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pair. As the motion of the slit can be observed, the ambiguity of the particle's trajectory is lifted, suppressing interference effects. In contrast, the state of a sufficiently massive slit does not depend on the particle's path; hence, interference fringes are visible. Although many experiments illustrating various aspects of complementarity have been proposed and realized, none has addressed the quantum-classical limit in the design of the interferometer. Here we report an experimental investigation of complementarity using an interferometer in which the properties of one of the beam-splitting elements can be tuned continuously from being effectively microscopic to macroscopic. Following a recent proposal, we use an atomic double-pulse Ramsey interferometer, in which microwave pulses act as beam-splitters for the quantum states of the atoms. One of the pulses is a coherent field stored in a cavity, comprising a small, adjustable mean photon number. The visibility of the interference fringes in the final atomic state probability increases with this photon number, illustrating the quantum to classical transition.     

Resolving photon number states in a superconducting circuit

Electromagnetic signals are always composed of photons, although in the circuit domain those signals are carried as voltages and currents on wires, and the discreteness of the photon's energy is usually not evident. However, by coupling a superconducting quantum bit (qubit) to signals on a microwave transmission line, it is possible to construct an integrated circuit in which the presence or absence of even a single photon can have a dramatic effect. Such a system can be described by circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED)-the circuit equivalent of cavity QED, where photons interact with atoms or quantum dots. Previously, circuit QED devices were shown to reach the resonant strong coupling regime, where a single qubit could absorb and re-emit a single photon many times. Here we report a circuit QED experiment in the strong dispersive limit, a new regime where a single photon has a large effect on the qubit without ever being absorbed. The hallmark of this strong dispersive regime is that the qubit transition energy can be resolved into a separate spectral line for each photon number state of the microwave field. The strength of each line is a measure of the probability of finding the corresponding photon number in the cavity. This effect is used to distinguish between coherent and thermal fields, and could be used to create a photon statistics analyser. As no photons are absorbed by this process, it should be possible to generate non-classical states of light by measurement and perform qubit-photon conditional logic, the basis of a logic bus for a quantum computer.     

Experimental realization of a one-atom laser in the regime of strong coupling

Conventional lasers (from table-top systems to microscopic devices) typically operate in the so-called weak-coupling regime, involving large numbers of atoms and photons; individual quanta have a negligible impact on the system dynamics. However, this is no longer the case when the system approaches the regime of strong coupling for which the number of atoms and photons can become quite small. Indeed, the lasing properties of a single atom in a resonant cavity have been extensively investigated theoretically. Here we report the experimental realization of a one-atom laser operated in the regime of strong coupling. We exploit recent advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics that allow one atom to be isolated in an optical cavity in a regime for which one photon is sufficient to saturate the atomic transition. The observed characteristics of the atom-cavity system are qualitatively different from those of the familiar many-atom case. Specifically, our measurements of the intracavity photon number versus pump intensity indicate that there is no threshold for lasing, and we infer that the output flux from the cavity mode exceeds that from atomic fluorescence by more than tenfold. Observations of the second-order intensity correlation function demonstrate that our one-atom laser generates manifestly quantum (nonclassical) light, typified by photon anti-bunching and sub-poissonian photon statistics.     

两原子依次通过粒子场的纠缠突然死亡与突然产生

通过数值计算的方法,研究了两纠缠二能级原子依次通过粒子场时的纠缠演化特性,发现原子的初态和光场的初态对两原子的纠缠有影响.当光场的粒子数为0时,纠缠处于周期性变化;当粒子数不为0时,纠缠非周期性变化,并出现纠缠突然死亡与突然产生现象.通过改变原子的初态和光场的初态,纠缠突然死亡和产生现象会随之改变.     

Coherent quantum state storage and transfer between two phase qubits via a resonant cavity

As with classical information processing, a quantum information processor requires bits (qubits) that can be independently addressed and read out, long-term memory elements to store arbitrary quantum states, and the ability to transfer quantum information through a coherent communication bus accessible to a large number of qubits. Superconducting qubits made with scalable microfabrication techniques are a promising candidate for the realization of a large-scale quantum information processor. Although these systems have successfully passed tests of coherent coupling for up to four qubits, communication of individual quantum states between superconducting qubits via a quantum bus has not yet been realized. Here, we perform an experiment demonstrating the ability to coherently transfer quantum states between two superconducting Josephson phase qubits through a quantum bus. This quantum bus is a resonant cavity formed by an open-ended superconducting transmission line of length 7 mm. After preparing an initial quantum state with the first qubit, this quantum information is transferred and stored as a nonclassical photon state of the resonant cavity, then retrieved later by the second qubit connected to the opposite end of the cavity. Beyond simple state transfer, these results suggest that a high-quality-factor superconducting cavity could also function as a useful short-term memory element. The basic architecture presented here can be expanded, offering the possibility for the coherent interaction of a large number of superconducting qubits.     

Measurement of the internal state of a single atom without energy exchange

A measurement necessarily changes the quantum state being measured, a phenomenon known as back-action. Real measurements, however, almost always cause a much stronger back-action than is required by the laws of quantum mechanics. Quantum non-demolition measurements have been devised that keep the additional back-action entirely within observables other than the one being measured. However, this back-action on other observables often imposes its own constraints. In particular, free-space optical detection methods for single atoms and ions (such as the shelving technique, a sensitive and well-developed method) inevitably require spontaneous scattering, even in the dispersive regime. This causes irreversible energy exchange (heating), which is a limitation in atom-based quantum information processing, where it obviates straightforward reuse of the qubit. No such energy exchange is required by quantum mechanics. Here we experimentally demonstrate optical detection of an atomic qubit with significantly less than one spontaneous scattering event. We measure the transmission and reflection of an optical cavity containing the atom. In addition to the qubit detection itself, we quantitatively measure how much spontaneous scattering has occurred. This allows us to relate the information gained to the amount of spontaneous emission, and we obtain a detection error below 10 per cent while scattering less than 0.2 photons on average. Furthermore, we perform a quantum Zeno-type experiment to quantify the measurement back-action, and find that every incident photon leads to an almost complete state collapse. Together, these results constitute a full experimental characterization of a quantum measurement in the 'energy exchange-free' regime below a single spontaneous emission event. Besides its fundamental interest, this approach could significantly simplify proposed neutral-atom quantum computation schemes, and may enable sensitive detection of molecules and atoms lacking closed transitions.     

Quantum nature of a strongly coupled single quantum dot-cavity system

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) studies the interaction between a quantum emitter and a single radiation-field mode. When an atom is strongly coupled to a cavity mode, it is possible to realize important quantum information processing tasks, such as controlled coherent coupling and entanglement of distinguishable quantum systems. Realizing these tasks in the solid state is clearly desirable, and coupling semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots to monolithic optical cavities is a promising route to this end. However, validating the efficacy of quantum dots in quantum information applications requires confirmation of the quantum nature of the quantum-dot-cavity system in the strong-coupling regime. Here we find such confirmation by observing quantum correlations in photoluminescence from a photonic crystal nanocavity interacting with one, and only one, quantum dot located precisely at the cavity electric field maximum. When off-resonance, photon emission from the cavity mode and quantum-dot excitons is anticorrelated at the level of single quanta, proving that the mode is driven solely by the quantum dot despite an energy mismatch between cavity and excitons. When tuned to resonance, the exciton and cavity enter the strong-coupling regime of cavity QED and the quantum-dot exciton lifetime reduces by a factor of 145. The generated photon stream becomes antibunched, proving that the strongly coupled exciton/photon system is in the quantum regime. Our observations unequivocally show that quantum information tasks are achievable in solid-state cavity QED.     

Real-time quantum feedback prepares and stabilizes photon number states

Feedback loops are central to most classical control procedures. A controller compares the signal measured by a sensor (system output) with the target value or set-point. It then adjusts an actuator (system input) to stabilize the signal around the target value. Generalizing this scheme to stabilize a micro-system's quantum state relies on quantum feedback, which must overcome a fundamental difficulty: the sensor measurements cause a random back-action on the system. An optimal compromise uses weak measurements, providing partial information with minimal perturbation. The controller should include the effect of this perturbation in the computation of the actuator's operation, which brings the incrementally perturbed state closer to the target. Although some aspects of this scenario have been experimentally demonstrated for the control of quantum or classical micro-system variables, continuous feedback loop operations that permanently stabilize quantum systems around a target state have not yet been realized. Here we have implemented such a real-time stabilizing quantum feedback scheme following a method inspired by ref. 13. It prepares on demand photon number states (Fock states) of a microwave field in a superconducting cavity, and subsequently reverses the effects of decoherence-induced field quantum jumps. The sensor is a beam of atoms crossing the cavity, which repeatedly performs weak quantum non-demolition measurements of the photon number. The controller is implemented in a real-time computer commanding the actuator, which injects adjusted small classical fields into the cavity between measurements. The microwave field is a quantum oscillator usable as a quantum memory or as a quantum bus swapping information between atoms. Our experiment demonstrates that active control can generate non-classical states of this oscillator and combat their decoherence, and is a significant step towards the implementation of complex quantum information operations.     

Multi-step evolution and measurement control of finite-dimensional quantum systems

For finite-dimensional quantum systems,we propose a quantum control scheme based on a multi-step unitary evolution and quantum projective measurements.The objective is to design a control law to steer the system to a target eigenstate of the measurement operator in the least number of steps.Within each control step,unitary evolution and quantum projective measurement are performed in turn until the system reaches the target state.The control process can be modeled as a finite-state Markov chain with an absorbing state.We prove that the controlled system will converge to the target eigenstate with probability one after a finite number of control steps and find a minimal-step-number condition that would steer the system to the target eigenstate in the least number of steps.     

三能级原子与双模动腔系统的稳态求解

在原子与双模动腔共同存在的量子系统中,原子、腔场以及移动的镜子之间都会发生相互作用.考虑了一个三能级原子与双模动腔所组成的光机械系统,应用量子朗之万方程,讨论了由V型三能级原子束与双模动腔组成的系统中稳态解的求解方法.由所求的结果可看出,原子介质的存在能影响光子的有效衰减率以及腔场和两个镜子之间的辐射压.     

2种量子测量方案对非最大纠缠相干态隐形传态平均保真度的影响

在纠缠相干态的隐形传态过程中,使用双模光子数测量和奇偶态测量2种粒子数测量方案,得到的平均保真度存在较大差异.据此对使用非最大纠缠相干态作为量子信道时,2种测量方法得到的平均保真度进行了对比.结果显示:相较于双光子数测量,用奇偶态粒子数测量方案时,隐形传态的平均保重度有了较大提高.     

相干光场与双原子相互作用系统的动力学特性

在大失谐条件下,运用密度算符间距研究了一位于相位损耗腔中两个二能级原子与相干光场相互作用系统中原子、光场及系统各量子态随时间的演化规律.讨论了光场的平均光子数和相位损耗对该系统动力学行为的影响.结果表明,相位损耗对光场和系统的密度算符间距均会发生明显影响,但原子的量子态不受损耗的影响.     

Tunable ion-photon entanglement in an optical cavity

Proposed quantum networks require both a quantum interface between light and matter and the coherent control of quantum states. A quantum interface can be realized by entangling the state of a single photon with the state of an atomic or solid-state quantum memory, as demonstrated in recent experiments with trapped ions, neutral atoms, atomic ensembles and nitrogen-vacancy spins. The entangling interaction couples an initial quantum memory state to two possible light-matter states, and the atomic level structure of the memory determines the available coupling paths. In previous work, the transition parameters of these paths determined the phase and amplitude of the final entangled state, unless the memory was initially prepared in a superposition state (a step that requires coherent control). Here we report fully tunable entanglement between a single (40)Ca(+) ion and the polarization state of a single photon within an optical resonator. Our method, based on a bichromatic, cavity-mediated Raman transition, allows us to select two coupling paths and adjust their relative phase and amplitude. The cavity setting enables intrinsically deterministic, high-fidelity generation of any two-qubit entangled state. This approach is applicable to a broad range of candidate systems and thus is a promising method for distributing information within quantum networks.