We show that two quantities in quantum metrology that were thought to be the same, the quantum Fisher information matrix and the Bures metric, are not the same. They differ at points at which the rank of the density matrix changes. The quantum Fisher information matrix is discontinuous at these points. However, these discontinuities are removable in some sense. We show that the expression given by the Bures metric represents the continuous version of the quantum Fisher information matrix. We also derive an explicit formula for the Bures metric for both singular and nonsingular density matrices.

Quantum parameter estimation plays a key role in many fields like quantum computation, communication, and metrology. Optimal estimation allows one to achieve the most precise parameter estimates, but requires accurate knowledge of the model. Any inevitable uncertainty in the model parameters may heavily degrade the quality of the estimate. It is therefore desired to make the estimation process robust to such uncertainties. Robust estimation was previously studied for a varying phase, where the goal was to estimate the phase at some time in the past, using the measurement results from both before and after that time within a fixed time interval up to current time. Here, we consider a robust guaranteed-cost filter yielding robust estimates of a varying phase in real time, where the current phase is estimated using only past measurements. Our filter minimizes the largest (worst-case) variance in the allowable range of the uncertain model parameter(s) and this determines its guaranteed cost. It outperforms in the worst case the optimal Kalman filter designed for the model with no uncertainty, which corresponds to the center of the possible range of the uncertain parameter(s). Moreover, unlike the Kalman filter, our filter in the worst case always performs better than the best achievable variance for heterodyne measurements, which we consider as the tolerable threshold for our system. Furthermore, we consider effective quantum efficiency and effective noise power, and show that our filter provides the best results by these measures in the worst case.

A quantum system inevitably interacts with its surroundings. In general, one does not have detailed information on an environment. Identifying the environmental features can help us to control the environment and its effects on the dynamics of an open system. Here, we consider a tripartite system and introduce a witness for the initial correlations among environments by means of the concept of the trace distance. Due to the existence of the initial environmental correlations, a tight upper bound is obtained for the growth of the trace distance of open quantum system states. Therefore, the initial correlations among the environments subject to particular conditions can be detected by measurements on the open system.

We calculate the cross-damping frequency shift of a laser-induced two-photon transition monitored through decay fluorescence, by adapting the analogy with Raman scattering developed by Amaro et al. [Amaro et al., Phys. Rev. A 92, 022514 (2015)]. We apply this method to estimate the frequency shift of the $1S-3S$ transition in hydrogen and deuterium. Taking into account our experimental conditions, we find a frequency shift of less than 1 kHz, which is smaller than our current statistical uncertainty.

We present a general methodology to evaluate matrix elements of the effective core potentials (ECPs) within a one-electron basis set of Slater-type orbitals (STOs). The scheme is based on translation of individual STO distributions in the framework of the Barnett-Coulson method. We discuss different types of integrals which naturally appear and reduce them to a few basic quantities which can be calculated recursively or purely numerically. Additionally, we consider evaluation of the STOs matrix elements involving the core polarization potentials and effective spin-orbit potentials. Construction of the STOs basis sets designed specifically for use with ECPs is discussed and differences in comparison with all-electron basis sets are briefly summarized. We verify the validity of the present approach by calculating excitation energies, static dipole polarizabilities, and valence orbital energies for the alkaline-earth metals (Ca, Sr, and Ba). Finally, we evaluate interaction energies, permanent dipole moments, and ionization energies for barium and strontium hydrides, and compare them with the best available experimental and theoretical data.

The location-dependent Raman transition was investigated based on dual atom interferometers which were designed for gravity-gradient measurements. The cross talk between the Raman beam pairs generated by an electro-optical modulator make the Raman transition location dependent. Therefore, the fringe contrast also depends on the location where the Raman pulses interact with the atoms, so it is important to adjust the interaction location to optimize the precision of the gravity-gradient measurements. To further reduce the residual cross talk, the detuning of the Raman beams for ${}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms was controlled using the saturated absorption spectra of the ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms. The optimal location for the Raman transition was determined by theoretical analysis and modulation experiments, and the atomic trajectory was optimized and applied to the gravity-gradient measurements. The resolution of the differential gravity measurement evaluated by the Allan deviation was $4.9\times {10}^{-9}$ m/${\mathrm{s}}^2$ @ 15 000 s, and the corresponding resolution of the gravity gradient measurement was 7.4 E @ 15 000 s.

We theoretically analyze the effect of parameter fluctuations on the superradiance phase transition in a setup where a large number of superconducting qubits are coupled to a single cavity. We include parameter fluctuations that are typical of superconducting architectures, such as fluctuations in qubit gaps, bias points, and qubit-cavity coupling strengths. We find that the phase transition should occur in this case, although it manifests itself somewhat differently from the case with no fluctuations. We also find that fluctuations in the qubit gaps and qubit-cavity coupling strengths do not necessarily make it more difficult to reach the transition point. Fluctuations in the bias points, however, increase the coupling strength required to reach the quantum phase transition point and enter the superradiant phase. Similarly, these fluctuations lower the critical temperature for the thermal phase transition.

The study of electromagnetic waves scattering from arbitrary objects is a complex but essential problem in electrodynamics. A modal decomposition of the response is often valuable as it reduces complexity and provides sound language to discuss emerging features on physical grounds. Multiple approaches exist for this purpose, but they frequently suffer from the nonorthogonality of the modes. Here, we put forward the use of the singular-value decomposition of the transfer-matrix operator $(T$ matrix) to expand the response of a scatterer into orthogonal modes where intermodal interference effects are absent. We compare the singular values to the eigenvalues of the $T$ matrix for the example of a trimer structure of gold nanospheres. Different spectral features that emerge in light of the nonorthogonality of the eigenmodes of the $T$ matrix are discussed. Based on that discussion, we show that Fano resonances can also be regarded as inherent properties of individual singular modes.

Solving the challenging problem of the amplification and generation of an electromagnetic field in nanostructures enables us to implement many properties of the electromagnetic field at the nanoscale in practical applications. A first-principles quantum-mechanical consideration of such a problem is sufficiently restricted by the exponentially large number of degrees of freedom and does not allow the electromagnetic-field dynamics to be described if it involves a high number of interacting atoms and modes of the electromagnetic field. Conversely, the classical description of electromagnetic fields is incorrect at the nanoscale due to the high level of quantum fluctuations connected to high dissipation and noise levels. In this paper, we develop a framework with a significantly reduced number of degrees of freedom, which describes the quantum spatial dynamics of electromagnetic fields interacting with atoms. As an example, we consider the interaction between atoms placed in a metallic subwavelength groove and demonstrate that a spontaneously excited electromagnetic pulse propagates with the group velocity. The developed approach may be exploited to describe nonuniform amplification and propagation of electromagnetic fields in arbitrary dispersive dissipative systems.

We determine the finite-temperature phase diagram of two-dimensional bosons with two hyperfine (pseudospin) states coupled via a Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction using classical field Monte Carlo calculations. For anisotropic spin-orbit coupling, we find a transition to a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless superfluid phase with quasi-long-range order. We show that the spin order of the quasicondensate is driven by the anisotropy of the interparticle interaction, favoring either a homogeneous plane-wave state or stripe phase with broken translational symmetry. Both phases show characteristic behavior in the algebraically decaying spin-density correlation function. For a fully isotropic interparticle interaction, our calculations indicate a fractionalized quasicondensate where the mean-field degeneracy of the plane-wave and stripe phase remains robust against critical fluctuations. In the case of fully isotropic spin-orbit coupling, the circular degeneracy of the single-particle ground state destroys the algebraic ordered phase in the thermodynamic limit, but a crossover remains for finite-size systems.

Quantum coherence, incompatibility, and quantum correlations are fundamental features of quantum physics. A unified view of those features is crucial for revealing quantitatively their intrinsic connections. We define the relative quantum coherence of two states as the coherence of one state in the reference basis spanned by the eigenvectors of another one and establish its quantitative connections with the extent of mutual incompatibility of two states. We also show that the proposed relative quantum coherence, which can take any form of measures such as $l_1$ norm and relative entropy, can be interpreted as or connected to various quantum correlations such as quantum discord, symmetric discord, entanglement of formation, and quantum deficits. Our results reveal conceptual implications and basic connections of quantum coherence, mutual incompatibility, and quantum correlations.

We show how to solve a large class of Lindblad master equations for noninteracting particles on $L$ sites. In the first portion we concentrate on bosonic particles, while in the second we will address fermionic particles. In both cases we show how to reduce the problem to diagonalizing an $L\times L$ non-Hermitian matrix. In particular, for boundary dissipative driving of a uniform chain, the matrix is a tridiagonal bordered Toeplitz matrix which can be solved analytically for the normal master modes and their relaxation rates (rapidities). In the regimes in which an analytical solution cannot be found, our approach can still provide a speedup in the numerical evaluation. For bosonic particles, we use this numerical method to study the relaxation gap at nonequilibrium phase transitions in a boundary driven bosonic ladder with synthetic gauge fields. We conclude by showing how to construct the nonequilibrium steady state. The analysis for fermionic particles closely follows that of bosons, but with important differences due to the different commutation rules.

The structure of the initial system-environment state is fundamental to determining the nature and characteristics of the evolution of such an open quantum system. The usual assumption is to consider that the initial system-environment state is separable. Here, we go beyond this simple case and derive the evolution equations, up to second order in a weak-coupling expansion, that describe the evolution of the reduced density matrix of the system for any arbitrary system-environment initial state. The structure of these equations allows us to determine the initial conditions for which the evolution of the reduced density matrix can be written in terms of a set of Lindblad-like equations, once considering the Markov and secular approximations. Moreover, we show that for initial states belonging to a subset of separable states such Lindblad-like equations become actual Lindblad equations and that the evolution of ${\rho }_s$ thereby obtained is also trace and positive preserving.

Although qubits are the leading candidate for the basic elements in a quantum computer, there are also a range of reasons to consider using higher-dimensional qudits or quantum continuous variables (QCVs). In this paper, we use a general “quantum variable” formalism to propose a method of quantum computation in which ancillas are used to mediate gates on a well-isolated “quantum memory” register and which may be applied to the setting of qubits, qudits (for $d>2$), or QCVs. More specifically, we present a model in which universal quantum computation may be implemented on a register using only repeated applications of a single fixed two-body ancilla-register interaction gate, ancillas prepared in a single state, and local measurements of these ancillas. In order to maintain determinism in the computation, adaptive measurements via a classical feed forward of measurement outcomes are used, with the method similar to that in measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC). We show that our model has the same hybrid quantum-classical processing advantages as MBQC, including the power to implement any Clifford circuit in essentially one layer of quantum computation. In some physical settings, high-quality measurements of the ancillas may be highly challenging or not possible, and hence we also present a globally unitary model which replaces the need for measurements of the ancillas with the requirement for ancillas to be prepared in states from a fixed orthonormal basis. Finally, we discuss settings in which these models may be of practical interest.

In this work we analyze the structure of the thermodynamic arrow of time, defined by transformations that leave the thermal equilibrium state unchanged, in classical (incoherent) and quantum (coherent) regimes. We note that in the infinite-temperature limit, the thermodynamic ordering of states in both regimes exhibits a lattice structure. This means that when energy does not matter and the only thermodynamic resource is given by information, the thermodynamic arrow of time has a very specific structure. Namely, for any two states at present there exists a unique state in the past consistent with them and with all possible joint pasts. Similarly, there also exists a unique state in the future consistent with those states and with all possible joint futures. We also show that the lattice structure in the classical regime is broken at finite temperatures, i.e., when energy is a relevant thermodynamic resource. Surprisingly, however, we prove that in the simplest quantum scenario of a two-dimensional system, this structure is preserved at finite temperatures. We provide the physical interpretation of these results by introducing and analyzing the history erasure process, and point out that quantum coherence may be a necessary resource for the existence of an optimal erasure process.

We demonstrate a swap gate between laser-cooled ions in a segmented microtrap via fast physical swapping of the ion positions. This operation is used in conjunction with qubit initialization, manipulation, and readout and with other types of shuttling operations such as linear transport and crystal separation and merging. Combining these operations, we perform quantum process tomography of the swap gate, obtaining a mean process fidelity of 99.5(5)%. The swap operation is demonstrated with motional excitations below 0.05(1) quantum for all six collective modes of a two-ion crystal for a process duration of $42\mu \mathrm{s}$. Extending these techniques to three ions, we reverse the order of a three-ion crystal and reconstruct the truth table for this operation, resulting in a mean process fidelity of 99.96(13)% in the logical basis.

The correlated nonequilibrium quantum dynamics following a multiple interaction quench protocol for few-bosonic ensembles confined in finite optical lattices is investigated. The quenches give rise to an interwell tunneling and excite the cradle and a breathing mode. Several tunneling pathways open during the time interval of increased interactions, while only a few occur when the system is quenched back to its original interaction strength. The cradle mode, however, persists during and in between the quenches, while the breathing mode possesses distinct frequencies. The occupation of excited bands is explored in detail revealing a monotonic behavior with increasing quench amplitude and a nonlinear dependence on the duration of the application of the quenched interaction strength. Finally, a periodic population transfer between momenta for quenches of increasing interaction is observed, with a power-law frequency dependence on the quench amplitude. Our results open the possibility to dynamically manipulate various excited modes of the bosonic system.

In this work we examine loss in ring resonator networks from an operator valued phasor addition approach which considers the multiple transmission and cross coupling paths of a quantum field traversing a ring resonator coupled to one or two external waveguide buses. We demonstrate the consistency of our approach by the preservation of the operator commutation relation of the out-coupled bus mode. We compare our results to those obtained from the conventional quantum Langevin approach which introduces noise operators in addition to the quantum Heisenberg equations in order to preserve commutation relations in the presence of loss. It is shown that the two expressions agree in the neighborhood of a cavity resonance where the Langevin approach is applicable, whereas the operator valued phasor addition expression we derive is more general, remaining valid far from resonances. In addition, we examine the effects of internal and coupling losses on the Hong-Ou-Mandel manifold discussed in Hach et al. [Phys. Rev. A 89, 043805 (2014)] that generalizes the destructive interference of two incident photons interfering on a 50:50 beam splitter (HOM effect) to the case of an add-drop double bus ring resonator.