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Controlling dephasing of coupled qubits via shared bath coherence

L. M. J. Hall*, L. S. Sirkina, A. Morreau, W. Langbein, and E. A. Muljarov†

  • *Contact author: Luke.Hall415@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: Egor.Muljarov@astro.cf.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 112, 045303 – Published 1 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ltk8-fpv3

Abstract

The interaction of a quantum system with its environment limits its coherence time. This, in particular, restricts the utility of qubits in quantum information processing applications. In this paper, we show that the decoherence of a coupled qubit system can be minimized, or even eliminated, by exploiting the quantum coherence of the bath itself. We investigate the dephasing in a system of two spatially separated, electronically decoupled qubits, with direct or mediated coupling, interacting with a shared bath. For illustration, we treat Förster or cavity-mediated coupling between semiconductor quantum dots interacting with acoustic phonons. Using the rigorous method of Trotter's decomposition with cumulant expansion, we demonstrate a reduction in the dephasing rates at specific distances between the dots. The control of dephasing with distance is a coherent effect of the shared bath and is absent for independent baths. It can be understood in terms of phonon-assisted transitions between the entangled qubit states of the coupled system.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 045303– Published 1 July, 2025
  • Received 23 May 2024
  • Revised 25 October 2024
  • Accepted 9 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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