- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Observing parity-time symmetry breaking in a Josephson parametric amplifier

Chandrashekhar Gaikwad1,*, Daria Kowsari1,2,3, Weijian Chen1, and Kater W. Murch1,†

  • 1Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
  • 3Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA

  • *chandrashekhar@wustl.edu
  • †murch@physics.wustl.edu
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 5, L042024 – Published 13 November, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L042024

Abstract

A coupled two-mode system with balanced gain and loss is a paradigmatic example of an open quantum system that can exhibit real spectra despite being described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We utilize a degenerate parametric amplifier operating in three-wave mixing mode to realize such a system of balanced gain and loss between the two quadrature modes of the amplifier. By examining the time-domain response of the amplifier, we observe a characteristic transition from real-to-imaginary energy eigenvalues associated with the parity-time symmetry breaking transition.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (44)

  1. C. M. Bender and S. Boettcher, Real spectra in non-Hermitian Hamiltonians having PT symmetry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5243 (1998).
  2. R. El-Ganainy, K. G. Makris, M. Khajavikhan, Z. H. Musslimani, S. Rotter, and D. N. Christodoulides, Non-Hermitian physics and PT symmetry, Nat. Phys. 14, 11 (2018).
  3. A. Guo, G. J. Salamo, D. Duchesne, R. Morandotti, M. Volatier-Ravat, V. Aimez, G. A. Siviloglou, and D. N. Christodoulides, Observation of PT-symmetry breaking in complex optical potentials, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 093902 (2009).
  4. C. E. Rüter et al., Observation of parity–time symmetry in optics, Nat. Phys. 6, 192 (2010).
  5. B. Peng et al., Parity-time-symmetric whispering-gallery microcavities, Nat. Phys. 10, 394 (2014).
  6. H. Hodaei, M.-A. Miri, M. Heinrich, D. N. Christodoulides, and M. Khajavikhan, Parity-time-symmetric microring lasers, Science 346, 975 (2014).
  7. J. M. Zeuner, M. C. Rechtsman, Y. Plotnik, Y. Lumer, S. Nolte, M. S. Rudner, M. Segev, and A. Szameit, Observation of a topological transition in the bulk of a non-Hermitian system, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 040402 (2015).
  8. J. Li et al., Observation of parity-time symmetry breaking transitions in a dissipative Floquet system of ultracold atoms, Nat. Commun. 10, 855 (2019).
  9. L. Xiao et al., Observation of topological edge states in parity-time-symmetric quantum walks, Nat. Phys. 13, 1117 (2017).
  10. Ş. K. Özdemir, S. Rotter, F. Nori, and L. Yang, Parity–time symmetry and exceptional points in photonics, Nat. Mater. 18, 783 (2019).
  11. M.-A. Miri and A. Alù, Exceptional points in optics and photonics, Science 363, eaar7709 (2019).
  12. J. Wiersig, Enhancing the sensitivity of frequency and energy splitting detection by using exceptional points: Application to microcavity sensors for single-particle detection, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 203901 (2014).
  13. H. Hodaei et al., Enhanced sensitivity at higher-order exceptional points, Nature (London) 548, 187 (2017).
  14. W. Chen, Ş. K. Özdemir, G. Zhao, J. Wiersig, and L. Yang, Exceptional points enhance sensing in an optical microcavity, Nature (London) 548, 192 (2017).
  15. H. Xu, D. Mason, L. Jiang, and J. G. E. Harris, Topological energy transfer in an optomechanical system with exceptional points, Nature (London) 537, 80 (2016).
  16. M. Naghiloo, M. Abbasi, Y. N. Joglekar, and K. W. Murch, Quantum state tomography across the exceptional point in a single dissipative qubit, Nat. Phys. 15, 1232 (2019).
  17. W. Chen, M. Abbasi, Y. N. Joglekar, and K. W. Murch, Quantum jumps in the non-Hermitian dynamics of a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 140504 (2021).
  18. W. Chen, M. Abbasi, B. Ha, S. Erdamar, Y. N. Joglekar, and K. W. Murch, Decoherence-induced exceptional points in a dissipative superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 110402 (2022).
  19. M. Abbasi, W. Chen, M. Naghiloo, Y. N. Joglekar, and K. W. Murch, Topological quantum state control through exceptional-point proximity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 160401 (2022).
  20. K. Wang et al., Experimental realization of continuous-time quantum walks on directed graphs and their application in PageRank, Optica 7, 1524 (2020).
  21. Y. Wu et al., Observation of parity-time symmetry breaking in a single-spin system, Science 364, 878 (2019).
  22. W. Liu, Y. Wu, C.-K. Duan, X. Rong, and J. Du, Dynamically encircling an exceptional point in a real quantum system, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 170506 (2021).
  23. A. A. Clerk, M. H. Devoret, S. M. Girvin, F. Marquardt, and R. J. Schoelkopf, Introduction to quantum noise, measurement, and amplification, Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 1155 (2010).
  24. Y.-X. Wang and A. A. Clerk, Non-Hermitian dynamics without dissipation in quantum systems, Phys. Rev. A 99, 063834 (2019).
  25. J. Aumentado, Superconducting parametric amplifiers: The state of the art in Josephson parametric amplifiers, IEEE Microw. Mag. 21, 45 (2020).
  26. T. Yamamoto et al., Flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifier, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 042510 (2008).
  27. M. A. Castellanos-Beltran, K. D. Irwin, G. C. Hilton, L. R. Vale, and K. W. Lehnert, Amplification and squeezing of quantum noise with a tunable Josephson metamaterial, Nat. Phys. 4, 929 (2008).
  28. A. Clerk, Introduction to quantum non-reciprocal interactions: From non-Hermitian Hamiltonians to quantum master equations and quantum feedforward schemes, SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 44, 9 (2022).
  29. H.-K. Lau and A. A. Clerk, Fundamental limits and non-reciprocal approaches in non-Hermitian quantum sensing, Nat. Commun. 9, 4320 (2018).
  30. J. C. Budich and E. J. Bergholtz, Non-Hermitian topological sensors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 180403 (2020).
  31. R. Shindou, R. Matsumoto, S. Murakami, and J.-i. Ohe, Topological chiral magnonic edge mode in a magnonic crystal, Phys. Rev. B 87, 174427 (2013).
  32. V. Peano, M. Houde, C. Brendel, F. Marquardt, and A. A. Clerk, Topological phase transitions and chiral inelastic transport induced by the squeezing of light, Nat. Commun. 7, 10779 (2016).
  33. V. Peano, M. Houde, F. Marquardt, and A. A. Clerk, Topological quantum fluctuations and traveling wave amplifiers, Phys. Rev. X 6, 041026 (2016).
  34. W. Chen, D. Leykam, Y. Chong, and L. Yang, Nonreciprocity in synthetic photonic materials with nonlinearity, MRS Bull. 43, 443 (2018).
  35. C. Gneiting, A. Koottandavida, A. V. Rozhkov, and F. Nori, Unraveling the topology of dissipative quantum systems, Phys. Rev. Res. 4, 023036 (2022).
  36. H. Nasari, G. G. Pyrialakos, D. N. Christodoulides, and M. Khajavikhan, Non-Hermitian topological photonics, Opt. Mater. Express 13, 870 (2023).
  37. A. Blais, A. L. Grimsmo, S. Girvin, and A. Wallraff, Circuit quantum electrodynamics, Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025005 (2021).
  38. M. Kjaergaard et al., Superconducting qubits: Current state of play, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 11, 369 (2020).
  39. K. W. Murch, R. Vijay, I. Barth, O. Naaman, J. Aumentado, L. Friedland, and I. Siddiqi, Quantum fluctuations in the chirped pendulum, Nat. Phys. 7, 105 (2011).
  40. Q.-M. Chen, M. Fischer, Y. Nojiri, M. Renger, E. Xie, M. Partanen, S. Pogorzalek, K. G. Fedorov, A. Marx, F. Deppe, and R. Gross, Quantum behavior of the Duffing oscillator at the dissipative phase transition, Nat. Commun. 14, 2896 (2023).
  41. L. Planat, R. Dassonneville, J. Puertas Martínez, F. Foroughi, O. Buisson, W. Hasch-Guichard, C. Naud, R. Vijay, K. Murch, and N. Roch, Understanding the saturation power of Josephson parametric amplifiers made from SQUID arrays, Phys. Rev. Appl. 11, 034014 (2019).
  42. J. Johansson, P. Nation, and F. Nori, QuTiP: An open-source Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems, Comput. Phys. Commun. 183, 1760 (2012).
  43. J. Johansson, P. Nation, and F. Nori, QuTiP 2: A Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems, Comput. Phys. Commun. 184, 1234 (2013).
  44. N. E. Frattini, V. V. Sivak, A. Lingenfelter, S. Shankar, and M. H. Devoret, Optimizing the nonlinearity and dissipation of a SNAIL parametric amplifier for dynamic range, Phys. Rev. Appl. 10, 054020 (2018).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 5, L042024– Published 13 November, 2023
  • Received 22 June 2023
  • Revised 3 October 2023
  • Accepted 9 October 2023
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation