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Full-Text Articles in Quantum Physics

High-Frequency Diode Effect In Superconducting Nb3Sn Microbridges, Sara Chahid, Serafim Teknowijoyo, Iris Mowgood, Armen Gulian Feb 2023

High-Frequency Diode Effect In Superconducting Nb3Sn Microbridges, Sara Chahid, Serafim Teknowijoyo, Iris Mowgood, Armen Gulian

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The superconducting diode effect has recently been reported in a variety of systems and different symmetry-breaking mechanisms have been examined. However, the frequency range of these potentially important devices still remains obscure. We investigated superconducting microbridges of Nb3Sn in out-of-plane magnetic fields; optimum magnetic fields of ∼10 mT generate ∼10% diode efficiency, while higher fields of ∼15–20 mT quench the effect. The diode changes its polarity with magnetic field reversal. We documented superconductive diode rectification at frequencies up to 100 kHz, the highest reported as of today. Interestingly, the bridge resistance during diode operation reaches a value that is a …


Weakness Of Weak Values: Incompatibility Of Anomalous Pulse-Spectrum Amplification And Optical Frequency Combs, John C. Howell Jul 2022

Weakness Of Weak Values: Incompatibility Of Anomalous Pulse-Spectrum Amplification And Optical Frequency Combs, John C. Howell

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We probe the use of optical frequency combs to place lower bounds on anomalous amplification of a weak-value-measured pulse delay, potentially reaching a theoretical temporal resolution of better than 10−34 s. Owing to the interferometric behavior of weak values, we show that anomalous weak value amplification of a time delay is not equivalent to a temporal linear phase ramp. We show that the anomalous weak value is a rearrangement of amplitudes that generates an apparent shift that can be measured in direct detection, but does not change the actual frequency offset of a spectral distribution measurable in coherent detection. …


A Unified Spproach To Schrödinger Evolution Of Superoscillations And Supershifts, Yakir Aharonov, Jussi Behrndt, Fabrizio Colombo, Peter Schlosser Mar 2022

A Unified Spproach To Schrödinger Evolution Of Superoscillations And Supershifts, Yakir Aharonov, Jussi Behrndt, Fabrizio Colombo, Peter Schlosser

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Superoscillating functions and supershifts appear naturally in weak measurements in physics. Their evolution as initial conditions in the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is an important and challenging problem in quantum mechanics and mathematical analysis. The concept that encodes the persistence of superoscillations during the evolution is the (more general) supershift property of the solution. In this paper, we give a unified approach to determine the supershift property for the solution of the time-dependent one-dimensional Schrödinger equation. The main advantage and novelty of our results is that they only require suitable estimates and regularity assumptions on the Green’s function, but not its …


Gravitational Wave Sensors Based On Superconducting Transducers, Armen Gulian, Joe Foreman, Vahan Nikoghosyan, Louis Sica, Pablo Abramian-Barco, Jeff Tollaksen, Gurgen Melkonyan, Iris Mowgood, Chris Burdette, Rajendra Dulal, Serafim Teknowijoyo, Sara Chahid, Shmuel Nussinov Nov 2021

Gravitational Wave Sensors Based On Superconducting Transducers, Armen Gulian, Joe Foreman, Vahan Nikoghosyan, Louis Sica, Pablo Abramian-Barco, Jeff Tollaksen, Gurgen Melkonyan, Iris Mowgood, Chris Burdette, Rajendra Dulal, Serafim Teknowijoyo, Sara Chahid, Shmuel Nussinov

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Following the initial success of LIGO, new advances in gravitational wave (GW) detector systems are planned to reach fruition during the next decades. These systems are interferometric and large. Here we suggest different, more compact detectors of GW radiation with competitive sensitivity. These nonresonant detectors are not interferometric. They use superconducting Cooper pairs in a magnetic field to transform mechanical motion induced by GW into detectable magnetic flux. The detectors can be oriented relative to the source of GW, so as to maximize the signal output and help determine the direction of nontransient sources. In this design an incident GW …


Noncontextuality Inequalities From Antidistinguishability, Matthew S. Leifer, Cristhiano Duarte Jun 2020

Noncontextuality Inequalities From Antidistinguishability, Matthew S. Leifer, Cristhiano Duarte

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Noncontextuality inequalities are usually derived from the distinguishability properties of quantum states, i.e., their orthogonality. Here, we show that antidistinguishability can also be used to derive noncontextuality inequalities. The Yu-Oh 13-ray noncontextuality inequality can be rederived and generalized as an instance of our antidistinguishability method. For some sets of states, the antidistinguishability method gives tighter bounds on noncontextual models than just considering orthogonality, and the Hadamard states provide an example of this. We also derive noncontextuality inequalities based on mutually unbiased bases and symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures. Antidistinguishability based inequalities were initially discovered as overlap bounds for the …


Magnetic Forces In The Absence Of A Classical Magnetic Field, Ismael L. Paiva, Yakir Aharonov, Jeff Tollaksen, Mordecai Waegell Apr 2020

Magnetic Forces In The Absence Of A Classical Magnetic Field, Ismael L. Paiva, Yakir Aharonov, Jeff Tollaksen, Mordecai Waegell

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

It is shown that, in some cases, the effect of discrete distributions of flux lines in quantum mechanics can be associated with the effect of continuous distributions of magnetic fields with special symmetries. In particular, flux lines with an arbitrary value of magnetic flux can be used to create energetic barriers, which can be used to confine quantum systems in specially designed configurations. This generalizes a previous work where such energy barriers arose from flux lines with half-integer fluxons. Furthermore, it is shown how the Landau levels can be obtained from a two-dimensional grid of flux lines. These results suggest …


Optimizing Measurement Strengths For Qubit Quasiprobabilities Behind Out-Of-Time-Ordered Correlators, Razieh Mohseninia, José Raúl González Alonso, Justin Dressel Dec 2019

Optimizing Measurement Strengths For Qubit Quasiprobabilities Behind Out-Of-Time-Ordered Correlators, Razieh Mohseninia, José Raúl González Alonso, Justin Dressel

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) have been proposed as a tool to witness quantum information scrambling in many-body system dynamics. These correlators can be understood as averages over nonclassical multitime quasiprobability distributions (QPDs). These QPDs have more information and their nonclassical features witness quantum information scrambling in a more nuanced way. However, their high dimensionality and nonclassicality make QPDs challenging to measure experimentally. We focus on the topical case of a many-qubit system and show how to obtain such a QPD in the laboratory using circuits with three and four sequential measurements. Averaging distinct values over the same measured distribution reveals either …


Benchmarks Of Nonclassicality For Qubit Arrays, Mordecai Waegell, Justin Dressel Aug 2019

Benchmarks Of Nonclassicality For Qubit Arrays, Mordecai Waegell, Justin Dressel

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We present a set of practical benchmarks for N-qubit arrays that economically test the fidelity of achieving multi-qubit nonclassicality. The benchmarks are measurable correlators similar to two-qubit Bell correlators, and are derived from a particular set of geometric structures from the N-qubit Pauli group. These structures prove the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) theorem, while the derived correlators witness genuine N-partite entanglement and establish a tight lower bound on the fidelity of particular stabilizer state preparations. The correlators need only MN + 1 distinct measurement settings, as opposed to the 22N − 1 settings that would normally be …


Out-Of-Time-Ordered-Correlator Quasiprobabilities Robustly Witness Scrambling, José Raúl González Alonso, Nicole Yunger Halpern, Justin Dressel Feb 2019

Out-Of-Time-Ordered-Correlator Quasiprobabilities Robustly Witness Scrambling, José Raúl González Alonso, Nicole Yunger Halpern, Justin Dressel

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) have received considerable recent attention as qualitative witnesses of information scrambling in many-body quantum systems. Theoretical discussions of OTOCs typically focus on closed systems, raising the question of their suitability as scrambling witnesses in realistic open systems. We demonstrate empirically that the nonclassical negativity of the quasiprobability distribution (QPD) behind the OTOC is a more sensitive witness for scrambling than the OTOC itself. Nonclassical features of the QPD evolve with timescales that are robust with respect to decoherence and are immune to false positives caused by decoherence. To reach this conclusion, we numerically simulate spinchain dynamics and …


Why Physical Understanding Should Precede The Mathematical Formalism—Conditional Quantum Probabilities As A Case-Study, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, David H. Oaknin Jan 2019

Why Physical Understanding Should Precede The Mathematical Formalism—Conditional Quantum Probabilities As A Case-Study, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, David H. Oaknin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Conditional probabilities in quantum systems which have both initial and final boundary conditions are commonly evaluated using the Aharonov–Bergmann–Lebowitz rule. In this short note, we present a seemingly disturbing paradox that appears when applying the rule to systems with slightly broken degeneracies. In these cases, we encounter a singular limit—the probability “jumps” when going from perfect degeneracy to negligibly broken one. We trace the origin of the paradox and solve it from both traditional and modern perspectives in order to highlight the physics behind it: the necessity to take into account the finite resolution of the measuring device. As a …


Completely Top–Down Hierarchical Structure In Quantum Mechanics, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, Jeff Tollaksen Nov 2018

Completely Top–Down Hierarchical Structure In Quantum Mechanics, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, Jeff Tollaksen

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Can a large system be fully characterized using its subsystems via inductive reasoning? Is it possible to completely reduce the behavior of a complex system to the behavior of its simplest “atoms”? In this paper we answer these questions in the negative for a specific class of systems and measurements. After a general introduction of the topic, we present the main idea with a simple two-particle example, where strong correlations arise between two apparently empty boxes. This leads to surprising effects within atomic and electromagnetic systems. A general construction based on preand postselected ensembles is then suggested, wherein the Nbody …


Weak Values From Strong Interactions In Neutron Interferometry, Tobias Denkmayr, Justin Dressel, Hermann Geppert-Kleinrath, Yuji Hasegawa, Stephan Sponar Apr 2018

Weak Values From Strong Interactions In Neutron Interferometry, Tobias Denkmayr, Justin Dressel, Hermann Geppert-Kleinrath, Yuji Hasegawa, Stephan Sponar

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In their original framework weak values must be measured by weak measurements that are minimally disturbing, meaning that the coupling between an investigated quantum system and a measurement device has no influence on the evolution of the system. However, under certain circumstances this weakness of the interaction is not necessary. In that case weak values can still be exactly determined from the statistics of the outcomes of arbitrary-strength generalized measurements. Here, we report an experimental procedure for neutron matter-waves that extends the notion of generalized eigenvalues for the neutron’s path system to allow the exact determination of weak values using …


Quasiprobability Behind The Out-Of-Time-Ordered Correlator, Nicole Yunger Halpern, Brian Swingle, Justin Dressel Apr 2018

Quasiprobability Behind The Out-Of-Time-Ordered Correlator, Nicole Yunger Halpern, Brian Swingle, Justin Dressel

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Two topics, evolving rapidly in separate fields, were combined recently: the out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) signals quantum-information scrambling in many-body systems. The Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability represents operators in quantum optics. The OTOC was shown to equal a moment of a summed quasiprobability [Yunger Halpern, Phys. Rev. A 95, 012120 (2017)]. That quasiprobability, we argue, is an extension of the KD distribution. We explore the quasiprobability's structure from experimental, numerical, and theoretical perspectives. First, we simplify and analyze Yunger Halpern's weak-measurement and interference protocols for measuring the OTOC and its quasiprobability. We decrease, exponentially in system size, the number of trials …


Evolution Of Superoscillations For Schrödinger Equation In A Uniform Magnetic Field, Fabrizio Colombo, Jonathan Gantner, Daniele C. Struppa Sep 2017

Evolution Of Superoscillations For Schrödinger Equation In A Uniform Magnetic Field, Fabrizio Colombo, Jonathan Gantner, Daniele C. Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Aharonov-Berry superoscillations are band-limited functions that oscillate faster than their fastest Fourier component. Superoscillations appear in several fields of science and technology, such as Aharonov’s weak measurement in quantum mechanics, in optics, and in signal processing. An important issue is the study of the evolution of superoscillations using the Schrödinger equation when the initial datum is a weak value. Some superoscillatory functions are not square integrable, but they are real analytic functions that can be extended to entire holomorphic functions. This fact leads to the study of the continuity of a class of convolution operators acting on suitable spaces of …


Saving The Physics Ii: Who Needs To Be Saved? It Depends On Your Metaphysics, Menas Kafatos Jan 2017

Saving The Physics Ii: Who Needs To Be Saved? It Depends On Your Metaphysics, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Physics does not need to be saved. If anything, physics was rescued in the early twentieth century with the advancement of both the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. What needs to be saved is our world outlook or metaphysics because how a society acts and develops depends on what its belief systems are. Here we explore how a new metaphysics where consciousness is fundamental might just be what modern societies need.


Review Of Qbism: The Future Of Quantum Physics, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2017

Review Of Qbism: The Future Of Quantum Physics, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A review of QBism: The Future of Quantum Physics by Hans Christian von Baeyer.


Conservation Of The Spin And Orbital Angular Momenta In Electromagnetism, Konstantin Y. Bliokh, Justin Dressel, Franco Nori Sep 2014

Conservation Of The Spin And Orbital Angular Momenta In Electromagnetism, Konstantin Y. Bliokh, Justin Dressel, Franco Nori

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We review and re-examine the description and separation of the spin and orbital angular momenta (AM) of an electromagnetic field in free space. While the spin and orbital AM of light are not separately meaningful physical quantities in orthodox quantum mechanics or classical field theory, these quantities are routinely measured and used for applications in optics. A meaningful quantum description of the spin and orbital AM of light was recently provided by several authors, which describes separately conserved and measurable integral values of these quantities. However, the electromagnetic field theory still lacks corresponding locally conserved spin and orbital AM currents. …


Quantum Harmonic Oscillator With Superoscillating Initial Datum, Roman V. Buniy, Fabrizio Colombo, Irene Sabadini, Daniele C. Struppa Jan 2014

Quantum Harmonic Oscillator With Superoscillating Initial Datum, Roman V. Buniy, Fabrizio Colombo, Irene Sabadini, Daniele C. Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we study the evolution of superoscillating initial data for the quantum driven harmonic oscillator. Our main result shows that superoscillations are amplified by the harmonic potential and that the analytic solution develops a singularity in finite time. We also show that for a large class of solutions of the Schrodinger equation, superoscillating behavior at any given time implies superoscillating behavior at any other time.


Observation Of A Quantum Cheshire Cat In A Matter-Wave Interferometer Experiment, Tobias Denkmayr, Hermann Geppert, Stephan Sponar, Hartmut Lemmel, Alexandre Matzkin, Jeff Tollaksen, Yuji Hasegawa Jan 2014

Observation Of A Quantum Cheshire Cat In A Matter-Wave Interferometer Experiment, Tobias Denkmayr, Hermann Geppert, Stephan Sponar, Hartmut Lemmel, Alexandre Matzkin, Jeff Tollaksen, Yuji Hasegawa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

From its very beginning, quantum theory has been revealing extraordinary and counter-intuitive phenomena, such as wave-particle duality, Schrodinger cats and quantum non-locality. Another paradoxical phenomenon found within the framework of quantum mechanics is the 'quantum Cheshire Cat': if a quantum system is subject to a certain pre- and postselection, it can behave as if a particle and its property are spatially separated. It has been suggested to employ weak measurements in order to explore the Cheshire Cat's nature. Here we report an experiment in which we send neutrons through a perfect silicon crystal interferometer and perform weak measurements to probe …


Review Of Computing With Quantum Cats: From Colossus To Qubits And Schrödinger’S Killer App: Race To Build The World’S First Quantum Computer, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2013

Review Of Computing With Quantum Cats: From Colossus To Qubits And Schrödinger’S Killer App: Race To Build The World’S First Quantum Computer, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Book reviews of Computing With Quantum Cats: From Colossus To Qubits by John Gribbin and Schrödinger’s Killer App: Race To Build The World’s First Quantum Computer by John Dowling.


Point–Counterpoint: Can Anything Be Learned From Surveys On The Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics?, Matthew S. Leifer, Nathan Harshman Jan 2013

Point–Counterpoint: Can Anything Be Learned From Surveys On The Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics?, Matthew S. Leifer, Nathan Harshman

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

"In what follows, Matt Leifer and Nathan Harshman present opposing views on the value of surveys on foundational attitudes towards quantum mechanics. Three such surveys were recently published and their results are summarized in Table 1. Matt takes the `point,’ arguing that such surveys are not useful, while Nathan takes the `counterpoint.’ A complete set of references for both is given at the end."


Response To Griffiths, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2012

Response To Griffiths, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

"First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Griffith for his comments. The exchange has reminded me of the series of letters that appeared in Physics Today following the publication of an article by Chandralekha Singh, Mario Belloni, and Wolfgang Christian on improving the teaching of undergraduate quantum mechanics (see http://ptonline.aip.org/ journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_60/iss_3/8_1.shtml). In those responses, both Griffiths and Travis Norsen argued that students’ understanding of quantum mechanics would be vastly improved if they were taught more about the foundations of quantum theory, and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The thing is, Griffiths argued vociferously that this should be …


Review Of Elegance And Enigma: The Quantum Interviews, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2012

Review Of Elegance And Enigma: The Quantum Interviews, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Elegance and Enigma: The Quantum Interviews, edited by Maximilian Schlosshauer.


Review Of The Mathematical Language Of Quantum Theory: From Uncertainty To Entanglement, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2012

Review Of The Mathematical Language Of Quantum Theory: From Uncertainty To Entanglement, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of The Mathematical Language of Quantum Theory: From Uncertainty to Entanglement by Teiko Heinosaari and Mario Ziman.


Pbr, Epr, And All That Jazz, Matthew S. Leifer Jan 2012

Pbr, Epr, And All That Jazz, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

"In the past couple of months, the quantum foundations world has been abuzz about a new preprint entitled "The Quantum State Cannot be Interpreted Statistically" by Matt Pusey, Jon Barrett and Terry Rudolph (henceforth known as PBR). Since I wrote a blog post explaining the result, I have been inundated with more correspondence from scientists and more requests for comment from science journalists than at any other point in my career. Reaction to the result amongst quantum researchers has been mixed, with many people reacting negatively to the title, which can be misinterpreted as an attack on the Born rule. …


Triplet Superconductors From The Viewpoint Of Basic Elements For Quantum Computers, Armen M. Gulian, Kent S. Wood Jul 2003

Triplet Superconductors From The Viewpoint Of Basic Elements For Quantum Computers, Armen M. Gulian, Kent S. Wood

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We discuss possibilities of utilizing superconductors with Cooper condensates in triplet pairing states (where the spin of condensate pairs is S=1) for practical realization of quantum computers. Superconductors with triplet pairing condensates have features that are unique and cannot be found in the usual (singlet pairing, S=0) superconductors. The symmetry of the order parameter in some triplet superconductors (e.g., ruthenates) corresponds to doubly-degenerate chiral states. These states can serve as qubit base states for quantum computing.