Comparison among Magnus/Floquet/Fer expansion schemes in solid-state NMR

Simple and General Unitarity Conserving Numerical Real-Time Propagators of the Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation Based on Magnus Expansion

Magnus expansion (ME) provides a general way to expand the real-time propagator of a time-dependent Hamiltonian within the exponential such that the unitarity is satisfied at any order. We use this property and explicit integration of Lagrange interpolation formulas for the time-dependent Hamiltonian within each time interval and derive approximations that preserve unitarity for the differential time evolution operators of general time-dependent Hamiltonians. The resulting second-order approximation is the same as using the average of Hamiltonians for two end points of time. We identify three fourth-order approximations involving commutators of Hamiltonians at different times and also derive a sixth-order expression. A test of these approximations along with other available expressions for a two-state time-dependent Hamiltonian with sinusoidal time dependences provides information on the relative performance of these approximations and suggests that the derived expressions can serve as useful numerical tools for time evolution in time-resolved spectroscopy, quantum control, quantum sensing, real-time ab initio quantum dynamics, and open system quantum dynamics.

Suppression of Pulsed Dynamic Nuclear Polarization by Many-Body Spin Dynamics

We study a mechanism by which nuclear hyperpolarization due to the polarization transfer from a microwave-pulse-controlled electron spin is suppressed. From analytical and numerical calculations of the unitary dynamics of multiple nuclear spins, we uncover that, combined with the formation of the dark state within a cluster of nuclei, coherent higher-order nuclear spin dynamics impose limits on the efficiency of the polarization transfer even in the absence of mundane depolarization processes such as nuclear spin diffusion and relaxation. Furthermore, we show that the influence of the dark state can be partly mitigated by introducing a disentangling operation. Our analysis is applied to the nuclear polarizations observed in ^{13}C nuclei coupled with a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond [Randall et al., Science 374, 1474 (2021)SCIEAS0036-807510.1126/science.abk0603]. Our Letter sheds light on collective engineering of nuclear spins as well as future designs of pulsed dynamic nuclear polarization protocols.

A critique on the suitability of Fer expansion in time-evolution studies in quantum mechanics

The present report examines the utility and exactness of time-propagators derived from Fer expansion (FE). While the mathematical intricacies of the FE scheme are well established, the operational aspects of the same in time-evolution studies remain less explored and authenticated in physical problems of relevance. Through suitable examples, the operational inconsistencies observed in time-evolution studies based on the FE scheme are identified and corroborated through rigorous comparisons with simulations emerging from exact numerical methods. The limitations outlined seriously undermine the advantages associated with the FE scheme over other existing analytic methods.

A continuous approach to Floquet theory for pulse-sequence optimization in solid-state NMR

We present a framework that uses a continuous frequency space to describe and design solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. The approach is similar to the well-established Floquet treatment for NMR, but it is not restricted to periodic Hamiltonians and allows the design of experiments in a reverse fashion. The framework is based on perturbation theory on a continuous Fourier space, which leads to effective, i.e., time-independent, Hamiltonians. It allows the back-calculation of the pulse scheme from the desired effective Hamiltonian as a function of spin-system parameters. We show as an example how to back-calculate the rf irradiation in the MIRROR experiment from the desired chemical-shift offset behavior of the sequence.

VarRCWA: An Adaptive High-Order Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis Method

Semianalytical methods, such as rigorous coupled wave analysis, have been pivotal in the numerical analysis of photonic structures. In comparison to other numerical methods, they have a much lower computational cost, especially for structures with constant cross-sectional shapes (such as metasurface units). However, when the cross-sectional shape varies even mildly (such as a taper), existing semianalytical methods suffer from high computational costs. We show that the existing methods can be viewed as a zeroth-order approximation with respect to the structure's cross-sectional variation. We derive a high-order perturbative expansion with respect to the cross-sectional variation. Based on this expansion, we propose a new semianalytical method that is fast to compute even in the presence of large cross-sectional shape variation. Furthermore, we design an algorithm that automatically discretizes the structure in a way that achieves a user-specified accuracy level while at the same time reducing the computational cost.

Uniaxial Dynamical Decoupling for an Open Quantum System

Dynamical decoupling (DD) is an active and effective method for suppressing decoherence of a quantum system from its environment. In contrast to the nominal biaxial DD, this work presents a uniaxial decoupling protocol that requires a significantly reduced number of pulses and a much lower bias field satisfying the "magic" condition. We show this uniaxial DD protocol works effectively in a number of model systems of practical interest, e.g., a spinor atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in stray magnetic fields (classical noise), or an electron spin coupled to nuclear spins (quantum noise) in a semiconductor quantum dot. It requires only half the number of control pulses and a 10-100 times lower bias field for decoupling as normally employed in the above mentioned illustrative examples, and the overall efficacy is robust against rotation errors of the control pulses. The uniaxial DD protocol we propose shines new light on coherent controls in quantum computing and quantum information processing, quantum metrology, and low field nuclear magnetic resonance.

Rebuilding of destroyed spin squeezing in noisy environments

We investigate the process of spin squeezing in a ferromagnetic dipolar spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate under the driven one-axis twisting scheme, with emphasis on the detrimental effect of noisy environments (stray magnetic fields) which completely destroy the spin squeezing. By applying concatenated dynamical decoupling pulse sequences with a moderate bias magnetic field to suppress the effect of the noisy environments, we faithfully reconstruct the spin squeezing process under realistic experimental conditions. Our noise-resistant method is ready to be employed to generate the spin squeezed state in a dipolar spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate and paves a feasible way to the Heisenberg-limit quantum metrology.

Handling the influence of chemical shift in amplitude-modulated heteronuclear dipolar recoupling solid-state NMR

We present a theoretical analysis of the influence of chemical shifts on amplitude-modulated heteronuclear dipolar recoupling experiments in solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The method is demonstrated using the Rotor Echo Short Pulse IRrAdiaTION mediated Cross-Polarization ((RESPIRATION)CP) experiment as an example. By going into the pulse sequence rf interaction frame and employing a quintuple-mode operator-based Floquet approach, we describe how chemical shift offset and anisotropic chemical shift affect the efficiency of heteronuclear polarization transfer. In this description, it becomes transparent that the main attribute leading to non-ideal performance is a fictitious field along the rf field axis, which is generated from second-order cross terms arising mainly between chemical shift tensors and themselves. This insight is useful for the development of improved recoupling experiments. We discuss the validity of this approach and present quaternion calculations to determine the effective resonance conditions in a combined rf field and chemical shift offset interaction frame transformation. Based on this, we derive a broad-banded version of the (RESPIRATION)CP experiment. The new sequence is experimentally verified using SNNFGAILSS amyloid fibrils where simultaneous (15)N → (13)CO and (15)N → (13)Cα coherence transfer is demonstrated on high-field NMR instrumentation, requiring great offset stability.