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Busnaina JH, Shi Z, McDonald A, Dubyna D, Nsanzineza I, Hung JSC, Chang CWS, Clerk AA, Wilson CM. Quantum simulation of the bosonic Kitaev chain. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3065. [PMID: 38594258 PMCID: PMC11004022 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47186-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Superconducting quantum circuits are a natural platform for quantum simulations of a wide variety of important lattice models describing topological phenomena, spanning condensed matter and high-energy physics. One such model is the bosonic analog of the well-known fermionic Kitaev chain, a 1D tight-binding model with both nearest-neighbor hopping and pairing terms. Despite being fully Hermitian, the bosonic Kitaev chain exhibits a number of striking features associated with non-Hermitian systems, including chiral transport and a dramatic sensitivity to boundary conditions known as the non-Hermitian skin effect. Here, using a multimode superconducting parametric cavity, we implement the bosonic Kitaev chain in synthetic dimensions. The lattice sites are mapped to frequency modes of the cavity, and the in situ tunable complex hopping and pairing terms are created by parametric pumping at the mode-difference and mode-sum frequencies, respectively. We experimentally demonstrate important precursors of nontrivial topology and the non-Hermitian skin effect in the bosonic Kitaev chain, including chiral transport, quadrature wavefunction localization, and sensitivity to boundary conditions. Our experiment is an important first step towards exploring genuine many-body non-Hermitian quantum dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamal H Busnaina
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Zheng Shi
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Alexander McDonald
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
- Institut quantique and Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Dmytro Dubyna
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Ibrahim Nsanzineza
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Jimmy S C Hung
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - C W Sandbo Chang
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Aashish A Clerk
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Christopher M Wilson
- Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
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Sajeed S, Jennewein T. Observing quantum coherence from photons scattered in free-space. Light Sci Appl 2021; 10:121. [PMID: 34099624 PMCID: PMC8184973 DOI: 10.1038/s41377-021-00565-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Quantum channels in free-space, an essential prerequisite for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and quantum technologies in open space, have so far been based on direct line-of-sight because the predominant approaches for photon-encoding, including polarization and spatial modes, are not compatible with randomly scattered photons. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to transfer and recover quantum coherence from scattered, non-line-of-sight photons analyzed in a multimode and imaging interferometer for time-bins, combined with photon detection based on a 8 × 8 single-photon-detector-array. The observed time-bin visibility for scattered photons remained at a high 95% over a wide scattering angle range of -450 to +450, while the individual pixels in the detector array resolve or track an image in its field of view of ca. 0.5°. Using our method, we demonstrate the viability of two novel applications. Firstly, using scattered photons as an indirect channel for quantum communication thereby enabling non-line-of-sight quantum communication with background suppression, and secondly, using the combined arrival time and quantum coherence to enhance the contrast of low-light imaging and laser ranging under high background light. We believe our method will instigate new lines for research and development on applying photon coherence from scattered signals to quantum sensing, imaging, and communication in free-space environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shihan Sajeed
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
| | - Thomas Jennewein
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
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Semnani B, Flannery J, Al Maruf R, Bajcsy M. Spin-preserving chiral photonic crystal mirror. Light Sci Appl 2020; 9:23. [PMID: 32133126 PMCID: PMC7033220 DOI: 10.1038/s41377-020-0256-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Revised: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Chirality refers to a geometric phenomenon in which objects are not superimposable on their mirror image. Structures made of nanoscale chiral elements can exhibit chiroptical effects, such as dichroism for left- and right-handed circularly polarized light, which makes these structures highly suitable for applications ranging from quantum information processing and quantum optics to circular dichroism spectroscopy and molecular recognition. At the same time, strong chiroptical effects have been challenging to achieve even in synthetic optical media, and chiroptical effects for light with normal incidence have been speculated to be prohibited in thin, lossless quasi-two-dimensional structures. Here, we report an experimental realization of a giant chiroptical effect in a thin monolithic photonic crystal mirror. Unlike conventional mirrors, our mirror selectively reflects only one spin state of light while preserving its handedness, with a near-unity level of circular dichroism. The operational principle of the photonic crystal mirror relies on guided-mode resonance (GMR) with a simultaneous excitation of leaky transverse electric (TE-like) and transverse magnetic (TM-like) Bloch modes in the photonic crystal slab. Such modes are not reliant on the suppression of radiative losses through long-range destructive interference, and even small areas of the photonic crystal exhibit robust circular dichroism. Despite its simplicity, the mirror strongly outperforms earlier reported structures and, contrary to a prevailing notion, demonstrates that near-unity reflectivity contrast for opposite helicities is achievable in a quasi-two-dimensional structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Behrooz Semnani
- Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
- Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
| | - Jeremy Flannery
- Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
| | - Rubayet Al Maruf
- Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
- Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
| | - Michal Bajcsy
- Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
- Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L3G1 ON Canada
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