No Arabic abstract
We provide a class of quantum evolution beyond Markovian semigroup. This class is governed by a hybrid Davies like generator such that dissipation is controlled by a suitable memory kernel and decoherence by standard GKLS generator. These two processes commute and both of them commute with the unitary evolution controlled by the systems Hamiltonian. The corresponding memory kernel gives rise to semi-Markov evolution of the diagonal elements of the density matrix. However, the corresponding evolution needs not be completely positive. The role of decoherence generator is to restore complete positivity. Hence, to pose the dynamical problem one needs two processes generated by classical semi-Markov memory kernel and purely quantum decoherence generator. This scheme is illustrated for a qubit evolution.
The interaction among the components of a hybrid quantum system is often neglected when considering the coupling of these components to an environment. However, if the interaction strength is large, this approximation leads to unphysical predictions, as has been shown for cavity-QED and optomechanical systems in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. To deal with these cases, master equations with dissipators retaining the interaction between these components have been derived for the quantum Rabi model and for the standard optomechanical Hamiltonian. In this article, we go beyond these previous derivations and present a general master equation approach for arbitrary hybrid quantum systems interacting with thermal reservoirs. Specifically, our approach can be applied to describe the dynamics of open hybrid systems with harmonic, quasi-harmonic, and anharmonic transitions. We apply our approach to study the influence of temperature on multiphoton vacuum Rabi oscillations in circuit QED. We also analyze the influence of temperature on the conversion of mechanical energy into photon pairs in an optomechanical system, which has been recently described at zero temperature. We compare our results with previous approaches, finding that these sometimes overestimate decoherence rates and understimate excited-state populations.
Starting point is a given semigroup of completely positive maps on the 2 times 2 matrices. This semigroup describes the irreversible evolution of a decaying 2-level atom. Using the integral-sum kernel approach to quantum stochastic calculus we couple the 2-level atom to an environment, which in our case will be interpreted as the electromagnetic field. The irreversible time evolution of the 2-level atom then stems from the reversible time evolution of atom and field together. Mathematically speaking, we have constructed a Markov dilation of the semigroup. The next step is to drive the atom by a laser and to count the photons emitted into the field by the decaying 2-level atom. For every possible sequence of photon counts we construct a map that gives the time evolution of the 2-level atom inferred by that sequence. The family of maps that we obtain in this way forms a so-called Davies process. In his book Davies describes the structure of these processes, which brings us into the field of quantum trajectories. Within our model we calculate the jump operators and we briefly describe the resulting counting process.
If an open quantum system is initially uncorrelated from its environment, then its dynamics can be written in terms of a Lindblad-form master equation. The master equation is divided into a unitary piece, represented by an effective Hamiltonian, and a dissipative piece, represented by a hermiticity-preserving superoperator; however, the division of open system dynamics into unitary and dissipative pieces is non-unique. For finite-dimensional quantum systems, we resolve this non-uniqueness by specifying a norm on the space of dissipative superoperators and defining the canonical Hamiltonian to be the one whose dissipator is minimal. We show that the canonical Hamiltonian thus defined is equivalent to the Hamiltonian initially defined by Lindblad, and that it is uniquely specified by requiring the dissipators jump operators to be traceless. For a system weakly coupled to its environment, we give a recursive formula for computing the canonical effective Hamiltonian to arbitrary orders in perturbation theory, which we can think of as a perturbative scheme for renormalizing the systems bare Hamiltonian.
We propose and demonstrate a scheme to realize a high-efficiency truly quantum random number generator (RNG) at room temperature (RT). Using an effective extractor with simple time bin encoding method, the avalanche pulses of avalanche photodiode (APD) are converted into high-quality random numbers (RNs) that are robust to slow varying noise such as fluctuations of pulse intensity and temperature. A light source is compatible but not necessary in this scheme. Therefor the robustness of the system is effective enhanced. The random bits generation rate of this proof-of-principle system is 0.69 Mbps with double APDs and 0.34 Mbps with single APD. The results indicate that a high-speed RNG chip based on the scheme is potentially available with an integrable APD array.
Producing a large current typically requires large dissipation, as is the case in electric conduction, where Joule heating is proportional to the square of the current. Stochastic thermodynamics offers a framework to study nonequilibrium thermodynamics of small fluctuating systems, and quite recently, microscopic derivations and universal understanding of the trade-off relation between the current and dissipation have been put forward. Here we establish a universal framework clarifying how quantum coherence affects the trade-off between the current and dissipation: a proper use of coherence enhances the heat current without increasing dissipation, i.e. coherence can reduce friction. If the amount of coherence is large enough, this friction becomes virtually zero, realizing a superconducting-like ``dissipation-less heat current. Since our framework clarifies a general relation among coherence, energy flow, and dissipation, it can be applied to many branches of science. As an application to energy science, we construct a quantum heat engine cycle that exceeds the power-efficiency bound on classical engines, and effectively attains the Carnot efficiency with finite power in fast cycles. We discuss important implications of our findings with regard to the field of quantum information theory, condensed matter physics and biology.