A quantum metamaterial can be implemented as a quantum coherent 1D array of qubits placed in a transmission line. The properties of quantum metamaterials are determined by the local quantum state of the system. Here we show that a spatially-periodic quantum state of such a system can be realized without direct control of the constituent qubits, by their interaction with the initializing (priming) pulses sent through the system in opposite directions. The properties of the resulting quantum photonic crystal are determined by the choice of the priming pulses. This proposal can be readily generalized to other implementations of quantum metamaterials.
In this paper we consider a two-dimensional metamaterial comprising an array of qubits (two level quantum objects). Here we show that a two-dimensional quantum metamaterial may be controlled, e.g. via the application of a magnetic flux, so as to provide controllable refraction of an input signal. Our results are consistent with a material that could be quantum birefringent (beam splitter) or not dependent on the application of this control parameter. We note that quantum metamaterials as proposed here may be fabricated from a variety of current candidate technologies from superconducting qubits to quantum dots. Thus the ideas proposed in this work would be readily testable in existing state of the art laboratories.
We show that nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond can produce a novel quantum hyperbolic metamaterial. We demonstrate that a hyperbolic dispersion relation in diamond with NV centers can be engineered and dynamically tuned by applying a magnetic field. This quantum hyperbolic metamaterial with a tunable window for the negative refraction allows for the construction of a superlens beyond the diffraction limit. In addition to subwavelength imaging, this NV-metamaterial can be used in spontaneous emission enhancement, heat transport and acoustics, analogue cosmology, and lifetime engineering. Therefore, our proposal interlinks the two hotspot fields, i.e., NV centers and metamaterials.
Models based on non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can exhibit a range of surprising and potentially useful phenomena. Physical realizations typically involve couplings to sources of incoherent gain and loss; this is problematic in quantum settings, because of the unavoidable fluctuations associated with this dissipation. Here, we present several routes for obtaining unconditional non-Hermitian dynamics in non-dissipative quantum systems. We exploit the fact that quadratic bosonic Hamiltonians that do not conserve particle number give rise to non-Hermitian dynamical matrices. We discuss the nature of these mappings from non-Hermitian to Hermitian Hamiltonians, and explore applications to quantum sensing, entanglement dynamics and topological band theory. The systems we discuss could be realized in a variety of photonic and phononic platforms using the ubiquitous resource of parametric driving.
We present a quantum algorithm to simulate general finite dimensional Lindblad master equations without the requirement of engineering the system-environment interactions. The proposed method is able to simulate both Markovian and non-Markovian quantum dynamics. It consists in the quantum computation of the dissipative corrections to the unitary evolution of the system of interest, via the reconstruction of the response functions associated with the Lindblad operators. Our approach is equally applicable to dynamics generated by effectively non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. We confirm the quality of our method providing specific error bounds that quantify itss accuracy.
Increasing fidelity is the ultimate challenge of quantum information technology. In addition to decoherence and dissipation, fidelity is affected by internal imperfections such as impurities in the system. Here we show that the quality of quantum revival, i.e., periodic recurrence in the time evolution, can be restored almost completely by coupling the distorted system to an external field obtained from quantum optimal control theory. We demonstrate the procedure with wave-packet calculations in both one- and two-dimensional quantum wells, and analyze the required physical characteristics of the control field. Our results generally show that the inherent dynamics of a quantum system can be idealized at an extremely low cost.