In quantum mechanics, measurements cause wavefunction collapse that yields precise outcomes, whereas for non-commuting observables such as position and momentum Heisenbergs uncertainty principle limits the intrinsic precision of a state.Although theoretical work 1 has demonstrated that it should be possible to perform simultaneous non-commuting measurements and has revealed the limits on measurement outcomes, only recently 2,3 has the dynamics of the quantum state been discussed. To realize this unexplored regime, we simultaneously apply two continuous quantum non-demolition probes of non-commuting observables to a superconducting qubit. We implement multiple readout channels by coupling the qubit to multiple modes of a cavity. To control the measurement observables, we implement a single quadrature measurement by driving the qubit and applying cavity sidebands with a relative phase that sets the observable. Here, we use this approach to show that the uncertainty principle governs the dynamics of the wavefunction by enforcing a lower bound on the measurement-induced disturbance. Consequently, as we transition from measuring identical to measuring non-commuting observables, the dynamics make a smooth transition from standard wavefunction collapse to localized persistent diffusion and then to isotropic persistent diffusion. Although the evolution of the state differs markedly from that of a conventional measurement, information about both non-commuting observables is extracted by keeping track of the time ordering of the measurement record, enabling quantum state tomography without alternating measurements. Our work creates novel capabilities for quantum control, including rapid state purification 4 , adaptive measurement 5,6 , measurement-based state steering and continuous quantum error correction 7 . As physical systems often interact continuously with their environment via non-commuting degrees of freedom, our work offers a way 8,9 to * shayhh@berkeley.edushayhh@berkeley.edu study how notions of contemporary quantum foundations 10-14 arise in such settings.In this work, we implement two high quantum efficiency readouts of the angular momenta about two different axes of an artificial spin-1/2 system and observe in real-time the resulting dynamics. Importantly, our measurements are designed to be individually quantum non-demolition, which ensures that the back-action arises only from the competition between incompatible observables.Our experiment utilizes a single superconducting transmon qubit coupled dispersively to a multimode waveguide cavity 15 . This results in a qubit-state dependent shift of the cavity mode frequency. By applying a microwave tone to a single cavity mode, one can infer the qubit state from the phase of the reflected signal 16 ; this readout scheme has been used extensively with superconducting qubits for quantum information processing, and also to perform weak measurements 17 and track quantum trajectories of a single qubit 18 . In our configuration, each cavity mode constitutes a measure...

The direct measurement of topological invariants in both engineered and naturally occurring quantum materials is a key step in classifying quantum phases of matter. Here we motivate a toolbox based on time-dependent quantum walks as a method to digitally simulate single-particle topological band structures. Using a superconducting qubit dispersively coupled to a microwave cavity, we implement two classes of split-step quantum walks and directly measure the topological invariant (winding number) associated with each. The measurement relies upon interference between two components of a cavity Schrödinger cat state and highlights a novel refocusing technique which allows for the direct implementation of a digital version of Bloch oscillations. Our scheme can readily be extended to higher dimensions, whereby quantum walk-based simulations can probe topological phases ranging from the quantum spin Hall effect to the Hopf insulator.