Linear Optics Simulation of Quantum Non-Markovian Dynamics

Abstract

The simulation of open quantum dynamics has recently allowed the direct investigation of the features of system-environment interaction and of their consequences on the evolution of a quantum system. Such interaction threatens the quantum properties of the system, spoiling them and causing the phenomenon of decoherence. Sometimes however a coherent exchange of information takes place between system and environment, memory effects arise and the dynamics of the system becomes non-Markovian. Here we report the experimental realisation of a non-Markovian process where system and environment are coupled through a simulated transverse Ising model. By engineering the evolution in a photonic quantum simulator, we demonstrate the role played by system-environment correlations in the emergence of memory effects.

Harnessing non-Markovian quantum memory by environmental coupling

“…The environmental coupling thus reveals as a powerful and effective tool to activate and harness quantum nonMarkovianity of open systems. It is worth to notice that our system has the advantage to make it emerge in a clear way the effects of this coupling on the dynamics of a quantum system and, at the same time, to be simple enough to find feasibility within current experimental technologies, for instance in circuit QED [53] or in simulating all-optical setups [54]. Since non-Markovianity is linked to a dynamical recovery of the quantum coherence of a qubit [1,6], our work highlights that engineering and exploiting suitably structured compound environments can supply useful developments for controlling and preserving quantum memory resources.…”

“…Here we choose a model which complies with this requirement, namely a qubit interacting at the same time with two coupled single-mode cavities which in turn dissipate photons into their own memoryless (Markovian) or memory-keeping (non-Markovian) reservoirs. This system finds its natural implementation in nowadays technologies of circuit quantum electrodynamics [53] and also in simulating all-optical setups [54]. We shall show that the coupling strength between the two modes can harness the qubit non-Markovianity in different and even counterintuitive ways, independently of the nature of the reservoirs.…”

Collapse and revival of quantum coherence for a harmonic oscillator interacting with a classical fluctuating environment

“…On the other hand, the Markov assumption is violated in several situations of interest, e.g. in biological, optical, or solid-state systems [38][39][40][41], where a more detailed description of the environment, including the spectral structure and the inherent memory effects, is required [42][43][44][45]. In this regime, decoherence may be less detrimental and the dynamics may even induce recoherence.…”

Non-Markovian dynamics in two-qubit dephasing channels with an application to superdense coding

“…In recent years there has been rapid progress both in theory and experimental control of non-Markovian open quantum systems [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Further, first theoretical proposals for exploiting non-Markovianity for quantum information processing and metrology exist [6,20,21].…”