Friday Quantum Seminar

One approach to ion-photon entanglement relies on transitions from 2P3/2 to the low-lying 2D3/2 and 2D5/2 states at 1345 nm and 1650 nm in Yb+ [1]. Here Purcell enhancement is crucial for achieving good performance in the context of quantum networking. In support of this effort, we developed a monolithic, fiber-coupled Fabry–Pérot cavity integrated with a blade trap that operates at cryogenic temperatures. One of the cavity mirrors is bonded to a metalens that mode-matches cavity light to a single-mode fiber.

Abstract: One approach to ion-photon entanglement relies on transitions from 2P3/2 to the low-lying 2D3/2 and 2D5/2 states at 1345 nm and 1650 nm in Yb+ [1]. Here Purcell enhancement is crucial for achieving good performance in the context of quantum networking. In support of this effort, we developed a monolithic, fiber-coupled Fabry–Pérot cavity integrated with a blade trap that operates at cryogenic temperatures. One of the cavity mirrors is bonded to a metalens that mode-matches cavity light to a single-mode fiber.

Instabilities, where initially small fluctuations seed the formation of large-scale structures, govern the dynamics in various fluid flows. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) is an iconic example that leads to the development of mushroom-shaped incursions when immiscible fluids are accelerated into each other. RTI drives structure formation throughout science and engineering including table-top oil and water mixtures; supernova explosions; and inertial confinement fusion.  Despite its ubiquity, controlled laboratory RTI experiments are technically challenging.

Abstract: Instabilities, where initially small fluctuations seed the formation of large-scale structures, govern the dynamics in various fluid flows. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) is an iconic example that leads to the development of mushroom-shaped incursions when immiscible fluids are accelerated into each other. RTI drives structure formation throughout science and engineering including table-top oil and water mixtures; supernova explosions; and inertial confinement fusion.  Despite its ubiquity, controlled laboratory RTI experiments are technically challenging.

We extend entropy production to a deeply quantum regime involving noncommuting conserved quantities. Consider a unitary transporting conserved quantities (“charges”) between two systems initialized in thermal states. Three common formulae model the entropy produced. They respectively cast entropy as an extensive thermodynamic variable, as an information-theoretic uncertainty measure, and as a quantifier of irreversibility. Often, the charges are assumed to commute with each other (e.g., energy and particle number). Yet quantum charges can fail to commute.

Abstract: We extend entropy production to a deeply quantum regime involving noncommuting conserved quantities. Consider a unitary transporting conserved quantities (“charges”) between two systems initialized in thermal states. Three common formulae model the entropy produced. They respectively cast entropy as an extensive thermodynamic variable, as an information-theoretic uncertainty measure, and as a quantifier of irreversibility. Often, the charges are assumed to commute with each other (e.g., energy and particle number). Yet quantum charges can fail to commute.

Abstract: In this talk, I present an experimental realization of a quantum absorption refrigerator formed from superconducting circuits. The refrigerator is used to reset a transmon qubit to a temperature lower than that achievable with any one available bath. The process is driven by a thermal gradient and is autonomous -- requires no external control. The refrigerator exploits an engineered three-body interaction between the target qubit and two auxiliary qudits coupled to thermal environments, formed from microwave waveguides populated with thermal photons.

In this talk, I present an experimental realization of a quantum absorption refrigerator formed from superconducting circuits. The refrigerator is used to reset a transmon qubit to a temperature lower than that achievable with any one available bath. The process is driven by a thermal gradient and is autonomous -- requires no external control. The refrigerator exploits an engineered three-body interaction between the target qubit and two auxiliary qudits coupled to thermal environments, formed from microwave waveguides populated with thermal photons.

We introduce parallel-sequential (PS) circuits, a family of quantum circuits characterized by a tunable degree of entanglement and maximum correlation length, which interpolates between brickwall and sequential circuits. We provide evidence that on noisy devices, properly chosen PS circuits suppress error proliferation and exhibit superior trainability and evaluation accuracy when employed as variational circuits, thus outperforming brickwall, sequential, and log-depth circuits in [Malz*, Styliaris*, Wei*, Cirac, PRL 2024] across most parameter regimes.

Abstract: We introduce parallel-sequential (PS) circuits, a family of quantum circuits characterized by a tunable degree of entanglement and maximum correlation length, which interpolates between brickwall and sequential circuits. We provide evidence that on noisy devices, properly chosen PS circuits suppress error proliferation and exhibit superior trainability and evaluation accuracy when employed as variational circuits, thus outperforming brickwall, sequential, and log-depth circuits in [Malz*, Styliaris*, Wei*, Cirac, PRL 2024] across most parameter regimes.