General Bound on the Performance of Counter-Diabatic Driving Acting on Dissipative Spin Systems.

Counter-diabatic driving (CD) is a technique in quantum control theory designed to counteract nonadiabatic excitations and guide the system to follow its instantaneous energy eigenstates, and hence has applications in state preparation, quantum annealing, and quantum thermodynamics. However, in many practical situations, the effect of the environment cannot be neglected, and the performance of the CD is expected to degrade. To arrive at general bounds on the resulting error of CD in this situation we consider a driven spin-boson model as a prototypical setup.

Shortcuts to Adiabatic Pumping in Classical Stochastic Systems.

Adiabatic pumping is characterized by a geometric contribution to the pumped charge, which can be nonzero even in the absence of a bias. However, as the driving speed is increased, nonadiabatic excitations gradually reduce the pumped charge, thereby limiting the maximal applicable driving frequencies. To circumvent this problem, we here extend the concept of shortcuts to adiabaticity to construct a control protocol which enables geometric pumping well beyond the adiabatic regime.

Beyond Marcus theory and the Landauer-Büttiker approach in molecular junctions. II. A self-consistent Born approach.

Marcus and Landauer-Büttiker approaches to charge transport through molecular junctions describe two contrasting mechanisms of electronic conduction. In previous work, we have shown how these charge transport theories can be unified in the single-level case by incorporating lifetime broadening into the second-order quantum master equation. Here, we extend our previous treatment by incorporating lifetime broadening in the spirit of the self-consistent Born approximation.

Projecting an ultra-strongly-coupled system in a non-energy-eigenbasis with a driven nonlinear resonator.

We explore the problem of projecting the ground-state of an ultra-strong-coupled circuit-QED system into a non-energy-eigenstate. As a measurement apparatus we consider a nonlinear driven resonator. We find that the post-measurement state of the nonlinear resonator exhibits a large correlation with the post-measurement state of the ultra-strongly coupled system even when the coupling between measurement device and system is much smaller than the energy scales of the system itself.

Modelling the ultra-strongly coupled spin-boson model with unphysical modes.

A quantum system weakly coupled to a zero-temperature environment will relax, via spontaneous emission, to its ground-state. However, when the coupling to the environment is ultra-strong the ground-state is expected to become dressed with virtual excitations. This regime is difficult to capture with some traditional methods because of the explosion in the number of Matsubara frequencies, i.

Multielectron Ground State Electroluminescence.

The ground state of a cavity-electron system in the ultrastrong coupling regime is characterized by the presence of virtual photons. If an electric current flows through this system, the modulation of the light-matter coupling induced by this nonequilibrium effect can induce an extracavity photon emission signal, even when electrons entering the cavity do not have enough energy to populate the excited states. We show that this ground state electroluminescence, previously identified in a single-qubit system [Phys.

Optimizing co-operative multi-environment dynamics in a dark-state-enhanced photosynthetic heat engine.

We analyze the role of coherent, non-perturbative system-bath interactions in a photosynthetic heat engine. Using the reaction-coordinate formalism to describe the vibrational phonon-environment in the engine, we analyze the efficiency around an optimal parameter regime predicted in earlier studies. We show that, in the limit of high-temperature photon irradiation, the phonon-assisted population transfer between bright and dark states is suppressed due to dephasing from the photon environment, even in the Markov limit where we expect the influence of each bath to have an independent and additive effect on the dynamics.

Amplified Optomechanical Transduction of Virtual Radiation Pressure.

Here we describe how, utilizing a time-dependent optomechanical interaction, a mechanical probe can provide an amplified measurement of the virtual photons dressing the quantum ground state of an ultrastrongly coupled light-matter system. We calculate the thermal noise tolerated by this measurement scheme and discuss an experimental setup in which it could be realized.

Spatio-Temporal Steering for Testing Nonclassical Correlations in Quantum Networks.

We introduce the concept of spatio-temporal steering (STS), which reduces, in special cases, to Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering and the recently-introduced temporal steering. We describe two measures of this effect referred to as the STS weight and robustness. We suggest that these STS measures enable a new way to assess nonclassical correlations in an open quantum network, such as quantum transport through nano-structures or excitation transfer in a complex biological system.

Plasmonic bio-sensing for the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex.

We study theoretically the bio-sensing capabilities of metal nanowire surface plasmons. As a specific example, we couple the nanowire to specific sites (bacteriochlorophyll) of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) photosynthetic pigment protein complex. In this hybrid system, we find that when certain sites of the FMO complex are subject to either the suppression of inter-site transitions or are entirely disconnected from the complex, the resulting variations in the excitation transfer rates through the complex can be monitored through the corresponding changes in the scattering spectra of the incident nanowire surface plasmons.

When do perturbative approaches accurately capture the dynamics of complex quantum systems?

Understanding the dynamics of higher-dimensional quantum systems embedded in a complex environment remains a significant theoretical challenge. While several approaches yielding numerically converged solutions exist, these are computationally expensive and often provide only limited physical insight. Here we address the question: when do more intuitive and simpler-to-compute second-order perturbative approaches provide adequate accuracy? We develop a simple analytical criterion and verify its validity for the case of the much-studied FMO dynamics as well as the canonical spin-boson model.

Ground State Electroluminescence.

Electroluminescence, the emission of light in the presence of an electric current, provides information on the allowed electronic transitions of a given system. It is commonly used to investigate the physics of strongly coupled light-matter systems, whose eigenfrequencies are split by the strong coupling with the photonic field of a cavity. Here we show that, together with the usual electroluminescence, systems in the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime emit a uniquely quantum radiation when a flow of current is driven through them.

Energy transfer in structured and unstructured environments: Master equations beyond the Born-Markov approximations.

We explore excitonic energy transfer dynamics in a molecular dimer system coupled to both structured and unstructured oscillator environments. By extending the reaction coordinate master equation technique developed by Iles-Smith et al. [Phys.

Quantifying Non-Markovianity with Temporal Steering.

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is a type of quantum correlation which allows one to remotely prepare, or steer, the state of a distant quantum system. While EPR steering can be thought of as a purely spatial correlation, there does exist a temporal analogue, in the form of single-system temporal steering. However, a precise quantification of such temporal steering has been lacking.

Bistable Photon Emission from a Solid-State Single-Atom Laser.

We predict a bistability in the photon emission from a solid-state single-atom laser comprising a microwave cavity coupled to a voltage-biased double quantum dot. To demonstrate that the single-atom laser is bistable, we evaluate the photon emission statistics and show that the distribution takes the shape of a tilted ellipse. The switching rates of the bistability can be extracted from the electrical current and the shot noise in the quantum dots.

Using non-Markovian measures to evaluate quantum master equations for photosynthesis.

When dealing with system-reservoir interactions in an open quantum system, such as a photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, approximations are usually made to obtain the dynamics of the system. One question immediately arises: how good are these approximations, and in what ways can we evaluate them? Here, we propose to use entanglement and a measure of non-Markovianity as benchmarks for the deviation of approximate methods from exact results. We apply two frequently-used perturbative but non-Markovian approximations to a photosynthetic dimer model and compare their results with that of the numerically-exact hierarchy equation of motion (HEOM).

Rerouting excitation transfers in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex.

We investigate, using the hierarchy method, the entanglement and the excitation transfer efficiency of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex under two different local modifications: the suppression of transitions between particular sites and localized changes to the protein environment. We find that inhibiting the connection between site 5 and site 6, or completely disconnecting site 5 from the complex, leads to a dramatic enhancement of the entanglement between site 6 and site 7. Similarly, the transfer efficiency actually increases if site 5 is entirely disconnected from the complex.

Witnessing Quantum Coherence: from solid-state to biological systems.

Quantum coherence is one of the primary non-classical features of quantum systems. While protocols such as the Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI) and quantum tomography can be used to test for the existence of quantum coherence and dynamics in a given system, unambiguously detecting inherent "quantumness" still faces serious obstacles in terms of experimental feasibility and efficiency, particularly in complex systems. Here we introduce two "quantum witnesses" to efficiently verify quantum coherence and dynamics in the time domain, without the expense and burden of non-invasive measurements or full tomographic processes.

Delocalized single-photon Dicke states and the Leggett-Garg inequality in solid state systems.

We show how to realize a single-photon Dicke state in a large one-dimensional array of two-level systems, and discuss how to test its quantum properties. The realization of single-photon Dicke states relies on the cooperative nature of the interaction between a field reservoir and an array of two-level-emitters. The resulting dynamics of the delocalized state can display Rabi-like oscillations when the number of two-level emitters exceeds several hundred.

Distinguishing quantum and classical transport through nanostructures.

We consider the question of how to distinguish quantum from classical transport through nanostructures. To address this issue we have derived two inequalities for temporal correlations in nonequilibrium transport in nanostructures weakly coupled to leads. The first inequality concerns local charge measurements and is of general validity; the second concerns the current flow through the device and is relevant for double quantum dots.

Entanglement and the phase transition in single-mode superradiance.

We consider the entanglement properties of the quantum phase transition in the single-mode superradiance model, involving the interaction of a boson mode and an ensemble of atoms. For an infinite size system, the atom-field entanglement diverges logarithmically with the correlation length exponent. Using a continuous variable representation, we compare this to the divergence of the entropy in conformal field theories and derive an exact expression for the scaled concurrence and the cusplike nonanalyticity of the momentum squeezing.