APQ 2011-12

Revision Lecture May 2nd 2012

Different components of the course

Vision for Quantum Information Processing Quantum Mechanical pre-requisites Two-level atom light coupling Many qubit states and Entanglement Quantum Gates Physical Realization Controlling atoms with light Trapping atoms Rydberg-atom gates

Vision of a quantum computer

From http://cam.qubit.org/

Schrdingers prediction ARE THERE QUANTUM JUMPS ?

we never experiment with just one electron or atom or (small) molecule. In thought experiments we sometimes do; this invariably entail ridiculous consequences . . . . In the first place it is fair to state that we are not experimenting with single particles, any more than we can raise Ichthyosauria in the zoo. (Schrdinger, 1952).

Seeing single atoms

CCD

5 m

counts / ms

12 8

4
0 0 5 10 15 20 25

time (s)

Steps in the signal show that only one atom is in the trap http://www.iota.u-psud.fr/~grangier/Quantum_optics.html

Quantum Mechanical pre-requisites

Exponential scaling gives quantum computers enormous power Scalar products Eigenvalues and vectors of matrices Hermitian and Unitary matrices Pauli matrices Density matrices Projection operators Tensor products

Two-level atom light coupling

Two state model

The Rabi solution.

Bloch sphere

The Ramsey technique

Many qubit states and Entanglement

Understanding the difference between product and entangled states

for reasons which nobody fully understands, entangled states play a crucial role in quantum computation and quantum information Classical correlations socks EPR thought experiment Quantum correlations not like socks Bell states Engineering Entanglement

Quantum Gates
The CNOT as a universal quantum gate
C T C T Control 0 do nothing Control 1 NOT target C T

Quantum circuits the swap circuit

The C-Z gate

Constructing a CNOT quantum gate

Physical Realization
Possible architecture of a quantum computer

DiVincenzos 5 criteria

Experimental geometry

Atom-light interactions

There are 2 types of atom-light interactions

the light can be absorbed
imaginary part of refractive index Lorentzian lineshape absorption width G

the speed of light is reduced

real part of refractive index
dispersion lineshape

refractive index

w0

frequency

w0

frequency

Atomic recoil - the Compton effect

A binary encounter between radiation and matter

Conservation of momentum and energy necessitate a recoil

Controlling atoms with light

The external states of atoms can be controlled optical pumping; The internal states of atoms can be controlled laser cooling Stimulated Raman transitions

R
watom

L
Force

Laser cooling utilizes the dissipative scattering force

Velocity

The Doppler limit for laser cooling is in the 100s of mK regime

F-v

Trapping atoms
Atoms can be trapped at the focus of a far-detuned laser beam A FORT utilizes the conservative dipole force

The dipole force is associate with the gradient of intensity

Atoms can held and positioned with optical tweezers

Rydberg-atom gates
Rydberg atoms have huge dipole moments

Rydberg atoms interact strongly with each other

Rydberg blockade the presence of Rydberg atom prevents the excitation of another in the vicinity.

Nature Physics 5, 110 - 114 (2009)

Demonstration of a neutral atom controlled-NOT quantum gate

Model for decoherence entanglement with environment

Ramsey interferometer where one of the arms is coupled to the environment

Understanding the link between the visibility of the fringes and the which-path information, and being able to describe this in terms of complementarity

Practice

There are three resources for practice questions for you to test your understanding

Homework questions Past papers APQ practice questions (available on DUO)

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Change of syllabus

There has been a change of syllabus in the last 4 years. Many topics covered in past exam papers are now not covered. These include Details of extended cavity diode lasers Sideband transitions Lamb-Dicke parameter Ion traps Quantum Eraser