Tackling Decoherence via Weak Quantum Measurement and Quantum Measurement Reversal

  • Event Date: 2015-11-13
  • AMO/QIS/CMT
  • Speaker: Dr. Yoon-Ho Kim (Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea)  /  Host: Ite A. Yu (National Tsing-Hua University)
    Place: P512 of NCTS, 5F, 3rd General Building, Nat'l Tsing Hua Univ.

Decoherence, often caused by unavoidable coupling with the environment, leads to degradation of quantum coherence. For a multipartite quantum system, decoherence leads to degradation of entanglement and, in certain cases, entanglement sudden death (ESD). Tackling decoherence, thus, is a critical issue faced in quantum information, as entanglement is a vital resource for many quantum information applications including quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum metrology. In this talk, I will describe a new approach for tackling decoherence by making use of weak quantum measurement and quantum measurement reversal. Unlike projection measurement in which the quantum state is irreversibly collapsed, weak quantum measurement only slightly perturbs the quantum state and it is possible to reverse the measurement so that the pre-measurement state is recovered probabilistically. I will first discuss an entanglement protection scheme in which weak and reversing measurements are used to effectively circumvent even ESD-causing decoherence. I will then discuss how this effect can be combined with the delayed-choice concept, leading to delayed-choice decoherence suppression in which the decision to suppress decoherence on an entangled two-qubit state is delayed until after the decoherence and even after the detection of a qubit.