PRL Tsinghua team proposes a disruptive new strategy for protecting quantum information

A new method for predicting the behavior of quantum systems provides an important tool for real-world applications of quantum technology: scientists have discovered a method for predicting the behavior of many-body quantum systems coupled to their environment. This advance is crucial for the protection of quantum data in quantum devices, paving the way for practical applications of quantum technology.

 

A team of researchers from Aalto University, Finland, and Tsinghua University, China, published related results Topological Spin Excitations in Non-Hermitian Spin Chains with a Generalized Kernel Polynomial Algorithm in Physical Review Letters.

 

 

This time, the team's approach combines techniques from two fields, namely quantum many-body physics and non-Hermitian quantum physics. Specifically, they published a new method for predicting the behavior of quantum systems when they are connected to the external environment.

 

Typically, connecting a system like a quantum computer to its environment can lead to decoherence and information leakage, compromising the data within the system. However, researchers have devised a technique to turn this problem into a useful solution.

 

One of the most intriguing and powerful phenomena in quantum systems is multi-body quantum correlation. Understanding these phenomena and predicting their behavior is critical because they underlie the exotic properties of key components of quantum computers and quantum sensors. While much progress has been made in predicting quantum correlations when matter is isolated from its environment, scientists have so far been unable to do so when matter is coupled to its environment.

 

In the new study, the team shows that connecting a quantum device to an external system can be an advantage under the right circumstances. When a quantum device is host to a so-called non-Ermy topology, it leads to powerful protective quantum excitations whose resilience stems from the fact that they are open to their environment.

 

These open quantum systems have the potential to bring disruptive new strategies to quantum technology, using external coupling to protect information from decoherence and leakage.

 

 

Illustration of open quantum systems and non-Ermy topology

 

"The approach we developed allows us to solve related quantum problems that present both dissipation and quantum many-body interactions." First author Guangze Chen said, "As a proof of concept, we demonstrated the method for systems with 24 interacting quantum bits that are characterized by topological excitations."

 

Professor Jose L. Lado of Finland explained that their method will help move quantum research from idealized conditions to real-world applications. "Predicting the behavior of correlated quantum matter is one of the key issues in the theoretical design of quantum materials and devices. However, this problem becomes even more difficult when considering the reality of quantum systems coupled to the external environment." He said, "Our results represent an advance in solving this problem, providing a way to understand and predict quantum materials and devices under realistic conditions in quantum technology."

 

Link to original article:

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.100401

 

Reference link:

https://scitechdaily.com/quantum-breakthrough-new-method-protects-information-from-decoherence-and-leaks/