Alan C. Santos

To address the outstanding task of detecting entanglement in large quantum systems, entanglement witnesses have emerged, addressing the separable nature of a state. Yet optimizing witnesses, or accessing them experimentally, often remains a challenge. We here introduce a family of entanglement witnesses for open quantum systems, based on the electric field -- its quadratures and the total fluorescence. More general than spin-squeezing inequalities, it can detect new classes of entangled states, as changing the direction for far-field observation opens up a continuous family of witnesses, without the need for a state tomography. Their efficiency is demonstrated by detecting, from almost any direction, the entanglement of collective single-photon states, such as long-lived states generated by cooperative spontaneous emission. Able to detect entanglement in large quantum systems, these electric-field-based witnesses can be used on any set of emitters described by the Pauli group, such as atomic systems (cold atoms and trapped ions), giant atoms, color centers, and superconducting qubits.

Interference underpins some of the most practical and impactful properties of both the classical and quantum worlds. In this work we experimentally investigate a new formalism to describe interference effects, based on collective states which have enhanced or suppressed coupling to a two-level system. We employ a single trapped ion, whose electronic state is coupled to two of the ion's motional modes in order to simulate a multi-mode light-matter interaction. We observe the emergence of phononic bright and dark states for both a single phonon and a superposition of coherent states and demonstrate that a view of interference which is based solely on their decomposition in the collective basis is able to intuitively describe their coupling to a single atom. This work also marks the first time that multi-mode bright and dark states have been formed with the bounded motion of a single trapped ion and we highlight the potential of the methods discussed here for use in quantum information processing.

In this thesis, it is presented a set of results in adiabatic dynamics (closed and open system) and transitionless quantum driving that promote some advances in our understanding on quantum control and Hamiltonian inverse engineering. In the context of adiabatic dynamics in closed systems, it is introduced a validation mechanism for the adiabaticity conditions by studing the system dynamics from a non-inertial reference frame. By considering a decohering scenario, validity conditions of the adiabatic approximation are also studied. As a fresh general result with potential applications, it is shown that under decoherence the adiabaticity may still occur in the infinite time limit, as it happens for closed systems, for a class of initial quantum states. To end, the original contributions of this thesis to the theory of shortcuts to adiabaticity refers to a generalized approach of transitionless quantum driving, where one explores the gauge freedom of the quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic trajectories. A number of theoretical applications are studied, where some theoretical prediction presented in this thesis are experimentally verified through two different experimental setups, namely a qubit encoded in the energy hyperfine structure of a Ytterbium trapped ion, and in nuclear magnetic resonance with a nuclear spin qubit.

Suppressing undesired nonunitary effects is a major challenge in quantum computation and quantum control. In this work, by considering the adiabatic dynamics in presence of a surrounding environment, we theoretically and experimentally analyze the robustness of adiabaticity in open quantum systems. More specifically, by considering a decohering scenario, we exploit the validity conditions of the adiabatic approximation as well as its sensitiveness to the resonance situation, which typically harm adiabaticity in closed systems. As an illustration, we implement an oscillating Landau-Zener Hamiltonian, which shows that decoherence may drive the resonant system with high fidelities to the adiabatic behavior of open systems. Moreover we also implement the adiabatic quantum algorithm for the Deutsch problem, where a distinction is established between the open system adiabatic density operator and the target pure state expected in the computation process. Preferred time windows for obtaining the desired outcomes are then analyzed. We experimentally realize these systems through a single trapped Ytterbium ion $^{171}$Yb$^+$, where the ion hyperfine energy levels are used as degrees of freedom of a two-level system, with both driven field and decohering strength efficiently controllable.

An experiment based on a trapped Ytterbium ion validates the inertial theorem for the SU(2) algebra. The qubit is encoded within the hyperfine states of the atom and controlled by RF fields. The inertial theorem generates analytical solutions for non-adiabatically driven systems that are `accelerated' slowly, bridging the gap between the sudden and adiabatic limits. These solutions are shown to be stable to small deviations, both experimentally and theoretically. As a result, the inertial solutions pave the way to rapid quantum control of closed, as well as open quantum systems. For large deviations from the inertial condition, the amplitude diverges while the phase remains accurate.

Quantum thermodynamics aims at investigating both the emergence and the limits of the laws of thermodynamics from a quantum mechanical microscopic approach. In this scenario, thermodynamic processes with no heat exchange, namely, adiabatic transformations, can be implemented through quantum evolutions in closed systems, even though the notion of a closed system is always an idealization and approximation. Here, we begin by theoretically discussing thermodynamic adiabatic processes in open quantum systems, which evolve non-unitarily under decoherence due to its interaction with its surrounding environment. From a general approach for adiabatic non-unitary evolution, we establish heat and work in terms of the underlying Liouville superoperator governing the quantum dynamics. As a consequence, we derive the conditions that an adiabatic open-system quantum dynamics implies in the absence of heat exchange, providing a connection between quantum and thermal adiabaticity. Moreover, we determine families of decohering systems exhibiting the same maximal heat exchange, which imply in classes of thermodynamic adiabaticity in open systems. We then approach the problem experimentally using a hyperfine energy-level quantum bit of an Ytterbium $^{171}$Yb$^+$ trapped ion, which provides a work substance for thermodynamic processes, allowing for the analysis of heat and internal energy throughout a controllable engineered dynamics.

Validity conditions for the adiabatic approximation are useful tools to understand and predict the quantum dynamics. Remarkably, the resonance phenomenon in oscillating quantum systems has challenged the adiabatic theorem. In this scenario, inconsistencies in the application of quantitative adiabatic conditions have led to a sequence of new approaches for adiabaticity. Here, by adopting a different strategy, we introduce a validation mechanism for the adiabatic approximation by driving the quantum system to a non-inertial reference frame. More specifically, we begin by considering several relevant adiabatic approximation conditions previously derived and show that all of them fail by introducing a suitable oscillating Hamiltonian for a single quantum bit (qubit). Then, by evaluating the adiabatic condition in a rotated non-inertial frame, we show that all of these conditions, including the standard adiabatic condition, can correctly describe the adiabatic dynamics in the original frame, either far from resonance or at a resonant point. Moreover, we prove that this validation mechanism can be extended for general multi-particle quantum systems, establishing the conditions for the equivalence of the adiabatic behavior as described in inertial or non-inertial frames. In order to experimentally investigate our method, we consider a hyperfine qubit through a single trapped Ytterbium ion $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$, where the ion hyperfine energy levels are used as degrees of freedom of a two-level system. By monitoring the quantum evolution, we explicitly show the consistency of the adiabatic conditions in the non-inertial frame.

It is known that high intensity fields are usually required to implement shortcuts to adiabaticity via Transitionless Quantum Driving (TQD). Here, we show that this requirement can be relaxed by exploiting the gauge freedom of generalized TQD, which is expressed in terms of an arbitrary phase when mimicking the adiabatic evolution. We experimentally investigate the performance of generalized TQD in comparison with both traditional TQD and adiabatic dynamics. By using a $^{171}$Yb$^+$ trapped ion hyperfine qubit, we implement a Landau-Zener adiabatic Hamiltonian and its (traditional and generalized) TQD counterparts. We show that the generalized theory provides optimally implementable Hamiltonians for TQD, with no additional fields required. In addition, the energetically optimal TQD Hamiltonian for the Landau-Zener model is investigated under dephasing. Remarkably, even using less intense fields, optimal TQD exhibits fidelities that are more robust against a decohering environment, with performance superior than that provided by the adiabatic dynamics.