Stochastic quantum Zeno-based detection of noise correlations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the survival probability of a quantum system under continuous observation, modeled by Stochastic Quantum Zeno Dynamics, reveals information about environmental noise correlations and non-Markovian effects, with implications for quantum sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze environment-induced noise correlations through the system's survival probability, linking quantum measurement dynamics to environmental properties.

Findings

Time correlations affect the equivalence of time and ensemble averages of survival probability.

Environmental correlations can induce non-Markovian dynamics in the quantum system.

Proposes a quantum sensing scheme to probe environmental structures via survival probability measurements.

Abstract

A system under constant observation is practically freezed to the measurement subspace. If the system driving is a random classical field, the survival probability of the system in the subspace becomes a random variable described by the Stochastic Quantum Zeno Dynamics (SQZD) formalism. Here, we study the time and ensemble average of this random survival probability and demonstrate how time correlations in the noisy environment determine whether the two averages do coincide or not. These environment time correlations can potentially generate non-Markovian dynamics of the quantum system depending on the structure and energy scale of the system Hamiltonian. We thus propose a way to probe this interesting property of the environment by means of the system survival probability. This will further contribute to the development of new schemes for quantum sensing technologies, where nanodevices may be exploited to image external structures or biological molecules via the surface field they generate.