Quantum-controlled synthetic materials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a hybrid quantum platform that combines analog and digital control to create and manipulate complex many-body states in synthetic quantum materials, opening new avenues for quantum sensing and material science.

Contribution

It introduces a method to embed digital quantum control into analog quantum simulations of synthetic materials, enabling the creation of novel strongly-correlated states and entangled photon superpositions.

Findings

Generated superpositions of solid and fluid phases in a Bose-Hubbard system.

Localized photons into an entangled cat state using hybrid control.

Enhanced coherence of quantum states via many-body echo techniques.

Abstract

Analog quantum simulators and digital quantum computers are two distinct paradigms driving near-term applications in modern quantum science, from probing many-body phenomena to identifying computational advantage over classical systems. A transformative opportunity on the horizon is merging the high-fidelity many-body evolution in analog simulators with the robust control and measurement of digital machines. Such a hybrid platform would unlock new capabilities in state preparation, characterization and dynamical control. Here, we embed digital quantum control in the analog evolution of a synthetic quantum material by entangling the lattice potential landscape of a Bose-Hubbard circuit with an ancilla qubit. This Hamiltonian-level control induces dynamics under a superposition of different lattice configurations and guides the many-body system to novel strongly-correlated states where different phases of matter coexist -- ordering photons into superpositions of solid and fluid eigenstates. Leveraging hybrid control modalities, we adiabatically introduce disorder to localize the photons into an entangled cat state and enhance its coherence using a many-body echo technique. This work illustrates the potential for entangling quantum computers with quantum matter -- synthetic and solid-state -- for advantage in sensing and materials characterization.