Emergence of steady quantum transport in a superconducting processor

Non-equilibrium quantum transport is crucial to technological advances ranging from nanoelectronics to thermal management. In essence, it deals with the coherent transfer of energy and (quasi-)particles through quantum channels between thermodynamic baths. A complete understanding of quantum transport thus requires the ability to simulate and probe macroscopic and microscopic physics on equal footing. Using a superconducting quantum processor, we demonstrate the emergence of non-equilibrium steady quantum transport by emulating the baths with qubit ladders and realising steady particle currents between the baths. We experimentally show that the currents are independent of the microscopic details of bath initialisation, and their temporal fluctuations decrease rapidly with the size of the baths, emulating those predicted by thermodynamic baths. The above characteristics are experimental evidence of pure-state statistical mechanics and prethermalisation in non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems. Furthermore, by utilising precise controls and measurements with single-site resolution, we demonstrate the capability to tune steady currents by manipulating the macroscopic properties of the baths, including filling and spectral properties. Our investigation paves the way for a new generation of experimental exploration of non-equilibrium quantum transport in strongly correlated quantum matter.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2024-11-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54332-9
Citations
10
Primary Topic
Quantum many-body systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.38

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article

Emergence of steady quantum transport in a superconducting processor

Ziqi Tan, Yiren Zou, Aosai Zhang, Jinfeng Deng et al.
10 citations
Nature Communications
Quantum many-body systems
3.38
article

Emergence of steady quantum transport in a superconducting processor

Ziqi Tan, Yiren Zou, Aosai Zhang, Jinfeng Deng, Zhen Wang, Hang Dong, Chu Guo, Dario Poletti, Liangtian Zhao, Chao Song, Tingting Li, Hekang Li, Xiansong Xu, Yaozu Wu, Qiujiang Guo, Zehang Bao, Pengfei Zhang, Yu Gao, Feitong Jin, Fanhao Shen, H. Wang, Xuhao Zhu, Jiarun Zhong, Zitian Zhu, Jiachen Chen, Ke Wang, Zhengyi Cui, Shibo Xu, Xu Zhang, Chuanyu Zhang, Ning Wang, Jie Hao
article en
10 citations

Abstract

Non-equilibrium quantum transport is crucial to technological advances ranging from nanoelectronics to thermal management. In essence, it deals with the coherent transfer of energy and (quasi-)particles through quantum channels between thermodynamic baths. A complete understanding of quantum transport thus requires the ability to simulate and probe macroscopic and microscopic physics on equal footing. Using a superconducting quantum processor, we demonstrate the emergence of non-equilibrium steady quantum transport by emulating the baths with qubit ladders and realising steady particle currents between the baths. We experimentally show that the currents are independent of the microscopic details of bath initialisation, and their temporal fluctuations decrease rapidly with the size of the baths, emulating those predicted by thermodynamic baths. The above characteristics are experimental evidence of pure-state statistical mechanics and prethermalisation in non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems. Furthermore, by utilising precise controls and measurements with single-site resolution, we demonstrate the capability to tune steady currents by manipulating the macroscopic properties of the baths, including filling and spectral properties. Our investigation paves the way for a new generation of experimental exploration of non-equilibrium quantum transport in strongly correlated quantum matter.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 15(1)
Centre for Quantum Technologies (SG), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SG), National University of Singapore (SG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Shandong Institute of Automation (CN), Institute of Automation (CN), UMI MajuLab (SG), Zhejiang Lab (CN), State Key Laboratory of Cryptology (CN), Chengdu Normal University (CN), Sichuan Normal University (CN), Zhejiang University (CN)
National Research Foundation, National Research Foundation Singapore, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Israel Science Foundation, Ministry of Education, India, Zhejiang University, National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Quantum many-body systems
3.38
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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