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Igor Lesanovsky

Publications and source records attributed to Igor Lesanovsky.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Quantum Fisher information of driven-dissipative systems from Keldysh path integrals

Driven-dissipative many-body quantum systems can be exploited in quantum enhanced sensing protocols. Here, non-classical correlations may allow one to reach a measurement precision that surpasses the standard quantum limit. The relevant figure of merit for assessing such quantum advantage is the quantum Fisher information (QFI). In a many-body setting its computation is challenging as it requires knowledge of the full system-environment state. Here we make use of a field-theoretical approach, which is particularly well suited for systems with many degrees of freedom. In particular, we show that the QFI can be linked to a Keldysh path-integral. This route leads to a semiclassical expression of the QFI, which is obtained through a controlled expansion in the so- called quantum fields. We benchmark the framework on three systems of increasing complexity: the driven-dissipative harmonic oscillator, the boundary time crystal - which becomes semiclassical at large system sizes - and a two-dimensional array of collectively emitting atoms. We assess in which parameter regimes the semiclassical description holds and gives access to system sizes beyond the reach of exact methods.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Quantum simulation with Rydberg ions in a Penning trap

Quantum simulation of interacting many-body spin systems is routinely performed with cold trapped ions, and systems with hundreds of spins have been studied in one and two dimensions. In the most common realizations of these platforms, spin degrees of freedom are encoded in low-lying electronic levels, and interactions among the spins are mediated through crystal vibrations. Here we propose a new approach which enables the quantum simulation of two-dimensional spin systems with interaction strengths that are increased by orders of magnitude. This, together with the unprecedented longevity of trapped ions, opens an avenue for the exploration of phenomena that take place on long timescales, e.g., slow and collective relaxation in frustrated and kinetically constrained systems. Our platform makes use of the strong dipolar interactions among electronic Rydberg states and planar confinement provided by a Penning trap. We investigate how the strong electric and magnetic fields that form this trap affect the properties of the Rydberg states and show that spin-spin interaction strengths on the order of MHz are achievable under experimentally realistic conditions. As a brief illustration of the capabilities of this quantum simulator, we study the entanglement in a frustrated spin system realized by three ions.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Anomalously enhanced lifetimes of low angular momentum Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions

Trapped ions excited to high-lying electronic states, so-called Rydberg states, open new opportunities for quantum simulation and quantum computing. Generally, the fidelity of quantum coherent operations critically depends on the longevity of Rydberg states. However, scaling laws predict that the lifetimes of Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions are 16 times shorter, compared to their neutral atom counterparts. Here, we show that this is not generally the case. We report an anomalous lifetime enhancement of certain low angular momentum ionic Rydberg series by factors larger than eight. The anomaly is present at both zero and finite temperature, although it is caused by different mechanisms. At zero temperature, the anomalously enhanced lifetimes are caused by accidental cancellations of the relevant dipole transition matrix elements, while at room temperature the anomaly originates from the enlarged energetic separation of ionic Rydberg levels with respect to neutral-atom levels.

physics.atom-ph↗
arXiv2026

The effects of shot noise on the quantum computation of NMR spectra

Recent advances in the field of quantum computing hardware motivate the search for applications which demonstrate so-called quantum advantage. One promising use case that has been identified is the simulation of quantum many-body systems. The computational resources required for performing such a simulation on a classical computer generally grow exponentially with the size of the system being modeled, which is ultimately due to the exponential growth of the Hilbert space in which the dynamics of such a system take place. While digital quantum computers natively evolve quantum states directly in such a Hilbert space, thus naively avoiding this problem, the result of such a computation is typically not obtained as a deterministic output. Rather, it requires projective measurements which are fundamentally affected by shot noise. Any desired expectation values must therefore be reconstructed from repeated measurements, making the number of those measurements a relevant computational resource, and thus an important consideration for any potential claims of quantum advantage. In this work, we study how this resource scales with system size (a scaling which itself depends on the desired accuracy of the final result), using the simulation of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra as a test case. We study this scaling for both real-world molecules, as well as a class of model NMR Hamiltonians which allow for efficient large-scale simulations with one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and all-to-all interactions. We find that the required resources increase only weakly with molecular size, far below the exponential growth of the underlying Hilbert space. This result suggests that shot noise should not pose a fundamental barrier to achieving quantum advantage in the simulation of NMR systems, and perhaps for many-body systems more broadly.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Hierarchical time crystals

Spontaneous symmetry breaking is one of the central organizing principles in physics. Time crystals have emerged as an exotic phase of matter, spontaneously breaking the time translational symmetry, and are mainly categorized as discrete or continuous. While these distinct types of time crystals have been extensively explored as standalone systems, intriguing effects can arise from their mutual interaction. Here, we demonstrate that a time-independent coupled system of discrete and continuous time crystals induces a simultaneous twofold temporal symmetry breaking, resulting in a hierarchical time crystal phase. Interestingly, one of the subsystems breaks a discrete temporal symmetry that is absent from the time-independent Liouvillian generating the dynamics, but instead emerges dynamically, giving rise to a convoluted non-equilibrium phase. We demonstrate that hierarchical time crystals are robust, emerging for fundamentally different coupling schemes and persisting across wide ranges of system parameters.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Glassy dynamics with softened kinetic constraints on a noisy quantum computer

Mid-circuit measurements provide direct access to trajectory-level observables, revealing dynamical structures in many-body systems that are invisible in ensemble-averaged quantities. We exploit this capability to realize and study an instance of the Floquet-East model on a superconducting quantum processor. Here, the combination of mid-circuit measurements, kinetically constrained unitary operations and hardware noise gives rise to intricate many-body phenomena. Analyzing trajectories obtained from temporally and spatially resolved mid-circuit measurements, we identify dynamical heterogeneity --- a hallmark of glassy dynamics. We quantify this emergent behavior by studying the probability of finding inactive space-time regions of a given size. This quantity displays a crossover from area- to perimeter-dominated scaling, which is a characteristic property of glasses and is associated with the proximity to a dynamical first-order phase transition. Our results establish current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices as scalable testbeds for investigating correlated many-body phenomena at the level of measurement trajectories.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Quantum to classical relaxation dynamics of the dissipative Rydberg gas

We investigate the relaxation dynamics of a Rydberg gas in regimes where coherent processes and dissipation compete. In the strongly dissipative limit, the dynamics is known to be governed by an effective classical rate equation and to exhibit kinetically constrained, glassy relaxation towards a trivial stationary state. This behaviour originates from the Rydberg blockade, which prevents simultaneous excitations within a characteristic blockade radius. However, the fate of kinetic constraints in the weakly dissipative limit remains unexplored in large systems above one dimension. To access large system sizes and two-dimensional geometries, we employ the truncated Wigner approximation, a phase-space method that captures correlated many-body dynamics beyond classical rate equations. To probe the emergence of kinetic constraints on timescales where coherent and dissipative processes are comparable, we analyse the relaxation dynamics starting from two initial states: a fully polarised state and a Néel state, which belongs to a manifold of so-called quantum scars. In both cases, we observe a pronounced slowdown in the relaxation of the magnetisation towards the stationary state and identify transient signatures of quantum kinetically constrained dynamics in one and two dimensions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗
arXiv2026

The Boundary Time Crystal as a light source for collectively enhanced sensing

Modern precision measurements, such as interferometry for detecting gravitational waves, rely on the estimation of optical phases encoded in light fields. Here, we propose to exploit the collectively enhanced output field of a driven-dissipative many-body quantum system as a light source in order to improve the precision of estimating optical phases. Pronounced temporal correlations of such output fields benefit the sensitivity of measurement protocols, which we show theoretically by employing a boundary time crystal as a light source. The fundamental bound on the precision of such estimation shows scaling with the number of constituents $N$ of the many-body system as $N^4$ while scaling linearly with the measurement time $T$. We discuss this scaling both from a perspective of the resources employed to build the light source and of the resources produced by the light source. We show that a measurement scheme, in which the phase shifted light field is guided into an auxiliary replica system, which serves as a detector that is sensitive to non-trivial temporal correlations of light, can saturate the fundamental bound on precision at an optimal operating point.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Coherent control of subradiant excitations in atomic rings

Collective excitations in ordered subwavelength atomic arrays can exhibit strongly suppressed radiative decay due to interference between light scattered by neighboring emitters. These so-called subradiant states make these systems a promising platform for storing and manipulating photonic excitations. The external geometry of the array, combined with dynamical control of the atomic dipole orientation, enables localized trapping and coherent transport of these subradiant excitations. Here, we theoretically demonstrate these capabilities in ring-shaped atomic arrays. Specifically, we show adiabatic transport of a localized excitation around a single ring, coherent transfer of a single excitation between two neighboring rings with geometry-controlled selectivity, and interaction-induced conditional phase shifts between two simultaneously trapped excitations in neighboring rings. The latter can be interpreted as effective controlled-phase operations between stored excitations. Together, these results demonstrate the potential of ordered atomic arrays as a platform for coherent photonic quantum information processing with dissipation-protected collective excitations.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Path integral approach to the truncated Wigner approximation of driven-dissipative spins

Phase-space approaches such as the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) provide an efficient semiclassical framework for performing approximate simulations of the dynamics of open quantum many-body systems outside the reach of exact numerical methods but beyond the mean-field level. For bosonic systems, TWA is known to be equivalent to a Keldysh path-integral formulation truncated at second order in the so-called quantum fluctuations. This semiclassical approach provides an alternative transparent route towards approximate stochastic equations of motion, which can be efficiently solved. Here we establish the corresponding path-integral formulation for interacting open spin-$1/2$ systems using the continuous $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ phase space. We show, in particular, that a consistent treatment of dissipation requires correctly mapping operator products onto the curved spin phase space, leading to stochastic equations that coincide with those obtained from the continuous TWA formulation and thus reproduce the exact dynamics of a single dissipative spin. Our results provide a unified field-theoretic foundation for the TWA to dissipative spin dynamics and offer a systematic starting point for extensions beyond the semiclassical approximation.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Quantum Synchronization

Natural and engineered classical systems are replete with examples of synchronization, understood as the adjustment of rhythms of physical systems. Such synchronization is at the heart of the stability of several classical technologies, such as mechanical bridges and electrical networks. Given the advent of quantum simulation and computation technologies, it is natural to study a quantum analogue of synchronization and explore novel applications. This review surveys synchronization in few and many-body quantum systems, measures that quantify them, and their applications to quantum technologies.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Creating squeezed and non-classical collective motional many-body states through stroboscopic Rydberg dressing

Realizing conditional quantum operations, e.g., quantum gates, for quantum computing and simulation requires controlled interactions between particles. Often, these interactions depend on the interparticle distance, and accordingly, an uncertainty of the relative particle position may translate into gate infidelities. We consider here a quantum computing platform based on an array of neutral atoms and present a method that allows to reduce the uncertainty of all interatomic distances. Our approach exploits the coupling between atomic motion and stroboscopically excited atomic Rydberg states. It allows to collectively squeeze the modes corresponding to interatomic displacements, thereby reducing distance fluctuations down to a fraction of the motional vacuum state. Furthermore, the method permits the creation of non-classical states with substantial Wigner negativity. These correlated states may allow reducing motional decoherence, increasing gate fidelity, and potentially yield a resource for quantum-enhanced metrology.

physics.atom-ph↗
arXiv2026

Time series learning in a many-body Rydberg system with emergent collective amplification

Interacting Rydberg atoms constitute a versatile platform for the realization of non-equilibrium states of matter. Close to phase transitions, they respond collectively to external perturbations, which can be harnessed for technological applications in the domain of quantum metrology and sensing. Owing to the controllable complexity and straightforward interpretability of Rydberg atoms, we can observe and tune the emergent collective amplification. Here, we investigate the application of an interacting Rydberg vapour for the purpose of time series prediction. The vapour is driven by a laser field whose Rabi frequency is modulated in order to input the time series. We find that close to a non-equilibrium phase transition, where collective effects are amplified, the capability of the system to learn the input becomes enhanced. This is reflected in an increase of the accuracy with which future values of the time series can be predicted. Using the Lorenz time series and temperature data as examples, our work demonstrates how emergent phenomena enhance the capability of noisy many-body systems for data processing and forecasting.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Non-equilibrium exciton dynamics in tailored molecular potentials of Rydberg ion crystals

Trapped ions excited to high-lying electronic states combine strongly coupled collective vibrational and electronic degrees of freedom with long-ranged interparticle interactions. These ingredients enable the quantum simulation of biochemical processes, associated with the dynamics of excitons in non-perturbative parameter regimes. The key feature of such a quantum simulator are electronic-state-dependent molecular potential surfaces which can be strongly coupled. This allows to shed light on a variety of mechanisms underlying exciton transport. We illustrate this in a system of three trapped ions, which is amenable to an ab initio treatment. Given that ion traps can be routinely prepared with hundreds of ions, these quantum simulators can immediately realise scenarios which are inaccessible by current numerical methods.

physics.atom-ph↗
arXiv2026

Intermittency and metastable dark states as a resource for continuous sensing

Quanta emitted by an open quantum system carry information about intrinsic parameters, enabling their estimation via continuous monitoring. In practice, however, only a fraction of the emitted quanta is detected, reducing the achievable sensitivity. Here, we consider few-level systems in which coherent couplings and dissipative processes compete, producing metastable dynamics characterized by emission intermittency or by the emergence of a dark state. We show that both phenomena can be beneficial for sensing but their relative performance depends strongly on the achievable detection efficiencies. Intermittent emission, marked by long alternating bright and dark periods, allows to achieve robustness with respect to inefficient detection and dephasing, whereas dark states yield significantly higher sensitivity at unit detection efficiency. Yet the latter are highly susceptible to losses. We quantify the impact of inefficient detection through the classical Fisher information of the emission record and benchmark it against the ultimate sensitivity encoded in the joint system-environment state. Finally, we demonstrate that maximum-likelihood estimators based on the observed emission record can effectively approach this sensitivity. We focus here on trapped-ion systems, however, the results extend to other quantum platforms in which similar emission dynamics can be observed.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Revealing emergent many-body phenomena by analyzing large-scale space-time records of monitored quantum systems

Recent advances in quantum simulators permit unitary evolution interspersed with locally resolved mid-circuit measurements. This paves the way for the observation of large-scale space-time structures in quantum trajectories and opens a window for the \emph{in situ} analysis of complex dynamical processes. We demonstrate this idea using a paradigmatic dissipative spin model, which can be implemented, e.g., on Rydberg quantum simulators. Here, already the trajectories of individual experimental runs reveal surprisingly complex statistical phenomena. In particular, we exploit free-energy functionals for trajectory ensembles to identify dynamical features reminiscent of hydrophobic behavior observed near the liquid-vapor transition in the presence of solutes in water. We show that these phenomena are observable in experiments and discuss the impact of common imperfections, such as readout errors and disordered interactions.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Getting large-scale quantum neural networks ready for quantum hardware

Quantum neural networks generalize classical artificial neural networks into the quantum domain. They are formulated as parameterized quantum circuits which are optimized by measuring and minimizing a suitably chosen loss function. The core challenge in understanding, implementing and ultimately using quantum neural networks is that they represent many-body systems with an exponentially large Hilbert space, in combination with a large parameter search space. Moreover, noise -- which is inherent to any quantum measurement -- sets practical limits for the estimation of training loss. Here, we study physics-informed large-scale quantum neural networks that are trained through a finite number of noisy loss function measurements. We show that this architecture permits the construction of nontrivial decision boundaries that enable the classification of quantum states through measuring an order parameter. Our approach can directly process quantum data that is output from quantum simulators and computers and is well suited for implementation on current hardware. Moreover, owed to a close link between the neural network dynamics and the evolution of Markovian open many-body quantum systems, one may expect a certain robustness to noise, which is ubiquitous in the current NISQ era.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Thermometry for a Kagome Lattice Dipolar Rydberg Simulator

We propose an accurate thermometry approach for Rydberg atom tweezer arrays combining data from correlation and local susceptibility measurements with a theoretical high-temperature expansion method for dynamic spin correlations. We apply our approach to a recent quantum simulation experiment [Bornet et al., arXiv 2602.14323] realizing an anti-ferromagnetic dipolar spin-1/2 XY model on the Kagome lattice. We obtain T=0.55J and S/N=0.67 ln2 for temperature and entropy respectively, showing that further experimental efforts are required to reach the putative quantum spin liquid regime.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗