Experimental measurement of quantum first-passage-time distributions
arXiv:2508.21790 · doi:10.1103/p3pl-1m6n
Abstract
Classical First-Passage-Time Distributions (FPTDs) have been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally. Their quantum counterparts-Quantum First-Passage-Time Distributions (QFPTDs)-remain largely unexplored and have deep implications for both fundamental physics and the development of emerging quantum technologies. We measure the first QFPTDs using a motional mode of a single trapped ion. We develop a novel composite-phase laser pulse sequence to perform tunable stroboscopic single-shot projective measurements of the motional state of a trapped ion. We measure QFPTDs of the ion energy when coupled to electric-field noise. The measurement protocol developed here is broadly applicable to other quantum systems and provides a powerful method for exploring a broad range of QFPTD phenomena. With these results we open a new field of experimental investigations of QFPT processes with potential future relevance to quantum search algorithms, unraveling connections between classical and quantum dynamics, and study of the quantum measurement problem.
Main text: 6 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary material: 5 pages, 3 figures
References in corpus (45)
- SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
- Non-Hermitian Physics
- A Quantum Random Walk Search Algorithm
- Quantum walks: a comprehensive review
- Programmable Quantum Simulations of Spin Systems with Trapped Ions
- Spatial search by quantum walk
- Ion-trap measurements of electric-field noise near surfaces
- Encoding a qubit in a trapped-ion mechanical oscillator
- Arbitrarily accurate composite pulses
- Cryogenic Trapped-Ion System for Large Scale Quantum Simulation
- Past quantum states
- Cold and trapped metastable noble gases
- Recurrence and Pólya number of quantum walks
- Time-Symmetric Quantum Theory of Smoothing
- Prediction and retrodiction for a continuously monitored superconducting qubit
- The theory of heating of the quantum ground state of trapped ions
- Quantum walks with infinite hitting times
- Detection of a quantum particle on a lattice under repeated projective measurements
- Quantum walks: the first detected passage time problem
- Kinetics of stochastically-gated diffusion-limited reactions and geometry of random walk trajectories
- Zeno and anti-Zeno effects for quantum Brownian motion
- Quantum Error Correction with Metastable States of Trapped Ions Using Erasure Conversion
- First detected arrival of a quantum walker on an infinite line
- Restart expedites quantum walk hitting times
- Measuring the winding number in a large-scale chiral quantum walk
- Analysis of Absorbing Times of Quantum Walks
- Programmable quantum simulations of bosonic systems with trapped ions
- Entanglement genesis under continuous parity measurement
- The distribution of first-passage times and durations in FOREX and future markets
- Exotic Bohmian arrival times of spin-1/2 particles I-An analytical treatment
- Quantum Simulation of Spin-Boson Models with Structured Bath
- Dark states of quantum search cause imperfect detection
- Measurement induced quantum walks on an IBM Quantum Computer
- Committor Functions for Climate Phenomena at the Predictability Margin: The example of El Niño Southern Oscillation in the Jin and Timmerman model
- Restart uncertainty relation for monitored quantum dynamics
- The first detection time of a quantum state under random probing
- First Passage Times for Continuous Quantum Measurement Currents
- Driving quantum systems with repeated conditional measurements
- Scaling properties and universality of first-passage time probabilities in financial markets
- Mean first passage time analysis reveals rate-limiting steps, parallel pathways and dead ends in a simple model of protein folding
- Realization of programmable Ising models in a trapped-ion quantum simulator
- Scaling properties of noise-induced switching in a bistable tunnel diode circuit
- Thermodynamic phases in first detected return times of quantum many-body systems
- Motional state analysis of a trapped ion by ultra-narrowband composite pulses
- Measurement-Induced Heating of Trapped Ions