Science Daily February 19, 2021
In two-level systems, the quantum brachistochrone solutions are long known but they are not applicable to larger systems, especially when the target state cannot be reached through a local transformation. An international team of researchers (Germany, USA – MIT, Italy) has demonstrated fast coherent transport of an atomic wave packet over 15 times its size, a case of quantum processes going beyond the two-level system. The measurements of the transport fidelity revealed the existence of a minimum duration—a quantum speed limit—for the coherent splitting and recombination of matter waves. They obtained physical insight into this limit by relying on a geometric interpretation of quantum state dynamics. These results shed light on a fundamental limit of quantum state dynamics and are expected to find relevant applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ