Browsing by Author "Yard, Patrick"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Photonic quantum simulations of coupled PT -symmetric Hamiltonians
    (APS, 2022-01-26) Maraviglia, Nicola; Yard, Patrick; Wakefield, Ross; Carolan, Jacques; Sparrow, Chris; Chakhmakhchyan, Levon; Harrold, Chris; Hashimoto, Toshikazu; Matsuda, Nobuyuki; Harter, Andrew K.; Joglekar, Yogesh N.; Laing, Anthony; Physics, School of Science
    Parity-time-symmetric (PT -symmetric) Hamiltonians are generally non-Hermitian and give rise to exotic behavior in quantum systems at exceptional points, where eigenvectors coalesce. The recent realization of PT -symmetric Hamiltonians in quantum systems has ignited efforts to simulate and investigate many-particle quantum systems across exceptional points. Here, we use a programmable integrated photonic chip to simulate a model composed of twin pairs of PT -symmetric Hamiltonians, with each the time reverse of its twin. We simulate quantum dynamics across exceptional points including two- and three-particle interference, and a particle-trembling behavior that arises due to interference between subsystems undergoing time-reversed evolutions. These results show how programmable quantum simulators can be used to investigate foundational questions in quantum mechanics.