Probes of non-equilibrium quantum behaviour

(in organic molecules)Prof. Vlatko Vedral

Department of Physics, University of Oxford, UK

Time:

3:00pm,

November

05,

2015

(Thursday)

Venue:

Room

M215,

School

of

Physics,

Peking

University

I will present a wide range of research aimed at understanding quantum

physics of large objects and their dynamical and thermodynamical behavior in

the far-from-equilibrium domain. I will present a general scheme that uses

existing technology to probe work-fluctuation relations in the dynamics of

complex systems. Specifically, I will show that the characteristic function of

the work distribution for a non-equilibrium quench of a general quantum

system can be extracted from Ramsey interferometry of a single probe qubit.

The scheme paves the way for the full characterisation of non-equilibrium

processes in a variety of quantum systems ranging from single particles to

many-body atomic and molecular systems. One potential use is the

experimental extraction of the free energy profile of complex bio-molecules.

I will discuss how techniques from information theory, quantum and statistical

physics, can all be combined to elucidate the physics of macroscopic objects.

This question is of fundamental importance to the development of future

quantum technologies, whose behavior takes place invariably in the macroscopic

non-equilibrium quantum regime.The main challenge is to experimentally obtain

a handful of parameters believed to be important for describing the interplay

between coherence (within the system) and noise (arising due to the

interaction or the system with its environment). I will present single organic

molecule spectroscopy experiments we are currently undertaking in our

laboratory to obtain a better understanding of quantum effects in

biomolecules. Finally, I will explain how to set up experiments to test both

quantum coherence as well as thermodynamical properties of energy transport

Prof. Vlatko Vedral is a professor of quantum information theory at the University of Oxford

and professor of physics at the National University of Singapore (where he is a PI at the Centre

for Quantum Technologies). He is currently a Chair Professor at the IIIS at Tsinghua. He is the

Director of the Oxford Martin School institute on “bio-inspired quantum technologies”. This

explores the exciting possibility that living systems are subject to useful quantum effects, with

a view to deriving and reverse-engineering architectures to inspire future quantum

technologies that will help address serious challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. He

has received numerous awards in recognition for his contribution to the development of the

field, including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and the World Scientific

Medal and Prize. He has over 260 publications on quantum physics and collaborates in many

inter-disciplinary international networks.

联系人：何琼毅 研究员(qiongyihe@pku.edu.cn)