Catalytic Coherence
Catalytic Coherence
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevlett.113.150402
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发表时间：
2014-10-07
影响因子：
8.6
通讯作者：
Aberg, Johan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aberg, Johan
由于能量守恒，我们不能直接将具有确定能量的量子系统转变为不同能量的叠加。然而，如果我们能够获得具有高度相干性的系统方面的额外资源，例如激光的标准模型，我们就可以克服这一限制。问题是使用时一致性会降低到什么程度。这里表明，相干性可以变成催化剂，这意味着我们可以重复使用它，而不会削弱它实现相干操作的能力。这一发现与其他量子资源的退化形成鲜明对比，并对量子热力学产生直接影响，因为它表明可能被锁定在能量本征态叠加中的潜在能量可以被催化释放。
Because of conservation of energy we cannot directly turn a quantum system with a definite energy into a superposition of different energies. However, if we have access to an additional resource in terms of a system with a high degree of coherence, as for standard models of laser light, we can overcome this limitation. The question is to what extent coherence gets degraded when utilized. Here it is shown that coherence can be turned into a catalyst, meaning that we can use it repeatedly without ever diminishing its power to enable coherent operations. This finding stands in contrast to the degradation of other quantum resources and has direct consequences for quantum thermodynamics, as it shows that latent energy that may be locked into superpositions of energy eigenstates can be released catalytically.