English

Quantum measurement induces a many-body transition

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2020-10-12 v1

Abstract

The current revolution in quantum technologies relies on the ability to isolate, coherently control, and measure the state of quantum systems. The act of measurement in quantum mechanics, however, is naturally invasive as the measurement apparatus becomes entangled with the system that it observes. Even for ideal detectors, the measurement outcome always leads to a disturbance in the observed system, a phenomenon called quantum measurement backaction. Here we report a profound change in the many-body properties of the measured system due to quantum measurements. We observe this backaction-induced transition in a mesoscopic double quantum-dot in the Coulomb-blockade regime, where we switch the electron population through measurement with a charge sensor dot. Our finding showcases the important changes in behaviour that can arise due to quantum detectors, which are ubiquitous in quantum technologies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2010.04635,
  title  = {Quantum measurement induces a many-body transition},
  author = {Michael S. Ferguson and Leon C. Camenzind and Clemens Müller and Daniel E. F. Biesinger and Christian P. Scheller and Bernd Braunecker and Dominik M. Zumbühl and Oded Zilberberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.04635},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

6 pages with 4 figures, supplementary: 8 pages with 8 figures. Comments welcome

R2 v1 2026-06-23T19:12:46.022Z