Research
- Quantum Thermodynamics: since 2011, I have published 11 papers in this emerging
- field. In particular, with my collaborators, I have proposed a method based on Ramsey interferometry to measure the work distribution performed on a quantum system [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 230602 (2013)]. The scheme was later implemented experimentally [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 140601 (2014)]; I have analysed the work fluctuations and its distribution in a spin chain [Phys. Rev. X 4, 031029 (2014)]; In [New J. Phys. 17, 035004 (2015)] I proposed a different scheme for extraction of the work distribution in a
cold atomic system using light polarisation (see below). Finally in [New J. Phys. 17, 035016 (2015)], my collaborators and I calculated the work distribution performed on an optomechanical system.
- Entanglement and correlations in strongly correlated systems: my colleagues and I conducted one of the first studies on the dynamics of entanglement in spin chains after a quench [J.Stat.Mech.0603:L03001 (2006)]. With A. Sanpera and M. Lewenstein, I
discovered a new relation between the entanglement spectrum and order parameters in quantum phase transitions and after time-dependent dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 237208 (2012), J. Stat. Mech. (2014) P06001]. In [Phys. Rev. B 91, 214411 (2015), J. Stat. Mech. (2014) P10008,Phys. Rev. B 90, 144409 (2014)] I studied the quantum correlations content of quantum spin 1D and 2D arrays.
- Ultracold atoms: in a series of papers [J Low Temp Phys 165, 292 (2011),Phys. Rev. A 83, 021604(R) (2011), Phys. Rev. B 84, 054451 (2011),Phys. Rev. A 90, 043618 (2014)], I have established a framework for the characterisation of magnetic and structural properties of ultracold atoms in optical lattices using quantum non demolition measurements. These are implemented by measuring the light polarisation change in a probing laser beam. Recently, for this line of research I have been supported by an EPSRC First Grant EP/L005026/1.
Further research in this topic include: the exploration of phase diagrams of spinor bosons in triangular optical lattices [J. Stat. Mech. (2014) P10008,Phys. Rev. B 90, 144409 (2014)]; thermometry precision in optical lattices [New J. Phys. 17, 055020 (2015)].
- Non-Markovianity measures: together with S. Maniscalco (Turku) and M. Palma (Palermo), I investigated the properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate as a reservoir [New J. Phys. 11 (2009) 103055,Phys. Rev. A 84, 031602 (2011),EPL 101 (2013) 60005]. We showed how the BEC can have strong non-Markovian effects on an array of two-level impurities immersed in it depending on dimensionality and scattering length in the condensate.
- Furthermore we have showed how, for sufficiently low temperatures, the BEC can induce entanglement and discord of the two impurities through an indirect effective interaction. A similar study on non-Markovianity has been later extended to trapped ions [Phys. Rev. A 88, 010101(R) (2013)].
- Trapped ions: with T. Calarco, S. Fishman and G. Morigi, I clarified the structural phase transition occurring in ion crystals trapped in strongly anisotropic traps [Phys. Rev. B 77, 064111 (2008),Phys. Rev. A 78, 043414 (2008), Ann. Phys. 525, 827 (2013)]; together with M. B. Plenio’s group, I
studied the dynamical crossing of this transition predicting the number of defects produced according to Kibble-Zurek’s mechanism [New J. Phys. 12, 115003 (2010),Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 075701 (2010)]. These predictions were later confirmed in [S. Ulm et al., Nat. Commun. 4, 2290 (2013); Pyka, K. et al., Nat. Commun. 4, 2291 (2013)].
- Optomechanics: together with M. Paternostro and M. Palma, I wrote a series of papers on the control of hybrid optomechanical systems made of a BEC in an optical cavity with a vibrating mirror [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 243602 (2010),Phys. Rev. A 83, 052324 (2011), Phys. Rev. A 86, 042323 (2012)], including the creation of genuine multipartite entanglement.
