To measure or not to measure: variants of the Zeno effect to steer quantum dynamics

Abstract:

In quantum mechanics, measurement changes the state of the measured system. If one performs measurements on a quantum system very frequently, the dynamics of the measured system is confined within some subspaces and the transition among the subspaces is suppressed. It is called quantum Zeno effect. This intriguing effect of quantum measurement can be used to steer quantum dynamics, and has various potential applications in quantum technologies. Theoretical and experimental researches pursuing this effect have revealed that the same effect can be induced by a variety of means: not necessarily by frequent measurements but by frequent general quantum operations or just by continuous application of strong external field.
In this talk, I give a gentle introduction to the subject, and discuss some of our research results.