Giuseppe Di Pietra

Abstract:

We propose a collision model to investigate the information dynamics of a system coupled to an environment with varying degrees of non-Markovianity. We control the degree of non-Markovianity by applying a depolarising channel to a fixed and rigid reservoir of qubits. We characterise the effect of the depolarising channel and apply the model to study the coherent transport of information on a chain of three interacting qubits. We show how the system-environment coupling probability and the degree of non-Markovianity affect the process. Interestingly, in some cases a Markovian environment is preferable to reduce information loss and enhance the coherent transport.

Abstract:

Theoretical and experimental data for the different configurations analysed in the manuscript: classical mediator and non-classical mediator initialised in a classical and non-classical state. The data are shown in Fig. 4 in the manuscript.

Abstract:

Exciton transfer along a bio-polymer is essential for many biological processes, for instance, light harvesting in photosynthetic biosystems. Here we apply a new witness of non-classicality to this phenomenon, to conclude that, if an exciton can mediate the coherent quantum evolution of a photon, then the exciton is non-classical. We then propose a general qubit model for the quantum transfer of an exciton along a bio-polymer chain, also discussing the effects of environmental decoherence. The generality of our results makes them ideal candidates to design new tests of quantum features in complex bio-molecules.