Quantum Device Emulates the Dynamics of Two Coupled Oscillators

Our quantum device is a solid-state array of semiconducting quantum dots that is addressed and read by 2D electronic spectroscopy. The experimental ultrafast dynamics of the device is well simulated by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a Hamiltonian that describes the lower electronically excited states of the dots and three laser pulses. The time evolution induced in the electronic states of the quantum device is used to emulate the quite different nonequilibrium vibrational dynamics of a linear triatomic molecule. We simulate the energy transfer between the two local oscillators and, in a more elaborate application, the expectation values of the quantum mechanical creation and annihilation operators of each local oscillator. The simulation uses the electronic coherences engineered in the device upon interaction with a specific sequence of ultrafast pulses. The algorithm uses the algebraic description of the dynamics of the physical problem and of the hardware.