Abstract: In the presence of background noise, classical or quantum, initial entanglement installed in a pair of qubits will be lost. We examine this as a dynamical process and identify large categories of initial states for which entanglement abruptly vanishes ("entanglement sudden death") even as the individual qubits retain coherence. We show that purely local unitary transformations can help avoid sudden death, and examine counter-intuitive consequences of combined noises.

Biography and Research Interests:

Biographical Sketch

Prof. Eberly received his B.S. in Physics from Pennsylvania State University (1957) and his Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University (1962). He joined the UR physics faculty in 1967 where he is presently the Andrew Carnegie Professor of Physics. In 1979 he joined The Institute of Optics faculty as Professor of Optics. Professor Eberly is a member of the Center for Quantum Information and Director of the Rochester Theory Center for Optical Science and Engineering.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, has been Chair of the APS Division of Laser Science, and was the founding Editor of Optics Express. He is a member of the OSA Board of Directors and is currently Chair of its Board of Editors. Eberly was elected vice president of the Optical Society of America (2994), and will become president elect in 2006 and OSA president in 2007. He is a member of the APS Council 2003-2005, a member of the Governing Board, American Institute of Physics 2003-2005 and member of the Advisory Board of ITAMP (Harward-Smithsonian) 2003-2005. Professor Eberly has been elected a recipient of Georgen Award for Creative Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Rochester in 2000, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Pennsylvania State University College of Science, the Charles Hard Townes Award of the Optical Society of America (1994), the Smoluchowski Medal of the Physical Society of Poland (1987), a Senior Humboldt Award (1984), and a JILA Visiting Fellowship (1979).

Research

Prof. Eberly's research interests are in the general field of Theoretical Quantum Optics and AMO science. Recent results from his group include calculations of single-photon wave functions localized in free space that exhibit the binding effects of quantum memory, an examination of cross-talk in qubit chains, and the derivation of a novel "dark area" theorem that governs nonlocal effects in coupled optical pulses. Themes of interest include quantum information and the dynamics of entanglement in continuous Hilbert spaces, coherent quantum control via counter-intuitive dark-state interactions, cavity QED, soliton and adiabaton propagation, and non-sequential double ionization of atoms exposed to high intensity radiation.

Prof. Eberly is the co-author of the monograph Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms, with L. Allen, as well as the text Lasers (13th printing) and the article on Quantum Optics in the Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, both with P. W. Milonni, and the chapter on Coherent Transients in the APS Handbook of AMO Physics with C. R. Stroud, Jr. He has written more than 300 research papers and reviews.

More information is available at http://spider.pas.rochester.edu/mainFrame/people/pages/Eberly.html