Direct characterization of quantum dynamics via generalized weak values.

Liang Xu, Yue Pan, Hui Li, Ben Wang, Aonan Zhang, Ying Dong, Lijian Zhang

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Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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7 authors.

Liang XuNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Physics, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.ORCID 0000-0002-4553-866X

Yue PanNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Physics, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.ORCID 0009-0001-7279-0369

Hui LiNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Physics, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.ORCID 0009-0008-3253-6391

Ben WangNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Physics, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.ORCID 0009-0001-0484-4572

Aonan ZhangClarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6310-4769

Ying DongCollege of Metrology and Measurement Engineering China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China.ORCID 0009-0001-1737-3052

Lijian ZhangNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Physics, Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.ORCID 0000-0002-3247-9189

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Weak values, emerging from weak measurements in pre- and postselection, exhibit complex-valued properties, enabling the direct characterization of quantum systems. However, conventional weak values do not account for system evolution, restricting their capability to capture quantum dynamical information. To overcome this limitation, we introduce the process weak value (PWV), which incorporates quantum evolution between observables during pre- and postselection. By establishing a connection between PWVs and the matrix elements of unitary operators, we develop a theoretical framework for the direct characterization of quantum processes. Our experimental validation encompasses single-photon and two-photon unitary processes, as well as non-Hermitian parity-time symmetric quantum processes. Compared to standard quantum process tomography, our method reduces the required bases for state preparation and measurements while circumventing complex reconstruction algorithms, enhancing efficiency and scalability. Our PWV formalism opens avenues for broader foundational investigations of weak measurements and enables efficient applications in characterizing sophisticated quantum processes.

Identifiers

PMID42467760

DOI10.1126/sciadv.aeb7304

PMCPMC13378570

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