Endurance of quantum coherence due to particle indistinguishability in noisy quantum networks

Abstract

Quantum coherence, the physical property underlying fundamental phenomena such as multi-particle interference and entanglement, has emerged as a valuable resource upon which modern technologies are founded. In general, the most prominent adversary of quantum coherence is noise arising from the interaction of the associated dynamical system with its environment. Under certain conditions, however, the existence of noise may drive quantum and classical systems to endure intriguing nontrivial effects. In this vein, here we demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that when two indistinguishable non-interacting particles co-propagate through quantum networks affected by non-dissipative noise, the system always evolves into a steady state in which coherences accounting for particle indistinguishabilty perpetually prevail. Furthermore, we show that the same steady state with surviving quantum coherences is reached even when the initial state exhibits classical correlations.