Papers

The question of which resources drive the advantages in quantum algorithms has long been a fundamental challenge. While entanglement and coherence are critical to many quantum algorithms, our results indicate that they do not fully explain the quantum advantage achieved by the Grover search algorithm. By introducing a generalized Grover search algorithm, we demonstrate that the success probability depends not only on the querying number of oracles but also on the coherence fraction, which quantifies the fidelity between an arbitrary initial quantum state and the equal superposition state. Additionally, we explore the role of the coherence fraction in the quantum minimization algorithm, which offers a framework for solving complex problems in quantum machine learning. These findings offer insights into the origins of quantum advantage and open pathways for the development of new quantum algorithms.

The surface code is one of the leading quantum error correction codes for realizing large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC). One major challenge in realizing surface-code-based FTQC is the extremely large number of qubits required. To mitigate this problem, fusing multiple codewords of the surface code into a densely packed configuration has been proposed. It is known that by using dense packing, the number of physical qubits required per logical qubit can be reduced to approximately three-fourths compared to simply placing surface-code patches side by side. Despite its potential, concrete deformation procedures and quantitative error-rate analyses have remained largely unexplored. In this work, we present a detailed code-deformation procedure that transforms multiple standard surface code patches into a densely packed, connected configuration, along with a conceptual microarchitecture to utilize this dense packing. We also propose a CNOT gate-scheduling for stabilizer measurement circuits that suppresses hook errors in the densely packed surface code. We performed circuit-level Monte Carlo noise simulation of densely packed surface codes using this gate scheduling. The numerical results demonstrate that as the code distance of the densely packed surface code increases and the physical error rate decreases, the logical error rate of the densely packed surface code becomes lower than that of the standard surface code. Furthermore, we find that only when employing hook-error-avoiding syndrome extraction can the densely packed surface code achieve a lower logical error rate than the standard surface code, while simultaneously reducing the space overhead.

Nonclassical correlations are significant physical resources with extensive applications in quantum information processing. We introduce the modified Wigner-Yanase-Dyson skew information of a quantum state relative to a quantum channel, and a quantitative measure of quantum correlations. Their basic properties are explored in detail. Through a specific example, we also compare our correlations measure with the existing one. Moreover, the correlations relative to various channels including the von Neumann measurements, the unitary channels and the twirling channels are analyzed.

We study a transport phenomenon in certain coined quantum walks where a subspace of states localized at a vertex gets transferred to another vertex. We first develop characterizations for perfect and pretty good subspace state transfer using the spectral properties of a Hermitian weighted digraph obtained from the underlying graph. We then provide a polynomial-time algorithm that tests whether pointwise perfect subspace state transfer occurs at an integer step, given that the subspace and coins are rational. Finally, we construct several infinite families of examples that admit pointwise perfect $d$-dimensional subspace state transfer where $d\ge 2$.

The performance of current quantum hardware is severely limited. While expanding the quantum ISA with high-fidelity, expressive basis gates is a key path forward, it imposes significant gate calibration overhead and complicates compiler optimization. As a result, even though more powerful ISAs have been designed, their use remains largely conceptual rather than practical. To move beyond these hurdles, we introduce the concept of "reconfigurable quantum instruction set computers" (ReQISC), which incorporates: (1) a unified microarchitecture capable of directly implementing arbitrary 2Q gates equivalently, i.e., SU(4) modulo 1Q rotations, with theoretically optimal gate durations given any 2Q coupling Hamiltonians; (2) a compilation framework tailored to ReQISC primitives for end-to-end synthesis and optimization, comprising a program-aware pass that refines high-level representations, a program-agnostic pass for aggressive circuit-level optimization, and an SU(4)-aware routing pass that minimizes hardware mapping overhead. We detail the hardware implementation to demonstrate the feasibility, in terms of both pulse control and calibration of this superior gate scheme on realistic hardware. By leveraging the expressivity of SU(4) and the time minimality realized by the underlying microarchitecture, the SU(4)-based ISA achieves remarkable performance, with a 4.97-fold reduction in average pulse duration to implement arbitrary 2Q gates, compared to the usual CNOT/CZ scheme on mainstream flux-tunable transmons. Supported by the end-to-end compiler, ReQISC outperforms the conventional CNOT-ISA, SOTA compiler, and pulse implementation counterparts, in significantly reducing 2Q gate counts, circuit depth, pulse duration, qubit mapping overhead, and program fidelity losses. For the first time, ReQISC makes the theoretical benefits of continuous ISAs practically feasible.

We investigate the dynamics of number entropy in a chain of free fermions subjected to both defects and stochastic processes. For a special class of defects, namely conformal defects, we present analytical and numerical results for the temporal growth of number entropy, the time evolution of the number distribution, and the eigenvalue profile of the associated correlation matrix within a subsystem. We show that the number entropy exhibits logarithmic growth in time, originating from the Gaussian structure of the number distribution. We find that the eigenvalue dynamics reveal a profound connection to the reflection and transmission coefficients of the associated scattering problem for a broad range of defects. When stochastic processes are introduced, specifically Stochastic Unitary Processes (SUP) and Quantum State Diffusion (QSD), the number entropy scales as $\ln(t)$ in the SUP case and shows strong hints of $\ln [\ln(t)]$ scaling in the QSD case. These findings establish compelling evidence that number entropy grows logarithmically slower than the corresponding von Neumann entanglement entropy across a wide class of systems.

Measurement incompatibility is a cornerstone of quantum mechanics. In the context of estimating multiple parameters of a quantum system, this manifests as a fundamental trade-off between the precisions with which different parameters can be estimated. Often, a parameter can be optimally measured, but at the cost of gaining no information about incompatible parameters. Here, we report that there are systems where one parameter's information can be maximised while not completely losing information about the other parameters. In doing so, we find attainable trade-off relations for quantum parameter estimation with a structure that is different to typical Heisenberg-type trade-offs. We demonstrate our findings by implementing an optimal entangling measurement on a Quantinuum trapped-ion quantum computer.

Classical simulations of quantum systems are notoriously difficult computational problems, with conventional state vector and tensor network methods restricted to quantum systems that feature only a small number of qudits. The recently introduced Clifford Augmented Matrix Product State (CAMPS) method offer scalability and efficiency by combining both tensor network and stabilizer simulation techniques and leveraging their complementary advantages. This hybrid simulation method has indeed demonstrated significant improvements in simulation performance for qubit circuits. Our work generalises the CAMPS method to higher quantum degrees of freedom – qudit simulation, resulting in a generalised CAMPS (GCAMPS). Benchmarking this extended simulator on quantum systems with three degrees of freedom, i.e. qutrits, we show that similar to the case of qubits, qutrit systems also benefit from a comparable speedup using these techniques. Indeed, we see a greater improvement with qutrit simulation compared to qubit simulation on the same $T$-doped random Clifford benchmarking circuit as a result of the increased difficulty of conventional qutrit simulation using tensor networks. This extension allows for the classical simulation of problems that were previously intractable without access to a quantum device and will open new avenues to study complex many-body physics and to develop efficient methods for quantum information processing.

In this work, we compare two schemes for generating arbitrary qudit graph states using spin qudits in silicon. The first scheme proposes the creation of qudit linear graph states from a single emitter - a silicon spin qudit. By employing fusion - a destructive and non-deterministic measurement technique - these linear graphs can then be combined to form more complex resource states (multi-photon entangled states), such as ring or ladder structures, which are used to carry out the computation. The second scheme employs two spin qudits. Instead of relying on fusion, the two emitters are directly coupled via CZ to generate the same resource states, thereby eliminating the need for fusion. We compare the two schemes in terms of their ability to produce equivalent resource states and discuss their respective advantages and limitations for building scalable architectures.

In this paper, we highlight how any Bell inequality for a configuration involving $n$ parties each performing one of $m$ binary-outcome measurements has a canonical form that is no-signalling-projection invariant. Specifically, the $L^2$-projection of weakly signalling data onto the no-signalling polytope leaves the violation of this canonical Bell inequality unchanged. Our methods allow us to derive a general closed formula for the projection and present a substantially more computationally simple procedure for its evaluation. We also show this can be generalised to non-standard projections of potential interest for certain applications. No-signalling projections serve as a preliminary step before undertaking any device-independent application involving Bell experiment data, such as hypothesis testing against local realism, random number generation and entanglement detection.

We propose a quantum algorithm for computing one-quasiparticle excitation energies in the thermodynamic limit by combining numerical linked-cluster expansions (NLCEs) and the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE). Our approach uses VQE to block-diagonalize the cluster Hamiltonian through a single-unitary transformation. This unitary is then postprocessed using the projective cluster-additive transformation (PCAT) to ensure cluster additivity, a key requirement for NLCE convergence. We benchmark our method on the transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) in one and two dimensions, and with longitudinal field, computing one-quasiparticle dispersions in the high-field polarized phase. We compare two cost function classes, trace minimization and variance based, demonstrating their effectiveness with the Hamiltonian variational ansatz (HVA). For pure TFIM, $\lceil N/2 \rceil$ layers of HVA suffice: NLCE+VQE matches exact diagonalization. For TFIM with longitudinal field, where parity symmetry breaks and PCAT becomes essential, both $\lceil N/2 \rceil$ and $N$ layers of HVA converge with increasing cluster size, with $N$ layers providing improved accuracy. Our results establish PCAT as a cluster-additive framework that extends variational quantum algorithms to excited-state calculations in the thermodynamic limit via NLCE. While demonstrated with VQE, the PCAT postprocessing approach, which requires only low-energy eigenspace information, applies to any quantum eigenstate preparation method.

Universal quantum computers require fault-tolerant logical qudits, as qudits naturally align with the simulation of multi-level physical systems. Here, we present a general framework and working examples for encoding fault-tolerant logical qudits in finite-dimensional spin systems. We construct distance-$3$, distance-$5$ codewords, and general $2t+1$-distance codes that can be implemented using a single physical qudit or a small number of coupled qudits for higher distances, while requiring a Hilbert space dimension significantly smaller than conventional constructions based on multiple logical qubits. Logical operations and error correction protocols can be implemented with polynomial scaling in the number of elementary operations. We further discuss schematic designs for physical implementation and required single-gate fidelities, which are compatible with current spin qudit platforms. This strategy provides a resource-efficient path toward realizing fault-tolerant logical qudits in finite multi-level physical systems.

We design an atomtronic filter device that spatially separates the components of a two-component Fermi gas with repulsive contact interactions in a two-dimensional geometry. With the aid of density–potential functional theory (DPFT), which can accurately simulate Fermi gases in realistic settings, we propose and characterize a barbell-shaped trapping potential, where a bridge-shaped potential connects two ring-shaped potentials. In the strongly repulsive regime, each of the ring traps eventually stores one of the fermion species. Our simulations are a guide to designing component filters for initially mixed, weakly repulsive spin components. We demonstrate that the functioning of this barbell design is robust against variations in experimental settings, for example, across particle numbers, for small deformations of the trap geometry, or if interatomic interactions differ from the bare contact repulsion. Our investigation marks the first step in establishing DPFT as a comprehensive simulation framework for fermionic atomtronics.

We present a systematic evaluation of large language models on quantum mechanics problem-solving. Our study evaluates 15 models from five providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Alibaba, DeepSeek) spanning three capability tiers on 20 tasks covering derivations, creative problems, non-standard concepts, and numerical computation, comprising 900 baseline and 75 tool-augmented assessments. Results reveal clear tier stratification: flagship models achieve 81% average accuracy, outperforming mid-tier (77%) and fast models (67%) by 4pp and 14pp respectively. Task difficulty patterns emerge distinctly: derivations show highest performance (92% average, 100% for flagship models), while numerical computation remains most challenging (42%). Tool augmentation on numerical tasks yields task-dependent effects: modest overall improvement (+4.4pp) at 3x token cost masks dramatic heterogeneity ranging from +29pp gains to -16pp degradation. Reproducibility analysis across three runs quantifies 6.3pp average variance, with flagship models demonstrating exceptional stability (GPT-5 achieves zero variance) while specialized models require multi-run evaluation. This work contributes: (i) a benchmark for quantum mechanics with automatic verification, (ii) systematic evaluation quantifying tier-based performance hierarchies, (iii) empirical analysis of tool augmentation trade-offs, and (iv) reproducibility characterization. All tasks, verifiers, and results are publicly released.

We introduce an infinite, scale-aligned hierarchy of one-dimensional, frustration-free Hamiltonians by forbidding the minimal forbidden factors of the Fibonacci word up to length $F_K$, the $K$-th Fibonacci number. The ground-state languages have exponential growth constants $\lambda_K$ that decrease monotonically, starting from the value associated with the “golden chain” (approximately 1.618) and progressing toward 1. This process yields a staircase of topological-entropy plateaus that flows to an aperiodic fixed point, also known as the Fibonacci subshift. The first nontrivial rung ($K=4$) is the “Plastic chain,” which forbids SS and LLL. We prove its ground-state counts follow a specific four-term linear recurrence relation and provide a closed-form solution governed by the plastic constant $\rho\approx 1.3247$. We propose an energy-entropy scaling where the energy penalty for each new forbidden pattern is proportional to the logarithmic ratio of the growth constants from the previous and current rungs, turning the sequence of projectors into an explicit renormalization-group flow from the initial high-entropy phase to the zero-entropy aperiodic fixed point. Algebraically, exact Temperley-Lieb braiding compatibility holds only at the base rung, $K=3$ (which forbids only SS); higher rungs define constrained aperiodic Hamiltonian codes rather than Temperley-Lieb representations. Small instances realized on a D-Wave quantum annealer match these predictions: $K=3$ is trivial, $K=4$ resolves a unit gap with moderate success, and $K\ge 5$ instances require reverse annealing to exceed $99\%$ success, clarifying reduction penalties and embedding variability.

Deploying nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as nanoscale quantum sensors for condensed matter and materials physics requires placing the NV centers close to the sensing target. One solution is to fabricate diamond nanostructures and integrate them with materials and devices. However, diamond etching and ion milling can introduce subsurface damage and surface defects that degrade the charge stability and spin coherence of NV centers near the surface. Here we report a procedure for fabricating low-damage nanostructured diamond membranes, and we show that this fabrication scheme preserves the optical and spin properties of state-of-the-art shallow NV center quantum sensors, within nanometers of the diamond surface, while providing significant photonic enhancement. Furthermore, we demonstrate a pick-and-place transfer method, which enables integration with diverse sensing targets.

We provide a framework and explicit construction for the regularized measurement of a large class of spacetime-localized observables in bosonic quantum field theory. The measurements fully satisfy relativistic causality and causal transparency, i.e., avoid unphysical superluminal signaling. We show explicitly how the measurement of time-extended observables back-reacts on itself and induces correlations between other measurements in its causal future. Our framework is fully compositional in spacetime and extends previous results on the measurement of instantaneous observables.

The ability to efficiently simulate a variety of interacting quantum systems on a single device is an overarching goal for digital and analog quantum simulators. In circuit quantum electrodynamical systems, strongly nonlinear superconducting oscillators are typically realized using transmon qubits, featuring a wide range of tunable couplings that are mainly achieved via flux-dependent inductive elements. Such controllability is highly desirable both for digital quantum information processing and for analog quantum simulations of various physical phenomena, such as arbitrary spin-spin interactions. Furthermore, broad tunability facilitates the study of driven-dissipative oscillator dynamics in previously unexplored parameter regimes. In this work, we demonstrate the ability to selectively activate different dynamical regimes between two strongly nonlinear oscillators using parametric modulation. In particular, our scheme enables access to regimes that are dominated by photon-hopping, two-mode squeezing, or cross-Kerr interactions. Finally, we observe level repulsion and attraction between Kerr-nonlinear oscillators in regimes where the nonlinearities exceed the coupling strengths and decay rates of the system. Our results could be used for realizing purely analog quantum simulators to study arbitrary spin systems as well as for exploring strongly nonlinear oscillator dynamics in previously unexplored interaction regimes.

We determine the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) state in graphene using real-space quantum Monte Carlo with correlated variational wave functions. Variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations with Jastrow-Slater-determinant and Jastrow-antisymmetrized-geminal-power ansatze are employed to evaluate the RVB pairing energy. Using a rectangular graphene sample that lacks $\pi/3$ rotational symmetry, we found that the single-particle energy gap near the Fermi level depends on the system size along the $x$-direction. The gap vanishes when the length satisfies $L_x=3n\sqrt{3}d$, where $n$ is an integer and $d$ is the carbon-carbon bond length, otherwise, the system, exhibits a finite gap. Our DMC results show no stable RVB pairing in the zero-gap case, whereas the opening of a finite gap near the Fermi level stabilizes the electron pairing. The DMC predicted absolute value of pairing energy at the thermodynamic limit for a finite-gap system is $\sim 0.48(1)$ mHa/atom. Our results reveal a feometry-driven electron pairing mechanism in the confined graphene nanostructure.

In earlier work, we introduced quantum blobs as minimum-uncertainty symplectic ellipsoids in phase space. These objects may be viewed as geometric monads in the Leibnizian sense, representing the elementary units of phase-space structure consistent with the uncertainty principle. We establish a one-to-one correspondence between such monads and generalized coherent states, represented by arbitrary non-degenerate Gaussian wave functions in configuration space. To each of these states, we associate a classs of Toeplitz operators that extends the standard anti-Wick quantization scheme. The mathematical and physical properties of these operators are analyzed, allowing for a generalized definition of density matrices within the phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics.

We introduce a tunable framework for generalized quantum state discrimination (GSD) and apply it to quantum key distribution (QKD) through a protocol we call phiQKD. Building upon the two-state B92 protocol, phiQKD replaces the traditional unambiguous state discrimination (USD) measurement with a one-parameter family of hybrid POVMs characterized by a tilting angle $\phi$. This allows for continuous control over the trade-off among correct, incorrect, and inconclusive outcomes. While offering improvement in key rate over B92, the primary practical advantage of phiQKD lies in its adaptability to noise and channel imperfections via measurement tunability. By evaluating the protocol under asymptotic, finite-key, and composable security models, we show that, treating quantum measurement as a tunable design parameter, rather than a fixed operation, enables flexible protocol optimization and improved performance under realistic constraints.

The prohibition of finite-temperature phase transition in one-dimensional (1D) Ising models and 1D/2D quantum Heisenberg models with short-range interactions fundamentally constrains the application potentials of low-dimensional magnetic materials. Recently, ultranarrow phase crossover (UNPC), which can approach a transition at a desirable finite temperature $T_0$ arbitrarily closely, was discovered in 1D decorated Ising chains and ladders. Here we present a theoretical study of similarly decorated, yet much more challenging, quantum Heisenberg ferrimagnets in a magnetic field, which features ferromagnetic backbone exchange $J$, antiferromagnetic site-decoration coupling $J_{AF}$, and different magnetic moments for the backbone and decorating spins $\mu_aS_a<\mu_bS_b$. We exactly solved the model in the large $J$ limit – as a central-macrospin model – and found two finite-temperature second-order transitions; just above $T_{c2}$ a “half-ice, half-fire” regime appears. Finite-$J$ weak-field results follow from an effective-field mapping, suggesting the emergence of UNPC at finite $T_0$ in 2D square lattices thanks to its exponentially strong initial magnetic susceptibility $\chi_0\propto e^{4\pi S_a^2 J/T_0}$, though less likely in 1D chains where $\chi_0\propto J/T_0$. These results may shed light on new technological applications of low-dimensional quantum spin systems and attract experimental and computational tests.

Replica symmetry breaking (RSB) underlies the complex organization of disordered systems, yet quantitative validation beyond $N \sim 100$ spins has remained computationally challenging. We use quantum annealing to access ground states of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model up to $N = 4000$ spins, enabling the most extensive test of Parisi's Nobel Prize-winning RSB solution to date. Five independent observables confirm RSB predictions: ground-state energies converge to Parisi's value with characteristic $N^{-2/3}$ corrections, energy fluctuations scale as $N^{-3/4}$ ($\gamma = 0.739 \pm 0.036$), the chaos exponent $\theta = 0.51 \pm 0.02$ ($R^2 = 0.989$) confirms mean-field universality, the overlap distribution exhibits hierarchical structure ($\sigma_q = 0.19$), and the complexity remains invariant under 36% network dilution. Beyond a critical threshold $0.8 < D_c < 0.9$, the hierarchy collapses discontinuously through a cooperative avalanche that converts the entire system to vacancies within a narrow parameter window $\Delta D = 0.1$. These findings establish quantum computation as a tool for probing emergent many-body phenomena and uncover the topological foundations of complexity in disordered systems, with implications for neural networks, optimization, and materials science.

Magnetoencephalography measures the magnetic fields generated by neural currents using quantum sensors such as superconducting quantum interference devices and atomic magnetometers. Here we combine the energy resolution limit of magnetic sensing with the metabolic power available to neural currents to derive a technology-independent bound on the information capacity of MEG. The bound factorizes into geometry, metabolism, and Planck's constant, and gives an estimated maximum information rate of 2.2~Mbit/s for representative human-brain parameters. Further, we show that the externally measurable magnetic field has a finite angular bandwidth, with high multipole components being geometrically attenuated and falling below the quantum-limited noise floor. This yields an information-limited spatial scale of order $1~{\rm cm}$ and renders the accessible measurement space effectively finite-dimensional. The energy resolution limit therefore defines an information-theoretic Nyquist scale for magnetoencephalography, beyond which denser spatial sampling provides redundant measurements rather than additional recoverable information. Since the energy resolution limit also makes the noise variance grow linearly with measurement bandwidth, temporal and spatial bandwidths compete, producing a fundamental spatio-temporal trade-off. These results show how quantum-limited measurements constrain the observable complexity and information content of noninvasive brain imaging, providing a quantitative link between fundamental physics and neuroscience.

It is shown that the collapse model derived from the theory of causal fermion systems does not give rise to a heating of the probe, up to higher order corrections in the Planck length. Experimental consequences are worked out. The connections to the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model, models involving a second-quantized background and the events-trees-histories (ETH) formulation of quantum theory are discussed.

Imaginary-time evolution (ITE) is one of the most widely used numerical techniques for obtaining ground states of many-body Hamiltonians. In this work, we compare ITE with gradient descent (GD) within the framework of Gaussian wavefunction ansatze. We show that while ITE and GD are formally equivalent for fermionic systems, GD exhibits consistently faster convergence for bosonic systems, challenging the common assumption of their complete equivalence.

High-fidelity two-logical-qubit gates are essential for realizing fault-tolerant quantum computation with bosonic codes, yet experimentally reported fidelities have rarely exceeded 90%. Here, we propose a geometric phase engineering approach for implementing controlled-phase gates for binomially encoded logical qubits. This method leverages the structural simplicity of geometric drives to reduce the numerical optimization dimensionality while fully incorporating system nonlinearities, enabling fast and high-fidelity logical operations. As an example, we experimentally demonstrate a process fidelity of 97.4$\pm$0.8% for a controlled-Z gate between two binomial codes, surpassing all previously reported two-logical-qubit gates in bosonic codes. This work demonstrates that geometric phase engineering provides an effective and experimentally feasible route to fast, high-fidelity logical operations in bosonic quantum processors.

We investigate quantum coherence in a hybrid cavity magnomechanical system incorporating a squeezed-magnon drive. By analyzing the Gaussian quantum coherence of the cavity, magnonic, and mechanical subsystems, as well as the total system coherence, we identify the critical roles of phase control, coupling strength, drive power, and thermal noise. We show that the squeezing amplitude and phase precisely modulate the effective magnon frequency and damping, enabling phase-dependent enhancement and nonreciprocal transfer of coherence. Our systematic parameter analysis indicates that increasing driving power and photon-magnon coupling enhances quantum coherence, while thermal decoherence leads to its degradation. However, this effect is partially suppressed by the presence of magnon squeezing. The results show that squeezed magnons are a robust and tunable resource for controlling, stabilizing, and optimizing quantum coherence in cavity magnomechanical platforms, offering potential applications in hybrid magnonic systems and coherent quantum information processing.

Er-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Er:YIG) holds the potential of combining the low magnetic damping of YIG with the telecom-band optical transitions of $\text{Er}^{3+}$ ions, making it a suitable material for hybrid optomagnonic devices and microwave-to-optical quantum transduction. We report the epitaxial growth of $\text{Er}_{x}\text{Y}_{3-x}\text{Fe}_{5}\text{O}_{12}$ films with $x=0.008-0.20$ on (111)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction, reciprocal space mapping, and scanning transmission electron microscopy confirm single-phase, fully coherent growth with atomically sharp interfaces across the entire substitution range. Magnetometry reveals a gradual decrease in saturation magnetization with increasing Er content, consistent with antiparallel coupling between Er$^{3+}$ spins and the net Fe$^{3+}$ moments, along with the emergence of an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The ferromagnetic resonance broadens with Er concentration due to increased Gilbert damping and inhomogeneous linewidth broadening. Films with low Er content ($x=0.008$), most relevant for optomagnonic applications, retain nearly isotropic magnetization and exhibit a damping parameter only slightly higher than that of undoped YIG. These results identify growth and substitution conditions that preserve YIG's low-loss magnetic properties while introducing optical functionality, establishing Er:YIG as a viable platform for hybrid quantum magnonics and microwave-to-optical transduction.

We study the dynamical and spectral characteristics of a quantum three-level ladder system, interacting with a continuous electromagnetic field in one-dimensional open waveguide. Common realization of such systems is a waveguide QED setup - a superconducting artificial atom (transmon), coupled to an open microwave transmission line. We derive an analytical solution for spontaneous emission of initially excited atom, and use it to study the probability of state detection and spectral density of output photon states. We find that for strong coupling of transmon to a waveguide emitted photons show correlation in frequency and can have the same energies, even if the three-level system is anharmonic.