Qubit-environment-entanglement generation and the spin echo

We analyze the relationship between qubit-environment entanglement that can be created during the pure dephasing of the qubit and the effectiveness of the spin-echo protocol. We focus here on mixed states of the environment. We show that whereas the echo protocol can obviously counteract classical environmental noise, it can also undo dephasing associated with qubit-environment entanglement, and there is no obvious difference in its efficiency in these two cases. Additionally, we show that qubit-environment entanglement can be generated at the end of the echo protocol even when it is absent at the time of application of the local operation on the qubit (the pi pulse). We prove that this can occur only at isolated points in time, after fine-tuning of the echo protocol duration. Finally, we discuss the conditions under which the observation of specific features of the echo signal can serve as a witness of the entangling nature of the joint qubit-environment evolution.

Automated summary

This study analyzes the relationship between qubit-environment entanglement and the pure dephasing of qubit in spin-echo protocol. It shows that the echo protocol can counteract both classical environmental noise and qubit-environment entanglement, with no obvious difference in efficiency. The observation of specific features of the echo signal can serve as evidence of the entangling nature of the joint qubit-environment evolution.