Short-time coherence of a qubit and measurement apparatus

The effects of the measurement apparatus on quantum coherence are studied by considering a purely dephasing model of a qubit. The initial state is prepared from a thermal state of the whole system by performing a nonselective measurement on the qubit. The magnitude of the initial postmeasurement coherence is bounded by the value [Formula: see text], which is realized with special measurement schemes and in the low-temperature limit. The coherence magnitude identically vanishes, increases or decreases with an approximately constant rate over a determined short-time scale, according to the choice of the preparation measurement. The maximization of the short-time increasing or decreasing rate is favored by the choice of other special measurement schemes and the high-temperature limit. The measurement apparatus allows to manipulate the quantum coherence of the qubit over short times via nonselective preparation measurements.