549 research outputs found
Orbital angular momentum 25 years on [invited]
Twenty-five years ago Allen, Beijersbergen, Spreeuw, and Woerdman published their seminal paper establishing that light beams with helical phase-fronts carried an orbital angular momentum. Previously orbital angular momentum had been associated only with high-order atomic/molecular transitions and hence considered to be a rare occurrence. The realization that every photon in a laser beam could carry an orbital angular momentum that was in excess of the angular momentum associated with photon spin has led both to new understandings of optical effects and various applications. These applications range from optical manipulation, imaging and quantum optics, to optical communications. This brief review will examine some of the research in the field to date and consider what future directions might hold
Quantum metrology and its application in biology
Quantum metrology provides a route to overcome practical limits in sensing
devices. It holds particular relevance to biology, where sensitivity and
resolution constraints restrict applications both in fundamental biophysics and
in medicine. Here, we review quantum metrology from this biological context,
focusing on optical techniques due to their particular relevance for biological
imaging, sensing, and stimulation. Our understanding of quantum mechanics has
already enabled important applications in biology, including positron emission
tomography (PET) with entangled photons, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using
nuclear magnetic resonance, and bio-magnetic imaging with superconducting
quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). In quantum metrology an even greater
range of applications arise from the ability to not just understand, but to
engineer, coherence and correlations at the quantum level. In the past few
years, quite dramatic progress has been seen in applying these ideas into
biological systems. Capabilities that have been demonstrated include enhanced
sensitivity and resolution, immunity to imaging artifacts and technical noise,
and characterization of the biological response to light at the single-photon
level. New quantum measurement techniques offer even greater promise, raising
the prospect for improved multi-photon microscopy and magnetic imaging, among
many other possible applications. Realization of this potential will require
cross-disciplinary input from researchers in both biology and quantum physics.
In this review we seek to communicate the developments of quantum metrology in
a way that is accessible to biologists and biophysicists, while providing
sufficient detail to allow the interested reader to obtain a solid
understanding of the field. We further seek to introduce quantum physicists to
some of the central challenges of optical measurements in biological science.Comment: Submitted review article, comments and suggestions welcom
Quantum Zeno dynamics of a field in a cavity
We analyze the quantum Zeno dynamics that takes place when a field stored in
a cavity undergoes frequent interactions with atoms. We show that repeated
measurements or unitary operations performed on the atoms probing the field
state confine the evolution to tailored subspaces of the total Hilbert space.
This confinement leads to non-trivial field evolutions and to the generation of
interesting non-classical states, including mesoscopic field state
superpositions. We elucidate the main features of the quantum Zeno mechanism in
the context of a state-of-the-art cavity quantum electrodynamics experiment. A
plethora of effects is investigated, from state manipulations by phase space
tweezers to nearly arbitrary state synthesis. We analyze in details the
practical implementation of this dynamics and assess its robustness by
numerical simulations including realistic experimental imperfections. We
comment on the various perspectives opened by this proposal
Roadmap on structured light
Structured light refers to the generation and application of custom light fields. As the tools and technology to create and detect structured light have evolved, steadily the applications have begun to emerge. This roadmap touches on the key fields within structured light from the perspective of experts in those areas, providing insight into the current state and the challenges their respective fields face. Collectively the roadmap outlines the venerable nature of structured light research and the exciting prospects for the future that are yet to be realized.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Experimental investigations of the dipolar interactions between single Rydberg atoms
This review summarizes experimental works performed over the last decade by
several groups on the manipulation of a few individual interacting Rydberg
atoms. These studies establish arrays of single Rydberg atoms as a promising
platform for quantum state engineering, with potential applications to quantum
metrology, quantum simulation and quantum information
The Hong-Ou-Mandel effect with atoms
Controlling light at the level of individual photons has led to advances in
fields ranging from quantum information and precision sensing to fundamental
tests of quantum mechanics. A central development that followed the advent of
single photon sources was the observation of the Hong-Ou- Mandel (HOM) effect,
a novel two-photon path interference phenomenon experienced by
indistinguishable photons. The effect is now a central technique in the field
of quantum optics, harnessed for a variety of applications such as diagnosing
single photon sources and creating probabilistic entanglement in linear quantum
computing. Recently, several distinct experiments using atomic sources have
realized the requisite control to observe and exploit Hong-Ou-Mandel
interference of atoms. This article provides a summary of this phenomenon and
discusses some of its implications for atomic systems. Transitioning from the
domain of photons to atoms opens new perspectives on fundamental concepts, such
as the classification of entanglement of identical particles. It aids in the
design of novel probes of quantities such as entanglement entropy by combining
well established tools of AMO physics - unity single-atom detection, tunable
interactions, and scalability - with the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference.
Furthermore, it is now possible for established protocols in the photon
community, such as measurement-induced entanglement, to be employed in atomic
experiments that possess deterministic single-particle production and
detection. Hence, the realization of the HOM effect with atoms represents a
productive union of central ideas in quantum control of atoms and photons.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure
Generating scalable graph states in an atom-nanophotonic interface
Scalable graph states are essential for measurement-based quantum computation
and many entanglement-assisted applications in quantum technologies. Generation
of these multipartite entangled states requires a controllable and efficient
quantum device with delicate design of generation protocol. Here we propose to
prepare high-fidelity and scalable graph states in one and two dimensions,
which can be tailored in an atom-nanophotonic cavity via state carving
technique. We propose a systematic protocol to carve out unwanted state
components, which facilitates scalable graph states generations via adiabatic
transport of a definite number of atoms in optical tweezers. An analysis of
state fidelity is also presented, and the state preparation probability can be
optimized via multiqubit state carvings and sequential single-photon probes.
Our results showcase the capability of an atom-nanophotonic interface for
creating graph states and pave the way toward novel problem-specific
applications using scalable high-dimensional graph states with stationary
qubits.Comment: 5 figures with supplemental materia
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