Spin correlations and consequences of quantum-mechanical coherence

The difference in the properties of the spin correlation tensor for factorizable and nonfactorizable two-particle states is analyzed. The inequalities for linear combinations of the components of this tensor are obtained for the case of incoherent mixtures of factorizable two-particle spin states. They include the well known Bell inequalities and can be violated for coherent superpositions of two-particle spin states. The possibility to verify the consequences of the quantum-mechanical coherence is discussed using the angular correlations in the asymmetric (parity violating) decays of the pairs of spin-1/2 particles (muons, top-quarks or lambda-hyperons), the coherence arising either from the production dynamics or due to the effect of quantum statistics.Comment: 11 pages, LaTe

Modal and Polarization Qubits in Ti:LiNbO3_3 Photonic Circuits for a Universal Quantum Logic Gate

Lithium niobate photonic circuits have the salutary property of permitting the generation, transmission, and processing of photons to be accommodated on a single chip. Compact photonic circuits such as these, with multiple components integrated on a single chip, are crucial for efficiently implementing quantum information processing schemes. We present a set of basic transformations that are useful for manipulating modal qubits in Ti:LiNbO$_3$ photonic quantum circuits. These include the mode analyzer, a device that separates the even and odd components of a state into two separate spatial paths; the mode rotator, which rotates the state by an angle in mode space; and modal Pauli spin operators that effect related operations. We also describe the design of a deterministic, two-qubit, single-photon, CNOT gate, a key element in certain sets of universal quantum logic gates. It is implemented as a Ti:LiNbO$_3$ photonic quantum circuit in which the polarization and mode number of a single photon serve as the control and target qubits, respectively. It is shown that the effects of dispersion in the CNOT circuit can be mitigated by augmenting it with an additional path. The performance of all of these components are confirmed by numerical simulations. The implementation of these transformations relies on selective and controllable power coupling among single- and two-mode waveguides, as well as the polarization sensitivity of the Pockels coefficients in LiNbO$_3$

Interference contrast in multi-source few photon optics

Many recent experiments employ several parametric down conversion (PDC) sources to get multiphoton interference. Such interference has applications in quantum information. We study here how effects due to photon statistics, misalignment, and partial distinguishability of the PDC pairs originating from different sources may lower the interference contrast in the multiphoton experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, journal versio

Low-Energy Nondipole Effects in Molecular Nitrogen Valence-Shell Photoionization

Observations are reported for the first time of significant nondipole effects in the photoionization of the outer-valence orbitals of diatomic molecules. Measured nondipole angular-distribution parameters for the 3sigmag, 1piu, and 2sigmau shells of N2 exhibit spectral variations with incident photon energies from thresholds to ~200 eV which are attributed via concomitant calculations to particular final-state symmetry waves arising from (E1)[direct-product](M1,E2) radiation-matter interactions first-order in photon momentum. Comparisons with previously reported K-edge studies in N2 verify linear scaling with photon momentum, accounting in part for the significantly enhanced nondipole behavior observed in inner-shell ionization at correspondingly higher momentum values in this molecule