Kinetic Intersections as a Source of Information on Rate Coefficients

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Stimulating uncertainty: Amplifying the quantum vacuum with superconducting circuits

The ability to generate particles from the quantum vacuum is one of the most profound consequences of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Although the significance of vacuum fluctuations can be seen throughout physics, the experimental realization of vacuum amplification effects has until now been limited to a few cases. Superconducting circuit devices, driven by the goal to achieve a viable quantum computer, have been used in the experimental demonstration of the dynamical Casimir effect, and may soon be able to realize the elusive verification of analogue Hawking radiation. This article describes several mechanisms for generating photons from the quantum vacuum and emphasizes their connection to the well-known parametric amplifier from quantum optics. Discussed in detail is the possible realization of each mechanism, or its analogue, in superconducting circuit systems. The ability to selectively engineer these circuit devices highlights the relationship between the various amplification mechanisms.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, version published in Rev. Mod. Phys. as a Colloquiu

Experimental investigation of bifurcations in a thermoacoustic engine

In this study, variation in the characteristics of the pressure oscillations in a thermoacoustic engine is explored as the input heat flux is varied. A bifurcation diagram is plotted to study the variation in the qualitative behavior of the acoustic oscillations as the input heat flux changes. At a critical input heat flux (60 Watt), the engine begins to produce acoustic oscillations in its fundamental longitudinal mode. As the input heat flux is increased, incommensurate frequencies appear in the power spectrum. The simultaneous presence of incommensurate frequencies results in quasiperiodic oscillations. On further increase of heat flux, the fundamental mode disappears and second mode oscillations are observed. These bifurcations in the characteristics of the pressure oscillations are the result of nonlinear interaction between multiple modes present in the thermoacoustic engine. Hysteresis in the bifurcation diagram suggests that the bifurcation is subcritical. Further, the qualitative analysis of different dynamic regimes is performed using nonlinear time series analysis. The physical reason for the observed nonlinear behavior is discussed. Suggestions to avert the variations in qualitative behavior of the pressure oscillations in thermoacoustic engines are also provided

Semiconductor laser dynamics induced by optical feedback for photonic microwave sensing

As one of the most widely used light sources today, semiconductor lasers (SLs) are an important part of many optical systems, especially for sensing, communications, metrology, and storage applications. SLs have the advantages of small size, easy integration, and miniaturization. The massification of electronic devices has furthered this agenda, allowing the creation of portable systems capable of supporting optical sensing systems. Essentially, SLs are inherently nonlinear devices, in nonlinear systems, the folding and stretching behaviors of variables result in di↵erent dynamical routes. It is worth noting that under the conditions of a stable operation, an SL biased by constant current usually emits laser light with a constant intensity. However, with the introduction of external optical feedback (OF), the laser light can become unstable. SL will undergo from steady state, switching status, to period-one (P1) oscillation by crossing Hopf-bifurcation. In the P1 state, the system produces a modulation of the laser optical output power for the generation of microwave photonics (MWP) signals. In this thesis, we operate SL with OF scheme in P1 dynamics, and found that the proposed system has the great capability to achieve both displacement and absolute distance sensing applications with high resolution and wide measurement range, by using time-frequency information, relaxation oscillation information, and nonlinear dynamic characteristics carried in that SLs emit signals. The contributions of each chapter in this thesis are described in the following: In Chapter 3, we propose an SL with OF set at the P1 dynamics to generate the MWP signal for displacement sensing. Di↵erent from the traditional MWP generation method, the designed laser nonlinear dynamics are used by slightly perturbing the SL source with the help of external feedback light to make the system work in the P1 dynamic state, thereby generating regular microwave oscillation. By using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method to numerically solve the famous Lang-Kobayashi differential equation, the boundary of di↵erent laser dynamic states is delimited, so that the system can generate stable and sustainable MWP signals in P1 dynamics. A set of parameter selection rules for designing an SL based MWP displacement sensing system is obtained. In addition, a measurement algorithm for recovering the displacement from an MWP sensing signal is developed. By making full use of the sensing information carried in both amplitude and frequency of the MWP signal, displacement sensing with high resolution and high sensitivity can be achieved. Both simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the proposed method and show it is capable of realizing high measurement sensitivity, and high resolution for displacement sensing. In Chapter 4, utilizing the rich nonlinear dynamics of an SL with OF, under the proper controllable system parameters, the system enters the P1 dynamics through Hopf-bifurcation. In the P1 state, the detailed relationship between the relaxation oscillation frequency of MWP signals and external cavity length is studied through solving the Lang-Kobayashi delayed di↵erential equations. The displacement measurement formula is thus obtained. In addition, the relevant signal processing algorithm is developed by considering mode-hopping, frequency-hopping, and sawtooth-like phenomena that occurred in the relaxation oscillation. The displacement measurement can be enhanced in a wider sensing range by fully using the relaxation oscillation frequency relationship. Verification results in simulation and experiment show that the proposed MWP displacement sensing system based on SL with OF contributes to designing a prototype of a compact displacement sensor with wide measurement range and high resolution. In Chapter 5, OF induced switching status between two nonlinear dynamic states (stable and P1 states) is observed in the SL with OF system. Without the need for any electronic or optical modulation devices, the laser intensity can be modulated in a square wave form due to the switching via utilizing the inherent SL dynamics near Hopf-bifurcation boundary. The periodicity in the switching enables us to develop a new approach for long-distance sensing compared to other SL with OF based absolute distance measurement systems and lift the relevant restrictions that existed in the systems. Moreover, the impact of system controllable parameters on the duty cycle of the square wave signals generated was investigated as well, aiming to maintain the proposed system robustly operating at the switching status