374 research outputs found
Photon Sorting, Efficient Bell Measurements and a Deterministic CZ Gate using a Passive Two-level Nonlinearity
Although the strengths of optical non-linearities available experimentally
have been rapidly increasing in recent years, significant challenges remain to
using such non-linearities to produce useful quantum devices such as efficient
optical Bell state analysers or universal quantum optical gates. Here we
describe a new approach that avoids the current limitations by combining strong
non-linearities with active Gaussian operations in efficient protocols for Bell
state analysers and Controlled-Sign gates
Excitons in InGaAs Quantum Dots without Electron Wetting Layer States
The Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth-mode facilitates the self-assembly of
quantum dots (QDs) using lattice-mismatched semiconductors, for instance InAs
and GaAs. SK QDs are defect-free and can be embedded in heterostructures and
nano-engineered devices. InAs QDs are excellent photon emitters: QD-excitons,
electron-hole bound pairs, are exploited as emitters of high quality single
photons for quantum communication. One significant drawback of the SK-mode is
the wetting layer (WL). The WL results in a continuum rather close in energy to
the QD-confined-states. The WL-states lead to unwanted scattering and dephasing
processes of QD-excitons. Here, we report that a slight modification to the
SK-growth-protocol of InAs on GaAs -- we add a monolayer of AlAs following InAs
QD formation -- results in a radical change to the QD-excitons. Extensive
characterisation demonstrates that this additional layer eliminates the
WL-continuum for electrons enabling the creation of highly charged excitons
where up to six electrons occupy the same QD. Single QDs grown with this
protocol exhibit optical linewidths matching those of the very best SK QDs
making them an attractive alternative to standard InGaAs QDs
Characterizing heralded single-photon sources with imperfect measurement devices
Any characterization of a single-photon source is not complete without
specifying its second-order degree of coherence, i.e., its function.
An accurate measurement of such coherence functions commonly requires
high-precision single-photon detectors, in whose absence, only time-averaged
measurements are possible. It is not clear, however, how the resulting
time-averaged quantities can be used to properly characterize the source. In
this paper, we investigate this issue for a heralded source of single photons
that relies on continuous-wave parametric down-conversion. By accounting for
major shortcomings of the source and the detectors--i.e., the multiple-photon
emissions of the source, the time resolution of photodetectors, and our chosen
width of coincidence window--our theory enables us to infer the true source
properties from imperfect measurements. Our theoretical results are
corroborated by an experimental demonstration using a PPKTP crystal pumped by a
blue laser, that results in a single-photon generation rate about 1.2 millions
per second per milliwatt of pump power. This work takes an important step
toward the standardization of such heralded single-photon sources.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures; corrected Eq. (11) and the description follows
Eq. (22
Quantum optics with near lifetime-limited quantum-dot transitions in a nanophotonic waveguide
Establishing a highly efficient photon-emitter interface where the intrinsic
linewidth broadening is limited solely by spontaneous emission is a key step in
quantum optics. It opens a pathway to coherent light-matter interaction for,
e.g., the generation of highly indistinguishable photons, few-photon optical
nonlinearities, and photon-emitter quantum gates. However, residual broadening
mechanisms are ubiquitous and need to be combated. For solid-state emitters
charge and nuclear spin noise is of importance and the influence of photonic
nanostructures on the broadening has not been clarified. We present near
lifetime-limited linewidths for quantum dots embedded in nanophotonic
waveguides through a resonant transmission experiment. It is found that the
scattering of single photons from the quantum dot can be obtained with an
extinction of , which is limited by the coupling of the quantum
dot to the nanostructure rather than the linewidth broadening. This is obtained
by embedding the quantum dot in an electrically-contacted nanophotonic
membrane. A clear pathway to obtaining even larger single-photon extinction is
laid out, i.e., the approach enables a fully deterministic and coherent
photon-emitter interface in the solid state that is operated at optical
frequencies.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure
Imaging 3D Sea Surfaces from 3D Dual-Sensor Towed Streamer Data
3D realistic sea surface imaging from 3D dual-sensor towed streamer data is presented. The technique is based on separating data acquired by collocated dual-sensors into up-going and down-going wavefields. Subsequently, these wavefields are extrapolated upwards in order to image the sea surface. This approach has previously been demonstrated using 2D data examples. Here, the focus is on 3D data. Controlled 3D data based on the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz algorithm is generated, and the 3D sea surface imaging technique is applied. For coarsely spaced streamers from 3D field data, the technique is applied streamerwise (i.e., 2D wavefield separation, extrapolation, and imaging). In the latter case, the resulting sea surface profiles corresponding to each time frame are interpolated to demonstrate that the main sea surface characteristics are preserved, and artefacts due to 2D processing of 3D data are mainly limited to areas corresponding to large angles of incidence. Time-varying sea surfaces from two different 3D field data are imaged. The data examples were acquired under different weather conditions. The imaged sea surfaces show realistic wave heights, and their spectra suggest plausible speeds and directions
Spin-photon interface and spin-controlled photon switching in a nanobeam waveguide
Access to the electron spin is at the heart of many protocols for integrated
and distributed quantum-information processing [1-4]. For instance, interfacing
the spin-state of an electron and a photon can be utilized to perform quantum
gates between photons [2,5] or to entangle remote spin states [6-9].
Ultimately, a quantum network of entangled spins constitutes a new paradigm in
quantum optics [1]. Towards this goal, an integrated spin-photon interface
would be a major leap forward. Here we demonstrate an efficient and optically
programmable interface between the spin of an electron in a quantum dot and
photons in a nanophotonic waveguide. The spin can be deterministically prepared
with a fidelity of 96\%. Subsequently the system is used to implement a
"single-spin photonic switch", where the spin state of the electron directs the
flow of photons through the waveguide. The spin-photon interface may enable
on-chip photon-photon gates [2], single-photon transistors [10], and efficient
photonic cluster state generation [11]
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Human rhinoviruses enter and induce proliferation of B lymphocytes
Background: Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are one of the main causes of virus-induced asthma exacerbations. Infiltration of B lymphocytes into the subepithelial tissue of the lungs has been demonstrated during rhinovirus infection in allergic individuals. However, the mechanisms through which HRVs modulate the immune responses of monocytes and lymphocytes are not yet well described. Objective: To study the dynamics of virus uptake by monocytes and lymphocytes, and the ability of HRVs to induce the activation of in vitro-cultured human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Methods: Flow cytometry was used for the enumeration and characterization of lymphocytes. Proliferation was estimated using 3H-thymidine or CFSE labeling and ICAM-1 blocking. We used bead-based multiplex assays and quantitative PCR for cytokine quantification. HRV accumulation and replication inside the B lymphocytes was detected by a combination of in situ hybridization (ISH), immunofluorescence, and PCR for positive-strand and negative-strand viral RNA. Cell images were acquired with imaging flow cytometry. Results: By means of imaging flow cytometry, we demonstrate a strong and quick binding of HRV types 16 and 1B to monocytes, and slower interaction of these HRVs with CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and CD19+ B cells. Importantly, we show that HRVs induce the proliferation of B cells, while the addition of anti-ICAM-1 antibody partially reduces this proliferation for HRV16. We prove with ISH that HRVs can enter B cells, form their viral replication centers, and the newly formed virions are able to infect HeLa cells. In addition, we demonstrate that similar to epithelial cells, HRVs induce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in PBMCs. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate for the first time that HRVs enter and form viral replication centers in B lymphocytes and induce the proliferation of B cells. Newly formed virions have the capacity to infect other cells (HeLa). These findings indicate that the regulation of human rhinovirus-induced B-cell responses could be a novel approach to develop therapeutics to treat the virus-induced exacerbation of asthma.</p
Chirality of nanophotonic waveguide with embedded quantum emitter for unidirectional spin transfer
Scalable quantum technologies may be achieved by faithful conversion between matter qubits and photonic qubits in integrated circuit geometries. Within this context, quantum dots possess well-defined spin states (matter qubits), which couple efficiently to photons. By embedding them in nanophotonic waveguides, they provide a promising platform for quantum technology implementations. In this paper, we demonstrate that the naturally occurring electromagnetic field chirality that arises in nanobeam waveguides leads to unidirectional photon emission from quantum dot spin states, with resultant in-plane transfer of matter-qubit information. The chiral behaviour occurs despite the non-chiral geometry and material of the waveguides. Using dot registration techniques, we achieve a quantum emitter deterministically positioned at a chiral point and realize spin-path conversion by design. We further show that the chiral phenomena are much more tolerant to dot position than in standard photonic crystal waveguides, exhibit spin-path readout up to 95±5% and have potential to serve as the basis of spin-logic and network implementations
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