123 research outputs found
Quantum Noise and Superluminal Propagation
Causal "superluminal" effects have recently been observed and discussed in
various contexts. The question arises whether such effects could be observed
with extremely weak pulses, and what would prevent the observation of an
"optical tachyon." Aharonov, Reznik, and Stern (ARS) [Phys. Rev. Lett., vol.
81, 2190 (1998)] have argued that quantum noise will preclude the observation
of a superluminal group velocity when the pulse consists of one or a few
photons. In this paper we reconsider this question both in a general framework
and in the specific example, suggested by Chiao, Kozhekin, and Kurizki [Phys.
Rev. Lett., vol. 77, 1254 (1996)], of off-resonant, short-pulse propagation in
an optical amplifier. We derive in the case of the amplifier a signal-to-noise
ratio that is consistent with the general ARS conclusions when we impose their
criteria for distinguishing between superluminal propagation and propagation at
the speed c. However, results consistent with the semiclassical arguments of
CKK are obtained if weaker criteria are imposed, in which case the signal can
exceed the noise without being "exponentially large." We show that the quantum
fluctuations of the field considered by ARS are closely related to
superfluorescence noise. More generally we consider the implications of
unitarity for superluminal propagation and quantum noise and study, in addition
to the complete and truncated wavepackets considered by ARS, the residual
wavepacket formed by their difference. This leads to the conclusion that the
noise is mostly luminal and delayed with respect to the superluminal signal. In
the limit of a very weak incident signal pulse, the superluminal signal will be
dominated by the noise part, and the signal-to-noise ratio will therefore be
very small.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure, eps
Multibarrier tunneling
We study the tunneling through an arbitrary number of finite rectangular
opaque barriers and generalize earlier results by showing that the total
tunneling phase time depends neither on the barrier thickness nor on the
inter-barrier separation. We also predict two novel peculiar features of the
system considered, namely the independence of the transit time (for non
resonant tunneling) and the resonant frequency on the number of barriers
crossed, which can be directly tested in photonic experiments. A thorough
analysis of the role played by inter-barrier multiple reflections and a
physical interpretation of the results obtained is reported, showing that
multibarrier tunneling is a highly non-local phenomenon.Comment: RevTex, 7 pages, 1 eps figur
Theory of vortex lattice effects on STM spectra in d-wave superconductors
Theory of scanning tunneling spectroscopy of low energy quasiparticle (QP)
states in vortex lattices of d-wave superconductors is developed taking account
of the effects caused by an extremely large extension of QP wavefunctions in
the nodal directions and the band structure in the QP spectrum. The oscillatory
structures in STM spectra, which correspond to van Hove singularities are
analysed. Theoretical calculations carried out for finite temperatures and
scattering rates are compared with recent experimental data for high
temperature cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, M2S-HTSC-VI conference paper, using Elsevier
style espcrc2.st
Low-Energy Quasiparticles in Cuprate Superconductors: A Quantitative Analysis
A residual linear term is observed in the thermal conductivity of
optimally-doped Bi-2212 at very low temperatures whose magnitude is in
excellent agreement with the value expected from Fermi-liquid theory and the
d-wave energy spectrum measured by photoemission spectroscopy, with no
adjustable parameters. This solid basis allows us to make a quantitative
analysis of thermodynamic properties at low temperature and establish that
thermally-excited quasiparticles are a significant, perhaps even the dominant
mechanism in suppressing the superfluid density in cuprate superconductors
Bi-2212 and YBCO.Comment: Revised version with additional page, figure, table and reference; to
appear in Physical Review B (1 August 2000
Lorentz Invariant Superluminal Tunneling
It is shown that superluminal optical signalling is possible without
violating Lorentz invariance and causality via tunneling through photonic band
gaps in inhomogeneous dielectrics of a special kind.Comment: 10 pages revtex, no figure, more discussions added, submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Measurement of Superluminal optical tunneling times in double-barrier photonic bandgaps
Tunneling of optical pulses at 1.5 micron wavelength through double-barrier
periodic fiber Bragg gratings is experimentally investigated. Tunneling time
measurements as a function of barrier distance show that, far from the
resonances of the structure, the transit time is paradoxically short, implying
Superluminal propagation, and almost independent of the distance between the
barriers. These results are in agreement with theoretical predictions based on
phase time analysis and also provide an experimental evidence, in the optical
context, of the analogous phenomenon expected in Quantum Mechanics for
non-resonant superluminal tunneling of particles across two successive
potential barriers. [Attention is called, in particular, to our last Figure].
PACS nos.: 42.50.Wm, 03.65.Xp, 42.70.Qs, 03.50.De, 03.65.-w, 73.40.GkComment: LaTeX file (8 pages), plus 5 figure
Quasiparticle spectra in the vicinity of a d-wave vortex
We discuss the evolution of the local quasiparticle spectral density and the
related tunneling conductance measurable by the scanning tunneling microscope,
as a function of distance r and angle \theta from the vortex core in a
d_{x^2-y^2} superconductor. We consider the effects of electronic disorder and
of a strongly anisotropic tunneling matrix element, and show that in real
materials they will likely obscure the ~1/r asymptotic tail in the zero-bias
tunneling conductance expected from the straightforward semiclassical analysis.
We also give a prediction for the tunneling conductance anisotropy around the
vortex core and establish a connection to the structure of the tunneling matrix
element.Comment: 9 pages REVTeX + 5 PostScript figures. For related work and info
visit http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~fran
On a universal photonic tunnelling time
We consider photonic tunnelling through evanescent regions and obtain general
analytic expressions for the transit (phase) time (in the opaque barrier
limit) in order to study the recently proposed ``universality'' property
according to which is given by the reciprocal of the photon frequency.
We consider different physical phenomena (corresponding to performed
experiments) and show that such a property is only an approximation. In
particular we find that the ``correction'' factor is a constant term for total
internal reflection and quarter-wave photonic bandgap, while it is
frequency-dependent in the case of undersized waveguide and distributed Bragg
reflector. The comparison of our predictions with the experimental results
shows quite a good agreement with observations and reveals the range of
applicability of the approximated ``universality'' property.Comment: RevTeX, 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; subsection added with a new
experiment analyzed, some other minor change
Sub-femtosecond determination of transmission delay times for a dielectric mirror (photonic bandgap) as a function of angle of incidence
Using a two-photon interference technique, we measure the delay for
single-photon wavepackets to be transmitted through a multilayer dielectric
mirror, which functions as a ``photonic bandgap'' medium. By varying the angle
of incidence, we are able to confirm the behavior predicted by the group delay
(stationary phase approximation), including a variation of the delay time from
superluminal to subluminal as the band edge is tuned towards to the wavelength
of our photons. The agreement with theory is better than 0.5 femtoseconds (less
than one quarter of an optical period) except at large angles of incidence. The
source of the remaining discrepancy is not yet fully understood.Comment: 5 pages and 5 figure
Quasiparticle Spectrum of d-wave Superconductors in the Mixed State
The quasiparticle spectrum of a two-dimensional d-wave superconductor in the
mixed state, H_{c1} << H << H_{c2}, is studied both analytically and
numerically using the linearized Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation. We consider
various values of the "anisotropy ratio" v_F/v_Delta for the quasiparticle
velocities at the Dirac points, and we examine the implications of symmetry.
For a Bravais lattice of vortices, we find there is always an isolated
energy-zero (Dirac point) at the center of the Brillouin zone, but for a
non-Bravais lattice with two vortices per unit cell there is generally an
energy gap. In both of these cases, the density of states should vanish at zero
energy, in contrast with the semiclassical prediction of a constant density of
states, though the latter may hold down to very low energies for large
anisotropy ratios. This result is closely related to the particle-hole symmetry
of the band structures in lattices with two vortices per unit cell. More
complicated non-Bravais vortex lattice configurations with at least four
vortices per unit cell can break the particle-hole symmetry of the linearized
energy spectrum and lead to a finite density of states at zero energy.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, RevTe
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