Controlling the polarisation correlation of photon pairs from a charge-tuneable quantum dot

Correlation between the rectilinear polarisations of the photons emitted from the biexciton decay in a single quantum dot is investigated in a device which allows the charge-state of the dot to be controlled. Optimising emission from the neutral exciton states maximises the operating efficiency of the biexciton decay. This is important for single dot applications such as a triggered source of entangled photons. As the bias on the device is reduced correlation between the two photons is found to fall dramatically as emission from the negatively charged exciton becomes significant. Lifetime measurements demonstrate that electronic spin-scattering is the likely cause.Comment: 3 figure

Inversion of exciton level splitting in quantum dots

The demonstration of degeneracy of exciton spin states is an important step toward the production of entangled photon pairs from the biexciton cascade. We measure the fine structure of exciton and biexciton states for a large number of single InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix; the energetic splitting of the horizontally and vertically polarized components of the exciton doublet is shown to decrease as the exciton confinement decreases, crucially passing through zero and changing sign. Thermal annealing is shown to reduce the exciton confinement, thereby increasing the number of dots with splitting close to zero

Statins, bone, and neurofibromatosis type 1

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a dominantly inherited multi-system disorder. Major features include pigmentary abnormalities, benign tumors of the nerve sheath (neurofibromas), malignant tumors, learning disabilities, and skeletal dysplasia. The NF1 gene functions as a tumor suppressor, but haploinsuffiency probably accounts for some aspects of the non-tumor phenotype. The protein product, neurofibromin, is a Ras GTPase-activating protein, and various Ras pathway inhibitors are being tested in preclinical models and clinical trials for effectiveness in treating NF1 complications. This month in BMC Medicine, a paper by Kolanczyk et al describes a preclinical mouse model for tibial dysplasia and provides evidence that the drug lovastatin – in use to treat cardiovascular disease – may be beneficial, opening the door to clinical trials in humans

Multi-dimensional photonic states from a quantum dot

Quantum states superposed across multiple particles or degrees of freedom offer an advantage in the development of quantum technologies. Creating these states deterministically and with high efficiency is an ongoing challenge. A promising approach is the repeated excitation of multi-level quantum emitters, which have been shown to naturally generate light with quantum statistics. Here we describe how to create one class of higher dimensional quantum state, a so called W-state, which is superposed across multiple time bins. We do this by repeated Raman scattering of photons from a charged quantum dot in a pillar microcavity. We show this method can be scaled to larger dimensions with no reduction in coherence or single-photon character. We explain how to extend this work to enable the deterministic creation of arbitrary time-bin encoded qudits

A FICÇÃO CLIMÁTICA COMO MEIO DE DEBATE PARA MITIGAR OS RISCOS DO ANTROPOCENO

É seguro afirmar que um dos maiores riscos da contemporaneidade concerne às mudanças climáticas. O assunto permeia os noticiários do mundo inteiro, uma vez que o aumento da temperatura do planeta compromete a sobrevivência de seres humanos e não humanos. Diante disso, esta proposta de trabalho pretende discutir as mudanças climáticas a partir de textos literários, mais especificamente com o foco no gênero Cli-fi, ou ficção climática, como é mais conhecida em língua portuguesa. Para tal, selecionei dois romances da literatura brasileira contemporânea: Não verás país nenhum (1981), de Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, e A extinção das abelhas (2021), de Natalia Borges Polesso. O primeiro livro nos apresenta um universo ficcional em que o sol, com seu aquecimento violento, transforma o planeta em uma atmosfera pestilencial. O segundo romance, por sua vez, nos oferece um cenário temeroso, no qual se evidencia a quase extinção da referida espécie, que é necessária para a polinização das plantas, para a vegetação, e consequentemente para a cadeia alimentar. Como método de análise, utilizei os pressupostos da Literatura Comparada para desenvolver um estudo comparativo entre os dois romances. Além disso, reflexões teóricas oriundas das humanidades ambientais, em especial da ecocrítica, permitiram a realização deste breve artigo, cujo objetivo principal é discutir as mudanças climáticas como um dos riscos do Antropoceno

Contação de histórias e aliança multiespécie pela sobrevivência em MaddAddam, de Margaret Atwood

Este artigo é resultado de minha pesquisa de doutorado cujo corpus foi a trilogia MaddAddam, de Margaret Atwood. Para esta proposta, foco minha análise sobre o terceiro romance da coletânea, também intitulado MaddAddam, em que nos é apresentado o desfecho dos enredos dos romances anteriores, a saber, Oryx and Crake (2003) e The year of the flood (2009). Em MaddAddam, publicado em 2013, Atwood especula um futuro em que a contação de histórias e a aliança entre seres humanos e não humanos consistem em estratégias de sobrevivência das espécies em um cenário pós-apocalítico. Para respaldar algumas das minhas reflexões, recorrerei às humanidades ambientais, sobretudo à ecocrítica, perspectiva teórica que me permite vislumbrar, dentre outras questões, como a espécie humana se reconfigura para garantir sua sobrevivência

A Comparison of the Interiors of Jupiter and Saturn

Interior models of Jupiter and Saturn are calculated and compared in the framework of the three-layer assumption, which rely on the perception that both planets consist of three globally homogeneous regions: a dense core, a metallic hydrogen envelope, and a molecular hydrogen envelope. Within this framework, constraints on the core mass and abundance of heavy elements (i.e. elements other than hydrogen and helium) are given by accounting for uncertainties on the measured gravitational moments, surface temperature, surface helium abundance, and on the inferred protosolar helium abundance, equations of state, temperature profile and solid/differential interior rotation.Comment: 25 pages, 6 tables, 10 figures Planetary and Space Science, in pres

Quantum-Dot-Based Telecommunication-Wavelength Quantum Relay

The development of quantum relays for long-haul and attack-proof quantum communication networks operating with weak coherent laser pulses requires entangled photon sources at telecommunication wavelengths with intrinsic single-photon emission for most practical implementations. Using a semiconductor quantum dot emitting entangled photon pairs in the telecommunication O band, we demonstrate a quantum relay fulfilling both of these conditions. The system achieves a maximum fidelity of 94.5% for implementation of a standard four-state protocol with input states generated by a laser. We further investigate robustness against frequency detuning of the narrow-band input and perform process tomography of the teleporter, revealing operation for arbitrary pure input states, with an average gate fidelity of 83.6%. The results highlight the potential of semiconductor light sources for compact and robust quantum-relay technology that is compatible with existing communication infrastructures

Controllable Photonic Time-Bin Qubits from a Quantum Dot

Photonic time bin qubits are well suited to transmission via optical fibres and waveguide circuits. The states take the form $\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\alpha \ket{0} + e^{i\phi}\beta \ket{1})$, with $\ket{0}$ and $\ket{1}$ referring to the early and late time bin respectively. By controlling the phase of a laser driving a spin-flip Raman transition in a single-hole-charged InAs quantum dot we demonstrate complete control over the phase, $\phi$. We show that this photon generation process can be performed deterministically, with only a moderate loss in coherence. Finally, we encode different qubits in different energies of the Raman scattered light, demonstrating wavelength division multiplexing at the single photon level

An entangled-LED-driven quantum relay over 1km

Quantum cryptography allows confidential information to be communicated between two parties, with secrecy guaranteed by the laws of nature alone. However, upholding guaranteed secrecy over quantum communication networks poses a further challenge, as classical receive-and-resend routing nodes can only be used conditional of trust by the communicating parties. Here, we demonstrate the operation of a quantum relay over 1 km of optical fiber, which teleports a sequence of photonic quantum bits to a receiver by utilizing entangled photons emitted by a semiconductor LED. The average relay fidelity of the link is 0.90+/-0.03, exceeding the classical bound of 0.75 for the set of states used, and sufficiently high to allow error correction. The fundamentally low multi-photon emission statistics and the integration potential of the source present an appealing platform for future quantum networks.The authors would like to acknowledge partial financial support through the UK EPSRC and the EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network Spin-optronics.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjqi.2016.