5,056 research outputs found
Cold Atom Physics Using Ultra-Thin Optical Fibers: Light-Induced Dipole Forces and Surface Interactions
The strong evanescent field around ultra-thin unclad optical fibers bears a
high potential for detecting, trapping, and manipulating cold atoms.
Introducing such a fiber into a cold atom cloud, we investigate the interaction
of a small number of cold Caesium atoms with the guided fiber mode and with the
fiber surface. Using high resolution spectroscopy, we observe and analyze
light-induced dipole forces, van der Waals interaction, and a significant
enhancement of the spontaneous emission rate of the atoms. The latter can be
assigned to the modification of the vacuum modes by the fiber.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Heralded Two-Photon Entanglement from Probabilistic Quantum Logic Operations on Multiple Parametric Down-Conversion Sources
An ideal controlled-NOT gate followed by projective measurements can be used
to identify specific Bell states of its two input qubits. When the input qubits
are each members of independent Bell states, these projective measurements can
be used to swap the post-selected entanglement onto the remaining two qubits.
Here we apply this strategy to produce heralded two-photon polarization
entanglement using Bell states that originate from independent parametric
down-conversion sources, and a particular probabilistic controlled-NOT gate
that is constructed from linear optical elements. The resulting implementation
is closely related to an earlier proposal by Sliwa and Banaszek
[quant-ph/0207117], and can be intuitively understood in terms of familiar
quantum information protocols. The possibility of producing a ``pseudo-demand''
source of two-photon entanglement by storing and releasing these heralded pairs
from independent cyclical quantum memory devices is also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in
Quantum Electronics, special issue on "Quantum Internet Technologies
Microcavities coupled to multilevel atoms
A three-level atom in the -configuration coupled to a microcavity is
studied. The two transitions of the atom are assumed couple to different
counterpropagating mode pairs in the cavity. We analyze the dynamics both, in
the strong-coupling and the bad cavity limit. We find that compared to a
two-level setup, the third atomic state and the additional control field modes
crucially modify the system dynamics and enable more advanced control schemes.
All results are explained using appropriate dressed state and eigenmode
representations. As potential applications, we discuss optical switching and
turnstile operations and detection of particles close to the resonator surface.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
Quantum reflection of atoms from a solid surface at normal incidence
We observed quantum reflection of ultracold atoms from the attractive
potential of a solid surface. Extremely dilute Bose-Einstein condensates of
^{23}Na, with peak density 10^{11}-10^{12}atoms/cm^3, confined in a weak
gravito-magnetic trap were normally incident on a silicon surface. Reflection
probabilities of up to 20 % were observed for incident velocities of 1-8 mm/s.
The velocity dependence agrees qualitatively with the prediction for quantum
reflection from the attractive Casimir-Polder potential. Atoms confined in a
harmonic trap divided in half by a solid surface exhibited extended lifetime
due to quantum reflection from the surface, implying a reflection probability
above 50 %.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (December 2004)5 pages, 4 figure
Entangled Light in Moving Frames
We calculate the entanglement between a pair of polarization-entangled photon
beams as a function of the reference frame, in a fully relativistic framework.
We find the transformation law for helicity basis states and show that, while
it is frequency independent, a Lorentz transformation on a momentum-helicity
eigenstate produces a momentum-dependent phase. This phase leads to changes in
the reduced polarization density matrix, such that entanglement is either
decreased or increased, depending on the boost direction, the rapidity, and the
spread of the beam.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figures. Minor corrections, footnote on optimal basis
state
mtDNA polymorphism and metabolic inhibition affect sperm performance in conplastic mice
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BioScientifica via the DOI in this record.A broad link exists between nucleotide substitutions in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) and a range of metabolic pathologies, but the exploration of the effect of specific mtDNA genotypes is on-going. Mitochondrial DNA mutations are of particular relevance for reproductive traits, because they are expected to have profound effects on male specific processes as a result of the strict maternal inheritance of mtDNA. Sperm motility is crucially dependent on ATP in most systems studied. However, the importance of mitochondrial function in the production of the ATP necessary for sperm function remains uncertain. In this study, we test the effect of mtDNA polymorphisms upon mouse sperm performance and bioenergetics by using five conplastic inbred strains that share the same nuclear background while differing in their mitochondrial genomes. We found that, while genetic polymorphisms across distinct mtDNA haplotypes are associated with modification in sperm progressive velocity, this effect is not related to ATP production. Furthermore, there is no association between the number of mtDNA polymorphisms and either (a) the magnitude of sperm performance decrease, or (b) performance response to specific inhibition of the main sperm metabolic pathways. The observed variability between strains may be explained in terms of additive effects of single nucleotide substitutions on mtDNA coding sequences, which have been stabilized through genetic drift in the different laboratory strains. Alternatively, the decreased sperm performance might have arisen from the disruption of the nuclear DNA / mtDNA interactions that have co-evolved during the radiation of Mus musculus subspecies.This work was supported by a Smart Ideas grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), New Zealand Government (NJG, DMT, DKD), grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2011-26341, and CGL2016-80577-P to ERSR), and from the German Science Foundation grant (ExC 306/2 to MH and SI)
General linear-optical quantum state generation scheme: Applications to maximally path-entangled states
We introduce schemes for linear-optical quantum state generation. A quantum
state generator is a device that prepares a desired quantum state using product
inputs from photon sources, linear-optical networks, and postselection using
photon counters. We show that this device can be concisely described in terms
of polynomial equations and unitary constraints. We illustrate the power of
this language by applying the Grobner-basis technique along with the notion of
vacuum extensions to solve the problem of how to construct a quantum state
generator analytically for any desired state, and use methods of convex
optimization to identify bounds to success probabilities. In particular, we
disprove a conjecture concerning the preparation of the maximally
path-entangled |n,0)+|0,n) (NOON) state by providing a counterexample using
these methods, and we derive a new upper bound on the resources required for
NOON-state generation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Continuation Sheaves in Dynamics: Sheaf Cohomology and Bifurcation
Continuation of algebraic structures in families of dynamical systems is
described using category theory, sheaves, and lattice algebras. Well-known
concepts in dynamics, such as attractors or invariant sets, are formulated as
functors on appropriate categories of dynamical systems mapping to categories
of lattices, posets, rings or abelian groups. Sheaves are constructed from such
functors, which encode data about the continuation of structure as system
parameters vary. Similarly, morphisms for the sheaves in question arise from
natural transformations. This framework is applied to a variety of lattice
algebras and ring structures associated to dynamical systems, whose algebraic
properties carry over to their respective sheaves. Furthermore, the cohomology
of these sheaves are algebraic invariants which contain information about
bifurcations of the parametrized systems
Towards photostatistics from photon-number discriminating detectors
We study the properties of a photodetector that has a number-resolving
capability. In the absence of dark counts, due to its finite quantum
efficiency, photodetection with such a detector can only eliminate the
possibility that the incident field corresponds to a number of photons less
than the detected photon number. We show that such a {\em non-photon}
number-discriminating detector, however, provides a useful tool in the
reconstruction of the photon number distribution of the incident field even in
the presence of dark counts.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
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