Quantum entanglement distribution with 810 nm photons through telecom fibers

We demonstrate the distribution of polarization entangled photons of wavelength 810 nm through standard telecom fibers. This technique allows quantum communication protocols to be performed over established fiber infrastructure, and makes use of the smaller and better performing setups available around 800 nm, as compared to those which use telecom wavelengths around 1550 nm. We examine the excitation and subsequent quenching of higher-order spatial modes in telecom fibers up to 6 km in length, and perform a distribution of high quality entanglement (visibility 95.6%). Finally, we demonstrate quantum key distribution using entangled 810 nm photons over a 4.4 km long installed telecom fiber link.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Jet propulsion without inertia

A body immersed in a highly viscous fluid can locomote by drawing in and expelling fluid through pores at its surface. We consider this mechanism of jet propulsion without inertia in the case of spheroidal bodies, and derive both the swimming velocity and the hydrodynamic efficiency. Elementary examples are presented, and exact axisymmetric solutions for spherical, prolate spheroidal, and oblate spheroidal body shapes are provided. In each case, entirely and partially porous (i.e. jetting) surfaces are considered, and the optimal jetting flow profiles at the surface for maximizing the hydrodynamic efficiency are determined computationally. The maximal efficiency which may be achieved by a sphere using such jet propulsion is 12.5%, a significant improvement upon traditional flagella-based means of locomotion at zero Reynolds number. Unlike other swimming mechanisms which rely on the presentation of a small cross section in the direction of motion, the efficiency of a jetting body at low Reynolds number increases as the body becomes more oblate, and limits to approximately 162% in the case of a flat plate swimming along its axis of symmetry. Our results are discussed in the light of slime extrusion mechanisms occurring in many cyanobacteria

Superpositions of the Orbital Angular Momentum for Applications in Quantum Experiments

Two different experimental techniques for preparation and analyzing superpositions of the Gaussian and Laguerre-Gassian modes are presented. This is done exploiting an interferometric method on the one hand and using computer generated holograms on the other hand. It is shown that by shifting the hologram with respect to an incoming Gaussian beam different superpositions of the Gaussian and the Laguerre-Gaussian beam can be produced. An analytical expression between the relative phase and the amplitudes of the modes and the displacement of the hologram is given. The application of such orbital angular momenta superpositions in quantum experiments such as quantum cryptography is discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. to appear in Journal of Optics

W+W−W^+W^- production at hadron colliders in NNLO QCD

Charged gauge boson pair production at the Large Hadron Collider allows detailed probes of the fundamental structure of electroweak interactions. We present precise theoretical predictions for on-shell $W^+W^-$ production that include, for the first time, QCD effects up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory. As compared to next-to-leading order, the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section is enhanced by 9% at 7 TeV and 12% at 14 TeV. The residual perturbative uncertainty is at the 3% level. The severe contamination of the $W^+W^-$ cross section due to top-quark resonances is discussed in detail. Comparing different definitions of top-free $W^+W^-$ production in the four and five flavour number schemes, we demonstrate that top-quark resonances can be separated from the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section without significant loss of theoretical precision.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

The quantum theory of the Penning trap

We present the quantum theory of the Penning trap in terms of individual x and y radial modes of the motion of a single charged particle in the trap, and demonstrate how the conventional rotating frame used to examine these individual dynamics fails in the quantum regime. In solving the radial Hamiltonian in the {x,y} basis, we show how canonical transformation of the variables must take place after quantization, in order that these separate motions can be consistently tracked. This is in contrast to previous work. The results of the discussion lend themselves to a fully quantum treatment of mode coupling in the trap, leading to an avoided crossing between the coupled energy levels of the system. Exploiting the algebraic structure of the problem allows employment of a dressed-atom formalism within quantum Penning trap theory, and future applications resulting from this are proposed

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 $g^{(2)}$ 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

Fish schooling as a basis for vertical axis wind turbine farm design

Most wind farms consist of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) due to the high power coefficient (mechanical power output divided by the power of the free-stream air through the turbine cross-sectional area) of an isolated turbine. However when in close proximity to neighbouring turbines, HAWTs suffer from a reduced power coefficient. In contrast, previous research on vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) suggests that closely-spaced VAWTs may experience only small decreases (or even increases) in an individual turbine's power coefficient when placed in close proximity to neighbours, thus yielding much higher power outputs for a given area of land. A potential flow model of inter-VAWT interactions is developed to investigate the effect of changes in VAWT spatial arrangement on the array performance coefficient, which compares the expected average power coefficient of turbines in an array to a spatially-isolated turbine. A geometric arrangement based on the configuration of shed vortices in the wake of schooling fish is shown to significantly increase the array performance coefficient based upon an array of 16x16 wind turbines. Results suggest increases in power output of over one order of magnitude for a given area of land as compared to HAWTs.Comment: Submitted for publication in BioInspiration and Biomimetics. Note: The technology described in this paper is protected under both US and international pending patents filed by the California Institute of Technolog

Lambda's, V's and optimal cloning with stimulated emission

We show that optimal universal cloning of the polarization state of photons can be achieved via stimulated emission in three-level systems, both of the Lambda and the V type. We establish the equivalence of our systems with coupled harmonic oscillators, which permits us to analyze the structure of the cloning transformations realized. These transformations are shown to be equivalent to the optimal cloning transformations for qubits discovered by Buzek and Hillery, and Gisin and Massar. The down-conversion cloner discovered previously by some of the authors is obtained as a limiting case. We demonstrate an interesting equivalence between systems of Lambda atoms and systems of pairwise entangled V atoms. Finally we discuss the physical differences between our photon cloners and the qubit cloners considered previously and prove that the bounds on the fidelity of the clones derived for qubits also apply in our situation.Comment: 10 page

Polarization entangled photon-pair source based on a type-II PPLN waveguide emitting at a telecom wavelength

We report the realization of a fiber coupled polarization entangled photon-pair source at 1310 nm based on a birefringent titanium in-diffused waveguide integrated on periodically poled lithium niobate. By taking advantage of a dedicated and high-performance setup, we characterized the quantum properties of the pairs by measuring two-photon interference in both Hong-Ou-Mandel and standard Bell inequality configurations. We obtained, for the two sets of measurements, interference net visibilities reaching nearly 100%, which represent important and competitive results compared to similar waveguide-based configurations already reported. These results prove the relevance of our approach as an enabling technology for long-distance quantum communication.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, to appear in New Journal of Physic

Studying Free-Space Transmission Statistics and Improving Free-Space QKD in the Turbulent Atmosphere

The statistical fluctuations in free-space links in the turbulent atmosphere are important for the distribution of quantum signals. To that end, we first study statistics generated by the turbulent atmosphere in an entanglement based free-space quantum key distribution (QKD) system. Using the insights gained from this analysis, we study the effect of link fluctuations on the security and key generation rate of decoy state QKD concluding that it has minimal effect in the typical operating regimes. We then investigate the novel idea of using these turbulent fluctuations to our advantage in QKD experiments. We implement a signal-to-noise ratio filter (SNRF) in our QKD system which rejects measurements during periods of low transmission efficiency, where the measured quantum bit error rate (QBER) is temporarily elevated. Using this, we increase the total secret key generated by the system from 78,009 bits to 97,678 bits, representing an increase of 25.2% in the final secure key rate, generated from the same raw signals. Lastly, we present simulations of a QKD exchange with an orbiting LEO satellite and show that an SNRF will be extremely useful in such a situation, allowing many more passes to extract a secret key than would otherwise be possible.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure