69 research outputs found
The Flat Transmission Spectrum of the Super-Earth GJ1214b from Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope
Capitalizing on the observational advantage offered by its tiny M dwarf host,
we present HST/WFC3 grism measurements of the transmission spectrum of the
super-Earth exoplanet GJ1214b. These are the first published WFC3 observations
of a transiting exoplanet atmosphere. After correcting for a ramp-like
instrumental systematic, we achieve nearly photon-limited precision in these
observations, finding the transmission spectrum of GJ1214b to be flat between
1.1 and 1.7 microns. Inconsistent with a cloud-free solar composition
atmosphere at 8.2 sigma, the measured achromatic transit depth most likely
implies a large mean molecular weight for GJ1214b's outer envelope. A dense
atmosphere rules out bulk compositions for GJ1214b that explain its large
radius by the presence of a very low density gas layer surrounding the planet.
High-altitude clouds can alternatively explain the flat transmission spectrum,
but they would need to be optically thick up to 10 mbar or consist of particles
with a range of sizes approaching 1 micron in diameter.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Measuring measurement
Measurement connects the world of quantum phenomena to the world of classical
events. It plays both a passive role, observing quantum systems, and an active
one, preparing quantum states and controlling them. Surprisingly - in the light
of the central status of measurement in quantum mechanics - there is no general
recipe for designing a detector that measures a given observable. Compounding
this, the characterization of existing detectors is typically based on partial
calibrations or elaborate models. Thus, experimental specification (i.e.
tomography) of a detector is of fundamental and practical importance. Here, we
present the realization of quantum detector tomography: we identify the optimal
positive-operator-valued measure describing the detector, with no ancillary
assumptions. This result completes the triad, state, process, and detector
tomography, required to fully specify an experiment. We characterize an
avalanche photodiode and a photon number resolving detector capable of
detecting up to eight photons. This creates a new set of tools for accurately
detecting and preparing non-classical light.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures,see video abstract at
http://www.quantiki.org/video_abstracts/0807244
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Inverse spin-s portrait and representation of qudit states by single probability vectors
Using the tomographic probability representation of qudit states and the
inverse spin-portrait method, we suggest a bijective map of the qudit density
operator onto a single probability distribution. Within the framework of the
approach proposed, any quantum spin-j state is associated with the
(2j+1)(4j+1)-dimensional probability vector whose components are labeled by
spin projections and points on the sphere. Such a vector has a clear physical
meaning and can be relatively easily measured. Quantum states form a convex
subset of the 2j(4j+3) simplex, with the boundary being illustrated for qubits
(j=1/2) and qutrits (j=1). A relation to the (2j+1)^2- and
(2j+1)(2j+2)-dimensional probability vectors is established in terms of spin-s
portraits. We also address an auxiliary problem of the optimum reconstruction
of qudit states, where the optimality implies a minimum relative error of the
density matrix due to the errors in measured probabilities.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, PDF LaTeX, submitted to the Journal of Russian
Laser Researc
Determining the Quantum Expectation Value by Measuring a Single Photon
Quantum mechanics, one of the keystones of modern physics, exhibits several
peculiar properties, differentiating it from classical mechanics. One of the
most intriguing is that variables might not have definite values. A complete
quantum description provides only probabilities for obtaining various
eigenvalues of a quantum variable. These and corresponding probabilities
specify the expectation value of a physical observable, which is known to be a
statistical property of an ensemble of quantum systems. In contrast to this
paradigm, we demonstrate a unique method allowing to measure the expectation
value of a physical variable on a single particle, namely, the polarisation of
a single protected photon. This is the first realisation of quantum protective
measurements.Comment: Nature Physics, in press (this version corresponds to the one
initially submitted to Nature Physics
Qubit portrait of the photon-number tomogram and separability of two-mode light states
In view of the photon-number tomograms of two-mode light states, using the
qubit-portrait method for studying the probability distributions with infinite
outputs, the separability and entanglement detection of the states are studied.
Examples of entangled Gaussian state and Schr\"{o}dinger cat state are
discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, TeX file, to appear in Journal of Russian Laser
Researc
MuSR method and tomographic probability representation of spin states
Muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance (MuSR) technique for studying matter
structures is considered by means of a recently introduced probability
representation of quantum spin states. A relation between experimental MuSR
histograms and muon spin tomograms is established. Time evolution of muonium,
anomalous muonium, and a muonium-like system is studied in the tomographic
representation. Entanglement phenomenon of a bipartite muon-electron system is
investigated via tomographic analogues of Bell number and positive partial
transpose (PPT) criterion. Reconstruction of the muon-electron spin state as
well as the total spin tomography of composed system is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX, submitted to Journal of Russian Laser
Researc
Convex optimization of programmable quantum computers
A fundamental model of quantum computation is the programmable quantum gate array. This is a quantum processor that is fed by a program state that induces a corresponding quantum operation on input states. While being programmable, any finite-dimensional design of this model is known to be non-universal, meaning that the processor cannot perfectly simulate an arbitrary quantum channel over the input. Characterizing how close the simulation is and finding the optimal program state have been open questions for the past 20 years. Here, we answer these questions by showing that the search for the optimal program state is a convex optimization problem that can be solved via semi-definite programming and gradient-based methods commonly employed for machine learning. We apply this general result to different types of processors, from a shallow design based on quantum teleportation, to deeper schemes relying on port-based teleportation and parametric quantum circuits
Nearly optimal measurement schemes in a noisy Mach-Zehnder interferometer with coherent and squeezed vacuum
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