224 research outputs found
Photon-Photon Entanglement with a Single Trapped Atom
An experiment is performed where a single rubidium atom trapped within a
high-finesse optical cavity emits two independently triggered entangled
photons. The entanglement is mediated by the atom and is characterized both by
a Bell inequality violation of S=2.5, as well as full quantum-state tomography,
resulting in a fidelity exceeding F=90%. The combination of cavity-QED and
trapped atom techniques makes our protocol inherently deterministic - an
essential step for the generation of scalable entanglement between the nodes of
a distributed quantum network.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Temporal trends in radiometrically dated sediment cores from English lakes show polybrominated diphenyl ethers correlate with brominated but not mixed bromo/chloro dioxins and furans
This paper reports concentrations between ~1950 and present, of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PBDD/Fs), in radiometrically-dated sediment cores from three English lakes. Mixed bromo/chloro dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PXDD/Fs) were measured in two of the same lakes. Concentrations of PXDD/Fs decreased over time to the present. To our knowledge, this is the first report of temporal trends of PXDD/Fs in the environment. In contrast, concentrations of PBDEs increased towards the present and were significantly correlated (R = 0.88–0.98; p < 0.05) with concentrations of PBDFs in all three lakes. These observations suggest that the sources of PXDD/Fs are not related to PBDEs and differ from those of PBDFs. We also report for the first time the presence of octabromodibenzofuran (OBDF) in the two most recent core slices at one lake. The source of OBDF in these samples is unclear. While OBDF has been reported previously as a significant contaminant of some commercial formulations of Deca-BDE, it is also present in Octa-BDE products and in emissions from a variety of combustion activities. Overall, while the positive correlation between PBDEs and PBDFs suggests increased use of PBDEs has contributed substantially to environmental contamination with PBDFs; examination of PBDF homologue patterns implies emissions from combustion activities are likely also important
Quantum Interference of Photon Pairs from Two Trapped Atomic Ions
We collect the fluorescence from two trapped atomic ions, and measure quantum
interference between photons emitted from the ions. The interference of two
photons is a crucial component of schemes to entangle atomic qubits based on a
photonic coupling. The ability to preserve the generated entanglement and to
repeat the experiment with the same ions is necessary to implement entangling
quantum gates between atomic qubits, and allows the implementation of protocols
to efficiently scale to larger numbers of atomic qubits.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Fast Excitation and Photon Emission of a Single-Atom-Cavity System
We report on the fast excitation of a single atom coupled to an optical
cavity using laser pulses that are much shorter than all other relevant
processes. The cavity frequency constitutes a control parameter that allows the
creation of single photons in a superposition of two tunable frequencies. Each
photon emitted from the cavity thus exhibits a pronounced amplitude modulation
determined by the oscillatory energy exchange between the atom and the cavity.
Our technique constitutes a versatile tool for future quantum networking
experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Manipulation and Detection of a Trapped Yb+ Ion Hyperfine Qubit
We demonstrate the use of trapped ytterbium ions as quantum bits for quantum
information processing. We implement fast, efficient state preparation and
state detection of the first-order magnetic field-insensitive hyperfine levels
of 171Yb+, with a measured coherence time of 2.5 seconds. The high efficiency
and high fidelity of these operations is accomplished through the stabilization
and frequency modulation of relevant laser sources.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
Heating rate and electrode charging measurements in a scalable, microfabricated, surface-electrode ion trap
We characterise the performance of a surface-electrode ion "chip" trap
fabricated using established semiconductor integrated circuit and
micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) microfabrication processes which are in
principle scalable to much larger ion trap arrays, as proposed for implementing
ion trap quantum information processing. We measure rf ion micromotion parallel
and perpendicular to the plane of the trap electrodes, and find that on-package
capacitors reduce this to <~ 10 nm in amplitude. We also measure ion trapping
lifetime, charging effects due to laser light incident on the trap electrodes,
and the heating rate for a single trapped ion. The performance of this trap is
found to be comparable with others of the same size scale.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figure
Cluster state preparation using gates operating at arbitrary success probabilities
Several physical architectures allow for measurement-based quantum computing
using sequential preparation of cluster states by means of probabilistic
quantum gates. In such an approach, the order in which partial resources are
combined to form the final cluster state turns out to be crucially important.
We determine the influence of this classical decision process on the expected
size of the final cluster. Extending earlier work, we consider different
quantum gates operating at various probabilites of success. For finite
resources, we employ a computer algebra system to obtain the provably optimal
classical control strategy and derive symbolic results for the expected final
size of the cluster. We identify two regimes: When the success probability of
the elementary gates is high, the influence of the classical control strategy
is found to be negligible. In that case, other figures of merit become more
relevant. In contrast, for small probabilities of success, the choice of an
appropriate strategy is crucial.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, contribution to special issue of New J. Phys. on
"Measurement-Based Quantum Information Processing". Replaced with published
versio
Entanglement Sudden Death in Band Gaps
Using the pseudomode method, we evaluate exactly time-dependent entanglement
for two independent qubits, each coupled to a non-Markovian structured
environment. Our results suggest a possible way to control entanglement sudden
death by modifying the qubit-pseudomode detuning and the spectrum of the
reservoirs. Particularly, in environments structured by a model of a
density-of-states gap which has two poles, entanglement trapping and prevention
of entanglement sudden death occur in the weak-coupling regime
A Mathematical Model to Evaluate the Routine Use of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation to Prevent Incident and Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection
Objective. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been suggested as a new treatment to manage Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). With use of a mathematical model of C. difficile within an intensive care unit (ICU), we examined the potential impact of routine FMT. Design, Setting, and Patients. A mathematical model of C. difficile transmission, supplemented with prospective cohort, surveillance, and billing data from hospitals in the southeastern United States. Methods. Cohort, surveillance, and billing data as well as data from the literature were used to construct a compartmental model of CDI within an ICU. Patients were defined as being in 1 of 6 potential health states: uncolonized and at low risk; uncolonized and at high risk; colonized and at low risk; colonized and at high risk; having CDI; or treated with FMT. Results. The use of FMT to treat patients after CDI was associated with a statistically significant reduction in recurrence but not with a reduction in incident cases. Treatment after administration of high-risk medications, such as antibiotics, did not result in a decrease in recurrence but did result in a statistically significant difference in incident cases across treatment groups, although whether this difference was clinically relevant was questionable. Conclusions. Our study is a novel mathematical model that examines the effect of FMT on the prevention of recurrent and incident CDI. The routine use of FMT represents a promising approach to reduce complex recurrent cases, but a reduction in CDI incidence will require the use of other methods to prevent transmission
Shaping the Phase of a Single Photon
While the phase of a coherent light field can be precisely known, the phase
of the individual photons that create this field, considered individually,
cannot. Phase changes within single-photon wave packets, however, have
observable effects. In fact, actively controlling the phase of individual
photons has been identified as a powerful resource for quantum communication
protocols. Here we demonstrate the arbitrary phase control of a single photon.
The phase modulation is applied without affecting the photon's amplitude
profile and is verified via a two-photon quantum interference measurement,
which can result in the fermionic spatial behaviour of photon pairs. Combined
with previously demonstrated control of a single photon's amplitude, frequency,
and polarisation, the fully deterministic phase shaping presented here allows
for the complete control of single-photon wave packets.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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