28 research outputs found
Fluctuation-enhanced sensing
We present a short survey on fluctuation-enhanced gas sensing. We compare
some of its main characteristics with those of classical sensing. We address
the problem of linear response, information channel capacity, missed alarms and
false alarms.Comment: Keynote Talk at SPIE's 4th international symposium on Fluctuations
and Noise, Conference Noise and Fluctuations in Circuits, Devices and
Materials, Florence, Italy, May 20-24, 200
Influence of molecular temperature on the coherence of fullerenes in a near-field interferometer
We study C70 fullerene matter waves in a Talbot-Lau interferometer as a
function of their temperature. While the ideal fringe visibility is observed at
moderate molecular temperatures, we find a gradual degradation of the
interference contrast if the molecules are heated before entering the
interferometer. A method is developed to assess the distribution of the
micro-canonical temperatures of the molecules in free flight. This way the
heating-dependent reduction of interference contrast can be compared with the
predictions of quantum theory. We find that the observed loss of coherence
agrees quantitatively with the expected decoherence rate due to the thermal
radiation emitted by the hot molecules.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Decoherence of matter waves by thermal emission of radiation
Emergent quantum technologies have led to increasing interest in decoherence
- the processes that limit the appearance of quantum effects and turn them into
classical phenomena. One important cause of decoherence is the interaction of a
quantum system with its environment, which 'entangles' the two and distributes
the quantum coherence over so many degrees of freedom as to render it
unobservable. Decoherence theory has been complemented by experiments using
matter waves coupled to external photons or molecules, and by investigations
using coherent photon states, trapped ions and electron interferometers. Large
molecules are particularly suitable for the investigation of the
quantum-classical transition because they can store much energy in numerous
internal degrees of freedom; the internal energy can be converted into thermal
radiation and thus induce decoherence. Here we report matter wave
interferometer experiments in which C70 molecules lose their quantum behaviour
by thermal emission of radiation. We find good quantitative agreement between
our experimental observations and microscopic decoherence theory. Decoherence
by emission of thermal radiation is a general mechanism that should be relevant
to all macroscopic bodies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Higher-order spectra in nanoparticle gas sensors. Fluctuation and Noise
It has previously been shown that resistance fluctuations in resistive sensors provide enhanced sensitivity and selectivity for gas detection. We report measurements and analysis of non-Gaussian components in nanoparticle Pdz(WO3)1-z film gas sensors, with z being 0.01 or 0.12, in different ambients. These components can be characterized by higher-order spectra. Contour plots are given of bispectra, and plots of integrated bispectra and trispectra. The phase of the integrated higher-order spectra is analyzed as well
Optimization of OCT signal-to-noise ratio, when excess photon noise increases due to mismatch of the balanced receiver
In optical coherence tomography (OCT), it is often assumed that the signal-to-noise ratio, at higher optical power regimes, is limited by beat noise. Nonetheless it was often noticed that the limiting value could not be experimentally achieved, despite minimizing the stray reflectance and increasing the optical source effective bandwidth. In this work we present a new model for the noise in a balanced OCT configuration, which accounts for the limited spectral response of fiber directional couplers, as well as imperfections in the photo-detectors. As a consequence, and due to different spectrum content between the two balanced-OCT outputs, excess photon noise is larger than previously considered. The model also allows for the determination of SNR optimized parameters for maximum performance of the balanced system, and can be applied to any coupler or broadband source. Results for optimized and non-optimized configurations, for different balanced detection configurations, implemented in an OCT system, are presented and discussed