85 research outputs found
Dissipation control in cavity QED with oscillating mode structures
We demonstrate how a time-dependent dissipative environment may be used as a tool for controlling the quantum state of a two-level atom. In our model system the frequency and coupling strength associated with microscopic reservoir modes are modulated, while the principal features of the reservoir structure remain fixed in time. Physically, this may be achieved by containing a static atom-cavity system inside an oscillating external bath. We show that it is possible to dynamically decouple the atom from its environment, despite the fact that the two remain resonant at all times. This can lead to Markovian dynamics, even for a strong atom-bath coupling, as the atomic decay becomes inhibited into all but a few channels; the reservoir occupation spectrum consequently acquires a sideband structure, with peaks separated by the frequency of the environmental modulation. The reduction in the rate of spontaneous emission using this approach can be significantly greater than could be achieved with an oscillatory atom-bath detuning using the same parameters
Robust creation of arbitrary-sized Dicke states using a single laser pulse
We propose a novel technique for the creation of maximally entangled
symmetric Dicke states in an ion trap using adiabatic passage, which requires
only a pair of chirped pulses from a single laser and is applicable to any
number of ions and excitations. By utilising a particular factorisation of the
Hilbert space for multi-level ladders we show that the problem can be reduced
to `bow-tie' configuration energy-level crossings. This technique is naturally
robust against fluctuations in the laser intensity and the chirp rate. Even
when realistic heating rates are considered, we estimate that the overall
fidelity should remain high (e.g. 98% for a ten-ion Dicke state), which
represents a significant improvement over traditional approaches.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Minor changes. Journal Ref Adde
Scalable quantum search using trapped ions
We propose a scalable implementation of Grover's quantum search algorithm in
a trapped-ion quantum information processor. The system is initialized in an
entangled Dicke state by using simple adiabatic techniques. The
inversion-about-average and the oracle operators take the form of single
off-resonant laser pulses, addressing, respectively, all and half of the ions
in the trap. This is made possible by utilizing the physical symmetrie of the
trapped-ion linear crystal. The physical realization of the algorithm
represents a dramatic simplification: each logical iteration (oracle and
inversion about average) requires only two physical interaction steps, in
contrast to the large number of concatenated gates required by previous
approaches. This does not only facilitate the implementation, but also
increases the overall fidelity of the algorithm.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Decoherence-free preparation of Dicke states of trapped ions by collective stimulated Raman adiabatic passage
We propose a simple technique for the generation of arbitrary-sized Dicke
states in a chain of trapped ions. The method uses global addressing of the
entire chain by two pairs of delayed but partially overlapping laser pulses to
engineer a collective adiabatic passage along a multi-ion dark state. Our
technique, which is a many-particle generalization of stimulated Raman
adiabatic passage (STIRAP), is decoherence-free with respect to spontaneous
emission and robust against moderate fluctuations in the experimental
parameters. Furthermore, because the process is very rapid, the effects of
heating are almost negligible under realistic experimental conditions. We
predict that the overall fidelity of synthesis of a Dicke state involving ten
ions sharing two excitations should approach 98% with currently achievable
experimental parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Control of atomic decay rates via manipulation of reservoir mode frequencies
We analyse the problem of a two-level atom interacting with a time-dependent
dissipative environment modelled by a bath of reservoir modes. In the model of
this paper the principal features of the reservoir structure remain constant in
time, but the microscopic structure does not. In the context of an atom in a
leaky cavity this corresponds to a fixed cavity and a time-dependent external
bath. In this situation we show that by chirping the reservoir modes
sufficiently fast it is possible to inhibit, or dramatically enhance the decay
of the atomic system, even though the gross reservoir structure is fixed. Thus
it is possible to extract energy from a cavity-atom system faster than the
empty cavity rate. Similar, but less dramatic effects are possible for moderate
chirps where partial trapping of atomic population is also possible.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
Robust control of quantized motional states of a chain of trapped ions by collective adiabatic passage
A simple technique for robust generation of vibrational Fock states in a
chain of trapped ions is proposed. The method is fast and easy to implement,
since only a single chirped laser pulse, simultaneously addressing all of the
ions, is required. Furthermore, because the approach uses collective adiabatic
passage, significant fluctuations in the intensity or frequency of the laser
pulse can be tolerated, and the technique performs well even on the border of
the Lamb-Dicke regime. We also demonstrate how this technique may be extended
in order to create non-classical superposition states of the ions' collective
motion and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of their internal states. Because
only a single laser pulse is required, heating effects arising under realistic
experimental conditions are negligibly small.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Discussion of performance outside Lamb-Dicke
regime added. Some refs adde
Passive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in C57BL/6 with MOG: evidence of involvement of B cells
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is the most relevant animal model to study demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. EAE can be induced by active (active EAE) or passive (at-EAE) transfer of activated T cells in several species and strains of rodents. However, histological features of at-EAE model in C57BL/6 are poorly described. The aim of this study was to characterize the neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative responses of at-EAE in C57BL/6 mice by histological techniques and compare them with that observed in the active EAE model. To develop the at-EAE, splenocytes from active EAE female mice were harvested and cultured in presence of MOG 35-55 and IL-12, and then injected intraperitoneally in recipient female C57BL6/J mice. In both models, the development of EAE was similar except for starting before the onset of symptoms and presenting a higher EAE cumulative score in the at-EAE model. Spinal cord histological examination revealed an increased glial activation as well as more extensive demyelinating areas in the at-EAE than in the active EAE model. Although inflammatory infiltrates composed by macrophages and T lymphocytes were found in the spinal cord and brain of both models, B lymphocytes were significantly increased in the at-EAE model. The co-localization of these B cells with IgG and their predominant distribution in areas of demyelination would suggest that IgG-secreting B cells are involved in the neurodegenerative processes associated with at-EAE
Additivity and non-additivity of multipartite entanglement measures
We study the additivity property of three multipartite entanglement measures,
i.e. the geometric measure of entanglement (GM), the relative entropy of
entanglement and the logarithmic global robustness. First, we show the
additivity of GM of multipartite states with real and non-negative entries in
the computational basis. Many states of experimental and theoretical interests
have this property, e.g. Bell diagonal states, maximally correlated generalized
Bell diagonal states, generalized Dicke states, the Smolin state, and the
generalization of D\"{u}r's multipartite bound entangled states. We also prove
the additivity of other two measures for some of these examples. Second, we
show the non-additivity of GM of all antisymmetric states of three or more
parties, and provide a unified explanation of the non-additivity of the three
measures of the antisymmetric projector states. In particular, we derive
analytical formulae of the three measures of one copy and two copies of the
antisymmetric projector states respectively. Third, we show, with a statistical
approach, that almost all multipartite pure states with sufficiently large
number of parties are nearly maximally entangled with respect to GM and
relative entropy of entanglement. However, their GM is not strong additive;
what's more surprising, for generic pure states with real entries in the
computational basis, GM of one copy and two copies, respectively, are almost
equal. Hence, more states may be suitable for universal quantum computation, if
measurements can be performed on two copies of the resource states. We also
show that almost all multipartite pure states cannot be produced reversibly
with the combination multipartite GHZ states under asymptotic LOCC, unless
relative entropy of entanglement is non-additive for generic multipartite pure
states.Comment: 45 pages, 4 figures. Proposition 23 and Theorem 24 are revised by
correcting a minor error from Eq. (A.2), (A.3) and (A.4) in the published
version. The abstract, introduction, and summary are also revised. All other
conclusions are unchange
Sansanmycin natural product analogues as potent and selective anti-mycobacterials that inhibit lipid I biosynthesis.
Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for enormous global morbidity and mortality, and current treatment regimens rely on the use of drugs that have been in use for more than 40 years. Owing to widespread resistance to these therapies, new drugs are desperately needed to control the TB disease burden. Herein, we describe the rapid synthesis of analogues of the sansanmycin uridylpeptide natural products that represent promising new TB drug leads. The compounds exhibit potent and selective inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of TB, both in vitro and intracellularly. The natural product analogues were also shown to be nanomolar inhibitors of Mtb phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide translocase, the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of lipid I in mycobacteria. This work lays the foundation for the development of uridylpeptide natural product analogues as new TB drug candidates that operate through the inhibition of peptidoglycan biosynthesis
Cerebrospinal Fluid Dendritic Cells Infiltrate the Brain Parenchyma and Target the Cervical Lymph Nodes under Neuroinflammatory Conditions
BACKGROUND: In many neuroinflammatory diseases, dendritic cells (DCs) accumulate in several compartments of the central nervous system (CNS), including the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Myeloid DCs invading the inflamed CNS are thus thought to play a major role in the initiation and perpetuation of CNS-targeted autoimmune responses. We previously reported that, in normal rats, DCs injected intra-CSF migrated outside the CNS and reached the B-cell zone of cervical lymph nodes. However, there is yet no information on the migratory behavior of CSF-circulating DCs under neuroinflammatory conditions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To address this issue, we performed in vivo transfer experiments in rats suffering from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of multiple sclerosis. EAE or control rats were injected intra-CSF with bone marrow-derived myeloid DCs labeled with the fluorescent marker carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE). In parallel experiments, fluorescent microspheres were injected intra-CSF to EAE rats in order to track endogenous antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Animals were then sacrificed on day 1 or 8 post-injection and their brain and peripheral lymph nodes were assessed for the presence of microspheres(+) APCs or CFSE(+) DCs by immunohistology and/or FACS analysis. Data showed that in EAE rats, DCs injected intra-CSF substantially infiltrated several compartments of the inflamed CNS, including the periventricular demyelinating lesions. We also found that in EAE rats, as compared to controls, a larger number of intra-CSF injected DCs reached the cervical lymph nodes. This migratory behavior was accompanied by an accentuation of EAE clinical signs and an increased systemic antibody response against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, a major immunogenic myelin antigen. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Altogether, these results indicate that CSF-circulating DCs are able to both survey the inflamed brain and to reach the cervical lymph nodes. In EAE and maybe multiple sclerosis, CSF-circulating DCs may thus support the immune responses that develop within and outside the inflamed CNS
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