Spin correlated interferometry for polarized and unpolarized photons on a beam splitter

Spin interferometry of the 4th order for independent polarized as well as unpolarized photons arriving simultaneously at a beam splitter and exhibiting spin correlation while leaving it, is formulated and discussed in the quantum approach. Beam splitter is recognized as a source of genuine singlet photon states. Also, typical nonclassical beating between photons taking part in the interference of the 4th order is given a polarization dependent explanation.Comment: RevTeX, 19 pages, 1 ps figure, author web page at http://m3k.grad.hr/pavici

Mode-Locked Two-Photon States

The concept of mode locking in laser is applied to a two-photon state with frequency entanglement. Cavity enhanced parametric down-conversion is found to produce exactly such a state. The mode-locked two-photon state exhibits a comb-like correlation function. An unbalanced Hong-Ou-Mandel type interferometer is used to measure the correlation function. A revival of the typical interference dip is observed. We will discuss schemes for engineering of quantum states in time domain.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Photon bunching in parametric down-conversion with continuous wave excitation

The first direct measurement of photon bunching (g2 correlation function) in one output arm of a spontaneous-parametric-down-conversion source operated with a continuous pump laser in the single-photon regime is demonstrated. The result is in agreement with the statistics of a thermal field of the same coherence length, and shows the feasibility of investigating photon statistics with compact cw-pumped sources. Implications for entanglement-based quantum cryptography are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, expanded introduction and experimental details added. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

PCA and K-Means decipher genome

In this paper, we aim to give a tutorial for undergraduate students studying statistical methods and/or bioinformatics. The students will learn how data visualization can help in genomic sequence analysis. Students start with a fragment of genetic text of a bacterial genome and analyze its structure. By means of principal component analysis they ``discover'' that the information in the genome is encoded by non-overlapping triplets. Next, they learn how to find gene positions. This exercise on PCA and K-Means clustering enables active study of the basic bioinformatics notions. Appendix 1 contains program listings that go along with this exercise. Appendix 2 includes 2D PCA plots of triplet usage in moving frame for a series of bacterial genomes from GC-poor to GC-rich ones. Animated 3D PCA plots are attached as separate gif files. Topology (cluster structure) and geometry (mutual positions of clusters) of these plots depends clearly on GC-content.Comment: 18 pages, with program listings for MatLab, PCA analysis of genomes and additional animated 3D PCA plot

Retrieval of phase memory in two independent atomic ensembles by Raman process

In spontaneous Raman process in atomic cell at high gain, both the Stokes field and the accompanying collective atomic excitation (atomic spin wave) are coherent. We find that, due to the spontaneous nature of the process, the phases of the Stokes field and the atomic spin wave change randomly from one realization to another but are anti-correlated. The phases of the atomic ensembles are read out via another Raman process at a later time, thus realizing phase memory in atoms. The observation of phase correlation between the Stokes field and the collective atomic excitations is an important step towards macroscopic EPR-type entanglement of continuous variables between light and atoms

Area-Constrained Planar Elastica

We determine the equilibria of a rigid loop in the plane, subject to the constraints of fixed length and fixed enclosed area. Rigidity is characterized by an energy functional quadratic in the curvature of the loop. We find that the area constraint gives rise to equilibria with remarkable geometrical properties: not only can the Euler-Lagrange equation be integrated to provide a quadrature for the curvature but, in addition, the embedding itself can be expressed as a local function of the curvature. The configuration space is shown to be essentially one-dimensional, with surprisingly rich structure. Distinct branches of integer-indexed equilibria exhibit self-intersections and bifurcations -- a gallery of plots is provided to highlight these findings. Perturbations connecting equilibria are shown to satisfy a first order ODE which is readily solved. We also obtain analytical expressions for the energy as a function of the area in some limiting regimes.Comment: 23 pages, several figures. Version 2: New title. Changes in the introduction, addition of a new section with conclusions. Figure 14 corrected and one reference added. Version to appear in PR

Resistive damping implementation as a method to improve controllability in stiff ohmic RF-MEMS switches

This paper presents in detail the entire procedure of calculating the bias resistance of an ohmic RF-MEMS switch, controlled under resistive damping (charge drive technique). In case of a very stiff device, like the North Eastern University switch, the actuation control under resistive damping is the only way to achieve controllability. Due to the short switching time as well as the high actuation voltage, it is not practical to apply a tailored control pulse (voltage drive control technique). Implementing a bias resistor of 33 MΩ in series with the voltage source, the impact velocity of the cantilever has been reduced 80 % (13.2 from 65.9 cm/s), eliminating bouncing and high initial impact force during the pull-down phase. However, this results in an affordable cost of switching time increase from 2.38 to 4.34 μs. During the release phase the amplitude of bouncing has also been reduced 34 % (174 from 255 nm), providing significant improvement in both switching operation phases of the switch. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Concise theory of chiral lipid membranes

A theory of chiral lipid membranes is proposed on the basis of a concise free energy density which includes the contributions of the bending and the surface tension of membranes, as well as the chirality and orientational variation of tilting molecules. This theory is consistent with the previous experiments [J.M. Schnur \textit{et al.}, Science \textbf{264}, 945 (1994); M.S. Spector \textit{et al.}, Langmuir \textbf{14}, 3493 (1998); Y. Zhao, \textit{et al.}, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA \textbf{102}, 7438 (2005)] on self-assembled chiral lipid membranes of DC$_{8,9}$PC. A torus with the ratio between its two generated radii larger than $\sqrt{2}$ is predicted from the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is found that tubules with helically modulated tilting state are not admitted by the Euler-Lagrange equations, and that they are less energetically favorable than helical ripples in tubules. The pitch angles of helical ripples are theoretically estimated to be about 0$^\circ$ and 35$^\circ$, which are close to the most frequent values 5$^\circ$ and 28$^\circ$ observed in the experiment [N. Mahajan \textit{et al.}, Langmuir \textbf{22}, 1973 (2006)]. Additionally, the present theory can explain twisted ribbons of achiral cationic amphiphiles interacting with chiral tartrate counterions. The ratio between the width and pitch of twisted ribbons is predicted to be proportional to the relative concentration difference of left- and right-handed enantiomers in the low relative concentration difference region, which is in good agreement with the experiment [R. Oda \textit{et al.}, Nature (London) \textbf{399}, 566 (1999)].Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure