21,342 research outputs found
Generation of macroscopic superposition states with small nonlinearity
We suggest a scheme to generate a macroscopic superposition state
(Schrodinger cat state) of a free-propagating optical field using a beam
splitter, homodyne measurement and a very small Kerr nonlinear effect. Our
scheme makes it possible to considerably reduce the required nonlinear effect
to generate an optical cat state using simple and efficient optical elements.Comment: Significantly improved version, to be published in PRA as a Rapid
Communicatio
Production of superpositions of coherent states in traveling optical fields with inefficient photon detection
We develop an all-optical scheme to generate superpositions of
macroscopically distinguishable coherent states in traveling optical fields. It
non-deterministically distills coherent state superpositions (CSSs) with large
amplitudes out of CSSs with small amplitudes using inefficient photon
detection. The small CSSs required to produce CSSs with larger amplitudes are
extremely well approximated by squeezed single photons. We discuss some
remarkable features of this scheme: it effectively purifies mixed initial
states emitted from inefficient single photon sources and boosts negativity of
Wigner functions of quantum states.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Conditional Production of Superpositions of Coherent States with Inefficient Photon Detection
It is shown that a linear superposition of two macroscopically
distinguishable optical coherent states can be generated using a single photon
source and simple all-optical operations. Weak squeezing on a single photon,
beam mixing with an auxiliary coherent state, and photon detecting with
imperfect threshold detectors are enough to generate a coherent state
superposition in a free propagating optical field with a large coherent
amplitude () and high fidelity (). In contrast to all
previous schemes to generate such a state, our scheme does not need photon
number resolving measurements nor Kerr-type nonlinear interactions.
Furthermore, it is robust to detection inefficiency and exhibits some
resilience to photon production inefficiency.Comment: Some important new results added, to appear in Phys.Rev.A (Rapid
Communication
Time-resolved monitoring of biofouling development on a fat sheet membrane using optical coherence tomography
© The Author(s) 2017. Biofouling on a membrane leads to significant performance decrease in filtration processes. In this study, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to perform a time-resolved analysis of dynamic biofouling development on a submerged membrane under continuous operation. A real-time change in the biofouling morphology was calculated through the image analysis of OCT scans. Three videos were generated through the acquisition of serial static images. This is the first study that displays the dynamic biofouling formation process as a video. The acquisition of OCT cross-sectional scans of the biofouling allowed to evaluate the time-lapsed evolution for three different time periods (early stage, double layers and long-term). Firstly, at the early filtration stage, membrane coverage and average biofouling layer thickness were found to be linearly correlated with the permeate flux pattern. Secondly, after 3 d of operation, an anomalous morphology was observed, constituted by a double-layered biofouling structure: denser on the bottom and looser on the top. In a long-term operation, the biofouling structure underwent a dynamic evolution over time, resulting in a multi-layered structure. The biofouling formation information was closely associated with filtration performance (i.e. flux) indicating the suitability of OCT as real-time and in-situ biofouling monitoring technique
A key to room-temperature ferromagnetism in Fe-doped ZnO: Cu
Successful synthesis of room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductors,
ZnFeO, is reported. The essential ingredient in achieving
room-temperature ferromagnetism in bulk ZnFeO was found to be
additional Cu doping. A transition temperature as high as 550 K was obtained in
ZnFeCuO; the saturation magnetization at room
temperature reached a value of per Fe. Large
magnetoresistance was also observed below K.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Appl. Phys. Let
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