Effect of Oblique Light Incidence on Magnetooptical Properties of One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

We have investigated the magnetooptical properties of one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystals for the case of oblique light incidence. We developed a theoretical model based on the transfer matrix approach. We found several new effects such as transmittance resonance peak shift versus external magnetic field and the Faraday effect dependence on the incidence angle.We discuss several possible one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystals applications for the optical devices

Effects of classification context on categorization in natural categories

The patterns of classification of borderline instances of eight common taxonomic categories were examined under three different instructional conditions to test two predictions: first, that lack of a specified context contributes to vagueness in categorization, and second, that altering the purpose of classification can lead to greater or lesser dependence on similarity in classification. The instructional conditions contrasted purely pragmatic with more technical/quasi-legal contexts as purposes for classification, and these were compared with a no-context control. The measures of category vagueness were between-subjects disagreement and within-subjects consistency, and the measures of similarity based categorization were category breadth and the correlation of instance categorization probability with mean rated typicality, independently measured in a neutral context. Contrary to predictions, none of the measures of vagueness, reliability, category breadth, or correlation with typicality were generally affected by the instructional setting as a function of pragmatic versus technical purposes. Only one subcondition, in which a situational context was implied in addition to a purposive context, produced a significant change in categorization. Further experiments demonstrated that the effect of context was not increased when participants talked their way through the task, and that a technical context did not elicit more all-or-none categorization than did a pragmatic context. These findings place an important boundary condition on the effects of instructional context on conceptual categorization

Low-temperature tapered-fiber probing of diamond NV ensembles coupled to GaP microcavities

In this work we present a platform for testing the device performance of a cavity-emitter system, using an ensemble of emitters and a tapered optical fiber. This method provides high-contrast spectra of the cavity modes, selective detection of emitters coupled to the cavity, and an estimate of the device performance in the single- emitter case. Using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond and a GaP optical microcavity, we are able to tune the cavity onto the NV resonance at 10 K, couple the cavity-coupled emission to a tapered fiber, and measure the fiber-coupled NV spontaneous emission decay. Theoretically we show that the fiber-coupled average Purcell factor is 2-3 times greater than that of free-space collection; although due to ensemble averaging it is still a factor of 3 less than the Purcell factor of a single, ideally placed center.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Dephasing and Measurement Efficiency via a Quantum Dot Detector

We study charge detection and controlled dephasing of a mesoscopic system via a quantum dot detector (QDD), where the mesoscopic system and the QDD are capacitively coupled. The QDD is considered to have coherent resonant tunnelling via a single level. It is found that the dephasing rate is proportional to the square of the conductance of the QDD for the Breit-Wigner model, showing that the dephasing is completely different from the shot noise of the detector. The measurement rate, on the other hand, shows a dip near the resonance. Our findings are peculiar especially for a symmetric detector in the following aspect: The dephasing rate is maximum at resonance of the QDD where the detector conductance is insensitive to the charge state of the mesoscopic system. As a result, the efficiency of the detector shows a dip and vanishes at resonance, in contrast to the single-channel symmetric non-resonant detector that has always a maximum efficiency. We find that this difference originates from a very general property of the scattering matrix: The abrupt phase change exists in the scattering amplitudes in the presence of the symmetry, which is insensitive to the detector current but {\em stores} the information of the quantum state of the mesoscopic system.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Tuning of the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect in magneto-plasmonic crystals

The spectral properties of the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) in periodic metal–dielectric hybrid structures are studied, in particular with respect to the achievable magnitude. It is shown that the TMOKE is sensitive to the magneto-optical activity of the bismuth-substituted rare-earth iron garnet, which is used as a dielectric material in the investigated structures. For samples with larger Bi substitution level and, consequently, larger gyration constant, the magnitude of the TMOKE increases and reaches 13% in the case of a Bi1.8Lu1.2Fe3.6Al1.4O12 magnetic film. Further, it is demonstrated that the TMOKE vanishes at the high-symmetry points of the Brillouin zone (at the Γ and X points). The main enhancement of the TMOKE takes place near the resonances of the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at the metal/magnetic–dielectric interface. However, near the degenerate resonances of the SPPs at the air/metal and metal/magnetic–dielectric interfaces the TMOKE is increased by the air/metal SPPs as well. This phenomenon is explained in terms of a coupled oscillator model

Feature integration in natural language concepts

Two experiments measured the joint influence of three key sets of semantic features on the frequency with which artifacts (Experiment 1) or plants and creatures (Experiment 2) were categorized in familiar categories. For artifacts, current function outweighed both originally intended function and current appearance. For biological kinds, appearance and behavior, an inner biological function, and appearance and behavior of offspring all had similarly strong effects on categorization. The data were analyzed to determine whether an independent cue model or an interactive model best accounted for how the effects of the three feature sets combined. Feature integration was found to be additive for artifacts but interactive for biological kinds. In keeping with this, membership in contrasting artifact categories tended to be superadditive, indicating overlapping categories, whereas for biological kinds, it was subadditive, indicating conceptual gaps between categories. It is argued that the results underline a key domain difference between artifact and biological concepts

A robust, scanning quantum system for nanoscale sensing and imaging

Controllable atomic-scale quantum systems hold great potential as sensitive tools for nanoscale imaging and metrology. Possible applications range from nanoscale electric and magnetic field sensing to single photon microscopy, quantum information processing, and bioimaging. At the heart of such schemes is the ability to scan and accurately position a robust sensor within a few nanometers of a sample of interest, while preserving the sensor's quantum coherence and readout fidelity. These combined requirements remain a challenge for all existing approaches that rely on direct grafting of individual solid state quantum systems or single molecules onto scanning-probe tips. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication and room temperature operation of a robust and isolated atomic-scale quantum sensor for scanning probe microscopy. Specifically, we employ a high-purity, single-crystalline diamond nanopillar probe containing a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) color center. We illustrate the versatility and performance of our scanning NV sensor by conducting quantitative nanoscale magnetic field imaging and near-field single-photon fluorescence quenching microscopy. In both cases, we obtain imaging resolution in the range of 20 nm and sensitivity unprecedented in scanning quantum probe microscopy

Magnetophotonic intensity effects in hybrid metal-dielectric structures

The magneto-optical properties of a hybrid metal-dielectric structure consisting of a one-dimensional gold grating on top of a magnetic waveguide layer are studied experimentally and theoretically. It is demonstrated that a magnetic field applied in the longitudinal configuration (in the plane of the magnetic film and perpendicular to the slits in the gold grating) to the metal-dielectric structure modifies the field distribution of the optical modes and thus changes the mode excitation conditions. In the optical far field, this manifests in the alteration of the optical transmittance or reflectance when the structure becomes magnetized. This magneto-optical effect is shown to represent a novel class of effects related to the magnetic-field-induced modification of the Bloch modes of the periodic hybrid structure. That is why we define this effect as longitudinal magnetophotonic intensity effect (LMPIE). The LMPIE has two contributions, odd and even in magnetization. While the even LMPIE is maximal for the light polarized perpendicular to the grating slits (TM) and minimal for the orthogonal polarization (TE), the odd LMPIE takes maximum values at some intermediate polarization and vanishes for pure TM and TE polarizations. Two principal modes of the magnetic layer - TM and TE - acquire in the longitudinal magnetic field additional field components and thus turn into quasi-TM and quasi-TE modes, respectively. The largest LMPIE is observed for excitation of the antisymmetrical quasi-TE mode by TM-polarized light. The value of the LMPIE measured for the plasmonic structure with a magnetic film of Bi2Dy1Fe4Ga1O12 composition is about 1% for the even effect and 2% for the odd one. However, the plasmonic structure with a magnetic film with a higher concentration of bismuth (Bi2.97Er0.03Fe4Al0.5Ga0.5O12) gives significantly larger LMPIE: even LMPIE reaches 24% and odd LMPIE is 9%. Enhancement of the magneto-optical figure of merit (defined as the ratio of the specific Faraday angle of a magnetic film to its absorption coefficient) of the magnetic films potentially causes the even LMPIE to exceed 100% as is predicted by calculations. Thus, the nanostructured material described here may be considered as an ultrafast magnetophotonic light valve