On the analogy between the classical wave optics and the quantum wave phenomena

A striking correspondence between the effects of an auxiliary-mode-assisted transfer of light power between two waveguides and an auxiliary-state-assisted transfer of an electron between two quantum dots is highlighted by the example of an exactly solvable model.Comment: To appear in Solid State Communication

Phonon-induced decoherence of the two-level quantum subsystem due to relaxation and dephasing processes

Phonon-related decoherence effects in a quantum double-well two-level subsystem coupled to a solid are studied theoretically by the example of deformation phonons. Expressions for the reduced density matrix at T=0 are derived beyond the Markovian approximation by means of explicit solution of the non-stationary Schrodinger equation for the interacting electron-phonon system at the initial stage of its evolution. It is shown that as long as the difference between the energies of the electron in the left and the right well greatly exceeds the energy of the electron tunneling between the minima of the double-well potential, decoherence is primarily due to dephasing processes. This case corresponds to a strongly asymmetric potential and spatially separated eigenfunctions localized in the vicinity of one or another potential minimum. In the opposite case of the symmetric potential, the decoherence stems from the relaxation processes, which may be either "resonant" (at relatively long times) or "nonresonant" (at short times), giving rise to qualitatively different temporal evolution of the electron state. The results obtained are discussed in the context of quantum information processing based on the quantum bits encoded in electron charge degrees of freedom.Comment: 20 pages, no figure

Clusters of interstitial carbon atoms near the graphite surface as a possible origin of dome-like features observed by STM

Formation of clusters of interstitial carbon atoms between the surface and second atomic layers of graphite is demonstrated by means of molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that interstitial clusters result in the dome-like surface features that may be associated with some of the hillocks observed by STM on the irradiated graphite surface.Comment: 7 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to Surface Scienc

Isotope Effect in the Presence of Magnetic and Nonmagnetic Impurities

The effect of impurities on the isotope coefficient is studied theoretically in the framework of Abrikosov-Gor'kov approach generalized to account for both potential and spin-flip scattering in anisotropic superconductors. An expression for the isotope coefficient as a function of the critical temperature is obtained for a superconductor with an arbitrary contribution of spin-flip processes to the total scattering rate and an arbitrary degree of anisotropy of the superconducting order parameter, ranging from isotropic s-wave to d-wave and including anisotropic s-wave and mixed (s+d)-wave as particular cases. It is found that both magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities enhance the isotope coefficient, the enhancement due to magnetic impurities being generally greater than that due to nonmagnetic impurities. From the analysis of the experimental results on La-Sr-Cu-M-O high temperature superconductor, it is concluded that the symmetry of the pairing state in this system differs from a pure d-wave.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Optically Driven Qubits in Artificial Molecules

We present novel models of quantum gates based on coupled quantum dots in which a qubit is regarded as the superposition of ground states in each dot. Coherent control on the qubit is performed by both a frequency and a polarization of a monochromatic light pulse illuminated on the quantum dots. We also show that a simple combination of two single qubit gates functions as a controlled NOT gate resulting from an electron-electron interaction. To examine the decoherence of quantum states, we discuss electronic relaxation contributed mainly by LA phonon processes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Isotope effect in impure high T_c superconductors

The influence of various kinds of impurities on the isotope shift exponent \alpha of high temperature superconductors has been studied. In these materials the dopant impurities, like Sr in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4, play different role and usually occupy different sites than impurities like Zn, Fe, Ni {\it etc} intentionally introduced into the system to study its superconducting properties. In the paper the in-plane and out-of-plane impurities present in layered superconductors have been considered. They differently affect the superconducting transition temperature T_c. The relative change of isotope shift coefficient, however, is an universal function of T_c/T_{c0} (T_{c0} reffers to impurity free system) {\it i.e.} for angle independent scattering rate and density of states function it does not depend whether the change of T_c is due to in- or out-of-plane impurities. The role of the anisotropic impurity scattering in changing oxygen isotope coefficient of superconductors with various symmetries of the order parameter is elucidated. The comparison of the calculated and experimental dependence of \alpha/\alpha_0, where \alpha_0 is the clean system isotope shift coefficient, on T_c/T_{c0} is presented for a number of cases studied. The changes of \alpha calculated within stripe model of superconductivity in copper oxides resonably well describe the data on La_{1.8}Sr_{0.2}Cu_{1-x}(Fe,Ni)_xO_4, without any fitting parameters.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. B67 (2003) accepte

Quantitative Treatment of Decoherence

We outline different approaches to define and quantify decoherence. We argue that a measure based on a properly defined norm of deviation of the density matrix is appropriate for quantifying decoherence in quantum registers. For a semiconductor double quantum dot qubit, evaluation of this measure is reviewed. For a general class of decoherence processes, including those occurring in semiconductor qubits, we argue that this measure is additive: It scales linearly with the number of qubits.Comment: Revised version, 26 pages, in LaTeX, 3 EPS figure