373 research outputs found
Spin squeezing and precision probing with light and samples of atoms in the gaussian approximation
We consider an ensemble of trapped atoms interacting with a continuous wave
laser field. For sufficiently polarized atoms and for a polarized light field,
we may approximate the non-classical components of the collective spin angular
momentum operator for the atoms and the Stokes vectors of the field by
effective position and momentum variables for which we assume a gaussian state.
Within this approximation, we present a theory for the squeezing of the atomic
spin by polarization rotation measurements on the probe light. We derive
analytical expressions for the squeezing with and without inclusion of the
noise effects introduced by atomic decay and by photon absorption. The theory
is readily adapted to the case of inhomogeneous light-atom coupling [A. Kuzmich
and T.A.B. Kennedy, Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol. 92, 030407 (2004)]. As a special
case, we show how to formulate the theory for an optically thick sample by
slicing the gas into pieces each having only small photon absorption
probability. Our analysis of a realistic probing and measurement scheme shows
that it is the maximally squeezed component of the atomic gas that determines
the accuracy of the measurement.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Coherent control and feedback cooling in a remotely-coupled hybrid atom-optomechanical system
Cooling to the motional ground state is an important first step in the
preparation of nonclassical states of mesoscopic mechanical oscillators.
Light-mediated coupling to a remote atomic ensemble has been proposed as a
method to reach the ground state for low frequency oscillators. The ground
state can also be reached using optical measurement followed by feedback
control. Here we investigate the possibility of enhanced cooling by combining
these two approaches. The combination, in general, outperforms either
individual technique, though atomic ensemble-based cooling and feedback cooling
each individually dominate over large regions of parameter space.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Updated to include exemplary
experimental parameters and expanded discussion of noise source
Complete elimination of information leakage in continuous-variable quantum communication channels
In all lossy communication channels realized to date, information is
inevitably leaked to a potential eavesdropper. Here we present a communication
protocol that does not allow for any information leakage to a potential
eavesdropper in a purely lossy channel. By encoding information into a
restricted Gaussian alphabet of squeezed states we show, both theoretically and
experimentally, that the Holevo information between the eavesdropper and the
intended recipient can be exactly zero in a purely lossy channel while
minimized in a noisy channel. This result is of fundamental interest, but might
also have practical implications in extending the distance of secure quantum
key distribution.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Magnetometry with entangled atomic samples
We present a theory for the estimation of a scalar or a vector magnetic field
by its influence on an ensemble of trapped spin polarized atoms. The atoms
interact off-resonantly with a continuous laser field, and the measurement of
the polarization rotation of the probe light, induced by the dispersive
atom-light coupling, leads to spin-squeezing of the atomic sample which enables
an estimate of the magnetic field which is more precise than that expected from
standard counting statistics. For polarized light and polarized atoms, a
description of the non-classical components of the collective spin angular
momentum for the atoms and the collective Stokes vectors of the light-field in
terms of effective gaussian position and momentum variables is practically
exact. The gaussian formalism describes the dynamics of the system very
effectively and accounts explicitly for the back-action on the atoms due to
measurement and for the estimate of the magnetic field. Multi-component
magnetic fields are estimated by the measurement of suitably chosen atomic
observables and precision and efficiency is gained by dividing the atomic gas
in two or more samples which are entangled by the dispersive atom-light
interaction.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure
Geometric phases in open tripod systems
We first consider stimulated Raman adibatic passages (STIRAP) in a closed
four-level tripod system. In this case, the adiabatic eigenstates of the system
acquire real geometric phases. When the system is open and subject to
decoherence they acquire complex geometric phases that we determine by a Monte
Carlo wave function approach. We calculate the geometric phases and the state
evolution in the closed as well as in the open system cases and describe the
deviation between these in terms of the phases acquired. When the system is
closed, the adiabatic evolution implements a Hadamard gate. The open system
implements an imperfect gate and hence has a fidelity below unity. We express
this fidelity in terms of the acquired geometric phases.Comment: 10 pages 7 figure
Experimental Investigation of the Evolution of Gaussian Quantum Discord in an Open System
Gaussian quantum discord is a measure of quantum correlations in Gaussian
systems. Using Gaussian discord we quantify the quantum correlations of a
bipartite entangled state and a separable two-mode mixture of coherent states.
We experimentally analyze the effect of noise addition and dissipation on
Gaussian discord and show that the former noise degrades the discord while the
latter noise for some states leads to an increase of the discord. In
particular, we experimentally demonstrate the near-death of discord by noisy
evolution and its revival through dissipation.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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