385 research outputs found
Entangled-State Lithography: Tailoring any Pattern with a Single State
We demonstrate a systematic approach to Heisenberg-limited lithographic image
formation using four-mode reciprocal binominal states. By controlling the
exposure pattern with a simple bank of birefringent plates, any pixel pattern
on a grid, occupying a square with the side half a
wavelength long, can be generated from a -photon state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Quantum limits on phase-shift detection using multimode interferometers
Fundamental phase-shift detection properties of optical multimode
interferometers are analyzed. Limits on perfectly distinguishable phase shifts
are derived for general quantum states of a given average energy. In contrast
to earlier work, the limits are found to be independent of the number of
interfering modes. However, the reported bounds are consistent with the
Heisenberg limit. A short discussion on the concept of well-defined relative
phase is also included.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX, uses epsf.st
Distance-based degrees of polarization for a quantum field
It is well established that unpolarized light is invariant with respect to
any SU(2) polarization transformation. This requirement fully characterizes the
set of density matrices representing unpolarized states. We introduce the
degree of polarization of a quantum state as its distance to the set of
unpolarized states. We use two different candidates of distance, namely the
Hilbert-Schmidt and the Bures metric, showing that they induce fundamentally
different degrees of polarization. We apply these notions to relevant field
states and we demonstrate that they avoid some of the problems arising with the
classical definition.Comment: 8 pages, 1 eps figur
Assessing the Polarization of a Quantum Field from Stokes Fluctuation
We propose an operational degree of polarization in terms of the variance of
the projected Stokes vector minimized over all the directions of the Poincar\'e
sphere. We examine the properties of this degree and show that some problems
associated with the standard definition are avoided. The new degree of
polarization is experimentally determined using two examples: a bright squeezed
state and a quadrature squeezed vacuum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome
Maximally polarized states for quantum light fields
The degree of polarization of a quantum state can be defined as its
Hilbert-Schmidt distance to the set of unpolarized states. We demonstrate that
the states optimizing this degree for a fixed average number of photons
present a fairly symmetric, parabolic photon statistics, with a
variance scaling as . Although no standard optical process yields
such a statistics, we show that, to an excellent approximation, a highly
squeezed vacuum can be considered as maximally polarized.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps-color figure
Two-photon imaging and quantum holography
It has been claimed that ``the use of entangled photons in an imaging system
can exhibit effects that cannot be mimicked by any other two-photon source,
whatever strength of the correlations between the two photons'' [A. F.
Abouraddy, B. E. A. Saleh, A. V. Sergienko, and M. C. Teich, Phys. Rev. Lett.
87, 123602 (2001)]. While we believe that the cited statement is true, we show
that the method proposed in that paper, with ``bucket detection'' of one of the
photons, will give identical results for entangled states as for appropriately
prepared classically correlated states.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTe
Surface characterization and surface electronic structure of organic quasi-one-dimensional charge transfer salts
We have thoroughly characterized the surfaces of the organic charge-transfer
salts TTF-TCNQ and (TMTSF)2PF6 which are generally acknowledged as prototypical
examples of one-dimensional conductors. In particular x-ray induced
photoemission spectroscopy turns out to be a valuable non-destructive
diagnostic tool. We show that the observation of generic one-dimensional
signatures in photoemission spectra of the valence band close to the Fermi
level can be strongly affected by surface effects. Especially, great care must
be exercised taking evidence for an unusual one-dimensional many-body state
exclusively from the observation of a pseudogap.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, v2: minor changes in text and figure labellin
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