Updated results on prototype chalcogenide fibers for 10-um wavefront spatial filtering

The detection of terrestrial planets by Darwin/TPF missions will require extremely high quality wavefronts. Single-mode fibers have proven to be powerful beam cleaning components in the near-infrared, but are currently not available in the mid-infrared where they would be critically needed for Darwin/TPF. In this paper, we present updated measurements on the prototype chalcogenide fibers we are developing for the purpose of mid-infrared spatial filtering. We demonstrate the guiding property of our 3rd generation component and we characterize its filtering performances on a 4 mm length: the far-field radiation pattern matches a Gaussian profile at the level of 3% rms and 13% pk-pk.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Toward Other Earths, Darwin/TPF and the search for extrasolar terrestrial planets", held in Heidelberg, Germany, 22-25 April 2003, ESA SP-53

Strong magnetic coupling between an electronic spin qubit and a mechanical resonator

We describe a technique that enables a strong, coherent coupling between a single electronic spin qubit associated with a nitrogen-vacancy impurity in diamond and the quantized motion of a magnetized nano-mechanical resonator tip. This coupling is achieved via careful preparation of dressed spin states which are highly sensitive to the motion of the resonator but insensitive to perturbations from the nuclear spin bath. In combination with optical pumping techniques, the coherent exchange between spin and motional excitations enables ground state cooling and the controlled generation of arbitrary quantum superpositions of resonator states. Optical spin readout techniques provide a general measurement toolbox for the resonator with quantum limited precision

Coherent Population Trapping with a controlled dissipation: applications in optical metrology

We analyze the properties of a pulsed Coherent Population Trapping protocol that uses a controlled decay from the excited state in a $\Lambda$-level scheme. We study this problem analytically and numerically and find regimes where narrow transmission, absorption, or fluorescence spectral lines occur. We then look for optimal frequency measurements using these spectral features by computing the Allan deviation in the presence of ground state decoherence and show that the protocol is on a par with Ramsey-CPT. We discuss possible implementations with ensembles of alkali atoms and single ions and demonstrate that typical pulsed-CPT experiments that are realized on femto-second time-scales can be implemented on micro-seconds time-scales using this scheme.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Environment Assisted Metrology with Spin Qubit

We investigate the sensitivity of a recently proposed method for precision measurement [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 140502 (2011)], focusing on an implementation based on solid-state spin systems. The scheme amplifies a quantum sensor response to weak external fields by exploiting its coupling to spin impurities in the environment. We analyze the limits to the sensitivity due to decoherence and propose dynamical decoupling schemes to increase the spin coherence time. The sensitivity is also limited by the environment spin polarization; therefore we discuss strategies to polarize the environment spins and present a method to extend the scheme to the case of zero polarization. The coherence time and polarization determine a figure of merit for the environment's ability to enhance the sensitivity compared to echo-based sensing schemes. This figure of merit can be used to engineer optimized samples for high-sensitivity nanoscale magnetic sensing, such as diamond nanocrystals with controlled impurity density.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Validation and implication of segmentation on Empirical Bayes for highway safety studies

Typically, crash frequency is modelled as Poison where the variation is the square root of the expected number. If the expected number of crashes is small, the variation is a large percentage of the expected number of crashes, and the observed number of crashes provides a crude estimate for the expected number. A better estimate is obtained when the expected number is large. For a specific location, there are two approaches for performing measurements where the expected number of crashes is large. One approach is to measure over a long period of time. However, data are not often available for long periods. Even if available, changes in conditions over time, such as increase in traffic volumes or improvement in infrastructure, may limit the useful time frame. Another approach is to perform measurements over a large number of similar locations, providing a relatively precise estimate for the distribution. Then, one can use the Empirical Bayes (EB) approach to combine the relatively precise estimate for the distribution with the less precise estimate for the expected number at the location of interest, resulting is an improved estimate for the expected number at that location. This paper explores the two approaches. It uses multiple years of data from the Highway Safety Information System for California intersections and highway links from the State of Iowa. Data from a single year is used to estimate the expected number of crashes at locations, following the EB approach. Data from multiple years at each location is then used to estimate the expected number of crashes at those locations, and the results from the two approaches are compared. No such large scale validation has yet been performed. The effect of a priori segmentation of the highway system is also explored. Longer, homogeneous sections are found both to improve the statistical validity of models and to improve the EB correction of one-year section crash estimates

Environment Assisted Precision Measurement

We describe a method to enhance the sensitivity of precision measurements that takes advantage of a quantum sensor's environment to amplify its response to weak external perturbations. An individual qubit is used to sense the dynamics of surrounding ancillary qubits, which are in turn affected by the external field to be measured. The resulting sensitivity enhancement is determined by the number of ancillas that are coupled strongly to the sensor qubit; it does not depend on the exact values of the coupling strengths and is resilient to many forms of decoherence. The method achieves nearly Heisenberg-limited precision measurement, using a novel class of entangled states. We discuss specific applications to improve clock sensitivity using trapped ions and magnetic sensing based on electronic spins in diamond.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Coherence of Nitrogen-Vacancy Electronic Spin Ensembles in Diamond

We present an experimental and theoretical study of electronic spin decoherence in ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in bulk high-purity diamond at room temperature. Under appropriate conditions, we find ensemble NV spin coherence times (T_2) comparable to that of single NVs, with T_2 > 600 microseconds for a sample with natural abundance of 13C and paramagnetic impurity density ~10^15 cm^(-3). We also observe a sharp decrease of the coherence time with misalignment of the static magnetic field relative to the NV electronic spin axis, consistent with theoretical modeling of NV coupling to a 13C nuclear spin bath. The long coherence times and increased signal-to-noise provided by room-temperature NV ensembles will aid many applications of NV centers in precision magnetometry and quantum information.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2 minor correction

Competition between electric field and magnetic field noise in the decoherence of a single spin in diamond

We analyze the impact of electric field and magnetic field fluctuations in the decoherence of the electronic spin associated with a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect in diamond by engineering spin eigenstates protected either against magnetic noise or against electric noise. The competition between these noise sources is analyzed quantitatively by changing their relative strength through modifications of the environment. This study provides significant insights into the decoherence of the NV electronic spin, which is valuable for quantum metrology and sensing applications.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, including supplementary information