1,317 research outputs found
Single-shot measurement of quantum optical phase
Although the canonical phase of light, which is defined as the complement of
photon number, has been described theoretically by a variety of distinct
approaches, there have been no methods proposed for its measurement. Indeed
doubts have been expressed about whether or not it is measurable. Here we show
how it is possible, at least in principle, to perform a single-shot measurement
of canonical phase using beam splitters, mirrors, phase shifters and
photodetectors.Comment: This paper was published in PRL in 2002 but, at the time, was not
placed on the archive. It is included now to make accessing this paper easie
Viral proteins expressed in the protozoan parasite Eimeria tenella are detected by the chicken immune system
BACKGROUND: Eimeria species are parasitic protozoa that cause coccidiosis, an intestinal disease commonly characterised by malabsorption, diarrhoea and haemorrhage that is particularly important in chickens. Vaccination against chicken coccidiosis is effective using wild-type or attenuated live parasite lines. The development of protocols to express foreign proteins in Eimeria species has opened up the possibility of using Eimeria live vaccines to deliver heterologous antigens and function as multivalent vaccine vectors that could protect chickens against a range of pathogens. RESULTS: In this study, genetic complementation was used to express immunoprotective virus antigens in Eimeria tenella. Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes Gumboro, an immunosuppressive disease that affects productivity and can interfere with the efficacy of poultry vaccination programmes. Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) causes a highly transmissible respiratory disease for which strong cellular immunity and antibody responses are required for effective vaccination. Genes encoding the VP2 protein from a very virulent strain of IBDV (vvVP2) and glycoprotein I from ILTV (gI) were cloned downstream of 5’Et-Actin or 5’Et-TIF promoter regions in plasmids that also contained a mCitrine fluorescent reporter cassette under control of the 5’Et-MIC1 promoter. The plasmids were introduced by nucleofection into E. tenella sporozoites, which were then used to infect chickens. Progeny oocysts were sorted by FACS and passaged several times in vivo until the proportion of fluorescent parasites in each transgenic population reached ~20 % and the number of transgene copies per parasite genome decreased to < 10. All populations were found to transcribe and express the transgene and induced the generation of low titre, transgene-specific antibodies when used to immunise chickens. CONCLUSIONS: E. tenella can express antigens of other poultry pathogens that are successfully recognised by the chicken immune system. Nonetheless, further work has to be done in order to improve the levels of expression for its future use as a multivalent vaccine vector. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1756-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling to design and optimise Power Kites for Renewable Power Generation
Power kites provide the potential rewards of obtaining the disused energy supply from high
altitude wind. This paper aims to provide a design of Power kite and optimise the potential for
renewable power generation. The Power kite was modelled using Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) to study its characteristics. The numerical modelling results were compared
against the wind tunnel experimental study and two 3D printed Power kites. The design was
optimised using several variables, including aerofoil choice, surface roughness, wind speed
and operating parameters. Attempts at optimising the kite design were implemented. The
results suggest that operating the kites at minimum 15 m horizontal separation is favourable,
with the trailing kite operating below the leading, removing the potential for this kite to
operate in the wake turbulence of the first. As the wind speed is generally very low at low
altitudes, it is recommended to use a symmetrical aerofoil for the kite design, as these tend to
produce greater lift with low Reynolds airflow. This paper presents relevant, applicable data
which can be used for predicting the performance, and potentially optimising further Power
kite designs
Retrodiction with two-level atoms: atomic previvals
In the Jaynes-Cummings model a two-level atom interacts with a single-mode
electromagnetic field. Quantum mechanics predicts collapses and revivals in the
probability that a measurement will show the atom to be excited at various
times after the initial preparation of the atom and field. In retrodictive
quantum mechanics we seek the probability that the atom was prepared in a
particular state given the initial state of the field and the outcome of a
later measurement on the atom. Although this is not simply the time reverse of
the usual predictive problem, we demonstrate in this paper that retrodictive
collapses and revivals also exist. We highlight the differences between
predictive and retrodictive evolutions and describe an interesting situation
where the prepared state is essentially unretrodictable.Comment: 15 pages, 3 (5) figure
Large-uncertainty intelligent states for angular momentum and angle
The equality in the uncertainty principle for linear momentum and position is
obtained for states which also minimize the uncertainty product. However, in
the uncertainty relation for angular momentum and angular position both sides
of the inequality are state dependent and therefore the intelligent states,
which satisfy the equality, do not necessarily give a minimum for the
uncertainty product. In this paper, we highlight the difference between
intelligent states and minimum uncertainty states by investigating a class of
intelligent states which obey the equality in the angular uncertainty relation
while having an arbitrarily large uncertainty product. To develop an
understanding for the uncertainties of angle and angular momentum for the
large-uncertainty intelligent states we compare exact solutions with analytical
approximations in two limiting cases.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Opt. B special issue in
connection with ICSSUR 2005 conferenc
Retrodiction as a tool for micromaser field measurements
We use retrodictive quantum theory to describe cavity field measurements by
successive atomic detections in the micromaser. We calculate the state of the
micromaser cavity field prior to detection of sequences of atoms in either the
excited or ground state, for atoms that are initially prepared in the excited
state. This provides the POM elements, which describe such sequences of
measurements.Comment: 20 pages, 4(8) figure
On the Spectrum of Field Quadratures for a Finite Number of Photons
The spectrum and eigenstates of any field quadrature operator restricted to a
finite number of photons are studied, in terms of the Hermite polynomials.
By (naturally) defining \textit{approximate} eigenstates, which represent
highly localized wavefunctions with up to photons, one can arrive at an
appropriate notion of limit for the spectrum of the quadrature as goes to
infinity, in the sense that the limit coincides with the spectrum of the
infinite-dimensional quadrature operator. In particular, this notion allows the
spectra of truncated phase operators to tend to the complete unit circle, as
one would expect. A regular structure for the zeros of the Christoffel-Darboux
kernel is also shown.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure
Ultracold atoms in radio-frequency-dressed potentials beyond the rotating wave approximation
We study dressed Bose-Einstein condensates in an atom chip radio-frequency
trap. We show that in this system sufficiently strong dressing can be achieved
to cause the widely used rotating wave approximation (RWA) to break down. We
present a full calculation of the atom - field coupling which shows that the
non-RWA contributions quantitatively alter the shape of the emerging dressed
adiabatic potentials. The non-RWA contributions furthermore lead to additional
allowed transitions between dressed levels. We use RF spectroscopy of
Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in the dressed state potentials to directly
observe the transition from the RWA to the beyond-RWA regime.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Non-deterministic Gates for Photonic Single Rail Quantum Logic
We discuss techniques for producing, manipulating and measureing qubits
encoded optically as vacuum and single photon states. We show that a universal
set of non-deterministic gates can be constructed using linear optics and
photon counting. We investigate the efficacy of a test gate given realistic
detector efficiencies.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Phase Operator for the Photon Field and an Index Theorem
An index relation is
satisfied by the creation and annihilation operators and of a
harmonic oscillator. A hermitian phase operator, which inevitably leads to
, cannot be consistently
defined. If one considers an dimensional truncated theory, a hermitian
phase operator of Pegg and Barnett which carries a vanishing index can be
defined. However, for arbitrarily large , we show that the vanishing index
of the hermitian phase operator of Pegg and Barnett causes a substantial
deviation from minimum uncertainty in a characteristically quantum domain with
small average photon numbers. We also mention an interesting analogy between
the present problem and the chiral anomaly in gauge theory which is related to
the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. It is suggested that the phase operator
problem related to the above analytic index may be regarded as a new class of
quantum anomaly. From an anomaly view point ,it is not surprising that the
phase operator of Susskind and Glogower, which carries a unit index, leads to
an anomalous identity and an anomalous commutator.Comment: 32 pages, Late
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