387 research outputs found
Weak measurements with orbital angular momentum pointer states
Weak measurements are a unique tool for accessing information about weakly
interacting quantum systems with minimal back action. Joint weak measurements
of single-particle operators with pointer states characterized by a
two-dimensional Gaussian distribution can provide, in turn, key information
about quantum correlations which can be of relevance for quantum information
applications. Here we demonstrate that by employing two-dimensional pointer
states endowed with orbital angular momentum (OAM), it is possible to extract
weak values of the higher order moments of single-particle operators, an
inaccessible quantity with Gaussian pointer states only. We provide a specific
example that illustrates the advantages of our method both, in terms of signal
enhancement, and information retrieval.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Maximally Entangled Mixed-State Generation via Local Operations
We present a general theoretical method to generate maximally entangled mixed
states of a pair of photons initially prepared in the singlet polarization
state. This method requires only local operations upon a single photon of the
pair and exploits spatial degrees of freedom to induce decoherence. We report
also experimental confirmation of these theoretical results.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Physical Review
Optimal experiment design revisited: fair, precise and minimal tomography
Given an experimental set-up and a fixed number of measurements, how should
one take data in order to optimally reconstruct the state of a quantum system?
The problem of optimal experiment design (OED) for quantum state tomography was
first broached by Kosut et al. [arXiv:quant-ph/0411093v1]. Here we provide
efficient numerical algorithms for finding the optimal design, and analytic
results for the case of 'minimal tomography'. We also introduce the average
OED, which is independent of the state to be reconstructed, and the optimal
design for tomography (ODT), which minimizes tomographic bias. We find that
these two designs are generally similar. Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the
utility of our results for qubits. Finally, we adapt our approach to deal with
constrained techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation. We find that
these are less amenable to optimization than cruder reconstruction methods,
such as linear inversion.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Spin-Hall effect and circular birefringence of a uniaxial crystal plate
The linear birefringence of uniaxial crystal plates is known since the 17th
century, and it is widely used in numerous optical setups and devices. Here we
demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, a fine lateral circular
birefringence of such crystal plates. This effect is a novel example of the
spin-Hall effect of light, i.e., a transverse spin-dependent shift of the
paraxial light beam transmitted through the plate. The well-known linear
birefringence and the new circular birefringence form an interesting analogy
with the Goos-H\"anchen and Imbert-Fedorov beam shifts that appear in the light
reflection at a dielectric interface. We report the experimental observation of
the effect in a remarkably simple system of a tilted half-wave plate and
polarizers using polarimetric and quantum-weak-measurement techniques for the
beam-shift measurements. In view of great recent interest in spin-orbit
interaction phenomena, our results could find applications in modern
polarization optics and nano-photonics.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Optic
Classical and quantum scattering in optical systems
The central topic of the Thesis concerns light scattering experiments with entangled photons. Specifically, we study the effect of scattering processes on polarization-entanglement of twin-photons. The main idea is that scattering generally couples polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of photons. The details of this coupling depend on the characteristics of the scattering medium. Such coupling, in turn, can reduce the entanglement of twin-photons, if the photon pairs are detected in a momentum-insensitive way. We have investigated a broad range of optical scattering media ranging from milk to polymer fibers. By manipulating the parameters of these samples we were able to generate a broad range of quantum states, proving for the first time that scattering processes are a substantial tool for mixed-state engineering. This is of great importance for quantum information since any real-world application thereof has to deal with mixed (as opposed to pure) states.UBL - phd migration 201
Entangled mixed-state generation by twin-photon scattering
We report novel experimental results on mixed-state generation by multi-mode scattering of polarization-entangled photons. By using a large variety of scattering media we obtain two markedly different classes of scattered states; namely Werner-like and sub-Werner-like states. Our experimental findings are in excellent agreement with a phenomenological model based upon the description of a scattering process as a quantum map
Ray splitting in paraxial optical cavities
We present a numerical investigation of the ray dynamics in a paraxial
optical cavity when a ray splitting mechanism is present. The cavity is a
conventional two-mirror stable resonator and the ray splitting is achieved by
inserting an optical beam splitter perpendicular to the cavity axis. We show
that depending on the position of the beam splitter the optical resonator can
become unstable and the ray dynamics displays a positive Lyapunov exponent.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
- …