342 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
Photon bunching in parametric down-conversion with continuous wave excitation
The first direct measurement of photon bunching (g2 correlation function) in
one output arm of a spontaneous-parametric-down-conversion source operated with
a continuous pump laser in the single-photon regime is demonstrated. The result
is in agreement with the statistics of a thermal field of the same coherence
length, and shows the feasibility of investigating photon statistics with
compact cw-pumped sources. Implications for entanglement-based quantum
cryptography are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, expanded introduction and experimental details
added. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
Unpolarized light in quantum optics
We present a new derivation of the unpolarized quantum states of light, whose
general form was first derived by Prakash and Chandra [Phys. Rev. A 4, 796
(1971)]. Our derivation makes use of some basic group theory, is
straightforward, and offers some new insights.Comment: 3 pages, REVTeX, presented at ICQO'200
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
Sub-wavelength lithography over extended areas
We demonstrate a systematic approach to sub-wavelength resolution
lithographic image formation on films covering areas larger than a wavelength
squared. For example, it is possible to make a lithographic pattern with a
feature size resolution of by using a particular -photon, multi-mode entangled state, where , and banks of birefringent
plates. By preparing a statistically mixed such a state one can form any pixel
pattern on a pixel grid occupying a square
with a side of wavelengths. Hence, there is a trade-off between
the exposed area, the minimum lithographic feature size resolution, and the
number of photons used for the exposure. We also show that the proposed method
will work even under non-ideal conditions, albeit with somewhat poorer
performance.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Written in RevTe
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
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
Central-moment description of polarization for quantum states of light
We present a moment expansion method for the systematic characterization of
the polarization properties of quantum states of light. Specifically, we link
the method to the measurements of the Stokes operator in different directions
on the Poincar\'{e} sphere, and provide a method of polarization tomography
without resorting to full state tomography. We apply these ideas to the
experimental first- and second-order polarization characterization of some
two-photon quantum states. In addition, we show that there are classes of
states whose polarization characteristics are dominated not by their
first-order moments (i.e., the Stokes vector) but by higher-order polarization
moments.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, In version 2, Figs. 2 and 4 are
replaced, Sec. IV extended, Sec. VIII revised, a few references adde
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