Steady state behaviour in atomic three-level lambda and ladder systems with incoherent population pumping

The steady state in three-level lambda and ladder systems is studied. It is well-known that in a lambda system this steady state is the coherent population trapping state, independent of the presence of spontaneous emission. In contrast, the steady state in a ladder system is in general not stable against radiative decay and exhibits a minimum in the population of the ground state. It is shown that incoherent population pumping destroys the stability of the coherent population trapping state in the lambda system and suppresses a previously discovered sharp dip in the steady state response. In the ladder system the observed minimum disappears in the presence of an incoherent pump on the upper transition.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Role of inhomogeneous broadening in lasing without inversion in ladder systems

We study the effect of Doppler broadening on the inversionless gain that can be realized in a ladder configuration. The gain is calculated when the strong coherent pump and the weak probe are either copropagating or counterpropagating. The results indicate that the counterpropagating situation is the optimal one for obtaining maximum amplification, since for identical Doppler broadening, the counterpropagating geometry yields higher amplification than the copropagating geometry. The effect of Doppler broadening on electromagnetically induced transparency in the same atomic system is also briefly discussed

Uncertainty-Aware Organ Classification for Surgical Data Science Applications in Laparoscopy

Objective: Surgical data science is evolving into a research field that aims to observe everything occurring within and around the treatment process to provide situation-aware data-driven assistance. In the context of endoscopic video analysis, the accurate classification of organs in the field of view of the camera proffers a technical challenge. Herein, we propose a new approach to anatomical structure classification and image tagging that features an intrinsic measure of confidence to estimate its own performance with high reliability and which can be applied to both RGB and multispectral imaging (MI) data. Methods: Organ recognition is performed using a superpixel classification strategy based on textural and reflectance information. Classification confidence is estimated by analyzing the dispersion of class probabilities. Assessment of the proposed technology is performed through a comprehensive in vivo study with seven pigs. Results: When applied to image tagging, mean accuracy in our experiments increased from 65% (RGB) and 80% (MI) to 90% (RGB) and 96% (MI) with the confidence measure. Conclusion: Results showed that the confidence measure had a significant influence on the classification accuracy, and MI data are better suited for anatomical structure labeling than RGB data. Significance: This work significantly enhances the state of art in automatic labeling of endoscopic videos by introducing the use of the confidence metric, and by being the first study to use MI data for in vivo laparoscopic tissue classification. The data of our experiments will be released as the first in vivo MI dataset upon publication of this paper.Comment: 7 pages, 6 images, 2 table

Parity-time symmetry breaking in optically coupled semiconductor lasers

We experimentally demonstrate the realization of a parity-time (PT) symmetry breaking in optically coupled semiconductor lasers (SCLs). The two SCLs are identical except for a detuning between their optical emission frequencies. This detuning is analogous to the gain-loss parameter found in optical PT systems. To model the coupled SCLs, we employ the standard rate equations describing the electric field and carrier inversion of each SCL, and show that, under certain conditions, the rate equations reduce to the canonical, two-site PT- symmetric model. This model captures the global behavior of the laser intensity as the system parameters are varied. Overall, we find that this bulk system (coupled SCLs) provides an excellent test-bed to probe the characteristics of PT-breaking transitions, including the effects of time delay

Effects of quantum noise on the nonlinear dynamics of a semiconductor laser subject to two spectrally ltered, time-delayed optical feedbacks

We report on a theoretical and computational investigation of the complex dynamics that arise in a semiconductor laser that is subject to two external, time-delayed, filtered optical feedbacks with special attention to the effect of quantum noise. In particular, we focus on the dynamics of the instantaneous optical frequency (wavelength) and its behavior for a wide range of feedback strengths and filter parameters. In the case of two intermediate filter bandwidths, the most significant results are that in the presence of noise, the feedback strengths required for the onset of chaos in a period doubling route are higher than in the absence of noise. We find that the inclusion of noise changes the dominant frequency of the wavelength oscillations, and that certain attractors do not survive in the presence of noise for a range of filter parameters. The results are interpreted by use of a combination of phase portraits, rf spectra, and first return maps