286 research outputs found
Time reversal symmetry in optics
The utilization of time reversal symmetry in designing and implementing
(quantum) optical experiments has become more and more frequent over the past
years. We review the basic idea underlying time reversal methods, illustrate it
with several examples and discuss a number of implications.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, typeset with revte
Unusual light spectra from a two-level atom in squeezed vacuum
We investigate the interaction of an atom with a multi-channel squeezed
vacuum. It turns out that the light coming out in a particular channel can have
anomalous spectral properties, among them asymmetry of the spectrum, absence of
the central peak as well as central hole burning for particular parameters. As
an example plane-wave squeezing is considered. In this case the above phenomena
can occur for the light spectra in certain directions. In the total spectrum
these phenomena are washed out.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures (included via epsf
Generation of a wave packet tailored to efficient free space excitation of a single atom
We demonstrate the generation of an optical dipole wave suitable for the
process of efficiently coupling single quanta of light and matter in free
space. We employ a parabolic mirror for the conversion of a transverse beam
mode to a focused dipole wave and show the required spatial and temporal
shaping of the mode incident onto the mirror. The results include a proof of
principle correction of the parabolic mirror's aberrations. For the application
of exciting an atom with a single photon pulse we demonstrate the creation of a
suitable temporal pulse envelope. We infer coupling strengths of 89% and
success probabilities of up to 87% for the application of exciting a single
atom for the current experimental parameters.Comment: to be published in Europ. Phys. J.
Photon-Atom Coupling with Parabolic Mirrors
Efficient coupling of light to single atomic systems has gained considerable
attention over the past decades. This development is driven by the continuous
growth of quantum technologies. The efficient coupling of light and matter is
an enabling technology for quantum information processing and quantum
communication. And indeed, in recent years much progress has been made in this
direction. But applications aside, the interaction of photons and atoms is a
fundamental physics problem. There are various possibilities for making this
interaction more efficient, among them the apparently 'natural' attempt of
mode-matching the light field to the free-space emission pattern of the atomic
system of interest. Here we will describe the necessary steps of implementing
this mode-matching with the ultimate aim of reaching unit coupling efficiency.
We describe the use of deep parabolic mirrors as the central optical element of
a free-space coupling scheme, covering the preparation of suitable modes of the
field incident onto these mirrors as well as the location of an atom at the
mirror's focus. Furthermore, we establish a robust method for determining the
efficiency of the photon-atom coupling.Comment: Book chapter in compilation "Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction"
published by Springer in 2015, edited by A. Predojevic and M. W. Mitchell,
ISBN 9783319192307, http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319192307. Only
change to version1: now with hyperlinks to arXiv eprints of other book
chapters mentioned in this on
Heralded single photon absorption by a single atom
The emission and absorption of single photons by single atomic particles is a
fundamental limit of matter-light interaction, manifesting its quantum
mechanical nature. At the same time, as a controlled process it is a key
enabling tool for quantum technologies, such as quantum optical information
technology [1, 2] and quantum metrology [3, 4, 5, 6]. Controlling both emission
and absorption will allow implementing quantum networking scenarios [1, 7, 8,
9], where photonic communication of quantum information is interfaced with its
local processing in atoms. In studies of single-photon emission, recent
progress includes control of the shape, bandwidth, frequency, and polarization
of single-photon sources [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17], and the
demonstration of atom-photon entanglement [18, 19, 20]. Controlled absorption
of a single photon by a single atom is much less investigated; proposals exist
but only very preliminary steps have been taken experimentally such as
detecting the attenuation and phase shift of a weak laser beam by a single atom
[21, 22], and designing an optical system that covers a large fraction of the
full solid angle [23, 24, 25]. Here we report the interaction of single
heralded photons with a single trapped atom. We find strong correlations of the
detection of a heralding photon with a change in the quantum state of the atom
marking absorption of the quantum-correlated heralded photon. In coupling a
single absorber with a quantum light source, our experiment demonstrates
previously unexplored matter-light interaction, while opening up new avenues
towards photon-atom entanglement conversion in quantum technology.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Stochastic wave function approach to the calculation of multitime correlation functions of open quantum systems
Within the framework of probability distributions on projective Hilbert space
a scheme for the calculation of multitime correlation functions is developed.
The starting point is the Markovian stochastic wave function description of an
open quantum system coupled to an environment consisting of an ensemble of
harmonic oscillators in arbitrary pure or mixed states. It is shown that matrix
elements of reduced Heisenberg picture operators and general time-ordered
correlation functions can be expressed by time-symmetric expectation values of
extended operators in a doubled Hilbert space. This representation allows the
construction of a stochastic process in the doubled Hilbert space which enables
the determination of arbitrary matrix elements and correlation functions. The
numerical efficiency of the resulting stochastic simulation algorithm is
investigated and compared with an alternative Monte Carlo wave function method
proposed first by Dalibard et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 68}, 580 (1992)]. By
means of a standard example the suggested algorithm is shown to be more
efficient numerically and to converge faster. Finally, some specific examples
from quantum optics are presented in order to illustrate the proposed method,
such as the coupling of a system to a vacuum, a squeezed vacuum within a finite
solid angle, and a thermal mixture of coherent states.Comment: RevTex, 19 pages, 3 figures, uses multico
Novel cyclic di-GMP effectors of the YajQ protein family control bacterial virulence
Bis-(3 ',5 ') cyclic di-guanylate (cyclic di-GMP) is a key bacterial second messenger that is implicated in the regulation of many critical processes that include motility, biofilm formation and virulence. Cyclic di-GMP influences diverse functions through interaction with a range of effectors. Our knowledge of these effectors and their different regulatory actions is far from complete, however. Here we have used an affinity pull-down assay using cyclic di-GMP-coupled magnetic beads to identify cyclic di-GMP binding proteins in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). This analysis identified XC_3703, a protein of the YajQ family, as a potential cyclic di-GMP receptor. Isothermal titration calorimetry showed that the purified XC_3703 protein bound cyclic di-GMP with a high affinity (K-d similar to 2 mu M). Mutation of XC_3703 led to reduced virulence of Xcc to plants and alteration in biofilm formation. Yeast two-hybrid and far-western analyses showed that XC_3703 was able to interact with XC_2801, a transcription factor of the LysR family. Mutation of XC_2801 and XC_3703 had partially overlapping effects on the transcriptome of Xcc, and both affected virulence. Electromobility shift assays showed that XC_3703 positively affected the binding of XC_2801 to the promoters of target virulence genes, an effect that was reversed by cyclic di-GMP. Genetic and functional analysis of YajQ family members from the human pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia showed that they also specifically bound cyclic di-GMP and contributed to virulence in model systems. The findings thus identify a new class of cyclic di-GMP effector that regulates bacterial virulence
Design of a mode converter for efficient light-atom coupling in free space
In this article, we describe how to develop a mode converter that transforms
a plane electromagnetic wave into an inward moving dipole wave. The latter one
is intended to bring a single atom or ion from its ground state to its excited
state by absorption of a single photon wave packet with near-100% efficiency.Comment: RevTex4, 3 figures, revised version, accepted for publication at
Appl. Phys.
Integration of fluorescence collection optics with a microfabricated surface electrode ion trap
We have successfully demonstrated an integrated optical system for collecting
the fluorescence from a trapped ion. The system, consisting of an array of
transmissive, dielectric micro-optics and an optical fiber array, has been
intimately incorporated into the ion-trapping chip without negatively impacting
trapping performance. Epoxies, vacuum feedthrough, and optical component
materials were carefully chosen so that they did not degrade the vacuum
environment, and we have demonstrated light detection as well as ion trapping
and shuttling behavior comparable to trapping chips without integrated optics,
with no modification to the control voltages of the trapping chip.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure
Differential influence of vemurafenib and dabrafenib on patients' lymphocytes despite similar clinical efficacy in melanoma
In this study, we demonstrate that vemurafenib but not dabrafenib reduces peripheral lymphocyte counts in melanoma patients while both agents show similar clinical efficacy. Within the lymphocyte compartment, vemurafenib selectively decreases circulating CD4+ T cells and changes their phenotype and function. This indicates that selective BRAFi need to be assessed individually for immunomodulatory effects, especially, when planning combinations with immunotherapie
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