Analysis of acoustic emission during the melting of embedded indium particles in an aluminum matrix: a study of plastic strain accommodation during phase transformation

Acoustic emission is used here to study melting and solidification of embedded indium particles in the size range of 0.2 to 3 um in diameter and to show that dislocation generation occurs in the aluminum matrix to accommodate a 2.5% volume change. The volume averaged acoustic energy produced by indium particle melting is similar to that reported for bainite formation upon continuous cooling. A mechanism of prismatic loop generation is proposed to accommodate the volume change and an upper limit to the geometrically necessary increase in dislocation density is calculated as 4.1 x 10^9 cm^-2 for the Al-17In alloy. Thermomechanical processing is also used to change the size and distribution of the indium particles within the aluminum matrix. Dislocation generation with accompanied acoustic emission occurs when the melting indium particles are associated with grain boundaries or upon solidification where the solid-liquid interfaces act as free surfaces to facilitate dislocation generation. Acoustic emission is not observed for indium particles that require super heating and exhibit elevated melting temperatures. The acoustic emission work corroborates previously proposed relaxation mechanisms from prior internal friction studies and that the superheat observed for melting of these micron-sized particles is a result of matrix constraint.Comment: Presented at "Atomistic Effects in Migrating Interphase Interfaces - Recent Progress and Future Study" TMS 201

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Quantum Cryptography Using Single Particle Entanglement

A quantum cryptography scheme based on entanglement between a single particle state and a vacuum state is proposed. The scheme utilizes linear optics devices to detect the superposition of the vacuum and single particle states. Existence of an eavesdropper can be detected by using a variant of Bell's inequality.Comment: 4 pages, 3figures, revte

Quantum interference in the fluorescence of a molecular system

It has been observed experimentally [H.R. Xia, C.Y. Ye, and S.Y. Zhu, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 77}, 1032 (1996)] that quantum interference between two molecular transitions can lead to a suppression or enhancement of spontaneous emission. This is manifested in the fluorescent intensity as a function of the detuning of the driving field from the two-photon resonance condition. Here we present a theory which explains the observed variation of the number of peaks with the mutual polarization of the molecular transition dipole moments. Using master equation techniques we calculate analytically as well as numerically the steady-state fluorescence, and find that the number of peaks depends on the excitation process. If the molecule is driven to the upper levels by a two-photon process, the fluorescent intensity consists of two peaks regardless of the mutual polarization of the transition dipole moments. If the excitation process is composed of both a two-step one-photon process and a one-step, two-photon process, then there are two peaks on transitions with parallel dipole moments and three peaks on transitions with antiparallel dipole moments. This latter case is in excellent agreement with the experiment.Comment: 11 pages, including 8 figure

Detecting genuine multipartite continuous-variable entanglement

We derive necessary conditions in terms of the variances of position and momentum linear combinations for all kinds of separability of a multi-party multi-mode continuous-variable state. Their violations can be sufficient for genuine multipartite entanglement, provided the combinations contain both conjugate variables of all modes. Hence a complete state determination, for example by detecting the entire correlation matrix of a Gaussian state, is not needed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Entanglement concentration of continuous variable quantum states

We propose two probabilistic entanglement concentration schemes for a single copy of two-mode squeezed vacuum state. The first scheme is based on the off-resonant interaction of a Rydberg atom with the cavity field while the second setup involves the cross Kerr interaction, auxiliary mode prepared in a strong coherent state and a homodyne detection. We show that the continuous-variable entanglement concentration allows us to improve the fidelity of teleportation of coherent states.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

A study of the efficiency of the class of WW-states as a quantum channel

Recently, a new class of $W$-states has been defined by Agarwal and Pati \cite{agarwal} and it has been shown that they can be used as a quantum channel for teleportation and superdense coding. In this work, we identify those three-qubit states from the set of the new class of $W$-states which are most efficient or suitable for quantum teleportation. We show that with some probability $|W_1>=(1/2)(|100>+|010>+\sqrt{2}|001>)$ is best suited for teleportation channel in the sense that it does not depend on the input state.Comment: 7 pages, Late

PPM1A and PPM1B act as IKKβ phosphatases to terminate TNFα-induced IKKβ-NF-κB activation

IKKβ serves as a central intermediate signaling molecule in the activation of the NF-κB pathway. However, the precise mechanism for the termination of IKKβ activity is still not fully understood. Using a functional genomic approach, we have identified two protein serine/threonine phosphatases, PPM1A and PPM1B, as IKKβ phosphatases. Overexpression of PPM1A or PPM1B results in dephosphorylation of IKKβ at Ser177 and Ser181 and termination of IKKβ-induced NF-κB activation. PPM1A and PPM1B associate with the phosphorylated form of IKKβ, and the interaction between PPM1A/PPM1B and IKKβ is induced by TNFα in a transient fashion in the cells. Furthermore, knockdown of PPM1A and PPM1B expression enhances TNFα-induced IKKβ phosphorylation, NF-κB nuclear translocation and NF-κB-dependent gene expression. These data suggest that PPM1A and PPM1B play an important role in the termination of TNFα-mediated NF-κB activation through dephosphorylating and inactivating IKKβ

High Altitude test of RPCs for the ARGO-YBJ experiment

A 50 m**2 RPC carpet was operated at the YangBaJing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (Tibet) located 4300 m a.s.l. The performance of RPCs in detecting Extensive Air Showers was studied. Efficiency and time resolution measurements at the pressure and temperature conditions typical of high mountain laboratories, are reported.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. Met