471 research outputs found
Efficient separation of the orbital angular momentum eigenstates of light
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is an attractive degree of freedom
for funda- mentals studies in quantum mechanics. In addition, the discrete
unbounded state-space of OAM has been used to enhance classical and quantum
communications. Unambiguous mea- surement of OAM is a key part of all such
experiments. However, state-of-the-art methods for separating single photons
carrying a large number of different OAM values are limited to a theoretical
separation efficiency of about 77 percent. Here we demonstrate a method which
uses a series of unitary optical transformations to enable the measurement of
lights OAM with an experimental separation efficiency of more than 92 percent.
Further, we demonstrate the separation of modes in the angular position basis,
which is mutually unbiased with respect to the OAM basis. The high degree of
certainty achieved by our method makes it particu- larly attractive for
enhancing the information capacity of multi-level quantum cryptography systems
On-chip spectroscopy with thermally-tuned high-Q photonic crystal cavities
Spectroscopic methods are a sensitive way to determine the chemical
composition of potentially hazardous materials. Here, we demonstrate that
thermally-tuned high-Q photonic crystal cavities can be used as a compact
high-resolution on-chip spectrometer. We have used such a chip-scale
spectrometer to measure the absorption spectra of both acetylene and hydrogen
cyanide in the 1550 nm spectral band, and show that we can discriminate between
the two chemical species even though the two materials have spectral features
in the same spectral region. Our results pave the way for the development of
chip-size chemical sensors that can detect toxic substances
Weak antilocalization in epitaxial graphene: evidence for chiral electrons
Transport in ultrathin graphite grown on silicon carbide is dominated by the
electron-doped epitaxial layer at the interface. Weak anti-localization in 2D
samples manifests itself as a broad cusp-like depression in the longitudinal
resistance for magnetic fields 10 mT 5 T. An extremely sharp
weak-localization resistance peak at B=0 is also observed. These features
quantitatively agree with graphene weak-(anti)localization theory implying the
chiral electronic character of the samples. Scattering contributions from the
trapped charges in the substrate and from trigonal warping due to the graphite
layer on top are tentatively identified. The Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are
remarkably small and show an anomalous Berry's phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Minor change
Quantum control via a genetic algorithm of the field ionization pathway of a Rydberg electron
Quantum control of the pathway along which a Rydberg electron field ionizes
is experimentally and computationally demonstrated. Selective field ionization
is typically done with a slowly rising electric field pulse. The
scaling of the classical ionization threshold leads to a rough mapping between
arrival time of the electron signal and principal quantum number of the Rydberg
electron. This is complicated by the many avoided level crossings that the
electron must traverse on the way to ionization, which in general leads to
broadening of the time-resolved field ionization signal. In order to control
the ionization pathway, thus directing the signal to the desired arrival time,
a perturbing electric field produced by an arbitrary waveform generator is
added to a slowly rising electric field. A genetic algorithm evolves the
perturbing field in an effort to achieve the target time-resolved field
ionization signal.Comment: Corrected minor typographic errors and changed the titl
Towards Quantum Communication with more than 4 bits/photon: Near-Perfect Sorting of the Orbital Angular Momentum Modes of Light
We demonstrate a method that uses a series of optical transformations to sort the orbital angular momentum and the mutually-unbiased angular position modes of light with a separation efficiency of more than 92%
Quantum-limited estimation of the axial separation of two incoherent point sources
Improving axial resolution is crucial for three-dimensional optical imaging
systems. Here we present a scheme of axial superresolution for two incoherent
point sources based on spatial mode demultiplexing. A radial mode sorter is
used to losslessly decompose the optical fields into a radial mode basis set to
extract the phase information associated with the axial positions of the point
sources. We show theoretically and experimentally that, in the limit of a zero
axial separation, our scheme allows for reaching the quantum Cram\'er-Rao lower
bound and thus can be considered as one of the optimal measurement methods.
Unlike other superresolution schemes, this scheme does not require neither
activation of fluorophores nor sophisticated stabilization control. Moreover,
it is applicable to the localization of a single point source in the axial
direction. Our demonstration can be useful to a variety of applications such as
far-field fluorescence microscopy.Comment: Comments are welcom
Electromagnetic Momentum in Dispersive Dielectric Media
When the effects of dispersion are included, neither the Abraham nor the
Minkowski expression for electromagnetic momentum in a dielectric medium gives
the correct recoil momentum for absorbers or emitters of radiation. The total
momentum density associated with a field in a dielectric medium has three
contributions: (i) the Abraham momentum density of the field, (ii) the momentum
density associated with the Abraham force, and (iii) a momentum density arising
from the dispersive part of the response of the medium to the field, the latter
having a form evidently first derived by D.F. Nelson [Phys. Rev. A 44, 3985
(1991)]. All three contributions are required for momentum conservation in the
recoil of an absorber or emitter in a dielectric medium. We consider the
momentum exchanged and the force on a polarizable particle (e.g., an atom or a
small dielectric sphere) in a host dielectric when a pulse of light is incident
upon it, including the dispersion of the dielectric medium as well as a
dispersive component in the response of the particle to the field. The force
can be greatly increased in slow-light dielectric media.Comment: 9 pages. To be published by Optics Communication
Time Dependence of Few-Body Forster Interactions Among Ultracold Rydberg Atoms
Rubidium Rydberg atoms in either |mj| sublevel of the 36p3/2 state can exchange energy via Stark-tuned Förster resonances, including two-, three-, and four-body dipole-dipole interactions. Three-body interactions of this type were first reported and categorized by Faoro et al. [Nat. Commun. 6, 8173 (2015)] and their Borromean nature was confirmed by Tretyakov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 173402 (2017)]. We report the time dependence of the N-body Förster resonance N×36p3/2,|mj|=1/2→36s1/2+37s1/2+(N−2)×36p3/2,|mj|=3/2, for N=2, 3, and 4, by measuring the fraction of initially excited atoms that end up in the 37s1/2 state as a function of time. The essential features of these interactions are captured in an analytical model that includes only the many-body matrix elements and neighboring atom distribution. A more sophisticated simulation reveals the importance of beyond-nearest-neighbor interactions and of always-resonant interactions
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