316 research outputs found
Robust Entanglement through Macroscopic Quantum Jumps
We propose an entanglement generation scheme that requires neither the
coherent evolution of a quantum system nor the detection of single photons.
Instead, the desired state is heralded by a {\em macroscopic} quantum jump.
Macroscopic quantum jumps manifest themselves as a random telegraph signal with
long intervals of intense fluorescence (light periods) interrupted by the
complete absence of photons (dark periods). Here we show that a system of two
atoms trapped inside an optical cavity can be designed such that a dark period
prepares the atoms in a maximally entangled ground state. Achieving fidelities
above 0.9 is possible even when the single-atom cooperativity parameter C is as
low as 10 and when using a photon detector with an efficiency as low as eta =
0.2.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, more detailed discussion of underlying physical
effect, references update
Decoherence of tripartite states - a trapped ion coupled to an optical cavity
We investigate the non-dissipative decoherence of three qubit system obtained
by manipulating the state of a trapped two-level ion coupled to an optical
cavity. Modelling the environment as a set of noninteracting harmonic
oscillators, analytical expressions for the state operator of tripartite
composite system, the probability of generating maximally entangled GHZ state,
and the population inversion have been obtained. The pointer observable is the
energy of the isolated quantum system. Coupling to environment results in
exponential decay of off diagonal matrix elements of the state operator with
time as well as a phase decoherence of the component states.
Numerical calculations to examine the time evolution of GHZ state generation
probability and population inversion for different system environment coupling
strengths are performed. Using negativity as an entanglement measure and linear
entropy as a measure of mixedness, the entanglement dynamics of the tripartite
system in the presence of decoherence is analysed.Comment: Revised version, errors corrected and references added. 12 pages, 6
figures, Presented at ICSSUR May 2005, Besancon, Franc
Quantum state preparation and control of single molecular ions
Preparing molecules at rest and in a highly pure quantum state is a long
standing dream in chemistry and physics, so far achieved only for a select set
of molecules in dedicated experimental setups. Here, a quantum-limited
combination of mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy is proposed that should
be applicable to a wide range of molecular ions. Excitation of electrons in the
molecule followed by uncontrolled decay and branching into several lower energy
states is avoided. Instead, the molecule is always connected to rotational
states within the electronic and vibrational ground-state manifold, while a
co-trapped atomic ion provides efficient entropy removal and allows for
extraction of information on the molecule. The outlined techniques might enable
preparation, manipulation and measurement of a large multitude of molecular ion
species with the same instrument, with applications including, but not limited
to, precise determination of molecular properties and fundamental tests of
physics.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, reformatted for resubmissio
Stability of atomic clocks based on entangled atoms
We analyze the effect of realistic noise sources for an atomic clock
consisting of a local oscillator that is actively locked to a spin-squeezed
(entangled) ensemble of atoms. We show that the use of entangled states can
lead to an improvement of the long-term stability of the clock when the
measurement is limited by decoherence associated with instability of the local
oscillator combined with fluctuations in the atomic ensemble's Bloch vector.
Atomic states with a moderate degree of entanglement yield the maximal clock
stability, resulting in an improvement that scales as compared to the
atomic shot noise level.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revtex
Focusing Vacuum Fluctuations II
The quantization of the scalar and electromagnetic fields in the presence of
a parabolic mirror is further developed in the context of a geometric optics
approximation. We extend results in a previous paper to more general
geometries, and also correct an error in one section of that paper. We
calculate the mean squared scalar and electric fields near the focal line of a
parabolic cylindrical mirror. These quantities are found to grow as inverse
powers of the distance from the focus. We give a combination of analytic and
numerical results for the mean squared fields. In particular, we find that the
mean squared electric field can be either negative or positive, depending upon
the choice of parameters. The case of a negative mean squared electric field
corresponds to a repulsive Van der Waals force on an atom near the focus, and
to a region of negative energy density. Similarly, a positive value corresponds
to an attractive force and a possibility of atom trapping in the vicinity of
the focus.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures; additional discussion added in Sects. IV and I
Broadband laser cooling of trapped atoms with ultrafast pulses
We demonstrate broadband laser cooling of atomic ions in an rf trap using
ultrafast pulses from a modelocked laser. The temperature of a single ion is
measured by observing the size of a time-averaged image of the ion in the known
harmonic trap potential. While the lowest observed temperature was only about 1
K, this method efficiently cools very hot atoms and can sufficiently localize
trapped atoms to produce near diffraction-limited atomic images
A microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap for scalable quantum information processing
We demonstrate confinement of individual atomic ions in a radio-frequency
Paul trap with a novel geometry where the electrodes are located in a single
plane and the ions confined above this plane. This device is realized with a
relatively simple fabrication procedure and has important implications for
quantum state manipulation and quantum information processing using large
numbers of ions. We confine laser-cooled Mg-24 ions approximately 40 micrometer
above planar gold electrodes. We measure the ions' motional frequencies and
compare them to simulations. From measurements of the escape time of ions from
the trap, we also determine a heating rate of approximately five motional
quanta per millisecond for a trap frequency of 5.3 MHz.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Scalable quantum search using trapped ions
We propose a scalable implementation of Grover's quantum search algorithm in
a trapped-ion quantum information processor. The system is initialized in an
entangled Dicke state by using simple adiabatic techniques. The
inversion-about-average and the oracle operators take the form of single
off-resonant laser pulses, addressing, respectively, all and half of the ions
in the trap. This is made possible by utilizing the physical symmetrie of the
trapped-ion linear crystal. The physical realization of the algorithm
represents a dramatic simplification: each logical iteration (oracle and
inversion about average) requires only two physical interaction steps, in
contrast to the large number of concatenated gates required by previous
approaches. This does not only facilitate the implementation, but also
increases the overall fidelity of the algorithm.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Ion dynamics in a linear radio-frequency trap with a single cooling laser
We analyse the possibility of cooling ions with a single laser beam, due to
the coupling between the three components of their motion induced by the
Coulomb interaction. For this purpose, we numerically study the dynamics of ion
clouds of up to 140 particles, trapped in a linear quadrupole potential and
cooled with a laser beam propagating in the radial plane. We use Molecular
Dynamics simulations and model the laser cooling by a stochastic process. For
each component of the motion, we systematically study the dependence of the
temperature with the anisotropy of the trapping potential. Results obtained
using the full radio-frequency (rf) potential are compared to those of the
corresponding pseudo-potential. In the rf case, the rotation symmetry of the
potential has to be broken to keep ions inside the trap. Then, as for the
pseudo-potential case, we show that the efficiency of the Coulomb coupling to
thermalize the components of motion depends on the geometrical configuration of
the cloud. Coulomb coupling appears to be not efficient when the ions organise
as a line or a pancake and the three components of motion reach the same
temperature only if the cloud extends in three dimensions
Molecular heat pump for rotational states
In this work we investigate the theory for three different uni-directional
population transfer schemes in trapped multilevel systems which can be utilized
to cool molecular ions. The approach we use exploits the laser-induced coupling
between the internal and motional degrees of freedom so that the internal state
of a molecule can be mapped onto the motion of that molecule in an external
trapping potential. By sympathetically cooling the translational motion back
into its ground state the mapping process can be employed as part of a cooling
scheme for molecular rotational levels. This step is achieved through a common
mode involving a laser-cooled atom trapped alongside the molecule. For the
coherent mapping we will focus on adiabatic passage techniques which may be
expected to provide robust and efficient population transfers. By applying
far-detuned chirped adiabatic rapid passage pulses we are able to achieve an
efficiency of better than 98% for realistic parameters and including
spontaneous emission. Even though our main focus is on cooling molecular
states, the analysis of the different adiabatic methods has general features
which can be applied to atomic systems
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