Scalable quantum information processing with atomic ensembles and flying photons

We present a scheme for scalable quantum information processing (QIP) with atomic ensembles and flying photons. Using the Rydberg blockade, we encode the qubits in the collective atomic states, which could be manipulated fast and easily due to the enhanced interaction, in comparison to the single-atom case. We demonstrate that our proposed gating could be applied to generation of two-dimensional cluster states for measurement-based quantum computation. Moreover, the atomic ensembles also function as quantum repeaters useful for long distance quantum state transfer. We show the possibility of our scheme to work in bad cavity or in weak coupling regime, which could much relax the experimental requirement. The efficient coherent operations on the ensemble qubits enable our scheme to be switchable between quantum computation and quantum communication using atomic ensembles.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Constraining the Mass of the Photon with Gamma-Ray Bursts

One of the cornerstones of modern physics is Einstein's special relativity, with its constant speed of light and zero photon mass assumptions. Constraint on the rest mass m_{\gamma} of photons is a fundamental way to test Einstein's theory, as well as other essential electromagnetic and particle theories. Since non-zero photon mass can give rise to frequency-(or energy-) dependent dispersions, measuring the time delay of photons with different frequencies emitted from explosive astrophysical events is an important and model-independent method to put such a constraint. The cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), with short time scales, high redshifts as well as broadband prompt and afterglow emissions, provide an ideal testbed for m_{\gamma} constraints. In this paper we calculate the upper limits of the photon mass with GRB early time radio afterglow observations as well as multi-band radio peaks, thus improve the results of Schaefer (1999) by nearly half an order of magnitude.Comment: 25 pages, 2 tables, Accepted by Journal of High Energy Astrophysic