Two-Pulse Propagation in a Partially Phase-Coherent Medium

We analyze the effects of partial coherence of ground state preparation on two-pulse propagation in a three-level $\Lambda$ medium, in contrast to previous treastments that have considered the cases of media whose ground states are characterized by probabilities (level populations) or by probability amplitudes (coherent pure states). We present analytic solutions of the Maxwell-Bloch equations, and we extend our analysis with numerical solutions to the same equations. We interpret these solutions in the bright/dark dressed state basis, and show that they describe a population transfer between the bright and dark state. For mixed-state $\Lambda$ media with partial ground state phase coherence the dark state can never be fully populated. This has implications for phase-coherent effects such as pulse matching, coherent population trapping, and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that for partially phase-coherent three-level media, self induced transparency (SIT) dominates EIT and our results suggest a corresponding three-level area theorem.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Analysis and interpretation of high transverse entanglement in optical parametric down conversion

Quantum entanglement associated with transverse wave vectors of down conversion photons is investigated based on the Schmidt decomposition method. We show that transverse entanglement involves two variables: orbital angular momentum and transverse frequency. We show that in the monochromatic limit high values of entanglement are closely controlled by a single parameter resulting from the competition between (transverse) momentum conservation and longitudinal phase matching. We examine the features of the Schmidt eigenmodes, and indicate how entanglement can be enhanced by suitable mode selection methods.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Packet narrowing and quantum entanglement in photoionization and photodissociation

The narrowing of electron and ion wave packets in the process of photoionization is investigated, with the electron-ion recoil fully taken into account. Packet localization of this type is directly related to entanglement in the joint quantum state of electron and ion, and to Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen localization. Experimental observation of such packet-narrowing effects is suggested via coincidence registration by two detectors, with a fixed position of one and varying position of the other. A similar effect, typically with an enhanced degree of entanglement, is shown to occur in the case of photodissociation of molecules

The Geometry of Entanglement Sudden Death

In open quantum systems, entanglement can vanish faster than coherence. This phenomenon is usually called sudden death of entanglement. In this paper sudden death of entanglement is discussed from a geometrical point of view, in the context of two qubits. A classification of possible scenarios is presented, with important known examples classified. Theoretical and experimental construction of other examples is suggested as well as large dimensional and multipartite versions of the effect.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, references added, initial paragraph corrected, sectioning adopted, some parts rewritten; accepted by New J. Phy

Two-Pulse Propagation in Media with Quantum-Mixed Ground States

We examine fully coherent two-pulse propagation in a lambda-type medium, under two-photon resonance conditions and including inhomogeneous broadening. We examine both the effects of short pulse preparation and the effects of medium preparation. We contrast cases in which the two pulses have matched envelopes or not, and contrast cases in which ground state coherence is present or not. We find that an extended interpretation of the Area Theorem for single-pulse self-induced transparency (SIT) is able to unify two-pulse propagation scenarios, including some aspects of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). We present numerical solutions of both three-level and adiabatically reduced two-level density matrix equations and Maxwell's equations, and show that many features of the solutions are quickly interpreted with the aid of analytic solutions that we also provide for restricted cases of pulse shapes and preparation of the medium. In the limit of large one-photon detuning, we show that the two-level equations commonly used are not reliable for pulse Areas in the 2$\pi$ range, which allows puzzling features of previous numerical work to be understood.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures. Replaced with version accepted in PR

Nuclear signatures in high-harmonic generation from laser-driven muonic atoms

High-harmonic generation from muonic atoms exposed to intense laser fields is considered. Our particular interest lies in effects arising from the finite nuclear mass and size. We numerically perform a fully quantum mechanical treatment of the muon-nucleus dynamics by employing modified soft-core and hard-core potentials. It is shown that the position of the high-energy cutoff of the harmonic spectrum depends on the nuclear mass, while the height of the spectral plateau is sensitive to the nuclear radius. We also demonstrate that $\gamma$-ray harmonics can be generated from muonic atoms in ultrastrong VUV fields, which have potential to induce photo-nuclear reactions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Cooperating or Fighting with Decoherence in the Optimal Control of Quantum Dynamics

This paper explores the use of laboratory closed-loop learning control to either fight or cooperate with decoherence in the optimal manipulation of quantum dynamics. Simulations of the processes are performed in a Lindblad formulation on multilevel quantum systems strongly interacting with the environment without spontaneous emission. When seeking a high control yield it is possible to find fields that successfully fight with decoherence while attaining a good quality yield. When seeking modest control yields, fields can be found which are optimally shaped to cooperate with decoherence and thereby drive the dynamics more efficiently. In the latter regime when the control field and the decoherence strength are both weak, a theoretical foundation is established to describe how they cooperate with each other. In general, the results indicate that the population transfer objectives can be effectively met by appropriately either fighting or cooperating with decoherence