647 research outputs found
Evaluating performance in three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy
In biological fluorescence microscopy, image contrast is often degraded by a high background arising from out of focus regions of the specimen. This background can be greatly reduced or eliminated by several modes of thick specimen microscopy, including techniques such as 3-D deconvolution and confocal. There has been a great deal of interest and some confusion about which of these methods is ‘better’, in principle or in practice. The motivation for the experiments reported here is to establish some rough guidelines for choosing the most appropriate method of microscopy for a given biological specimen. The approach is to compare the efficiency of photon collection, the image contrast and the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by the different methods at equivalent illumination, using a specimen in which the amount of out of focus background is adjustable over the range encountered with biological samples. We compared spot scanning confocal, spinning disk confocal and wide-field/deconvolution (WFD) microscopes and find that the ratio of out of focus background to in-focus signal can be used to predict which method of microscopy will provide the most useful image. We also find that the precision of measurements of net fluorescence yield is very much lower than expected for all modes of microscopy. Our analysis enabled a clear, quantitative delineation of the appropriate use of different imaging modes relative to the ratio of out-of-focus background to in-focus signal, and defines an upper limit to the useful range of the three most common modes of imaging
All-optical versus electro-optical quantum-limited feedback
All-optical feedback can be effected by putting the output of a source cavity
through a Faraday isolator and into a second cavity which is coupled to the
source cavity by a nonlinear crystal. If the driven cavity is heavily damped,
then it can be adiabatically eliminated and a master equation or quantum
Langevin equation derived for the first cavity alone. This is done for an input
bath in an arbitrary state, and for an arbitrary nonlinear coupling. If the
intercavity coupling involves only the intensity (or one quadrature) of the
driven cavity, then the effect on the source cavity is identical to that which
can be obtained from electro-optical feedback using direct (or homodyne)
detection. If the coupling involves both quadratures, this equivalence no
longer holds, and a coupling linear in the source amplitude can produce a
nonclassical state in the source cavity. The analogous electro-optic scheme
using heterodyne detection introduces extra noise which prevents the production
of nonclassical light. Unlike the electro-optic case, the all-optical feedback
loop has an output beam (reflected from the second cavity). We show that this
may be squeezed, even if the source cavity remains in a classical state.Comment: 21 pages. This is an old (1994) paper, but one which I thought was
worth posting because in addition to what is described in abstract it has:
(1) the first formulation (to my knowledge) of quantum trajectories for an
arbitrary (i.e. squeezed, thermal etc.) broadband bath; (2) the prediction of
a periodic modification to the detuning and damping of an oscillator for the
simplest sort of all-optical feedback (i.e. a mirror) as seen in the recent
experiment "Forces between a Single Atom and Its Distant Mirror Image", P.
Bushev et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 223602 (2004
Motion and gravitational radiation of a binary system consisting of an oscillating and rotating coplanar dusty disk and a point-like object
A binary system composed of an oscillating and rotating coplanar dusty disk
and a point mass is considered. The conservative dynamics is treated on the
Newtonian level. The effects of gravitational radiation reaction and wave
emission are studied to leading quadrupole order. The related waveforms are
given. The dynamical evolution of the system is determined semi-analytically
exploiting the Hamiltonian equations of motion which comprise the effects both
of the Newtonian tidal interaction and the radiation reaction on the motion of
the binary system in elliptic orbits. Tidal resonance effects between orbital
and oscillatory motions are considered in the presence of radiation damping.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure
Removal of a single photon by adaptive absorption
We present a method to remove, using only linear optics, exactly one photon
from a field-mode. This is achieved by putting the system in contact with an
absorbing environment which is under continuous monitoring. A feedback
mechanism then decouples the system from the environment as soon as the first
photon is absorbed. We propose a possible scheme to implement this process and
provide the theoretical tools to describe it
Local cerebral blood flow with fentanyl-induced seizures.
Local cerebral blood flow (LCBF) was evaluated with the [ 14 C]iodoantipyrine quantitative autoradiographic technique in 29 brain structures in conscious control rats and during fentanyl-induced electroencephalographic (EEG) spike and/or seizure activity and in the postseizure EEG suppression phase. During spike activity, LCBF increased in all structures; the increase reached statistical significance (p<0.05) in the superior colliculus, sensorimotor cortex, and pineal body (+130%, +187%, and +185% from control, respectively). With progressive development of seizure activity, LCBF significantly increased in 24 brain structures (range, +58% to +231% from control). During the postseizure EEG suppression phase, LCBF remained elevated in all structures (+80% to +390% from control). The local cerebrovascular resistance (LCVR) significantly decreased in 10 of 29 structures with the onset of spike activity (range, -24% to -64%), and remained decreased in all brain structures during seizure activity (range, -34% to -67%) and during the EEG suppression phase (range, -24% to 74%). This reduction of LCVR represents a near maximal state of cerebrovasodilation during fentanyl-induced EEG seizure or postseizure suppression activity. The global nature of the LCBF elevation indicates that factors other than local metabolic control are responsible for CBF regulation during local seizure activit
Squeezing via feedback
We present the quantum theory of optical cavity feedback mediated by homodyne detection, with an arbitrary time delay. We apply this theory to a system with nonclassical dynamics, a sub-Poissonian pumped laser. By using the feedback to phase lock the laser it is possible to produce output light which exhibits perfect quadrature squeezing on resonance, rather than just sub-Poissonian intensity statistics. However, we also show that feedback mediated by homodyne detection (or any other extracavity measurement) cannot produce nonclassical light unless the cavity dynamics can do so without feedback. Furthermore, in systems which already exhibit squeezing, such feedback can only degrade the squeezing in the output. With feedback mediated by an intracavity measurement, these theorems do not apply. We show that an (admittedly unrealistic) intracavity quantum nondemolition quadrature measurement allows arbitrary squeezing to be produced by controlling the amplitude of a coherent driving field
Non-Markovian homodyne-mediated feedback on a two-level atom: a quantum trajectory treatment
Quantum feedback can stabilize a two-level atom against decoherence
(spontaneous emission), putting it into an arbitrary (specified) pure state.
This requires perfect homodyne detection of the atomic emission, and
instantaneous feedback. Inefficient detection was considered previously by two
of us. Here we allow for a non-zero delay time in the feedback circuit.
Because a two-level atom is a nonlinear optical system, an analytical solution
is not possible. However, quantum trajectories allow a simple numerical
simulation of the resulting non-Markovian process. We find the effect of the
time delay to be qualitatively similar to that of inefficient detection. The
solution of the non-Markovian quantum trajectory will not remain fixed, so that
the time-averaged state will be mixed, not pure. In the case where one tries to
stabilize the atom in the excited state, an approximate analytical solution to
the quantum trajectory is possible. The result, that the purity () of the average state is given by (where
is the spontaneous emission rate) is found to agree very well with the
numerical results.Comment: Changed content, Added references and Corrected typo
Quantum-Noise Reduction in a Driven Cavity with Feedback
We show that amplitude-squeezed states may be produced by driving a feedback-controlled cavity with a coherent input signal. The feedback controls the transmissivity of one output from the cavity and is essentially equivalent to nonlinear absorption. The cavity effectively acts as a nonlinear reflector. Hence, amplitude-squeezed states with arbitrarily strong coherent intensities can be obtained
Loschmidt Echo and Lyapunov Exponent in a Quantum Disordered System
We investigate the sensitivity of a disordered system with diffractive
scatterers to a weak external perturbation. Specifically, we calculate the
fidelity M(t) (also called the Loschmidt echo) characterizing a return
probability after a propagation for a time followed by a backward
propagation governed by a slightly perturbed Hamiltonian. For short-range
scatterers we perform a diagrammatic calculation showing that the fidelity
decays first exponentially according to the golden rule, and then follows a
power law governed by the diffusive dynamics. For long-range disorder (when the
diffractive scattering is of small-angle character) an intermediate regime
emerges where the diagrammatics is not applicable. Using the path integral
technique, we derive a kinetic equation and show that M(t) decays exponentially
with a rate governed by the classical Lyapunov exponent.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Cosmological Evolution Across Phantom Crossing and the Nature of the Horizon
In standard cosmology, with the evolution of the universe, the matter density
and thermodynamic pressure gradually decreases. Also in course of evolution,
the matter in the universe obeys (or violates) some restrictions or energy
conditions. If the matter distribution obeys strong energy condition (SEC), the
universe is in a decelerating phase while violation of SEC indicates an
accelerated expansion of the universe. In the period of accelerated expansion
the matter may be either of quintessence nature or of phantom nature depending
on the fulfilment of the weak energy condition (WEC) or violation of it. As
recent observational evidences demand that the universe is going through an
accelerated expansion so mater should be either quintessence or phantom in
nature. In the present work we study the evolution of the universe through the
phantom barrier (i.e. the dividing line between the quintessence and phantom
era) and examine how apparent and event horizon change across the barrier.
Finally, we investigate the possibility of occurrence of any singularity in
phantom era.Comment: 7 pages and 4 figure
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