Entanglement purification based on photonic polarization parity measurements

We present an entanglement purification protocol for photonic mixed entangled states based on the two-mode polarization nondemolition parity detectors. Without the use of the controlled-NOT (CNOT) operations, the efficiency of our protocol can nearly approach that of the CNOT protocol. The total successful probability of our protocol can be nearly enhanced to the quantity twice as large as that of the linear-optics-based protocol. Besides, our protocol adopts common photon detectors rather than the sophisticated single-photon detectors required in the linear-optics-based protocol.

Nonlinear copropagation of two optical pulses of different frequencies in photonic crystal fibers

A theoretical investigation of the nonlinear copropagation of two optical pulses of different frequencies in a photonic crystal fiber is presented. Different phenomena are observed depending on whether the wavelength of the signal pulse is located in the normal or the anomalous dispersion region. In particular, it is found that the phenomenon of pulse trapping occurs when the signal wavelength is located in the normal dispersion region while the pump wavelength is located in the anomalous dispersion region. The signal pulse suffers cross-phase modulation by the Raman shifted soliton pulse and it is trapped and copropagates with the Raman soliton pulse along the fiber. As the input peak power of the pump pulse is increased, the red-shift of the Raman soliton is considerably enhanced with the simultaneous further blue-shift of the trapped pulse to satisfy the condition of group velocity matching.

Three-dimensional self-assembly of brush block copolymers to photonic crystals

The development of Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization has allowed the world of block copolymers to expand into brush block copolymers. Brush block copolymers consist of a polymer backbone with polymeric side chains, forcing the backbone to hold a stretched conformation and giving it a worm-like shape. These brush block copolymers have a number of advantages over tradition block copolymers, including faster self-assembly behavior, larger domain sizes, and much less entanglement. This makes them an ideal candidate in the development of a bottom-up approach to forming photonic crystals. Photonic crystals are periodic nanostructures that transmit and reflect only certain wavelengths of light, forming a band gap. These are used in a number of coatings and other optical uses. One and two dimensional photonic crystals are commercially available, though are often expensive and difficult to manufacture. Previous work has focused on the creation of one dimensional photonic crystals from brush block copolymers. In this thesis, I will focus on the synthesis and characterization of asymmetric brush block copolymers for self-assembly into two and three dimensional photonic crystals. Three series of brush block copolymers were made and characterized by Gel Permeation Chromatography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. They were then made into films through compressive thermal annealing and characterized by UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Evidence of non-lamellar structures were seen, indicating the first reported creation of two or three dimensional photonic crystals from brush block copolymers.

Active phase control and frequency chirp effects on supercontinuum generation in high birefringence photonic crystal fiber

An acoustic-optics programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) was first employed to actively control the linearly polarized femtosecond pump pulse frequency chirp for supercontinuum (SC) generation in a high birefringence photonic crystal fiber (PCF). By accurately controlling the second order phase distortion and polarization direction of incident pulses, the output SC spectrum can be tuned to various spectral energy distributions and bandwidths. The pump pulse energy and bandwidth are preserved in our experiment. It is found that SC with broader bandwidth can be generated with positive chirped pump pulses except when the chirp value is larger than the optimal value, and the same optimal value exists for the pump pulses polarized along the two principal axes. With optimal positive chirp, more than 78% of the pump energy can be transferred to below 750 nm. Otherwise, negative chirp will weaken the blue-shift broadening and the SC bandwidth. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transmission spectrum of a double quantum-dot-nanocavity system in photonic crystals

We investigate the optical transmission properties of a combined system which consists of two quantum-dot-nanocavity subsystems indirectly coupled to a waveguide in a planar photonic crystal. A Mollow-like triplet and the growth of sidebands are found, reflecting intrinsic optical responses in the complex microstructure.