Polaronic correction to the first excited electronic energy level in an anisotropic semiconductor quantum dot

Within the framework of second-order Rayleigh-Schrodinger perturbation theory, the polaronic correction to the first excited state energy of an electron in an quantum dot with anisotropic parabolic confinements is presented. Compared with isotropic confinements, anisotropic confinements will make the degeneracy of the excited states to be totally or partly lifted. On the basis of a three-dimensional Frohlich's Hamiltonian with anisotropic confinements, the first excited state properties in two-dimensional quantum dots as well as quantum wells and wires can also be easily obtained by taking special limits. Calculations show that the first excited polaronic effect can be considerable in small quantum dots.

Universal quantum computation with trapped ions in thermal motion by adiabatic passage

We propose a universal quantum computation scheme for trapped ions in thermal motion via the technique of adiabatic passage, which incorporates the advantages of both the adiabatic passage and the model of trapped ions in thermal motion. Our scheme is immune from the decoherence due to spontaneous emission from excited states as the system in our scheme evolves along a dark state. In our scheme the vibrational degrees of freedom are not required to be cooled to their ground states because they are only virtually excited. It is shown that the fidelity of the resultant gate operation is still high even when the magnitude of the effective Rabi frequency moderately deviates from the desired value.

Repeat-until-success distributed quantum computation by using single-photon interference at a beam splitter

A repeat-until-success (RUS) measurement-based scheme for the implementation of the distributed quantum computation by using single-photon interference at a 50:50 beam splitter is proposed. It is shown that the 50:50 beam splitter can naturally project a suitably encoded matter-photon state to either a desired entangling gate-operated state of the matter qubits or to their initial state when the photon is detected. The recurrence of the initial state permits us to implement the desired entangling gate in a RUS way. To implement a distributed quantum computation we suggest an encoding method by means of the effect of dipole-induced transparency proposed recently [E. Waks and J. Vuckovic, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 153601 (2006)]. The effects of the unfavorable factors on our scheme are also discussed.

Phase-type quantum-dot-array diffraction grating

A novel phase-type quantum-dot-array diffraction grating (QDADG) is reported. In contrast to an earlier amplitude-type QDADG [C. Wang , Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 053503 (2007)], the new phase-type QDADG would remove the zeroth order diffraction at some certain wavelength, as well as suppressing the higher-order diffractions. In this paper, the basic concept, the fabrication, the calibration techniques, and the calibration results are presented. Such a grating can be applied in the research fields of beam splitting, laser probe diagnostics, and so on.

Electron quantum path tuning and isolated attosecond pulse emission driven by a waveform-controlled multi-cycle laser field

We investigate high-order harmonic emission and isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) generation in atoms driven by a two-colour multi-cycle laser field consisting of an 800 nm pulse and an infrared laser pulse at an arbitrary wavelength. With moderate laser intensity, an IAP of similar to 220 as can be generated in helium atoms by using two-colour laser pulses of 35 fs/800 nm and 46 fs/1150 nm. The discussion based on the three-step semiclassical model, and time-frequency analysis shows a clear picture of the high-order harmonic generation in the waveform-controlled laser field which is of benefit to the generation of XUV IAP and attosecond electron pulses. When the propagation effect is included, the duration of the IAP can be shorter than 200 as, when the driving laser pulses are focused 1 mm before the gas medium with a length between 1.5 mm and 2 mm.

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.

Self-induced transmission on intersubband resonance in multiple quantum wells

We investigate the nonlinear propagation of ultrashort pulses on resonant intersubband transitions in multiple semiconductor quantum wells. It is shown that the nonlinearity rooted from electron-electron interactions destroys the condition giving rise to self-induced transparency. However, by adjusting the area of input pulse, we find the signatures of self-induced transmission due to a full Rabi flopping of the electron density, and this phenomenon can be approximately interpreted by the traditional standard area theorem via defining the effective area of input pulse.

Third harmonic enhancement due to Fano interference in semiconductor quantum well

We investigate the emission spectra of the semiconductor quantum well for few-cycle and sub-cycle pulse exciting. We find that Fano interference may induce third harmonic enhancement. Third harmonic enhancement varies with the magnitude and duration of the incident pulse, and may be enhanced by approximately one order of magnitude for the low intensity region of the sub-cycle incident pulse exciting.

Tunable high-order harmonic generation and the role of the folded quantum path

We theoretically demonstrate the selective enhancement of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in two-color laser fields consisting of a single-cycle fundamental wave (800 nm wavelength) and a multicycle subharmonic wave (2400 nm wavelength). By performing time-frequency analyses based on a single-active-electron model, we reveal that such an enhancement is a result of the modified electron trajectories in the two-color field. Furthermore, we show that selectively enhanced HHG gives rise to a bandwidth-controllable extreme ultraviolet supercontinuum in the plateau region, facilitating the generation of intense single isolated attosecond pulses.

Quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization in diatomic molecules: Role of alignment and orbital symmetry

We address the influence of the orbital symmetry and the molecular alignment with respect to the laser-field polarization on laser-induced nonsequential double ionization of diatomic molecules, in the length and velocity gauges. We work within the strong-field approximation and assume that the second electron is dislodged by electron-impact ionization, and also consider the classical limit of this model. We show that the electron-momentum distributions exhibit interference maxima and minima due to electron emission at spatially separated centers. The interference patterns survive integration over the transverse momenta for a small range of alignment angles, and are sharpest for parallel-aligned molecules. Due to the contributions of the transverse-momentum components, these patterns become less defined as the alignment angle increases, until they disappear for perpendicular alignment. This behavior influences the shapes and the peaks of the electron-momentum distributions.

Carrier-envelope phase control of carrier-wave Rabi flopping in asymmetric semiparabolic quantum well

We investigate the carrier-wave Rabi flopping effects in an asymmetric semiparabolic semiconductor quantum well (QW) with few-cycle pulse. It is found that higher spectral components of few-cycle ultrashort pulses in the semiparabolic QW depend crucially on the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the few-cycle ultrashort pulses: continuum and distinct peaks can be achieved by controlling the CEP. Our results demonstrate that by adjusting the CEP of few-cycle ultrashort pulses, the intersubband dynamics in the asymmetric semiparabolic QW can be controlled in an ultrashort timescale with moderate laser intensity. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Propagation of an arbitrary elliptically polarized few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse in resonant two-level quantum systems

We investigate the propagation of an arbitrary elliptically polarized few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse in resonant two-level quantum systems using an iterative predictor-corrector finite-difference time-domain method. It is shown that when the initial effective area is equal to 2 pi, the effective area will remain invariant during the course of propagation, and a complete Rabi oscillation can be achieved. However, for an elliptically polarized few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse, polarization conversion can occur. Eventually, the laser pulse will evolve into two separate circularly polarized laser pulses with opposite helicities.

Quantum information processing in the wall of cytoskeletal microtubules

Microtubules (MT) are composed of 13 protofilaments, each of which is a series of two-state tubulin dimers. In the MT wall, these dimers can be pictured as "lattice" sites similar to crystal lattices. Based on the pseudo-spin model, two different location states of the mobile electron in each dimer are proposed. Accordingly, the MT wall is described as an anisotropic two-dimensional (2D) pseudo-spin system considering a periodic triangular "lattice". Because three different "spin-spin" interactions in each cell exist periodically in the whole MT wall, the system may be shown to be an array of three types of two-pseudo-spin-state dimers. For the above-mentioned condition, the processing of quantum information is presented by using the scheme developed by Lloyd.

Quantum computation based on a quantum switch in cavity QED

A feasible scheme for constructing quantum logic gates is proposed on the basis of quantum switches in cavity QED. It is shown that the light field which is fed into the cavity due to the passage of an atom in a certain state can be used to manipulate the conditioned quantum logical gate. In our scheme, the quantum information is encoded in the states of Rydberg atoms and the cavity mode is not used as logical qubits or as a communicating "bus"; thus, the effect of atomic spontaneous emission can be neglected and the strict requirements for the cavity can be relaxed.

Two-colour laser-induced electron dynamics in two-level quantum system

To attempt to control the quantum state of a physical system with a femtosecond two-colour laser field, a model for the two-level system is analysed as a first step. We investigate the coherent control of the two-colour laser pulses propagating in a two-level medium. Based on calculating the influence of the laser field with various laser parameters on the electron dynamics, it is found the electronic state can be changed up and down by choosing the appropriate laser pulses and the coherent control of the two-colour laser pulses can substantially modify the behaviour of the electronic dynamics: a quicker change of two states can be produced even for small pulse duration. Moreover, the oscillatory structures around the resonant frequency and the propagation features of the laser pulses depend sensitively on the relative phase of the two-colour laser pulses. Finally, the influence of a finite lifetime of the upper level is discussed in brief.