Shift of the subharmonic resonances and suppression of fluorescence in a two-level atom driven by a bichromatic field

We study the behavior of a two-level atom that is driven by a bichromatic field consisting of a strong resonant component and a weaker tunable component. In addition to the splitting of the energy levels (the multiphoton AC Stark effect), we find that the weaker component also shifts the subharmonic resonances, an effect we attribute to a dynamic Stark shift. When the weaker component is tuned to a shifted resonance, no fluorescence occurs at either the frequency of the strong component or the three-photon mixing frequency. Results are obtained with numerical techniques and explained in terms of the dressed-atom model of the system. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(98)01508-2] OCIS codes: 270.4180, 270.6620, 270.0270.

Spectral linewidth narrowing by a weak squeezed field of an arbitrary bandwidth

We study the spectral and noise properties of the fluorescence field emitted from a two-level atom driven by a beam of squeezed light. For a weak driving field we derive simple analytical formulae for the fluorescence and quadrature-noise spectra which are valid for an arbitrary bandwidth of the squeezed field. We analyse the spectra in the regime where the squeezing bandwidth is smaller or comparable to the atomic linewidth, the area where non-Markovian effects are important. We emphasize that there is a noticable difference between the fluorescence spectra for the thermal and squeezed field excitations. In both cases the spectrum can be narrower than any bandwidth involved in the process. However, as we point out for the squeezed driving field the linewidth narrowing, being much larger than in the thermal-field case, can be attributed to the squeezing of the fluctuations in the driving held. We also calculate the quadrature-noise spectrum of the emitted fluorescence, and find that for a detuned squeezed field the fluorescence spectrum does not reveal the quadrature-noise spectrum. In contrast to the fluorescence spectrum having two peaks, the quadrature-noise spectrum exhibits three peaks. We explain this difference as arising from the competiting three-photon scattering processes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Two-wave-mixing induced self-focusing in an active photorefractive oscillator

We derive a nonlinear wave equation for a signal beam which is coupled to a pump beam by two-wave-mixing in a photorefractive crystal. This equation describes self-focusing of the signal beam. We compare two-wave-mixing induced spatial self-focusing of single-pass experiments in a diffusion-type photorefractive crystal and of a photorefractive oscillator using the same crystal. We observe that the nonlinear refractive index change in the oscillator is decreased while increasing resonator losses.

Two-dimensional nonlinear dynamics of evanescent-wave guided atoms in a hollow fiber

We describe the classical and quantum two-dimensional nonlinear dynamics of large blue-detuned evanescent-wave guiding cold atoms in hollow fiber. We show that chaotic dynamics exists for classic dynamics, when the intensity of the beam is periodically modulated. The two-dimensional distributions of atoms in (x,y) plane are simulated. We show that the atoms will accumulate on several annular regions when the system enters a regime of global chaos. Our simulation shows that, when the atomic flux is very small, a similar distribution will be obtained if we detect the atomic distribution once each the modulation period and integrate the signals. For quantum dynamics, quantum collapses, and revivals appear. For periodically modulated optical potential, the variance of atomic position will be suppressed compared to the no modulation case. The atomic angular momentum will influence the evolution of wave function in two-dimensional quantum system of hollow fiber.

Teleportation using coupled oscillator states

We analyze the fidelity of teleportation protocols, as a function of resource entanglement, for three kinds of two-mode oscillator states: states with fixed total photon number, number states entangled at a beam splitter, and the two-mode squeezed vacuum state. We define corresponding teleportation protocols for each case including phase noise to model degraded entanglement of each resource.

Resonance fluorescence and Autler-Townes spectra of a two-level atom driven by two fields of equal frequencies

We study the effects of driving a two-level atom by two intense field modes that have equal frequencies but are otherwise distinguishable; the intensity of one mode is also assumed to be greater than that of the other. We calculate first the dressed states of the system, and then its resonance fluorescence and Autler-Townes absorption spectra. We find that the energy spectrum of the doubly dressed atom consists of a ladder of doublet continua. These continua manifest themselves in the fluorescence spectrum, where they produce continua at the positions of the Mellow sideband frequencies omega(L)+/-2 Omega of the strong field, and in the Autler-Townes absorption spectrum, which becomes a two-continuum doublet.

Quantum beats in spontaneous emission from two atoms in a detuned squeezed vacuum

The time evolution of the populations of the collective states of a two-atom system in a squeezed vacuum can exhibit quantum beats. We show that the effect appears only when the carrier frequency of the squeezed field is detuned from the atomic resonance. Moreover, we find that the quantum beats are not present for the case in which the two-photon correlation strength is the maximum possible for a field with a classical analog. We also show that the population inversion between the excited collective states, found for the resonant squeezed vacuum, is sensitive to the detuning and the two-photon correlations. For large detunings or a field with a classical analog there is no inversion between the collective states. Observation of the quantum beats or the population inversion would confirm the essentially quantum-mechanical nature of the squeezed vacuum. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.

Creation of maximally entangled photon-number states using optical fiber multiports

We theoretically demonstrate a method for producing the maximally path-entangled state (1/root2)(\N,0>+exp[iNphi]\0,N>) using intensity-symmetric multiport beam splitters, single photon inputs, and either photon-counting postselection or conditional measurement. The use of postselection enables successful implementation with non-unit efficiency detectors. We also demonstrate how to make the same state more conveniently by replacing one of the single photon inputs by a coherent state.

Entanglement and spin squeezing in the two-atom Dicke model

We analyse the relation between the entanglement and spin-squeezing parameter in the two-atom Dicke model and identify the source of the discrepancy recently reported by Banerjee (2001 Preprint quant-ph/0110032) and Zhou et al (2002 J. Opt. B. Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 4 425), namely that one can observe entanglement without spin squeezing. Our calculations demonstrate that there are two criteria for entanglement, one associated with the two-photon coherences that create two-photon entangled states, and the other associated with populations of the collective states. We find that the spin-squeezing parameter correctly predicts entanglement in the two-atom Dicke system only if it is associated with two-photon entangled states, but fails to predict entanglement when it is associated with the entangled symmetric state. This explicitly identifies the source of the discrepancy and explains why the system can be entangled without spin squeezing. We illustrate these findings with three examples of the interaction of the system with thermal, classical squeezed vacuum, and quantum squeezed vacuum fields.

Progress in silicon-based quantum computation

We review progress at the Australian Centre for Quantum Computer Technology towards the fabrication and demonstration of spin qubits and charge qubits based on phosphorus donor atoms embedded in intrinsic silicon. Fabrication is being pursued via two complementary pathways: a 'top-down' approach for near-term production of few-qubit demonstration devices and a 'bottom-up' approach for large-scale qubit arrays with sub-nanometre precision. The 'top-down' approach employs a low-energy (keV) ion beam to implant the phosphorus atoms. Single-atom control during implantation is achieved by monitoring on-chip detector electrodes, integrated within the device structure. In contrast, the 'bottom-up' approach uses scanning tunnelling microscope lithography and epitaxial silicon overgrowth to construct devices at an atomic scale. In both cases, surface electrodes control the qubit using voltage pulses, and dual single-electron transistors operating near the quantum limit provide fast read-out with spurious-signal rejection.

A switched-beam antenna of monopoles housed in a radial guide with transition to free space

The design of a switched-beam antenna formed by a circular array of monopoles housed inside a radial guide with a transition to free space is presented. Two alternative types of transitions to free space, one using a truncated conducting cone and the other created by a tapered dielectric material at the edge of the radial guide, are described. The use of the radial guide with transition increases the return-loss bandwidth of the array and enables shaping its beam in elevation. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Photodissociation of benzene under collision-free conditions: An ab initio/Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus study

The ab initio/Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) approach has been applied to investigate the photodissociation mechanism of benzene at various wavelengths upon absorption of one or two UV photons followed by internal conversion into the ground electronic state. Reaction pathways leading to various decomposition products have been mapped out at the G2M level and then the RRKM and microcanonical variational transition state theories have been applied to compute rate constants for individual reaction steps. Relative product yields (branching ratios) for C6H5+H, C6H4+H-2, C4H4+C2H2, C4H2+C2H4, C3H3+C3H3, C5H3+CH3, and C4H3+C2H3 have been calculated subsequently using both numerical integration of kinetic master equations and the steady-state approach. The results show that upon absorption of a 248 nm photon dissociation is too slow to be observable in molecular beam experiments. In photodissociation at 193 nm, the dominant dissociation channel is H atom elimination (99.6%) and the minor reaction channel is H-2 elimination, with the branching ratio of only 0.4%. The calculated lifetime of benzene at 193 nm is about 11 mus, in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 10 mus. At 157 nm, the H loss remains the dominant channel but its branching ratio decreases to 97.5%, while that for H-2 elimination increases to 2.1%. The other channels leading to C3H3+C3H3, C5H3+CH3, C4H4+C2H2, and C4H3+C2H3 play insignificant role but might be observed. For photodissociation upon absorption of two UV photons occurring through the neutral hot benzene mechanism excluding dissociative ionization, we predict that the C6H5+H channel should be less dominant, while the contribution of C6H4+H-2 and the C3H3+C3H3, CH3+C5H3, and C4H3+C2H3 radical channels should significantly increase. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Measuring a photonic qubit without destroying it

Measuring the polarization of a single photon typically results in its destruction. We propose, demonstrate, and completely characterize a quantum nondemolition (QND) scheme for realizing such a measurement nondestructively. This scheme uses only linear optics and photodetection of ancillary modes to induce a strong nonlinearity at the single-photon level, nondeterministically. We vary this QND measurement continuously into the weak regime and use it to perform a nondestructive test of complementarity in quantum mechanics. Our scheme realizes the most advanced general measurement of a qubit to date: it is nondestructive, can be made in any basis, and with arbitrary strength.

Measurement of quantum weak values of photon polarization

We experimentally determine weak values for a single photon's polarization, obtained via a weak measurement that employs a two-photon entangling operation, and postselection. The weak values cannot be explained by a semiclassical wave theory, due to the two-photon entanglement. We observe the variation in the size of the weak value with measurement strength, obtaining an average measurement of the S-1 Stokes parameter more than an order of magnitude outside of the operator's spectrum for the smallest measurement strengths.

Adaptive phase measurements in linear optical quantum computation

Photon counting induces an effective non-linear optical phase shift in certain states derived by linear optics from single photons. Although this non-linearity is non-deterministic, it is sufficient in principle to allow scalable linear optics quantum computation (LOQC). The most obvious way to encode a qubit optically is as a superposition of the vacuum and a single photon in one mode-so-called 'single-rail' logic. Until now this approach was thought to be prohibitively expensive (in resources) compared to 'dual-rail' logic where a qubit is stored by a photon across two modes. Here we attack this problem with real-time feedback control, which can realize a quantum-limited phase measurement on a single mode, as has been recently demonstrated experimentally. We show that with this added measurement resource, the resource requirements for single-rail LOQC are not substantially different from those of dual-rail LOQC. In particular, with adaptive phase measurements an arbitrary qubit state a alpha/0 > + beta/1 > can be prepared deterministically.