Single-photon counting in the 1550-nm wavelength region for quantum cryptography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Chul-Woo; Park, Jun-Bum; Park, Young-Soo; Lee, Seung-Hun; Shin, Hyun-Jun; Bae, Byung-Seong; Moon, Sung; Han, Sang-Kook

2006-01-01

In this paper, we report the measured performance of an InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) Module fabricated for single-photon counting. We measured the dark current noise, the after-pulse noise, and the quantum efficiency of the single- photon detector for different temperatures. We then examined our single-photon source and detection system by measuring the coincident probability. From our measurement, we observed that the after-pulse effect of the APD at temperatures below 105 .deg. C caused cascade noise build-up on the succeeding electrical signals.

Two-photon stimulated emission and pulse amplification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuen, H.P.

1975-01-01

Threshold conditions are given for the sustained operation of standing-wave and long-pulse traveling-wave two-photon lasers. Pulse shortening in long-pulse two-photon amplification, a behavior absent in the one-photon case, is also demonstrated analytically. (U.S.)

Gating circuit for single photon-counting fluorescence lifetime instruments using high repetition pulsed light sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laws, W.R.; Potter, D.W.; Sutherland, J.C.

1984-01-01

We have constructed a circuit that permits conventional timing electronics to be used in single photon-counting fluorimeters with high repetition rate excitation sources (synchrotrons and mode-locked lasers). Most commercial time-to-amplitude and time-to-digital converters introduce errors when processing very short time intervals and when subjected to high-frequency signals. This circuit reduces the frequency of signals representing the pulsed light source (stops) to the rate of detected fluorescence events (starts). Precise timing between the start/stop pair is accomplished by using the second stop pulse after a start pulse. Important features of our design are that the circuit is insensitive to the simultaneous occurrence of start and stop signals and that the reduction in the stop frequency allows the start/stop time interval to be placed in linear regions of the response functions of commercial timing electronics

Quantum routing of single optical photons with a superconducting flux qubit

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Keyu; Jelezko, Fedor; Twamley, Jason

2018-05-01

Interconnecting optical photons with superconducting circuits is a challenging problem but essential for building long-range superconducting quantum networks. We propose a hybrid quantum interface between the microwave and optical domains where the propagation of a single-photon pulse along a nanowaveguide is controlled in a coherent way by tuning the electromagnetically induced transparency window with the quantum state of a flux qubit mediated by the spin in a nanodiamond. The qubit can route a single-photon pulse using the nanodiamond into a quantum superposition of paths without the aid of an optical cavity—simplifying the setup. By preparing the flux qubit in a superposition state our cavityless scheme creates a hybrid state-path entanglement between a flying single optical photon and a static superconducting qubit.

Entangling quantum-logic gate operated with an ultrabright semiconductor single-photon source.

Science.gov (United States)

Gazzano, O; Almeida, M P; Nowak, A K; Portalupi, S L; Lemaître, A; Sagnes, I; White, A G; Senellart, P

2013-06-21

We demonstrate the unambiguous entangling operation of a photonic quantum-logic gate driven by an ultrabright solid-state single-photon source. Indistinguishable single photons emitted by a single semiconductor quantum dot in a micropillar optical cavity are used as target and control qubits. For a source brightness of 0.56 photons per pulse, the measured truth table has an overlap with the ideal case of 68.4±0.5%, increasing to 73.0±1.6% for a source brightness of 0.17 photons per pulse. The gate is entangling: At a source brightness of 0.48, the Bell-state fidelity is above the entangling threshold of 50% and reaches 71.0±3.6% for a source brightness of 0.15.

Single photons on demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grangier, P.; Abram, I.

2004-01-01

Quantum cryptography and information processing are set to benefit from developments in novel light sources that can emit photons one by one. Quantum mechanics has gained a reputation for making counter-intuitive predictions. But we rarely get the chance to witness these effects directly because, being humans, we are simply too big. Take light, for example. The light sources that are familiar to us, such as those used in lighting and imaging or in CD and DVD players, are so huge that they emit billions and billions of photons. But what if there was a light source that emitted just one photon at a time? Over the past few years, new types of light source that are able to emit photons one by one have been emerging from laboratories around the world. Pulses of light composed of a single photon correspond to power flows in the femtowatt range - a million billion times less than that of a table lamp. The driving force behind the development of these single-photon sources is a range of novel applications that take advantage of the quantum nature of light. Quantum states of superposed and entangled photons could lead the way to guaranteed-secure communication, to information processing with unprecedented speed and efficiency, and to new schemes for quantum teleportation. (U.K.)

Deterministic Single-Photon Source for Distributed Quantum Networking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuhn, Axel; Hennrich, Markus; Rempe, Gerhard

2002-01-01

A sequence of single photons is emitted on demand from a single three-level atom strongly coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity. The photons are generated by an adiabatically driven stimulated Raman transition between two atomic ground states, with the vacuum field of the cavity stimulating one branch of the transition, and laser pulses deterministically driving the other branch. This process is unitary and therefore intrinsically reversible, which is essential for quantum communication and networking, and the photons should be appropriate for all-optical quantum information processing

Coherent single-photon absorption by single emitters coupled to one-dimensional nanophotonic waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Yuntian; Wubs, Martijn; Mørk, Jesper

2011-01-01

-photon wavepacket can exceed 70%. This high value is a direct consequence of the high SE β-factor for emission into the waveguide. Finally, we have also explored whether waveguide dispersion could aid single-photon absorption by pulse shaping. For a Gaussian input wavepacket, we found that the absorption efficiency...

Coherent single-photon absorption by single emitters coupled to one-dimensional nanophotonic waveguides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen Yuntian; Wubs, Martijn; Moerk, Jesper [DTU Fotonik, Department of Photonics Engineering, Oersteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs Lyngby (Denmark); Koenderink, A Femius, E-mail: yche@fotonik.dtu.dk [Center for Nanophotonics, FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2011-10-15

We study the dynamics of single-photon absorption by a single emitter coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide that simultaneously provides channels for spontaneous emission (SE) decay and a channel for the input photon. We have developed a time-dependent theory that allows us to specify any input single-photon wavepacket guided by the waveguide as the initial condition, and calculate the excitation probability of the emitter, as well as the time evolution of the transmitted and reflected fields. For single-photon wavepackets with a Gaussian spectrum and temporal shape, we obtain analytical solutions for the dynamics of absorption, with maximum atomic excitation {approx}40%. We furthermore propose a terminated waveguide to aid the single-photon absorption. We found that for an emitter placed at an optimal distance from the termination, the maximum atomic excitation due to an incident single-photon wavepacket can exceed 70%. This high value is a direct consequence of the high SE {beta}-factor for emission into the waveguide. Finally, we have also explored whether waveguide dispersion could aid single-photon absorption by pulse shaping. For a Gaussian input wavepacket, we found that the absorption efficiency can be improved by a further 4% by engineering the dispersion. Efficient single-photon absorption by a single emitter has potential applications in quantum communication and quantum computation. (paper)

Quantum interference of electrically generated single photons from a quantum dot.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Raj B; Bennett, Anthony J; Cooper, Ken; Atkinson, Paola; Nicoll, Christine A; Ritchie, David A; Shields, Andrew J

2010-07-09

Quantum interference lies at the foundation of many protocols for scalable quantum computing and communication with linear optics. To observe these effects the light source must emit photons that are indistinguishable. From a technological standpoint, it would be beneficial to have electrical control over the emission. Here we report of an electrically driven single-photon source emitting indistinguishable photons. The device consists of a layer of InAs quantum dots embedded in the intrinsic region of a p-i-n diode. Indistinguishability of consecutive photons is tested in a two-photon interference experiment under two modes of operation, continuous and pulsed current injection. We also present a complete theory based on the interference of photons with a Lorentzian spectrum which we compare to both our continuous wave and pulsed experiments. In the former case, a visibility was measured limited only by the timing resolution of our detection system. In the case of pulsed injection, we employ a two-pulse voltage sequence which suppresses multi-photon emission and allows us to carry out temporal filtering of photons which have undergone dephasing. The characteristic Hong-Ou-Mandel 'dip' is measured, resulting in a visibility of 64 +/- 4%.

Single-Photon-Sensitive HgCdTe Avalanche Photodiode Detector

Science.gov (United States)

Huntington, Andrew

2013-01-01

The purpose of this program was to develop single-photon-sensitive short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) and mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) avalanche photodiode (APD) receivers based on linear-mode HgCdTe APDs, for application by NASA in light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors. Linear-mode photon-counting APDs are desired for lidar because they have a shorter pixel dead time than Geiger APDs, and can detect sequential pulse returns from multiple objects that are closely spaced in range. Linear-mode APDs can also measure photon number, which Geiger APDs cannot, adding an extra dimension to lidar scene data for multi-photon returns. High-gain APDs with low multiplication noise are required for efficient linear-mode detection of single photons because of APD gain statistics -- a low-excess-noise APD will generate detectible current pulses from single photon input at a much higher rate of occurrence than will a noisy APD operated at the same average gain. MWIR and LWIR electron-avalanche HgCdTe APDs have been shown to operate in linear mode at high average avalanche gain (M > 1000) without excess multiplication noise (F = 1), and are therefore very good candidates for linear-mode photon counting. However, detectors fashioned from these narrow-bandgap alloys require aggressive cooling to control thermal dark current. Wider-bandgap SWIR HgCdTe APDs were investigated in this program as a strategy to reduce detector cooling requirements.

MHz rate and efficient synchronous heralding of single photons at telecom wavelengths.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomarico, Enrico; Sanguinetti, Bruno; Guerreiro, Thiago; Thew, Rob; Zbinden, Hugo

2012-10-08

We report on the realization of a synchronous source of heralded single photons at telecom wavelengths with MHz heralding rates and high heralding efficiency. This source is based on the generation of photon pairs at 810 and 1550 nm via Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) in a 1 cm periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal pumped by a 532 nm pulsed laser. As high rates are fundamental for multi-photon experiments, we show that single telecom photons can be announced at 4.4 MHz rate with 45% heralding efficiency. When we focus only on the optimization of the coupling of the heralded photon, the heralding efficiency can be increased up to 80%. Furthermore, we experimentally observe that group velocity mismatch inside long crystals pumped in a pulsed mode affects the spectrum of the emitted photons and their fibre coupling efficiency. The length of the crystal in this source has been chosen as a trade off between high brightness and high coupling efficiency.

Dynamics of single photon transport in a one-dimensional waveguide two-point coupled with a Jaynes-Cummings system

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuwen

2016-09-22

We study the dynamics of an ultrafast single photon pulse in a one-dimensional waveguide two-point coupled with a Jaynes-Cummings system. We find that for any single photon input the transmissivity depends periodically on the separation between the two coupling points. For a pulse containing many plane wave components it is almost impossible to suppress transmission, especially when the width of the pulse is less than 20 times the period. In contrast to plane wave input, the waveform of the pulse can be modified by controlling the coupling between the waveguide and Jaynes-Cummings system. Tailoring of the waveform is important for single photon manipulation in quantum informatics. © The Author(s) 2016.

All-solid-state deep ultraviolet laser for single-photon ionization mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Chengqian; Liu, Xianhu; Zeng, Chenghui; Zhang, Hanyu; Jia, Meiye; Wu, Yishi; Luo, Zhixun; Fu, Hongbing; Yao, Jiannian

2016-02-01

We report here the development of a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer utilizing single-photon ionization based on an all-solid-state deep ultraviolet (DUV) laser system. The DUV laser was achieved from the second harmonic generation using a novel nonlinear optical crystal KBe2BO3F2 under the condition of high-purity N2 purging. The unique property of this laser system (177.3-nm wavelength, 15.5-ps pulse duration, and small pulse energy at ∼15 μJ) bears a transient low power density but a high single-photon energy up to 7 eV, allowing for ionization of chemicals, especially organic compounds free of fragmentation. Taking this advantage, we have designed both pulsed nanospray and thermal evaporation sources to form supersonic expansion molecular beams for DUV single-photon ionization mass spectrometry (DUV-SPI-MS). Several aromatic amine compounds have been tested revealing the fragmentation-free performance of the DUV-SPI-MS instrument, enabling applications to identify chemicals from an unknown mixture.

Deterministically swapping frequency-bin entanglement from photon-photon to atom-photon hybrid systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ou, Bao-Quan; Liu, Chang; Sun, Yuan; Chen, Ping-Xing

2018-02-01

Inspired by the recent developments of the research on the atom-photon quantum interface and energy-time entanglement between single-photon pulses, we are motivated to study the deterministic protocol for the frequency-bin entanglement of the atom-photon hybrid system, which is analogous to the frequency-bin entanglement between single-photon pulses. We show that such entanglement arises naturally in considering the interaction between a frequency-bin entangled single-photon pulse pair and a single atom coupled to an optical cavity, via straightforward atom-photon phase gate operations. Its anticipated properties and preliminary examples of its potential application in quantum networking are also demonstrated. Moreover, we construct a specific quantum entanglement witness tool to detect such extended frequency-bin entanglement from a reasonably general set of separable states, and prove its capability theoretically. We focus on the energy-time considerations throughout the analysis.

Demonstration of a self-pulsing photonic crystal Fano laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yu, Yi; Xue, Weiqi; Semenova, Elizaveta

2017-01-01

photonic and plasmonic systems(13,14). The Fano resonance leads to unique laser characteristics. In particular, because the Fano mirror is very narrowband compared to conventional laser mirrors, the laser is single mode and can be modulated via the mirror. We show, experimentally and theoretically......, that nonlinearities in the mirror may even promote the generation of a self-sustained train of pulses at gigahertz frequencies, an effect that has previously been observed only in macroscopic lasers(15-18). Such a source is of interest for a number of applications within integrated photonics....

Amplitude distributions of dark counts and photon counts in NbN superconducting single-photon detectors integrated with the HEMT readout

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kitaygorsky, J. [Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft (Netherlands); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0231 (United States); Słysz, W., E-mail: wslysz@ite.waw.pl [Institute of Electron Technology, PL-02 668 Warsaw (Poland); Shouten, R.; Dorenbos, S.; Reiger, E.; Zwiller, V. [Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft (Netherlands); Sobolewski, Roman [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0231 (United States)

2017-01-15

Highlights: • A new operation regime of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs). • A better understanding of the origin of dark counts generated by the detector. • A promise of PNR functionality in SSPD measurements. - Abstract: We present a new operation regime of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) by integrating them with a low-noise cryogenic high-electron-mobility transistor and a high-load resistor. The integrated sensors are designed to get a better understanding of the origin of dark counts triggered by the detector, as our scheme allows us to distinguish the origin of dark pulses from the actual photon pulses in SSPDs. The presented approach is based on a statistical analysis of amplitude distributions of recorded trains of the SSPD photoresponse transients. It also enables to obtain information on energy of the incident photons, as well as demonstrates some photon-number-resolving capability of meander-type SSPDs.

Single-photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lounis, Brahim; Orrit, Michel

2005-01-01

The concept of the photon, central to Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect, is exactly 100 years old. Yet, while photons have been detected individually for more than 50 years, devices producing individual photons on demand have only appeared in the last few years. New concepts for single-photon sources, or 'photon guns', have originated from recent progress in the optical detection, characterization and manipulation of single quantum objects. Single emitters usually deliver photons one at a time. This so-called antibunching of emitted photons can arise from various mechanisms, but ensures that the probability of obtaining two or more photons at the same time remains negligible. We briefly recall basic concepts in quantum optics and discuss potential applications of single-photon states to optical processing of quantum information: cryptography, computing and communication. A photon gun's properties are significantly improved by coupling it to a resonant cavity mode, either in the Purcell or strong-coupling regimes. We briefly recall early production of single photons with atomic beams, and the operation principles of macroscopic parametric sources, which are used in an overwhelming majority of quantum-optical experiments. We then review the photophysical and spectroscopic properties and compare the advantages and weaknesses of various single nanometre-scale objects used as single-photon sources: atoms or ions in the gas phase and, in condensed matter, organic molecules, defect centres, semiconductor nanocrystals and heterostructures. As new generations of sources are developed, coupling to cavities and nano-fabrication techniques lead to improved characteristics, delivery rates and spectral ranges. Judging from the brisk pace of recent progress, we expect single photons to soon proceed from demonstrations to applications and to bring with them the first practical uses of quantum information

Tailoring single-photon and multiphoton probabilities of a single-photon on-demand source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Migdall, A.L.; Branning, D.; Castelletto, S.

2002-01-01

As typically implemented, single-photon sources cannot be made to produce single photons with high probability, while simultaneously suppressing the probability of yielding two or more photons. Because of this, single-photon sources cannot really produce single photons on demand. We describe a multiplexed system that allows the probabilities of producing one and more photons to be adjusted independently, enabling a much better approximation of a source of single photons on demand

Two-photon double ionization of the helium atom by ultrashort pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palacios, Alicia; Horner, Daniel A.; Rescigno, Thomas N.; McCurdy, C. William

2010-01-01

Two-photon double ionization of the helium atom was the subject of early experiments at FLASH and will be the subject of future benchmark measurements of the associated electron angular and energy distributions. As the photon energy of a single femtosecond pulse is raised from the threshold for two-photon double ionization at 39.5 eV to beyond the sequential ionization threshold at 54.4 eV, the electron ejection dynamics change from the highly correlated motion associated with nonsequential absorption to the much less correlated sequential ionization process. The signatures of both processes have been predicted in accurate ab initio calculations of the joint angular and energy distributions of the electrons, and those predictions contain some surprises. The dominant terms that contribute to sequential ionization make their presence apparent several eV below that threshold. In two-color pump probe experiments with short pulses whose central frequencies require that the sequential ionization process necessarily dominates, a two-electron interference pattern emerges that depends on the pulse delay and the spin state of the atom.

Single-photon imaging

CERN Document Server

Seitz, Peter

2011-01-01

The acquisition and interpretation of images is a central capability in almost all scientific and technological domains. In particular, the acquisition of electromagnetic radiation, in the form of visible light, UV, infrared, X-ray, etc. is of enormous practical importance. The ultimate sensitivity in electronic imaging is the detection of individual photons. With this book, the first comprehensive review of all aspects of single-photon electronic imaging has been created. Topics include theoretical basics, semiconductor fabrication, single-photon detection principles, imager design and applications of different spectral domains. Today, the solid-state fabrication capabilities for several types of image sensors has advanced to a point, where uncoooled single-photon electronic imaging will soon become a consumer product. This book is giving a specialist´s view from different domains to the forthcoming “single-photon imaging” revolution. The various aspects of single-photon imaging are treated by internati...

Efficient frequency downconversion at the single photon level from the red spectral range to the telecommunications C-band.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaske, Sebastian; Lenhard, Andreas; Becher, Christoph

2011-06-20

We report on single photon frequency downconversion from the red part of the spectrum (738 nm) to the telecommunications C-band. By mixing attenuated laser pulses with an average photon number per pulse telecommunications wavelengths.

Streak camera imaging of single photons at telecom wavelength

Science.gov (United States)

Allgaier, Markus; Ansari, Vahid; Eigner, Christof; Quiring, Viktor; Ricken, Raimund; Donohue, John Matthew; Czerniuk, Thomas; Aßmann, Marc; Bayer, Manfred; Brecht, Benjamin; Silberhorn, Christine

2018-01-01

Streak cameras are powerful tools for temporal characterization of ultrafast light pulses, even at the single-photon level. However, the low signal-to-noise ratio in the infrared range prevents measurements on weak light sources in the telecom regime. We present an approach to circumvent this problem, utilizing an up-conversion process in periodically poled waveguides in Lithium Niobate. We convert single photons from a parametric down-conversion source in order to reach the point of maximum detection efficiency of commercially available streak cameras. We explore phase-matching configurations to apply the up-conversion scheme in real-world applications.

Single-organelle tracking by two-photon conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Wataru; Shimada, Tomoko; Matsunaga, Sachihiro; Kurihara, Daisuke; Fukui, Kiichi; Shin-Ichi Arimura, Shin-Ichi; Tsutsumi, Nobuhiro; Isobe, Keisuke; Itoh, Kazuyoshi

2007-03-01

Spatial and temporal information about intracellular objects and their dynamics within a living cell are essential for dynamic analysis of such objects in cell biology. A specific intracellular object can be discriminated by photoactivatable fluorescent proteins that exhibit pronounced light-induced spectral changes. Here, we report on selective labeling and tracking of a single organelle by using two-photon conversion of a photoconvertible fluorescent protein with near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. We performed selective labeling of a single mitochondrion in a living tobacco BY-2 cell using two-photon photoconversion of Kaede. Using this technique, we demonstrated that, in plants, the directed movement of individual mitochondria along the cytoskeletons was mediated by actin filaments, whereas microtubules were not required for the movement of mitochondria. This single-organelle labeling technique enabled us to track the dynamics of a single organelle, revealing the mechanisms involved in organelle dynamics. The technique has potential application in direct tracking of selective cellular and intracellular structures.

Single-photon imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seitz, Peter; Theuwissen, Albert J.P.

2011-01-01

The acquisition and interpretation of images is a central capability in almost all scientific and technological domains. In particular, the acquisition of electromagnetic radiation, in the form of visible light, UV, infrared, X-ray, etc. is of enormous practical importance. The ultimate sensitivity in electronic imaging is the detection of individual photons. With this book, the first comprehensive review of all aspects of single-photon electronic imaging has been created. Topics include theoretical basics, semiconductor fabrication, single-photon detection principles, imager design and applications of different spectral domains. Today, the solid-state fabrication capabilities for several types of image sensors has advanced to a point, where uncooled single-photon electronic imaging will soon become a consumer product. This book is giving a specialist's view from different domains to the forthcoming ''single-photon imaging'' revolution. The various aspects of single-photon imaging are treated by internationally renowned, leading scientists and technologists who have all pioneered their respective fields. (orig.)

Simple Atomic Quantum Memory Suitable for Semiconductor Quantum Dot Single Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Wolters, Janik; Buser, Gianni; Horsley, Andrew; Béguin, Lucas; Jöckel, Andreas; Jahn, Jan-Philipp; Warburton, Richard J.; Treutlein, Philipp

2017-08-01

Quantum memories matched to single photon sources will form an important cornerstone of future quantum network technology. We demonstrate such a memory in warm Rb vapor with on-demand storage and retrieval, based on electromagnetically induced transparency. With an acceptance bandwidth of δ f =0.66 GHz , the memory is suitable for single photons emitted by semiconductor quantum dots. In this regime, vapor cell memories offer an excellent compromise between storage efficiency, storage time, noise level, and experimental complexity, and atomic collisions have negligible influence on the optical coherences. Operation of the memory is demonstrated using attenuated laser pulses on the single photon level. For a 50 ns storage time, we measure ηe2 e 50 ns=3.4 (3 )% end-to-end efficiency of the fiber-coupled memory, with a total intrinsic efficiency ηint=17 (3 )%. Straightforward technological improvements can boost the end-to-end-efficiency to ηe 2 e≈35 %; beyond that, increasing the optical depth and exploiting the Zeeman substructure of the atoms will allow such a memory to approach near unity efficiency. In the present memory, the unconditional read-out noise level of 9 ×10-3 photons is dominated by atomic fluorescence, and for input pulses containing on average μ1=0.27 (4 ) photons, the signal to noise level would be unity.

Micro-pulse polarization lidar at 1.5  μm using a single superconducting nanowire single-photon detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Jiawei; Xia, Haiyun; Shangguan, Mingjia; Dou, Xiankang; Li, Manyi; Wang, Chong; Shang, Xiang; Lin, Shengfu; Liu, Jianjiang

2017-11-01

An all-fiber, eye-safe and micro-pulse polarization lidar is demonstrated with a polarization-maintaining structure, incorporating a single superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) at 1.5 μm. The time-division multiplexing technique is used to achieve a calibration-free optical layout. A single piece of detector is used to detect the backscatter signals at two orthogonal states in an alternative sequence. Thus, regular calibration of the two detectors in traditional polarization lidars is avoided. The signal-to-noise ratio of the lidar is guaranteed by using an SNSPD, providing high detection efficiency and low dark count noise. The linear depolarization ratio (LDR) of the urban aerosol is observed horizontally over 48 h in Hefei [N31°50'37'', E117°15'54''], when a heavy air pollution is spreading from the north to the central east of China. Phenomena of LDR bursts are detected at a location where a building is under construction. The lidar results show good agreement with the data detected from a sun photometer, a 532 nm visibility lidar, and the weather forecast information.

Fast Excitation and Photon Emission of a Single-Atom-Cavity System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bochmann, J.; Muecke, M.; Langfahl-Klabes, G.; Erbel, C.; Weber, B.; Specht, H. P.; Moehring, D. L.; Rempe, G.

2008-01-01

We report on the fast excitation of a single atom coupled to an optical cavity using laser pulses that are much shorter than all other relevant processes. The cavity frequency constitutes a control parameter that allows the creation of single photons in a superposition of two tunable frequencies. Each photon emitted from the cavity thus exhibits a pronounced amplitude modulation determined by the oscillatory energy exchange between the atom and the cavity. Our technique constitutes a versatile tool for future quantum networking experiments

Optimizing pulse compressibility in completely all-fibered Ytterbium chirped pulse amplifiers for in vivo two photon laser scanning microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández, A; Grüner-Nielsen, L; Andreana, M; Stadler, M; Kirchberger, S; Sturtzel, C; Distel, M; Zhu, L; Kautek, W; Leitgeb, R; Baltuska, A; Jespersen, K; Verhoef, A

2017-08-01

A simple and completely all-fiber Yb chirped pulse amplifier that uses a dispersion matched fiber stretcher and a spliced-on hollow core photonic bandgap fiber compressor is applied in nonlinear optical microscopy. This stretching-compression approach improves compressibility and helps to maximize the fluorescence signal in two-photon laser scanning microscopy as compared with approaches that use standard single mode fibers as stretcher. We also show that in femtosecond all-fiber systems, compensation of higher order dispersion terms is relevant even for pulses with relatively narrow bandwidths for applications relying on nonlinear optical effects. The completely all-fiber system was applied to image green fluorescent beads, a stained lily-of-the-valley root and rat-tail tendon. We also demonstrated in vivo imaging in zebrafish larvae, where we simultaneously measure second harmonic and fluorescence from two-photon excited red-fluorescent protein. Since the pulses are compressed in a fiber, this source is especially suited for upgrading existing laser scanning (confocal) microscopes with multiphoton imaging capabilities in space restricted settings or for incorporation in endoscope-based microscopy.

Zero photon dissociation of CS2+ in intense ultrashort laser pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Severt, Travis; Betsch, K. J.; Zohrabi, M.; Ablikim, U.; Jochim, Bethany; Carnes, K. D.; Esry, B. D.; Ben-Itzhak, I.

2013-05-01

We measured the dissociation of a CS2+ molecular ion beam in intense laser pulses ( C+ + S+. We speculate that a pump-dump process occurs whereby the vibrational wavepacket in the electronic ground state of CS2+ is pumped into the electronic first excited state's continuum by a single photon during the laser pulse. Once this continuum vibrational wavepacket passes the potential barrier in the ground electronic potential, the emission of a second photon is stimulated by the same laser pulse, most likely when the wavepacket moves through the internuclear distance where the two electronic states are in resonance with the driving field. A comparison is made to ZPD and ATD in the isovalent CO2+ species. Curiously, ATD is the favored mechanism in CO2+. The underlying molecular structure and dynamics determining this preference will be discussed. Supported by Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.

Quantum dot-micropillars: a bright source of coherent single photons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Unsleber, Sebastian; He, Yu-Ming; Maier, Sebastian

2016-01-01

We present the efficient generation of coherent single photons based on quantum dots in micropillars. We utilize a scalable lithography scheme leading to quantum dot-micropillar devices with 74% extraction efficiency. Via pulsed strict resonant pumping, we show an indistinguishability of consecut...

Two-photon interference of weak coherent laser pulses recalled from separate solid-state quantum memories

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Jeongwan; Slater, Joshua A.; Saglamyurek, Erhan; Sinclair, Neil; George, Mathew; Ricken, Raimund; Oblak, Daniel; Sohler, Wolfgang; Tittel, Wolfgang

2013-08-01

Quantum memories allowing reversible transfer of quantum states between light and matter are central to quantum repeaters, quantum networks and linear optics quantum computing. Significant progress regarding the faithful transfer of quantum information has been reported in recent years. However, none of these demonstrations confirm that the re-emitted photons remain suitable for two-photon interference measurements, such as C-NOT gates and Bell-state measurements, which constitute another key ingredient for all aforementioned applications. Here, using pairs of laser pulses at the single-photon level, we demonstrate two-photon interference and Bell-state measurements after either none, one or both pulses have been reversibly mapped to separate thulium-doped lithium niobate waveguides. As the interference is always near the theoretical maximum, we conclude that our solid-state quantum memories, in addition to faithfully mapping quantum information, also preserve the entire photonic wavefunction. Hence, our memories are generally suitable for future applications of quantum information processing that require two-photon interference.

Two-photon interference of weak coherent laser pulses recalled from separate solid-state quantum memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Jeongwan; Slater, Joshua A; Saglamyurek, Erhan; Sinclair, Neil; George, Mathew; Ricken, Raimund; Oblak, Daniel; Sohler, Wolfgang; Tittel, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Quantum memories allowing reversible transfer of quantum states between light and matter are central to quantum repeaters, quantum networks and linear optics quantum computing. Significant progress regarding the faithful transfer of quantum information has been reported in recent years. However, none of these demonstrations confirm that the re-emitted photons remain suitable for two-photon interference measurements, such as C-NOT gates and Bell-state measurements, which constitute another key ingredient for all aforementioned applications. Here, using pairs of laser pulses at the single-photon level, we demonstrate two-photon interference and Bell-state measurements after either none, one or both pulses have been reversibly mapped to separate thulium-doped lithium niobate waveguides. As the interference is always near the theoretical maximum, we conclude that our solid-state quantum memories, in addition to faithfully mapping quantum information, also preserve the entire photonic wavefunction. Hence, our memories are generally suitable for future applications of quantum information processing that require two-photon interference.

Fast pulse discriminator for photon counting at high photon densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benoit, R.; Pedrini, A.

1977-03-01

A fast tunnel diode discriminator for photon counting up to 200MHz count frequency is described. The tunnel diode is operated on its apparent I.V. characteristics displayed when the diode is driven into its oscillating region. The pulse shaper-discriminator is completely D.C. coupled in order to avoid base-line shift at high pulse rates

Single photon emission tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buvat, Irene

2011-09-01

The objective of this lecture is to present the single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging technique. Content: 1 - Introduction: anatomic, functional and molecular imaging; Principle and role of functional or molecular imaging; 2 - Radiotracers: chemical and physical constraints, main emitters, radioisotopes production, emitters type and imaging techniques; 3 - Single photon emission computed tomography: gamma cameras and their components, gamma camera specifications, planar single photon imaging characteristics, gamma camera and tomography; 4 - Quantification in single photon emission tomography: attenuation, scattering, un-stationary spatial resolution, partial volume effect, movements, others; 5 - Synthesis and conclusion

Non-Geiger-Mode Single-Photon Avalanche Detector with Low Excess Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Kai; Lo, YuHwa; Farr, William

2010-01-01

This design constitutes a self-resetting (gain quenching), room-temperature operational semiconductor single-photon-sensitive detector that is sensitive to telecommunications optical wavelengths and is scalable to large areas (millimeter diameter) with high bandwidth and efficiencies. The device can detect single photons at a 1,550-nm wavelength at a gain of 1 x 10(exp 6). Unlike conventional single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs), where gain is an extremely sensitive function to the bias voltage, the multiplication gain of this device is stable at 1 x 10(exp 6) over a wide range of bias from 30.2 to 30.9 V. Here, the multiplication gain is defined as the total number of charge carriers contained in one output pulse that is triggered by the absorption of a single photon. The statistics of magnitude of output signals also shows that the device has a very narrow pulse height distribution, which demonstrates a greatly suppressed gain fluctuation. From the histograms of both pulse height and pulse charge, the equivalent gain variance (excess noise) is between 1.001 and 1.007 at a gain of 1 x 10(exp 6). With these advantages, the device holds promise to function as a PMT-like photon counter at a 1,550- nm wavelength. The epitaxial layer structure of the device allows photons to be absorbed in the InGaAs layer, generating electron/hole (e-h) pairs. Driven by an electrical field in InGaAs, electrons are collected at the anode while holes reach the multiplication region (InAlAs p-i-n structure) and trigger the avalanche process. As a result, a large number of e-h pairs are created, and the holes move toward the cathode. Holes created by the avalanche process gain large kinetic energy through the electric field, and are considered hot. These hot holes are cooled as they travel across a p -InAlAs low field region, and are eventually blocked by energy barriers formed by the InGaAsP/ InAlAs heterojunctions. The composition of the InGaAsP alloy was chosen to have an 80 me

Single photon ECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeda, Toshio; Matsuda, Hiroshi; Tada, Akira; Bunko, Hisashi; Koizumi, Kiyoshi

1982-01-01

The detectability of lesions located deep in a body or overlapped with a physiologically increased activity improve with the help of single photon ECT. In some cases, the ECT is superior to the conventional gamma camera images and X-ray CT scans in the evaluation of the location and size of lesion. The single photon ECT of the brain compares favorably with the contrast enhansed X-ray CT scans. The most important adaptation of the single photon ECT are the detection of recurrent brain tumors after craniotomy and the evaluation of ischemic heart diseases. (author)

Single photon sources with single semiconductor quantum dots

Science.gov (United States)

Shan, Guang-Cun; Yin, Zhang-Qi; Shek, Chan Hung; Huang, Wei

2014-04-01

In this contribution, we briefly recall the basic concepts of quantum optics and properties of semiconductor quantum dot (QD) which are necessary to the understanding of the physics of single-photon generation with single QDs. Firstly, we address the theory of quantum emitter-cavity system, the fluorescence and optical properties of semiconductor QDs, and the photon statistics as well as optical properties of the QDs. We then review the localization of single semiconductor QDs in quantum confined optical microcavity systems to achieve their overall optical properties and performances in terms of strong coupling regime, efficiency, directionality, and polarization control. Furthermore, we will discuss the recent progress on the fabrication of single photon sources, and various approaches for embedding single QDs into microcavities or photonic crystal nanocavities and show how to extend the wavelength range. We focus in particular on new generations of electrically driven QD single photon source leading to high repetition rates, strong coupling regime, and high collection efficiencies at elevated temperature operation. Besides, new developments of room temperature single photon emission in the strong coupling regime are reviewed. The generation of indistinguishable photons and remaining challenges for practical single-photon sources are also discussed.

Bi-dimensional arrays of SPAD for time-resolved single photon imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tudisco, S.; Lanzano, L.; Musumeci, F.; Neri, L.; Privitera, S.; Scordino, A.; Condorelli, G.; Fallica, G.; Mazzillo, M.; Sanfilippo, D.; Valvo, G.

2009-01-01

Many scientific areas like astronomy, biophysics, biomedicine, nuclear and plasma science, etc. are interested in the development of a new time-resolved single photon imaging device. Such a device represents today one of the most challenging goals in the field of photonics. In collaboration with Catania R and D staff of ST-Microelectronics (STM) we created, during the last few years, a new avalanche photosensor-Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) able to detect and count, with excellent performance, single photons. Further we will discuss the possible realization of a single photon imaging device through the many elements integration (bi-dimensional arrays) of SPADs. In order to achieve the goal, it is also important to develop an appropriate readout strategy able to address the time information of each individual sensor and in order to read a great number of elements easily. First prototypes were designed and manufactured by STM and the results are reported here. In the paper we will discuss in particular: (i) sensor performance (gain, photodetection efficiency, timing, after-pulsing, etc.); (ii) array performance (layout, cross-talk, etc.); (iii) readout strategy (quenching, electronics), and (iv) first imaging results (general performance).

High bit rate germanium single photon detectors for 1310nm

Science.gov (United States)

Seamons, J. A.; Carroll, M. S.

2008-04-01

There is increasing interest in development of high speed, low noise and readily fieldable near infrared (NIR) single photon detectors. InGaAs/InP Avalanche photodiodes (APD) operated in Geiger mode (GM) are a leading choice for NIR due to their preeminence in optical networking. After-pulsing is, however, a primary challenge to operating InGaAs/InP single photon detectors at high frequencies1. After-pulsing is the effect of charge being released from traps that trigger false ("dark") counts. To overcome this problem, hold-off times between detection windows are used to allow the traps to discharge to suppress after-pulsing. The hold-off time represents, however, an upper limit on detection frequency that shows degradation beginning at frequencies of ~100 kHz in InGaAs/InP. Alternatively, germanium (Ge) single photon avalanche photodiodes (SPAD) have been reported to have more than an order of magnitude smaller charge trap densities than InGaAs/InP SPADs2, which allowed them to be successfully operated with passive quenching2 (i.e., no gated hold off times necessary), which is not possible with InGaAs/InP SPADs, indicating a much weaker dark count dependence on hold-off time consistent with fewer charge traps. Despite these encouraging results suggesting a possible higher operating frequency limit for Ge SPADs, little has been reported on Ge SPAD performance at high frequencies presumably because previous work with Ge SPADs has been discouraged by a strong demand to work at 1550 nm. NIR SPADs require cooling, which in the case of Ge SPADs dramatically reduces the quantum efficiency of the Ge at 1550 nm. Recently, however, advantages to working at 1310 nm have been suggested which combined with a need to increase quantum bit rates for quantum key distribution (QKD) motivates examination of Ge detectors performance at very high detection rates where InGaAs/InP does not perform as well. Presented in this paper are measurements of a commercially available Ge APD

CdSe quantum dot in vertical ZnSe nanowire and photonic wire for efficient single-photon emission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cremel, Thibault; Bellet-Amalric, Edith; Cagnon, Laurent

conformal dielectric coating of Al2O3 on the NW-QDs using Atomic Layer Deposition so that a photonic wire is formed with the CdSe QD deterministically positioned on its axis. The collection enhancement effect is studied by measuring the emission (with pulse excitation, at saturation intensity) of single...

Low-loss polarization-maintaining fusion splicing of single-mode fibers and hollow-core photonic crystal fibers, relevant for monolithic fiber laser pulse compression

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Jesper Toft; Houmann, Andreas; Liu, Xiaomin

2008-01-01

of the splicing process. We also demonstrate that the higher splice loss compromises the PM properties of the splice. Our splicing technique was successfully applied to the realization of a low-loss, environmentally stable monolithic PM fiber laser pulse compressor, enabling direct end-of-the-fiber femtosecond......We report on highly reproducible low-loss fusion splicing of polarization-maintaining single-mode fibers (PM-SMFs) and hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs). The PM-SMF-to-HC-PCF splices are characterized by the loss of 0.62 ± 0.24 dB, and polarization extinction ratio of 19 ± 0.68 d...... pulse delivery...

Photon correlation in single-photon frequency upconversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Xiaorong; Huang, Kun; Pan, Haifeng; Wu, E; Zeng, Heping

2012-01-30

We experimentally investigated the intensity cross-correlation between the upconverted photons and the unconverted photons in the single-photon frequency upconversion process with multi-longitudinal mode pump and signal sources. In theoretical analysis, with this multi-longitudinal mode of both signal and pump sources system, the properties of the signal photons could also be maintained as in the single-mode frequency upconversion system. Experimentally, based on the conversion efficiency of 80.5%, the joint probability of simultaneously detecting at upconverted and unconverted photons showed an anti-correlation as a function of conversion efficiency which indicated the upconverted photons were one-to-one from the signal photons. While due to the coherent state of the signal photons, the intensity cross-correlation function g(2)(0) was shown to be equal to unity at any conversion efficiency, agreeing with the theoretical prediction. This study will benefit the high-speed wavelength-tunable quantum state translation or photonic quantum interface together with the mature frequency tuning or longitudinal mode selection techniques.

Spectrally pure heralded single photons by spontaneous four-wave mixing in a fiber: reducing impact of dispersion fluctuations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koefoed, Jacob Gade; Friis, Søren Michael Mørk; Christensen, Jesper Bjerge

2017-01-01

We model the spectral quantum-mechanical purity of heralded single photons from a photon-pair source based on nondegenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing taking the impact of distributed dispersion fluctuations into account. The considered photon-pair-generation scheme utilizes pump-pulse walk...

Superconducting Single Photon Detectors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dorenbos, S.N.

2011-01-01

This thesis is about the development of a detector for single photons, particles of light. New techniques are being developed that require high performance single photon detection, such as quantum cryptography, single molecule detection, optical radar, ballistic imaging, circuit testing and

The intensity detection of single-photon detectors based on photon counting probability density statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Zijing; Song Jie; Zhao Yuan; Wu Long

2017-01-01

Single-photon detectors possess the ultra-high sensitivity, but they cannot directly respond to signal intensity. Conventional methods adopt sampling gates with fixed width and count the triggered number of sampling gates, which is capable of obtaining photon counting probability to estimate the echo signal intensity. In this paper, we not only count the number of triggered sampling gates, but also record the triggered time position of photon counting pulses. The photon counting probability density distribution is obtained through the statistics of a series of the triggered time positions. Then Minimum Variance Unbiased Estimation (MVUE) method is used to estimate the echo signal intensity. Compared with conventional methods, this method can improve the estimation accuracy of echo signal intensity due to the acquisition of more detected information. Finally, a proof-of-principle laboratory system is established. The estimation accuracy of echo signal intensity is discussed and a high accuracy intensity image is acquired under low-light level environments. (paper)

Thermoelectric single-photon detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuzanyan, A A; Petrosyan, V A; Kuzanyan, A S

2012-01-01

The ability to detect a single photon is the ultimate level of sensitivity in the measurement of optical radiation. Sensors capable of detecting single photons and determining their energy have many scientific and technological applications. Kondo-enhanced Seebeck effect cryogenic detectors are based on thermoelectric heat-to-voltage conversion and voltage readout. We evaluate the prospects of CeB 6 and (La,Ce)B 6 hexaboride crystals for their application as a sensitive element in this type of detectors. We conclude that such detectors can register a single UV photon, have a fast count rate (up to 45 MHz) and a high spectral resolution of 0.1 eV. We calculate the electric potential generated along the thermoelectric sensor upon registering a UV single photon.

Single-Photon Technologies Based on Quantum-Dots in Photonic Crystals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehmann, Tau Bernstorff

-photon purity under quasi-resonantexcitation. Furthermore the waveguide based platform demonstrates indistinguishable single-photonsat timescales up to 13 ns.A setup for active demultiplexing of single-photons to a three-fold single-photon state is proposed.Using a fast electro-optical modulator, single...

Single-photon sources based on single molecules in solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moerner, W E

2004-01-01

Single molecules in suitable host crystals have been demonstrated to be useful single-photon emitters both at liquid-helium temperatures and at room temperature. The low-temperature source achieved controllable emission of single photons from a single terrylene molecule in p-terphenyl by an adiabatic rapid passage technique. In contrast with almost all other single-molecule systems, terrylene single molecules show extremely high photostability under continuous, high-intensity irradiation. A room-temperature source utilizing this material has been demonstrated, in which fast pumping into vibrational sidebands of the electronically excited state achieved efficient inversion of the emissive level. This source yielded a single-photon emission probability p(1) of 0.86 at a detected count rate near 300 000 photons s -1 , with very small probability of emission of more than one photon. Thus, single molecules in solids can be considered as contenders for applications of single-photon sources such as quantum key distribution

On-demand generation of background-free single photons from a solid-state source

Science.gov (United States)

Schweickert, Lucas; Jöns, Klaus D.; Zeuner, Katharina D.; Covre da Silva, Saimon Filipe; Huang, Huiying; Lettner, Thomas; Reindl, Marcus; Zichi, Julien; Trotta, Rinaldo; Rastelli, Armando; Zwiller, Val

2018-02-01

True on-demand high-repetition-rate single-photon sources are highly sought after for quantum information processing applications. However, any coherently driven two-level quantum system suffers from a finite re-excitation probability under pulsed excitation, causing undesirable multi-photon emission. Here, we present a solid-state source of on-demand single photons yielding a raw second-order coherence of g(2 )(0 )=(7.5 ±1.6 )×10-5 without any background subtraction or data processing. To this date, this is the lowest value of g(2 )(0 ) reported for any single-photon source even compared to the previously reported best background subtracted values. We achieve this result on GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots embedded in a low-Q planar cavity by employing (i) a two-photon excitation process and (ii) a filtering and detection setup featuring two superconducting single-photon detectors with ultralow dark-count rates of (0.0056 ±0.0007 ) s-1 and (0.017 ±0.001 ) s-1, respectively. Re-excitation processes are dramatically suppressed by (i), while (ii) removes false coincidences resulting in a negligibly low noise floor.

CMOS-compatible photonic devices for single-photon generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiong Chunle

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Sources of single photons are one of the key building blocks for quantum photonic technologies such as quantum secure communication and powerful quantum computing. To bring the proof-of-principle demonstration of these technologies from the laboratory to the real world, complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS-compatible photonic chips are highly desirable for photon generation, manipulation, processing and even detection because of their compactness, scalability, robustness, and the potential for integration with electronics. In this paper, we review the development of photonic devices made from materials (e.g., silicon and processes that are compatible with CMOS fabrication facilities for the generation of single photons.

Multi-photon absorption limits to heralded single photon sources

Science.gov (United States)

Husko, Chad A.; Clark, Alex S.; Collins, Matthew J.; De Rossi, Alfredo; Combrié, Sylvain; Lehoucq, Gaëlle; Rey, Isabella H.; Krauss, Thomas F.; Xiong, Chunle; Eggleton, Benjamin J.

2013-01-01

Single photons are of paramount importance to future quantum technologies, including quantum communication and computation. Nonlinear photonic devices using parametric processes offer a straightforward route to generating photons, however additional nonlinear processes may come into play and interfere with these sources. Here we analyse spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) sources in the presence of multi-photon processes. We conduct experiments in silicon and gallium indium phosphide photonic crystal waveguides which display inherently different nonlinear absorption processes, namely two-photon (TPA) and three-photon absorption (ThPA), respectively. We develop a novel model capturing these diverse effects which is in excellent quantitative agreement with measurements of brightness, coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) and second-order correlation function g(2)(0), showing that TPA imposes an intrinsic limit on heralded single photon sources. We build on these observations to devise a new metric, the quantum utility (QMU), enabling further optimisation of single photon sources. PMID:24186400

Electrically-pumped, broad-area, single-mode photonic crystal lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Lin; Chak, Philip; Poon, Joyce K S; DeRose, Guy A; Yariv, Amnon; Scherer, Axel

2007-05-14

Planar broad-area single-mode lasers, with modal widths of the order of tens of microns, are technologically important for high-power applications and improved coupling efficiency into optical fibers. They may also find new areas of applications in on-chip integration with devices that are of similar size scales, such as for spectroscopy in microfluidic chambers or optical signal processing with micro-electromechanical systems. An outstanding challenge is that broad-area lasers often require external means of control, such as injection-locking or a frequency/spatial filter to obtain single-mode operation. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate effective index-guided, large-area, edge-emitting photonic crystal lasers driven by pulsed electrical current injection at the optical telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm. By suitable design of the photonic crystal lattice, our lasers operate in a single mode with a 1/e(2) modal width of 25 microm and a length of 600 microm.

Room-Temperature Single-photon level Memory for Polarization States

Science.gov (United States)

Kupchak, Connor; Mittiga, Thomas; Jordaan, Bertus; Namazi, Mehdi; Nölleke, Christian; Figueroa, Eden

2015-01-01

An optical quantum memory is a stationary device that is capable of storing and recreating photonic qubits with a higher fidelity than any classical device. Thus far, these two requirements have been fulfilled for polarization qubits in systems based on cold atoms and cryogenically cooled crystals. Here, we report a room-temperature memory capable of storing arbitrary polarization qubits with a signal-to-background ratio higher than 1 and an average fidelity surpassing the classical benchmark for weak laser pulses containing 1.6 photons on average, without taking into account non-unitary operation. Our results demonstrate that a common vapor cell can reach the low background noise levels necessary for polarization qubit storage using single-photon level light, and propels atomic-vapor systems towards a level of functionality akin to other quantum information processing architectures.

High brightness single photon sources based on photonic wires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Claudon, J.; Bleuse, J.; Bazin, M.

2009-01-01

We present a novel single-photon-source based on the emission of a semiconductor quantum dot embedded in a single-mode photonic wire. This geometry ensures a very large coupling (> 95%) of the spontaneous emission to the guided mode. Numerical simulations show that a photon collection efficiency...

Analysis of single-photon time resolution of FBK silicon photomultipliers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Acerbi, Fabio; Ferri, Alessandro; Gola, Alberto; Zorzi, Nicola; Piemonte, Claudio

2015-01-01

We characterized and analyzed an important feature of silicon photomultipliers: the single-photon time resolution (SPTR). We characterized the SPTR of new RGB (Red–Green–Blue) type Silicon Photomultipliers and SPADs produced at FBK (Trento, Italy), studying its main limiting factors. We compared time resolution of 1×1 mm 2 and 3×3 mm 2 SiPMs and a single SiPM cell (i.e. a SPAD with integrated passive-quenching), employing a mode-locked pulsed laser with 2-ps wide pulses. We estimated the contribution of front-end electronic-noise, of cell-to-cell uniformity, and intrinsic cell time-resolution. At a single-cell level, we compared the results obtained with different layouts. With a circular cell with a top metallization covering part of the edge and enhancing the signal extraction, we reached ~20 ps FWHM of time resolution

Excited-state lifetime measurement of silicon vacancy centers in diamond by single-photon frequency upconversion

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Youying; Ma, Jianhui; Chen, Lingxiao; Liu, Yan; Siyushev, Petr; Wu, Botao; Pan, Haifeng; Jelezko, Fedor; Wu, E.; Zeng, Heping

2018-05-01

We report a method with high time resolution to measure the excited-state lifetime of silicon vacancy centers in bulk diamond avoiding timing jitter from the single-photon detectors. Frequency upconversion of the fluorescence emitted from silicon vacancy centers was achieved from 738 nm to 436 nm via sum frequency generation with a short pump pulse. The excited-state lifetime can be obtained by measuring the intensity of upconverted light while the pump delay changes. As a probe, a pump laser with pulse duration of 11 ps provided a high temporal resolution of the measurement. The lifetime extracted from the pump–probe curve was 0.755 ns, which was comparable to the timing jitter of the single-photon detectors.

Ultrabright and efficient single-photon generation based on nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds on a solid immersion lens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schroeder, Tim; Gaedeke, Friedemann; Banholzer, Moritz Julian; Benson, Oliver

2011-01-01

Single photons are fundamental elements for quantum information technologies such as quantum cryptography, quantum information storage and optical quantum computing. Colour centres in diamond have proven to be stable single-photon sources and thus essential components for reliable and integrated quantum information technology. A key requirement for such applications is a large photon flux and a high efficiency. Paying tribute to various attempts to maximize the single-photon flux, we show that collection efficiencies of photons from colour centres can be increased with a rather simple experimental setup. To do so, we spin-coated nanodiamonds containing single nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) colour centres on the flat surface of a ZrO 2 solid immersion lens. We found stable single-photon count rates of up to 853 kcts s -1 at saturation under continuous wave excitation while having access to more than 100 defect centres with count rates from 400 to 500 kcts s -1 . For a blinking defect centre, we found count rates up to 2.4 Mcts s -1 for time intervals of several tens of seconds. It seems to be a general feature that very high rates are accompanied by blinking behaviour. The overall collection efficiency of our setup of up to 4.2% is the highest yet reported for N-V defect centres in diamond. Under pulsed excitation of a stable emitter of 10 MHz, 2.2% of all pulses caused a click on the detector adding to 221 kcts s -1 thus, opening the way towards diamond-based on-demand single-photon sources for quantum applications.

Effects of the active hold-off technique in 1.55-μm single-photon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouzid, Abdessattar; Park, Junbum; Moon, Sung

2010-01-01

We investigate the effects of the active hold-off technique in single-photon detector (SPD) based on InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes (APDs). The concept of this technique is to hold-off an appropriate number of gate pulses after each recorded detection in order to wait for the trapping levels to empty. We found that at almost a 1-MHz repetition rate of the gate, such a hold-off mechanism must block at least two gate pulses after each photon click event to reduce the after-pulsing effect and does not significantly affect the count probability per gate. For higher repetition frequencies, the number of hold-off gates must be increased.

Analysis of single-photon time resolution of FBK silicon photomultipliers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Acerbi, Fabio, E-mail: acerbi@fbk.eu; Ferri, Alessandro; Gola, Alberto; Zorzi, Nicola; Piemonte, Claudio

2015-07-01

We characterized and analyzed an important feature of silicon photomultipliers: the single-photon time resolution (SPTR). We characterized the SPTR of new RGB (Red–Green–Blue) type Silicon Photomultipliers and SPADs produced at FBK (Trento, Italy), studying its main limiting factors. We compared time resolution of 1×1 mm{sup 2} and 3×3 mm{sup 2} SiPMs and a single SiPM cell (i.e. a SPAD with integrated passive-quenching), employing a mode-locked pulsed laser with 2-ps wide pulses. We estimated the contribution of front-end electronic-noise, of cell-to-cell uniformity, and intrinsic cell time-resolution. At a single-cell level, we compared the results obtained with different layouts. With a circular cell with a top metallization covering part of the edge and enhancing the signal extraction, we reached ~20 ps FWHM of time resolution.

Quantum Optics with Photonic Nanowires and Photonic Trumpets: Basics and Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerard, J.; Claudon, J.; Munsch, M.

, the node of future quantum networks. Besides optical microcavities [1], photonic wires have recently demonstrated in this context an appealing potential [2, 3]. For instance, single photon sources (SPS) based on a single quantum dot in a vertical photonic wire with integrated bottom mirror and tapered tip...... have enabled for the ¯rst time to achieve simultaneously a very high e±ciency (0.72 photon per pulse) and a very pure single photon emission (g(2)(0) control of the spontaneous emission of embedded emitters [4...

Ultrabright and efficient single-photon generation based on nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds on a solid immersion lens

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schroeder, Tim; Gaedeke, Friedemann; Banholzer, Moritz Julian; Benson, Oliver, E-mail: tim.schroeder@physik.hu-berlin.de [Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institut fuer Physik, AG Nano Optics Newtonstrasse 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany)

2011-05-15

Single photons are fundamental elements for quantum information technologies such as quantum cryptography, quantum information storage and optical quantum computing. Colour centres in diamond have proven to be stable single-photon sources and thus essential components for reliable and integrated quantum information technology. A key requirement for such applications is a large photon flux and a high efficiency. Paying tribute to various attempts to maximize the single-photon flux, we show that collection efficiencies of photons from colour centres can be increased with a rather simple experimental setup. To do so, we spin-coated nanodiamonds containing single nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) colour centres on the flat surface of a ZrO{sub 2} solid immersion lens. We found stable single-photon count rates of up to 853 kcts s{sup -1} at saturation under continuous wave excitation while having access to more than 100 defect centres with count rates from 400 to 500 kcts s{sup -1}. For a blinking defect centre, we found count rates up to 2.4 Mcts s{sup -1} for time intervals of several tens of seconds. It seems to be a general feature that very high rates are accompanied by blinking behaviour. The overall collection efficiency of our setup of up to 4.2% is the highest yet reported for N-V defect centres in diamond. Under pulsed excitation of a stable emitter of 10 MHz, 2.2% of all pulses caused a click on the detector adding to 221 kcts s{sup -1} thus, opening the way towards diamond-based on-demand single-photon sources for quantum applications.

Nanodiamond Emitters of Single Photons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlasov I.I.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Luminescence properties of single color centers were studied in nanodiamonds of different origin. It was found that single photon emitters could be realized even in molecularsized diamond (less than 2 nm capable of housing stable luminescent center “silicon-vacancy.” First results on incorporation of single-photon emitters based on luminescent nanodiamonds in plasmonic nanoantennas to enhance the photon count rate and directionality, diminish the fluorescence decay time, and provide polarization selectivity are presented.

Single-photon decision maker

Science.gov (United States)

Naruse, Makoto; Berthel, Martin; Drezet, Aurélien; Huant, Serge; Aono, Masashi; Hori, Hirokazu; Kim, Song-Ju

2015-08-01

Decision making is critical in our daily lives and for society in general and is finding evermore practical applications in information and communication technologies. Herein, we demonstrate experimentally that single photons can be used to make decisions in uncertain, dynamically changing environments. Using a nitrogen-vacancy in a nanodiamond as a single-photon source, we demonstrate the decision-making capability by solving the multi-armed bandit problem. This capability is directly and immediately associated with single-photon detection in the proposed architecture, leading to adequate and adaptive autonomous decision making. This study makes it possible to create systems that benefit from the quantum nature of light to perform practical and vital intelligent functions.

Quantum optics. All-optical routing of single photons by a one-atom switch controlled by a single photon.

Science.gov (United States)

Shomroni, Itay; Rosenblum, Serge; Lovsky, Yulia; Bechler, Orel; Guendelman, Gabriel; Dayan, Barak

2014-08-22

The prospect of quantum networks, in which quantum information is carried by single photons in photonic circuits, has long been the driving force behind the effort to achieve all-optical routing of single photons. We realized a single-photon-activated switch capable of routing a photon from any of its two inputs to any of its two outputs. Our device is based on a single atom coupled to a fiber-coupled, chip-based microresonator. A single reflected control photon toggles the switch from high reflection (R ~ 65%) to high transmission (T ~ 90%), with an average of ~1.5 control photons per switching event (~3, including linear losses). No additional control fields are required. The control and target photons are both in-fiber and practically identical, making this scheme compatible with scalable architectures for quantum information processing. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Controlled generation of a single Trichel pulse and a series of single Trichel pulses in air

Science.gov (United States)

Mizeraczyk, Jerzy; Berendt, Artur; Akishev, Yuri

2018-04-01

In this paper, a simple method for the controlled generation of a single Trichel pulse or a series of single Trichel pulses of a regulated repetition frequency in air is proposed. The concept of triggering a single Trichel pulse or a series of such pulses is based on the precise controlling the voltage inception of the negative corona, which can be accomplished through the use of a ramp voltage pulse or a series of such pulses with properly chosen ramp voltage pulse parameters (rise and fall times, and ramp voltage pulse repetition frequency). The proposal has been tested in experiments using a needle-to-plate electrode arrangement in air, and reproducible Trichel pulses (single or in a series) were obtained by triggering them with an appropriately designed voltage waveform. The proposed method and results obtained have been qualitatively analysed. The analysis provides guidance for designing the voltage ramp pulse in respect of the generation of a single Trichel pulse or a series of single Trichel pulses. The controlled generation of a single Trichel pulse or a series of such pulses would be a helpful research tool for the refined studies of the fundamental processes in a negative corona discharge in a single- (air is an example) and multi-phase gaseous fluids. The controlled generation of a single Trichel pulse or a series of Trichel pulses can also be attractive for those corona treatments which need manipulation of the electric charge and heat portions delivered by the Trichel pulses to the object.

Photonic-band-gap gyrotron amplifier with picosecond pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Nanni, Emilio A.; Jawla, Sudheer; Lewis, Samantha M.; Shapiro, Michael A.; Temkin, Richard J.

2017-12-01

We report the amplification of 250 GHz pulses as short as 260 ps without observation of pulse broadening using a photonic-band-gap circuit gyrotron traveling-wave-amplifier. The gyrotron amplifier operates with a device gain of 38 dB and an instantaneous bandwidth of 8 GHz. The operational bandwidth of the amplifier can be tuned over 16 GHz by adjusting the operating voltage of the electron beam and the magnetic field. The amplifier uses a 30 cm long photonic-band-gap interaction circuit to confine the desired TE03-like operating mode while suppressing lower order modes which can result in undesired oscillations. The circuit gain is >55 dB for a beam voltage of 23 kV and a current of 700 mA. These results demonstrate the wide bandwidths and a high gain achievable with gyrotron amplifiers. The amplification of picosecond pulses of variable lengths, 260-800 ps, shows good agreement with the theory using the coupled dispersion relation and the gain-spectrum of the amplifier as measured with quasi-CW input pulses.

Single-pulse and multi-pulse femtosecond laser damage of optical single films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Lei; Zhao Yuan'an; He Hongbo; Shao Jianda; Fan Zhengxiu

2006-01-01

Laser-induced damage of a single 500 nm HfO 2 film and a single 500 nm ZrO 2 film were studied with single- and multi-pulse femtosecond laser. The laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDT) of both samples by the 1-on-1 method and the 1000-on-1 method were reported. It was discovered that the LIDT of the HfO 2 single film was higher than that of the ZrO 2 single film by both test methods, which was explained by simple Keldysh's multiphoton ionization theory. The LIDT of multi-pulse was lower than that of single-pulse for both samples as a result of accumulative effect. (authors)

Pulse carving using nanocavity-enhanced nonlinear effects in photonic crystal Fano structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekele, Dagmawi Alemayehu; Yu, Yi; Hu, Hao

2018-01-01

We experimentally demonstrate the use of a photonic crystal Fano resonance for carving-out short pulses from long-duration input pulses. This is achieved by exploiting an asymmetric Fano resonance combined with carrier-induced nonlinear effects in a photonic crystal membrane structure. The use...... of a nanocavity concentrates the input field to a very small volume leading to an efficient nonlinear resonance shift that carves a short pulse out of the input pulse. Here, we demonstrate shortening of ∼500  ps and ∼100  ps long pulses to ∼30  ps and ∼20  ps pulses, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate...

Ultrafast time measurements by time-correlated single photon counting coupled with superconducting single photon detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shcheslavskiy, V., E-mail: vis@becker-hickl.de; Becker, W. [Becker & Hickl GmbH, Nahmitzer Damm 30, 12277 Berlin (Germany); Morozov, P.; Divochiy, A. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Vakhtomin, Yu. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Moscow State Pedagogical University, 1/1 M. Pirogovskaya St., Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); Smirnov, K. [Scontel, Rossolimo St., 5/22-1, Moscow 119021 (Russian Federation); Moscow State Pedagogical University, 1/1 M. Pirogovskaya St., Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); National Research University Higher School of Economics, 20 Myasnitskaya St., Moscow 101000 (Russian Federation)

2016-05-15

Time resolution is one of the main characteristics of the single photon detectors besides quantum efficiency and dark count rate. We demonstrate here an ultrafast time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) setup consisting of a newly developed single photon counting board SPC-150NX and a superconducting NbN single photon detector with a sensitive area of 7 × 7 μm. The combination delivers a record instrument response function with a full width at half maximum of 17.8 ps and system quantum efficiency ∼15% at wavelength of 1560 nm. A calculation of the root mean square value of the timing jitter for channels with counts more than 1% of the peak value yielded about 7.6 ps. The setup has also good timing stability of the detector–TCSPC board.

Single-photon manipulation in Nanophotonic Circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Sofie Lindskov

Quantum dots in photonic nanostructures has long been known to be a very powerful and versatile solid-state platform for conducting quantum optics experiments. The present PhD thesis describes experimental demonstrations of single-photon generation and subsequent manipulation all realized...... on a gallium arsenide platform. This platform offers near-unity coupling between embedded single-photon emitters and a photonic mode, as well as the ability to suppress decoherence mechanisms, making it highly suited for quantum information applications. In this thesis we show how a single-photon router can...... be realized on a chip with embedded quantum dots. This allows for on-chip generation and manipulation of single photons. The router consists of an on-chip interferometer where the phase difference between the arms of the interferometer is controlled electrically. The response time of the device...

Regimes of self-pulsing in photonic crystal Fano lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Thorsten Svend; Yu, Yi; Mørk, Jesper

2017-01-01

Laser self-pulsing was a property exclusive to macroscopic laser systems until recently, where self-pulsing laser operation was demonstrated experimentally and theoretically in a microscopic photonic crystal Fano laser [1]. We now provide a detailed theoretical analysis of the self......-pulsing mechanism and laser characteristics with numerical simulations to demonstrate the parameter dependence of the self-pulsing regime and its limitations, indicating how the design may be optimised for applications in e.g. integrated on-chip communication systems....

Collective effects of nuclei in single X-ray photon superradiance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kong, Xiangjin

2016-07-28

This thesis is dedicated to the study of collective effects of nuclei in single X-ray photon superradiance. To this end we investigate aspects of superradiance in both nuclear forward scattering and in thin-film cavities with an embedded {sup 57}Fe nuclear layer. A general theoretical framework is developed to investigate a single-photon cooperative emission from a cloud of resonant systems, atoms or nuclei, in the presence of magnetic hyperfine splitting. In the limit of a thick sample, we present our results for two means to coherently control the collective single X-ray photon emission in nuclear forward scattering. In the limit of a thin sample in a thin-film cavity with embedded resonant nuclei, we find out that unlike the magnetic hyperfine splitting of a single atom or nucleus, interesting collective effects may occur which modify the hyperfine level structure. In addition, for a certain parameter regime a spectrum reminiscent of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) can be achieved. Based on this EIT-like effect, a theoretical control mechanism for stopping X-ray pulses in the thin-film X-ray cavity is put forward. Finally, we show theoretically that for the case of two nuclear ensembles in the thin-film cavity, pseudo-Rabi splitting due to the strong coupling between the two layers should occur. The latter findings are confirmed by preliminary experimental data.

Generation of Femtosecond Electron and Photon Pulses

CERN Document Server

Thongbai, Chitrlada; Kangrang, Nopadol; Kusoljariyakul, Keerati; Rhodes, Michael W; Rimjaem, Sakhorn; Saisut, Jatuporn; Vilaithong, Thiraphat; Wichaisirimongkol, Pathom; Wiedemann, Helmut

2005-01-01

Femtosecond electron and photon pulses become a tool of interesting important to study dynamics at molecular or atomic levels. Such short pulses can be generated from a system consisting of an RF-gun with a thermionic cathode, an alpha magnet as a magnetic bunch compressor, and a linear accelerator. The femtosecond electron pulses can be used directly or used as sources to produce electromagnetic radiation of equally short pulses by choosing certain kind of radiation pruduction processes. At the Fast Neutron Research Facility (Thailand), we are especially interested in production of radiation in Far-infrared and X-ray regime. In the far-infrared wavelengths which are longer than the femtosecond pulse length, the radiation is emitted coherently producing intense radiation. In the X-ray regime, development of femtosecond X-ray source is crucial for application in ultrafast science.

Femtosecond Photon-Counting Receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Krainak, Michael A.; Rambo, Timothy M.; Yang, Guangning; Lu, Wei; Numata, Kenji

2016-01-01

An optical correlation receiver is described that provides ultra-precise distance and/or time/pulse-width measurements even for weak (single photons) and short (femtosecond) optical signals. A new type of optical correlation receiver uses a fourth-order (intensity) interferometer to provide micron distance measurements even for weak (single photons) and short (femtosecond) optical signals. The optical correlator uses a low-noise-integrating detector that can resolve photon number. The correlation (range as a function of path delay) is calculated from the variance of the photon number of the difference of the optical signals on the two detectors. Our preliminary proof-of principle data (using a short-pulse diode laser transmitter) demonstrates tens of microns precision.

A study of pile-up in integrated time-correlated single photon counting systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Arlt, Jochen; Tyndall, David; Rae, Bruce R; Li, David D-U; Richardson, Justin A; Henderson, Robert K

2013-10-01

Recent demonstration of highly integrated, solid-state, time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) systems in CMOS technology is set to provide significant increases in performance over existing bulky, expensive hardware. Arrays of single photon single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors, timing channels, and signal processing can be integrated on a single silicon chip with a degree of parallelism and computational speed that is unattainable by discrete photomultiplier tube and photon counting card solutions. New multi-channel, multi-detector TCSPC sensor architectures with greatly enhanced throughput due to minimal detector transit (dead) time or timing channel dead time are now feasible. In this paper, we study the potential for future integrated, solid-state TCSPC sensors to exceed the photon pile-up limit through analytic formula and simulation. The results are validated using a 10% fill factor SPAD array and an 8-channel, 52 ps resolution time-to-digital conversion architecture with embedded lifetime estimation. It is demonstrated that pile-up insensitive acquisition is attainable at greater than 10 times the pulse repetition rate providing over 60 dB of extended dynamic range to the TCSPC technique. Our results predict future CMOS TCSPC sensors capable of live-cell transient observations in confocal scanning microscopy, improved resolution of near-infrared optical tomography systems, and fluorescence lifetime activated cell sorting.

Monolithic Ytterbium All-single-mode Fiber Laser with Direct Fiber-end Delivery of nJ-level Femtosecond Pulses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turchinovich, Dmitry

2008-01-01

We demonstrate a monolithic, i.e. without any free-space coupling, all-single-mode passively modelocked Yb-fiber laser, with direct fiber-end delivery of 364−405 fs pulses of 4 nJ pulse energy using a low-loss hollow-core photonic crystal fiber compression....

On-Demand Single Photons with High Extraction Efficiency and Near-Unity Indistinguishability from a Resonantly Driven Quantum Dot in a Micropillar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ding, Xing; He, Yu; Duan, Z.-C.

2016-01-01

Scalable photonic quantum technologies require on-demand single-photon sources with simultaneously high levels of purity, indistinguishability, and efficiency. These key features, however, have only been demonstrated separately in previous experiments. Here, by s-shell pulsed resonant excitation ...

Single-photon emission at a rate of 143 MHz from a deterministic quantum-dot microlens triggered by a mode-locked vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schlehahn, A.; Gschrey, M.; Schnauber, P.; Schulze, J.-H.; Rodt, S.; Strittmatter, A.; Heindel, T., E-mail: tobias.heindel@tu-berlin.de; Reitzenstein, S. [Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin 10623 (Germany); Gaafar, M.; Vaupel, M.; Stolz, W.; Rahimi-Iman, A.; Koch, M. [Department of Physics and Materials Science Center, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35032 Marburg (Germany)

2015-07-27

We report on the realization of a quantum dot (QD) based single-photon source with a record-high single-photon emission rate. The quantum light source consists of an InGaAs QD which is deterministically integrated within a monolithic microlens with a distributed Bragg reflector as back-side mirror, which is triggered using the frequency-doubled emission of a mode-locked vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (ML-VECSEL). The utilized compact and stable laser system allows us to excite the single-QD microlens at a wavelength of 508 nm with a pulse repetition rate close to 500 MHz at a pulse width of 4.2 ps. Probing the photon statistics of the emission from a single QD state at saturation, we demonstrate single-photon emission of the QD-microlens chip with g{sup (2)}(0) < 0.03 at a record-high single-photon flux of (143 ± 16) MHz collected by the first lens of the detection system. Our approach is fully compatible with resonant excitation schemes using wavelength tunable ML-VECSELs, which will optimize the quantum optical properties of the single-photon emission in terms of photon indistinguishability.

A novel high-efficiency single-mode quantum dot single photon source

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerard, J.M.; Gregersen, Niels; Nielsen, Torben Roland

2008-01-01

We present a novel single-mode single photon source exploiting the emission of a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) located inside a photonic wire. Besides an excellent coupling (>95%) of QD spontaneous emission to the fundamental guided mode [1], we show that a single photon collection efficiency...... above 80% within a 0.5 numerical aperture can be achieved using a bottom Bragg mirror and a tapering of the nanowire tip. Because this photon collection strategy does not exploit the Purcell effect, it could also be efficiently applied to broadband single photon emitters such as F-centers in diamond....

Solid-state single-photon emitters

Science.gov (United States)

Aharonovich, Igor; Englund, Dirk; Toth, Milos

2016-10-01

Single-photon emitters play an important role in many leading quantum technologies. There is still no 'ideal' on-demand single-photon emitter, but a plethora of promising material systems have been developed, and several have transitioned from proof-of-concept to engineering efforts with steadily improving performance. Here, we review recent progress in the race towards true single-photon emitters required for a range of quantum information processing applications. We focus on solid-state systems including quantum dots, defects in solids, two-dimensional hosts and carbon nanotubes, as these are well positioned to benefit from recent breakthroughs in nanofabrication and materials growth techniques. We consider the main challenges and key advantages of each platform, with a focus on scalable on-chip integration and fabrication of identical sources on photonic circuits.

High-power picosecond pulse delivery through hollow core photonic band gap fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Michieletto, Mattia; Johansen, Mette Marie; Lyngsø, Jens Kristian

2015-01-01

We demonstrated robust and bend insensitive fiber delivery of high power pulsed laser with diffraction limited beam quality for two different kind of hollow core photonic band gap fibers......We demonstrated robust and bend insensitive fiber delivery of high power pulsed laser with diffraction limited beam quality for two different kind of hollow core photonic band gap fibers...

Computational Modeling of Photonic Crystal Microcavity Single-Photon Emitters

Science.gov (United States)

Saulnier, Nicole A.

Conventional cryptography is based on algorithms that are mathematically complex and difficult to solve, such as factoring large numbers. The advent of a quantum computer would render these schemes useless. As scientists work to develop a quantum computer, cryptographers are developing new schemes for unconditionally secure cryptography. Quantum key distribution has emerged as one of the potential replacements of classical cryptography. It relics on the fact that measurement of a quantum bit changes the state of the bit and undetected eavesdropping is impossible. Single polarized photons can be used as the quantum bits, such that a quantum system would in some ways mirror the classical communication scheme. The quantum key distribution system would include components that create, transmit and detect single polarized photons. The focus of this work is on the development of an efficient single-photon source. This source is comprised of a single quantum dot inside of a photonic crystal microcavity. To better understand the physics behind the device, a computational model is developed. The model uses Finite-Difference Time-Domain methods to analyze the electromagnetic field distribution in photonic crystal microcavities. It uses an 8-band k · p perturbation theory to compute the energy band structure of the epitaxially grown quantum dots. We discuss a method that combines the results of these two calculations for determining the spontaneous emission lifetime of a quantum dot in bulk material or in a microcavity. The computational models developed in this thesis are used to identify and characterize microcavities for potential use in a single-photon source. The computational tools developed are also used to investigate novel photonic crystal microcavities that incorporate 1D distributed Bragg reflectors for vertical confinement. It is found that the spontaneous emission enhancement in the quasi-3D cavities can be significantly greater than in traditional suspended slab

Photon statistics characterization of a single-photon source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alleaume, R; Treussart, F; Courty, J-M; Roch, J-F

2004-01-01

In a recent experiment, we reported the time-domain intensity noise measurement of a single-photon source relying on single-molecule fluorescence control. In this paper, we present data processing starting from photocount timestamps. The theoretical analytical expression of the time-dependent Mandel parameter Q(T) of an intermittent single-photon source is derived from ON↔OFF dynamics. Finally, source intensity noise analysis, using the Mandel parameter, is quantitatively compared with the usual approach relying on the time autocorrelation function, both methods yielding the same molecular dynamical parameters

Strong-field QED processes in short laser pulses. One- and two-photon Compton scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seipt, Daniel

2012-12-20

The purpose of this thesis is to advance the understanding of strong-field QED processes in short laser pulses. The processes of non-linear one-photon and two-photon Compton scattering are studied, that is the scattering of photons in the interaction of relativistic electrons with ultra-short high-intensity laser pulses. These investigations are done in view of the present and next generation of ultra-high intensity optical lasers which are supposed to achieve unprecedented intensities of the order of 10{sup 24} W/cm{sup 2} and beyond, with pulse lengths in the order of some femtoseconds. The ultra-high laser intensity requires a non-perturbative description of the interaction of charged particles with the laser field to allow for multi-photon interactions, which is beyond the usual perturbative expansion of QED organized in powers of the fine structure constant. This is achieved in strong-field QED by employing the Furry picture and non-perturbative solutions of the Dirac equation in the presence of a background laser field as initial and final state wave functions, as well as the laser dressed Dirac-Volkov propagator. The primary objective is a realistic description of scattering processes with regard to the finite laser pulse duration beyond the common approximation of infinite plane waves, which is made necessary by the ultra-short pulse length of modern high-intensity lasers. Non-linear finite size effects are identified, which are a result of the interplay between the ultra-high intensity and the ultra-short pulse length. In particular, the frequency spectra and azimuthal photon emission spectra are studied emphasizing the differences between pulsed and infinite laser fields. The proper description of the finite temporal duration of the laser pulse leads to a regularization of unphysical infinities (due to the infinite plane-wave description) of the laser-dressed Dirac-Volkov propagator and in the second-order strong-field process of two-photon Compton

Single shot diffraction of picosecond 8.7-keV x-ray pulses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. H. O’Shea

2012-02-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate multiphoton, single shot diffraction images of x rays produced by inverse Compton scattering a high-power CO_{2} laser from a relativistic electron beam, creating a pulse of 8.7 keV x rays. The tightly focused, relatively high peak brightness electron beam and high photon density from the 2 J CO_{2} laser yielded 6×10^{7} x-ray photons over the full opening angle in a single shot. Single shot x-ray diffraction is performed by passing the x rays though a vertical slit and on to a flat silicon (111 crystal. 10^{2} diffracted photons were detected. The spectrum of the detected x rays is compared to simulation. The diffraction and detection of 10^{2} x rays is a key step to a more efficient time resolved diagnostic in which the number of observed x rays might reach 10^{4}; enabling a unique, flexible x-ray source as a sub-ps resolution diagnostic for studying the evolution of chemical reactions, lattice deformation and melting, and magnetism.

Generation of Fourier-transform-limited heralded single photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

U'Ren, Alfred B.; Jeronimo-Moreno, Yasser; Garcia-Gracia, Hipolito

2007-01-01

In this paper we study the spectral (temporal) properties of heralded single photon wave packets, triggered by the detection of an idler photon in the process of parametric down conversion. The generated single photons are studied within the framework of the chronocyclic Wigner function, from which the single photon spectral width and temporal duration can be computed. We derive specific conditions on the two-photon joint spectral amplitude which result in both pure and Fourier-transform-limited heralded single photons. Likewise, we present specific source geometries which lead to the fulfillment of these conditions and show that one of these geometries leads, for a given pump bandwidth, to the temporally shortest possible heralded single photon wave packets

Photoinduced electron-transfer in perylenediimide triphenylamine-based dendrimers : single photon timing and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fron, Eduard; Pilot, Roberto; Schweitzer, Gerd; Qu, Jianqiang; Herrmann, Andreas; Müllen, Klaus; Hofkens, Johan; Auweraer, Mark Van der; Schryver, Frans C. De

2008-01-01

The excited state dynamics of two generations perylenediimide chromophores substituted in the bay area with dendritic branches bearing triphenylamine units as well as those of the respective reference compounds are investigated. Using single photon timing and multi-pulse femtosecond transient

Single-pass BPM system of the Photon Factory storage ring.

Science.gov (United States)

Honda, T; Katoh, M; Mitsuhashi, T; Ueda, A; Tadano, M; Kobayashi, Y

1998-05-01

At the 2.5 GeV ring of the Photon Factory, a single-pass beam-position monitor (BPM) system is being prepared for the storage ring and the beam transport line. In the storage ring, the injected beam position during the first several turns can be measured with a single injection pulse. The BPM system has an adequate performance, useful for the commissioning of the new low-emittance lattice. Several stripline BPMs are being installed in the beam transport line. The continuous monitoring of the orbit in the beam transport line will be useful for the stabilization of the injection energy as well as the injection beam orbit.

Ramsey spectroscopy by direct use of resonant light on isotope atoms for single-photon detuning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Hoon; Choi, Mi Hyun; Moon, Ye Lin; Kim, Seung Jin; Kim, Jung Bog [Korea National University of Education, Cheongwon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-03-15

We demonstrate Ramsey spectroscopy with cold {sup 87}Rb atoms via a two-photon Raman process. One laser beam has a cross-over resonant frequency on the {sup 85}Rb transition and the other beam has a 6.8 GHz shifted frequency. These two laser beams fulfill the two-photon Raman resonance condition, which involves a single-photon detuning of -2.6 GHz. By implementing these two lasers on cold {sup 87}Rb atoms, we demonstrate Ramsey spectroscopy with an interrogation time of the intermediate state by using π/2 Raman pulses. In our laser system, we can change the single-photon detuning to 1.2, 4.2 or -5.6 GHz by changing the {sup 85}Rb transition line used as a locking signal and an injected sideband. The laser system that directly uses resonant light on isotope atoms will be described in this paper.

Quasi-real-time photon pulse duration measurement by analysis of FEL radiation spectra

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Engel, Robin, E-mail: robin.engel@uni-oldenburg.de [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestrasse 85, D-22603 Hamburg (Germany); Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg (Germany); Institut für Laser und Optik, Hochschule Emden/Leer, University of Applied Sciences, Constantiaplatz 4, D-26723 Emden (Germany); Düsterer, Stefan; Brenner, Günter [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestrasse 85, D-22603 Hamburg (Germany); Teubner, Ulrich [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestrasse 85, D-22603 Hamburg (Germany); Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg (Germany); Institut für Laser und Optik, Hochschule Emden/Leer, University of Applied Sciences, Constantiaplatz 4, D-26723 Emden (Germany)

2016-01-01

Considering the second-order spectral correlation function of SASE-FEL radiation allows a real-time observation of the photon pulse duration during spectra acquisition. For photon diagnostics at free-electron lasers (FELs), the determination of the photon pulse duration is an important challenge and a complex task. This is especially true for SASE FELs with strongly fluctuating pulse parameters. However, most techniques require an extensive experimental setup, data acquisition and evaluation time, limiting the usability in all-day operation. In contrast, the presented work uses an existing approach based on the analysis of statistical properties of measured SASE FEL spectra and implements it as a software tool, integrated in FLASH’s data acquisition system. This allows the calculation of the average pulse durations from a set of measured spectral distributions with only seconds of delay, whenever high-resolution spectra are recorded.

Enhancement of intermediate-field two-photon absorption by rationally shaped femtosecond pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chuntonov, Lev; Rybak, Leonid; Gandman, Andrey; Amitay, Zohar

2008-01-01

We extend the powerful frequency-domain analysis of femtosecond two-photon absorption to the intermediate-field regime of considerable absorption yields, where additionally to the weak-field nonresonant two-photon transitions also four-photon transitions play a role. Consequently, we rationally find that the absorption is enhanced over the transform-limited pulse by any shaped pulse having a spectral phase that is antisymmetric around one-half of the transition frequency and a spectrum that is asymmetric around it (red or blue detuned according to the system). The enhancement increases as the field strength increases. The theoretical results for Na are verified experimentally

Approaches to single photon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thew, R.T.; Curtz, N.; Eraerds, P.; Walenta, N.; Gautier, J.-D.; Koller, E.; Zhang, J.; Gisin, N.; Zbinden, H.

2009-01-01

We present recent results on our development of single photon detectors, including: gated and free-running InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes (APDs); hybrid detection systems based on sum-frequency generation (SFG) and Si APDs-SFG-Si APDs; and SSPDs (superconducting single photon detectors), for telecom wavelengths; as well as SiPM (Silicon photomultiplier) detectors operating in the visible regime.

Multiple-Event, Single-Photon Counting Imaging Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xinyu; Cunningham, Thomas J.; Sun, Chao; Wang, Kang L.

2011-01-01

The single-photon counting imaging sensor is typically an array of silicon Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes that are monolithically integrated with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) readout, signal processing, and addressing circuits located in each pixel and the peripheral area of the chip. The major problem is its single-event method for photon count number registration. A single-event single-photon counting imaging array only allows registration of up to one photon count in each of its pixels during a frame time, i.e., the interval between two successive pixel reset operations. Since the frame time can t be too short, this will lead to very low dynamic range and make the sensor merely useful for very low flux environments. The second problem of the prior technique is a limited fill factor resulting from consumption of chip area by the monolithically integrated CMOS readout in pixels. The resulting low photon collection efficiency will substantially ruin any benefit gained from the very sensitive single-photon counting detection. The single-photon counting imaging sensor developed in this work has a novel multiple-event architecture, which allows each of its pixels to register as more than one million (or more) photon-counting events during a frame time. Because of a consequently boosted dynamic range, the imaging array of the invention is capable of performing single-photon counting under ultra-low light through high-flux environments. On the other hand, since the multiple-event architecture is implemented in a hybrid structure, back-illumination and close-to-unity fill factor can be realized, and maximized quantum efficiency can also be achieved in the detector array.

Design and Characterization of 64K Pixels Chips Working in Single Photon Processing Mode

CERN Document Server

Llopart Cudie, Xavier; Campbell, M

2007-01-01

Progress in CMOS technology and in fine pitch bump bonding has made possible the development of high granularity single photon counting detectors for X-ray imaging. This thesis studies the design and characterization of three pulse processing chips with 65536 square pixels of 55 µm x 55 µm designed in a commercial 0.25 µm 6-metal CMOS technology. The 3 chips share the same architecture and dimensions and are named Medipix2, Mpix2MXR20 and Timepix. The Medipix2 chip is a pixel detector readout chip consisting of 256 x 256 identical elements, each working in single photon counting mode for positive or negative input charge signals. The preamplifier feedback provides compensation for detector leakage current on a pixel by pixel basis. Two identical pulse height discriminators are used to define an energy window. Every event falling inside the energy window is counted with a 13 bit pseudo-random counter. The counter logic, based in a shift register, also behaves as the input/output register for the pixel. Each...

Short pulse generation in a passively mode-locked photonic crystal semiconductor laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heuck, Mikkel; Blaaberg, Søren; Mørk, Jesper

2010-01-01

We present a new type of passively mode-locked laser with quantum wells embedded in photonic crystal waveguides operating in the slow light regime, which is capable of emitting sub picosecond pulses with widely controllable properties......We present a new type of passively mode-locked laser with quantum wells embedded in photonic crystal waveguides operating in the slow light regime, which is capable of emitting sub picosecond pulses with widely controllable properties...

Pulse Compression of Phase-matched High Harmonic Pulses from a Time-Delay Compensated Monochromator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ito Motohiko

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Pulse compression of single 32.6-eV high harmonic pulses from a time-delay compensated monochromator was demonstrated down to 11±3 fs by compensating the pulse front tilt. The photon flux was intensified up to 5.7×109 photons/s on target by implementing high harmonic generation under a phase matching condition in a hollow fiber used for increasing the interaction length.

Single-photon two-qubit entangled states: Preparation and measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yoon-Ho

2003-01-01

We implement experimentally a deterministic method to prepare and measure the so-called single-photon two-qubit entangled states or single-photon Bell states, in which the polarization and the spatial modes of a single photon each represent a quantum bit. All four single-photon Bell states can be easily prepared and measured deterministically using linear optical elements alone. We also discuss how this method can be used for the recently proposed single-photon two-qubit quantum cryptography scheme

Coherent single-photon absorption by single emitters coupled to 1D nanophotonic waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Yuntian; Wubs, Martijn; Mørk, Jesper

2012-01-01

We have derived an efficient model that allows calculating the dynamical single-photon absorption of an emitter coupled to a waveguide. We suggest a novel and simple structure that leads to strong single-photon absorption.......We have derived an efficient model that allows calculating the dynamical single-photon absorption of an emitter coupled to a waveguide. We suggest a novel and simple structure that leads to strong single-photon absorption....

Single Photon Sources in Silicon Carbide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brett Johnson

2014-01-01

Single photon sources in semiconductors are highly sought after as they constitute the building blocks of a diverse range of emerging technologies such as integrated quantum information processing, quantum metrology and quantum photonics. In this presentation, we show the first observation of single photon emission from deep level defects in silicon carbide (SiC). The single photon emission is photo-stable at room temperature and surprisingly bright. This represents an exciting alternative to diamond color centers since SiC possesses well-established growth and device engineering protocols. The defect is assigned to the carbon vacancy-antisite pair which gives rise to the AB photoluminescence lines. We discuss its photo-physical properties and their fabrication via electron irradiation. Preliminary measurements on 3C SiC nano-structures will also be discussed. (author)

Femtosecond Pulse Characterization as Applied to One-Dimensional Photonic Band Edge Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Fork, Richard L.; Gamble, Lisa J.; Diffey, William M.

1999-01-01

The ability to control the group velocity and phase of an optical pulse is important to many current active areas of research. Electronically addressable one-dimensional photonic crystals are an attractive candidate to achieve this control. This report details work done toward the characterization of photonic crystals and improvement of the characterization technique. As part of the work, the spectral dependence of the group delay imparted by a GaAs/AlAs photonic crystal was characterized. Also, a first generation an electrically addressable photonic crystal was tested for the ability to electronically control the group delay. The measurement technique, using 100 femtosecond continuum pulses was improved to yield high spectral resolution (1.7 nanometers) and concurrently with high temporal resolution (tens of femtoseconds). Conclusions and recommendations based upon the work done are also presented.

Possibility of single biomolecule imaging with coherent amplification of weak scattering x-ray photons.

Science.gov (United States)

Shintake, Tsumoru

2008-10-01

The number of photons produced by coherent x-ray scattering from a single biomolecule is very small because of its extremely small elastic-scattering cross section and low damage threshold. Even with a high x-ray flux of 3 x 10;{12} photons per 100-nm -diameter spot and an ultrashort pulse of 10 fs driven by a future x-ray free electron laser (x-ray FEL), it has been predicted that only a few 100 photons will be produced from the scattering of a single lysozyme molecule. In observations of scattered x rays on a detector, the transfer of energy from wave to matter is accompanied by the quantization of the photon energy. Unfortunately, x rays have a high photon energy of 12 keV at wavelengths of 1A , which is required for atomic resolution imaging. Therefore, the number of photoionization events is small, which limits the resolution of imaging of a single biomolecule. In this paper, I propose a method: instead of directly observing the photons scattered from the sample, we amplify the scattered waves by superimposing an intense coherent reference pump wave on it and record the resulting interference pattern on a planar x-ray detector. Using a nanosized gold particle as a reference pump wave source, we can collect 10;{4}-10;{5} photons in single shot imaging where the signal from a single biomolecule is amplified and recorded as two-dimensional diffraction intensity data. An iterative phase retrieval technique can be used to recover the phase information and reconstruct the image of the single biomolecule and the gold particle at the same time. In order to precisely reconstruct a faint image of the single biomolecule in Angstrom resolution, whose intensity is much lower than that of the bright gold particle, I propose a technique that combines iterative phase retrieval on the reference pump wave and the digital Fourier transform holography on the sample. By using a large number of holography data, the three-dimensional electron density map can be assembled.

Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) in CMOS 0.35 µm technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pellion, D.; Jradi, K.; Brochard, N. [Le2i – CNRS/Univ. de Bourgogne, Dijon (France); Prêle, D. [APC – CNRS/Univ. Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Ginhac, D. [Le2i – CNRS/Univ. de Bourgogne, Dijon (France)

2015-07-01

Some decades ago single photon detection used to be the terrain of photomultiplier tube (PMT), thanks to its characteristics of sensitivity and speed. However, PMT has several disadvantages such as low quantum efficiency, overall dimensions, and cost, making them unsuitable for compact design of integrated systems. So, the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in interest in new integrated single-photon detectors called Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) or Geiger-mode APD. SPAD are working in avalanche mode above the breakdown level. When an incident photon is captured, a very fast avalanche is triggered, generating an easily detectable current pulse. This paper discusses SPAD detectors fabricated in a standard CMOS technology featuring both single-photon sensitivity, and excellent timing resolution, while guaranteeing a high integration. In this work, we investigate the design of SPAD detectors using the AMS 0.35 µm CMOS Opto technology. Indeed, such standard CMOS technology allows producing large surface (few mm{sup 2}) of single photon sensitive detectors. Moreover, SPAD in CMOS technologies could be associated to electronic readout such as active quenching, digital to analog converter, memories and any specific processing required to build efficient calorimeters (Silicon PhotoMultiplier – SiPM) or high resolution imagers (SPAD imager). The present work investigates SPAD geometry. MOS transistor has been used instead of resistor to adjust the quenching resistance and find optimum value. From this first set of results, a detailed study of the dark count rate (DCR) has been conducted. Our results show a dark count rate increase with the size of the photodiodes and the temperature (at T=22.5 °C, the DCR of a 10 µm-photodiode is 2020 count s{sup −1} while it is 270 count s{sup −1} at T=−40 °C for a overvoltage of 800 mV). A small pixel size is desirable, because the DCR per unit area decreases with the pixel size. We also found that the adjustment

Transmitting more than 10 bit with a single photon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tentrup, T.B.H.; Hummel, T.; Wolterink, T.A.W.; Uppu, R.; Mosk, Allard; Pinkse, P.W.H.

2017-01-01

Encoding information in the position of single photons has no known limits, given infinite resources. Using a heralded single-photon source and a spatial light modulator (SLM), we steer single photons to specific positions in a virtual grid on a large-area spatially resolving photon-counting

Waveguide superconducting single-photon autocorrelators for quantum photonic applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sahin, D.; Gaggero, A.; Frucci, G.; Jahanmirinejad, S.; Sprengers, J.P.; Mattioli, F.; Leoni, R.; Beetz, J.; Lermer, M.; Kamp, M.; Höfling, S.; Fiore, A.; Hasan, Z.U.; Hemmer, P.R.; Lee, H.; Santori, C.M.

2013-01-01

We report a novel component for integrated quantum photonic applications, a waveguide single-photon autocorrelator. It is based on two superconducting nanowire detectors patterned onto the same GaAs ridge waveguide. Combining the electrical output of the two detectors in a correlation card enables

Direct detection of a single photon by humans

Science.gov (United States)

Tinsley, Jonathan N.; Molodtsov, Maxim I.; Prevedel, Robert; Wartmann, David; Espigulé-Pons, Jofre; Lauwers, Mattias; Vaziri, Alipasha

2016-01-01

Despite investigations for over 70 years, the absolute limits of human vision have remained unclear. Rod cells respond to individual photons, yet whether a single-photon incident on the eye can be perceived by a human subject has remained a fundamental open question. Here we report that humans can detect a single-photon incident on the cornea with a probability significantly above chance. This was achieved by implementing a combination of a psychophysics procedure with a quantum light source that can generate single-photon states of light. We further discover that the probability of reporting a single photon is modulated by the presence of an earlier photon, suggesting a priming process that temporarily enhances the effective gain of the visual system on the timescale of seconds. PMID:27434854

Fast recognition of single molecules based on single-event photon statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong Shuangli; Huang Tao; Liu Yuan; Wang Jun; Zhang Guofeng; Xiao Liantuan; Jia Suotang

2007-01-01

Mandel's Q parameter, which is determined from single-event photon statistics, provides an alternative way to recognize single molecules with fluorescence detection, other than the second-order correlation function. It is shown that the Q parameter of an assumed ideal double-molecule fluorescence with the same average photon number as that of the sample fluorescence can act as the criterion for single-molecule recognition. The influence of signal-to-background ratio and the error estimates for photon statistics are also presented. We have applied this method to ascertain single Cy5 dye molecules within hundreds of milliseconds

Quantitative differentiation of dyes with overlapping one-photon spectra by femtosecond pulse-shaping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tkaczyk, Eric R.; Tkaczyk, Alan H.; Mauring, Koit; Ye, Jing Yong; Baker, James R.; Norris, Theodore B.

2010-01-01

We demonstrate that DiI and rhodamine B, which are not easily distinguishable to one-photon measurements, can be differentiated and in fact quantified in mixture via tailored two-photon excitation pulses found by a genetic algorithm (GA). A nearly three-fold difference in the ratio of two-photon fluorescence of the two dyes is achieved, without a drop in signal of the favored fluorophore. Implementing an acousto-optic interferometer, we were able to prove that the mechanism of discrimination is second-harmonic tuning by the phase-shaped pulses to the relative maxima and minima of these cross-sections.

Diamond-based single-photon emitters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aharonovich, I; Castelletto, S; Simpson, D A; Su, C-H; Greentree, A D; Prawer, S

2011-01-01

The exploitation of emerging quantum technologies requires efficient fabrication of key building blocks. Sources of single photons are extremely important across many applications as they can serve as vectors for quantum information-thereby allowing long-range (perhaps even global-scale) quantum states to be made and manipulated for tasks such as quantum communication or distributed quantum computation. At the single-emitter level, quantum sources also afford new possibilities in terms of nanoscopy and bio-marking. Color centers in diamond are prominent candidates to generate and manipulate quantum states of light, as they are a photostable solid-state source of single photons at room temperature. In this review, we discuss the state of the art of diamond-based single-photon emitters and highlight their fabrication methodologies. We present the experimental techniques used to characterize the quantum emitters and discuss their photophysical properties. We outline a number of applications including quantum key distribution, bio-marking and sub-diffraction imaging, where diamond-based single emitters are playing a crucial role. We conclude with a discussion of the main challenges and perspectives for employing diamond emitters in quantum information processing.

Time-dependent Bragg diffraction and short-pulse reflection by one-dimensional photonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

André, Jean-Michel; Jonnard, Philippe

2015-01-01

The time-dependence of the Bragg diffraction by one-dimensional photonic crystals and its influence on the short pulse reflection are studied in the framework of the coupled-wave theory. The indicial response of the photonic crystal is calculated and it appears that it presents a time-delay effect with a transient time conditioned by the extinction length. A numerical simulation is presented for a Bragg mirror in the x-ray domain and a pulse envelope modelled by a sine-squared shape. The potential consequences of the time-delay effect in time-dependent optics of short-pulses are emphasized. (paper)

Single-Photon Routing for a L-Shaped Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiong; Hou, Jiao-Jiao; Wu, Chun

2018-02-01

We have investigated the transport properties of a single photon scattered by a two-level atom embedded in a L-shaped waveguide, which is made of two one-dimensional (1D) semi-infinite coupled-resonator waveguides (CRWs). Single photons can be directed from one CRW to the other due to spontaneous emission of the atom. The result shows that the spontaneous emission of the TLS still routes single photon from one CRW to the other; the boundary existing makes the probability of finding single photon in a CRW could reach one. Our the scheme is helpful to construct a ring quantum networks.

Optimised quantum hacking of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanner, Michael G; Makarov, Vadim; Hadfield, Robert H

2014-03-24

We explore bright-light control of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) in the shunted configuration (a practical measure to avoid latching). In an experiment, we simulate an illumination pattern the SNSPD would receive in a typical quantum key distribution system under hacking attack. We show that it effectively blinds and controls the SNSPD. The transient blinding illumination lasts for a fraction of a microsecond and produces several deterministic fake clicks during this time. This attack does not lead to elevated timing jitter in the spoofed output pulse, and hence does not introduce significant errors. Five different SNSPD chip designs were tested. We consider possible countermeasures to this attack.

Optimised quantum hacking of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Tanner, Michael G.; Makarov, Vadim; Hadfield, Robert H.

2014-03-01

We explore bright-light control of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) in the shunted configuration (a practical measure to avoid latching). In an experiment, we simulate an illumination pattern the SNSPD would receive in a typical quantum key distribution system under hacking attack. We show that it effectively blinds and controls the SNSPD. The transient blinding illumination lasts for a fraction of a microsecond and produces several deterministic fake clicks during this time. This attack does not lead to elevated timing jitter in the spoofed output pulse, and hence does not introduce significant errors. Five different SNSPD chip designs were tested. We consider possible countermeasures to this attack.

Preparation and tomographic reconstruction of an arbitrary single-photon path qubit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baek, So-Young; Kim, Yoon-Ho

2011-01-01

We report methods for preparation and tomographic reconstruction of an arbitrary single-photon path qubit. The arbitrary single-photon path qubit is prepared losslessly by passing the heralded single-photon state from spontaneous parametric down-conversion through variable beam splitter. Quantum state tomography of the single-photon path qubit is implemented by introducing path-projection measurements based on the first-order single-photon quantum interference. Using the state preparation and path-projection measurements methods for the single-photon path qubit, we demonstrate preparation and complete tomographic reconstruction of the single-photon path qubit with arbitrary purity. -- Highlights: → We report methods for preparation and tomographic reconstruction of an arbitrary single-photon path qubit. → We implement path-projection measurements based on the first-order single-photon quantum interference. → We demonstrate preparation and complete tomographic reconstruction of the single-photon path qubit with arbitrary purity.

Angle sensitive single photon avalanche diode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Changhyuk, E-mail: cl678@cornell.edu; Johnson, Ben, E-mail: bcj25@cornell.edu; Molnar, Alyosha, E-mail: am699@cornell.edu [Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850 (United States)

2015-06-08

An ideal light sensor would provide exact information on intensity, timing, location, and angle of incoming photons. Single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) provide such desired high (single photon) sensitivity with precise time information and can be implemented at a pixel-scale to form an array to extract spatial information. Furthermore, recent work has demonstrated photodiode-based structures (combined with micro-lenses or diffraction gratings) that are capable of encoding both spatial and angular information of incident light. In this letter, we describe the implementation of such a grating structure on SPADs to realize a pixel-scale angle-sensitive single photon avalanche diode (A-SPAD) built in a standard CMOS process. While the underlying SPAD structure provides high sensitivity, the time information of the two layers of diffraction gratings above offers angle-sensitivity. Such a unique combination of SPAD and diffraction gratings expands the sensing dimensions to pave a path towards lens-less 3-D imaging and light-field time-of-flight imaging.

Quantum Logic with Cavity Photons From Single Atoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Holleczek, Annemarie; Barter, Oliver; Rubenok, Allison; Dilley, Jerome; Nisbet-Jones, Peter B R; Langfahl-Klabes, Gunnar; Marshall, Graham D; Sparrow, Chris; O'Brien, Jeremy L; Poulios, Konstantinos; Kuhn, Axel; Matthews, Jonathan C F

2016-07-08

We demonstrate quantum logic using narrow linewidth photons that are produced with an a priori nonprobabilistic scheme from a single ^{87}Rb atom strongly coupled to a high-finesse cavity. We use a controlled-not gate integrated into a photonic chip to entangle these photons, and we observe nonclassical correlations between photon detection events separated by periods exceeding the travel time across the chip by 3 orders of magnitude. This enables quantum technology that will use the properties of both narrow-band single photon sources and integrated quantum photonics.

Single-photon switch: Controllable scattering of photons inside a one-dimensional resonator waveguide

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, L.; Gong, Z. R.; Liu, Y. X.; Sun, C. P.; Nori, F.

2010-03-01

We analyze the coherent transport of a single photon, which propagates in a one-dimensional coupled-resonator waveguide and is scattered by a controllable two-level system located inside one of the resonators of this waveguide. Our approach, which uses discrete coordinates, unifies low and high energy effective theories for single-photon scattering. We show that the controllable two-level system can behave as a quantum switch for the coherent transport of a single photon. This study may inspire new electro-optical single-photon quantum devices. We also suggest an experimental setup based on superconducting transmission line resonators and qubits. References: L. Zhou, Z.R. Gong, Y.X. Liu, C.P. Sun, F. Nori, Controllable scattering of photons inside a one-dimensional resonator waveguide, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 100501 (2008). L. Zhou, H. Dong, Y.X. Liu, C.P. Sun, F. Nori, Quantum super-cavity with atomic mirrors, Phys. Rev. A 78, 063827 (2008).

Electro-optic routing of photons from a single quantum dot in photonic integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Midolo, Leonardo; Hansen, Sofie L.; Zhang, Weili; Papon, Camille; Schott, Rüdiger; Ludwig, Arne; Wieck, Andreas D.; Lodahl, Peter; Stobbe, Søren

2017-12-01

Recent breakthroughs in solid-state photonic quantum technologies enable generating and detecting single photons with near-unity efficiency as required for a range of photonic quantum technologies. The lack of methods to simultaneously generate and control photons within the same chip, however, has formed a main obstacle to achieving efficient multi-qubit gates and to harness the advantages of chip-scale quantum photonics. Here we propose and demonstrate an integrated voltage-controlled phase shifter based on the electro-optic effect in suspended photonic waveguides with embedded quantum emitters. The phase control allows building a compact Mach-Zehnder interferometer with two orthogonal arms, taking advantage of the anisotropic electro-optic response in gallium arsenide. Photons emitted by single self-assembled quantum dots can be actively routed into the two outputs of the interferometer. These results, together with the observed sub-microsecond response time, constitute a significant step towards chip-scale single-photon-source de-multiplexing, fiber-loop boson sampling, and linear optical quantum computing.

Electromagnetic cascade in high-energy electron, positron, and photon interactions with intense laser pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Bulanov, S. S.; Schroeder, C. B.; Esarey, E.; Leemans, W. P.

2013-06-01

The interaction of high-energy electrons, positrons, and photons with intense laser pulses is studied in head-on collision geometry. It is shown that electrons and/or positrons undergo a cascade-type process involving multiple emissions of photons. These photons can consequently convert into electron-positron pairs. As a result charged particles quickly lose their energy developing an exponentially decaying energy distribution, which suppresses the emission of high-energy photons, thus reducing the number of electron-positron pairs being generated. Therefore, this type of interaction suppresses the development of the electromagnetic avalanche-type discharge, i.e., the exponential growth of the number of electrons, positrons, and photons does not occur in the course of interaction. The suppression will occur when three-dimensional effects can be neglected in the transverse particle orbits, i.e., for sufficiently broad laser pulses with intensities that are not too extreme. The final distributions of electrons, positrons, and photons are calculated for the case of a high-energy e-beam interacting with a counterstreaming, short intense laser pulse. The energy loss of the e-beam, which requires a self-consistent quantum description, plays an important role in this process, as well as provides a clear experimental observable for the transition from the classical to quantum regime of interaction.

Single-pulse x-ray diffraction using polycapillary optics for in situ dynamic diffraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maddox, B. R., E-mail: maddox3@llnl.gov; Akin, M. C., E-mail: akin1@llnl.gov; Teruya, A.; Hunt, D.; Hahn, D.; Cradick, J. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States); Morgan, D. V. [National Security Technologies LLC, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 (United States)

2016-08-15

Diagnostic use of single-pulse x-ray diffraction (XRD) at pulsed power facilities can be challenging due to factors such as the high flux and brightness requirements for diffraction and the geometric constraints of experimental platforms. By necessity, the x-ray source is usually positioned very close, within a few inches of the sample. On dynamic compression platforms, this puts the x-ray source in the debris field. We coupled x-ray polycapillary optics to a single-shot needle-and-washer x-ray diode source using a laser-based alignment scheme to obtain high-quality x-ray diffraction using a single 16 ns x-ray pulse with the source >1 m from the sample. The system was tested on a Mo sample in reflection geometry using 17 keV x-rays from a Mo anode. We also identified an anode conditioning effect that increased the x-ray intensity by 180%. Quantitative measurements of the x-ray focal spot produced by the polycapillary yielded a total x-ray flux on the sample of 3.3 ± 0.5 × 10{sup 7} molybdenum Kα photons.

Changing optical band structure with single photons

Science.gov (United States)

Albrecht, Andreas; Caneva, Tommaso; Chang, Darrick E.

2017-11-01

Achieving strong interactions between individual photons enables a wide variety of exciting possibilities in quantum information science and many-body physics. Cold atoms interfaced with nanophotonic structures have emerged as a platform to realize novel forms of nonlinear interactions. In particular, when atoms are coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide, long-range atomic interactions can arise that are mediated by localized atom-photon bound states. We theoretically show that in such a system, the absorption of a single photon can change the band structure for a subsequent photon. This occurs because the first photon affects the atoms in the chain in an alternating fashion, thus leading to an effective period doubling of the system and a new optical band structure for the composite atom-nanophotonic system. We demonstrate how this mechanism can be engineered to realize a single-photon switch, where the first incoming photon switches the system from being highly transmissive to highly reflective, and analyze how signatures can be observed via non-classical correlations of the outgoing photon field.

Efficient generation of single and entangled photons on a silicon photonic integrated chip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mower, Jacob; Englund, Dirk

2011-01-01

We present a protocol for generating on-demand, indistinguishable single photons on a silicon photonic integrated chip. The source is a time-multiplexed spontaneous parametric down-conversion element that allows optimization of single-photon versus multiphoton emission while realizing high output rate and indistinguishability. We minimize both the scaling of active elements and the scaling of active element loss with multiplexing. We then discuss detection strategies and data processing to further optimize the procedure. We simulate an improvement in single-photon-generation efficiency over previous time-multiplexing protocols, assuming existing fabrication capabilities. We then apply this system to generate heralded Bell states. The generation efficiency of both nonclassical states could be increased substantially with improved fabrication procedures.

Coupling of single quantum dots to a photonic crystal waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund-Hansen, Toke; Stobbe, Søren; Julsgaard, Brian

Efficient and high quality single-photon sources is a key element in quantum information processing using photons. As a consequence, much current research is focused on realizing all-solid-state nanophotonic single-photon sources. Single photons can be harvested with high efficiency if the emitter...... is coupled efficiently to a single enhanced mode. One popular approach has been to couple single quantum dots to a nanocavity but a limiting factor in this configuration is that in order to apply the photon it should subsequently be coupled out of the cavity, reducing the overall efficiency significantly...

Proposal for a scheme to generate 10 TW-Level femtosecond X-ray pulses for imaging single protein molecules at the European XFEL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Serkez, Svitozar; Kocharyan, Vitali; Saldin, Evgeni; Zagorodnov, Igor [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Geloni, Gianluca [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Yefanov, Oleksander [Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Hamburg (Germany)

2013-06-15

Single biomolecular imaging using XFEL radiation is an emerging method for protein structure determination using the ''diffraction before destruction'' method at near atomic resolution. Crucial parameters for such bio-imaging experiments are photon energy range, peak power, pulse duration, and transverse coherence. The largest diffraction signals are achieved at the longest wavelength that supports a given resolution, which should be better than 0.3 nm. We propose a configuration which combines self-seeding and undulator tapering techniques with the emittance-spoiler method in order to increase the XFEL output peak power and to shorten the pulse duration up to a level sufficient for performing bio-imaging of single protein molecules at the optimal photon energy range, i.e. around 4 keV. Experiments at the LCLS confirmed the feasibility of these three new techniques. Based on start-to-end simulations we demonstrate that self-seeding, combined with undulator tapering, allows one to achieve up to a 100-fold increase in peak-power. A slotted foil in the last bunch compressor is added for X-ray pulse duration control. Simulations indicate that one can achieve diffraction to the desired resolution with 50 mJ (corresponding to 10{sup 14} photons) per 10 fs pulse at 3.5 keV photon energy in a 100 nm focus. This result is exemplified using the photosystem I membrane protein as a case study.

Extension of supercontinuum spectrum generated in photonic crystal fiber by using chirped femtosecond pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Vengelis, Julius; Jarutis, Vygandas; Sirutkaitis, Valdas

2017-08-01

We present results of experimental and numerical investigation of supercontinuum generation in polarization maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PCF) using chirped femtosecond pulses. The initial unchirped pump pulse source was a mode-locked Yb:KGW laser generating 52 nJ energy 110 fs duration pulses at 1030 nm with 76 MHz repetition rate. The nonlinear medium was a 32 cm long polarization maintaining PCF manufactured by NKT Photonics A/S. We demonstrated the influence of pump pulse chirp on spectral characteristics of supercontinuum. We showed that by chirping pump pulses positively or negatively one can obtain broader supercontinuum spectrum than in case of unchirped pump pulses at the same peak power. Moreover, the extension can be controlled by changing the amount of pump pulse chirp. In our case the supercontinuum spectrum width was extended by up to 115 nm (at maximum chirp value of +10500 fs2 that we could achieve in our setup) compared to the case of unchirped pump at the same peak power.

Controlling light emission from single-photon sources using photonic nanowires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels; Chen, Yuntian; Mørk, Jesper

2012-01-01

The photonic nanowire has recently emerged as an promising alternative to microcavity-based single-photon source designs. In this simple structure, a geometrical effect ensures a strong coupling between an embedded emitter and the optical mode of interest and a combination of tapers and mirrors a...

Single-photon three-qubit quantum logic using spatial light modulators.

Science.gov (United States)

Kagalwala, Kumel H; Di Giuseppe, Giovanni; Abouraddy, Ayman F; Saleh, Bahaa E A

2017-09-29

The information-carrying capacity of a single photon can be vastly expanded by exploiting its multiple degrees of freedom: spatial, temporal, and polarization. Although multiple qubits can be encoded per photon, to date only two-qubit single-photon quantum operations have been realized. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of three-qubit single-photon, linear, deterministic quantum gates that exploit photon polarization and the two-dimensional spatial-parity-symmetry of the transverse single-photon field. These gates are implemented using a polarization-sensitive spatial light modulator that provides a robust, non-interferometric, versatile platform for implementing controlled unitary gates. Polarization here represents the control qubit for either separable or entangling unitary operations on the two spatial-parity target qubits. Such gates help generate maximally entangled three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states, which is confirmed by tomographical reconstruction of single-photon density matrices. This strategy provides access to a wide range of three-qubit states and operations for use in few-qubit quantum information processing protocols.Photons are essential for quantum information processing, but to date only two-qubit single-photon operations have been realized. Here the authors demonstrate experimentally a three-qubit single-photon linear deterministic quantum gate by exploiting polarization along with spatial-parity symmetry.

Time-gated single-photon detection module with 110 ps transition time and up to 80 MHz repetition rate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buttafava, Mauro, E-mail: mauro.buttafava@polimi.it; Boso, Gianluca; Ruggeri, Alessandro; Tosi, Alberto [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Piazza Leonardo Da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano (Italy); Dalla Mora, Alberto [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazza Leonardo Da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano (Italy)

2014-08-15

We present the design and characterization of a complete single-photon counting module capable of time-gating a silicon single-photon avalanche diode with ON and OFF transition times down to 110 ps, at repetition rates up to 80 MHz. Thanks to this sharp temporal filtering of incoming photons, it is possible to reject undesired strong light pulses preceding (or following) the signal of interest, allowing to increase the dynamic range of optical acquisitions up to 7 decades. A complete experimental characterization of the module highlights its very flat temporal response, with a time resolution of the order of 30 ps. The instrument is fully user-configurable via a PC interface and can be easily integrated in any optical setup, thanks to its small and compact form factor.

Time-gated single-photon detection module with 110 ps transition time and up to 80 MHz repetition rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buttafava, Mauro; Boso, Gianluca; Ruggeri, Alessandro; Tosi, Alberto; Dalla Mora, Alberto

2014-01-01

We present the design and characterization of a complete single-photon counting module capable of time-gating a silicon single-photon avalanche diode with ON and OFF transition times down to 110 ps, at repetition rates up to 80 MHz. Thanks to this sharp temporal filtering of incoming photons, it is possible to reject undesired strong light pulses preceding (or following) the signal of interest, allowing to increase the dynamic range of optical acquisitions up to 7 decades. A complete experimental characterization of the module highlights its very flat temporal response, with a time resolution of the order of 30 ps. The instrument is fully user-configurable via a PC interface and can be easily integrated in any optical setup, thanks to its small and compact form factor

Picosecond, single pulse electron linear accelerator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikuchi, Riichi; Kawanishi, Masaharu

1979-01-01

The picosecond, single pulse electron linear accelerators, are described, which were installed in the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory of the University of Tokyo and in the Nuclear Radiation Laboratory of the Osaka University. The purpose of the picosecond, single pulse electron linear accelerators is to investigate the very short time reaction of the substances, into which gamma ray or electron beam enters. When the electrons in substances receive radiation energy, the electrons get high kinetic energy, and the energy and the electric charge shift, at last to the quasi-stable state. This transient state can be experimented with these special accelerators very accurately, during picoseconds, raising the accuracy of the time of incidence of radiation and also raising the accuracy of observation time. The outline of these picosecond, single pulse electron linear accelerators of the University of Tokyo and the Osaka University, including the history, the systems and components and the output beam characteristics, are explained. For example, the maximum energy 30 -- 35 MeV, the peak current 1 -- 8 n C, the pulse width 18 -- 40 ps, the pulse repetition rate 200 -- 720 pps, the energy spectrum 1 -- 1.8% and the output beam diameter 2 -- 5 mm are shown as the output beam characteristics of the accelerators in both universities. The investigations utilizing the picosecond single pulse electron linear accelerators, such as the investigation of short life excitation state by pulsed radiation, the dosimetry study of pulsed radiation, and the investigation of the transforming mechanism and the development of the transforming technology from picosecond, single pulse electron beam to X ray, vacuum ultraviolet ray and visual ray, are described. (Nakai, Y.)

Recyclable amplification for single-photon entanglement from photon loss and decoherence

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Lan; Chen, Ling-Quan; Zhong, Wei; Sheng, Yu-Bo

2018-01-01

We put forward a highly efficient recyclable single-photon assisted amplification protocol, which can protect single-photon entanglement (SPE) from photon loss and decoherence. Making use of quantum nondemolition detection gates constructed with the help of cross-Kerr nonlinearity, our protocol has some attractive advantages. First, the parties can recover less-entangled SPE to be maximally entangled SPE, and reduce photon loss simultaneously. Second, if the protocol fails, the parties can repeat the protocol to reuse some discarded items, which can increase the success probability. Third, when the protocol is successful, they can similarly repeat the protocol to further increase the fidelity of the SPE. Thereby, our protocol provides a possible way to obtain high entanglement, high fidelity and high success probability simultaneously. In particular, our protocol shows higher success probability in the practical high photon loss channel. Based on the above features, our amplification protocol has potential for future application in long-distance quantum communication.

Waveguide-Coupled Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Andrew D.; Briggs, Ryan M.; Marsili, Francesco; Cohen, Justin D.; Meenehan, Sean M.; Painter, Oskar J.; Shaw, Matthew D.

2015-01-01

We have demonstrated WSi-based superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors coupled to SiNx waveguides with integrated ring resonators. This photonics platform enables the implementation of robust and efficient photon-counting detectors with fine spectral resolution near 1550 nm.

Heralded noiseless amplification for single-photon entangled state with polarization feature

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dan-Dan; Jin, Yu-Yu; Qin, Sheng-Xian; Zu, Hao; Zhou, Lan; Zhong, Wei; Sheng, Yu-Bo

2018-03-01

Heralded noiseless amplification is a promising method to overcome the transmission photon loss in practical noisy quantum channel and can effectively lengthen the quantum communication distance. Single-photon entanglement is an important resource in current quantum communications. Here, we construct two single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocols for the single-photon two-mode entangled state and single-photon three-mode W state, respectively, where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. After the amplification, the fidelity of the single-photon entangled state can be increased, while the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit can be well remained. Both the two protocols only require the linear optical elements, so that they can be realized under current experimental condition. Our protocols may be useful in current and future quantum information processing.

Extension of supercontinuum spectrum, generated in polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber, using chirped femtosecond pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Vengelis, Julius; Jarutis, Vygandas; Sirutkaitis, Valdas

2018-01-01

We present results of experimental and numerical investigation of supercontinuum (SC) generation in polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PCF) using chirped femtosecond pulses. The initial unchirped pump pulse source was a mode-locked Yb:KGW laser generating 52-nJ energy, 110-fs duration pulses at 1030 nm with a 76-MHz repetition rate. The nonlinear medium was a 32-cm-long polarization-maintaining PCF manufactured by NKT Photonics A/S. We demonstrated the influence of pump pulse chirp on spectral characteristics of a SC. We showed that by chirping pump pulses positively or negatively one can obtain a broader SC spectrum than in the case of unchirped pump pulses at the same peak power. Moreover, the extension can be controlled by changing the amount of pump pulse chirp. Numerical simulation results also indicated that pump pulse chirp yields an extension of SC spectrum.

Transition of lasing modes in polymeric opal photonic crystal resonating cavity.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Lan-Ting; Zheng, Mei-Ling; Jin, Feng; Dong, Xian-Zi; Chen, Wei-Qiang; Zhao, Zhen-Sheng; Duan, Xuan-Ming

2016-06-10

We demonstrate the transition of lasing modes in the resonating cavity constructed by polystyrene opal photonic crystals and 7 wt. % tert-butyl Rhodamine B doped polymer film. Both single mode and multiple mode lasing emission are observed from the resonating cavity. The lasing threshold is determined to be 0.81  μJ/pulse for single mode lasing emission and 2.25  μJ/pulse for multiple mode lasing emission. The single mode lasing emission is attributed to photonic lasing resulting from the photonic bandgap effect of the opal photonic crystals, while the multiple mode lasing emission is assigned to random lasing due to the defects in the photonic crystals. The result would benefit the development of low threshold polymeric solid state photonic crystal lasers.

New Generation of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goltsman G.N.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We present an overview of recent results for new generation of infrared and optical superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs that has already demonstrated a performance that makes them devices-of-choice for many applications. SNSPDs provide high efficiency for detecting individual photons while keeping dark counts and timing jitter minimal. Besides superior detection performance over a broad optical bandwidth, SNSPDs are also compatible with an integrated optical platform as a crucial requirement for applications in emerging quantum photonic technologies. By embedding SNSPDs in nanophotonic circuits we realize waveguide integrated single photon detectors which unite all desirable detector properties in a single device.

Vacuum Ultraviolet Single-Photon Postionization of Amino Acids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsu Chen Hsu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In this study, ultraviolet (UV laser desorption and vacuum UV single-photon (VUV SP postionization were performed to ionize and successfully analyze 20 common amino acids. The analytical merit and efficiency of the ionization was compared with those of conventional UV matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (UV-MALDI. A VUV light source (118 nm was generated from the ninth harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, and the photon number was determined to be larger than 1012 for each laser pulse in the ionization region. In general, the detection sensitivity of VUV-SP-postionization was 10–100 times higher than that of conventional UV-MALDI. In particular, the ion signal from VUV-SP-postionization was considerably larger than that from UV-MALDI for analytes with low proton affinity such as glycine. However, some fragmentation of intact ions was observed in VUV-SP-postionization. Quantitative analysis performed using a glycine/histidine mixture and tryptophan/phenylalanine mixture revealed that the dynamic range of VUV-SP-postionization was one order of magnitude larger than that of UV-MALDI, indicating that VUV-SP-postionization is suitable for the quantitative analysis of amino acids.

Theory of Self-pulsing in Photonic Crystal Fano Lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Thorsten Svend; Yu, Yi; Mørk, Jesper

2017-01-01

-dispersive Fano mirror, the laser frequency and the threshold gain. The model is based upon a combination of conventional laser rate equations and coupled-mode theory. The dynamical model is used to demonstrate how the laser has two regimes of operation, continuous-wave output and self-pulsing, and these regimes......Laser self-pulsing was a phenomenon exclusive to macroscopic lasers until recently, where self-starting laser pulsation in a microscopic photonic crystal Fano laser was reported. In this paper a theoretical model is developed to describe the Fano laser, including descriptions of the highly...

Intrinsic and environmental effects on the interference properties of a high-performance quantum dot single-photon source

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerhardt, Stefan; Iles-Smith, Jake; McCutcheon, Dara

2018-01-01

We report a joint experimental and theoretical study of the interference properties of a single-photon source based on a In(Ga)As quantum dot embedded in a quasiplanar GaAs microcavity. Using resonant laser excitation with a pulse separation of 2 ns, we find near-perfect interference of the emitt...... in excitonic Rabi oscillations....

Entanglement and quantum superposition induced by a single photon

Science.gov (United States)

Lü, Xin-You; Zhu, Gui-Lei; Zheng, Li-Li; Wu, Ying

2018-03-01

We predict the occurrence of single-photon-induced entanglement and quantum superposition in a hybrid quantum model, introducing an optomechanical coupling into the Rabi model. Originally, it comes from the photon-dependent quantum property of the ground state featured by the proposed hybrid model. It is associated with a single-photon-induced quantum phase transition, and is immune to the A2 term of the spin-field interaction. Moreover, the obtained quantum superposition state is actually a squeezed cat state, which can significantly enhance precision in quantum metrology. This work offers an approach to manipulate entanglement and quantum superposition with a single photon, which might have potential applications in the engineering of new single-photon quantum devices, and also fundamentally broaden the regime of cavity QED.

Single-Photon Source for Quantum Information Based on Single Dye Molecule Fluorescence in Liquid Crystal Host

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lukishova, S.G.; Knox, R.P.; Freivald, P.; McNamara, A.; Boyd, R.W.; Stroud, Jr. C.R.; Schmid, A.W.; Marshall, K.L.

2006-01-01

This paper describes a new application for liquid crystals: quantum information technology. A deterministically polarized single-photon source that efficiently produces photons exhibiting antibunching is a pivotal hardware element in absolutely secure quantum communication. Planar-aligned nematic liquid crystal hosts deterministically align the single dye molecules which produce deterministically polarized single (antibunched) photons. In addition, 1-D photonic bandgap cholesteric liquid crystals will increase single-photon source efficiency. The experiments and challenges in the observation of deterministically polarized fluorescence from single dye molecules in planar-aligned glassy nematic-liquid-crystal oligomer as well as photon antibunching in glassy cholesteric oligomer are described for the first time

Energy-correction photon counting pixel for photon energy extraction under pulse pile-up

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Daehee; Park, Kyungjin; Lim, Kyung Taek; Cho, Gyuseong, E-mail: gscho@kaist.ac.kr

2017-06-01

A photon counting detector (PCD) has been proposed as an alternative solution to an energy-integrating detector (EID) in medical imaging field due to its high resolution, high efficiency, and low noise. The PCD has expanded to variety of fields such as spectral CT, k-edge imaging, and material decomposition owing to its capability to count and measure the number and the energy of an incident photon, respectively. Nonetheless, pulse pile-up, which is a superimposition of pulses at the output of a charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) in each PC pixel, occurs frequently as the X-ray flux increases due to the finite pulse processing time (PPT) in CSAs. Pulse pile-up induces not only a count loss but also distortion in the measured X-ray spectrum from each PC pixel and thus it is a main constraint on the use of PCDs in high flux X-ray applications. To minimize these effects, an energy-correction PC (ECPC) pixel is proposed to resolve pulse pile-up without cutting off the PPT by adding an energy correction logic (ECL) via a cross detection method (CDM). The ECPC pixel with a size of 200×200 µm{sup 2} was fabricated by using a 6-metal 1-poly 0.18 µm CMOS process with a static power consumption of 7.2 μW/pixel. The maximum count rate of the ECPC pixel was extended by approximately three times higher than that of a conventional PC pixel with a PPT of 500 nsec. The X-ray spectrum of 90 kVp, filtered by 3 mm Al filter, was measured as the X-ray current was increased using the CdTe and the ECPC pixel. As a result, the ECPC pixel dramatically reduced the energy spectrum distortion at 2 Mphotons/pixel/s when compared to that of the ERCP pixel with the same 500 nsec PPT.

Pulse-bandwidth dependence of coherent phase control of resonance-mediated (2+1) three-photon absorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gandman, Andrey; Chuntonov, Lev; Rybak, Leonid; Amitay, Zohar

2007-01-01

We study in detail coherent phase control of femtosecond resonance-mediated (2+1) three-photon absorption and its dependence on the spectral bandwidth of the excitation pulse. The regime is the weak-field regime of third perturbative order. The corresponding interference mechanism involves a group of three-photon excitation pathways that are on resonance with the intermediate state and a group of three-photon excitation pathways that are near resonant with it. The model system of the study is atomic sodium (Na), for which experimental and numerical-theoretical results are obtained. Prominent among the results is our finding that with simple proper pulse shaping an increase in the excitation bandwidth leads to a corresponding increase in the enhancement of the three-photon absorption over the absorption induced by the (unshaped) transform-limited pulse. For example, here, a 40 nm bandwidth leads to an order-of-magnitude enhancement over the transform-limited absorption

Compression of realistic laser pulses in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lægsgaard, Jesper; Roberts, John

2009-01-01

Dispersive compression of chirped few-picosecond pulses at the microjoule level in a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber is studied numerically. The performance of ideal parabolic input pulses is compared to pulses from a narrowband picosecond oscillator broadened by self-phase modulation during...... amplification. It is shown that the parabolic pulses are superior for compression of high-quality femtosecond pulses up to the few-megawatts level. With peak powers of 5-10 MW or higher, there is no significant difference in power scaling and pulse quality between the two pulse types for comparable values...... of power, duration, and bandwidth. The same conclusion is found for the peak power and energy of solitons formed beyond the point of maximal compression. Long-pass filtering of these solitons is shown to be a promising route to clean solitonlike output pulses with peak powers of several MW....

Photon Counting Using Edge-Detection Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Gin, Jonathan W.; Nguyen, Danh H.; Farr, William H.

2010-01-01

New applications such as high-datarate, photon-starved, free-space optical communications require photon counting at flux rates into gigaphoton-per-second regimes coupled with subnanosecond timing accuracy. Current single-photon detectors that are capable of handling such operating conditions are designed in an array format and produce output pulses that span multiple sample times. In order to discern one pulse from another and not to overcount the number of incoming photons, a detection algorithm must be applied to the sampled detector output pulses. As flux rates increase, the ability to implement such a detection algorithm becomes difficult within a digital processor that may reside within a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Systems have been developed and implemented to both characterize gigahertz bandwidth single-photon detectors, as well as process photon count signals at rates into gigaphotons per second in order to implement communications links at SCPPM (serial concatenated pulse position modulation) encoded data rates exceeding 100 megabits per second with efficiencies greater than two bits per detected photon. A hardware edge-detection algorithm and corresponding signal combining and deserialization hardware were developed to meet these requirements at sample rates up to 10 GHz. The photon discriminator deserializer hardware board accepts four inputs, which allows for the ability to take inputs from a quadphoton counting detector, to support requirements for optical tracking with a reduced number of hardware components. The four inputs are hardware leading-edge detected independently. After leading-edge detection, the resultant samples are ORed together prior to deserialization. The deserialization is performed to reduce the rate at which data is passed to a digital signal processor, perhaps residing within an FPGA. The hardware implements four separate analog inputs that are connected through RF connectors. Each analog input is fed to a high-speed 1

Nanofabrication of Plasmonic Circuits Containing Single Photon Sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siampour, Hamidreza; Kumar, Shailesh; Bozhevolnyi, Sergey I.

2017-01-01

Nanofabrication of photonic components based on dielectric loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides (DLSPPWs) excited by single nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds is demonstrated. DLSPPW circuits are built around NV containing nanodiamonds, which are certified to be single-photon...... emitters, using electron-beam lithography of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist on silver-coated silicon substrates. A propagation length of 20 ± 5 μm for the NV single-photon emission is measured with DLSPPWs. A 5-fold enhancement in the total decay rate, and 58% coupling efficiency to the DLSPPW mode...

A Single-Pulse Integrator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miller, Arne

1974-01-01

A single-pulse integrator is described. It gives a relative measure of the integral of the output signal from a coil monitor on the Risø 10 MeV linear accelerator, and displays the value on a digital voltmeter. The reproduccibility is found to be better than ±1% for an accelerated pulse charge...

CeB6 Sensor for Thermoelectric Single-Photon Detector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armen KUZANIAN

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Interest in single-photon detectors has recently sharply increased. The most developed single-photon detectors are currently based on superconductors. Following the theory, thermoelectric single-photon detectors can compete with superconducting detectors. The operational principle of thermoelectric detector is based on photon absorption by absorber as a result of which a temperature gradient is generated across the sensor. In this work we present the results of computer modeling of heat distribution processes after absorption of a photon of 1 keV - 1 eV energy in different areas of the absorber for different geometries of tungsten absorber and cerium hexaboride sensor. The time dependence of the temperature difference between the ends of the thermoelectric sensor and electric potential appearing across the sensor are calculated. The results of calculations show that it is realistic to detect single photons from IR to X-ray and determine their energy. Count rates up to hundreds gigahertz can be achieved.

Sub-megahertz linewidth single photon source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Rambach

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We report 100% duty cycle generation of sub-MHz single photon pairs at the rubidium D1 line using cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric downconversion. The temporal intensity cross correlation function exhibits a bandwidth of 666±16 kHz for the single photons, an order of magnitude below the natural linewidth of the target transition. A half-wave plate inside our cavity helps to achieve triple resonance between pump, signal, and idler photon, reducing the bandwidth and simplifying the locking scheme. Additionally, stabilisation of the cavity to the pump frequency enables the 100% duty cycle. The quantum nature of the source is confirmed by the idler-triggered second-order autocorrelation function at τ=0 to be gs,s(2(0= 0.016±0.002 for a heralding rate of 5 kHz. The generated photons are well-suited for storage in quantum memory schemes with sub-natural linewidths, such as gradient echo memories.

Semi-quantum Dialogue Based on Single Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Tian-Yu; Ye, Chong-Qiang

2018-02-01

In this paper, we propose two semi-quantum dialogue (SQD) protocols by using single photons as the quantum carriers, where one requires the classical party to possess the measurement capability and the other does not have this requirement. The security toward active attacks from an outside Eve in the first SQD protocol is guaranteed by the complete robustness of present semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocols, the classical one-time pad encryption, the classical party's randomization operation and the decoy photon technology. The information leakage problem of the first SQD protocol is overcome by the classical party' classical basis measurements on the single photons carrying messages which makes him share their initial states with the quantum party. The security toward active attacks from Eve in the second SQD protocol is guaranteed by the classical party's randomization operation, the complete robustness of present SQKD protocol and the classical one-time pad encryption. The information leakage problem of the second SQD protocol is overcome by the quantum party' classical basis measurements on each two adjacent single photons carrying messages which makes her share their initial states with the classical party. Compared with the traditional information leakage resistant QD protocols, the advantage of the proposed SQD protocols lies in that they only require one party to have quantum capabilities. Compared with the existing SQD protocol, the advantage of the proposed SQD protocols lies in that they only employ single photons rather than two-photon entangled states as the quantum carriers. The proposed SQD protocols can be implemented with present quantum technologies.

Optical UWB pulse generator using an N tap microwave photonic filter and phase inversion adaptable to different pulse modulation formats.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolea, Mario; Mora, José; Ortega, Beatriz; Capmany, José

2009-03-30

We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally an optical architecture for flexible Ultra-Wideband pulse generation. It is based on an N-tap reconfigurable microwave photonic filter fed by a laser array by using phase inversion in a Mach-Zehnder modulator. Since a large number of positive and negative coefficients can be easily implemented, UWB pulses fitted to the FCC mask requirements can be generated. As an example, a four tap pulse generator is experimentally demonstrated which complies with the FCC regulation. The proposed pulse generator allows different pulse modulation formats since the amplitude, polarity and time delay of generated pulse is controlled.

Low-noise low-jitter 32-pixels CMOS single-photon avalanche diodes array for single-photon counting from 300 nm to 900 nm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scarcella, Carmelo; Tosi, Alberto, E-mail: alberto.tosi@polimi.it; Villa, Federica; Tisa, Simone; Zappa, Franco [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy)

2013-12-15

We developed a single-photon counting multichannel detection system, based on a monolithic linear array of 32 CMOS SPADs (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes). All channels achieve a timing resolution of 100 ps (full-width at half maximum) and a photon detection efficiency of 50% at 400 nm. Dark count rate is very low even at room temperature, being about 125 counts/s for 50 μm active area diameter SPADs. Detection performance and microelectronic compactness of this CMOS SPAD array make it the best candidate for ultra-compact time-resolved spectrometers with single-photon sensitivity from 300 nm to 900 nm.

Visible to Infrared Diamond Photonics Enabled by Focused Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belén Sotillo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Diamond’s nitrogen-vacancy (NV centers show great promise in sensing applications and quantum computing due to their long electron spin coherence time and because they can be found, manipulated, and read out optically. An important step forward for diamond photonics would be connecting multiple diamond NVs together using optical waveguides. However, the inertness of diamond is a significant hurdle for the fabrication of integrated optics similar to those that revolutionized silicon photonics. In this work, we show the fabrication of optical waveguides in diamond, enabled by focused femtosecond high repetition rate laser pulses. By optimizing the geometry of the waveguide, we obtain single mode waveguides from the visible to the infrared. Additionally, we show the laser writing of individual NV centers within the bulk of diamond. We use µ-Raman spectroscopy to gain better insight on the stress and the refractive index profile of the optical waveguides. Using optically detected magnetic resonance and confocal photoluminescence characterization, high quality NV properties are observed in waveguides formed in various grades of diamond, making them promising for applications such as magnetometry, quantum information systems, and evanescent field sensors.

A superconducting microcalorimeter for low-flux detection of near-infrared single photons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dreyling-Eschweiler, Jan

2014-07-15

This thesis covers the development and the characterization of a single photon detector based on a superconducting microcalorimeter. The detector development is motivated by the Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) experiment at DESY in Hamburg, which searches for weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs). Therefore, a detection of low-fluxes of 1064 nm light is required. The work is divided in three analyses: the characterization of a milli-kelvin (mK) cryostat, the characterization of superconducting sensors for single photon detection, and the determination of dark count rates concerning 1064 nm signals. Firstly, an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) is characterized, which allows to reach mK-temperatures. During commissioning, the ADR cryostat is optimized and prepared to stably cool superconducting sensors at 80 mK±25 μK. It is found that sensors can be continuously operated for ∝20 h before recharging the system in <2 h. Furthermore, the adiabatic system reaches a chance of success of ∝80 % for a recharge without technical problems. Secondly, superconducting sensors are analyzed. The focus is on microcalorimetric transition-edge sensors (TESs) based on 20 nm Tungsten (W) films fabricated by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST TESs have a near unity detection efficiency for 1064 nm light (literature value). The energy resolution for 1064 nm signals is measured to be <8 %. The exponential falling time of a photon pulse is 1.5 μs. Furthermore, by determining TES parameters, it is found that the linear TES theory describes measured photon pulses well. The TES response is read out by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) fabricated by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The system bandwidth is measured to be 0.9 MHz. Finally, the operation in the ADR cryostat as well as the ALPS II laboratory is optimized. This setup forms the ALPS TES detector. Thirdly, the background is measured to

Optical pulse dynamics for quantum-dot logic operations in a photonic-crystal waveguide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Xun; John, Sajeev [Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7 Canada (Canada)

2011-11-15

We numerically demonstrate all-optical logic operations with quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a bimodal photonic-crystal waveguide using Maxwell-Bloch equations in a slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA). The two-level QD excitation level is controlled by one or more femtojoule optical driving pulses passing through the waveguide. Specific logic operations depend on the relative pulse strengths and their detunings from an inhomogeneouslly broadened (about 1% for QD transitions centered at 1.5 {mu}m) QD transition. This excitation controlled two-level medium then determines passage of subsequent probe optical pulses. Envelope equations for electromagnetic waves in the linear dispersion and cutoff waveguide modes are derived to simplify solution of the coupled Maxwell-Bloch equations in the waveguide. These determine the quantum mechanical evolution of the QD excitation and its polarization, driven by classical electromagnetic (EM) pulses near a sharp discontinuity in the EM density of states of the bimodal waveguide. Different configurations of the driving pulses lead to distinctive relations between driving pulse strength and probe pulse passage, representing all-optical logic and, or, and not operations. Simulation results demonstrate that such operations can be done on picosecond time scales and within a waveguide length of about 10 {mu}m in a photonic-band-gap (PBG) optical microchip.

Experimental time resolved measurement of fluence and energy spectra of photons emitted by a pulsed X-ray generator in the range 5-300 keV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vie, M.; Baboulet, J.P.

1989-01-01

We have developed: - A sensor to measure locally X ray fluence rate amplitude and variation versus time during X ray pulses, - A spectrometer based on ROSS method to measure absolute X ray spectrum versus time during X ray pulses. This metrology is used to characterise single shot X ray pulsed sources emitting photons in the range of 5 to 300 keV. Fluence domain is between 10 -9 and 5 10 -4 J. cm -2 with a few nanoseconds time resolution [fr

Ultrashort and coherent single-electron pulses for diffraction at ultimate resolutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchner, Friedrich Oscar

2013-01-01

Ultrafast electron diffraction is a powerful tool for studying structural dynamics with femtosecond temporal and sub-aangstroem spatial resolutions. It benefits from the high scattering cross-sections of electrons compared X-rays and allows the examination of thin samples, surfaces and gases. One of the main challenges in ultrafast electron diffraction is the generation of electron pulses with a short duration and a large transverse coherence. The former limits the temporal resolution of the experiment while the latter determines the maximum size of the scattering structures that can be studied. In this work, we strive to push the limits of electron diffraction towards higher temporal and spatial resolutions. The decisive step in our approach is to eliminate all detrimental effects caused by Coulomb repulsion between the electrons by reducing the number of electrons per pulse to one. In this situation, the electrons' longitudinal and transverse velocity distributions are determined solely by the photoemission process. By reducing the electron source size on the photocathode, we make use of the small transverse velocity spread to produce electron pulses with a transverse coherence length of 20 nm, which is about an order of magnitude larger than the reported values for comparable experiments. The energy distribution of an ensemble of single-electron pulses from a photoemission source is directly linked to the mismatch between the photon energy and the cathode's work function. This excess energy can be reduced by using a photon energy close to the material's work function. Using a tunable source of ultraviolet pulses, we demonstrate the reduction of the velocity spread of the electrons, resulting in a shorter duration of the electron pulses. The reduced electron pulse durations achieved by a tunable excitation or by other approaches require new characterization techniques for electron pulses. We developed a novel method for the characterization of electron pulses at

A high-efficiency electrically-pumped single-photon source based on a photonics nanowire

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels; Nielsen, Torben Roland; Mørk, Jesper

An electrically-pumped single-photon source design with a predicted efficiency of 89% is proposed. The design is based on a quantum dot embedded in a photonic nanowire with tailored ends and optimized contact electrodes. Unlike cavity-based approaches, the photonic nanowire features broadband...

Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride photon detector for epithermal neutron spectroscopy--pulse height response characterisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tardocchi, M.; Pietropaolo, A.; Andreani, C.; Bracco, A.; D'Angelo, A.; Gorini, G.; Imberti, S.; Senesi, R.; Rhodes, N.J.; Schooneveld, E.M.

2004-01-01

The Resonance Detector Spectrometer was recently revised for neutron spectroscopic studies in the eV energy region. In this technique one makes use of a photon detector to record the gamma emission from analyser foils used as neutron-gamma converters. The pulse-height response of a Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride photon detector to neutron capture emission from 238 U and 197 Au analyser foils was characterised in the neutron energy range 1-200 eV. The experiment was performed on the VESUVIO spectrometer at the ISIS neutron-pulsed source. A biparametric data acquisition, specifically developed for these measurements, allowed the simultaneous measurements of both the neutron time of flight and γ pulse-height spectra. Through the analysis of the γ pulse-height spectra the main components of the signal associated with resonant and non-resonant neutron absorption were identified. It was also shown that, in principle, energy discrimination can be used to improve the signal to background ratio of the neutron time-of-flight measurement

Towards the coupling of single photons from dye molecules to a photonic waveguide

Science.gov (United States)

Polisseni, Claudio; Kho, Kiang Wei; Major, Kyle; Grandi, Samuele; Boisser, Sebastien; Hwang, Jaesuk; Clark, Alex; Hinds, Edward

Single photons are very attractive for quantum information processing given their long coherence time and their ability to carry information in many degrees of freedom. A current challenge is the efficient generation of single photons in a photonic chip in order to scale up the complexity of quantum operations. We have proposed that a dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecule inside an anthracene (AC) crystal could couple lifetime-limited indistinguishable single photons into a photonic waveguide if deposited in its vicinity. In this talk I describe the recent progress towards the realization of this proposal. A new method has been developed for evaporating AC and DBT to produce crystals that are wide and thin. The crystals are typically several microns across and have remarkably uniform thickness, which we control between 20 and 150 nm. The crystal growth is carried out in a glove bag in order to exclude oxygen, which improves the photostability of the DBT molecules by orders of magnitude. We image the fluorescence of single DBT molecules using confocal microscopy and analyse the polarization of this light to determine the alignment of the molecules. I will report on our efforts to control the alignement of the molecules by aligning the host matrix with the substrate.

High-quality asynchronous heralded single-photon source at telecom wavelength

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fasel, Sylvain; Alibart, Olivier; Tanzilli, Sebastien; Baldi, Pascal; Beveratos, Alexios; Gisin, Nicolas; Zbinden, Hugo

2004-01-01

We report on the experimental realization and characterization of an asynchronous heralded single-photon source based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Photons at 1550 nm are heralded as being inside a single-mode fibre with more than 60% probability, and the multi-photon emission probability is reduced by a factor of up to more than 500 compared to Poissonian light sources. These figures of merit, together with the choice of telecom wavelength for the heralded photons, are compatible with practical applications needing very efficient and robust single-photon sources

Single-photon source engineering using a Modal Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels

Solid-state sources of single indistinguishable photons are of great interest for quantum information applications. The semiconductor quantum dot embedded in a host material represents an attractive platform to realize such a single-photon source (SPS). A near-unity efficiency, defined as the num...... nanowire SPSs...

Single-photon detector operating under extremely high background photon flux conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prochazka, Ivan; Sopko, Bruno; Blazej, Josef

2009-01-01

We are reporting our results in research and development in the field of avalanche semiconductor single-photon detectors and their application. Our goal was a development of a solid-state photon-counting detector capable of high-precision photon arrival time tagging in extremely harsh operating conditions. The background photon flux exceeding 10 9 photons per second hitting the detector active area should not avoid the useful signal detection and recognition on the signal level of units of photons per second. This is background photon flux about two orders of magnitude higher than what the conventional solid-state photon counters accept. The detection timing resolution should be better than 100 ps and the delay stability should be on picosecond level. We have developed and tested the active quenched and gated avalanche structure on silicon providing the required features in connection with the K14 detection chips. The detector is capable of gated operation under the conditions of background photon flux of 5x10 9 photons per second. The operational detector tolerates long term exposures to the input photon flux exceeding 10 15 photons (>1 mW) per second without damage.

Simultaneous, single-pulse, synchrotron x-ray imaging and diffraction under gas gun loading

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fan, D.; Luo, S. N., E-mail: sluo@pims.ac.cn [The Peac Institute of Multiscale Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031 (China); Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031 (China); Huang, J. W.; Zeng, X. L.; Li, Y.; E, J. C.; Huang, J. Y. [The Peac Institute of Multiscale Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031 (China); Sun, T.; Fezzaa, K. [Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Wang, Z. [Physics Division P-25, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

2016-05-15

We develop a mini gas gun system for simultaneous, single-pulse, x-ray diffraction and imaging under high strain-rate loading at the beamline 32-ID of the Advanced Photon Source. In order to increase the reciprocal space covered by a small-area detector, a conventional target chamber is split into two chambers: a narrowed measurement chamber and a relief chamber. The gas gun impact is synchronized with synchrotron x-ray pulses and high-speed cameras. Depending on a camera’s capability, multiframe imaging and diffraction can be achieved. The proof-of-principle experiments are performed on single-crystal sapphire. The diffraction spots and images during impact are analyzed to quantify lattice deformation and fracture; fracture is dominated by splitting cracks followed by wing cracks, and diffraction peaks are broadened likely due to mosaic spread. Our results demonstrate the potential of such multiscale measurements for studying high strain-rate phenomena at dynamic extremes.

Single Photon Avalanche Diodes: Towards the Large Bidimensional Arrays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Sciacca

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Single photon detection is one of the most challenging goals of photonics. In recent years, the study of ultra-fast and/or low-intensity phenomena has received renewed attention from the academic and industrial communities. Intense research activity has been focused on bio-imaging applications, bio-luminescence, bio-scattering methods, and, more in general, on several applications requiring high speed operation and high timing resolution. In this paper we present design and characterization of bi-dimensional arrays of a next generation of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs. Single photon sensitivity, dark noise, afterpulsing and timing resolution of the single SPAD have been examined in several experimental conditions. Moreover, the effects arising from their integration and the readout mode have also been deeply investigated.

Dual-Pulse Pulse Position Modulation (DPPM) for Deep-Space Optical Communications: Performance and Practicality Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Hylton, Alan; Budinger, James; Nappier, Jennifer; Downey, Joseph; Raible, Daniel

2012-01-01

Due to its simplicity and robustness against wavefront distortion, pulse position modulation (PPM) with photon counting detector has been seriously considered for long-haul optical wireless systems. This paper evaluates the dual-pulse case and compares it with the conventional single-pulse case. Analytical expressions for symbol error rate and bit error rate are first derived and numerically evaluated, for the strong, negative-exponential turbulent atmosphere; and bandwidth efficiency and throughput are subsequently assessed. It is shown that, under a set of practical constraints including pulse width and pulse repetition frequency (PRF), dual-pulse PPM enables a better channel utilization and hence a higher throughput than it single-pulse counterpart. This result is new and different from the previous idealistic studies that showed multi-pulse PPM provided no essential information-theoretic gains than single-pulse PPM.

Coherent properties of single quantum dot transitions and single photon emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ester, Patrick

2008-04-23

of the first laser pulse. The relative phase of the QDs exciton can be controlled externally via the bias voltage. This effect is the basis for the observation of RAMSEY-fringes, which are presented in this work. The coherent manipulation of the p-shell is the basis for a novel excitation scheme for single photon emission. In this work it is shown that the first excited state can be coherently manipulated, similar to the ground state. (orig.)

Coherent properties of single quantum dot transitions and single photon emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ester, Patrick

2008-01-01

of the first laser pulse. The relative phase of the QDs exciton can be controlled externally via the bias voltage. This effect is the basis for the observation of RAMSEY-fringes, which are presented in this work. The coherent manipulation of the p-shell is the basis for a novel excitation scheme for single photon emission. In this work it is shown that the first excited state can be coherently manipulated, similar to the ground state. (orig.)

Single photon imaging at ultra-high resolution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bellazzini, R. [INFN sez. Pisa, Pisa (Italy); Spandre, G. [INFN sez. Pisa, Pisa (Italy)], E-mail: Gloria.Spandre@pi.infn.it; Minuti, M.; Brez, A.; Baldini, L.; Latronico, L.; Omodei, N.; Sgro, C.; Bregeon, J.; Razzano, M.; Pinchera, M. [INFN sez. Pisa, Pisa (Italy); Tremsin, A.; McPhate, J.; Vallerga, J.V.; Siegmund, O. [SSL, Berkeley (United States)

2008-06-11

We present a detection system capable of imaging both single photon/positive ion and multiple coincidence photons/positive ions with extremely high spatial resolution. In this detector the photoelectrons excited by the incoming photons are multiplied by microchannel plate(s) (MCP). The process of multiplication is spatially constrained within an MCP pore, which can be as small as 4 {mu}m for commercially available MCPs. An electron cloud originated by a single photoelectron is then encoded by a pixellated custom analog ASIC consisting of 105 K charge sensitive pixels of 50 {mu}m in size arranged on a hexagonal grid. Each pixel registers the charge with an accuracy of <100 electrons rms. Computation of the event centroid from the readout charges results in an accurate event position. A large number of simultaneous photons spatially separated by {approx}0.4 mm can be detected simultaneously allowing multiple coincidence operation for the experiments where a large number of incoming photons/positive ions have to be detected simultaneously. The experimental results prove that the spatial resolution of the readout system itself is {approx}3 {mu}m FWHM enabling detection resolution better than 6 {mu}m for the small pore MCPs. An attractive feature of the detection system is its capability to register the timing of each incoming photon/positive ion (in single photon detection mode) or of the first incoming particle (for the multiple coincidence detection) with an accuracy of {approx}130 ps FWHM. There is also virtually no dark count noise in the detection system making it suitable for low count rate applications.

Graphene-Based Josephson-Junction Single-Photon Detector

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Evan D.; Efetov, Dmitri K.; Lee, Gil-Ho; Heuck, Mikkel; Crossno, Jesse; Ohki, Thomas A.; Kim, Philip; Englund, Dirk; Fong, Kin Chung

2017-08-01

We propose to use graphene-based Josephson junctions (GJJs) to detect single photons in a wide electromagnetic spectrum from visible to radio frequencies. Our approach takes advantage of the exceptionally low electronic heat capacity of monolayer graphene and its constricted thermal conductance to its phonon degrees of freedom. Such a system could provide high-sensitivity photon detection required for research areas including quantum information processing and radio astronomy. As an example, we present our device concepts for GJJ single-photon detectors in both the microwave and infrared regimes. The dark count rate and intrinsic quantum efficiency are computed based on parameters from a measured GJJ, demonstrating feasibility within existing technologies.

Enhancement of beam pulse controllability for a single-pulse formation system of a cyclotron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurashima, Satoshi; Miyawaki, Nobumasa; Kashiwagi, Hirotsugu; Okumura, Susumu; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Fukuda, Mitsuhiro

2015-01-01

The single-pulse formation technique using a beam chopping system consisting of two types of high-voltage beam kickers was improved to enhance the quality and intensity of the single-pulse beam with a pulse interval over 1 μs at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency cyclotron facility. A contamination rate of neighboring beam bunches in the single-pulse beam was reduced to less than 0.1%. Long-term purification of the single pulse beam was guaranteed by the well-controlled magnetic field stabilization system for the cyclotron magnet. Reduction of the multi-turn extraction number for suppressing the neighboring beam bunch contamination was achieved by restriction of a beam phase width and precise optimization of a particle acceleration phase. In addition, the single-pulse beam intensity was increased by a factor of two or more by a combination of two types of beam bunchers using sinusoidal and saw-tooth voltage waveforms. Provision of the high quality intense single-pulse beam contributed to improve the accuracy of experiments for investigation of scintillation light time-profile and for neutron energy measurement by a time-of-flight method

Single-Shot Quantum Nondemolition Detection of Individual Itinerant Microwave Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Besse, Jean-Claude; Gasparinetti, Simone; Collodo, Michele C.; Walter, Theo; Kurpiers, Philipp; Pechal, Marek; Eichler, Christopher; Wallraff, Andreas

2018-04-01

Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but it remains challenging in the microwave domain. We realize a quantum nondemolition detector for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source. To this aim, we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom. By reading out the state of this atom in a single shot, we reach an external (internal) photon-detection fidelity of 50% (71%), limited by transmission efficiency between the source and the detector (75%) and the coherence properties of the qubit. By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum nondemolition nature. We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.

Higher-order photon bunching in a semiconductor microcavity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Assmann, M.; Veit, F.; Bayer, M.

2009-01-01

Quantum mechanically indistinguishable particles such as photons may show collective behavior. Therefore, an appropriate description of a light field must consider the properties of an assembly of photons instead of independent particles. We have studied multiphoton correlations up to fourth order...... in the single-mode emission of a semiconductor microcavity in the weak and strong coupling regimes. The counting statistics of single photons were recorded with picosecond time resolution, allowing quantitative measurement of the few-photon bunching inside light pulses. Our results show bunching behavior...

High-speed single-photon signaling for daytime QKD

Science.gov (United States)

Bienfang, Joshua; Restelli, Alessandro; Clark, Charles

2011-03-01

The distribution of quantum-generated cryptographic key at high throughputs can be critically limited by the performance of the systems' single-photon detectors. While noise and afterpulsing are considerations for all single-photon QKD systems, high-transmission rate systems also have critical detector timing-resolution and recovery time requirements. We present experimental results exploiting the high timing resolution and count-rate stability of modified single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in our GHz QKD system operating over a 1.5 km free-space link that demonstrate the ability to apply extremely short temporal gates, enabling daytime free-space QKD with a 4% QBER. We also discuss recent advances in gating techniques for InGaAs SPADs that are suitable for high-speed fiber-based QKD. We present afterpulse-probability measurements that demonstrate the ability to support single-photon count rates above 100 MHz with low afterpulse probability. These results will benefit the design and characterization of free-space and fiber QKD systems. A. Restelli, J.C. Bienfang A. Mink, and C.W. Clark, IEEE J. Sel. Topics in Quant. Electron 16, 1084 (2010).

Single-photon emission tomography and cerebral blood flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Celsis, P.; Chan, M.; Marc-Vergnes, J.P.; Sveinsdottir, E.; Goldman, T.G.; Henriksen, L.; Paulson, O.B.; Stokely, E.M.; Lassen, N.A.

1982-01-01

This paper illustrates the capabilities of single-photon emission tomography in imaging local cerebral blood flows in man. The results purport the conclusion that a fairly good improvement has been achieved when compared to stationary detectors and that single-photon emission tomography is a well-suited tool for studying cerebral hemodynamics, especially within the framework of clinical studies [fr

Dynamical theory of single-photon transport in a one-dimensional waveguide coupled to identical and nonidentical emitters

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Zeyang; Nha, Hyunchul; Zubairy, M. Suhail

2016-11-01

We develop a general dynamical theory for studying a single-photon transport in a one-dimensional (1D) waveguide coupled to multiple emitters which can be either identical or nonidentical. In this theory, both the effects of the waveguide and non-waveguide vacuum modes are included. This theory enables us to investigate the propagation of an emitter excitation or an arbitrary single-photon pulse along an array of emitters coupled to a 1D waveguide. The dipole-dipole interaction induced by the non-waveguide modes, which is usually neglected in the literature, can significantly modify the dynamics of the emitter system as well as the characteristics of the output field if the emitter separation is much smaller than the resonance wavelength. Nonidentical emitters can also strongly couple to each other if their energy difference is less than or of the order of the dipole-dipole energy shift. Interestingly, if their energy difference is close but nonzero, a very narrow transparency window around the resonance frequency can appear which does not occur for identical emitters. This phenomenon may find important applications in quantum waveguide devices such as optical switches and ultranarrow single-photon frequency comb generator.

Microscopic theory of cavity-enhanced single-photon emission from optical two-photon Raman processes

Science.gov (United States)

Breddermann, Dominik; Praschan, Tom; Heinze, Dirk; Binder, Rolf; Schumacher, Stefan

2018-03-01

We consider cavity-enhanced single-photon generation from stimulated two-photon Raman processes in three-level systems. We compare four fundamental system configurations, one Λ -, one V-, and two ladder (Ξ -) configurations. These can be realized as subsystems of a single quantum dot or of quantum-dot molecules. For a new microscopic understanding of the Raman process, we analyze the Heisenberg equation of motion applying the cluster-expansion scheme. Within this formalism an exact and rigorous definition of a cavity-enhanced Raman photon via its corresponding Raman correlation is possible. This definition for example enables us to systematically investigate the on-demand potential of Raman-transition-based single-photon sources. The four system arrangements can be divided into two subclasses, Λ -type and V-type, which exhibit strongly different Raman-emission characteristics and Raman-emission probabilities. Moreover, our approach reveals whether the Raman path generates a single photon or just induces destructive quantum interference with other excitation paths. Based on our findings and as a first application, we gain a more detailed understanding of experimental data from the literature. Our analysis and results are also transferable to the case of atomic three-level-resonator systems and can be extended to more complicated multilevel schemes.

Two-photon interference at telecom wavelengths for time-bin-encoded single photons from quantum-dot spin qubits.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Leo; Natarajan, Chandra M; Horikiri, Tomoyuki; Langrock, Carsten; Pelc, Jason S; Tanner, Michael G; Abe, Eisuke; Maier, Sebastian; Schneider, Christian; Höfling, Sven; Kamp, Martin; Hadfield, Robert H; Fejer, Martin M; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

2015-11-24

Practical quantum communication between remote quantum memories rely on single photons at telecom wavelengths. Although spin-photon entanglement has been demonstrated in atomic and solid-state qubit systems, the produced single photons at short wavelengths and with polarization encoding are not suitable for long-distance communication, because they suffer from high propagation loss and depolarization in optical fibres. Establishing entanglement between remote quantum nodes would further require the photons generated from separate nodes to be indistinguishable. Here, we report the observation of correlations between a quantum-dot spin and a telecom single photon across a 2-km fibre channel based on time-bin encoding and background-free frequency downconversion. The downconverted photon at telecom wavelengths exhibits two-photon interference with another photon from an independent source, achieving a mean wavepacket overlap of greater than 0.89 despite their original wavelength mismatch (900 and 911 nm). The quantum-networking operations that we demonstrate will enable practical communication between solid-state spin qubits across long distances.

Ultra-low power anti-crosstalk collision avoidance light detection and ranging using chaotic pulse position modulation approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao Jie; Gong Ma-li; Du Peng-fei; Lu Bao-jie; Zhang Fan; Zhang Hai-tao; Fu Xing

2016-01-01

A novel concept of collision avoidance single-photon light detection and ranging (LIDAR) for vehicles has been demonstrated, in which chaotic pulse position modulation is applied on the transmitted laser pulses for robust anti-crosstalk purposes. Besides, single-photon detectors (SPD) and time correlated single photon counting techniques are adapted, to sense the ultra-low power used for the consideration of compact structure and eye safety. Parameters including pulse rate, discrimination threshold, and number of accumulated pulses have been thoroughly analyzed based on the detection requirements, resulting in specified receiver operating characteristics curves. Both simulation and indoor experiments were performed to verify the excellent anti-crosstalk capability of the presented collision avoidance LIDAR despite ultra-low transmitting power. (paper)

Interfering Heralded Single Photons from Two Separate Silicon Nanowires Pumped at Different Wavelengths

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Zhang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Practical quantum photonic applications require on-demand single photon sources. As one possible solution, active temporal and wavelength multiplexing has been proposed to build an on-demand single photon source. In this scheme, heralded single photons are generated from different pump wavelengths in many temporal modes. However, the indistinguishability of these heralded single photons has not yet been experimentally confirmed. In this work, we achieve 88% ± 8% Hong–Ou–Mandel quantum interference visibility from heralded single photons generated from two separate silicon nanowires pumped at different wavelengths. This demonstrates that active temporal and wavelength multiplexing could generate indistinguishable heralded single photons.

The photonic nanowire: an emerging platform for highly efficient single-photon sources for quantum information applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels; Munsch, Mathieu; Malik, Nitin S.

2013-01-01

Efficient coupling between a localized quantum emitter and a well defined optical channel represents a powerful route to realize single-photon sources and spin-photon interfaces. The tailored fiber-like photonic nanowire embedding a single quantum dot has recently demonstrated an appealing...... potential. However, the device requires a delicate, sharp needle-like taper with performance sensitive to minute geometrical details. To overcome this limitation we demonstrate the photonic trumpet, exploiting an opposite tapering strategy. The trumpet features a strongly Gaussian far-field emission...

Single photon transport by a moving atom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afanasiev, A E; Melentiev, P N; Kuzin, A A; Yu Kalatskiy, A; Balykin, V I

2017-01-01

The results of investigation of photon transport through the subwavelength hole in the opaque screen by using single neutral atom are represented. The basis of the proposed and implemented method is the absorption of a photon by a neutral atom immediately before the subwavelength aperture, traveling of the atoms through the hole and emission of a photon on the other side of the screen. Realized method is the alternative approach to existing for photon transport through a subwavelength aperture: 1) self-sustained transmittance of a photon through the aperture according to the Bethe’s model; 2) extra ordinary transmission because of surface-plasmon excitation. (paper)

Generating photon pairs from a silicon microring resonator using an electronic step recovery diode for pump pulse generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savanier, Marc, E-mail: msavanier@eng.ucsd.edu; Mookherjea, Shayan, E-mail: smookherjea@eng.ucsd.edu [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)

2016-06-20

Generation of photon pairs from compact, manufacturable, and inexpensive silicon (Si) photonic devices at room temperature may help develop practical applications of quantum photonics. An important characteristic of photon-pair generation is the two-photon joint spectral intensity, which describes the frequency correlations of the photon pair. Recent attempts to generate a factorizable photon-pair state suitable for heralding have used short optical pump pulses from mode-locked lasers, which are much more expensive and bigger table-top or rack-sized instruments compared with the Si microchip used for generating photon pairs, and thus dominate the cost and inhibit the miniaturization of the source. Here, we generate photon pairs from an Si microring resonator by using an electronic step-recovery diode to drive an electro-optic modulator which carves the pump light from a continuous-wave laser diode into pulses of the appropriate width, thus potentially eliminating the need for optical mode-locked lasers.

Complete elimination of nonlinear light-matter interactions with broadband ultrafast laser pulses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shu, Chuan-Cun; Dong, Daoyi; Petersen, Ian R.

2017-01-01

optical effects, however, the probability of pure single-photon absorption is usually very low, which is particularly pertinent in the case of strong ultrafast laser pulses with broad bandwidth. Here we demonstrate theoretically a counterintuitive coherent single-photon absorption scheme by eliminating...... nonlinear interactions of ultrafast laser pulses with quantum systems. That is, a completely linear response of the system with respect to the spectral energy density of the incident light at the transition frequency can be obtained for all transition probabilities between 0 and 100% in multilevel quantum...... systems. To that end, a multiobjective optimization algorithm is developed to find an optimal spectral phase of an ultrafast laser pulse, which is capable of eliminating all possible nonlinear optical responses while maximizing the probability of single-photon absorption between quantum states. This work...

Single-photon interference experiment for high schools

Science.gov (United States)

Bondani, Maria

2014-07-01

We follow the reductio ad absurdum reasoning described in the book "Sneaking a Look at God's Cards" by Giancarlo Ghirardi to demonstrate the wave-particle duality of light in a Mach-Zehnder interferometric setup analog to the conventional Young double-slit experiment. We aim at showing the double nature of light by measuring the existence of interference fringes down to the single-photon level. The setup includes a strongly attenuated laser, polarizing beam splitters, half-waveplates, polarizers and single-photon detectors.

Picosecond wide-field time-correlated single photon counting fluorescence microscopy with a delay line anode detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirvonen, Liisa M.; Le Marois, Alix; Suhling, Klaus, E-mail: klaus.suhling@kcl.ac.uk [Department of Physics, King' s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Becker, Wolfgang; Smietana, Stefan [Becker & Hickl GmbH, Nahmitzer Damm 30, 12277 Berlin (Germany); Milnes, James; Conneely, Thomas [Photek Ltd., 26 Castleham Rd, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN38 9NS (United Kingdom); Jagutzki, Ottmar [Institut für Kernphysik, Max-von-Laue-Str. 1, 60438 Frankfurt (Germany)

2016-08-15

We perform wide-field time-correlated single photon counting-based fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) with a crossed delay line anode image intensifier, where the pulse propagation time yields the photon position. This microchannel plate-based detector was read out with conventional fast timing electronics and mounted on a fluorescence microscope with total internal reflection (TIR) illumination. The picosecond time resolution of this detection system combines low illumination intensity of microwatts with wide-field data collection. This is ideal for fluorescence lifetime imaging of cell membranes using TIR. We show that fluorescence lifetime images of living HeLa cells stained with membrane dye di-4-ANEPPDHQ exhibit a reduced lifetime near the coverslip in TIR compared to epifluorescence FLIM.

An efficient fluorescent single-particle position tracking system for long-term pulsed measurements of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kiho; Yun, Jiwon; Lee, Donghyuck; Kim, Dohun

2018-02-01

A simple and convenient design enables real-time three-dimensional position tracking of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. The system consists entirely of commercially available components (a single-photon counter, a high-speed digital-to-analog converter, a phase-sensitive detector-based feedback device, and a piezo stage), eliminating the need for custom programming or rigorous optimization processes. With a large input range of counters and trackers combined with high sensitivity of single-photon counting, high-speed position tracking (upper bound recovery time of 0.9 s upon 250 nm of step-like positional shift) not only of bright ensembles, but also of low-photon-collection-efficiency single to few NV centers (down to 103 s-1) is possible. The tracking requires position modulation of only 10 nm, which allows simultaneous position tracking and pulsed measurements in the long term. Therefore, this tracking system enables measuring a single-spin magnetic resonance and Rabi oscillations at a very high resolution even without photon collection optimization. The system is widely applicable to various fields related to NV center quantum manipulation research such as NV optical trapping, NV tracking in fluid dynamics, and biological sensing using NV centers inside a biological cell.

Mode-Selective Photon Counting Via Quantum Frequency Conversion Using Spectrally-Engineered Pump Pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Manurkar, Paritosh

Most of the existing protocols for quantum communication operate in a two-dimensional Hilbert space where their manipulation and measurement have been routinely investigated. Moving to higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces is desirable because of advantages in terms of longer distance communication capabilities, higher channel capacity and better information security. We can exploit the spatio-temporal degrees of freedom for the quantum optical signals to provide the higher-dimensional signals. But this necessitates the need for measurement and manipulation of multidimensional quantum states. To that end, there have been significant theoretical studies based on quantum frequency conversion (QFC) in recent years even though the experimental progress has been limited. QFC is a process that allows preservation of the quantum information while changing the frequency of the input quantum state. It has deservedly garnered a lot of attention because it serves as the connecting bridge between the communications band (C-band near 1550 nm) where the fiber-optic infrastructure is already established and the visible spectrum where high efficiency single-photon detectors and optical memories have been demonstrated. In this experimental work, we demonstrate mode-selective frequency conversion as a means to measure and manipulate photonic signals occupying d -dimensional Hilbert spaces where d=2 and 4. In the d=2 case, we demonstrate mode contrast between two temporal modes (TMs) which serves as the proof-of-concept demonstration. In the d=4 version, we employ six different TMs for our detailed experimental study. These TMs also include superposition modes which are a crucial component in many quantum key distribution protocols. Our method is based on producing pump pulses which allow us to upconvert the TM of interest while ideally preserving the other modes. We use MATLAB simulations to determine the pump pulse shapes which are subsequently produced by controlling the amplitude and

Continuous-Wave Single-Photon Transistor Based on a Superconducting Circuit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kyriienko, Oleksandr; Sørensen, Anders Søndberg

2016-01-01

We propose a microwave frequency single-photon transistor which can operate under continuous wave probing and represents an efficient single microwave photon detector. It can be realized using an impedance matched system of a three level artificial ladder-type atom coupled to two microwave cavities...... and the appearance of a photon flux leaving the second cavity through a separate input-output port. The proposal does not require time variation of the probe signals, thus corresponding to a passive version of a single-photon transistor. The resulting device is robust to qubit dephasing processes, possesses low dark...

Porous silicon photonic devices using pulsed anodic etching of lightly doped silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escorcia-Garcia, J; Sarracino MartInez, O; Agarwal, V; Gracia-Jimenez, J M

2009-01-01

The fabrication of porous silicon photonic structures using lightly doped, p-type, silicon wafers (resistivity: 14-22 Ω cm) by pulsed anodic etching is reported. The optical properties have been found to be strongly dependent on the duty cycle and frequency of the applied current. All the interfaces of the single layered samples were digitally analysed by calculating the mean interface roughness (R m ). The interface roughness was found to be maximum for the sample with direct current. The use of a duty cycle above 50%, in a certain range of frequencies, is found to reduce the interface roughness. The optical properties of some microcavities and rugate filters are investigated from the optimized parameters of the duty cycle and frequency, using the current densities of 10, 90 and 150 mA cm -2 .

An electrically driven cavity-enhanced source of indistinguishable photons with 61% overall efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Schlehahn

2016-04-01

Full Text Available We report on an electrically driven efficient source of indistinguishable photons operated at pulse-repetition rates f up to 1.2 GHz. The quantum light source is based on a p-i-n-doped micropillar cavity with integrated self-organized quantum dots, which exploits cavity quantum electrodynamics effects in the weak coupling regime to enhance the emission of a single quantum emitter coupled to the cavity mode. We achieve an overall single-photon extraction efficiency of (61 ± 11 % for a device triggered electrically at f = 625 MHz. Analyzing the suppression of multi-photon emission events as a function of excitation repetition rate, we observe single-photon emission associated with g(2HBT(0 values between 0.076 and 0.227 for f ranging from 373 MHz to 1.2 GHz. Hong-Ou-Mandel-type two-photon interference experiments under pulsed current injection at 487 MHz reveal a photon-indistinguishability of (41.1 ± 9.5 % at a single-photon emission rate of (92 ± 23 MHz.

Few-Photon Multiple Ionization of Ne and Ar by Strong Free-Electron-Laser Pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moshammer, R.; Jiang, Y. H.; Rudenko, A.; Ergler, Th.; Schroeter, C. D.; Luedemann, S.; Zrost, K.; Dorn, A.; Ferger, T.; Kuehnel, K. U.; Ullrich, J.; Foucar, L.; Titze, J.; Jahnke, T.; Schoeffler, M.; Doerner, R.; Fischer, D.; Weber, T.; Zouros, T. J. M.; Duesterer, S.

2007-01-01

Few-photon multiple ionization of Ne and Ar atoms by strong vacuum ultraviolet laser pulses from the free-electron laser at Hamburg was investigated differentially with the Heidelberg reaction microscope. The light-intensity dependence of Ne 2+ production reveals the dominance of nonsequential two-photon double ionization at intensities of I 12 W/cm 2 and significant contributions of three-photon ionization as I increases. Ne 2+ recoil-ion-momentum distributions suggest that two electrons absorbing ''instantaneously'' two photons are ejected most likely into opposite hemispheres with similar energies

On-chip single photon filtering and multiplexing in hybrid quantum photonic circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Elshaari, Ali W; Zadeh, Iman Esmaeil; Fognini, Andreas; Reimer, Michael E; Dalacu, Dan; Poole, Philip J; Zwiller, Val; Jöns, Klaus D

2017-08-30

Quantum light plays a pivotal role in modern science and future photonic applications. Since the advent of integrated quantum nanophotonics different material platforms based on III-V nanostructures-, colour centers-, and nonlinear waveguides as on-chip light sources have been investigated. Each platform has unique advantages and limitations; however, all implementations face major challenges with filtering of individual quantum states, scalable integration, deterministic multiplexing of selected quantum emitters, and on-chip excitation suppression. Here we overcome all of these challenges with a hybrid and scalable approach, where single III-V quantum emitters are positioned and deterministically integrated in a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible photonic circuit. We demonstrate reconfigurable on-chip single-photon filtering and wavelength division multiplexing with a foot print one million times smaller than similar table-top approaches, while offering excitation suppression of more than 95 dB and efficient routing of single photons over a bandwidth of 40 nm. Our work marks an important step to harvest quantum optical technologies' full potential.Combining different integration platforms on the same chip is currently one of the main challenges for quantum technologies. Here, Elshaari et al. show III-V Quantum Dots embedded in nanowires operating in a CMOS compatible circuit, with controlled on-chip filtering and tunable routing.

Optimal multi-photon phase sensing with a single interference fringe

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, G. Y.; Hofmann, H. F.; Pryde, G. J.

2013-01-01

Quantum entanglement can help to increase the precision of optical phase measurements beyond the shot noise limit (SNL) to the ultimate Heisenberg limit. However, the N-photon parity measurements required to achieve this optimal sensitivity are extremely difficult to realize with current photon detection technologies, requiring high-fidelity resolution of N + 1 different photon distributions between the output ports. Recent experimental demonstrations of precision beyond the SNL have therefore used only one or two photon-number detection patterns instead of parity measurements. Here we investigate the achievable phase sensitivity of the simple and efficient single interference fringe detection technique. We show that the maximally-entangled “NOON” state does not achieve optimal phase sensitivity when N > 4, rather, we show that the Holland-Burnett state is optimal. We experimentally demonstrate this enhanced sensitivity using a single photon-counted fringe of the six-photon Holland-Burnett state. Specifically, our single-fringe six-photon measurement achieves a phase variance three times below the SNL. PMID:24067490

Source of single photons and interferometry with one photon. From the Young's slit experiment to the delayed choice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacques, V.

2007-11-01

This manuscript is divided in two independent parts. In the first part, we study the wave-particle duality for a single photon emitted by the triggered photoluminescence of a single NV color center in a diamond nano-crystal. We first present the realization of a single-photon interference experiment using a Fresnel's bi-prism, in a scheme equivalent to the standard Young's double-slit textbook experiment. We then discuss the complementarity between interference and which-path information in this two-path interferometer. We finally describe the experimental realization of Wheeler's delayed-choice Gedanken experiment, which is a fascinating and subtle illustration of wave-particle duality. The second part of the manuscript is devoted to the efficiency improvement of single-photon sources. We first describe the implementation of a new single-photon source based on the photoluminescence of a single nickel-related defect center in diamond. The photophysical properties of such defect make this single-photon source well adapted to open-air quantum cryptography. We finally demonstrate an original method that leads to an improvement of single-molecule photo stability at room temperature. (author)

Multi-photon creation and single-photon annihilation of electron-positron pairs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hu, Huayu

2011-04-27

In this thesis we study multi-photon e{sup +}e{sup -} pair production in a trident process, and singlephoton e{sup +}e{sup -} pair annihilation in a triple interaction. The pair production is considered in the collision of a relativistic electron with a strong laser beam, and calculated within the theory of laser-dressed quantum electrodynamics. A regularization method is developed systematically for the resonance problem arising in the multi-photon process. Total production rates, positron spectra, and relative contributions of different reaction channels are obtained in various interaction regimes. Our calculation shows good agreement with existing experimental data from SLAC, and adds further insights into the experimental findings. Besides, we study the process in a manifestly nonperturbative domain, whose accessibility to future all-optical experiments based on laser acceleration is shown. In the single-photon e{sup +}e{sup -} pair annihilation, the recoil momentum is absorbed by a spectator particle. Various kinematic configurations of the three incoming particles are examined. Under certain conditions, the emitted photon exhibits distinct angular and polarization distributions which could facilitate the detection of the process. Considering an equilibrium relativistic e{sup +}e{sup -} plasma, it is found that the single-photon process becomes the dominant annihilation channel for plasma temperatures above 3 MeV. Multi-particle correlation effects are therefore essential for the e{sup +}e{sup -} dynamics at very high density. (orig.)

Multi-photon creation and single-photon annihilation of electron-positron pairs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, Huayu

2011-01-01

In this thesis we study multi-photon e + e - pair production in a trident process, and singlephoton e + e - pair annihilation in a triple interaction. The pair production is considered in the collision of a relativistic electron with a strong laser beam, and calculated within the theory of laser-dressed quantum electrodynamics. A regularization method is developed systematically for the resonance problem arising in the multi-photon process. Total production rates, positron spectra, and relative contributions of different reaction channels are obtained in various interaction regimes. Our calculation shows good agreement with existing experimental data from SLAC, and adds further insights into the experimental findings. Besides, we study the process in a manifestly nonperturbative domain, whose accessibility to future all-optical experiments based on laser acceleration is shown. In the single-photon e + e - pair annihilation, the recoil momentum is absorbed by a spectator particle. Various kinematic configurations of the three incoming particles are examined. Under certain conditions, the emitted photon exhibits distinct angular and polarization distributions which could facilitate the detection of the process. Considering an equilibrium relativistic e + e - plasma, it is found that the single-photon process becomes the dominant annihilation channel for plasma temperatures above 3 MeV. Multi-particle correlation effects are therefore essential for the e + e - dynamics at very high density. (orig.)

Highly efficient photonic nanowire single-photon sources for quantum information applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels; Claudon, J.; Munsch, M.

2013-01-01

to a collection efficiency of only 1-2 %, and efficient light extraction thus poses a major challenge in SPS engineering. Initial efforts to improve the efficiency have exploited cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) to efficiently couple the emitted photons to the optical cavity mode. An alternative approach......Within the emerging field of optical quantum information processing, the current challenge is to construct the basic building blocks for the quantum computing and communication systems. A key component is the singlephoton source (SPS) capable of emitting single photons on demand. Ideally, the SPS...... must feature near-unity efficiency, where the efficiency is defined as the number of detected photons per trigger, the probability g(2)(τ=0) of multi-photon emission events should be 0 and the emitted photons are required to be indistinguishable. An optically or electrically triggered quantum light...

Increasing the collection efficiency of time-correlated single-photon counting with single-photon avalanche diodes using immersion lenses.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichette, Charles; Giudice, Andrea; Thibault, Simon; Bérubé-Lauzière, Yves

2016-11-20

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) achieving high timing resolution (≈20-50  ps) developed for time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) generally have very small photosensitive areas (25-100 μm in diameter). This limits the achievable photon counting rate and signal-to-noise ratio and may lead to long counting times. This is detrimental in applications requiring several measurements, such as fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) microscopy, which requires scanning, and time-domain diffuse optical tomography (TD-DOT). We show in this work that the use of an immersion lens directly affixed onto the photosensitive area of the SPAD helps alleviate this problem by allowing more light to be concentrated onto the detector. Following careful optical design and simulations, our experimental results show that it is actually possible to achieve the predicted theoretical increase in the photon counting rate (we achieve a factor of ≈4 here). This work is of high relevance in high timing resolution TCSPC with small photosensitive area detectors and should find widespread interest in FLIM and TD-DOT with SPADs.

Two-photon-induced hot-electron transfer to a single molecule in a scanning tunneling microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, S. W.; Ho, W.

2010-01-01

The junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) operating in the tunneling regime was irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses. A photoexcited hot electron in the STM tip resonantly tunnels into an excited state of a single molecule on the surface, converting it from the neutral to the anion. The electron-transfer rate depends quadratically on the incident laser power, suggesting a two-photon excitation process. This nonlinear optical process is further confirmed by the polarization measurement. Spatial dependence of the electron-transfer rate exhibits atomic-scale variations. A two-pulse correlation experiment reveals the ultrafast dynamic nature of photoinduced charging process in the STM junction. Results from these experiments are important for understanding photoinduced interfacial charge transfer in many nanoscale inorganic-organic structures.

Dynamic increase and decrease of photonic crystal nanocavity Q factors for optical pulse control.

Science.gov (United States)

Upham, Jeremy; Tanaka, Yoshinori; Asano, Takashi; Noda, Susumu

2008-12-22

We introduce recent advances in dynamic control over the Q factor of a photonic crystal nanocavity system. By carefully timing a rapid increase of the Q factor from 3800 to 22,000, we succeed in capturing a 4ps signal pulse within the nanocavity with a photon lifetime of 18ps. By performing an additional transition of the Q factor within the photon lifetime, the held light is once again ejected from of the system on demand.

Latest Advances in the Generation of Single Photons in Silicon Carbide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Boretti

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The major barrier for optical quantum information technologies is the absence of reliable single photons sources providing non-classical light states on demand which can be easily and reliably integrated with standard processing protocols for quantum device fabrication. New methods of generation at room temperature of single photons are therefore needed. Heralded single photon sources are presently being sought based on different methods built on different materials. Silicon Carbide (SiC has the potentials to serve as the preferred material for quantum applications. Here, we review the latest advances in single photon generation at room temperatures based on SiC.

Single photon searches at PEP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hollebeek, R.

1985-12-01

The MAC and ASP searches for events with a single photon and no other observed particles are reviewed. New results on the number of neutrino generations and limits on selection, photino, squark and gluino masses from the ASP experiment are presented.

Single photon searches at PEP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollebeek, R.

1985-12-01

The MAC and ASP searches for events with a single photon and no other observed particles are reviewed. New results on the number of neutrino generations and limits on selection, photino, squark and gluino masses from the ASP experiment are presented

Efficient fiber-coupled single-photon source based on quantum dots in a photonic-crystal waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daveau, Raphaël S.; Balram, Krishna C.; Pregnolato, Tommaso

2017-01-01

Many photonic quantum information processing applications would benefit from a high brightness, fiber-coupled source of triggered single photons. Here, we present a fiber-coupled photonic-crystal waveguide (PCWG) singlephoton source relying on evanescent coupling of the light field from a tapered...

Generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs in a cascade of two type-I crystals pumped by femtosecond pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nambu, Yoshihiro; Usami, Koji; Tsuda, Yoshiyuki; Matsumoto, Keiji; Nakamura, Kazuo

2002-01-01

We report the generation of polarization-entangled photons by femtosecond-pulse-pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a cascade of two type-I crystals. Highly entangled pulsed states were obtained by introducing a temporal delay between the two orthogonal polarization components of the pump field. They exhibited high-visibility quantum interference and a large concurrence value, without the need of postselection using narrow-bandwidth spectral filters. The results are well explained by the theory which incorporates the space-time dependence of interfering two-photon amplitudes if dispersion and birefringence in the crystals are appropriately taken into account. Such a pulsed entangled photon well localized in time domain is useful for various quantum communication experiments, such as quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation

Femtosecond Laser--Pumped Source of Entangled Photons for Quantum Cryptography Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan, D.; Donaldson, W.; Sobolewski, R.

2007-01-01

We present an experimental setup for generation of entangled-photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion, based on the femtosecond-pulsed laser. Our entangled-photon source utilizes a 76-MHz-repetition-rate, 100-fs-pulse-width, mode-locked, ultrafast femtosecond laser, which can produce, on average, more photon pairs than a cw laser of an equal pump power. The resulting entangled pairs are counted by a pair of high-quantum-efficiency, single-photon, silicon avalanche photodiodes. Our apparatus s intended as an efficient source/receiver system for the quantum communications and quantum cryptography applications

Recent Advances for High-Efficiency Sources of Single Photons Based on Photonic Nanowires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerard, J. M.; Claudon, J.; Munsch, M.

2012-01-01

Photonic nanowires have recently been used to tailor the spontaneous emission of embedded quantum dots, and to develop record efficiency single-photon sources. We will present recent developments in this field mainly 1) the observation of a strong inhibition of the spontaneous emission of quantum...

Advanced time-correlated single photon counting applications

CERN Document Server

Becker, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

This book is an attempt to bridge the gap between the instrumental principles of multi-dimensional time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) and typical applications of the technique. Written by an originator of the technique and by sucessful users, it covers the basic principles of the technique, its interaction with optical imaging methods and its application to a wide range of experimental tasks in life sciences and clinical research. The book is recommended for all users of time-resolved detection techniques in biology, bio-chemistry, spectroscopy of live systems, live cell microscopy, clinical imaging, spectroscopy of single molecules, and other applications that require the detection of low-level light signals at single-photon sensitivity and picosecond time resolution.

Measurement of collision integral cross-sections of double-photon Compton effect using a single gamma ray detector: A response matrix approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saddi, M.B.; Singh, Bhajan; Sandhu, B.S.

2008-01-01

The collision integral cross-sections of double-photon Compton process are measured experimentally for 662 keV incident gamma photons. The measurements are successfully carried out using a single gamma ray detector, and do not require the complicated slow-fast coincidence technique used till now for observing this higher order quantum electrodynamics (QED) process. The energy spectra of one of the two final photons, originating in this process, in direction of the gamma ray detector are observed as a long tail to the single-photon Compton line on lower side of the full energy peak in the observed spectra. An inverse response matrix converts the observed pulse-height distribution of a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector to a true photon spectrum. This also results in extraction of events originating from double-photon Compton interactions. The present measured values of collision integral cross-section, although of same magnitude, deviate from the corresponding values obtained from the theory. In view of the magnitude of deviations, in addition to small value of probability of occurrence of this process, the agreement of measured values with theory is reasonably acceptable

Practical single-photon-assisted remote state preparation with non-maximally entanglement

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dong; Huang, Ai-Jun; Sun, Wen-Yang; Shi, Jia-Dong; Ye, Liu

2016-08-01

Remote state preparation (RSP) and joint remote state preparation (JRSP) protocols for single-photon states are investigated via linear optical elements with partially entangled states. In our scheme, by choosing two-mode instances from a polarizing beam splitter, only the sender in the communication protocol needs to prepare an ancillary single-photon and operate the entanglement preparation process in order to retrieve an arbitrary single-photon state from a photon pair in partially entangled state. In the case of JRSP, i.e., a canonical model of RSP with multi-party, we consider that the information of the desired state is split into many subsets and in prior maintained by spatially separate parties. Specifically, with the assistance of a single-photon state and a three-photon entangled state, it turns out that an arbitrary single-photon state can be jointly and remotely prepared with certain probability, which is characterized by the coefficients of both the employed entangled state and the target state. Remarkably, our protocol is readily to extend to the case for RSP and JRSP of mixed states with the all optical means. Therefore, our protocol is promising for communicating among optics-based multi-node quantum networks.

Application of the Monte Carlo method in calculation of energy-time distribution from a pulsed photon source in homogeneous air environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilic, R.D.; Vojvodic, V.I.; Orlic, M.P.

1981-01-01

The stochastic nature of photon interactions with matter and the characteristics of photon transport through real materials, are very well suited for applications of the Monte Carlo method in calculations of the energy-space distribution of photons. Starting from general principles of the Monte Carlo method, physical-mathematical model of photon transport from a pulsed source is given for the homogeneous air environment. Based on that model, a computer program is written which is applied in calculations of scattered photons delay spectra and changes of the photon energy spectrum. Obtained results provide the estimation of the timespace function of the electromagnetic field generated by photon from a pulsed source. (author)

A study of trapped ion dynamics by photon-correlation and pulse-probe techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rink, J.; Dholakia, K.; Zs, G.; Horvath, K.; Hernandez-Pozos, J. L.; Power, W.; Segal, D. M.; Thompson, R. C.; Walker, T.

1995-01-01

We demonstrate non-evasive methods for observing ion and ion cloud oscillation frequencies in a quadrupole ion trap. These trap resonances are measured for small clouds using a photon correlation technique. For large clouds the rotation frequency can be detected with the help of an additional pulsed probe laser. We show applications of the photon correlation method such as estimating the dynamic properties of a combined trap and detecting ion crystals

Ultrafast two-photon absorption optical thresholding of spectrally coded pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Z.; Shen, S.; Sardesai, H.; Chang, C.-C.; Marsh, J. H.; Karkhanehchi, M. M.; Weiner, A. M.

1999-08-01

We report studies on two-photon absorption (TPA) GaAs p-i-n waveguide photodetectors as optical thresholders for proposed ultrashort pulse optical code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. For either chirped optical pulses or spectrally phase coded pseudonoise bursts, the TPA photocurrent response reveals a strong pulseshape dependence and shows good agreement with theoretical predictions and results from conventional SHG measurements. The performance limits of the TPA optical thresholders set by the encoded bandwidth in the spectral encoding-decoding process are also discussed based on numerical simulations. Our results show the feasibility of applying such devices as nonlinear intensity discriminators in ultrahigh-speed optical network applications.

Highly efficient sources of single indistinguishable photons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels

2013-01-01

be electrically driven. Several design strategies addressing these requirements have been proposed. In the cavity-based source, light emission is controlled using resonant cavity quantum electrodynamics effects, whereas in the waveguide-based source, broadband electric field screening effects are employed......Solid-state sources capable of emitting single photons on demand are of great interest in quantum information applications. Ideally, such a source should emit exactly one photon into the collection optics per trigger, the emitted photons should be indistinguishable and the source should...

Optimizing the photon selection of the CMS Single-Photon search for Supersymmetry using multivariate analyses

CERN Document Server

Lange, Johannes

2014-01-01

The purpose of this thesis is to improve the photon selection of the CMS SinglePhoton search for Supersymmetry by using multivariate analyses.The Single-Photon search aims to find Supersymmetry (SUSY) in data taken by theCompact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider located atthe research center CERN. SUSY is an extension of the standard model of particlephysics. The search is designed for a general gauge mediation scenario, which describes the gauge mediated SUSY breaking. The analysis uses final states with jets,at least one photon and missing transverse energy. A data-driven prediction of themultijet background is performed for the analysis. For this purpose, photon candidates have to be classified into two selections.In this thesis the usage of multivariate analyses for the photon candidate classification is studied. The methods used are Fisher Discriminant, Boosted Decision Treesand Artificial Neural Networks. Their performance is evaluated with respect to different aspects impor...

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with 9-eV photon-energy pulses generated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Bromberger, H.; Ermolov, A.; Belli, F.; Liu, H.; Calegari, F.; Chávez-Cervantes, M.; Li, M. T.; Lin, C. T.; Abdolvand, A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Cavalleri, A.; Travers, J. C.; Gierz, I.

2015-08-01

A recently developed source of ultraviolet radiation, based on optical soliton propagation in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, is applied here to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Near-infrared femtosecond pulses of only few μJ energy generate vacuum ultraviolet radiation between 5.5 and 9 eV inside the gas-filled fiber. These pulses are used to measure the band structure of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 with a signal to noise ratio comparable to that obtained with high order harmonics from a gas jet. The two-order-of-magnitude gain in efficiency promises time-resolved ARPES measurements at repetition rates of hundreds of kHz or even MHz, with photon energies that cover the first Brillouin zone of most materials.

Stopping single photons in one-dimensional circuit quantum electrodynamics systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, J.-T.; Povinelli, M. L.; Sandhu, Sunil; Fan Shanhui

2007-01-01

We propose a mechanism to stop and time reverse single photons in one-dimensional circuit quantum electrodynamics systems. As a concrete example, we exploit the large tunability of the superconducting charge quantum bit (charge qubit) to predict one-photon transport properties in multiple-qubit systems with dynamically controlled transition frequencies. In particular, two qubits coupled to a waveguide give rise to a single-photon transmission line shape that is analogous to electromagnetically induced transparency in atomic systems. Furthermore, by cascading double-qubit structures to form an array and dynamically controlling the qubit transition frequencies, a single photon can be stopped, stored, and time reversed. With a properly designed array, two photons can be stopped and stored in the system at the same time. Moreover, the unit cell of the array can be designed to be of deep subwavelength scale, miniaturizing the circuit

Entangled photons from single atoms and molecules

Science.gov (United States)

Nordén, Bengt

2018-05-01

The first two-photon entanglement experiment performed 50 years ago by Kocher and Commins (KC) provided isolated pairs of entangled photons from an atomic three-state fluorescence cascade. In view of questioning of Bell's theorem, data from these experiments are re-analyzed and shown sufficiently precise to confirm quantum mechanical and dismiss semi-classical theory without need for Bell's inequalities. Polarization photon correlation anisotropy (A) is useful: A is near unity as predicted quantum mechanically and well above the semi-classic range, 0 ⩽ A ⩽ 1 / 2 . Although yet to be found, one may envisage a three-state molecule emitting entangled photon pairs, in analogy with the KC atomic system. Antibunching in fluorescence from single molecules in matrix and entangled photons from quantum dots promise it be possible. Molecules can have advantages to parametric down-conversion as the latter photon distribution is Poissonian and unsuitable for producing isolated pairs of entangled photons. Analytical molecular applications of entangled light are also envisaged.

An integrated single- and two-photon non-diffracting light-sheet microscope

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, Sze Cheung; Chiu, Hoi Chun; Zhao, Luwei; Zhao, Teng; Loy, M. M. T.; Du, Shengwang

2018-04-01

We describe a fluorescence optical microscope with both single-photon and two-photon non-diffracting light-sheet excitations for large volume imaging. With a special design to accommodate two different wavelength ranges (visible: 400-700 nm and near infrared: 800-1200 nm), we combine the line-Bessel sheet (LBS, for single-photon excitation) and the scanning Bessel beam (SBB, for two-photon excitation) light sheet together in a single microscope setup. For a transparent thin sample where the scattering can be ignored, the LBS single-photon excitation is the optimal imaging solution. When the light scattering becomes significant for a deep-cell or deep-tissue imaging, we use SBB light-sheet two-photon excitation with a longer wavelength. We achieved nearly identical lateral/axial resolution of about 350/270 nm for both imagings. This integrated light-sheet microscope may have a wide application for live-cell and live-tissue three-dimensional high-speed imaging.

High-efficiency single-photon source: The photonic wire geometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Claudon, J.; Bazin, Maela; Malik, Nitin S.

2009-01-01

We present a single-photon-source design based on the emission of a quantum dot embedded in a semiconductor (GaAs) nanowire. The nanowire ends are engineered (efficient metallic mirror and tip taper) to reach a predicted record-high collection efficiency of 90% with a realistic design. Preliminar...

Tapered fiber coupling of single photons emitted by a deterministically positioned single nitrogen vacancy center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liebermeister, Lars, E-mail: lars.liebermeister@physik.uni-muenchen.de; Petersen, Fabian; Münchow, Asmus v.; Burchardt, Daniel; Hermelbracht, Juliane; Tashima, Toshiyuki [Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80799 München (Germany); Schell, Andreas W.; Benson, Oliver [Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Meinhardt, Thomas; Krueger, Anke [Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg (Germany); Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen Research Center for Complex Materials Systems, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg (Germany); Stiebeiner, Ariane; Rauschenbeutel, Arno [Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, 1020 Wien (Austria); Weinfurter, Harald; Weber, Markus, E-mail: markusweber@lmu.de [Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80799 München (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, 85748 Garching (Germany)

2014-01-20

A diamond nano-crystal hosting a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center is optically selected with a confocal scanning microscope and positioned deterministically onto the subwavelength-diameter waist of a tapered optical fiber (TOF) with the help of an atomic force microscope. Based on this nano-manipulation technique, we experimentally demonstrate the evanescent coupling of single fluorescence photons emitted by a single NV-center to the guided mode of the TOF. By comparing photon count rates of the fiber-guided and the free-space modes and with the help of numerical finite-difference time domain simulations, we determine a lower and upper bound for the coupling efficiency of (9.5 ± 0.6)% and (10.4 ± 0.7)%, respectively. Our results are a promising starting point for future integration of single photon sources into photonic quantum networks and applications in quantum information science.

Geiger-mode APD camera system for single-photon 3D LADAR imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Entwistle, Mark; Itzler, Mark A.; Chen, Jim; Owens, Mark; Patel, Ketan; Jiang, Xudong; Slomkowski, Krystyna; Rangwala, Sabbir

2012-06-01

The unparalleled sensitivity of 3D LADAR imaging sensors based on single photon detection provides substantial benefits for imaging at long stand-off distances and minimizing laser pulse energy requirements. To obtain 3D LADAR images with single photon sensitivity, we have demonstrated focal plane arrays (FPAs) based on InGaAsP Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (GmAPDs) optimized for use at either 1.06 μm or 1.55 μm. These state-of-the-art FPAs exhibit excellent pixel-level performance and the capability for 100% pixel yield on a 32 x 32 format. To realize the full potential of these FPAs, we have recently developed an integrated camera system providing turnkey operation based on FPGA control. This system implementation enables the extremely high frame-rate capability of the GmAPD FPA, and frame rates in excess of 250 kHz (for 0.4 μs range gates) can be accommodated using an industry-standard CameraLink interface in full configuration. Real-time data streaming for continuous acquisition of 2 μs range gate point cloud data with 13-bit time-stamp resolution at 186 kHz frame rates has been established using multiple solid-state storage drives. Range gate durations spanning 4 ns to 10 μs provide broad operational flexibility. The camera also provides real-time signal processing in the form of multi-frame gray-scale contrast images and single-frame time-stamp histograms, and automated bias control has been implemented to maintain a constant photon detection efficiency in the presence of ambient temperature changes. A comprehensive graphical user interface has been developed to provide complete camera control using a simple serial command set, and this command set supports highly flexible end-user customization.

Long-Distance Single Photon Transmission from a Trapped Ion via Quantum Frequency Conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Thomas; Miyanishi, Koichiro; Ikuta, Rikizo; Takahashi, Hiroki; Vartabi Kashanian, Samir; Tsujimoto, Yoshiaki; Hayasaka, Kazuhiro; Yamamoto, Takashi; Imoto, Nobuyuki; Keller, Matthias

2018-05-01

Trapped atomic ions are ideal single photon emitters with long-lived internal states which can be entangled with emitted photons. Coupling the ion to an optical cavity enables the efficient emission of single photons into a single spatial mode and grants control over their temporal shape. These features are key for quantum information processing and quantum communication. However, the photons emitted by these systems are unsuitable for long-distance transmission due to their wavelengths. Here we report the transmission of single photons from a single 40Ca+ ion coupled to an optical cavity over a 10 km optical fiber via frequency conversion from 866 nm to the telecom C band at 1530 nm. We observe nonclassical photon statistics of the direct cavity emission, the converted photons, and the 10 km transmitted photons, as well as the preservation of the photons' temporal shape throughout. This telecommunication-ready system can be a key component for long-distance quantum communication as well as future cloud quantum computation.

Single molecule experiments challenge the strict wave-particle dualism of light.

Science.gov (United States)

Greulich, Karl Otto

2010-01-21

Single molecule techniques improve our understanding of the photon and light. If the single photon double slit experiment is performed at the "single photon limit" of a multi-atom light source, faint light pulses with more than one photon hamper the interpretation. Single molecules, quantum dots or defect centres in crystals should be used as light source. "Single photon detectors" do not meet their promise-only "photon number resolving single photon detectors" do so. Particularly, the accumulation time argument, the only safe basis for the postulate of a strictly particle like photon, has so far not yet been verified.

A bright single-photon source based on a photonic trumpet

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munsch, Mathieu; Malik, Nitin S.; Bleuse, Joël

Fiber-like photonic nanowires, which are optical waveguides made of a high refractive index material n, have recently emerged as non-resonant systems providing an efficient spontaneous emission (SE) control. When they embed a quantum emitter like a quantum dot (QD), they find application to the r......Fiber-like photonic nanowires, which are optical waveguides made of a high refractive index material n, have recently emerged as non-resonant systems providing an efficient spontaneous emission (SE) control. When they embed a quantum emitter like a quantum dot (QD), they find application...... to the realization of bright sources of quantum light and, reversibly, provide an efficient interface between propagating photons and the QD. For a wire diameter ∼ λ/n (λ is the operation wavelength), the fraction of QD SE coupled to the fundamental guided mode exceeds 90%. The collection of the photons can...... be brought close to unity with a proper engineering of the wire ends. In particular, a tapering of the top wire end is necessary to achieve a directive far-field emission pattern [1]. Recently, we have realized a single-photon source featuring a needle-like taper. The source efficiency, though record...

Molecular single photon double K-shell ionization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penent, F.; Nakano, M.; Tashiro, M.; Grozdanov, T.P.; Žitnik, M.; Carniato, S.; Selles, P.; Andric, L.; Lablanquie, P.; Palaudoux, J.; Shigemasa, E.; Iwayama, H.; Hikosaka, Y.; Soejima, K.; Suzuki, I.H.; Kouchi, N.; Ito, K.

2014-01-01

We have studied single photon double K-shell ionization of small molecules (N 2 , CO, C 2 H 2n (n = 1–3), …) and the Auger decay of the resulting double core hole (DCH) molecular ions thanks to multi-electron coincidence spectroscopy using a magnetic bottle time-of-flight spectrometer. The relative cross-sections for single-site (K −2 ) and two-site (K −1 K −1 ) double K-shell ionization with respect to single K-shell (K −1 ) ionization have been measured that gives important information on the mechanisms of single photon double ionization. The spectroscopy of two-site (K −1 K −1 ) DCH states in the C 2 H 2n (n = 1–3) series shows important chemical shifts due to a strong dependence on the C-C bond length. In addition, the complete cascade Auger decay following single site (K −2 ) ionization has been obtained

Behavioral changes induced by single and multiple electron beam pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pease, V.P.; McNulty, P.J.

1985-01-01

The effects of single, and low-dose, high-dose-rate and multiple electron beam pulses on passive avoidance behavior in mice were studied. Passive avoidance was measured by recording the time that an animal took to enter a chamber from a narrow platform. There were four conditions in the experiment: (1) no shock no radiation-control, (2) radiation only, (3) shock only, and (4) radiation plus shock. Forty animals were run for each data point. Dose rate was held constant at 9 x 10/sup 7/ rads/sec. Average doses for the two single pulses were 7.18 and 8.72 rads. The average total dose for a 25 pulse per second condition was 324.0 rads. The differences between the single versus multiple pulse radiation-only conditions were significant with longer avoidance latencies in the multiple pulse condition. Avoidance latencies were also significantly longer in the shock plus radiation condition for the multiple beam pulse than the single pulse. It is concluded that single and multiple electron beam pulses significantly effect behavior, in this case producing avoidance

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with 9-eV photon-energy pulses generated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bromberger, H., E-mail: Hubertus.Bromberger@mpsd.mpg.de; Liu, H.; Chávez-Cervantes, M.; Gierz, I. [Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); Ermolov, A.; Belli, F.; Abdolvand, A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Travers, J. C. [Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Günther-Scharowsky-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen (Germany); Calegari, F. [Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, IFN-CNR, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Li, M. T.; Lin, C. T. [Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstr. 1, 70569 Stuttgart (Germany); Cavalleri, A. [Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Rd. Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom)

2015-08-31

A recently developed source of ultraviolet radiation, based on optical soliton propagation in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, is applied here to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Near-infrared femtosecond pulses of only few μJ energy generate vacuum ultraviolet radiation between 5.5 and 9 eV inside the gas-filled fiber. These pulses are used to measure the band structure of the topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} with a signal to noise ratio comparable to that obtained with high order harmonics from a gas jet. The two-order-of-magnitude gain in efficiency promises time-resolved ARPES measurements at repetition rates of hundreds of kHz or even MHz, with photon energies that cover the first Brillouin zone of most materials.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with 9-eV photon-energy pulses generated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bromberger, H.; Liu, H.; Chávez-Cervantes, M.; Gierz, I.; Ermolov, A.; Belli, F.; Abdolvand, A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Travers, J. C.; Calegari, F.; Li, M. T.; Lin, C. T.; Cavalleri, A.

2015-01-01

A recently developed source of ultraviolet radiation, based on optical soliton propagation in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, is applied here to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Near-infrared femtosecond pulses of only few μJ energy generate vacuum ultraviolet radiation between 5.5 and 9 eV inside the gas-filled fiber. These pulses are used to measure the band structure of the topological insulator Bi 2 Se 3 with a signal to noise ratio comparable to that obtained with high order harmonics from a gas jet. The two-order-of-magnitude gain in efficiency promises time-resolved ARPES measurements at repetition rates of hundreds of kHz or even MHz, with photon energies that cover the first Brillouin zone of most materials

Generation of a single-cycle optical pulse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shverdin, M.Y.; Walker, D.R.; Yavuz, D.D.; Yin, G.Y.; Harris, S.E.

2005-01-01

We make use of coherent control of four-wave mixing to the ultraviolet as a diagnostic and describe the generation of a periodic optical waveform where the spectrum is sufficiently broad that the envelope is approximately a single-cycle in length, and where the temporal shape of this envelope may be synthesized by varying the coefficients of a Fourier series. Specifically, using seven sidebands, we report the generation of a train of single-cycle optical pulses with a pulse width of 1.6 fs, a pulse separation of 11 fs, and a peak power of 1 MW

High-fidelity frequency down-conversion of visible entangled photon pairs with superconducting single-photon detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikuta, Rikizo; Kato, Hiroshi; Kusaka, Yoshiaki; Yamamoto, Takashi; Imoto, Nobuyuki; Miki, Shigehito; Yamashita, Taro; Terai, Hirotaka; Wang, Zhen; Fujiwara, Mikio; Sasaki, Masahide; Koashi, Masato

2014-01-01

We experimentally demonstrate a high-fidelity visible-to-telecommunicationwavelength conversion of a photon by using a solid-state-based difference frequency generation. In the experiment, one half of a pico-second visible entangled photon pair at 780 nm is converted to a 1522-nm photon. Using superconducting single-photon detectors with low dark count rates and small timing jitters, we observed a fidelity of 0.93±0.04 after the wavelength conversion

Wavelength dependence of the single pulse femtosecond laser ablation threshold of indium phosphide in the 400-2050 nm range

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borowiec, A.; Tiedje, H.F.; Haugen, H.K.

2005-01-01

We present single pulse femtosecond laser ablation threshold measurements of InP obtained by optical, scanning electron, and atomic force microscopy. The experiments were conducted with laser pulses 65-175 fs in duration, in the wavelength range from 400 to 2050 nm, covering the photon energy region above and below the bandgap of InP. The ablation thresholds determined from depth and volume measurements varied from 87 mJ/cm 2 at 400 nm to 250 mJ/cm 2 at 2050 nm. In addition, crater depths and volumes were measured over a range of laser fluences extending well above the ablation threshold

Protecting single-photon entanglement with practical entanglement source

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Lan; Ou-Yang, Yang; Wang, Lei; Sheng, Yu-Bo

2017-06-01

Single-photon entanglement (SPE) is important for quantum communication and quantum information processing. However, SPE is sensitive to photon loss. In this paper, we discuss a linear optical amplification protocol for protecting SPE. Different from the previous protocols, we exploit the practical spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) source to realize the amplification, for the ideal entanglement source is unavailable in current quantum technology. Moreover, we prove that the amplification using the entanglement generated from SPDC source as auxiliary is better than the amplification assisted with single photons. The reason is that the vacuum state from SPDC source will not affect the amplification, so that it can be eliminated automatically. This protocol may be useful in future long-distance quantum communications.

Photonic wires and trumpets for ultrabright single photon sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gérard, Jean-Michel; Claudon, Julien; Bleuse, Joël

2013-01-01

as to tailor their radiation diagram in the far-field. We highlight the novel “photonic trumpet” geometry, which provides a clean Gaussian beam, and is much less sensitive to fabrication imperfections than the more common needle-like taper geometry. S4Ps based on a single QD in a PW with integrated bottom...

Coherent control of the single-photon multichannel scattering in the dissipation case

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Yun-Xia; Wang, Hang-Yu; Ma, Jin-Lou; Li, Qing; Tan, Lei

2018-03-01

Based on the quasi-boson approach, a model of a Λ-type three-level atom coupled to a X-shaped coupled cavity arrays (CCAs) is used to study the transport properties of a single-photon in the dissipative case, and a classical field is introduced to motivate the one transition of the Λ-type three-level atom (ΛTLA). The analytical expressions of transmission and transfer rate are obtained. Our results show that the cavity dissipation will obviously weaken the single-photon transfer rate where the incident energy of the single photon is resonant with the excited energy of the atom. Whether the cavity dissipation exists or not, the single photon can be almost confined in the incident channel at large detuning, and we can regulate the intensity of the classical field to control the total transmission of the single-photon.

Phase-resolved pulse propagation through metallic photonic crystal slabs: plasmonic slow light

Science.gov (United States)

Schönhardt, Anja; Nau, Dietmar; Bauer, Christina; Christ, André; Gräbeldinger, Hedi; Giessen, Harald

2017-03-01

We characterized the electromagnetic field of ultra-short laser pulses after propagation through metallic photonic crystal structures featuring photonic and plasmonic resonances. The complete pulse information, i.e. the envelope and phase of the electromagnetic field, was measured using the technique of cross-correlation frequency resolved optical gating. In good agreement, measurements and scattering matrix simulations show a dispersive behaviour of the spectral phase at the position of the resonances. Asymmetric Fano-type resonances go along with asymmetric phase characteristics. Furthermore, the spectral phase is used to calculate the dispersion of the sample and possible applications in dispersion compensation are investigated. Group refractive indices of 700 and 70 and group delay dispersion values of 90 000 fs2 and 5000 fs2 are achieved in transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarization, respectively. The behaviour of extinction and spectral phase can be understood from an intuitive model using the complex transmission amplitude. An associated depiction in the complex plane is a useful approach in this context. This method promises to be valuable also in photonic crystal and filter design, for example, with regards to the symmetrization of the resonances. This article is part of the themed issue 'New horizons for nanophotonics'.

Post-processing with linear optics for improving the quality of single-photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berry, Dominic W; Scheel, Stefan; Myers, Casey R; Sanders, Barry C; Knight, Peter L; Laflamme, Raymond

2004-01-01

Triggered single-photon sources produce the vacuum state with non-negligible probability, but produce a much smaller multiphoton component. It is therefore reasonable to approximate the output of these photon sources as a mixture of the vacuum and single-photon states. We show that it is impossible to increase the probability for a single photon using linear optics and photodetection on fewer than four modes. This impossibility is due to the incoherence of the inputs; if the inputs were pure-state superpositions, it would be possible to obtain a perfect single-photon output. In the more general case, a chain of beam splitters can be used to increase the probability for a single photon, but at the expense of adding an additional multiphoton component. This improvement is robust against detector inefficiencies, but is degraded by distinguishable photons, dark counts or multiphoton components in the input

Control of ultrafast pulses in a hydrogen-filled hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber by Raman coherence

Science.gov (United States)

Belli, F.; Abdolvand, A.; Travers, J. C.; Russell, P. St. J.

2018-01-01

We present the results of an experimental and numerical investigation into temporally nonlocal coherent interactions between ultrashort pulses, mediated by Raman coherence, in a gas-filled kagome-style hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber. A pump pulse first sets up the Raman coherence, creating a refractive index spatiotemporal grating in the gas that travels at the group velocity of the pump pulse. Varying the arrival time of a second, probe, pulse allows a high degree of control over its evolution as it propagates along the fiber through the grating. Of particular interest are soliton-driven effects such as self-compression and dispersive wave (DW) emission. In the experiments reported, a DW is emitted at ˜300 nm and exhibits a wiggling effect, with its central frequency oscillating periodically with pump-probe delay. The results demonstrate that a strong Raman coherence, created in a broadband guiding gas-filled kagome photonic-crystal fiber, can be used to control the nonlinear dynamics of ultrashort probe pulses, even in difficult-to-access spectral regions such as the deep and vacuum ultraviolet.

Generating single-photon catalyzed coherent states with quantum-optical catalysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Xue-xiang, E-mail: xuxuexiang@jxnu.edu.cn [Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022 (China); Yuan, Hong-chun [College of Electrical and Optoelectronic Engineering, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou 213002 (China)

2016-07-15

We theoretically generate single-photon catalyzed coherent states (SPCCSs) by means of quantum-optical catalysis based on the beam splitter (BS) or the parametric amplifier (PA). These states are obtained in one of the BS (or PA) output channels if a coherent state and a single-photon Fock state are present in two input ports and a single photon is registered in the other output port. The success probabilities of the detection (also the normalization factors) are discussed, which is different for BS and PA catalysis. In addition, we prove that the generated states catalyzed by BS and PA devices are actually the same quantum states after analyzing photon number distribution of the SPCCSs. The quantum properties of the SPCCSs, such as sub-Poissonian distribution, anti-bunching effect, quadrature squeezing effect, and the negativity of the Wigner function are investigated in detail. The results show that the SPCCSs are non-Gaussian states with an abundance of nonclassicality. - Highlights: • We generate single-photon catalyzed coherent states with quantum-optical catalysis. • We prove the equivalent effects of the lossless beam splitter and the non-degenerate parametric amplifier. • Some nonclassical properties of the generated states are investigated in detail.

Single Molecule Experiments Challenge the Strict Wave-Particle Dualism of Light

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karl Otto Greulich

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Single molecule techniques improve our understanding of the photon and light. If the single photon double slit experiment is performed at the “single photon limit” of a multi-atom light source, faint light pulses with more than one photon hamper the interpretation. Single molecules, quantum dots or defect centres in crystals should be used as light source. “Single photon detectors” do not meet their promise―only “photon number resolving single photon detectors” do so. Particularly, the accumulation time argument, the only safe basis for the postulate of a strictly particle like photon, has so far not yet been verified.

Evaluation of the ID220 single photon avalanche diode for extended spectral range of photon time-of-flight spectroscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Otto Højager Attermann; Dahl, Anders Bjorholm; Anderson-Engels, Stefan

This paper describe the performance of the ID220 single photon avalanche diode for single photon counting, and investigates its performance for photon time-of-flight (PToF) spectroscopy. At first this report will serve as a summary to the group for PToF spectroscopy at the Department of Physics...

A portable high-field pulsed-magnet system for single-crystal x-ray scattering studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Islam, Zahirul; Lang, Jonathan C.; Ruff, Jacob P. C.; Ross, Kathryn A.; Gaulin, Bruce D.; Nojiri, Hiroyuki; Matsuda, Yasuhiro H.; Qu Zhe

2009-01-01

We present a portable pulsed-magnet system for x-ray studies of materials in high magnetic fields (up to 30 T). The apparatus consists of a split-pair of minicoils cooled on a closed-cycle cryostat, which is used for x-ray diffraction studies with applied field normal to the scattering plane. A second independent closed-cycle cryostat is used for cooling the sample to near liquid helium temperatures. Pulsed magnetic fields (∼1 ms in total duration) are generated by discharging a configurable capacitor bank into the magnet coils. Time-resolved scattering data are collected using a combination of a fast single-photon counting detector, a multichannel scaler, and a high-resolution digital storage oscilloscope. The capabilities of this instrument are used to study a geometrically frustrated system revealing strong magnetostrictive effects in the spin-liquid state.

Selective labeling of a single organelle by using two-photon conversion of a photoconvertible fluorescent protein

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Wataru; Shimada, Tomoko; Matsunaga, Sachihiro; Kurihara, Daisuke; Arimura, Shin-ichi; Tsutsumi, Nobuhiro; Fukui, Kiichi; Itoh, Kazuyoshi

2008-02-01

We present space-selective labeling of organelles by using two-photon conversion of a photoconvertible fluorescent protein with near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. Two-photon excitation of photoconvertible fluorescent-protein, Kaede, enables space-selective labeling of organelles. We alter the fluorescence of target mitochondria in a tobacco BY-2 cell from green to red by focusing femtosecond laser pulses with a wavelength of 750 nm.

Theoretical and experimental study of single particle tracking in extreme conditions: single photon imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cajgfinger, T.

2012-10-01

This manuscript presents my thesis on the high frame rate (500 frames / second) single-photon detector electron-bombarded CMOS (ebCMOS). The first section compares three ultra-sensitive detectors and their methods for improving photon sensitivity: the CMOS low noise (sCMOS), the electron-multiplying CCD (emCCD) with signal multiplication by pixel and the ebCMOS with amplification by applied electric field. The method developed to detect single photon impacts with intra-pixel resolution on the ebCMOS sensor is presented. The second section compares the localization accuracy of these detectors in extreme conditions of very low photon flux (<10 photons/frame). First the theoretical limit is calculated using the Cramer-Rao lower bound for significant parameter sets. An experimental comparison of the detectors is then described. The setup provides one or more point sources controlled in position, signal and background noise. The results allow a comparison of the experimental effectiveness, purity and localization accuracy. The last section describes two experiments with the ebCMOS camera. The first aims at tracking hundreds of quantum dots simultaneously at the Nanoptec center. The second focuses on the swimming of bacteria at the surface at the Joliot Curie Institute. The point sources tracking algorithm using single photons and the Kalman filter implementation developed for these experiments is also described. (author)

A highly efficient single-photon source based on a quantum dot in a photonic nanowire

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Claudon, Julien; Bleuse, Joel; Malik, Nitin Singh

2010-01-01

–4 or a semiconductor quantum dot5–7. Achieving a high extraction efficiency has long been recognized as a major issue, and both classical solutions8 and cavity quantum electrodynamics effects have been applied1,9–12. We adopt a different approach, based on an InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs photonic nanowire......The development of efficient solid-state sources of single photons is a major challenge in the context of quantum communication,optical quantum information processing and metrology1. Such a source must enable the implementation of a stable, single-photon emitter, like a colour centre in diamond2...

Quantum dot single-photon switches of resonant tunneling current for discriminating-photon-number detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Weng, Qianchun; An, Zhenghua; Zhang, Bo; Chen, Pingping; Chen, Xiaoshuang; Zhu, Ziqiang; Lu, Wei

2015-03-23

Low-noise single-photon detectors that can resolve photon numbers are used to monitor the operation of quantum gates in linear-optical quantum computation. Exactly 0, 1 or 2 photons registered in a detector should be distinguished especially in long-distance quantum communication and quantum computation. Here we demonstrate a photon-number-resolving detector based on quantum dot coupled resonant tunneling diodes (QD-cRTD). Individual quantum-dots (QDs) coupled closely with adjacent quantum well (QW) of resonant tunneling diode operate as photon-gated switches- which turn on (off) the RTD tunneling current when they trap photon-generated holes (recombine with injected electrons). Proposed electron-injecting operation fills electrons into coupled QDs which turn "photon-switches" to "OFF" state and make the detector ready for multiple-photons detection. With proper decision regions defined, 1-photon and 2-photon states are resolved in 4.2 K with excellent propabilities of accuracy of 90% and 98% respectively. Further, by identifying step-like photon responses, the photon-number-resolving capability is sustained to 77 K, making the detector a promising candidate for advanced quantum information applications where photon-number-states should be accurately distinguished.

Single-photon sources for quantum technologies - Results of the joint research project SIQUTE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kück, S.; López, M.; Rodiek, B.

2017-01-01

In this presentation, the results of the joint research project “Single-Photon Sources for Quantum Technologies” (SIQUTE) [1] will be presented. The focus will be on the development of absolutely characterized single-photon sources, on the realization of an efficient waveguide-based single-photon......-photon source at the telecom wavelengths of 1.3 µm and 1.55 µm, on the implementation of the quantum-enhanced resolution in confocal fluorescence microscopy and on the development of a detector for very low photon fluxes...

Periodically modulated single-photon transport in one-dimensional waveguide

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xingmin; Wei, L. F.

2018-03-01

Single-photon transport along a one-dimension waveguide interacting with a quantum system (e.g., two-level atom) is a very useful and meaningful simplified model of the waveguide-based optical quantum devices. Thus, how to modulate the transport of the photons in the waveguide structures by adjusting certain external parameters should be particularly important. In this paper, we discuss how such a modulation could be implemented by periodically driving the energy splitting of the interacting atom and the atom-photon coupling strength. By generalizing the well developed time-independent full quantum mechanical theory in real space to the time-dependent one, we show that various sideband-transmission phenomena could be observed. This means that, with these modulations the photon has certain probabilities to transmit through the scattering atom in the other energy sidebands. Inversely, by controlling the sideband transmission the periodic modulations of the single photon waveguide devices could be designed for the future optical quantum information processing applications.

Probabilistically cloning two single-photon states using weak cross-Kerr nonlinearities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Wen; Rui, Pinshu; Zhang, Ziyun; Yang, Qun

2014-01-01

By using quantum nondemolition detectors (QNDs) based on weak cross-Kerr nonlinearities, we propose an experimental scheme for achieving 1→2 probabilistic quantum cloning (PQC) of a single-photon state, secretly choosing from a two-state set. In our scheme, after a QND is performed on the to-be-cloned photon and the assistant photon, a single-photon projection measurement is performed by a polarization beam splitter (PBS) and two single-photon trigger detectors (SPTDs). The measurement is to judge whether the PQC should be continued. If the cloning fails, a cutoff is carried out and some operations are omitted. This makes our scheme economical. If the PQC is continued according to the measurement result, two more QNDs and some unitary operations are performed on the to-be-cloned photon and the cloning photon to achieve the PQC in a nearly deterministic way. Our experimental scheme for PQC is feasible for future technology. Furthermore, the quantum logic network of our PQC scheme is presented. In comparison with similar networks, our PQC network is simpler and more economical. (paper)

Fully quantum-mechanical dynamic analysis of single-photon transport in a single-mode waveguide coupled to a traveling-wave resonator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hach, Edwin E. III; Elshaari, Ali W.; Preble, Stefan F.

2010-01-01

We analyze the dynamics of single-photon transport in a single-mode waveguide coupled to a micro-optical resonator by using a fully quantum-mechanical model. We examine the propagation of a single-photon Gaussian packet through the system under various coupling conditions. We review the theory of single-photon transport phenomena as applied to the system and we develop a discussion on the numerical technique we used to solve for dynamical behavior of the quantized field. To demonstrate our method and to establish robust single-photon results, we study the process of adiabatically lowering or raising the energy of a single photon trapped in an optical resonator under active tuning of the resonator. We show that our fully quantum-mechanical approach reproduces the semiclassical result in the appropriate limit and that the adiabatic invariant has the same form in each case. Finally, we explore the trapping of a single photon in a system of dynamically tuned, coupled optical cavities.

An accurate behavioral model for single-photon avalanche diode statistical performance simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yue; Zhao, Tingchen; Li, Ding

2018-01-01

An accurate behavioral model is presented to simulate important statistical performance of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), such as dark count and after-pulsing noise. The derived simulation model takes into account all important generation mechanisms of the two kinds of noise. For the first time, thermal agitation, trap-assisted tunneling and band-to-band tunneling mechanisms are simultaneously incorporated in the simulation model to evaluate dark count behavior of SPADs fabricated in deep sub-micron CMOS technology. Meanwhile, a complete carrier trapping and de-trapping process is considered in afterpulsing model and a simple analytical expression is derived to estimate after-pulsing probability. In particular, the key model parameters of avalanche triggering probability and electric field dependence of excess bias voltage are extracted from Geiger-mode TCAD simulation and this behavioral simulation model doesn't include any empirical parameters. The developed SPAD model is implemented in Verilog-A behavioral hardware description language and successfully operated on commercial Cadence Spectre simulator, showing good universality and compatibility. The model simulation results are in a good accordance with the test data, validating high simulation accuracy.

InGaAs/InAlAs single photon avalanche diode for 1550 nm photons.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Xiao; Xie, Shiyu; Zhou, Xinxin; Calandri, Niccolò; Sanzaro, Mirko; Tosi, Alberto; Tan, Chee Hing; Ng, Jo Shien

2016-03-01

A single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) with an InGaAs absorption region, and an InAlAs avalanche region was designed and demonstrated to detect 1550 nm wavelength photons. The characterization included leakage current, dark count rate and single photon detection efficiency as functions of temperature from 210 to 294 K. The SPAD exhibited good temperature stability, with breakdown voltage dependence of approximately 45 mV K(-1). Operating at 210 K and in a gated mode, the SPAD achieved a photon detection probability of 26% at 1550 nm with a dark count rate of 1 × 10(8) Hz. The time response of the SPAD showed decreasing timing jitter (full width at half maximum) with increasing overbias voltage, with 70 ps being the smallest timing jitter measured.

Electrically pumped single-photon emission at room temperature from a single InGaN/GaN quantum dot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deshpande, Saniya; Frost, Thomas; Hazari, Arnab; Bhattacharya, Pallab, E-mail: pkb@eecs.umich.edu [Center for Photonics and Multiscale Nanomaterials, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

2014-10-06

We demonstrate a semiconductor quantum dot based electrically pumped single-photon source operating at room temperature. Single photons emitted in the red spectral range from single In{sub 0.4}Ga{sub 0.6}N/GaN quantum dots exhibit a second-order correlation value g{sup (2)}(0) of 0.29, and fast recombination lifetime ∼1.3 ±0.3 ns at room temperature. The single-photon source can be driven at an excitation repetition rate of 200 MHz.

Multidimensional spectroscopy with a single broadband phase-shaped laser pulse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glenn, Rachel; Mukamel, Shaul

2014-01-01

We calculate the frequency-dispersed nonlinear transmission signal of a phase-shaped visible pulse to fourth order in the field. Two phase profiles, a phase-step and phase-pulse, are considered. Two dimensional signals obtained by varying the detected frequency and phase parameters are presented for a three electronic band model system. We demonstrate how two-photon and stimulated Raman resonances can be manipulated by the phase profile and sign, and selected quantum pathways can be suppressed

Efficient fiber-coupled single-photon sources based on quantum dots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daveau, Raphaël Sura

refrigeration with coupled quantum wells. Many photonic quantum information processing applications would benet from a highbrightness, ber-coupled source of triggered single photons. This thesis presents a study of such sources based on quantum dots coupled to unidirectional photonic-crystal waveguide devices.......6 %. This latter method opens a promising future for increasing the eciency and reliability of planar chip-based single-photon sources. Refrigeration of a solid-state system with light has potential applications for cooling small-scale electronic and photonic circuits. We show theoretically that two coupled...... semiconductor quantum wells are ecient cooling media because they support long-lived indirect electron-hole pairs. These pairs can be thermally excited to distinct higher-energy states with faster radiative recombination, thereby creating an ecient escape channel to remove thermal energy from the system. From...

CdTe Timepix detectors for single-photon spectroscopy and linear polarimetry of high-flux hard x-ray radiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, C; Weber, G; Märtin, R; Höfer, S; Kämpfer, T; Stöhlker, Th

2016-04-01

Single-photon spectroscopy of pulsed, high-intensity sources of hard X-rays - such as laser-generated plasmas - is often hampered by the pileup of several photons absorbed by the unsegmented, large-volume sensors routinely used for the detection of high-energy radiation. Detectors based on the Timepix chip, with a segmentation pitch of 55 μm and the possibility to be equipped with high-Z sensor chips, constitute an attractive alternative to commonly used passive solutions such as image plates. In this report, we present energy calibration and characterization measurements of such devices. The achievable energy resolution is comparable to that of scintillators for γ spectroscopy. Moreover, we also introduce a simple two-detector Compton polarimeter setup with a polarimeter quality of (98 ± 1)%. Finally, a proof-of-principle polarimetry experiment is discussed, where we studied the linear polarization of bremsstrahlung emitted by a laser-driven plasma and found an indication of the X-ray polarization direction depending on the polarization state of the incident laser pulse.

Near-unity efficiency, single-photon sources based on tapered photonic nanowires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bleuse, Joël; Munsch, Mathieu; Claudon, Julien

2012-01-01

Single-photon emission from excitons in InAs Quantum Dots (QD) embedded in GaAs Tapered Photonic Wires (TPW) already demonstrated a 0.72 collection efficiency, with TPWs were the apex is the sharp end of the cone. Going to alternate designs, still based on the idea of the adiabatic deconfinement...... of the quasi-Gaussian emission mode, but with inverted TPW where the apex is the cone's base, leads to even larger efficiencies. In addition, these inverted TPWs make the electric pumping of the emitters compatible with these large efficiencies....

Broadband multiplex coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy employing photonic-crystal fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andresen, Esben Ravn; Paulsen, Henrik Nørgaard; Birkedal, Victoria

2006-01-01

We demonstrate spectral multiplex coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy and microscopy based on a single Ti:sapphire oscillator and a nonlinear photonic-crystal fiber (PCF). The Stokes pulse is generated by spectral conversion of the laser pulse in a PCF. The pump pulse is eit...

Investigating and Improving Student Understanding of Quantum Mechanics in the Context of Single Photon Interference

Science.gov (United States)

Marshman, Emily; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-01-01

Single photon experiments involving a Mach-Zehnder interferometer can illustrate the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, e.g., the wave-particle duality of a single photon, single photon interference, and the probabilistic nature of quantum measurement involving single photons. These experiments explicitly make the connection between the…

Diagnosis of dementia with single photon emission computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jagust, W.J.; Budinger, T.F.; Reed, B.R.

1987-01-01

Single photon emission computed tomography is a practical modality for the study of physiologic cerebral activity in vivo. We utilized single photon emission computed tomography and N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine iodine 123 to evaluate regional cerebral blood flow in nine patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), five healthy elderly control subjects, and two patients with multi-infarct dementia. We found that all subjects with AD demonstrated flow deficits in temporoparietal cortex bilaterally, and that the ratio of activity in bilateral temporoparietal cortex to activity in the whole slice allowed the differentiation of all patients with AD from both the controls and from the patients with multi-infarct dementia. Furthermore, this ratio showed a strong correlation with disease severity in the AD group. Single photon emission computed tomography appears to be useful in the differential diagnosis of dementia and reflects clinical features of the disease

Processing multiphoton states through operation on a single photon: Methods and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin Qing; He Bing; Bergou, Janos A.; Ren, Yuhang

2009-01-01

Multiphoton states are widely applied in quantum information technology. By the methods presented in this paper, the structure of a multiphoton state in the form of multiple single-photon qubit products can be mapped to a single-photon qudit, which could also be in a separable product with other photons. This makes possible the manipulation of such multiphoton states by processing single-photon states. The optical realization of unknown qubit discrimination [B. He, J. A. Bergou, and Y.-H. Ren, Phys. Rev. A 76, 032301 (2007)] is simplified with the transformation methods. Another application is the construction of quantum logic gates, where the inverse transformations back to the input state spaces are also necessary. We especially show that the modified setups to implement the transformations can realize the deterministic multicontrol gates (including Toffoli gate) operating directly on the products of single-photon qubits.

Photon-Counting Arrays for Time-Resolved Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Michel Antolovic

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a camera comprising 512 × 128 pixels capable of single-photon detection and gating with a maximum frame rate of 156 kfps. The photon capture is performed through a gated single-photon avalanche diode that generates a digital pulse upon photon detection and through a digital one-bit counter. Gray levels are obtained through multiple counting and accumulation, while time-resolved imaging is achieved through a 4-ns gating window controlled with subnanosecond accuracy by a field-programmable gate array. The sensor, which is equipped with microlenses to enhance its effective fill factor, was electro-optically characterized in terms of sensitivity and uniformity. Several examples of capture of fast events are shown to demonstrate the suitability of the approach.

Alignment and pulse-duration effects in two-photon double ionization of H2 by femtosecond XUV laser pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Xiaoxu; Bartschat, Klaus; Schneider, Barry I.; Koesterke, Lars

2014-10-01

We present calculations for the dependence of the two-photon double ionization (DI) of H2 on the relative orientation of the linear laser polarization to the internuclear axis and the length of the pulse. We use the fixed-nuclei approximation at the equilibrium distance of 1.4 a0, where a0=0.529 ×10-10m is the Bohr radius. Central photon energies cover the entire direct DI domain from 26.5 to 34.0 eV. In contrast to the parallel geometry studied earlier [X. Guan, K. Bartschat, B. I. Schneider, and L. Koesterke, Phys. Rev. A 83, 043403 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.043403], the effect of the pulse duration is almost negligible for the case when the two axes are perpendicular to each other. This is a consequence of the symmetry rules for dipole excitation in the two cases. In the parallel geometry, doubly excited states of 1Σu+ symmetry affect the cross section, while in the perpendicular geometry only much longer-lived 1Πu states are present. This accounts for the different convergence patterns observed in the calculated cross sections as a function of the pulse length. When the photon energy approaches the threshold of sequential DI, a sharp increase of the generalized total cross section (GTCS) with increasing pulse duration is also observed in the perpendicular geometry, very similar to the case of the molecular axis being oriented along the laser polarization direction. Our results differ from those of Colgan et al. [J. Colgan, M. S. Pindzola, and F. Robicheaux, J. Phys. B 41, 121002 (2008), 10.1088/0953-4075/41/12/121002] and Morales et al. [F. Morales, F. Martín, D. A. Horner, T. N. Rescigno, and C. W. McCurdy, J. Phys. B 42, 134013 (2009), 10.1088/0953-4075/42/13/134013], but are in excellent agreement with the GTCSs of Simonsen et al. [A. S. Simonsen, S. A. Sørngård, R. Nepstad, and M. Førre, Phys. Rev. A 85, 063404 (2012), 10.1103/PhysRevA.85.063404] over the entire domain of direct DI.

CORRELATION OF FERMI PHOTONS WITH HIGH-FREQUENCY RADIO GIANT PULSES FROM THE CRAB PULSAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilous, A. V.; Kondratiev, V. I.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Mickaliger, M.; Ransom, S. M.; Lyutikov, M.; Langston, G. I.

2011-01-01

To constrain the giant pulse (GP) emission mechanism and test the model of Lyutikov for GP emission, we have carried out a campaign of simultaneous observations of the Crab pulsar at γ-ray (Fermi) and radio (Green Bank Telescope) wavelengths. Over 10 hr of simultaneous observations we obtained a sample of 2.1 x 10 4 GPs, observed at a radio frequency of 9 GHz, and 77 Fermi photons, with energies between 100 MeV and 5 GeV. The majority of GPs came from the interpulse (IP) phase window. We found no change in the GP generation rate within 10-120 s windows at lags of up to ±40 minutes of observed γ-ray photons. The 95% upper limit for a γ-ray flux enhancement in pulsed emission phase window around all GPs is four times the average pulsed γ-ray flux from the Crab. For the subset of IP GPs, the enhancement upper limit, within the IP emission window, is 12 times the average pulsed γ-ray flux. These results suggest that GPs, at least high-frequency IP GPs, are due to changes in coherence of radio emission rather than an overall increase in the magnetospheric particle density.

Single photon detection in a waveguide-coupled Ge-on-Si lateral avalanche photodiode.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Nicholas J D; Gehl, Michael; Derose, Christopher T; Starbuck, Andrew L; Pomerene, Andrew T; Lentine, Anthony L; Trotter, Douglas C; Davids, Paul S

2017-07-10

We examine gated-Geiger mode operation of an integrated waveguide-coupled Ge-on-Si lateral avalanche photodiode (APD) and demonstrate single photon detection at low dark count for this mode of operation. Our integrated waveguide-coupled APD is fabricated using a selective epitaxial Ge-on-Si growth process resulting in a separate absorption and charge multiplication (SACM) design compatible with our silicon photonics platform. Single photon detection efficiency and dark count rate is measured as a function of temperature in order to understand and optimize performance characteristics in this device. We report single photon detection of 5.27% at 1310 nm and a dark count rate of 534 kHz at 80 K for a Ge-on-Si single photon avalanche diode. Dark count rate is the lowest for a Ge-on-Si single photon detector in this range of temperatures while maintaining competitive detection efficiency. A jitter of 105 ps was measured for this device.

Characterization of temporal coherence of hard X-ray free-electron laser pulses with single-shot interferograms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taito Osaka

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Temporal coherence is one of the most fundamental characteristics of light, connecting to spectral information through the Fourier transform relationship between time and frequency. Interferometers with a variable path-length difference (PLD between the two branches have widely been employed to characterize temporal coherence properties for broad spectral regimes. Hard X-ray interferometers reported previously, however, have strict limitations in their operational photon energies, due to the specific optical layouts utilized to satisfy the stringent requirement for extreme stability of the PLD at sub-ångström scales. The work presented here characterizes the temporal coherence of hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL pulses by capturing single-shot interferograms. Since the stability requirement is drastically relieved with this approach, it was possible to build a versatile hard X-ray interferometer composed of six separate optical elements to cover a wide photon energy range from 6.5 to 11.5 keV while providing a large variable delay time of up to 47 ps at 10 keV. A high visibility of up to 0.55 was observed at a photon energy of 10 keV. The visibility measurement as a function of time delay reveals a mean coherence time of 5.9 ± 0.7 fs, which agrees with that expected from the single-shot spectral information. This is the first result of characterizing the temporal coherence of XFEL pulses in the hard X-ray regime and is an important milestone towards ultra-high energy resolutions at micro-electronvolt levels in time-domain X-ray spectroscopy, which will open up new opportunities for revealing dynamic properties in diverse systems on timescales from femtoseconds to nanoseconds, associated with fluctuations from ångström to nanometre spatial scales.

Photon-number-resolving SSPDs with system detection efficiency over 50% at telecom range

Science.gov (United States)

Zolotov, P.; Divochiy, A.; Vakhtomin, Yu.; Moshkova, M.; Morozov, P.; Seleznev, V.; Smirnov, K.

2018-02-01

We used technology of making high-efficiency superconducting single-photon detectors as a basis for improvement of photon-number-resolving devices. By adding optical cavity and using an improved NbN superconducting film, we enhanced previously reported system detection efficiency at telecom range for such detectors. Our results show that implementation of optical cavity helps to develop four-section device with quantum efficiency over 50% at 1.55 µm. Performed experimental studies of detecting multi-photon optical pulses showed irregularities over defining multi-photon through single-photon quantum efficiency.

Single-photon generation with InAs quantum dots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santori, Charles; Fattal, David; Vuckovic, Jelena; Solomon, Glenn S; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa

2004-01-01

Single-photon generation using InAs quantum dots in pillar microcavities is described. The effects on performance of the excitation wavelength and polarization, and the collection bandwidth and polarization, are studied in detail. The efficiency and photon state purity of these devices have been measured, and issues affecting these parameters are discussed. Prospects for improved devices are also discussed

Surface-Wave Pulse Routing around Sharp Right Angles

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Z.; Xu, H.; Gao, F.; Zhang, Y.; Luo, Y.; Zhang, B.

2018-04-01

Surface-plasmon polaritons (SPPs), or localized electromagnetic surface waves propagating on a metal-dielectric interface, are deemed promising information carriers for future subwavelength terahertz and optical photonic circuitry. However, surface waves fundamentally suffer from scattering loss when encountering sharp corners in routing and interconnection of photonic signals. Previous approaches enabling scattering-free surface-wave guidance around sharp corners are limited to either volumetric waveguide environments or extremely narrow bandwidth, being unable to guide a surface-wave pulse (SPP wave packet) on an on-chip platform. Here, in a surface-wave band-gap crystal implemented on a single metal surface, we demonstrate in time-domain routing a surface-wave pulse around multiple sharp right angles without perceptible scattering. Our work not only offers a solution to on-chip surface-wave pulse routing along an arbitrary path, but it also provides spatiotemporal information on the interplay between surface-wave pulses and sharp corners, both of which are desirable in developing high-performance large-scale integrated photonic circuits.

Single-photon production at the CERN ISR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linnemann, J.T.

1981-01-01

A measurement of single photon production from p-p collisions at ISR energies is presented. A signal comparable to single π 0 production is found at large p/sub T/. A study of associated particles favors production dominated by the first-order QCD process of gluon-valence quark production q g → q γ

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with 9-eV photon-energy pulses generated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

OpenAIRE

Bromberger, H.; Ermolov, A.; Belli, F.; Liu, H.; Calegari, F.; Chavez-Cervantes, M.; Li, M. T.; Lin, C. T.; Abdolvand, A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Cavalleri, A.; Travers, J. C.; Gierz, I.

2015-01-01

A recently developed source of ultraviolet radiation, based on optical soliton propagation in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, is applied here to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Near-infrared femtosecond pulses of only few {\\mu}J energy generate vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation between 5.5 and 9 eV inside the gas-filled fiber. These pulses are used to measure the band structure of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 with a signal to noise ratio comparable to ...

Stable single-photon source in the near infrared

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaebel, T; Popa, I; Gruber, A; Domhan, M; Jelezko, F; Wrachtrup, J

2004-01-01

Owing to their unsurpassed photostability, defects in solids may be ideal candidates for single-photon sources. Here we report on generation of single photons by optical excitation of a yet unexplored defect in diamond, the nickel-nitrogen complex (NE8) centre. The most striking feature of the defect is its emission bandwidth of 1.2 nm at room temperature. The emission wavelength of the defect is around 800 nm, which is suitable for telecom fibres. In addition, in this spectral region little background light from the diamond bulk material is detected. Consequently, a high contrast in antibunching measurements is achieved

Site-controlled InGaN/GaN single-photon-emitting diode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Lei; Deng, Hui, E-mail: dengh@umich.edu [Department of Physics, University of Michigan, 450 Church St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States); Teng, Chu-Hsiang; Ku, Pei-Cheng, E-mail: peicheng@umich.edu [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

2016-04-11

We report single-photon emission from electrically driven site-controlled InGaN/GaN quantum dots. The device is fabricated from a planar light-emitting diode structure containing a single InGaN quantum well, using a top-down approach. The location, dimension, and height of each single-photon-emitting diode are controlled lithographically, providing great flexibility for chip-scale integration.

Single-photon compressive imaging with some performance benefits over raster scanning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Wen-Kai; Liu, Xue-Feng; Yao, Xu-Ri; Wang, Chao; Zhai, Guang-Jie; Zhao, Qing

2014-01-01

A single-photon imaging system based on compressed sensing has been developed to image objects under ultra-low illumination. With this system, we have successfully realized imaging at the single-photon level with a single-pixel avalanche photodiode without point-by-point raster scanning. From analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement we find that our system has much higher sensitivity than conventional ones based on point-by-point raster scanning, while the measurement time is also reduced. - Highlights: • We design a single photon imaging system with compressed sensing. • A single point avalanche photodiode is used without raster scanning. • The Poisson shot noise in the measurement is analyzed. • The sensitivity of our system is proved to be higher than that of raster scanning

Memory effect in silicon time-gated single-photon avalanche diodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalla Mora, A.; Contini, D.; Di Sieno, L.; Tosi, A.; Boso, G.; Villa, F.; Pifferi, A.

2015-01-01

We present a comprehensive characterization of the memory effect arising in thin-junction silicon Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) when exposed to strong illumination. This partially unknown afterpulsing-like noise represents the main limiting factor when time-gated acquisitions are exploited to increase the measurement dynamic range of very fast (picosecond scale) and faint (single-photon) optical signals following a strong stray one. We report the dependences of this unwelcome signal-related noise on photon wavelength, detector temperature, and biasing conditions. Our results suggest that this so-called “memory effect” is generated in the deep regions of the detector, well below the depleted region, and its contribution on detector response is visible only when time-gated SPADs are exploited to reject a strong burst of photons

Memory effect in silicon time-gated single-photon avalanche diodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalla Mora, A.; Contini, D., E-mail: davide.contini@polimi.it; Di Sieno, L. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Tosi, A.; Boso, G.; Villa, F. [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Pifferi, A. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy); CNR, Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano (Italy)

2015-03-21

We present a comprehensive characterization of the memory effect arising in thin-junction silicon Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) when exposed to strong illumination. This partially unknown afterpulsing-like noise represents the main limiting factor when time-gated acquisitions are exploited to increase the measurement dynamic range of very fast (picosecond scale) and faint (single-photon) optical signals following a strong stray one. We report the dependences of this unwelcome signal-related noise on photon wavelength, detector temperature, and biasing conditions. Our results suggest that this so-called “memory effect” is generated in the deep regions of the detector, well below the depleted region, and its contribution on detector response is visible only when time-gated SPADs are exploited to reject a strong burst of photons.

Structural Engineering of Nanoporous Anodic Alumina Photonic Crystals by Sawtooth-like Pulse Anodization.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Cheryl Suwen; Santos, Abel; Nemati, Mahdieh; Losic, Dusan

2016-06-01

This study presents a sawtooth-like pulse anodization approach aiming to create a new type of photonic crystal structure based on nanoporous anodic alumina. This nanofabrication approach enables the engineering of the effective medium of nanoporous anodic alumina in a sawtooth-like manner with precision. The manipulation of various anodization parameters such as anodization period, anodization amplitude, number of anodization pulses, ramp ratio and pore widening time allows a precise control and fine-tuning of the optical properties (i.e., characteristic transmission peaks and interferometric colors) exhibited by nanoporous anodic alumina photonic crystals (NAA-PCs). The effect of these anodization parameters on the photonic properties of NAA-PCs is systematically evaluated for the establishment of a fabrication methodology toward NAA-PCs with tunable optical properties. The effective medium of the resulting NAA-PCs is demonstrated to be optimal for the development of optical sensing platforms in combination with reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS). This application is demonstrated by monitoring in real-time the formation of monolayers of thiol molecules (11-mercaptoundecanoic acid) on the surface of gold-coated NAA-PCs. The obtained results reveal that the adsorption mechanism between thiol molecules and gold-coated NAA-PCs follows a Langmuir isotherm model, indicating a monolayer sorption mechanism.

Dye molecules as single-photon sources and large optical nonlinearities on a chip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, J; Hinds, E A

2011-01-01

We point out that individual organic dye molecules, deposited close to optical waveguides on a photonic chip, can act as single-photon sources. A thin silicon nitride strip waveguide is expected to collect 28% of the photons from a single dibenzoterrylene molecule. These molecules can also provide large, localized optical nonlinearities, which are enough to discriminate between one photon or two through a differential phase shift of 2 0 per photon. This new atom-photon interface may be used as a resource for processing quantum information.

Quantum State Transfer from a Single Photon to a Distant Quantum-Dot Electron Spin

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yu; He, Yu-Ming; Wei, Yu-Jia; Jiang, Xiao; Chen, Kai; Lu, Chao-Yang; Pan, Jian-Wei; Schneider, Christian; Kamp, Martin; Höfling, Sven

2017-08-01

Quantum state transfer from flying photons to stationary matter qubits is an important element in the realization of quantum networks. Self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots provide a promising solid-state platform hosting both single photon and spin, with an inherent light-matter interface. Here, we develop a method to coherently and actively control the single-photon frequency bins in superposition using electro-optic modulators, and measure the spin-photon entanglement with a fidelity of 0.796 ±0.020 . Further, by Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type state projection on the frequency, path, and polarization degrees of freedom of a single photon, we demonstrate quantum state transfer from a single photon to a single electron spin confined in an InGaAs quantum dot, separated by 5 m. The quantum state mapping from the photon's polarization to the electron's spin is demonstrated along three different axes on the Bloch sphere, with an average fidelity of 78.5%.

Nano-LED array fabrication suitable for future single photon lithography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikulics, M; Hardtdegen, H

2015-01-01

We report on an alternative illumination concept for a future lithography based on single-photon emitters and important technological steps towards its implementation. Nano light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are chosen as the photon emitters. First, the development of their fabrication and their integration technology is presented, then their optical characteristics assessed. Last, size-controlled nano-LEDs, well positioned in an array, are electrically driven and utilized for illumination. Nanostructures are lithographically formed, demonstrating the feasibility of the approach. The potential of single-photon lithography to reach the ultimate scale limits in mass production is discussed. (paper)

Dose rate effect on micronuclei induction in human blood lymphocytes exposed to single pulse and multiple pulses of electrons.

Science.gov (United States)

Acharya, Santhosh; Bhat, N N; Joseph, Praveen; Sanjeev, Ganesh; Sreedevi, B; Narayana, Y

2011-05-01

The effects of single pulses and multiple pulses of 7 MV electrons on micronuclei (MN) induction in cytokinesis-blocked human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were investigated over a wide range of dose rates per pulse (instantaneous dose rate). PBLs were exposed to graded doses of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 Gy of single electron pulses of varying pulse widths at different dose rates per pulse, ranging from 1 × 10(6) Gy s(-1) to 3.2 × 10(8) Gy s(-1). Different dose rates per pulse were achieved by changing the dose per electron pulse by adjusting the beam current and pulse width. MN yields per unit absorbed dose after irradiation with single electron pulses were compared with those of multiple pulses of electrons. A significant decrease in the MN yield with increasing dose rates per pulse was observed, when dose was delivered by a single electron pulse. However, no reduction in the MN yield was observed when dose was delivered by multiple pulses of electrons. The decrease in the yield at high dose rates per pulse suggests possible radical recombination, which leads to decreased biological damage. Cellular response to the presence of very large numbers of chromosomal breaks may also alter the damage.

Single Photon Counting Performance and Noise Analysis of CMOS SPAD-Based Image Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Dutton, Neale A. W.; Gyongy, Istvan; Parmesan, Luca; Henderson, Robert K.

2016-01-01

SPAD-based solid state CMOS image sensors utilising analogue integrators have attained deep sub-electron read noise (DSERN) permitting single photon counting (SPC) imaging. A new method is proposed to determine the read noise in DSERN image sensors by evaluating the peak separation and width (PSW) of single photon peaks in a photon counting histogram (PCH). The technique is used to identify and analyse cumulative noise in analogue integrating SPC SPAD-based pixels. The DSERN of our SPAD image sensor is exploited to confirm recent multi-photon threshold quanta image sensor (QIS) theory. Finally, various single and multiple photon spatio-temporal oversampling techniques are reviewed. PMID:27447643

Nonclassicality characterization in photon statistics based on binary-response single-photon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Yanqiang; Yang Rongcan; Li Gang; Zhang Pengfei; Zhang Yuchi; Wang Junmin; Zhang Tiancai

2011-01-01

By employing multiple conventional single-photon counting modules (SPCMs), which are binary-response detectors, instead of photon number resolving detectors, the nonclassicality criteria are investigated for various quantum states. The bounds of the criteria are derived from a system based on three or four SPCMs. The overall efficiency and background are both taken into account. The results of experiments with thermal and coherent light agree with the theoretical analysis. Compared with photon number resolving detectors, the use of a Hanbury Brown-Twiss-like scheme with multiple SPCMs is even better for revealing the nonclassicality of the fields, and the efficiency requirements are not so stringent. Some proposals are presented which can improve the detection performance with binary-response SPCMs for different quantum states.

Spectral transformations in the regime of pulse self-trapping in a nonlinear photonic crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novitsky, Denis V.

2011-01-01

We consider the interaction of a femtosecond light pulse with a one-dimensional photonic crystal with relaxing cubic nonlinearity in the regime of self-trapping. By use of numerical simulations, it is shown that, under certain conditions, the spectra of reflected and transmitted light possess the properties of narrowband (quasimonochromatic) or wideband (continuumlike) radiation. It is remarkable that these spectral features appear due to a significant frequency shift and occur inside a photonic band gap of the structure under investigation.

Multi-photon ionization of the H+2 molecule by an xuv laser pulse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Secor, Ethan; Guan Xiaoxu; Bartschat, Klaus; Schneider, Barry I

2012-01-01

We present theoretical predictions for one-, two-, and three-photon ionization of H + 2 by an xuv laser pulse. The results were obtained by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in prolate spheroidal coordinates. Good agreement is obtained with results from a time-independent perturbative model.

Optimization of time-correlated single photon counting spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Xiufeng; Du Haiying; Sun Jinsheng

2011-01-01

The paper proposes a performance improving scheme for the conventional time-correlated single photon counting spectrometer and develops a high speed data acquisition card based on PCI bus and FPGA technologies. The card is used to replace the multi-channel analyzer to improve the capability and decrease the volume of the spectrometer. The process of operation is introduced along with the integration of the spectrometer system. Many standard samples are measured. The experimental results show that the sensitivity of the spectrometer is single photon counting, and the time resolution of fluorescence lifetime measurement can be picosecond level. The instrument could measure the time-resolved spectroscopy. (authors)

Characterizing multi-photon quantum interference with practical light sources and threshold single-photon detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Navarrete, Álvaro; Wang, Wenyuan; Xu, Feihu; Curty, Marcos

2018-04-01

The experimental characterization of multi-photon quantum interference effects in optical networks is essential in many applications of photonic quantum technologies, which include quantum computing and quantum communication as two prominent examples. However, such characterization often requires technologies which are beyond our current experimental capabilities, and today's methods suffer from errors due to the use of imperfect sources and photodetectors. In this paper, we introduce a simple experimental technique to characterize multi-photon quantum interference by means of practical laser sources and threshold single-photon detectors. Our technique is based on well-known methods in quantum cryptography which use decoy settings to tightly estimate the statistics provided by perfect devices. As an illustration of its practicality, we use this technique to obtain a tight estimation of both the generalized Hong‑Ou‑Mandel dip in a beamsplitter with six input photons and the three-photon coincidence probability at the output of a tritter.

Single attosecond pulse from terahertz-assisted high-order harmonic generation

Science.gov (United States)

Balogh, Emeric; Kovacs, Katalin; Dombi, Peter; Fulop, Jozsef A.; Farkas, Gyozo; Hebling, Janos; Tosa, Valer; Varju, Katalin

2011-08-01

High-order harmonic generation by few-cycle 800 nm laser pulses in neon gas in the presence of a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated numerically with propagation effects taken into account. Our calculations show that the combination of THz fields with up to 12 fs laser pulses can be an effective gating technique to generate single attosecond pulses. We show that in the presence of the strong THz field only a single attosecond burst can be phase matched, whereas radiation emitted during other half cycles disappears during propagation. The cutoff is extended and a wide supercontinuum appears in the near-field spectra, extending the available spectral width for isolated attosecond pulse generation from 23 to 93 eV. We demonstrate that phase-matching effects are responsible for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses, even in conditions when single-atom response yields an attosecond pulse train.

Single attosecond pulse from terahertz-assisted high-order harmonic generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balogh, Emeric; Kovacs, Katalin; Dombi, Peter; Farkas, Gyozo; Fulop, Jozsef A.; Hebling, Janos; Tosa, Valer; Varju, Katalin

2011-01-01

High-order harmonic generation by few-cycle 800 nm laser pulses in neon gas in the presence of a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated numerically with propagation effects taken into account. Our calculations show that the combination of THz fields with up to 12 fs laser pulses can be an effective gating technique to generate single attosecond pulses. We show that in the presence of the strong THz field only a single attosecond burst can be phase matched, whereas radiation emitted during other half cycles disappears during propagation. The cutoff is extended and a wide supercontinuum appears in the near-field spectra, extending the available spectral width for isolated attosecond pulse generation from 23 to 93 eV. We demonstrate that phase-matching effects are responsible for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses, even in conditions when single-atom response yields an attosecond pulse train.

Single attosecond pulse from terahertz-assisted high-order harmonic generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balogh, Emeric [Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6701 Szeged (Hungary); Kovacs, Katalin [Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6701 Szeged (Hungary); National Institute for R and D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, RO-400293 Cluj-Napoca (Romania); Dombi, Peter; Farkas, Gyozo [Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, H-1525 Budapest (Hungary); Fulop, Jozsef A.; Hebling, Janos [Department of Experimental Physics, University of Pecs, H-7624 Pecs (Hungary); Tosa, Valer [National Institute for R and D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, RO-400293 Cluj-Napoca (Romania); Varju, Katalin [HAS Research Group on Laser Physics, University of Szeged, H-6701 Szeged (Hungary)

2011-08-15

High-order harmonic generation by few-cycle 800 nm laser pulses in neon gas in the presence of a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated numerically with propagation effects taken into account. Our calculations show that the combination of THz fields with up to 12 fs laser pulses can be an effective gating technique to generate single attosecond pulses. We show that in the presence of the strong THz field only a single attosecond burst can be phase matched, whereas radiation emitted during other half cycles disappears during propagation. The cutoff is extended and a wide supercontinuum appears in the near-field spectra, extending the available spectral width for isolated attosecond pulse generation from 23 to 93 eV. We demonstrate that phase-matching effects are responsible for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses, even in conditions when single-atom response yields an attosecond pulse train.

Quantitative single-photon emission tomography for cerebral flow and receptor distribution imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Budinger, T.F.

1985-01-01

Recently there has been renewed interest in single-photon emission tomography for two major reasons. First, correction methods have been devised for attenuation compensation, nonuniform resolution, and scattered radiation. Second, new radiopharmaceuticals with 1-5% uptake in the brain provide adequate statistics for quantitative imaging of flow using properly designed single-photon tomographic instruments. The lack of commercially available instruments designed specifically to optimize sensitivity for a resolution finer than 15 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) seems now to be the major deterrent to the widespread use of single-photon emission tomography. But it appears now that some development in this respect also might lead to a widespread renewed interest in single-photon tomography of the brain. Major activities of the past few years can be placed in three distinct categories of instrumentation and methodology

Spectrum of acetylene fluorescence excited by single XUV photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmieder, R.W.

1982-01-01

The spectrum of visible emission from photofragments of acetylene excited by single 16.85 eV photons has been recorded for the first time. The spectrum is dominated by the Swan and Deslandres-d'Azambuja bands of C 2 and the 431.5 nm band of CH. The yields of these emissions are of the order 10 -3 photons per absorbed incident photon. The experimental conditions suggest that the emission results from primary C* 2 and CH* photofragments

Bright single photon source based on self-aligned quantum dot–cavity systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maier, Sebastian; Gold, Peter; Forchel, Alfred

2014-01-01

We report on a quasi-planar quantum-dot-based single-photon source that shows an unprecedented high extraction efficiency of 42% without complex photonic resonator geometries or post-growth nanofabrication. This very high efficiency originates from the coupling of the photons emitted by a quantum...... dot to a Gaussian shaped nanohill defect that naturally arises during epitaxial growth in a self-aligned manner. We investigate the morphology of these defects and characterize the photonic operation mechanism. Our results show that these naturally arising coupled quantum dot-defects provide a new...... avenue for efficient (up to 42% demonstrated) and pure (g2(0) value of 0.023) single-photon emission....

A photodiode amplifier system for pulse-by-pulse intensity measurement of an x-ray free electron laser.

Science.gov (United States)

Kudo, Togo; Tono, Kensuke; Yabashi, Makina; Togashi, Tadashi; Sato, Takahiro; Inubushi, Yuichi; Omodani, Motohiko; Kirihara, Yoichi; Matsushita, Tomohiro; Kobayashi, Kazuo; Yamaga, Mitsuhiro; Uchiyama, Sadayuki; Hatsui, Takaki

2012-04-01

We have developed a single-shot intensity-measurement system using a silicon positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) photodiode for x-ray pulses from an x-ray free electron laser. A wide dynamic range (10(3)-10(11) photons/pulse) and long distance signal transmission (>100 m) were required for this measurement system. For this purpose, we developed charge-sensitive and shaping amplifiers, which can process charge pulses with a wide dynamic range and variable durations (ns-μs) and charge levels (pC-μC). Output signals from the amplifiers were transmitted to a data acquisition system through a long cable in the form of a differential signal. The x-ray pulse intensities were calculated from the peak values of the signals by a waveform fitting procedure. This system can measure 10(3)-10(9) photons/pulse of ~10 keV x-rays by direct irradiation of a silicon PIN photodiode, and from 10(7)-10(11) photons/pulse by detecting the x-rays scattered by a diamond film using the silicon PIN photodiode. This system gives a relative accuracy of ~10(-3) with a proper gain setting of the amplifiers for each measurement. Using this system, we succeeded in detecting weak light at the developmental phase of the light source, as well as intense light during lasing of the x-ray free electron laser. © 2012 American Institute of Physics

High-mechanical-strength single-pulse draw tower gratings

Science.gov (United States)

Rothhardt, Manfred W.; Chojetzki, Christoph; Mueller, Hans Rainer

2004-11-01

The inscription of fiber Bragg gratings during the drawing process is a very useful method to realize sensor arrays with high numbers of gratings and excellent mechanical strength and also type II gratings with high temperature stability. Results of single pulse grating arrays with numbers up to 100 and definite wavelengths and positions for sensor applications were achieved at 1550 nm and 830 nm using new photosensitive fibers developed in IPHT. Single pulse type I gratings at 1550 nm with more than 30% reflectivity were shown first time to our knowledge. The mechanical strength of this fiber with an Ormocer coating with those single pulse gratings is the same like standard telecom fibers. Weibull plots of fiber tests will be shown. At 830 nm we reached more than 10% reflectivity with single pulse writing during the fiber drawing in photosensitive fibers with less than 16 dB/km transmission loss. These gratings are useful for stress and vibration sensing applications. Type II gratings with reflectivity near 100% and smooth spectral shape and spectral width of about 1 nm are temperature stable up to 1200 K for short time. They are also realized in the fiber drawing process. These gratings are useful for temperature sensor applications.

Multi-group dynamic quantum secret sharing with single photons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Hongwei [School of Science and State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876 (China); Ma, Haiqiang, E-mail: hqma@bupt.edu.cn [School of Science and State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876 (China); Wei, Kejin [School of Science and State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876 (China); Yang, Xiuqing [School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Qu, Wenxiu; Dou, Tianqi; Chen, Yitian; Li, Ruixue; Zhu, Wu [School of Science and State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876 (China)

2016-07-15

In this letter, we propose a novel scheme for the realization of single-photon dynamic quantum secret sharing between a boss and three dynamic agent groups. In our system, the boss can not only choose one of these three groups to share the secret with, but also can share two sets of independent keys with two groups without redistribution. Furthermore, the security of communication is enhanced by using a control mode. Compared with previous schemes, our scheme is more flexible and will contribute to a practical application. - Highlights: • A multi-group dynamic quantum secret sharing with single photons scheme is proposed. • Any one of the groups can be chosen to share secret through controlling the polarization of photons. • Two sets of keys can be shared simultaneously without redistribution.

Waveguide-integrated single- and multi-photon detection at telecom wavelengths using superconducting nanowires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrari, Simone; Kahl, Oliver; Kovalyuk, Vadim; Goltsman, Gregory N.; Korneev, Alexander; Pernice, Wolfram H. P.

2015-01-01

We investigate single- and multi-photon detection regimes of superconducting nanowire detectors embedded in silicon nitride nanophotonic circuits. At near-infrared wavelengths, simultaneous detection of up to three photons is observed for 120 nm wide nanowires biased far from the critical current, while narrow nanowires below 100 nm provide efficient single photon detection. A theoretical model is proposed to determine the different detection regimes and to calculate the corresponding internal quantum efficiency. The predicted saturation of the internal quantum efficiency in the single photon regime agrees well with plateau behavior observed at high bias currents

Waveguide-integrated single- and multi-photon detection at telecom wavelengths using superconducting nanowires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferrari, Simone; Kahl, Oliver [Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe 76132 (Germany); Kovalyuk, Vadim [Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe 76132 (Germany); Department of Physics, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow 119992 (Russian Federation); Goltsman, Gregory N. [Department of Physics, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow 119992 (Russian Federation); National Research University Higher School of Economics, 20 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, Moscow 101000 (Russian Federation); Korneev, Alexander [Department of Physics, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow 119992 (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Moscow 141700 (Russian Federation); Pernice, Wolfram H. P., E-mail: wolfram.pernice@kit.edu [Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe 76132 (Germany); Department of Physics, University of Münster, 48149 Münster (Germany)

2015-04-13

We investigate single- and multi-photon detection regimes of superconducting nanowire detectors embedded in silicon nitride nanophotonic circuits. At near-infrared wavelengths, simultaneous detection of up to three photons is observed for 120 nm wide nanowires biased far from the critical current, while narrow nanowires below 100 nm provide efficient single photon detection. A theoretical model is proposed to determine the different detection regimes and to calculate the corresponding internal quantum efficiency. The predicted saturation of the internal quantum efficiency in the single photon regime agrees well with plateau behavior observed at high bias currents.

Two-Color Single-Photon Photoinitiation and Photoinhibition for Subdiffraction Photolithography

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Timothy F.; Kowalski, Benjamin A.; Sullivan, Amy C.; Bowman, Christopher N.; McLeod, Robert R.

2009-05-01

Controlling and reducing the developed region initiated by photoexposure is one of the fundamental goals of optical lithography. Here, we demonstrate a two-color irradiation scheme whereby initiating species are generated by single-photon absorption at one wavelength while inhibiting species are generated by single-photon absorption at a second, independent wavelength. Co-irradiation at the second wavelength thus reduces the polymerization rate, delaying gelation of the material and facilitating enhanced spatial control over the polymerization. Appropriate overlapping of the two beams produces structures with both feature sizes and monomer conversions otherwise unobtainable with use of single- or two-photon absorption photopolymerization. Additionally, the generated inhibiting species rapidly recombine when irradiation with the second wavelength ceases, allowing for fast sequential exposures not limited by memory effects in the material and thus enabling fabrication of complex two- or three-dimensional structures.

Interactive Screen Experiments with Single Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Bronner, Patrick; Strunz, Andreas; Silberhorn, Christine; Meyn, Jan-Peter

2009-01-01

Single photons are used for fundamental quantum physics experiments as well as for applications. Originally being a topic of advance courses, such experiments are increasingly a subject of undergraduate courses. We provide interactive screen experiments (ISE) for supporting the work in a real laboratory, and for students who do not have access to…

Modeling and Design of High-Efficiency Single-Photon Sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Niels; Nielsen, Per Kær; Mørk, Jesper

2013-01-01

be electrically driven. Several design strategies addressing these requirements have been proposed. In the cavity-based source, light emission is controlled using resonant cavity quantum electrodynamics effects, whereas in the waveguide-based source, broadband electric field screening effects are employed......Solid-state sources capable of emitting single photons on demand are of great interest in quantum information applications. Ideally, such a source should emit exactly one photon into the collection optics per trigger, the emitted photons should be indistinguishable, and the source should...

Microwave-Controlled Generation of Shaped Single Photons in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pechal

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Large-scale quantum information processors or quantum communication networks will require reliable exchange of information between spatially separated nodes. The links connecting these nodes can be established using traveling photons that need to be absorbed at the receiving node with high efficiency. This is achievable by shaping the temporal profile of the photons and absorbing them at the receiver by time reversing the emission process. Here, we demonstrate a scheme for creating shaped microwave photons using a superconducting transmon-type three-level system coupled to a transmission line resonator. In a second-order process induced by a modulated microwave drive, we controllably transfer a single excitation from the third level of the transmon to the resonator and shape the emitted photon. We reconstruct the density matrices of the created single-photon states and show that the photons are antibunched. We also create multipeaked photons with a controlled amplitude and phase. In contrast to similar existing schemes, the one we present here is based solely on microwave drives, enabling operation with fixed frequency transmons.

Zn doped GaN for single-photon emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Behrends, Arne; Ledig, Johannes; Al-Suleiman, Mohamed Aid Mansur; Bakin, Andrey; Waag, Andreas [Institute of Semiconductor Technology, University of Technology Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Str. 66, 38106 Braunschweig (Germany); Peters, Silke; Racu, Ana Maria; Schmunk, Waldemar; Hofer, Helmut; Kueck, Stefan [Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig (Germany)

2012-03-15

In this work we report on the optical investigation of Zn doped GaN films fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The samples show bright emission in the blue spectral range around 2.9 eV when Si codoping is provided. This emission is suggested to be used for single-photon emission, thus the density of the Zn-Si pairs was drastically reduced leading to a decrease of the blue luminescence. For electrically excited single-photon sources these Zn-Si pairs have to be incorporated into LEDs, therefore we fabricated GaN-based nano-LEDs which show electroluminescence at 430 nm (copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Two-way QKD with single-photon-added coherent states

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Mario; Mundarain, Douglas

2017-12-01

In this work we present a two-way quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme that uses single-photon-added coherent states and displacement operations. The first party randomly sends coherent states (CS) or single-photon-added coherent states (SPACS) to the second party. The latter sends back the same state it received. Both parties decide which kind of states they are receiving by detecting or not a photon on the received signal after displacement operations. The first party must determine whether its sent and received states are equal; otherwise, the case must be discarded. We are going to show that an eavesdropper provided with a beam splitter gets the same information in any of the non-discarded cases. The key can be obtained by assigning 0 to CS and 1 to SPACS in the non-discarded cases. This protocol guarantees keys' security in the presence of a beam splitter attack even for states with a high number of photons in the sent signal. It also works in a lossy quantum channel, becoming a good bet for improving long-distance QKD.

First experimental observation of double-photon Compton scattering using single gamma detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandhu, B.S.; Saddi, M.B.; Singh, B.; Ghumman, B.S.

2003-01-01

Full text: The phenomenon of double-photon Compton scattering has been successfully observed using single gamma detector, a technique avoiding the use of complicated slow-fast coincidence set-up used till now for observing this higher order process. Here doubly differentiated collision cross-section integrated over direction of one of the two final photons, the direction of other one being kept fixed, has been measured experimentally for 0.662 MeV incident gamma photons. The energy spectra of the detected photons are observed as a long tail to the single-photon Compton line on the lower side of the full energy peak in the recorded scattered energy spectrum. The present results are in agreement with theory of this process

Features of single and double ionization processes induced by few cycle laser pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Starace, A.F.

2005-01-01

Full text: The advent of laser pulses with attosecond pulse lengths ushers in the regime of few cycle laser pulse interactions with atoms and ions, including the interesting cases of single and half cycle laser pulses. In this talk I will present results of recent studies of single electron ionization/detachment and double electron ionization/detachment produced by a few cycle laser pulse. For the former case, we shall demonstrate that the ionized/detached electron momentum distribution reflects the interference of electron probability wave packets produced by each half cycle of a single cycle pulse. Also, that the ionized/detached electron momentum distribution uniquely characterizes the phase of the single cycle laser pulse within the laser pulse envelope. Regarding double ionization/detachment, our numerical experiments have shown that single cycle and double half cycle pulses produce different electron angular distributions. Some double ionization features that are present only in the single cycle case can only have been produced by electron impact ionization during rescattering of an initially ionized electron and thus represent a sensitive measure of the rescattering process. Refs. 2 (author)

Bright quantum dot single photon source based on a low Q defect cavity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maier, Sebastian; Gold, Peter; Forchel, A.

2014-01-01

The quasi-planar single photon source presented in this paper shows an extraction efficiency of 42% without complex photonic resonator geometries or lithography steps as well as a high purity with a g2(0) value of 0.023.......The quasi-planar single photon source presented in this paper shows an extraction efficiency of 42% without complex photonic resonator geometries or lithography steps as well as a high purity with a g2(0) value of 0.023....

Raman spectroscopy and single-photon source in an ion-cavity system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goncalves de Barros, H.

2010-01-01

The work presented in this thesis explores the interaction between a single trapped 40Ca+ ion and the electromagnetic field inside a high-finesse optical cavity. The coupling takes place via the use of a vacuum stimulated Raman transition, which transfers atomic population from the S1/2 to the D3/2 manifolds of the calcium ion producing a photon in the cavity. This photon is measured and properties of the system are evaluated. Spectroscopy measurements of the Raman transitions are performed and all possible transitions are identified for different polarizations of both drive laser and cavity fields. The system is also used to deterministically produce single photons. Simulation curves quantitatively match the experimental results within calibration error bars. The single-photon creation efficiency obtained in this work overcomes previous ion-cavity setups and is comparable to state-of-the-art systems composed of a neutral atom and a cavity operating in the strong coupling regime. (author)

Deterministic reshaping of single-photon spectra using cross-phase modulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsuda, Nobuyuki

2016-03-01

The frequency conversion of light has proved to be a crucial technology for communication, spectroscopy, imaging, and signal processing. In the quantum regime, it also offers great potential for realizing quantum networks incorporating disparate physical systems and quantum-enhanced information processing over a large computational space. The frequency conversion of quantum light, such as single photons, has been extensively investigated for the last two decades using all-optical frequency mixing, with the ultimate goal of realizing lossless and noiseless conversion. I demonstrate another route to this target using frequency conversion induced by cross-phase modulation in a dispersion-managed photonic crystal fiber. Owing to the deterministic and all-optical nature of the process, the lossless and low-noise spectral reshaping of a single-photon wave packet in the telecommunication band has been readily achieved with a modulation bandwidth as large as 0.4 THz. I further demonstrate that the scheme is applicable to manipulations of a nonclassical frequency correlation, wave packet interference, and entanglement between two photons. This approach presents a new coherent frequency interface for photons for quantum information processing.

Integration of Single-Photon Sources and Detectors on GaAs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giulia Enrica Digeronimo

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Quantum photonic integrated circuits (QPICs on a GaAs platform allow the generation, manipulation, routing, and detection of non-classical states of light, which could pave the way for quantum information processing based on photons. In this article, the prototype of a multi-functional QPIC is presented together with our recent achievements in terms of nanofabrication and integration of each component of the circuit. Photons are generated by excited InAs quantum dots (QDs and routed through ridge waveguides towards photonic crystal cavities acting as filters. The filters with a transmission of 20% and free spectral range ≥66 nm are able to select a single excitonic line out of the complex emission spectra of the QDs. The QD luminescence can be measured by on-chip superconducting single photon detectors made of niobium nitride (NbN nanowires patterned on top of a suspended nanobeam, reaching a device quantum efficiency up to 28%. Moreover, two electrically independent detectors are integrated on top of the same nanobeam, resulting in a very compact autocorrelator for on-chip g(2(τ measurements.

Directional emission of single photons from small atomic samples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miroshnychenko, Yevhen; V. Poulsen, Uffe; Mølmer, Klaus

2013-01-01

We provide a formalism to describe deterministic emission of single photons with tailored spatial and temporal profiles from a regular array of multi-level atoms. We assume that a single collective excitation is initially shared by all the atoms in a metastable atomic state, and that this state i...... is coupled by a classical laser field to an optically excited state which rapidly decays to the ground atomic state. Our model accounts for the different field polarization components via re-absorption and emission of light by the Zeeman manifold of optically excited states.......We provide a formalism to describe deterministic emission of single photons with tailored spatial and temporal profiles from a regular array of multi-level atoms. We assume that a single collective excitation is initially shared by all the atoms in a metastable atomic state, and that this state...

Single Photon Experiments and Quantum Complementarity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georgiev D. D.

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Single photon experiments have been used as one of the most striking illustrations of the apparently nonclassical nature of the quantum world. In this review we examine the mathematical basis of the principle of complementarity and explain why the Englert-Greenberger duality relation is not violated in the configurations of Unruh and of Afshar.

Demonstrating quantum random with single photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bronner, Patrick; Strunz, Andreas; Meyn, Jan-Peter; Silberhorn, Christine

2009-01-01

We present an experiment for education which demonstrates random transmission or reflection of heralded single photons on beam splitters. With our set-up, we can realize different quantum random experiments by appropriate settings of polarization rotators. The concept of entanglement is motivated by correlated randomness. The experiments are suitable for undergraduate education and are available as interactive screen experiments.

Few-photon Non-linearities in Nanophotonic Devices for Quantum Information Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nysteen, Anders

In this thesis we investigate few-photon non-linearities in all-optical, on-chip circuits, and we discuss their possible applications in devices of interest for quantum information technology, such as conditional two-photon gates and single-photon sources. In order to propose efficient devices...... the scattered photons. Even though the non-linearity also alters the pulse spectrum due to a four-wave mixing process, we demonstrate that input pulses with a Gaussian spectrum can be mapped to the output with up to 80 % fidelity. Using two identical two-level emitters, we propose a setup for a deterministic...... by the capturing process. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are promising for realizing few-photon non-linearities in solid-state implementations, although coupling to phonon modes in the surrounding lattice have significant influence on the dynamics. By accounting for the commonly neglected asymmetry between...

Silicon photon-counting avalanche diodes for single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Michalet, Xavier; Ingargiola, Antonino; Colyer, Ryan A.; Scalia, Giuseppe; Weiss, Shimon; Maccagnani, Piera; Gulinatti, Angelo; Rech, Ivan; Ghioni, Massimo

2014-01-01

Solution-based single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy is a powerful experimental tool with applications in cell biology, biochemistry and biophysics. The basic feature of this technique is to excite and collect light from a very small volume and work in a low concentration regime resulting in rare burst-like events corresponding to the transit of a single molecule. Detecting photon bursts is a challenging task: the small number of emitted photons in each burst calls for high detector sensitivity. Bursts are very brief, requiring detectors with fast response time and capable of sustaining high count rates. Finally, many bursts need to be accumulated to achieve proper statistical accuracy, resulting in long measurement time unless parallelization strategies are implemented to speed up data acquisition. In this paper we will show that silicon single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) best meet the needs of single-molecule detection. We will review the key SPAD parameters and highlight the issues to be addressed in their design, fabrication and operation. After surveying the state-of-the-art SPAD technologies, we will describe our recent progress towards increasing the throughput of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy in solution using parallel arrays of SPADs. The potential of this approach is illustrated with single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer measurements. PMID:25309114

Analysis of InP-based single photon avalanche diodes based on a single recess-etching process

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kiwon

2018-04-01

Effects of the different etching techniques have been investigated by analyzing electrical and optical characteristics of two-types of single-diffused single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). The fabricated two-types of SPADs have no diffusion depth variation by using a single diffusion process at the same time. The dry-etched SPADs show higher temperature dependence of a breakdown voltage, larger dark-count-rate (DCR), and lower photon-detection-efficiency (PDE) than those of the wet-etched SPADs due to plasma-induced damage of dry-etching process. The results show that the dry etching damages can more significantly affect the performance of the SPADs based on a single recess-etching process.

Photon-HDF5: An Open File Format for Timestamp-Based Single-Molecule Fluorescence Experiments

OpenAIRE

Ingargiola, Antonino; Laurence, Ted; Boutelle, Robert; Weiss, Shimon; Michalet, Xavier

2016-01-01

We introduce Photon-HDF5, an open and efficient file format to simplify exchange and long-term accessibility of data from single-molecule fluorescence experiments based on photon-counting detectors such as single-photon avalanche diode, photomultiplier tube, or arrays of such detectors. The format is based on HDF5, a widely used platform- and language-independent hierarchical file format for which user-friendly viewers are available. Photon-HDF5 can store raw photon data (timestamp, channel n...

First photon detection in transillumination imaging: A theoretical evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Behin-Ain, Setayesh

2003-01-01

This thesis is a theoretical evaluation of the (single) first photon detection (FPD) technique as a limiting case of time-resolved transillumination imaging (TI) for diagnostic purposes. It combines analytic and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation methods to derive the single photon statistics and to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) for a given source-medium-detector geometry. In order to efficiently simulate very early arriving photons, an Indeterministic Monte Carlo (IMC) technique based on path integrals is devised and validated. The IMC extends controlled MC techniques to accelerate and enhance the probability of detecting shorter trajectories thereby improving the statistics. The IMC technique provides a tool for the construction of a temporal point spread function (TPSF) of the emerging photons for the entire time scale. It is then used to predict the spatial resolution of these systems for shorter (sub-100 picosecond) time scales. The calculation of the TPSF at short time scales for a pulse made incident onto the medium enables the mathematical derivation of the temporal probability density functions (p.d.f.) for the first arriving photon, f 1 (t). This facilitates the investigation of a first photon detection (FPD) system as applied to a diagnostic TI configuration. A FPD system produces a signal representing f 1 (t) from which the mean transit time of the first arriving photon, t-bar 1 , may then be estimated for a sequence of incident pulses at each scan position. By rectilinear scanning across the medium, a two-dimensional (2-D) map of t-bar 1 can be created and displayed as a gray scale image. The application of FPD to TI is evaluated assuming an ideal detector capable of detecting the first arriving photon with 100% efficiency (infinite extinction coefficient). However, a model for a FPD system corresponding to a nonideal (single first photon) detector is also considered through the evaluation of the p.d.f. for the later (first, second,...) arriving

Effect of electromagnetic and phonon pulses on a photon echo in LaF3: Pr3+

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shegeda, A.M.; Khabibullin, B.M.; Lisin, V.N.

1995-01-01

The effect of electromagnetic-field pulses of the nanosecond duration on the inverted two-pulse, three-pulse, and long-lived three-pulse photon echoes in LaF 3 :Pr 3+ is studied. The eletromagnetic pulses were produced by a current pulse flowing through a thin metal film evaporated on the sample surface parallel to the C 3- axis. A strong decrease in echo signals is observed, even if the eletromagnetic pulses were switched on prior to laser pulses. The experimental results can be qualitatively interpreted under the assumption that during the flowing of current through the metal film, the generation of transverse acoustic and electromagnetic fields occurs that induces the pseudo-Stark splitting of energy levels of Pr 3+ ions and, as a consequence, the decrease in echo signals, if the current was switched on prior to or, correspondingly, at the instant of the action of the laser pulses. 12 refs., 5 figs

Robust photonic differentiator employing slow light effect in photonic crystal waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yan, Siqi; Cheng, Ziwei; Frandsen, Lars Hagedorn

2017-01-01

A robust photonic DIFF exploiting the slow light effect in a photonic crystal waveguide is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Input Gaussian pulses with full-width halfmaximums ranging from 2.7 ps to 81.4 ps can be accurately differentiated.......A robust photonic DIFF exploiting the slow light effect in a photonic crystal waveguide is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Input Gaussian pulses with full-width halfmaximums ranging from 2.7 ps to 81.4 ps can be accurately differentiated....

Cross correlations of quantum key distribution based on single-photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong Shuangli; Wang Xiaobo; Zhang Guofeng; Sun Jianhu; Zhang Fang; Xiao Liantuan; Jia Suotang

2009-01-01

We theoretically analyze the second-order correlation function in a quantum key distribution system with real single-photon sources. Based on single-event photon statistics, the influence of the modification caused by an eavesdropper's intervention and the effects of background signals on the cross correlations between authorized partners are presented. On this basis, we have shown a secure range of correlation against the intercept-resend attacks.

A photon position sensor consisting of single-electron circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikombo, Andrew Kilinga; Amemiya, Yoshihito; Tabe, Michiharu

2009-01-01

This paper proposes a solid-state sensor that can detect the position of incident photons with a high spatial resolution. The sensor consists of a two-dimensional array of single-electron oscillators, each coupled to its neighbors through coupling capacitors. An incident photon triggers an excitatory circular wave of electron tunneling in the oscillator array. The wave propagates in all directions to reach the periphery of the array. By measuring the arrival time of the wave at the periphery, we can know the position of the incident photon. The tunneling wave's generation, propagation, arrival at the array periphery, and the determination of incident photon positions are demonstrated with the results of Monte Carlo based computer simulations.

Self-phase modulation of a single-cycle THz pulse

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turchinovich, Dmitry; Hvam, Jørn Märcher; Hoffmann, M. C.

2013-01-01

We demonstrate self-phase modulation (SPM) of a single-cycle THz pulse in a semiconductor, using bulk n-GaAs as a model system. The SPM arises from the heating of free electrons in the electric field of the THz pulse. Electron heating leads to an ultrafast reduction of the plasma frequency, which...... results in a strong modification of the THz-range dielectric function of the material. THz SPM is observed directly in the time domain as a characteristic reshaping of single-cycle THz pulse. In the frequency domain, it corresponds to a strong frequency-dependent refractive index nonlinearity of n...

Performance Considerations for the SIMPL Single Photon, Polarimetric, Two-Color Laser Altimeter as Applied to Measurements of Forest Canopy Structure and Composition

Science.gov (United States)

Dabney, Philip W.; Harding, David J.; Valett, Susan R.; Vasilyev, Aleksey A.; Yu, Anthony W.

2012-01-01

The Slope Imaging Multi-polarization Photon-counting Lidar (SIMPL) is a multi-beam, micropulse airborne laser altimeter that acquires active and passive polarimetric optical remote sensing measurements at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. SIMPL was developed to demonstrate advanced measurement approaches of potential benefit for improved, more efficient spaceflight laser altimeter missions. SIMPL data have been acquired for wide diversity of forest types in the summers of 2010 and 2011 in order to assess the potential of its novel capabilities for characterization of vegetation structure and composition. On each of its four beams SIMPL provides highly-resolved measurements of forest canopy structure by detecting single-photons with 15 cm ranging precision using a narrow-beam system operating at a laser repetition rate of 11 kHz. Associated with that ranging data SIMPL provides eight amplitude parameters per beam unlike the single amplitude provided by typical laser altimeters. Those eight parameters are received energy that is parallel and perpendicular to that of the plane-polarized transmit pulse at 532 nm (green) and 1064 nm (near IR), for both the active laser backscatter retro-reflectance and the passive solar bi-directional reflectance. This poster presentation will cover the instrument architecture and highlight the performance of the SIMPL instrument with examples taken from measurements for several sites with distinct canopy structures and compositions. Specific performance areas such as probability of detection, after pulsing, and dead time, will be highlighted and addressed, along with examples of their impact on the measurements and how they limit the ability to accurately model and recover the canopy properties. To assess the sensitivity of SIMPL's measurements to canopy properties an instrument model has been implemented in the FLIGHT radiative transfer code, based on Monte Carlo simulation of photon transport. SIMPL data collected in 2010 over

Increase of intrinsic emittance induced by multiphoton photoemission from copper cathodes illuminated by femtosecond laser pulses

Science.gov (United States)

An, Chenjie; Zhu, Rui; Xu, Jun; Liu, Yaqi; Hu, Xiaopeng; Zhang, Jiasen; Yu, Dapeng

2018-05-01

Electron sources driven by femtosecond laser have important applications in many aspects, and the research about the intrinsic emittance is becoming more and more crucial. The intrinsic emittance of polycrystalline copper cathode, which was illuminated by femtosecond pulses (FWHM of the pulse duration was about 100 fs) with photon energies above and below the work function, was measured with an extremely low bunch charge (single-electron pulses) based on free expansion method. A minimum emittance was obtained at the photon energy very close to the effective work function of the cathode. When the photon energy decreased below the effective work function, emittance increased rather than decreased or flattened out to a constant. By investigating the dependence of photocurrent density on the incident laser intensity, we found the emission excited by pulsed photons with sub-work-function energies contained two-photon photoemission. In addition, the portion of two-photon photoemission current increased with the reduction of photon energy. We attributed the increase of emittance to the effect of two-photon photoemission. This work shows that conventional method of reducing the photon energy of excited light source to approach the room temperature limit of the intrinsic emittance may be infeasible for femtosecond laser. There would be an optimized photon energy value near the work function to obtain the lowest emittance for pulsed laser pumped photocathode.

Increasing Entanglement between Gaussian States by Coherent Photon Subtraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ourjoumtsev, Alexei; Dantan, Aurelien Romain; Tualle Brouri, Rosa

2007-01-01

We experimentally demonstrate that the entanglement between Gaussian entangled states can be increased by non-Gaussian operations. Coherent subtraction of single photons from Gaussian quadrature-entangled light pulses, created by a nondegenerate parametric amplifier, produces delocalized states...

Photon counting imaging and centroiding with an electron-bombarded CCD using single molecule localisation software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirvonen, Liisa M.; Barber, Matthew J.; Suhling, Klaus

2016-01-01

Photon event centroiding in photon counting imaging and single-molecule localisation in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy share many traits. Although photon event centroiding has traditionally been performed with simple single-iteration algorithms, we recently reported that iterative fitting algorithms originally developed for single-molecule localisation fluorescence microscopy work very well when applied to centroiding photon events imaged with an MCP-intensified CMOS camera. Here, we have applied these algorithms for centroiding of photon events from an electron-bombarded CCD (EBCCD). We find that centroiding algorithms based on iterative fitting of the photon events yield excellent results and allow fitting of overlapping photon events, a feature not reported before and an important aspect to facilitate an increased count rate and shorter acquisition times.

Selective two-photon excitation of a vibronic state by correlated photons.

Science.gov (United States)

Oka, Hisaki

2011-03-28

We theoretically investigate the two-photon excitation of a molecular vibronic state by correlated photons with energy anticorrelation. A Morse oscillator having three sets of vibronic states is used, as an example, to evaluate the selectivity and efficiency of two-photon excitation. We show that a vibrational mode can be selectively excited with high efficiency by the correlated photons, without phase manipulation or pulse-shaping techniques. This can be achieved by controlling the quantum correlation so that the photon pair concurrently has two pulse widths, namely, a temporally narrow width and a spectrally narrow width. Though this concurrence is seemingly contradictory, we can create such a photon pair by tailoring the quantum correlation between two photons.

Elliptical quantum dots as on-demand single photons sources with deterministic polarization states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teng, Chu-Hsiang; Demory, Brandon; Ku, Pei-Cheng, E-mail: peicheng@umich.edu [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (United States); Zhang, Lei; Hill, Tyler A.; Deng, Hui [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (United States)

2015-11-09

In quantum information, control of the single photon's polarization is essential. Here, we demonstrate single photon generation in a pre-programmed and deterministic polarization state, on a chip-scale platform, utilizing site-controlled elliptical quantum dots (QDs) synthesized by a top-down approach. The polarization from the QD emission is found to be linear with a high degree of linear polarization and parallel to the long axis of the ellipse. Single photon emission with orthogonal polarizations is achieved, and the dependence of the degree of linear polarization on the QD geometry is analyzed.

Time Reversal of Arbitrary Photonic Temporal Modes via Nonlinear Optical Frequency Conversion

OpenAIRE

Raymer, Michael G; Reddy, Dileep V; van Enk, Steven J; McKinstrie, Colin J

2017-01-01

Single-photon wave packets can carry quantum information between nodes of a quantum network. An important general operation in photon-based quantum information systems is blind reversal of a photon's temporal wave-packet envelope, that is, the ability to reverse an envelope without knowing the temporal state of the photon. We present an all-optical means for doing so, using nonlinear-optical frequency conversion driven by a short pump pulse. This scheme allows for quantum operations such as a...

Measuring temporal summation in visual detection with a single-photon source.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Rebecca; Victora, Michelle; Wang, Ranxiao Frances; Kwiat, Paul G

2017-11-01

Temporal summation is an important feature of the visual system which combines visual signals that arrive at different times. Previous research estimated complete summation to last for 100ms for stimuli judged "just detectable." We measured the full range of temporal summation for much weaker stimuli using a new paradigm and a novel light source, developed in the field of quantum optics for generating small numbers of photons with precise timing characteristics and reduced variance in photon number. Dark-adapted participants judged whether a light was presented to the left or right of their fixation in each trial. In Experiment 1, stimuli contained a stream of photons delivered at a constant rate while the duration was systematically varied. Accuracy should increase with duration as long as the later photons can be integrated with the proceeding ones into a single signal. The temporal integration window was estimated as the point that performance no longer improved, and was found to be 650ms on average. In Experiment 2, the duration of the visual stimuli was kept short (100ms or photons was varied to explore the efficiency of summation over the integration window compared to Experiment 1. There was some indication that temporal summation remains efficient over the integration window, although there is variation between individuals. The relatively long integration window measured in this study may be relevant to studies of the absolute visual threshold, i.e., tests of single-photon vision, where "single" photons should be separated by greater than the integration window to avoid summation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Very bright, near-infrared single photon emitters in diamond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. W. M. Lau

2013-09-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate activation of bright diamond single photon emitters in the near infrared range by thermal annealing alone, i.e., without ion implantation. The activation is crucially dependent on the annealing ambient. The activation of the single photon emitters is only observed when the sample is annealed in forming gas (4% H2 in Ar above temperatures of 1000 °C. By contrast, no emitters are activated by annealing in vacuum, oxygen, argon or deuterium. The emitters activated by annealing in forming gas exhibit very bright emission in the 730-760 nm wavelength range and have linewidths of ∼1.5-2.5 nm at room temperature.

Nonlocality of a single photon: Paths to an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-steering experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, S. J.; Wiseman, H. M.

2011-01-01

A single-photon incident on a beam splitter produces an entangled field state, and in principle could be used to violate a Bell inequality, but such an experiment (without postselection) is beyond the reach of current experiments. Here we consider the somewhat simpler task of demonstrating Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering with a single photon (also without postselection). We demonstrate that Alice's choice of measurement on her portion of the entangled state can affect Bob's portion of the entangled state in his laboratory, in a sense rigorously defined by us and Doherty [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 140402 (2007)]. Previous work by Lvovsky and coworkers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 047903 (2004)] has addressed this phenomenon (which they called remote preparation) experimentally using homodyne measurements on a single photon. Here we show that, unfortunately, their experimental parameters do not meet the bounds necessary for a rigorous demonstration of EPR steering with a single photon. However, we also show that modest improvements in the experimental parameters, and the addition of photon counting to the arsenal of Alice's measurements, would be sufficient to allow such a demonstration.

Observation of Entanglement of a Single Photon with a Trapped Atom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volz, Juergen; Weber, Markus; Schlenk, Daniel; Rosenfeld, Wenjamin; Vrana, Johannes; Saucke, Karen; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Weinfurter, Harald

2006-01-01

We report the observation of entanglement between a single trapped atom and a single photon at a wavelength suitable for low-loss communication over large distances, thereby achieving a crucial step towards long range quantum networks. To verify the entanglement, we introduce a single atom state analysis. This technique is used for full state tomography of the atom-photon qubit pair. The detection efficiency and the entanglement fidelity are high enough to allow in a next step the generation of entangled atoms at large distances, ready for a final loophole-free Bell experiment

Single photon detection with self-quenching multiplication

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xinyu (Inventor); Cunningham, Thomas J. (Inventor); Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A photoelectronic device and an avalanche self-quenching process for a photoelectronic device are described. The photoelectronic device comprises a nanoscale semiconductor multiplication region and a nanoscale doped semiconductor quenching structure including a depletion region and an undepletion region. The photoelectronic device can act as a single photon detector or a single carrier multiplier. The avalanche self-quenching process allows electrical field reduction in the multiplication region by movement of the multiplication carriers, thus quenching the avalanche.

Two-Photon Absorption in Organometallic Bromide Perovskites

KAUST Repository

Walters, Grant

2015-07-21

Organometallic trihalide perovskites are solution processed semiconductors that have made great strides in third generation thin film light harvesting and light emitting optoelectronic devices. Recently it has been demonstrated that large, high purity single crystals of these perovskites can be synthesized from the solution phase. These crystals’ large dimensions, clean bandgap, and solid-state order, have provided us with a suitable medium to observe and quantify two-photon absorption in perovskites. When CH3NH3PbBr3 single crystals are pumped with intense 800 nm light, we observe band-to-band photoluminescence at 572 nm, indicative of two-photon absorption. We report the nonlinear absorption coefficient of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskites to be 8.6 cm GW-1 at 800 nm, comparable to epitaxial single crystal semiconductors of similar bandgap. We have leveraged this nonlinear process to electrically autocorrelate a 100 fs pulsed laser using a two-photon perovskite photodetector. This work demonstrates the viability of organometallic trihalide perovskites as a convenient and low-cost nonlinear absorber for applications in ultrafast photonics.

Two-Photon Absorption in Organometallic Bromide Perovskites

KAUST Repository

Walters, Grant; Sutherland, Brandon R; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Shi, Dong; Comin, Riccardo; Sellan, Daniel P.; Bakr, Osman; Sargent, Edward H.

2015-01-01

Organometallic trihalide perovskites are solution processed semiconductors that have made great strides in third generation thin film light harvesting and light emitting optoelectronic devices. Recently it has been demonstrated that large, high purity single crystals of these perovskites can be synthesized from the solution phase. These crystals’ large dimensions, clean bandgap, and solid-state order, have provided us with a suitable medium to observe and quantify two-photon absorption in perovskites. When CH3NH3PbBr3 single crystals are pumped with intense 800 nm light, we observe band-to-band photoluminescence at 572 nm, indicative of two-photon absorption. We report the nonlinear absorption coefficient of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskites to be 8.6 cm GW-1 at 800 nm, comparable to epitaxial single crystal semiconductors of similar bandgap. We have leveraged this nonlinear process to electrically autocorrelate a 100 fs pulsed laser using a two-photon perovskite photodetector. This work demonstrates the viability of organometallic trihalide perovskites as a convenient and low-cost nonlinear absorber for applications in ultrafast photonics.

Complete Bell-state analysis for a single-photon hybrid entangled state

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheng Yu-Bo; Zhou Lan; Cheng Wei-Wen; Gong Long-Yan; Wang Lei; Zhao Sheng-Mei

2013-01-01

We propose a scheme capable of performing complete Bell-state analysis for a single-photon hybrid entangled state. Our single-photon state is encoded in both polarization and frequency degrees of freedom. The setup of the scheme is composed of polarizing beam splitters, half wave plates, frequency shifters, and independent wavelength division multiplexers, which are feasible using current technology. We also show that with this setup we can perform complete two-photon Bell-state analysis schemes for polarization degrees of freedom. Moreover, it can also be used to perform the teleportation scheme between different degrees of freedom. This setup may allow extensive applications in current quantum communications

Localization of Narrowband Single Photon Emitters in Nanodiamonds.

Science.gov (United States)

Bray, Kerem; Sandstrom, Russell; Elbadawi, Christopher; Fischer, Martin; Schreck, Matthias; Shimoni, Olga; Lobo, Charlene; Toth, Milos; Aharonovich, Igor

2016-03-23

Diamond nanocrystals that host room temperature narrowband single photon emitters are highly sought after for applications in nanophotonics and bioimaging. However, current understanding of the origin of these emitters is extremely limited. In this work, we demonstrate that the narrowband emitters are point defects localized at extended morphological defects in individual nanodiamonds. In particular, we show that nanocrystals with defects such as twin boundaries and secondary nucleation sites exhibit narrowband emission that is absent from pristine individual nanocrystals grown under the same conditions. Critically, we prove that the narrowband emission lines vanish when extended defects are removed deterministically using highly localized electron beam induced etching. Our results enhance the current understanding of single photon emitters in diamond and are directly relevant to fabrication of novel quantum optics devices and sensors.

Distributed quantum computing with single photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beige, A.; Kwek, L.C.

2005-01-01

Full text: Distributed quantum computing requires the ability to perform nonlocal gate operations between the distant nodes (stationary qubits) of a large network. To achieve this, it has been proposed to interconvert stationary qubits with flying qubits. In contrast to this, we show that distributed quantum computing only requires the ability to encode stationary qubits into flying qubits but not the conversion of flying qubits into stationary qubits. We describe a scheme for the realization of an eventually deterministic controlled phase gate by performing measurements on pairs of flying qubits. Our scheme could be implemented with a linear optics quantum computing setup including sources for the generation of single photons on demand, linear optics elements and photon detectors. In the presence of photon loss and finite detector efficiencies, the scheme could be used to build large cluster states for one way quantum computing with a high fidelity. (author)

Single photon energy dispersive x-ray diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higginbotham, Andrew; Patel, Shamim; Ciricosta, Orlando; Suggit, Matthew J.; Wark, Justin S.; Hawreliak, James A.; Collins, Gilbert W.; Coppari, Federica; Eggert, Jon H.; Tang, Henry

2014-01-01

With the pressure range accessible to laser driven compression experiments on solid material rising rapidly, new challenges in the diagnosis of samples in harsh laser environments are emerging. When driving to TPa pressures (conditions highly relevant to planetary interiors), traditional x-ray diffraction techniques are plagued by increased sources of background and noise, as well as a potential reduction in signal. In this paper we present a new diffraction diagnostic designed to record x-ray diffraction in low signal-to-noise environments. By utilising single photon counting techniques we demonstrate the ability to record diffraction patterns on nanosecond timescales, and subsequently separate, photon-by-photon, signal from background. In doing this, we mitigate many of the issues surrounding the use of high intensity lasers to drive samples to extremes of pressure, allowing for structural information to be obtained in a regime which is currently largely unexplored

Single photon energy dispersive x-ray diffraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Higginbotham, Andrew; Patel, Shamim; Ciricosta, Orlando; Suggit, Matthew J.; Wark, Justin S. [Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Hawreliak, James A.; Collins, Gilbert W.; Coppari, Federica; Eggert, Jon H. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States); Tang, Henry [Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

2014-03-15

With the pressure range accessible to laser driven compression experiments on solid material rising rapidly, new challenges in the diagnosis of samples in harsh laser environments are emerging. When driving to TPa pressures (conditions highly relevant to planetary interiors), traditional x-ray diffraction techniques are plagued by increased sources of background and noise, as well as a potential reduction in signal. In this paper we present a new diffraction diagnostic designed to record x-ray diffraction in low signal-to-noise environments. By utilising single photon counting techniques we demonstrate the ability to record diffraction patterns on nanosecond timescales, and subsequently separate, photon-by-photon, signal from background. In doing this, we mitigate many of the issues surrounding the use of high intensity lasers to drive samples to extremes of pressure, allowing for structural information to be obtained in a regime which is currently largely unexplored.

A single chip pulse processor for nuclear spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilsenrath, F.; Bakke, J.C.; Voss, H.D.

1985-01-01

A high performance digital pulse processor, integrated into a single gate array microcircuit, has been developed for spaceflight applications. The new approach takes advantage of the latest CMOS high speed A/D flash converters and low-power gated logic arrays. The pulse processor measures pulse height, pulse area and the required timing information (e.g. multi detector coincidence and pulse pile-up detection). The pulse processor features high throughput rate (e.g. 0.5 Mhz for 2 usec gausssian pulses) and improved differential linearity (e.g. + or - 0.2 LSB for a + or - 1 LSB A/D). Because of the parallel digital architecture of the device, the interface is microprocessor bus compatible. A satellite flight application of this module is presented for use in the X-ray imager and high energy particle spectrometers of the PEM experiment on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite

Deterministic teleportation using single-photon entanglement as a resource

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Björk, Gunnar; Laghaout, Amine; Andersen, Ulrik L.

2012-01-01

We outline a proof that teleportation with a single particle is, in principle, just as reliable as with two particles. We thereby hope to dispel the skepticism surrounding single-photon entanglement as a valid resource in quantum information. A deterministic Bell-state analyzer is proposed which...

Room-Temperature Single-Photon Emission from Micrometer-Long Air-Suspended Carbon Nanotubes

Science.gov (United States)

Ishii, A.; Uda, T.; Kato, Y. K.

2017-11-01

Statistics of photons emitted by mobile excitons in individual carbon nanotubes are investigated. Photoluminescence spectroscopy is used to identify the chiralities and suspended lengths of air-suspended nanotubes, and photon-correlation measurements are performed at room temperature on telecommunication-wavelength nanotube emission with a Hanbury-Brown-Twiss setup. We obtain zero-delay second-order correlation g(2 )(0 ) less than 0.5, indicating single-photon generation. Excitation power dependence of the photon antibunching characteristics is examined for nanotubes with various chiralities and suspended lengths, where we find that the minimum value of g(2 )(0 ) is obtained at the lowest power. The influence of exciton diffusion and end quenching is studied by Monte Carlo simulations, and we derive an analytical expression for the minimum value of g(2 )(0 ). Our results indicate that mobile excitons in micrometer-long nanotubes can in principle produce high-purity single photons, leading to new design strategies for quantum photon sources.

Coupling of a single active nanoparticle to a polymer-based photonic structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dam Thuy Trang Nguyen

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The engineered coupling between a guest moiety (molecule, nanoparticle and the host photonic nanostructure may provide a great enhancement of the guest optical response, leading to many attractive applications. In this article, we describe briefly the basic concept and some recent progress considering the coupling of a single nanoparticle into a photonic structure. Different kinds of nanoparticles of great interest including quantum dots and nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamond for single photon source, nonlinear nanoparticles for efficient nonlinear effect and sensors, magnetic nanoparticles for Kerr magneto-optical effect, and plasmonic nanoparticles for ultrafast optical switching and sensors, are briefly reviewed. We focus further on the coupling of plasmonic gold nanoparticles and polymeric photonic structures by optimizing theoretically the photonic structures and developing efficient way to realize desired hybrid structures. The simple and low-cost fabrication technique, the optical enhancement of the fluorescent nanoparticles induced by the photonic structure, as well as the limitations, challenges and appealing prospects are discussed in details.

Interaction of solitary pulses in single mode optical fibres | Usman ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Two solitary waves launched, by way of incidence, into an optical fibre from a single pulse if the pulses are in-phase as understood from results of inverse scattering transform method applied to the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equations, (CNLSE\\'s). The single CNLSE is then understood to describe evolution of coupled ...

Picosecond chirped pulse compression in single-mode fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wenhua Cao; Youwei Zhang

1995-01-01

In this paper, the nonlinear propagation of picosecond chirped pulses in single mode fibers has been investigated both analytically and numerically. Results show that downchirped pulses can be compressed owing to normal group-velocity dispersion. The compression ratio depends both on the initial peak power and on the initial frequency chirp of the input pulse. While the compression ratio depends both on the initial peak power and on the initial frequency chirp of the input pulse. While the compression ratio increases with the negative frequency chirp, it decreases with the initial peak power of the input pulse. This means that the self-phase modulation induced nonlinear frequency chirp which is linear and positive (up-chirp) over a large central region of the pulse and tends to cancel the initial negative chirp of the pulse. It is also shown that, as the negative chirped pulse compresses temporally, it synchronously experiences a spectral narrowing

Ultrathin NbN film superconducting single-photon detector array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smirnov, K; Korneev, A; Minaeva, O; Divochiy, A; Tarkhov, M; Ryabchun, S; Seleznev, V; Kaurova, N; Voronov, B; Gol'tsman, G; Polonsky, S

2007-01-01

We report on the fabrication process of the 2 x 2 superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD) array. The SSPD array is made from ultrathin NbN film and is operated at liquid helium temperatures. Each detector is a nanowire-based structure patterned by electron beam lithography process. The advances in fabrication technology allowed us to produce highly uniform strips and preserve superconducting properties of the unpatterned film. SSPD exhibit up to 30% quantum efficiency in near infrared and up to 1% at 5-μm wavelength. Due to 120 MHz counting rate and 18 ps jitter, the time-domain multiplexing read-out is proposed for large scale SSPD arrays. Single-pixel SSPD has already found a practical application in non-invasive testing of semiconductor very-large scale integrated circuits. The SSPD significantly outperformed traditional single-photon counting avalanche diodes

Internal electromagnetic pulse produced by the prompt-γ photons in the rectanglar cavity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Taichun; Wang Yuzhi

1986-01-01

The internal electromagnetic pulses produced by the prompt-γ photons were calculated by self-consistent and non-self-consistent method respectively in the rectanglar cavity of the matel. The computational results were analyzed. Under the condition that the electric field is weak and the cavity is small, the results obtained by the self-consistent method is in agreement with the results by the non-self-consistent

Fully integrated free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon detector for accurate lidar applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Chao; Shangguan, Mingjia; Xia, Haiyun; Zhang, Jun; Dou, Xiankang; Pan, Jian-Wei

2017-06-26

We present a fully integrated InGaAs/InP negative feedback avalanche diode (NFAD) based free-running single-photon detector (SPD) designed for accurate lidar applications. A free-piston Stirling cooler is used to cool down the NFAD with a large temperature range, and an active hold-off circuit implemented in a field programmable gate array is applied to further suppress the afterpulsing contribution. The key parameters of the free-running SPD including photon detection efficiency (PDE), dark count rate (DCR), afterpulse probability, and maximum count rate (MCR) are dedicatedly optimized for lidar application in practice. We then perform a field experiment using a Mie lidar system with 20 kHz pulse repetition frequency to compare the performance between the free-running InGaAs/InP SPD and a commercial superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). Our detector exhibits good performance with 1.6 Mcps MCR (0.6 μs hold-off time), 10% PDE, 950 cps DCR, and 18% afterpulse probability over 50 μs period. Such performance is worse than the SNSPD with 60% PDE and 300 cps DCR. However, after performing a specific algorithm that we have developed for afterpulse and count rate corrections, the lidar system performance in terms of range-corrected signal (Pr 2 ) distribution using our SPD agrees very well with the result using the SNSPD, with only a relative error of ∼2%. Due to the advantages of low-cost and small size of InGaAs/InP NFADs, such detector provides a practical solution for accurate lidar applications.

Corpuscular Model of Two-Beam Interference and Double-Slit Experiments with Single Photons

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jin, Fengping; Yuan, Shengjun; De Raedt, Hans; Michielsen, Kristel; Miyashita, Seiji

We introduce an event-based corpuscular simulation model that reproduces the wave mechanical results of single-photon double-slit and two-beam interference experiments and (of a one-to-one copy of an experimental realization) of a single-photon interference experiment with a Fresnel biprism. The

Direct experimental observation of nonclassicality in ensembles of single-photon emitters

Science.gov (United States)

Moreva, E.; Traina, P.; Forneris, J.; Degiovanni, I. P.; Ditalia Tchernij, S.; Picollo, F.; Brida, G.; Olivero, P.; Genovese, M.

2017-11-01

In this work we experimentally demonstrate a recently proposed criterion addressed to detect nonclassical behavior in the fluorescence emission of ensembles of single-photon emitters. In particular, we apply the method to study clusters of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond characterized with single-photon-sensitive confocal microscopy. Theoretical considerations on the behavior of the parameter at any arbitrary order in the presence of Poissonian noise are presented and, finally, the opportunity of detecting manifold coincidences is discussed.

A universal setup for active control of a single-photon detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Qin; Skaar, Johannes [Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim (Norway); Lamas-Linares, Antía; Kurtsiefer, Christian [Centre for Quantum Technologies and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 (Singapore); Makarov, Vadim, E-mail: makarov@vad1.com [Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 (Canada); Gerhardt, Ilja, E-mail: ilja@quantumlah.org [Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany)

2014-01-15

The influence of bright light on a single-photon detector has been described in a number of recent publications. The impact on quantum key distribution (QKD) is important, and several hacking experiments have been tailored to fully control single-photon detectors. Special attention has been given to avoid introducing further errors into a QKD system. We describe the design and technical details of an apparatus which allows to attack a quantum-cryptographic connection. This device is capable of controlling free-space and fiber-based systems and of minimizing unwanted clicks in the system. With different control diagrams, we are able to achieve a different level of control. The control was initially targeted to the systems using BB84 protocol, with polarization encoding and basis switching using beamsplitters, but could be extended to other types of systems. We further outline how to characterize the quality of active control of single-photon detectors.

A universal setup for active control of a single-photon detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Qin; Skaar, Johannes; Lamas-Linares, Antía; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Makarov, Vadim; Gerhardt, Ilja

2014-01-01

The influence of bright light on a single-photon detector has been described in a number of recent publications. The impact on quantum key distribution (QKD) is important, and several hacking experiments have been tailored to fully control single-photon detectors. Special attention has been given to avoid introducing further errors into a QKD system. We describe the design and technical details of an apparatus which allows to attack a quantum-cryptographic connection. This device is capable of controlling free-space and fiber-based systems and of minimizing unwanted clicks in the system. With different control diagrams, we are able to achieve a different level of control. The control was initially targeted to the systems using BB84 protocol, with polarization encoding and basis switching using beamsplitters, but could be extended to other types of systems. We further outline how to characterize the quality of active control of single-photon detectors

Experimental quantum teleportation and multiphoton entanglement via interfering narrowband photon sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Jian; Zhang Han; Peng Chengzhi; Chen Zengbing; Bao Xiaohui; Chen Shuai; Pan Jianwei

2009-01-01

In this paper, we report a realization of synchronization-free quantum teleportation and narrowband three-photon entanglement through interfering narrowband photon sources. Since both the single-photon and the entangled photon pair utilized are completely autonomous, it removes the requirement of high-demanding synchronization techniques in long-distance quantum communication with pulsed spontaneous parametric down-conversion sources. The frequency linewidth of the three-photon entanglement realized is on the order of several MHz, which matches the requirement of atomic ensemble based quantum memories. Such a narrowband multiphoton source will have applications in some advanced quantum communication protocols and linear optical quantum computation.

Three-dimensional photonic crystals created by single-step multi-directional plasma etching.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Kitano, Keisuke; Ishizaki, Kenji; Noda, Susumu

2014-07-14

We fabricate 3D photonic nanostructures by simultaneous multi-directional plasma etching. This simple and flexible method is enabled by controlling the ion-sheath in reactive-ion-etching equipment. We realize 3D photonic crystals on single-crystalline silicon wafers and show high reflectance (>95%) and low transmittance (photonic bandgap. Moreover, our method simply demonstrates Si-based 3D photonic crystals that show the photonic bandgap effect in a shorter wavelength range around 0.6 μm, where further fine structures are required.

Development of new photon-counting detectors for single-molecule fluorescence microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Michalet, X.; Colyer, R. A.; Scalia, G.; Ingargiola, A.; Lin, R.; Millaud, J. E.; Weiss, S.; Siegmund, Oswald H. W.; Tremsin, Anton S.; Vallerga, John V.; Cheng, A.; Levi, M.; Aharoni, D.; Arisaka, K.; Villa, F.; Guerrieri, F.; Panzeri, F.; Rech, I.; Gulinatti, A.; Zappa, F.; Ghioni, M.; Cova, S.

2013-01-01

Two optical configurations are commonly used in single-molecule fluorescence microscopy: point-like excitation and detection to study freely diffusing molecules, and wide field illumination and detection to study surface immobilized or slowly diffusing molecules. Both approaches have common features, but also differ in significant aspects. In particular, they use different detectors, which share some requirements but also have major technical differences. Currently, two types of detectors best fulfil the needs of each approach: single-photon-counting avalanche diodes (SPADs) for point-like detection, and electron-multiplying charge-coupled devices (EMCCDs) for wide field detection. However, there is room for improvements in both cases. The first configuration suffers from low throughput owing to the analysis of data from a single location. The second, on the other hand, is limited to relatively low frame rates and loses the benefit of single-photon-counting approaches. During the past few years, new developments in point-like and wide field detectors have started addressing some of these issues. Here, we describe our recent progresses towards increasing the throughput of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy in solution using parallel arrays of SPADs. We also discuss our development of large area photon-counting cameras achieving subnanosecond resolution for fluorescence lifetime imaging applications at the single-molecule level. PMID:23267185

Correlated Photon Dynamics in Dissipative Rydberg Media

Science.gov (United States)

Zeuthen, Emil; Gullans, Michael J.; Maghrebi, Mohammad F.; Gorshkov, Alexey V.

2017-07-01

Rydberg blockade physics in optically dense atomic media under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) leads to strong dissipative interactions between single photons. We introduce a new approach to analyzing this challenging many-body problem in the limit of a large optical depth per blockade radius. In our approach, we separate the single-polariton EIT physics from Rydberg-Rydberg interactions in a serialized manner while using a hard-sphere model for the latter, thus capturing the dualistic particle-wave nature of light as it manifests itself in dissipative Rydberg-EIT media. Using this approach, we analyze the saturation behavior of the transmission through one-dimensional Rydberg-EIT media in the regime of nonperturbative dissipative interactions relevant to current experiments. Our model is able to capture the many-body dynamics of bright, coherent pulses through these strongly interacting media. We compare our model with available experimental data in this regime and find good agreement. We also analyze a scheme for generating regular trains of single photons from continuous-wave input and derive its scaling behavior in the presence of imperfect single-photon EIT.

Single-photon sensitive fast ebCMOS camera system for multiple-target tracking of single fluorophores: application to nano-biophotonics

Science.gov (United States)

Cajgfinger, Thomas; Chabanat, Eric; Dominjon, Agnes; Doan, Quang T.; Guerin, Cyrille; Houles, Julien; Barbier, Remi

2011-03-01

Nano-biophotonics applications will benefit from new fluorescent microscopy methods based essentially on super-resolution techniques (beyond the diffraction limit) on large biological structures (membranes) with fast frame rate (1000 Hz). This trend tends to push the photon detectors to the single-photon counting regime and the camera acquisition system to real time dynamic multiple-target tracing. The LUSIPHER prototype presented in this paper aims to give a different approach than those of Electron Multiplied CCD (EMCCD) technology and try to answer to the stringent demands of the new nano-biophotonics imaging techniques. The electron bombarded CMOS (ebCMOS) device has the potential to respond to this challenge, thanks to the linear gain of the accelerating high voltage of the photo-cathode, to the possible ultra fast frame rate of CMOS sensors and to the single-photon sensitivity. We produced a camera system based on a 640 kPixels ebCMOS with its acquisition system. The proof of concept for single-photon based tracking for multiple single-emitters is the main result of this paper.

S-process studies using single and pulsed neutron exposures

Science.gov (United States)

Beer, H.

The formation of heavy elements by slow neutron capture (s-process) is investigated. A pulsed neutron irradiation leading to an exponential exposure distribution is dominant for nuclei from A = 90 to 200. For the isotopes from iron to zirconium an additional 'weak' s-process component must be superimposed. Calculations using a single or another pulsed neutron exposure for this component have been carried out in order to reproduce the abundance pattern of the s-only and s-process dominant isotopes. For the adjustment of these calculations to the empirical values, the inclusion of new capture cross section data on Se76 and Y89 and the consideration of the branchings at Ni63, Se79, and Kr85 was important. The combination of an s-process with a single and a pulsed neutron exposure yielded a better representation of empirical abundances than a two component pulsed s-process.

S-process studies using single and pulsed neutron exposures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beer, H.

1986-01-01

The formation of heavy elements by slow neutron capture (s-process) is investigated. A pulsed neutron irradiation leading to an exponential exposure distribution is dominant for nuclei from A=90 to 200. For the isotopes from iron to zirconium an additional ''weak'' s-process component must be superimposed. Calculations using a single or another pulsed neutron exposure for this component have been carried out in order to reproduce the abundance pattern of the s-only and s-process dominant isotopes. For the adjustment of these calculations to the empirical values, including new capture cross section data on Se76 and Y89 and the consideration of the branchings at Ni63, Se79, and Kr85 was important. The combination of a s-process with a single and a pulsed neutron exposure yielded a better representation of empirical abundances than a two component pulsed s-process

Towards single photon generation using NV centers in diamond coupled to thin layer optical waveguides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toshiyuki Tashima

2014-01-01

Single photon emitters like the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond are important for quantum communication such as quantum cryptography and quantum metrology. In this context, e.g. tapered optical nano-fibers are a promising approach as they allow efficient coupling of single photons into a single spatial mode. Yet, integration of such fibers in a compact integrated quantum circuit is demanding. Here we propose a NV defect center in diamond as a single photon emitter coupled to a thin layer photonic waveguide. The benefit is to allow smaller size devices while having a similar strong evanescent field like tapered nano-optical fibers. We present numerical simulations and fabrication steps of such structures. (author)

Single photon transport by a moving atom through sub-wavelength hole

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afanasiev, A.E.; Melentiev, P.N.; Kuzin, A.A.; Kalatskiy, A.Yu.; Balykin, V.I.

2017-01-01

The results of investigation of photon transport through the subwavelength hole in the opaque screen by using single neutral atom are represented. The basis of the proposed and implemented method is the absorption of a photon by a neutral atom immediately before the subwavelength aperture, traveling of the atoms through the hole and emission of a photon on the other side of the screen. Realized method is the alternative approach to existing for photon transport through a subwavelength aperture: 1) self-sustained transmittance of a photon through the aperture according to the Bethe’s model; 2) extra ordinary transmission because of surface-plasmon excitation.

Ultra-Low Power Optical Transistor Using a Single Quantum Dot Embedded in a Photonic Wire

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, H.A.; Grange, T.; Malik, N.S.

2017-01-01

Using a single InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs photonic wire, we realize a giant non-linearity between two optical modes to experimentally demonstrate an all-optical transistor triggered by 10 photons.......Using a single InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs photonic wire, we realize a giant non-linearity between two optical modes to experimentally demonstrate an all-optical transistor triggered by 10 photons....

Broadband excitation by chirped pulses: application to single electron spins in diamond

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niemeyer, I; Shim, J H; Zhang, J; Suter, D; Taniguchi, T; Teraji, T; Abe, H; Onoda, S; Yamamoto, T; Ohshima, T; Isoya, J; Jelezko, F

2013-01-01

Pulsed excitation of broad spectra requires very high field strengths if monochromatic pulses are used. If the corresponding high power is not available or not desirable, the pulses can be replaced by suitable low-power pulses that distribute the power over a wider bandwidth. As a simple case, we use microwave pulses with a linear frequency chirp. We use these pulses to excite spectra of single nitrogen–vacancy centres in a Ramsey experiment. Compared to the conventional Ramsey experiment, our approach increases the bandwidth by at least an order of magnitude. Compared to the conventional continuous wave-ODMR experiment, the chirped Ramsey experiment does not suffer from power broadening and increases the resolution by at least an order of magnitude. As an additional benefit, the chirped Ramsey spectrum contains not only ‘allowed’ single quantum transitions, but also ‘forbidden’ zero- and double quantum transitions, which can be distinguished from the single quantum transitions by phase-shifting the readout pulse with respect to the excitation pulse or by variation of the external magnetic field strength. (paper)

Experimental test of the strongly nonclassical character of a noisy squeezed single-photon state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jezek, M.; Tipsmark, A.; Dong, R.

2012-01-01

We experimentally verify the quantum non-Gaussian character of a conditionally generated noisy squeezed single-photon state with a positive Wigner function. Employing an optimized witness based on probabilities of squeezed vacuum and squeezed single-photon states, we prove that the state cannot...... be expressed as a mixture of Gaussian states. In our experiment, the non-Gaussian state is generated by conditional subtraction of a single photon from a squeezed vacuum state. The state is probed with a homodyne detector and the witness is determined by averaging a suitable pattern function over the measured...

A microprocessor controlled system for pulsed laser experiments nad its applications in two photon absorption spectroscopy of CaF2: Eu+2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nunes, L.A.O.; Matinaga, F.M.; Castro, J.C. de

1986-01-01

A very low cost data station for pulsed dye laser aplications is developed. The system employs a low cost single board microcomputer and low cost componenets. Details on the hardware configuration and sofware are presented. In order to demonstrate the power of this system we employed it to obtain a two photon absorption spectrum of some f→f transitions in europium ions present as impurity in CaF 2 . Flexibility of hardware and software allow other aplications, such as transient recording in the 10nsec per channel range and other real time data processing. (Author) [pt

Direct isolated single and di-photon production at ATLAS and CMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolberg, T.R.

2014-01-01

Direct isolated single and di-photon production cross section measurements are a classic test of perturbative QCD and are used to constrain the gluon densities in the proton. The LHC general-purpose experiments ATLAS and CMS have made a number of differential cross section measurements for both the single and di-photon production processes using the 2011 dataset at 7 TeV center-of-mass energy. Overall, good agreement is found with the theoretical predictions, and the measurements are sufficiently precise to constrain the gluon PDF uncertainty for other production processes at the LHC. Some systematic differences between the di-photon data and the NLO (Next-to-Leading Order) theoretical predictions show a need to include higher-order effects in the predictions. (author)

The physics of nanowire superconducting single-photon detectors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renema, Jelmer Jan

2015-01-01

We investigate the detection mechanism in superconducting single photon detectors via quantum detector tomography. We find that the detection event is caused by diffusion of quasiparticles from the absorption spot, combined with entrance of a vortex. Moreover, we investigate the behaviour of

Photon statistics of pulse-pumped four-wave mixing in fiber with weak signal injection

Science.gov (United States)

Nan-Nan, Liu; Yu-Hong, Liu; Jia-Min, Li; Xiao-Ying, Li

2016-07-01

We study the photon statistics of pulse-pumped four-wave mixing in fibers with weak coherent signal injection by measuring the intensity correlation functions of individual signal and idler fields. The experimental results show that the intensity correlation function of individual signal (idler) field decreases with the intensity of signal injection. After applying narrow band filter in signal (idler) band, the value of decreases from 1.9 ± 0.02 (1.9 ± 0.02) to 1.03 ± 0.02 (1.05 ± 0.02) when the intensity of signal injection varies from 0 to 120 photons/pulse. The results indicate that the photon statistics changes from Bose-Einstein distribution to Poisson distribution. We calculate the intensity correlation functions by using the multi-mode theory of four-wave mixing in fibers. The theoretical curves well fit the experimental results. Our investigation will be useful for mitigating the crosstalk between quantum and classical channels in a dense wavelength division multiplexing network. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11527808), the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2014CB340103), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20120032110055), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, China (Grant No. 14JCQNJC02300), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China, and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities, China (Grant No. B07014).

Spatially and Temporally Resolved Atomic Oxygen Measurements in Short Pulse Discharges by Two Photon Laser Induced Fluorescence

Science.gov (United States)

Lempert, Walter; Uddi, Mruthunjaya; Mintusov, Eugene; Jiang, Naibo; Adamovich, Igor

2007-10-01

Two Photon Laser Induced Fluorescence (TALIF) is used to measure time-dependent absolute oxygen atom concentrations in O2/He, O2/N2, and CH4/air plasmas produced with a 20 nanosecond duration, 20 kV pulsed discharge at 10 Hz repetition rate. Xenon calibrated spectra show that a single discharge pulse creates initial oxygen dissociation fraction of ˜0.0005 for air like mixtures at 40-60 torr total pressure. Peak O atom concentration is a factor of approximately two lower in fuel lean (φ=0.5) methane/air mixtures. In helium buffer, the initially formed atomic oxygen decays monotonically, with decay time consistent with formation of ozone. In all nitrogen containing mixtures, atomic oxygen concentrations are found to initially increase, for time scales on the order of 10-100 microseconds, due presumably to additional O2 dissociation caused by collisions with electronically excited nitrogen. Further evidence of the role of metastable N2 is demonstrated from time-dependent N2 2^nd Positive and NO Gamma band emission spectroscopy. Comparisons with modeling predictions show qualitative, but not quantitative, agreement with the experimental data.

Development of a high-speed single-photon pixellated detector for visible wavelengths

CERN Document Server

Mac Raighne, Aaron; Mathot, Serge; McPhate, Jason; Vallerga, John; Jarron, Pierre; Brownlee, Colin; O’Shea, Val

2009-01-01

We present the development of a high-speed, single-photon counting, Hybrid Photo Detector (HPD). The HPD consists of a vacuum tube, containing the detector assembly, sealed with a transparent optical input window. Photons incident on the photocathode eject a photoelectron into a large electric field, which accelerates the incident electron onto a silicon detector. The silicon detector is bump bonded to a Medipix readout chip. This set-up allows for the detection and readout of low incident photon intensities at rates that are otherwise unattainable with current camera technology. Reported is the fabrication of the camera that brings together a range of sophisticated design and fabrication techniques and the expected theoretical imaging performance. Applications to cellular and molecular microscopy are also described in which single-photon-counting abilities at high frame rates are crucial

Frequency-tuned microwave photon counter based on a superconductive quantum interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Shnyrkov, V. I.; Yangcao, Wu; Soroka, A. A.; Turutanov, O. G.; Lyakhno, V. Yu.

2018-03-01

Various types of single-photon counters operating in infrared, ultraviolet, and optical wavelength ranges are successfully used to study electromagnetic fields, analyze radiation sources, and solve problems in quantum informatics. However, their operating principles become ineffective at millimeter band, S-band, and ultra-high frequency bands of wavelengths due to the decrease in quantum energy by 4-5 orders of magnitude. Josephson circuits with discrete Hamiltonians and qubits are a good foundation for the construction of single-photon counters at these frequencies. This paper presents a frequency-tuned microwave photon counter based on a single-junction superconducting quantum interferometer and flux qutrit. The control pulse converts the interferometer into a two-level system for resonance absorption of photons. Decay of the photon-induced excited state changes the magnetic flux in the interferometer, which is measured by a SQUID magnetometer. Schemes for recording the magnetic flux using a DC SQUID or ideal parametric detector, based on a qutrit with high-frequency excitation, are discussed. It is shown that the counter consisting of an interferometer with a Josephson junction and a parametric detector demonstrates high performance and is capable of detecting single photons in a microwave band.

Frequency-multiplexed bias and readout of a 16-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array

Science.gov (United States)

Doerner, S.; Kuzmin, A.; Wuensch, S.; Charaev, I.; Boes, F.; Zwick, T.; Siegel, M.

2017-07-01

We demonstrate a 16-pixel array of microwave-current driven superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with an integrated and scalable frequency-division multiplexing architecture, which reduces the required number of bias and readout lines to a single microwave feed line. The electrical behavior of the photon-sensitive nanowires, embedded in a resonant circuit, as well as the optical performance and timing jitter of the single detectors is discussed. Besides the single pixel measurements, we also demonstrate the operation of a 16-pixel array with a temporal, spatial, and photon-number resolution.

Surprise in simplicity: an unusual spectral evolution of a single pulse GRB 151006A

Science.gov (United States)

Basak, R.; Iyyani, S.; Chand, V.; Chattopadhyay, T.; Bhattacharya, D.; Rao, A. R.; Vadawale, S. V.

2017-11-01

We present a detailed analysis of GRB 151006A, the first gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by AstroSat Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager (CZTI). We study the long-term spectral evolution by exploiting the capabilities of Fermi and Swift satellites at different phases, which is complemented by the polarization measurement with the CZTI. While the light curve of the GRB in different energy bands shows a simple pulse profile, the spectrum shows an unusual evolution. The first phase exhibits a hard-to-soft evolution until ∼16-20 s, followed by a sudden increase in the spectral peak reaching a few MeV. Such a dramatic change in the spectral evolution in the case of a single pulse burst is reported for the first time. This is captured by all models we used namely, Band function, blackbody+Band and two blackbodies+power law. Interestingly, the Fermi Large Area Telescope also detects its first photon (>100 MeV) during this time. This new injection of energy may be associated with either the beginning of afterglow phase, or a second hard pulse of the prompt emission itself that, however, is not seen in the otherwise smooth pulse profile. By constructing Bayesian blocks and studying the hardness evolution we find a good evidence for a second hard pulse. The Swift data at late epochs (>T90 of the GRB) also show a significant spectral evolution consistent with the early second phase. The CZTI data (100-350 keV), though having low significance (1σ), show high values of polarization in the two epochs (77-94 per cent), in agreement with our interpretation.

Modeling and Development of Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposal outlines a research project as the central component of a Ph.D. program focused on the device physics of superconducting nanowire single photon...

Evaluation of a fast single-photon avalanche photodiode for measurement of early transmitted photons through diffusive media.

Science.gov (United States)

Mu, Ying; Valim, Niksa; Niedre, Mark

2013-06-15

We tested the performance of a fast single-photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD) in measurement of early transmitted photons through diffusive media. In combination with a femtosecond titanium:sapphire laser, the overall instrument temporal response time was 59 ps. Using two experimental models, we showed that the SPAD allowed measurement of photon-density sensitivity functions that were approximately 65% narrower than the ungated continuous wave case at very early times. This exceeds the performance that we have previously achieved with photomultiplier-tube-based systems and approaches the theoretical maximum predicted by time-resolved Monte Carlo simulations.

Attacking quantum key distribution with single-photon two-qubit quantum logic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, Jeffrey H.; Wong, Franco N. C.

2006-01-01

The Fuchs-Peres-Brandt (FPB) probe realizes the most powerful individual attack on Bennett-Brassard 1984 quantum key distribution (BB84 QKD) by means of a single controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate. This paper describes a complete physical simulation of the FPB-probe attack on polarization-based BB84 QKD using a deterministic CNOT constructed from single-photon two-qubit quantum logic. Adding polarization-preserving quantum nondemolition measurements of photon number to this configuration converts the physical simulation into a true deterministic realization of the FPB attack

Soft error rate analysis methodology of multi-Pulse-single-event transients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Bin; Huo Mingxue; Xiao Liyi

2012-01-01

As transistor feature size scales down, soft errors in combinational logic because of high-energy particle radiation is gaining more and more concerns. In this paper, a combinational logic soft error analysis methodology considering multi-pulse-single-event transients (MPSETs) and re-convergence with multi transient pulses is proposed. In the proposed approach, the voltage pulse produced at the standard cell output is approximated by a triangle waveform, and characterized by three parameters: pulse width, the transition time of the first edge, and the transition time of the second edge. As for the pulse with the amplitude being smaller than the supply voltage, the edge extension technique is proposed. Moreover, an efficient electrical masking model comprehensively considering transition time, delay, width and amplitude is proposed, and an approach using the transition times of two edges and pulse width to compute the amplitude of pulse is proposed. Finally, our proposed firstly-independently-propagating-secondly-mutually-interacting (FIP-SMI) is used to deal with more practical re-convergence gate with multi transient pulses. As for MPSETs, a random generation model of MPSETs is exploratively proposed. Compared to the estimates obtained using circuit level simulations by HSpice, our proposed soft error rate analysis algorithm has 10% errors in SER estimation with speed up of 300 when the single-pulse-single-event transient (SPSET) is considered. We have also demonstrated the runtime and SER decrease with the increment of P0 using designs from the ISCAS-85 benchmarks. (authors)

Multiple nonlinear Bragg diffraction of femtosecond laser pulses in a {\\chi^{(2)}} photonic lattice with hexagonal domains

Science.gov (United States)

Vyunishev, A. M.; Arkhipkin, V. G.; Baturin, I. S.; Akhmatkhanov, A. R.; Shur, V. Ya; Chirkin, A. S.

2018-04-01

The frequency doubling of femtosecond laser pulses in a two-dimensional (2D) rectangular nonlinear photonic lattice with hexagonal domains is studied experimentally and theoretically. The broad fundamental spectrum enables frequency conversion under nonlinear Bragg diffraction for a series of transverse orders at a fixed longitudinal quasi-phase-matching order. The consistent nonstationary theory of the frequency doubling of femtosecond laser pulses is developed using the representation based on the reciprocal lattice of the structure. The calculated spatial distribution of the second-harmonic spectral intensity agrees well with the experimental data. The condition for multiple nonlinear Bragg diffraction in a 2D nonlinear photonic lattice is offered. The hexagonal shape of the domains contributes to multibeam second harmonic excitation. The maximum conversion efficiency for a series of transverse orders in the range 0.01%-0.03% is obtained.

Ultra-low background retrieval of photons stored in warm Rb vapor

Science.gov (United States)

Figueroa, Eden; Neuzner, Andreas; Latka, Tobias; Schupp, Josef; Noelleke, Christian; Reiserer, Andreas; Ritter, Stephan; Rempe, Gerhard

2013-05-01

The development of a simple and inexpensive platform for interconnecting light and matter at the quantum level has recently emerged as one of the key challenges of the rapidly evolving field of quantum engineering. Although elementary quantum memory capabilities have been already shown using ensembles of cold atoms or single-atoms in optical cavities, a scalable-friendly architecture might still require room temperature operation. Here we use an ensemble of Rb atoms in the gaseous state and store light pulses at the single-photon level to demonstrate that even in a common vapor cell it is possible to achieve quantum-level operation with ultra-low background noise. We have obtained a measured signal- to-background noise ratio of 3.5, which is the first time this figure of merit has been lifted beyond unity for experiments with room temperature operation. In addition, we also show the capabilities of the system to arbitrarily tailor the temporal properties of the retrieved single-photon-level pulses.

Electrical and optical 3D modelling of light-trapping single-photon avalanche diode

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Tianzhe; Zang, Kai; Morea, Matthew; Xue, Muyu; Lu, Ching-Ying; Jiang, Xiao; Zhang, Qiang; Kamins, Theodore I.; Harris, James S.

2018-02-01

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been widely used to push the frontier of scientific research (e.g., quantum science and single-molecule fluorescence) and practical applications (e.g., Lidar). However, there is a typical compromise between photon detection efficiency and jitter distribution. The light-trapping SPAD has been proposed to break this trade-off by coupling the vertically incoming photons into a laterally propagating mode while maintaining a small jitter and a thin Si device layer. In this work, we provide a 3D-based optical and electrical model based on practical fabrication conditions and discuss about design parameters, which include surface texturing, photon injection position, device area, and other features.

Design of Slow and Fast Light Photonic Crystal Waveguides for Single-photon Emission Using a Bloch Mode Expansion Technique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Lasson, Jakob Rosenkrantz; Rigal, B.; Kapon, E.

We design slow and fast light photonic crystal waveguides for single-photon emission using a Bloch mode expansion and scattering matrix technique. We propose slow light designs that increase the group index-waveguide mode volume ratio for larger Purcell enhancement, and address efficient slow-to-...

Metal-coated semiconductor nanostructures and simulation of photon extraction and coupling to optical fibers for a solid-state single-photon source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suemune, Ikuo; Nakajima, Hideaki; Liu, Xiangming; Odashima, Satoru; Asano, Tomoya; Iijima, Hitoshi; Huh, Jae-Hoon; Idutsu, Yasuhiro; Sasakura, Hirotaka; Kumano, Hidekazu

2013-01-01

We have realized metal-coated semiconductor nanostructures for a stable and efficient single-photon source (SPS) and demonstrated improved single-photon extraction efficiency by the selection of metals and nanostructures. We demonstrate with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations that inclination of a pillar sidewall, which changes the structure to a nanocone, is effective in improving the photon extraction efficiency. We demonstrate how such nanocone structures with inclined sidewalls are fabricated with reactive ion etching. With the optimized design, a photon extraction efficiency to outer airside as high as ∼97% generated from a quantum dot in a nanocone structure is simulated, which is the important step in realizing SPS on-demand operations. We have also examined the direct contact of such a metal-embedded nanocone structure with a single-mode fiber facet as a simple and practical method for preparing fiber-coupled SPS and demonstrated practical coupling efficiencies of ∼16% with FDTD simulation. (paper)

Room-Temperature Single-Photon Source for Secure Quantum Communication

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We are asking for four years of support for PhD student Justin Winkler's work on a research project entitled "Room temperature single photon source for secure...

High quality GaAs single photon emitters on Si substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bietti, S.; Sanguinetti, S.; Cavigli, L.; Accanto, N.; Vinattieri, A.; Minari, S.; Abbarchi, M.; Isella, G.; Frigeri, C.; Gurioli, M.

2013-01-01

We describe a method for the direct epitaxial growth of a single photon emitter, based on GaAs quantum dots fabricated by droplet epitaxy, working at liquid nitrogen temperatures on Si substrates. The achievement of quantum photon statistics up to T=80 K is directly proved by antibunching in the second order correlation function as measured with a H anbury Brown and Twiss interferometer

Pulse patterning effect in optical pulse division multiplexing for flexible single wavelength multiple access optical network

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Sun-Young; Kim, Chang-Hun; Han, Sang-Kook

2018-05-01

A demand for high spectral efficiency requires multiple access within a single wavelength, but the uplink signals are significantly degraded because of optical beat interference (OBI) in intensity modulation/direct detection system. An optical pulse division multiplexing (OPDM) technique was proposed that could effectively reduce the OBI via a simple method as long as near-orthogonality is satisfied, but the condition was strict, and thus, the number of multiplexing units was very limited. We propose pulse pattern enhanced OPDM (e-OPDM) to reduce the OBI and improve the flexibility in multiple access within a single wavelength. The performance of the e-OPDM and patterning effect are experimentally verified after 23-km single mode fiber transmission. By employing pulse patterning in OPDM, the tight requirement was relaxed by extending the optical delay dynamic range. This could support more number of access with reduced OBI, which could eventually enhance a multiple access function.

Single-photon emission computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Budinger, T.F.

1986-01-01

Single photon tomography dates from the early 1960's when the idea of emission transverse section tomography was presented by Kuhl and Edwards. They used a rectilinear scanner and analogue back-projection methods to detect emissions from a series of sequential positions transverse to the cephaldcaudad axis of the body. This chapter presents an explanation of emission tomography by describing longitudinal and transverse section tomography. In principle all modes of tomography can be considered under the general topic of coded apertures wherein the code ranges from translation of a pinhole collimator to rotation of a parallel hole or focused collimator array

Photon-counting monolithic avalanche photodiode arrays for the super collider

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishaque, A.N.; Castleberry, D.E.; Rougeot, H.M.

1994-01-01

In fiber tracking, calorimetry, and other high energy and nuclear physics experiments, the need arises to detect an optical signal consisting of a few photons (in some cases a single photoelectron) with a detector insensitive to magnetic fields. Previous attempts to detect a single photoelectron have involved avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operated in the Geiger mode, the visible light photon counter, and a photomultiplier tube with an APD as the anode. In this paper it is demonstrated that silicon APDs, biased below the breakdown voltage, can be used to detect a signal of a few photons with conventional pulse counting circuitry at room temperature. Moderate cooling, it is further argued, could make it possible to detect a single photoelectron. Monolithic arrays of silicon avalanche photodiodes fabricated by Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. (RMD) were evaluated for possible use in the Super Collider detector systems. Measurements on 3 element x 3 element (2 mm pitch) APD arrays, using pulse counting circuitry with a charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) and a Gaussian filter, are reported and found to conform to a simple noise model. The model is used to obtain the optimal operating point. Experimental results are described in Section II, modeling results in Section III, and the conclusions are summarized in Section IV

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) on SOI for near-infrared range

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trojan, Philipp; Il' in, Konstantin; Henrich, Dagmar; Hofherr, Matthias; Doerner, Steffen; Siegel, Michael [Institut fuer Mikro- und Nanoelektronische Systeme (IMS), Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (KIT) (Germany); Semenov, Alexey [Institut fuer Planetenforschung, DLR, Berlin-Adlershof (Germany); Huebers, Heinz-Wilhelm [Institut fuer Planetenforschung, DLR, Berlin-Adlershof (Germany); Institut fuer Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universitaet Berlin (Germany)

2013-07-01

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors are promising devices for photon detectors with high count rates, low dark count rates and low dead times. At wavelengths beyond the visible range, the detection efficiency of today's SNSPDs drops significantly. Moreover, the low absorption in ultra-thin detector films is a limiting factor over the entire spectral range. Solving this problem requires approaches for an enhancement of the absorption range in feeding the light to the detector element. A possibility to obtain a better absorption is the use of multilayer substrate materials for photonic waveguide structures. We present results on development of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors made from niobium nitride on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) multilayer substrates. Optical and superconducting properties of SNSPDs on SOI will be discussed and compared with the characteristics of detectors on common substrates.

Passive measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with orbital angular momentum and pulse position modulation

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lian; Zhou, Yuan-yuan; Zhou, Xue-jun; Chen, Xiao

2018-03-01

Based on the orbital angular momentum and pulse position modulation, we present a novel passive measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) scheme with the two-mode source. Combining with the tight bounds of the yield and error rate of single-photon pairs given in our paper, we conduct performance analysis on the scheme with heralded single-photon source. The numerical simulations show that the performance of our scheme is significantly superior to the traditional MDI-QKD in the error rate, key generation rate and secure transmission distance, since the application of orbital angular momentum and pulse position modulation can exclude the basis-dependent flaw and increase the information content for each single photon. Moreover, the performance is improved with the rise of the frame length. Therefore, our scheme, without intensity modulation, avoids the source side channels and enhances the key generation rate. It has greatly utility value in the MDI-QKD setups.

A single-shot nonlinear autocorrelation approach for time-resolved physics in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral range

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rompotis, Dimitrios

2016-02-01

In this work, a single-shot temporal metrology scheme operating in the vacuum-extreme ultraviolet spectral range has been designed and experimentally implemented. Utilizing an anti-collinear geometry, a second-order intensity autocorrelation measurement of a vacuum ultraviolet pulse can be performed by encoding temporal delay information on the beam propagation coordinate. An ion-imaging time-of-flight spectrometer, offering micrometer resolution has been set-up for this purpose. This instrument enables the detection of a magnified image of the spatial distribution of ions exclusively generated by direct two-photon absorption in the combined counter-propagating pulse focus and thus obtain the second-order intensity autocorrelation measurement on a single-shot basis. Additionally, an intense VUV light source based on high-harmonic generation has been experimentally realized. It delivers intense sub-20 fs Ti:Sa fifth-harmonic pulses utilizing a loose-focusing geometry in a long Ar gas cell. The VUV pulses centered at 161.8 nm reach pulse energies of 1.1 μJ per pulse, while the corresponding pulse duration is measured with a second-order, fringe-resolved autocorrelation scheme to be 18 ± 1 fs on average. Non-resonant, two-photon ionization of Kr and Xe and three-photon ionization of Ne verify the fifth-harmonic pulse intensity and indicate the feasibility of multi-photon VUV pump/VUV probe studies of ultrafast atomic and molecular dynamics. Finally, the extended functionally of the counter-propagating pulse metrology approach is demonstrated by a single-shot VUV pump/VUV probe experiment aiming at the investigation of ultrafast dissociation dynamics of O 2 excited in the Schumann-Runge continuum at 162 nm.

Room-temperature single-photon sources with definite circular and linear polarizations based on single-emitter fluorescence in liquid crystal hosts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winkler, Justin M; Lukishova, Svetlana G; Bissell, Luke J

2013-01-01

Definite circular and linear polarizations of room-temperature single-photon sources, which can serve as polarization bases for quantum key distribution, are produced by doping planar-aligned liquid crystal hosts with single fluorescence emitters. Chiral 1-D photonic bandgap microcavities for a single handedness of circularly polarized light were prepared from both monomeric and oligomeric cholesteric liquid crystals. Fluorescent emitters, such as nanocrystal quantum dots, nitrogen vacancy color centers in nanodiamonds, and rare-earth ions in nanocrystals, were doped into these microcavity structures and used to produce circularly polarized fluorescence of definite handedness. Additionally, we observed circularly polarized resonances in the spectrum of nanocrystal quantum dot fluorescence at the edge of the cholesteric microcavity's photonic stopband. For this polarization we obtained a ∼4.9 enhancement of intensity compared to the polarization of the opposite handedness that propagates without photonic bandgap microcavity effects. Such a resonance is indicative of coupling of quantum dot fluorescence to the cholesteric microcavity mode. We have also used planar-aligned nematic liquid crystal hosts to align DiI dye molecules doped into the host, thereby providing a single-photon source of linear polarization of definite direction. Antibunching is demonstrated for fluorescence of nanocrystal quantum dots, nitrogen vacancy color centers, and dye molecules in these liquid crystal structures.

Single flux pulses affecting the ensemble of superconducting qubits

Science.gov (United States)

Denisenko, M. V.; Klenov, N. V.; Satanin, A. M.

2018-02-01

The present study is devoted to development of a technique for numerical simulation of the wave function dynamics the single Josephson qubits and arrays of noninteracting qubits controlled by ultra-short pulses. We wish to demonstrate the feasibility of a new principle of basic logical operations on the picosecond timescale. The influence of the unipolar pulse ("fluxon") form on the evolution of the state during the execution of the quantum one-qubit operations - "NOT", "READ" and " √{N O T } " - is investigated in the presence of decoherence. In the array of non interacting qubits, the question of the influence of the spread of their energy parameters (tunnel constants) is studied. It is shown that a single unipolar pulse can control a huge array of artificial atoms with 10% spread of geometric parameters in the array.

On-demand semiconductor source of 780-nm single photons with controlled temporal wave packets

Science.gov (United States)

Béguin, Lucas; Jahn, Jan-Philipp; Wolters, Janik; Reindl, Marcus; Huo, Yongheng; Trotta, Rinaldo; Rastelli, Armando; Ding, Fei; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Treutlein, Philipp; Warburton, Richard J.

2018-05-01

We report on a fast, bandwidth-tunable single-photon source based on an epitaxial GaAs quantum dot. Exploiting spontaneous spin-flip Raman transitions, single photons at 780 nm are generated on demand with tailored temporal profiles of durations exceeding the intrinsic quantum dot lifetime by up to three orders of magnitude. Second-order correlation measurements show a low multiphoton emission probability [g2(0 ) ˜0.10 -0.15 ] at a generation rate up to 10 MHz. We observe Raman photons with linewidths as low as 200 MHz, which is narrow compared to the 1.1-GHz linewidth measured in resonance fluorescence. The generation of such narrow-band single photons with controlled temporal shapes at the rubidium wavelength is a crucial step towards the development of an optimized hybrid semiconductor-atom interface.

Single and double ionization of helium by high-energy photon impact