Interference Of Amplitudes Research Articles

Manifestation of a1(1260) meson in the process e+e−→π+π−π0

The charge asymmetry in the process e+e−→π+π−π0 is studied taking into account a longitudinal polarization of electrons (positrons). The asymmetry arises due to interference of amplitudes corresponding to production of pions in states with charge parity odd and charge parity even. It is a manifestation of a1(1260) meson in the intermediate state. Polarization leads to additional correlations in the differential cross section, which simplifies the experimental study of the process. It is shown that the charge asymmetry can reach several percent. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

THE RESONANCE APPROACH FOR THE PROCESS OF THE PHOTO-TRIDENT IN THE FIELD OF A LINEARLY POLARIZED ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE

The process of the creation of an electron-positron pair at the scattering of a polarized high-energy photon (photo-trident) in the field of a monochromatic linearly polarized electromagnetic wave was investigated in the framework of the resonance approximation. This approximation allows to neglect the interference of amplitudes, i.e. resonance for each amplitude occurs in different kinematic regions. Despite these simplifications the expression for the probability for the investigated process, which has a second order in the fine structure constant, is sufficiently cumbersome. That is a consequence of the polarization properties of the intermediate state. And only for the case of linear polarization of the wave and an unpolarized initial photon, the probability of a photo-trident is factorized into the product of the probabilities of the first-order subprocesses into which the sequence of the studied process is divided.

Phase analysis of biphoton joint spectra by interference between different SPDC sources

In spontaneous parametric down-conversion, the spectral correlations between the signal and the idler are expressed by the joint spectral amplitude (JSA) function. However, in the standard coincidence measurements, the phase information of the JSA is lost, and only the square of the absolute value of the JSA is recorded, thus preventing full characterization of the biphoton state. Here, we present an experimental technique to investigate the interference of biphoton joint spectral amplitudes, unlocking new avenues in quantum photonics research. Our method explores phase-dependent phenomena within entangled biphoton spectra. This is achieved by simultaneously pumping two structured nonlinear photonic crystals and observing their interference, which reveals previously inaccessible effects with direct intensity measurements. We demonstrate the versatility of our technique by analyzing two types of joint spectra: one exhibiting a two-lobe shape and the other a three-lobe shape. Additionally, we reconstruct the joint spectral amplitudes for both scenarios and observe good agreement with theoretical predictions. These results pave the way for developing advanced quantum communication and information processing technologies using biphoton spectra.

Quantum modeling simulates nutrient effect of bioplastic polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production in Pseudomonas putida

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) could be used to make sustainable, biodegradable plastics. However, the precise and accurate mechanistic modeling of PHA biosynthesis, especially medium-chain-length PHA (mcl-PHA), for yield improvement remains a challenge to biology. PHA biosynthesis is typically triggered by nitrogen limitation and tends to peak at an optimal carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Specifically, simulation of the underlying dynamic regulation mechanisms for PHA bioprocess is a bottleneck owing to surfeit model complexity and current modeling philosophies for uncertainty. To address this issue, we proposed a quantum-like decision-making model to encode gene expression and regulation events as hidden layers by the general transformation of a density matrix, which uses the interference of probability amplitudes to provide an empirical-level description for PHA biosynthesis. We implemented our framework modeling the biosynthesis of mcl-PHA in Pseudomonas putida with respect to external C/N ratios, showing its optimization production at maximum PHA production of 13.81% cell dry mass (CDM) at the C/N ratio of 40:1. The results also suggest the degree of P. putida’s preference in channeling carbon towards PHA production as part of the bacterium’s adaptative behavior to nutrient stress using quantum formalism. Generic parameters (kD, kN and theta θ) obtained based on such quantum formulation, representing P. putida’s PHA biosynthesis with respect to external C/N ratios, was discussed. This work offers a new perspective on the use of quantum theory for PHA production, demonstrating its application potential for other bioprocesses.

Detecting single photons is not always necessary to evidence interference of photon probability amplitudes

Detecting single photons is not always necessary to evidence interference of photon probability amplitudes

Doppler-enhanced quantum magnetometry with thermal Rydberg atoms

We report experimental measurements showing how one can combine quantum interference and thermal Doppler shifts at room temperature to detect weak magnetic fields. We pump 87 Rb atoms to a highly-excited, Rydberg level using a probe and a coupling laser, leading to narrow transmission peaks of the probe due to destructive interference of transition amplitudes, known as Electromagnetically Induced Transparency. While it is customary in such setups to use counterpropagating lasers to minimize the effect of Doppler shifts, here we show, on the contrary, that one can harness Doppler shifts in a copropagating arrangement to produce an enhanced response to a magnetic field. In particular, we demonstrate an order-of-magnitude bigger splitting in the transmission spectrum as compared to the counterpropagating case. We explain and generalize our findings with theoretical modeling and simulations based on a Lindblad master equation. Our results pave the way to using quantum effects for magnetometry in readily deployable room-temperature platforms.

Feature-based maximum entropy for geophysical properties of the seabeda).

The coherent recombination of a direct and seabed reflected path is sensitive to the geophysical properties of the seabed. The concept of feature-based inversion is used in the analysis of acoustic data collected on a vertical line array (VLA) on the New England continental shelf break in about 200 m of water. The analysis approach for the measurements is based on a ray approach in which a direct and bottom reflected path is recombined, resulting in constructive and destructive interference of the acoustic amplitudes with frequency. The acoustic features have the form of prominent nulls of the measured received levels as a function of frequency as a broadband (500-4500 Hz) source passes the closest point of approach to the VLA. The viscous grain shearing (VGS) model is employed to parameterize a two-layer seabed model. The most likely seabed is a sand sediment with a porosity of about 0.42. There is a possibility of a thin (less than 0.5 m) surface layer having a slightly higher porosity between 0.45 and 0.50. Using the estimates for the VGS parameters inferred from the short-range frequency features, a normal mode model is used to predict the received acoustic levels over larger range scales.

Quantifying the impact of sample, instrument, and data processing on biological signatures in modern and fossil tissues detected with Raman spectroscopy

AbstractRaman spectroscopy is a popular tool for characterizing complex biological materials and their geological remains. Ordination methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA), use spectral variance to create a compositional space, the ChemoSpace, grouping samples based on spectroscopic manifestations reflecting different biological properties or geological processes. PCA allows to reduce the dimensionality of complex spectroscopic data and facilitates the extraction of informative features into formats suitable for downstream statistical analyses, thus representing a first step in the development of diagnostic biosignatures from complex modern and fossil tissues. For such samples, however, there is presently no systematic and accessible survey of the impact of sample, instrument, and spectral processing on the occupation of the ChemoSpace. Here, the influence of sample count, unwanted signals and different signal‐to‐noise ratios, spectrometer decalibration, baseline subtraction, and spectral normalization on ChemoSpace grouping is investigated and exemplified using synthetic spectra. Increase in sample size improves the dissociation of groups in the ChemoSpace, and our sample yields a representative and mostly stable pattern in occupation with less than 10 samples per group. The impact of systemic interference of different amplitude and frequency, periodical or random features that can be introduced by instrument or sample, on compositional biological signatures is reduced by PCA and allows to extract biological information even when spectra of differing signal‐to‐noise ratios are compared. Routine offsets ( 1 cm−1) in spectrometer calibration contribute in our sample to less than 0.1% of the total spectral variance captured in the ChemoSpace and do not obscure biological information. Standard adaptive baselining, together with normalization, increases spectral comparability and facilitates the extraction of informative features. The ChemoSpace approach to biosignatures represents a powerful tool for exploring, denoising, and integrating molecular information from modern and ancient organismal samples.

Fast optomechanical photon blockade

The photon blockade effect is commonly exploited in the development of single-photon sources. While the photon blockade effect could be used to prepare high-fidelity single-photon states in idealized regimes, practical implementations in optomechanical systems suffer from an interplay of competing processes. Here we derive a control scheme that exploits destructive interference of Fock state amplitudes of more than one photon. The resulting preparation time for photon-blockaded quantum states is limited only by the optomechanical interaction strength and can thus be orders of magnitude shorter than in existing schemes that achieve photon blockade in the steady state.

The construction of online game teaching intelligence platform based on DQN algorithm

Training game intelligence through reinforcement learning (RL) and applying games to teaching and learning can stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning. Therefore, the study built an online game teaching intelligence platform based on deep RL to enhance students' interest and enthusiasm in independent learning and improve teaching effectiveness through the game model. The study showed that the research model, after incorporating the Softplus function, had a higher overall score compared to other models in Breakout game test after 50 game simulations, with the highest average score of 3.2. In the Flappy Bird game, the research model had the fastest growth rate and the highest increase in score, with a final score of over 120 and an average score of 63.1 for the game after the improvement of the activation function. When compared with the Double-Deep Q-network (D-DQN) model, the research model scored higher performance after training and the model curve performed better in convergence. The research model suffered less interference in noise amplitude and frequency, and performed better in adjusting the weights of the neural network. In the empirical analysis, the research model had excellent interference resistance and relatively smaller errors. The overall satisfaction score of students with the system reached over 90 points, effectively improving learning effectiveness as well as academic performance.

An easier-to-align Hong–Ou–Mandel interference demonstration

The Hong–Ou–Mandel interference experiment is a fundamental demonstration of nonclassical interference and a basis for many investigations of quantum information. This experiment involves the interference of two photons reaching a symmetric beamsplitter. When the photons are made indistinguishable in all possible ways, an interference of quantum amplitudes results in both photons always leaving the same beamsplitter output port. Thus, a scan of distinguishable parameters, such as the arrival time difference of the photons reaching the beamsplitter, produces a dip in the coincidences measured at the outputs of the beamsplitter. The main challenge for its implementation as an undergraduate laboratory is the alignment of the photon paths at the beamsplitter. We overcome this difficulty by using a pre-aligned commercial fiber-coupled beamsplitter. In addition, we use waveplates to vary the distinguishability of the photons by their state of polarization. We present a theoretical description at the introductory quantum mechanics level of the two types of experiments, plus a discussion of the apparatus alignment and list of parts needed.

Complementing two-photon fluorescence detection with backscatter detection to decipher multiparticle dynamics inside a nonlinear laser trap

Using wide-field and point detection modalities, we show how optical trapping dynamics under femtosecond pulsed excitation can be explored by complementing detection of two-photon fluorescence with backscatter. Radial trajectories of trapped particles are mapped from correlated/anti-correlated fluctuations in backscatter pattern whereas temporal evolution of two-photon fluorescence is used to mark the onset of trapping involving multiple particles. Simultaneous confocal detection of backscatter and two-photon fluorescence estimates axial trap stiffness, delineating short-time trapping dynamics. When a second particle is being trapped an oscillatory signal is observed which is due to interference of backscatter amplitudes, revealing inter-particle interactions within the trap. These findings are crucial steps forward to achieve controlled manipulation by harnessing optical nonlinearity under femtosecond pulsed excitation.

Extratropical cyclone damage to the seawall in Dawlish, UK: eyewitness accounts, sea level analysis and numerical modelling

The February 2014 extratropical cyclonic storm chain, which impacted the English Channel (UK) and Dawlish in particular, caused significant damage to the main railway connecting the south-west region to the rest of the UK. The incident caused the line to be closed for two months, £50 million of damage and an estimated £1.2bn of economic loss. In this study, we collate eyewitness accounts, analyse sea level data and conduct numerical modelling in order to decipher the destructive forces of the storm. Our analysis reveals that the disaster management of the event was successful and efficient with immediate actions taken to save lives and property before and during the storm. Wave buoy analysis showed that a complex triple peak sea state with periods at 4–8, 8–12 and 20–25 s was present, while tide gauge records indicated that significant surge of up to 0.8 m and wave components of up to 1.5 m amplitude combined as likely contributing factors in the event. Significant impulsive wave force of up to 286 KN was the most likely initiating cause of the damage. Reflections off the vertical wall caused constructive interference of the wave amplitudes that led to increased wave height and significant overtopping of up to 16.1 m3/s/m (per metre width of wall). With this information and our engineering judgement, we conclude that the most probable sequence of multi-hazard cascading failure during this incident was: wave impact force leading to masonry failure, loss of infill and failure of the structure following successive tides.

Characterization of two-particle interference by complementarity

Bohr's complementarity principle is quantitatively formulated in terms of the distinguishability of various paths a quanton can take and the measure of the interference it produces. This phenomenon results from the interference of single-quanton amplitudes for various paths. The distinguishability of paths puts a bound on the sharpness of the interference the quanton can produce. However, there exist other kinds of quantum phenomena where interference of two-particle amplitudes results in a two-particle interference, if the particles are indistinguishable. The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect and the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) effect are two well-known examples. However, two-particle interference is not as easy to define as its single-particle counterpart, and the realization that it involves interference of two-particle amplitudes came much later. In this work, a duality relation, between the particle distinguishability and the visibility of two-particle interference, is derived. The distinguishability of the two particles, arising from some internal degree of freedom, puts a bound on the sharpness of the two-particle interference they can produce, in a HOM or HBT kind of experiment. It is argued that the existence of this kind of complementarity can be used to characterize two-particle interference, which in turn leads one to the conclusion that the HOM and the HBT effects are equivalent in essence and may be treated as a single two-particle-interference phenonmenon.

Imprint of the temporal envelope of ultra-short laser pulses on the longitudinal momentum spectrum of e+e− pairs

The effect of the temporal pulse shape of intense pulses on the momentum distribution of ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ pairs is studied using the quantum kinetic equation. Two closely resembling temporal envelopes, namely, Gaussian and Sauter, keeping all the other pulse parameters the same, are considered to this end. Contrary to the common perception which can be gauged from the interchangeable use of these temporal profiles, the longitudinal momentum spectrum of the pairs created by the two pulses is found to differ significantly in all the temporal regimes. For the pulses having a few cycles of oscillations, the temporal profile of the pulse is revealed in the oscillatory interference pattern riding over the otherwise smooth longitudinal momentum spectrum at asymptotic times. The onset of the oscillation due to the quantum interference of reflection amplitudes from the scattering potential due to the pulses having a temporal structure of multiple barriers takes place for fewer-cycle oscillations for the Gaussian pulse compared to that for the Sauter pulse. Furthermore, the oscillation amplitude for the same number of oscillations within the pulse duration is larger for the Gaussian pulse. The presence of the carrier-envelope phase and the frequency chirping is found to magnify these differences. In the absence of any appreciable interference effect for the pulses having less than five oscillations, the longitudinal momentum spectrum has a higher peak value for the Sauter pulse at asymptotic times. On the other hand, before the transient stage of evolution, the peak of the spectrum shows the opposite trend.

Timelike nucleon electromagnetic form factors: All about interference of isospin amplitudes

A striking feature of the timelike nucleon electromagnetic form factors, investigated in ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}N\overline{N}$ annihilation reactions, is the modulation by local structures of small magnitude and oscillatory form, showing up above the $N\overline{N}$ threshold. Starting from an isospin decomposition of the proton and neutron form factors it is shown that such structures are the natural consequence of the interference of a large and a small amplitude, resulting in a sinusoidal behavior as a function of the ``invariant energy'' if the relative phase shift varies with energy. Thus, periodic oscillations superimposed on a smooth background will be observed. In this scenario, the equal size of the modulation for neutrons and protons (discovered by recent BESIII data) implies the particular isoscalar or isovector nature of these local structures, or their orthogonal interference. Hence, it specifies their origin as excited vector mesons whose widths are tied to the modulation frequency. We clarify that the phase difference of the modulation between neutrons and protons as BESIII data found, but not the modulation itself, is the evidence of an imaginary part of the timelike nucleon electromagnetic form factors, which is associated with the rescattering processes.

Critical Zone Structure by Elastic Full Waveform Inversion of Seismic Refractions in a Sandstone Catchment, Central Pennsylvania, USA

AbstractSeismic imaging provides key information for revealing structures within Earth's critical zone (CZ) and quantifying subsurface fluid properties. The P‐wave velocity (Vp) models estimated by seismic refraction tomography or acoustic full waveform inversion (FWI) are useful to delineate the thicknesses of weathered bedrock but ambiguously map fluid properties in CZ. Considering the complementary sensitivity of S‐wave to subsurface fluid saturation, we explore advanced elastic full waveform inversion (EFWI) to estimate both Vp and S‐wave velocity (Vs) models simultaneously. Several strategies are proposed for robust EFWI implementation of noisy single (vertical) component refraction data: (a) we window seismic data to preserve early arrivals mainly including P‐wave, converted waves, and S‐wave refractions; (b) we use a correlative misfit rather than the classic L2 misfit to alleviate the interference of unreliable data amplitudes; and (c) we perform inversion using a multiscale frequency strategy with the iterative constraint with the rule of Vp/Vs > 1. We validate that the EFWI approach reliably reconstructs Vp and Vs models using synthetic data. Then, we apply our EFWI approach to seismic refraction data acquired at the Garner Run site of the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory. The inverted Vp and Vs models indicate three distinguished layers and with significant lateral and depth heterogeneities (e.g., low Vp and Vs zones). Joint analyses of Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs with rock‐physics knowledge reveal potential gas or water gathering zones.

Quantitative evaluation of steel corrosion induced deterioration in rubber concrete by integrating ultrasonic testing, machine learning and mesoscale simulation

Chloride-induced steel corrosion seriously affects the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Rubber concrete, an environmentally friendly construction material in which waste rubber is recycled as a concrete component, has demonstrated superior resistance to chloride-induced steel corrosion and the subsequent concrete deterioration. However, quantitative evaluation of the degree of deterioration in rubber concrete based on nondestructive detection is challenging due to the complexity of the material. In this paper, reinforced concrete specimens with rubber contents of 0, 10% and 20% are subjected to the electrochemically accelerated corrosion experiments and monitored by ultrasonic testing. Six machine learning models are trained by the data derived from the ultrasonic testing to predict the corrosion degree based on ultrasonic traits. The results show that the machine learning models except for the linear model can accurately and robustly predict the corrosion degree under the interference of outlier amplitude and size of training set. Furthermore, the corrosion-induced deterioration process is computed by mesoscale simulation based on the corrosion degree, so that the damages of specimens with different rubber contents are quantitatively evaluated. The experimental and computational studies prove that the addition of rubber into concrete effectively retards the corrosion of steel and the deterioration of concrete.

Extending the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect: The power of nonclassicality

We show that the parity (evenness or oddness) of a nonclassical state of light has a dominant influence on the interference effects at a balanced beam splitter, irrespective of the state initially occupying the other input mode. Specifically, the parity of the nonclassical state gives rise to destructive interference effects that result in deep valleys in the output joint number distribution of which the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is a limiting case. The counter-intuitive influence of even a single photon to control the output of a beam splitter illuminated by any field, be it a coherent or even a noisy thermal field, demonstrates the extraordinary power of non-classicality. The canonical example of total destructive interference of quantum amplitudes leading to the absence of coincidence counts from a 50/50 beam splitter is the celebrated HOM effect, characterized by the vanishing of the joint probability of detecting singe photons in each of the output beams. We show that this is a limiting case of more general input states upon which a 50/50 BS can create total, or near total, destructive interference of quantum amplitudes. For odd photon number input Fock states of arbitrary value n>0 we show that the joint photon number probabilities vanish when detecting identical photon numbers in each output beams. We examine the mixing of photon number states of n = 1, 2, and 3 with a CV state, such as a coherent state of arbitrary amplitude, and a thermal state. These vanishing joint probabilities form what we call a central nodal line -- a contiguous set of zeros representing complete destructive interference of quantum amplitudes. For odd or even photon number Fock states with n>1 there will be additional off-diagonal pseudo-nodal curves along which the joint photon number probabilities are either zero, or near zero, which constitute a near, but not complete, destructive interference.

Analyzer-free, intensity-based, wide-field magneto-optical microscopy

In conventional Kerr and Faraday microscopy, the sample is illuminated with plane-polarized light, and a magnetic domain contrast is generated by an analyzer making use of the Kerr or Faraday rotation. Here, we demonstrate possibilities of analyzer-free magneto-optical microscopy based on magnetization-dependent intensity modulations of the light. (i) The transverse Kerr effect can be applied for in-plane magnetized material, as demonstrated for an FeSi sheet. (ii) Illuminating that sample with circularly polarized light leads to a domain contrast with a different symmetry from the conventional Kerr contrast. (iii) Circular polarization can also be used for perpendicularly magnetized material, as demonstrated for garnet and ultrathin CoFeB films. (iv) Plane-polarized light at a specific angle can be employed for both in-plane and perpendicular media. (v) Perpendicular light incidence leads to a domain contrast on in-plane materials that is quadratic in the magnetization and to a domain boundary contrast. (vi) Domain contrast can even be obtained without a polarizer. In cases (ii) and (iii), the contrast is generated by magnetic circular dichroism (i.e., differential absorption of left- and right-circularly polarized light induced by magnetization components along the direction of light propagation), while magnetic linear dichroism (differential absorption of linearly polarized light induced by magnetization components transverse to propagation) is responsible for the contrast in case (v). The domain–boundary contrast is due to the magneto-optical gradient effect. A domain–boundary contrast can also arise by interference of phase-shifted magneto-optical amplitudes. An explanation of these contrast phenomena is provided in terms of Maxwell–Fresnel theory.