Number Of Photons Research Articles

Multiple energy X-ray imaging of metal oxide particles inside gingival tissues.

Periodontal disease affects over 50% of the global population and is characterized by gingivitis as the initial sign. One dental health issue that may contribute to the development of periodontal disease is foreign body gingivitis (FBG), which can result from exposure to some kinds of foreign metal particles from dental products or food. We design a novel, portable, affordable, multispectral X-ray and fluorescence optical microscopic imaging system dedicated to detecting and differentiating metal oxide particles in dental pathological tissues. A novel denoising algorithm is applied. We verify the feasibility and optimize the performance of the imaging system with numerical simulations. The designed imaging system has a focused X-ray tube with tunable energy spectra and thin scintillator coupled with an optical microscope as detector. A simulated soft tissue phantom is embedded with 2-micron thick metal oxide discs as the imaged object. GATE software is used to optimize the systematic parameters such as energy bandwidth and X-ray photon number. We have also applied a novel denoising method, Noise2Sim with a two-layer UNet structure, to improve the simulated image quality. The use of an X-ray source operating with an energy bandwidth of 5 keV, X-ray photon number of 108, and an X-ray detector with a 0.5 micrometer pixel size in a 100 by 100-pixel array allowed for the detection of particles as small as 0.5 micrometer. With the Noise2Sim algorithm, the CNR has improved substantially. A typical example is that the Aluminum (Al) target's CNR is improved from 6.78 to 9.72 for the case of 108 X-ray photons with the Chromium (Cr) source of 5 keV bandwidth. Different metal oxide particles were differentiated using Contrast-to-Noise ratio (CNR) by utilizing four different X-ray spectra.

Witnessing edge modes in trimerized circuit quantum electrodynamic lattice

We propose a scheme to investigate and witness edge modes of general one-dimensional photonic trimers in a circuit quantum electrodynamic lattice. These in-gap edge modes are strictly and analytically solved and the criteria for their emergence are indicated respectively. Moreover, the energy spectrum of the system shows two different regimes characterized by a discrepancy in the number of edge modes. Specifically, while there are always a couple of edge modes only present at one single boundary in both the regimes, one of the regimes also shows another pair of edge modes localized on the opposite boundary. Furthermore, these edge modes are witnessed with the aid of continuous-time quantum walks and average photon number measurements. Our scheme provides a comprehensive method for studying the edge modes of matter.

Simulating Polaritonic Ground States on Noisy Quantum Devices.

The recent advent of quantum algorithms for noisy quantum devices offers a new route toward simulating strong light-matter interactions of molecules in optical cavities for polaritonic chemistry. In this work, we introduce a general framework for simulating electron-photon-coupled systems on small, noisy quantum devices. This method is based on the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) with the polaritonic unitary coupled cluster (PUCC) ansatz. To achieve chemical accuracy, we exploit various symmetries in qubit reduction methods, such as electron-photon parity, and use recently developed error mitigation schemes, such as the reference zero-noise extrapolation method. We explore the robustness of the VQE-PUCC approach across a diverse set of regimes for the bond length, cavity frequency, and coupling strength of the H2 molecule in an optical cavity. To quantify the performance, we measure two properties: ground-state energy, fundamentally relevant to chemical reactivity, and photon number, an experimentally accessible general indicator of electron-photon correlation.

Controlling the photon number coherence of solid-state quantum light sources for quantum cryptography

Quantum communication networks rely on quantum cryptographic protocols including quantum key distribution (QKD) based on single photons. A critical element regarding the security of QKD protocols is the photon number coherence (PNC), i.e., the phase relation between the vacuum and one-photon Fock state. To obtain single photons with the desired properties for QKD protocols, optimal excitation schemes for quantum emitters need to be selected. As emitters, we consider semiconductor quantum dots, that are known to generate on-demand single photons with high purity and indistinguishability. Exploiting two-photon excitation of a quantum dot combined with a stimulation pulse, we demonstrate the generation of high-quality single photons with a controllable degree of PNC. The main tuning knob is the pulse area giving full control from minimal to maximal PNC, while without the stimulating pulse the PNC is negligible in our setup for all pulse areas. Our approach provides a viable route toward secure communication in quantum networks.

Enhancing quantum features and teleportation fidelity of two-mode non-Gaussian states using conditional measurements

The family of two-mode non-Gaussian entangled states, including the pair coherent states (PCSs) and their genealogies, has been extensively investigated regarding their quantum properties and their practical applications in quantum information. Specifically, certain states, such as the multiphoton catalytic pair coherent states (MCPCSs), have been newly introduced under specific experimental conditions. For a more feasible approach, in this paper, we introduce novel nonclassical states obtained by subtracting photons through conditional measurements using beam splitters applied to the two modes of the PCSs. These states are called pair coherent states with conditional measurements (PCSCMs). Our purpose is to demonstrate that the quantum features, such as entanglement, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) correlation, EPR steering, and the average fidelity in teleportation can be enhanced in comparison with both the original PCSs and the MCPCSs. In specific cases, several characteristics are observed in PCSCMs but not inspected in both PCSs and MCPCSs. In our findings, we prove that the quantum characteristics within the PCSCMs are influenced not just by the number of detected photons, denoted by variables k and l, but also by the discrepancy in photon numbers, especially by the difference of k − l.

Accumulation of photoinduced carriers at the SiO2/Si interface observed through graphene transport

The accumulation of photoinduced carriers at the SiO2/Si interface was observed via graphene transport. CVD graphene was transferred to a lightly p-doped silicon substrate with a SiO2 dielectric layer and served as a charge sensor for detecting the accumulation of photoinduced carriers at the SiO2/Si interface. The sample was cooled to 4.2 K to realize an undoped silicon substrate without intrinsic carriers. Photoexcited carriers in the undoped silicon substrate were collected at the SiO2/Si interface via a gate voltage and the carrier polarity was controlled well by the polarity of the gate voltage set during the light illumination. The photoinduced carrier density was determined by the number of photons incident on the silicon substrate with a photon–electron conversion efficiency of about 0.036. These results may provide polarity control of the conduction channel (n- or p-type) in standard Si-MOS structures, paving the way for optically programmable Si-CMOS.

A compact multi-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array supporting gigabit space-to-ground communications.

Classical and quantum space-to-ground communications necessitate highly sensitive receivers capable of extracting information from modulated photons to extend the communication distance from near-earth orbits to deep space explorations. To achieve gigabit data rates while mitigating strong background noise photons and beam drift in a highly attenuated free-space channel, a comprehensive design of a multi-functional detector is indispensable. In this study, we present an innovative compact multi-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array that integrates near-unity detection efficiency (91.6%), high photon counting rate (1.61 Gcps), large dynamic range for resolving different photon numbers (1-24), and four-quadrant position sensing function all within one device. Furthermore, we have constructed a communication testbed to validate the advantages offered by such an architecture. Through 8-PPM (pulse position modulation) format communication experiments, we have achieved an impressive maximum data rate of 1.5 Gbps, demonstrating sensitivities surpassing previous benchmarks at respective speeds. By incorporating photon number information into error correction codes, the receiver can tolerate maximum background noise levels equivalent to 0.8 photons/slot at a data rate of 120 Mbps-showcasing a great potential for daylight operation scenarios. Additionally, preliminary beam tracking tests were conducted through open-loop scanning techniques, which revealed clear quantitative dependence indicating sensitivity variations based on beam location. Based on the device characterizations and communication results, we anticipate that this device architecture, along with its corresponding signal processing and coding techniques, will be applicable in future space-to-ground communication tasks.

Nonclassicality in a dispersive atom–cavity field interaction in the presence of an external driving field

We investigate nonclassical properties of a state generated by the interaction of a three-level atom with a quantized cavity field and an external classical driving field. In this study, the fields being degenerate in frequency are highly detuned from the atom. The atom interacts with the quantized field in a dispersive manner. The experimental setup involves a three-level atom passing through a cavity and interacting dispersively with the cavity field mode. Simultaneously, the atom interacts with an external classical field that is in resonance with the cavity field. The three-level atom can enter the cavity in one of the bare states [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] or in a superposition of two of these states. In this paper, we consider superposition of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. In our analysis, we focus on the statistical properties of the cavity field after interacting with the atom. The state vector [Formula: see text] describes the entire atom–field system but we analyze the properties of the cavity field independently neglecting the atomic component of the system. For this the atom part is traced out from [Formula: see text] to acquire the cavity field state only, denoted by [Formula: see text]. We evaluate different nonclassical measures including photon number distribution, Mandel’s [Formula: see text] parameter, squeezing properties [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], Wigner distribution, [Formula: see text] function, second-order correlation function [Formula: see text], etc. for the obtained cavity field state.

The photonic content of a transmission-line pulse

We develop a photonic description of short, one-dimensional electromagnetic pulses, specifically in the language of electrical transmission lines. Current practice in quantum technology, using arbitrary waveform generators, can readily produce very short, few-cycle pulses in a very-low-noise, low-temperature setting. We argue that these systems attain the limit of producing pure coherent quantum states, in which the vacuum has been displaced for a short time, and therefore over a short spatial extent. When the pulse is bipolar, that is, the integrated voltage of the pulse is zero, then the state can be described by the finite displacement of a single mode. Therefore there is a definite mean number of photons, but which have neither a well-defined frequency nor position. Due to the Paley-Wiener theorem, the two-component photon "wavefunction" of this mode, while somewhat localized, is not strictly bounded in space even if the vacuum displacement that defines it is bounded. When the pulse is unipolar, no photonic description is possible-the photon number can be considered to be divergent. We consider properties that photon counters and quantum non-demolition detectors must have to optimally convert and detect the photons in several example pulses. We develop a conceptual test system for implementing short-pulse quantum key distribution, building on the design of a recently achieved Bell's theorem test in a cryogenic microwave setup.

Radiative Transfer Equation Solution for Many Scattering Types

The radiative transfer equation is a mathematical equation that describes the changes in the number of photons within a specified volume of a medium over time, taking into account phenomena such as scattering, absorption, and re-emission resulting from photon interactions with the medium. In this study, the radiative transfer equation is considered for a finite slab which anisotropic scattering in a homogeneous medium. The equation solution is done by Legendre polynomials for linear anisotropic, pure quadratic and Rayleigh scattering types. The numerical results are displayed in the tables up to the 13th iteration of the Legendre polynomials. Tables are obtained using different scattering coefficients and single scattering albedo values. The results contain a wide range of data obtained from the method of solving the Legendre polynomial of the radiative transfer equation. Thus, with this study, the effect of different scattering types on the solution of the radiative transfer equation has been demonstrated.

Enhancing LiDAR performance using threshold photon-number-resolving detection.

Single-photon light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is widely used to reconstruct 3D scenes. Nevertheless, depth and reflectivity maps obtained by single-photon detection usually suffer from noise problems. Threshold LiDAR techniques using photon-number-resolving detectors were proposed to suppress noise by filtering low photon numbers, but these techniques renounce multiple levels of information and could not be compatible when it comes to high-noise low-signal regime. In this manuscript, we propose a detection scheme which combines the noise suppression of threshold detection with the signal amplification of photon-number-resolving detectors to further enhance LiDAR performance. The enhancement attained is compared to single-photon and threshold detection schemes under a wide range of signal and noise conditions, in terms of signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), detection rate and false alarm rate, which are key metrics for LiDAR. Extensive simulations and real-world experiments show that the proposed scheme can reconstruct better depth and reflectivity maps. These results enable the development of high-efficient and low-noise LiDAR systems.

The impact and response of mini-haloes and the interhalo medium on cosmic reionization

ABSTRACT An ionization front (I-front) that propagates through an inhomogeneous medium is slowed down by self-shielding and recombinations. We perform cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the I-front propagation during the epoch of cosmic reionization. The simulations resolve gas in mini-haloes (halo mass 104 ≲ Mh[M⊙] ≲ 108) that could dominate recombinations, in a computational volume that is large enough to sample the abundance of such haloes. The numerical resolution is sufficient (gas-particle mass ∼20 M⊙ and spatial resolution <0.1 ckpc) to allow accurate modelling of the hydrodynamic response of gas to photoheating. We quantify the photoevaporation time of mini-haloes as a function of Mh and its dependence on the photoionization rate, Γ−12, and the redshift of reionization, zi. The recombination rate can be enhanced over that of a uniform medium by a factor ∼10−20 early on. The peak value increases with Γ−12 and decreases with zi, due to the enhanced contribution from mini-haloes. The clumping factor, cr, decreases to a factor of a few at ∼100 Myr after the passage of the I-front when the mini-haloes have been photoevaporated; this asymptotic value depends only weakly on Γ−12. Recombinations increase the required number of photons per baryon to reionize the Universe by 20 per cent–100 per cent, with the higher value occurring when Γ−12 is high and zi is low. We complement the numerical simulations with simple analytical models for the evaporation rate and the inverse Strömgren layer. The study also demonstrates the proficiency and potential of sph-m1rt to address astrophysical problems in high-resolution cosmological simulations.

Quantitative bounds to propagation of quantum correlations in many-body systems

We investigate how much information about a quantum system can be simultaneously communicated to independent observers, by establishing quantitative limits to bipartite quantum correlations in many-body systems. As recently reported in Girolami et al. (2022) [16], bounds on quantum discord and entanglement of formation between a single quantum system and its environment, e.g., a large number of photons, dictate that independent observers which monitor environment fragments inevitably acquire only classical information about the system. Here, we corroborate and generalize those findings. First, we calculate continuity bounds of quantum discord, which establish how much states with a small amount of quantum correlations deviate from being embeddings of classical probability distributions. Also, we demonstrate a universally valid upper bound to the bipartite entanglement of formation between an arbitrary pair of components of a many-body quantum system. The results confirm that proliferation of classical information in the Universe suppresses quantum correlations.

Distributed quantum sensing of multiple phases with fewer photons

Distributed quantum metrology has drawn intense interest as it outperforms the optimal classical counterparts in estimating multiple distributed parameters. However, most schemes so far have required entangled resources consisting of photon numbers equal to or more than the parameter numbers, which is a fairly demanding requirement as the number of nodes increases. Here, we present a distributed quantum sensing scenario in which quantum-enhanced sensitivity can be achieved with fewer photons than the number of parameters. As an experimental demonstration, using a two-photon entangled state, we estimate four phases distributed 3 km away from the central node, resulting in a 2.2 dB sensitivity enhancement from the standard quantum limit. Our results show that the Heisenberg scaling can be achieved even when using fewer photons than the number of parameters. We believe our scheme will open a pathway to perform large-scale distributed quantum sensing with currently available entangled sources.

Quantum advantage of time-reversed ancilla-based metrology of absorption parameters

Quantum estimation of parameters defining open-system dynamics may be enhanced by using ancillas that are entangled with the probe but are not submitted to the dynamics. Here we consider the important problem of estimation of transmission of light by a sample, with losses due to absorption and scattering. We show, through the determination of the quantum Fisher information, that the ancilla strategy leads to the best possible precision in single-mode estimation—the one obtained for a Fock-state input—through joint photon counting of probe and ancilla, which are modes of a bimodal squeezed state produced by an optical parametric amplifier. This proposal overcomes the challenge of producing and detecting high-photon-number Fock states, and it is quite robust in the presence of additional noise: We show that it is immune to phase noise and the precision does not change if the incoming state gets disentangled. Furthermore, the quantum gain is still present under moderate photon losses of the input beams. We also discuss an alternative to joint photon counting, which is readily implementable with present technology and approaches the quantum Fisher information result for weak absorption, even with moderate photon losses of the input beams before the sample is probed: a time-reversal procedure, placing the sample between two optical parametric amplifiers, with the second undoing the squeezing produced by the first one. The precision of estimation of the loss parameter is obtained from the average outgoing total photon number and its variance. In both procedures, the state of the probe and the detection procedure are independent of the value of the parameter. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Correlations for subsets of particles in symmetric states: what photons are doing within a beam of light when the rest are ignored

Given a state of light, how do its properties change when only some of the constituent photons are observed and the rest are neglected (traced out)? By developing formulas for mode-agnostic removal of photons from a beam, we show how the expectation value of any operator changes when only q photons are inspected from a beam, ignoring the rest. We use this to re-express expectation values of operators in terms of the state obtained by randomly selecting q photons. Remarkably, this only equals the true expectation value for a unique value of q: expressing the operator as a monomial in normally ordered form, q must be equal to the number of photons annihilated by the operator. A useful corollary is that the coefficients of any q-photon state chosen at random from an arbitrary state are exactly the qth-order correlations of the original state; one can inspect the intensity moments to learn what any random photon will be doing and, conversely, one need only look at the n-photon subspace to discern what all of the nth-order correlation functions are. The astute reader will be pleased to find no surprises here, only mathematical justification for intuition. Our results hold for any completely symmetric state of any type of particle with any combination of numbers of particles and can be used wherever bosonic correlations are found.

Unbiased centroiding of point targets close to the Cramer Rao limit.

Systematic errors affecting center-of-gravity (CoG) measurements may occur from coarse sampling of the point-spread-function (PSF) or from signal truncation at the boundaries of the region-of-interest (ROI). For small ROI and PSF widths, these effects are shown to become dominant, but this can be mitigated by introducing novel unbiased estimators that are largely free of systematic error and perform particularly well for low photon numbers. Analytical expressions for the estimator variances, comprising contributions from photon shot noise, random pixel noise, and residual systematic error, are derived and verified by Monte Carlo simulations. The accuracy and computational speed of the unbiased estimators are compared to those of other common estimators, including iteratively weighted CoG, thresholded CoG, iterative least squares fitting, and two-dimensional Gaussian regression. Each estimator is optimized with respect to ROI size and PSF radius and its error compared to the theoretical limit defined by the Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB). The unbiased estimator with full systematic error correction operating on a small ROI [3×3] emerges as one of the most accurate estimators while requiring significantly less computing effort than alternative algorithms.

Threshold studies for a hot beam superradiant laser including an atomic guiding potential

Motivated by the outstanding short time stability and reliable continuous operation properties of microwave clock masers, intense worldwide efforts target the first implementation of their optical analogues based on narrow optical clock transitions and using laser cooled dilute atomic gases. While as a central line of research large efforts are devoted to create a suitably dense continuous ultracold and optically inverted atom beam source, recent theoretical predictions hint at an alternative implementation using a filtered thermal beam at much higher density. Corresponding numerical studies give encouraging results but the required very high densities are sensitive to beam collimation errors and inhomogeneous shifts. Here we present extensive numerical studies of threshold conditions and the predicted output power of such a superradiant laser involving realistic particle numbers and velocities along the cavity axis. Detailed studies target the threshold scaling as a function of temperature as well as the influence of eliminating the hottest part of the atomic distribution via velocity filtering and the benefits of additional atomic beam guiding. Using a cumulant expansion approach allows us to quantify the significance of atom-atom and atom-field correlations in such configurations. We predict necessary conditions to achieve a certain threshold photon number depending on the atomic temperature and density. In particular, we show that the temperature threshold can be significantly increased by using more atoms. Interestingly, a velocity filter removing very fast atoms has only almost negligible influence despite their phase perturbing properties. On the positive side an additional conservative optical guiding towards cavity mode antinodes leads to significantly lower threshold and higher average photon number. Interestingly we see that higher order atom-field and direct atom-atom quantum correlations play only a minor role in the laser dynamics, which is a bit surprising in the superradiant regime.

Effects of thunderstorms electric field on secondary photons of cosmic ray at large high altitude air shower observatory

Large high altitude air shower observatory (LHAASO) is a complex of extensive air shower (EAS) detector arrays, located on the Mt. Haizi (29°21' N, 100°08' E) at an altitude of 4410 m a. s. l., Daocheng, Sichuan Province, China. The information about primary cosmic rays can be obtained by using data from secondary particles measured at LHAASO, with photons make up the majority among these secondary particles. During thunderstorms, the atmospheric electric field can affect secondary charged particles (mainly positrons and electrons), thus changing the information of photons on the ground. In this work, Monte Carlo simulations are performed to investigate the effects of near-ground thunderstorm electric fields on cosmic ray secondary photons at LHAASO. A simple model with a vertical and uniform atmospheric electric field in a layer of atmosphere is used in our simulations. During thunderstorms, the number and energy of photons are found to significantly change and strongly depend on the electric field strength. In a field of –1000 V/cm (below the threshold of the relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA) process), the number of photons is increased by 23%. Also, the spectrum of photons softens, and the increased number of photons with energy less than 2 MeV exceeds 29%. In an electric field of –1700 V/cm (above the threshold of the RREA process), the number of photons experiences exponential growth, with an increase of 279%. The spectrum of photons becomes softer than that at –1000 V/cm, and the increased number with energy less than 2 MeV is more than 361%. It is consistent with the theory of RREA. For these phenomena of photons at LHAASO, the main factor is that the number of positrons and electrons are increased due to the acceleration of negative electric field on electrons, with increase of 65% in –1000 V/cm and 992% in –1700 V/cm, and the spectrum of positrons and electrons soften. Newborn free positrons/electrons may undergo bremsstrahlung and deposit part of their energy into photons, causing the change of number and energy of photons to follow roughly the same pattern as positrons and electrons. The simulation results can provide the information for understanding the variations of the data detected by LHAASO during thunderstorms and the acceleration mechanisms of secondary charged particles caused by an atmospheric electric field.

Influence of atmospheric turbulence on coherent detection performance of space coherent optical communication

Space coherent optical communication technology is considered to be an important way to overcome the bottleneck in current high-speed space communication. However, atmospheric turbulence seriously limits its realization. Based on the Huygens-Fresnel principle and the low-frequency compensation power spectrum inversion method, this work first investigates the random distribution characteristics of the amplitude and phase of a Gaussian beam after it has been transmitted through atmospheric turbulence. Then, using the coherent mixing efficiency and communication bit error rate model, the influence of atmospheric turbulence on the performance of spatial coherent optical communication systems is obtained. Finally, a laser heterodyne detection experimental system is built to quantitatively study the influence of atmospheric turbulence on the coherent detection performance of spatial coherent optical communication. The conclusions drawn from this study are as follows. 1) The spatial phase distortion caused by the weak turbulence channel is relatively small and will hardly affect the light intensity distribution characteristics of the Gaussian beam. In the case of weak turbulence, the influence of weak turbulence on the performance of coherent optical communication system is almost negligible. The communication bit error rate will decrease rapidly with the increase of the number of single bit data photons. The communication signal-to-noise ratio can be better than 10<sup>–5</sup> when the number of single-bit photons is greater than 10. 2) Moderate turbulence will change the intensity distribution characteristics of the Gaussian beam, but will not cause a serious shift in the center of the spot. Under moderate turbulence conditions, the coherent mixing efficiency decreases rapidly as the turbulence intensity continues to increase, but the communication bit error rate still decreases rapidly with the increase of the number of single bit data photons. At this time, increasing the number of single-bit photons can suppress the negative influence of moderate intensity turbulence on the performance of coherent optical communication systems. 3) Strong turbulence will cause severe spatial phase distortion of the beam, destroy the consistency of the light intensity distribution, and cause a serious shift in the center of the spot. Under strong turbulence conditions, the coherent mixing efficiency of coherent optical communication systems approaches zero, and increasing the number of single bit data photons cannot significantly reduce the bit error rate, seriously affecting the quality of coherent optical communication. Atmospheric turbulence is an important limiting factor for developing space coherent optical communication. This study can provide useful references for evaluating the performance of space coherent optical communication systems.