Probe Photon Research Articles

Experimental demonstration of a quantum shutter closing two slits simultaneously.

The interference between two paths of a single photon at a double slit is widely considered to be the most paradoxical result of quantum theory. Here is a new interesting question to the phenomenon: can a single shutter simultaneously close two slits by effectively being in a superposition of different locations? Aharonov and Vaidman have shown that it is indeed possible to construct a quantum shutter that can close two slits and reflect a probe photon perfectly when its initial and final states are appropriately selected. Here we report the experimental demonstration of their proposal overcoming the difficulty to realize a ‘quantum shutter’ by employing photonic quantum routers. The reflectance ratio of 0.61 ± 0.027 surpasses the classical limit with 4.1 standard deviation, shedding new light on the unusual physical properties of quantum operations. This experimental demonstration, where the strong measurement and non-local superposition seem co-existing, provides an alternative to weak measurements as a way to explore the nature of quantum physics.

Limitations of turbidity process probes and formazine as their calibration standard

Turbidity measurements are frequently implemented for the monitoring of heterogeneous chemical, physical, or biotechnological processes. However, for quantitative measurements, turbidity probes need calibration, as is requested and regulated by the ISO 7027:1999. Accordingly, a formazine suspension has to be produced. Despite this regulatory demand, no scientific publication on the stability and reproducibility of this polymerization process is available. In addition, no characterization of the optical properties of this calibration material with other optical methods had been achieved so far. Thus, in this contribution, process conditions such as temperature and concentration have been systematically investigated by turbidity probe measurements and Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy, revealing an influence on the temporal formazine formation onset. In contrast, different reaction temperatures do not lead to different scattering properties for the final formazine suspensions, but give an access to the activation energy for this condensation reaction. Based on PDW spectroscopy data, the synthesis of formazine is reproducible. However, very strong influences of the ambient conditions on the measurements of the turbidity probe have been observed, limiting its applicability. The restrictions of the turbidity probe with respect to scatterer concentration are examined on the basis of formazine and polystyrene suspensions. Compared to PDW spectroscopy data, signal saturation is observed at already low reduced scattering coefficients.

Photoluminescence Quenching in Quantum Emitter, Metallic Nanoparticle, and Graphene Hybrids

We have developed a theory for photoluminescence quenching and plasmonic properties in hybrid nanosystems made from three nanosystems such as a quantum emitters, metallic nanoparticles, and graphene. The metallic nanoparticles and graphene have surface plasmons which couple with probe photons and create surface plasmon polaritons. Therefore, the excitons in the quantum emitters interact with surface plasmon polaritons via the dipole-dipole interaction. Due to this interaction, energy is exchanged between the nanosystems. The second quantized formulation and the quantum density matrix method have been used to calculate photoluminescence and the radiative and non-radiative decay processes in the presence of dipole-dipole interaction. We have compared our theory with experiments of two and three nanosystems, and a good agreement between theory and experiments is achieved. It has been found that the photoluminescence quenching in hybrid systems not only occurs through the direct non-radiative energy transfer from the quantum emitter to the metal nanoparticle and to graphene but also occurs through the indirect non-radiative energy transfer from quantum emitter to the metal nanoparticle via graphene and from the quantum emitter to graphene via metal nanoparticle. These are interesting findings and they can be used to fabricate nanoswitches and nanosensors for medical applications.

Room temperature excitonic dynamics of non-polar a-plane ZnO epifilms

Pump polarization dependent carrier dynamics, particularly excitonic dynamics, of non-polar a-plane zinc oxide (ZnO) epifilms with two different thicknesses were investigated using time resolved measurements. Unlike the electron and hole dynamics through the above-bandgap excitation, transient differential reflectance (TDR) traces revealed similar trends under two orthogonal pump polarization conditions relative to the c-axis (Epu⊥c and Epu∥c) of a-ZnO around near-exciton-resonance excitation. By means of a band diagram, the bandgap renormalization (BGR) effect can be reasonably explained by the screening of the Coulomb potential energy due to the accumulation of relaxed free carriers that were initially excited through the absorption of two cascaded pump photons via the excitonic level, a process known as two photon absorption (TPA). Thus, the modulation depths of the TPA around zero time delay, due to simultaneous absorption of one pump and one probe photon via the excitonic level, increased linearly with the pump fluence, proportional to the modulation depth resulting from the BGR effects.

Conjugated Polyelectrolyte Blend as Photonic Probe of Biomembrane Organization

In the following report, a conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) blend has been introduced for the first time as a fluorescent probe of membrane organization. Insertion of the blend into the lipid doubl ...

Probing vacuum birefringence using x-ray free electron and optical high-intensity lasers

Vacuum birefringence is one of the most striking predictions of strong field quantum electrodynamics: Probe photons traversing a strong field region can indirectly sense the applied "pump" electromagnetic field via quantum fluctuations of virtual charged particles which couple to both pump and probe fields. This coupling is sensitive to the field alignment and can effectively result in two different indices of refraction for the probe photon polarization modes giving rise to a birefringence phenomenon. In this article we perform a dedicated theoretical analysis of the proposed discovery experiment of vacuum birefringence at a x-ray free electron laser/optical high-intensity laser facility. Describing both pump and probe laser pulses realistically in terms of their macroscopic electromagnetic fields, we go beyond previous analyses by accounting for various effects not considered before in this context. Our study facilitates stringent quantitative predictions and optimizations of the signal in an actual experiment.

Probing topological protection using a designer surface plasmon structure.

Topological photonic states, inspired by robust chiral edge states in topological insulators, have recently been demonstrated in a few photonic systems, including an array of coupled on-chip ring resonators at communication wavelengths. However, the intrinsic difference between electrons and photons determines that the ‘topological protection' in time-reversal-invariant photonic systems does not share the same robustness as its counterpart in electronic topological insulators. Here in a designer surface plasmon platform consisting of tunable metallic sub-wavelength structures, we construct photonic topological edge states and probe their robustness against a variety of defect classes, including some common time-reversal-invariant photonic defects that can break the topological protection, but do not exist in electronic topological insulators. This is also an experimental realization of anomalous Floquet topological edge states, whose topological phase cannot be predicted by the usual Chern number topological invariants.

Dicke superradiance as nondestructive probe for the state of atoms in optical lattices

We present a proposal for a probing scheme utilizing Dicke superradiance to obtain information about ultracold atoms in optical lattices. A probe photon is absorbed collectively by an ensemble of lattice atoms generating a Dicke state. The lattice dynamics (e.g., tunneling) affects the coherence properties of that Dicke state and thus alters the superradiant emission characteristics -- which in turn provides insight into the lattice (dynamics). Comparing the Bose-Hubbard and the Fermi-Hubbard model, we find similar superradiance in the strongly interacting Mott insulator regime, but crucial differences in the weakly interacting (superfluid or metallic) phase. Furthermore, we study the possibility to detect whether a quantum phase transition between the two regimes can be considered adiabatic or a quantum quench.

Quantum processes in short and intensive electromagnetic fields

This work provides an overview of our recent results in studying two most important and widely discussed quantum processes: electron-positron pairs production off a probe photon propagating through a polarized short-pulsed electromagnetic (e.g.\ laser) wave field or generalized Breit-Wheeler process, and a single a photon emission off an electron interacting with the laser pules, so-called non-linear Compton scattering. We show that the probabilities of particle production in both processes are determined by interplay of two dynamical effects, where the first one is related to the shape and duration of the pulse and the second one is non-linear dynamics of the interaction of charged fermions with a strong electromagnetic field. We elaborate suitable expressions for the production probabilities and cross sections, convenient for studying evolution of the plasma in presence of strong electromagnetic fields

Pair production by Schwinger and Breit–Wheeler processes in bi-frequent fields

Counter-propagating and suitably polarized light (laser) beams can provide conditions for pair production. Here, we consider in more detail the following two situations: (i) in the homogeneity regions of anti-nodes of linearly polarized ultra-high intensity laser beams, the Schwinger process is dynamically assisted by a second high-frequency field, e.g. by an XFEL beam; and (ii) a high-energy probe photon beam colliding with a superposition of co-propagating intense laser and XFEL beams gives rise to the laser-assisted Breit–Wheeler process. The prospects of such bi-frequent field constellations with respect to the feasibility of conversion of light into matter are discussed.

Discrete Chromatic Aberrations Arising from Photoinduced Electron-Photon Interactions in Ultrafast Electron Microscopy.

In femtosecond ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM) experiments, the initial excitation period is composed of spatiotemporal overlap of the temporally commensurate pump photon pulse and probe photoelectron packet. Generation of evanescent near-fields at the nanostructure specimens produces a dispersion relation that enables coupling of the photons (ℏω = 2.4 eV, for example) and freely propagating electrons (200 keV, for example) in the near-field. Typically, this manifests as discrete peaks occurring at integer multiples (n) of the photon energy in the low-loss/gain region of electron-energy spectra (i.e., at 200 keV ± nℏω eV). Here, we examine the UEM imaging resolution implications of the strong inelastic near-field interactions between the photons employed in optical excitation and the probe photoelectrons. We find that the additional photoinduced energy dispersion occurring when swift electrons pass through intense evanescent near-fields results in a discrete chromatic aberration that limits the spatial resolving power to several angstroms during the excitation period.

Optimal conditions for high-fidelity dispersive readout of a qubit with a photon-number-resolving detector

We determine the optimal parameters for a simple and efficient scheme of dispersive readout of a qubit. Depending on the qubit state (ground or excited), the resonance of a cavity is shifted either to the red or to the blue side. Qubit state is inferred by detecting the photon number transmitted through the cavity. It turns out that this kind of detection provides better measurement fidelity than the detection of the presence or absence of photons only. We show that radiating the cavity on either of the frequencies it shifts to results in a suboptimal measurement. The optimal frequency of the probe photons is determined, as well as the optimal ratio of the shift to the resonator leakage. It is shown that to maximize the fidelity of a long-lasting measurement, it is sufficient to use the parameters optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio in the photon count. One can reach 99% fidelity for a single-shot measurement in various physical realizations of the scheme.

Vacuum high-harmonic generation and electromagnetic shock

When one takes into account the presence of virtual charged states in the quantum vacuum, a nonlinear self-interaction can arise in the propagation of electromagnetic fields. This self-interaction is often referred to as ‘real photon–photon scattering’. When the centre-of-mass energy of colliding photons is much lower than the rest energy of an electron–positron pair, this quantum effect can be included in the classical field equations of motion as a vacuum current and charge density using the Heisenberg–Euler Lagrangian. Using analytical and numerical methods for subcritical fields, the intrinsic solution to Maxwell’s equations has been found for counterpropagating probe and pump plane waves in the presence of vacuum four- and six-wave mixing. In the corresponding all-order solution for the scattered probe, a route to vacuum high-harmonic generation is identified in which a long phase length can compensate for the weakness of interacting fields. The resulting shocks in the probe carrier wave and envelope are studied for different parameter regimes and polarisation set-ups. In this special issue, we study two additional set-ups: that of a slowly varying single-cycle background to highlight the effect of an oscillating background on the probe harmonic spectrum, and that of a few-cycle probe to highlight the smoothing of the harmonic peaks produced by a wider spectrum of probe photons. We also correct sign errors in an earlier publication.

Spectral caustics in laser assisted Breit–Wheeler process

Electron-positron pair production by the Breit-Wheeler process embedded in a strong laser pulse is analyzed. The transverse momentum spectrum displays prominent peaks which are interpreted as caustics, the positions of which are accessible by the stationary phases. Examples are given for the superposition of an XFEL beam with an optical high-intensity laser beam. Such a configuration is available, e.g., at LCLS at present and at European XFEL in near future. It requires a counter propagating probe photon beam with high energy which can be generated by synchronized inverse Compton backscattering.

Light dark matter candidates in intense laser pulses II: the relevance of the spin degrees of freedom

Optical searches assisted by the field of a laser pulse might allow for exploring a variety of not yet detected dark matter candidates such as hidden-photons and scalar minicharged particles. These hypothetical degrees of freedom may be understood as a natural consequence of extensions of the Standard Model incorporating a hidden $\rm U(1)$-gauge sector. In this paper, we study the effects induced by both candidates on the propagation of a probe electromagnetic waves in the vacuum polarized by a long laser pulse of moderate intensity, this way complementing our previous study [JHEP \textbf{06}, $177$ ($2015$)]. We describe how the absence of a spin in the scalar charged carriers modifies the photon-paraphoton oscillations as compared with a fermionic minicharge model. In particular, we find that the regime close to their lowest threshold mass might provide the most stringent upper limit for minicharged scalars. The pure-laser based experiment investigated here could allow 23for excluding a sector in the parameter space of the particles which has not been experimentally ruled out by setups driven by dipole magnets. We explain how the sign of the ellipticity and rotation of the polarization plane acquired by a probe photon--in combination with their dependencies on the pulse parameters--can be exploited to elucidate the quantum statistics of the charge carriers.

Partially Nondestructive Continuous Detection of Individual Traveling Optical Photons.

We report the continuous and partially nondestructive measurement of optical photons. For a weak light pulse traveling through a slow-light optical medium (signal), the associated atomic-excitation component is detected by another light beam (probe) with the aid of an optical cavity. We observe strong correlations of g_{sp}^{(2)}=4.4(5) between the transmitted signal and probe photons. The observed (intrinsic) conditional nondestructive quantum efficiency ranges between 13% and 1% (65% and 5%) for a signal transmission range of 2% to 35%, at a typical time resolution of 2.5 μs. The maximal observed (intrinsic) device nondestructive quantum efficiency, defined as the product of the conditional nondestructive quantum efficiency and the signal transmission, is 0.5% (2.4%). The normalized cross-correlation function violates the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, confirming the nonclassical character of the correlations.

Probing off-Hugoniot states in Ta, Cu, and Al to 1000 GPa compression with magnetically driven liner implosions

We report on a new technique for obtaining off-Hugoniot pressure vs. density data for solid metals compressed to extreme pressure by a magnetically driven liner implosion on the Z-machine (Z) at Sandia National Laboratories. In our experiments, the liner comprises inner and outer metal tubes. The inner tube is composed of a sample material (e.g., Ta and Cu) whose compressed state is to be inferred. The outer tube is composed of Al and serves as the current carrying cathode. Another aluminum liner at much larger radius serves as the anode. A shaped current pulse quasi-isentropically compresses the sample as it implodes. The iterative method used to infer pressure vs. density requires two velocity measurements. Photonic Doppler velocimetry probes measure the implosion velocity of the free (inner) surface of the sample material and the explosion velocity of the anode free (outer) surface. These two velocities are used in conjunction with magnetohydrodynamic simulation and mathematical optimization to obtain the current driving the liner implosion, and to infer pressure and density in the sample through maximum compression. This new equation of state calibration technique is illustrated using a simulated experiment with a Cu sample. Monte Carlo uncertainty quantification of synthetic data establishes convergence criteria for experiments. Results are presented from experiments with Al/Ta, Al/Cu, and Al liners. Symmetric liner implosion with quasi-isentropic compression to peak pressure ∼1000 GPa is achieved in all cases. These experiments exhibit unexpectedly softer behavior above 200 GPa, which we conjecture is related to differences in the actual and modeled properties of aluminum.

Hadronic structure of the photon at smallxin holographic QCD

We present our analysis on the photon structure functions at small Bjorken variable x in the framework of the holographic QCD. In the kinematic region, a photon can fluctuate into vector mesons and behaves like a hadron rather than a pointlike particle. Assuming the Pomeron exchange dominance, the dominant hadronic contribution to the structure functions is computed by convoluting the probe and target photon density distributions obtained from the wave functions of the U(1) vector field in the five-dimensional AdS space and the Brower-Polchinski-Strassler-Tan Pomeron exchange kernel. Our calculations are in agreement with both the experimental data from OPAL collaboration at LEP and those calculated from the parton distribution functions of the photon proposed by Gl\"uck, Reya, and Schienbein. The predictions presented here will be tested at future linear colliders, such as the planned International Linear Collider.

A novel automated phasor measurement system for validated and traceable EMC/EMI near-field analysis

Traceable high precision EMC/EMI measurements will simplify product specifications and reduce the liability of OEMs. A novel automated near-field testbed for system- to chip-level EMC/ EMI in the RF domain based on photonic phasor probes is presented. The scanning system combines a large scanning volume with micrometer resolution. An optical surface reconstruction system allows the surface structure of the device under test (DUT) to be measured with better than 20 μm uncertainty, allowing scans at a precisely known distance above arbitrary electronic components. Miniaturized active electro-optical time-domain ultra-wideband Eand H-field sensors for the frequency range from 0.01 to 6 GHz combined with a high speed vector signal analyzer are applied to measure the EM phasor field distribution with a dynamic range of >120 dB. The fully isolated probes eliminate perturbations of the EM fields generated by the DUT compared to electrically connected probes and offer up to 60 dB better sensitivity than passive 42 2016 IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Magazine - Volume 5 - Quarter 2 electro-optical probes. The testbed enables high precision broadband near-field 3D scans for EMC/EMI analysis to be performed and excellent inter-laboratory repeatability to be achieved. In the near future, it will be possible to reconstruct emission data from the near field to the far field.

On the stability of Einstein static universe in doubly general relativity scenario

By presenting a relation between average energy of the ensemble of probe photons and energy density of the Universe, in the context of {\it gravity's rainbow} or {\it doubly general relativity} scenario, we introduce a rainbow FRW Universe model. By analyzing the fixed points in flat FRW model modified by two well known rainbow functions, we find that the finite time singularity avoidance (i.e. Big-Bang) may still remain as a problem. Then, we follow the "Emergent Universe" scenario in which there is no beginning of time and consequently there is no Big-Bang singularity. Moreover, we study the impact of a high energy quantum gravity modifications related to the gravity's rainbow on the stability conditions of an "Einstein static Universe" (ESU). We find that independent of a particular rainbow function, the positive energy condition dictates a positive spatial curvature for the Universe. In fact, without raising a nonphysical energy condition in the quantum gravity regimes, we can address an agreement between gravity's rainbow scenario and basic assumption of modern version of "Emergent Universe". We show that in the absence and presence of an energy-dependent cosmological constant $\Lambda(\epsilon)$, a stable Einstein static solution is available versus the homogeneous and linear scalar perturbations under the variety of obtained conditions. Also, we explore the stability of ESU against the vector and tensor perturbations.