Λ型三能级系统中的光信息存储与提取

以光子回波技术原理为基础,应用密度矩阵数值解和布洛赫矢量解析法,分析了Λ型三能级系统中实现光信息存储、提取的物理机制.结果表明,该方法对信息的存储时间、信息提取信号的大小均优于二能级系统.     

中国科大实现“无噪声光子回波”量子存储方案

正中国科学技术大学郭光灿院士团队李传锋、周宗权研究组提出并实验实现"无噪声光子回波",成功将背景噪声从1光子降低到0.0015光子,首次观察到单光子的光子回波并实现高保真度的固态量子存储。该成果已于7月19日发表于《自然·通讯》,对研发量子优盘和量子网络具有重要意义。光子回波是原子与一系列电磁波脉冲相互作用时发出的相干辐射,是存储和操纵光的有力工具。光子回波作为光与物质作用的一种基本物理过程,     

中国学者成功研制“按需式读取”的可集成固态量子存储器

正信息的存储与读出时间对构建量子网络非常重要。量子存储器是构建大尺度量子网络的核心器件。按需式读取是指光子写入存储器以后再根据需求决定读出时间,这对实现量子网络中的同步操作等功能至关重要。但目前国际上已有的可集成固态量子存储器均基于简单的原子频率梳方案,读出时间在光子写入之前预先设定,无法按需读取。     

利用3-Λ型五能级原子介质操控纠缠态

通过分析3-Λ型五能级原子系统的暗态极化子,讨论三模量子场与原子介质的信息转换过程以及三个信号场之间的信息转换过程.研究结果表明,利用3-Λ型五能级原子系统,可以存储三模量子态,从理论上解释了三模量子信息在介质中的"写入"和"读出"过程.另外利用3-Λ型五能级原子系统还可以操控某些纠缠态,如实现纠缠态的生成、存储、读出、转换等.     

二能级系统中粒子布居几率振荡的布洛赫矢量分析

考虑系统粒子的弛豫,利用密度矩阵运动方程,研究了线性啁啾脉冲作用下二能级系统的粒子布居几率随时间的演化情况,并在布洛赫矢量模型表象下,通过布洛赫矢量的动态演化过程分析了粒子相干布居转移过程中布居振荡的物理机理.结果表明,粒子数振荡反映的是二能级原子系统中粒子布居转移、色散和吸收三者之间的动态转化过程.     

啁啾场作用下二能级原子跃迁的时域动态变化分析

运用密度矩阵运动方程,分析了啁啾脉冲光场作用下二能级原子系统跃迁随时间的变化过程,并利用布洛赫矢量模型方法对其演化过程进行了动态分析.结果表明,啁啾效应使系统粒子布居几率出现振荡.布洛赫矢量演化过程表明,粒子布居几率的这种振荡,反映了系统粒子数转移、色散和吸收三者之间动态变化的物理过程.     

光子回波的求解及其应用

为了深入理解光子回波产生的物理机制,通过采用预报-校正四阶龙格-库塔数值法求解非均匀展宽二能级体系的Maxwell-Bloch方程,建立了准确计算薄样品和厚样品介质光子回波信号强度的方法。得到了二脉冲、三脉冲和多脉冲光子回波信号的强度特性,并研究了弛豫时间、初始入射光脉冲的面积、失谐量以及样品的厚度等对光子回波信号的影响,进一步研究了编码脉冲在数据存储和读取中的应用。计算结果很好地显示了光子回波信号的特性,所建立的方法对光子回波信号的求解具有普适性。     

绝热条件下二能级系统相干控制动态分析

在量子力学的缀饰态表象中，运用布洛赫矢量及其球形图，研究了正弦相位调制的整形脉冲作用到二能级系统的跃迁过程，对其随时间演化过程进行形象化动态分析．结果表明，合适的正弦函数位相整形脉冲作用到二能级系统，无论整形脉冲选择何种位相，都可使粒子布居数反转，并使粒子维持在该态上．在绝热条件下，光场与系统作用过程中粒子的绝热状态随态和位相走势的不同而变化．     

波函数时域衍射的布洛赫矢量模型

 为了揭示波函数时域衍射的物理本质,采用密度矩阵的矢量模型方法,研究线性啁啾脉冲光场作用下二能级系统波函数的时域衍射效应;讨论光场啁啾因子对时域衍射效应的调制作用;分析不同啁啾因子作用时,量子系统粒子布居转移和时域衍射效应的动态演化过程。在布洛赫矢量表象下,对时域衍射效应的物理作用机制给出了清晰的描述。     

四脉冲光回波(三)

本文是在“四脉冲光子回波(一)”“四脉冲光子回波(二)”的基础上,进一步研究了当四个光脉冲组成的脉冲序列的间隔的相对大小发生变化时,回波的数目,回波种类的变化情况。     

"光子胚胎学"的理论体系

提出了“光子胚胎学”的学科概念,阐述了“光子胚胎学”的理论体系和研究方法．指出了“光子胚胎学”对推动原子物理学、量子光学、理论量子力学和量子信息科学与技术等重要学科理论和实践的重要意义．     

论单光子研究

对单光子研究的历史情况和近年来的新成就作了介绍,指出对光子的正确认识必须以经典物理学及量子力学为基础.简述了单光子的产生与检测技术,讨论了与单光子有关的新实验.例如由于量子纠缠,一个光子可以瞬时地影响另一光子的特性.不久前的D.Salart等人的实验说明了这个"瞬时地"究竟有多快--这是一种超光速现象.     

Broadband waveguide quantum memory for entangled photons

The reversible transfer of quantum states of light into and out of matter constitutes an important building block for future applications of quantum communication: it will allow the synchronization of quantum information, and the construction of quantum repeaters and quantum networks. Much effort has been devoted to the development of such quantum memories, the key property of which is the preservation of entanglement during storage. Here we report the reversible transfer of photon-photon entanglement into entanglement between a photon and a collective atomic excitation in a solid-state device. Towards this end, we employ a thulium-doped lithium niobate waveguide in conjunction with a photon-echo quantum memory protocol, and increase the spectral acceptance from the current maximum of 100?megahertz to 5?gigahertz. We assess the entanglement-preserving nature of our storage device through Bell inequality violations and by comparing the amount of entanglement contained in the detected photon pairs before and after the reversible transfer. These measurements show, within statistical error, a perfect mapping process. Our broadband quantum memory complements the family of robust, integrated lithium niobate devices. It simplifies frequency-matching of light with matter interfaces in advanced applications of quantum communication, bringing fully quantum-enabled networks a step closer.     

Strong coupling of a single photon to a superconducting qubit using circuit quantum electrodynamics

The interaction of matter and light is one of the fundamental processes occurring in nature, and its most elementary form is realized when a single atom interacts with a single photon. Reaching this regime has been a major focus of research in atomic physics and quantum optics for several decades and has generated the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics. Here we perform an experiment in which a superconducting two-level system, playing the role of an artificial atom, is coupled to an on-chip cavity consisting of a superconducting transmission line resonator. We show that the strong coupling regime can be attained in a solid-state system, and we experimentally observe the coherent interaction of a superconducting two-level system with a single microwave photon. The concept of circuit quantum electrodynamics opens many new possibilities for studying the strong interaction of light and matter. This system can also be exploited for quantum information processing and quantum communication and may lead to new approaches for single photon generation and detection.     

Storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories

An elementary quantum network operation involves storing a qubit state in an atomic quantum memory node, and then retrieving and transporting the information through a single photon excitation to a remote quantum memory node for further storage or analysis. Implementations of quantum network operations are thus conditioned on the ability to realize matter-to-light and/or light-to-matter quantum state mappings. Here we report the generation, transmission, storage and retrieval of single quanta using two remote atomic ensembles. A single photon is generated from a cold atomic ensemble at one site , and is directed to another site through 100 metres of optical fibre. The photon is then converted into a single collective atomic excitation using a dark-state polariton approach. After a programmable storage time, the atomic excitation is converted back into a single photon. This is demonstrated experimentally, for a storage time of 0.5 microseconds, by measurement of an anti-correlation parameter. Storage times exceeding ten microseconds are observed by intensity cross-correlation measurements. This storage period is two orders of magnitude longer than the time required to achieve conversion between photonic and atomic quanta. The controlled transfer of single quanta between remote quantum memories constitutes an important step towards distributed quantum networks.     

A photonic quantum information interface

Quantum communication requires the transfer of quantum states, or quantum bits of information (qubits), from one place to another. From a fundamental perspective, this allows the distribution of entanglement and the demonstration of quantum non-locality over significant distances. Within the context of applications, quantum cryptography offers a provably secure way to establish a confidential key between distant partners. Photons represent the natural flying qubit carriers for quantum communication, and the presence of telecommunications optical fibres makes the wavelengths of 1,310 nm and 1,550 nm particularly suitable for distribution over long distances. However, qubits encoded into alkaline atoms that absorb and emit at wavelengths around 800 nm have been considered for the storage and processing of quantum information. Hence, future quantum information networks made of telecommunications channels and alkaline memories will require interfaces that enable qubit transfers between these useful wavelengths, while preserving quantum coherence and entanglement. Here we report a demonstration of qubit transfer between photons of wavelength 1,310 nm and 710 nm. The mechanism is a nonlinear up-conversion process, with a success probability of greater than 5 per cent. In the event of a successful qubit transfer, we observe strong two-photon interference between the 710 nm photon and a third photon at 1,550 nm, initially entangled with the 1,310 nm photon, although they never directly interacted. The corresponding fidelity is higher than 98 per cent.     

波粒二象性理论与波速问题探讨

速度是宏观的概念;在量子力学中速度表示什么,本来无法回答。在半经典理论中,为重新定义速度,可取v→=▽S/m[m是粒子质量,S满足ψ=Aexp(j S/h)]。这样虽建立了速度与波函数的联系,却不是波科学中必需而有用的波速概念。真空中光速c是一个普遍性基本物理常数,量子力学显然也需要这个参数,亦即新波动力学需要这个物理量。从人类实践过程和结果看,科学家若企图确定c的最精确值,必须依靠标量方程c=fλ这样的标量描述才能实现。现代物理学认为波速度(相速vp、群速vg)是标量而非矢量。波动具有独特的科学性质,其规律与经典力学不同,它需要量子力学支持,又不等同于严格的量子力学。目前尚无单独一个理论能完美解释波科学问题,处在经典物理和量子物理并用的局面。电磁场的量子化过程为光的波粒二象性提供了基本的数学诠释,即连续展布于空间的电磁场在量子化后得到光子。尽管如此,"光子是什么"的难题仍困扰着科学家。通常认为电子的物质波是几率波,光子的波动是电磁波而非几率波。但在分析处理双光子纠缠时又在使用几率波理念,这样光子的波是什么仍未解决。另外,电子几率波与Schrdinger方程对应,但有一种观点认为光子几率波尚无可对应的波方程。另一方面,物质波相速的物理意义并不清晰;而de Broglie波的相速是超光速的,对此还需要更多的说明。类似的许多例子表明,波粒二象性仍是现代物理学中的一个待解之谜。最后,近年来对负波速(NWV)的研究既使波科学更加丰富,也为发展理论思维提供了新的契机。     

Phase-resolved measurements of stimulated emission in a laser

Lasers are usually described by their output frequency and intensity. However, laser operation is an inherently nonlinear process. Knowledge about the dynamic behaviour of lasers is thus of great importance for detailed understanding of laser operation and for improvement in performance for applications. Of particular interest is the time domain within the coherence time of the optical transition. This time is determined by the oscillation period of the laser radiation and thus is very short. Rigorous quantum mechanical models predict interesting effects like quantum beats, lasing without inversion, and photon echo processes. As these models are based on quantum coherence and interference, knowledge of the phase within the optical cycle is of particular interest. Laser radiation has so far been measured using intensity detectors, which are sensitive to the square of the electric field. Therefore information about the sign and phase of the laser radiation is lost. Here we use an electro-optic detection scheme to measure the amplitude and phase of stimulated radiation, and correlate this radiation directly with an input probing pulse. We have applied this technique to semiconductor quantum cascade lasers, which are coherent sources operating at frequencies between the optical (>100 THz) and electronic (<0.5 THz) ranges. In addition to the phase information, we can also determine the spectral gain, the bias dependence of this gain, and obtain an insight into the evolution of the laser field.