负能量研究：内容、方法和意义

本文首先指出物理参数的正和负是自然界对称性机制之一,其次回顾了自由电子理论中的负能态;然后讨论了自然界存在负质量和负能量的可能性。1928年P．Dirac最先提出了负能概念,它已广泛应用于物理学的各个领域。本文仅讨论近年来的实验和理论进展。在现代物理学中通常认为真空应依照实际存在量子场的零点能而理解,例如把Casimir能（Ec）看作量子化的电磁场的真空能在提供边界时所造成的——当把双平行板介入到真空中,板间内能减小,能量的变化使Ec〈0,即得到负能量。负能量是量子物理学的重要概念之一,其时真空被看成折射率小于1（n〈1）的媒质。在Hawking理论中,实、虚粒子都可携带负能,不过这观点尚有待实验证明。另一方面,在人类实验室中制造负能量也是可能的,办法如利用Casimir效应,利用负群速,或利用超材料。最后,本文指出众多超光速效应与负能量相关,这对超光速研究提供了更深刻的理解。     

虚光子初探

不可直接观测的光子被称为虚光子。在量子电动力学(QED)中,真空态是以能量21ω和动量21→k为标志的,并指出真空能会在一个吸引力(Casimir力)作用下使两个互相平行的导体板有靠近的趋势。在一般情况下,要了解虚光子必须先全面了解光子,但后者仍有许多问题有待解决,光的波粒二象性理论也有待研究和完善。零点能(ZPE)概念是经典物理与量子物理的重要区别之一,并不能否定;但在近年来的研究中,物理学家用光子作为振荡源的随机分布,或用标量场及场的Green函数径迹,可顺利完成对Casimir力的推导。虽然多年来人们援引Ca-simir效应作为量子场的ZPE是实际存在的迹象,但令人惊奇的是不用零点起伏(甚至不用真空)也能导出Casimir的结果,亦即ZPE不在计算中出现。换言之,对Casimir效应描述而言ZPE是启发性的辅助计算手段,但并非必要条件。这就留下了深层的疑问——ZPE为何缺乏真实存在的实验证据?消失态在电磁环境中是常见的,基本特点是场强随距离增大而指数地减小,并在传播方向上无相移。可以认为消失态具有虚的波矢量。已有若干研究工作显示,由QED表述的虚光子特性在一些消失模实验中被观察到。因而从物理意义上提出了...     

电磁场与物质耦合系统真空态和Casimir效应物理解释

采用一种简洁的方法讨论电磁场与物质耦合系统的能量本征态，在新的理论基础上给出关于Casimir效应物理根源的新的定性解释，采用类压缩态的假设找到了该耦合系统新的真空态，其能量比以往工作中量子力学二阶微扰方法给出的能量更低，该方法不仅适用于不同子体系间有弱相互作用的系数，给出系统能量更低的真空态，而且还能处理子体系间有较强相互作用的系统并给出其基态及能量的精确解析解，得出了对Casimir效应的物理解释，Casimir效应不是单纯来源于电磁场或物质的零点能的量子涨落，而是来源于电磁场与物质耦合系统真空态量子涨落，电磁场和物质对系统的真空态能量以及Casimir效应都有贡献。     

Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces

When fluctuating fields are confined between two surfaces, long-range forces arise. A famous example is the quantum-electrodynamical Casimir force that results from zero-point vacuum fluctuations confined between two conducting metal plates. A thermodynamic analogue is the critical Casimir force: it acts between surfaces immersed in a binary liquid mixture close to its critical point and arises from the confinement of concentration fluctuations within the thin film of fluid separating the surfaces. So far, all experimental evidence for the existence of this effect has been indirect. Here we report the direct measurement of critical Casimir force between a single colloidal sphere and a flat silica surface immersed in a mixture of water and 2,6-lutidine near its critical point. We use total internal reflection microscopy to determine in situ the forces between the sphere and the surface, with femtonewton resolution. Depending on whether the adsorption preferences of the sphere and the surface for water and 2,6-lutidine are identical or opposite, we measure attractive and repulsive forces, respectively, that agree quantitatively with theoretical predictions and exhibit exquisite dependence on the temperature of the system. We expect that these features of critical Casimir forces may result in novel uses of colloids as model systems.     

Coupling superconducting qubits via a cavity bus

Superconducting circuits are promising candidates for constructing quantum bits (qubits) in a quantum computer; single-qubit operations are now routine, and several examples of two-qubit interactions and gates have been demonstrated. These experiments show that two nearby qubits can be readily coupled with local interactions. Performing gate operations between an arbitrary pair of distant qubits is highly desirable for any quantum computer architecture, but has not yet been demonstrated. An efficient way to achieve this goal is to couple the qubits to a 'quantum bus', which distributes quantum information among the qubits. Here we show the implementation of such a quantum bus, using microwave photons confined in a transmission line cavity, to couple two superconducting qubits on opposite sides of a chip. The interaction is mediated by the exchange of virtual rather than real photons, avoiding cavity-induced loss. Using fast control of the qubits to switch the coupling effectively on and off, we demonstrate coherent transfer of quantum states between the qubits. The cavity is also used to perform multiplexed control and measurement of the qubit states. This approach can be expanded to more than two qubits, and is an attractive architecture for quantum information processing on a chip.     

Interference between two indistinguishable electrons from independent sources

Very much like the ubiquitous quantum interference of a single particle with itself, quantum interference of two independent, but indistinguishable, particles is also possible. For a single particle, the interference is between the amplitudes of the particle's wavefunctions, whereas the interference between two particles is a direct result of quantum exchange statistics. Such interference is observed only in the joint probability of finding the particles in two separated detectors, after they were injected from two spatially separated and independent sources. Experimental realizations of two-particle interferometers have been proposed; in these proposals it was shown that such correlations are a direct signature of quantum entanglement between the spatial degrees of freedom of the two particles ('orbital entanglement'), even though they do not interact with each other. In optics, experiments using indistinguishable pairs of photons encountered difficulties in generating pairs of independent photons and synchronizing their arrival times; thus they have concentrated on detecting bunching of photons (bosons) by coincidence measurements. Similar experiments with electrons are rather scarce. Cross-correlation measurements between partitioned currents, emanating from one source, yielded similar information to that obtained from auto-correlation (shot noise) measurements. The proposal of ref. 3 is an electronic analogue to the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment with classical light. It is based on the electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer that uses edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime. Here we implement such an interferometer. We partitioned two independent and mutually incoherent electron beams into two trajectories, so that the combined four trajectories enclosed an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Although individual currents and their fluctuations (shot noise measured by auto-correlation) were found to be independent of the Aharonov-Bohm flux, the cross-correlation between current fluctuations at two opposite points across the device exhibited strong Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, suggesting orbital entanglement between the two electron beams.     

Quantum jumps of light recording the birth and death of a photon in a cavity

A microscopic quantum system under continuous observation exhibits at random times sudden jumps between its states. The detection of this quantum feature requires a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement repeated many times during the system's evolution. Whereas quantum jumps of trapped massive particles (electrons, ions or molecules) have been observed, this has proved more challenging for light quanta. Standard photodetectors absorb light and are thus unable to detect the same photon twice. It is therefore necessary to use a transparent counter that can 'see' photons without destroying them. Moreover, the light needs to be stored for durations much longer than the QND detection time. Here we report an experiment in which we fulfil these challenging conditions and observe quantum jumps in the photon number. Microwave photons are stored in a superconducting cavity for times up to half a second, and are repeatedly probed by a stream of non-absorbing atoms. An atom interferometer measures the atomic dipole phase shift induced by the non-resonant cavity field, so that the final atom state reveals directly the presence of a single photon in the cavity. Sequences of hundreds of atoms, highly correlated in the same state, are interrupted by sudden state switchings. These telegraphic signals record the birth, life and death of individual photons. Applying a similar QND procedure to mesoscopic fields with tens of photons should open new perspectives for the exploration of the quantum-to-classical boundary.     

有限温度下介观串并联RLC电路的量子涨落

将介观串并联RLC电路等效成阻尼谐振子.并量子化，利用热场动力学理论研究了热真空态、热相干态、热压缩态下电流和电压的量子涨落．结果表明，支路电流电压的量子涨落不仅与电路器件的参数有关，而且与压缩因子及压缩角有关．还与环境温度有关．且由于电流焦耳热、环境温度和阻尼电阻的影响，涨落随环境温度升高而增大，随时间增加而衰减．这对微小电路的设计、电路量子噪声的抑制，具有十分重要的理论指导意义．     

Climbing the Jaynes-Cummings ladder and observing its nonlinearity in a cavity QED system

The field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), traditionally studied in atomic systems, has gained new momentum by recent reports of quantum optical experiments with solid-state semiconducting and superconducting systems. In cavity QED, the observation of the vacuum Rabi mode splitting is used to investigate the nature of matter-light interaction at a quantum-mechanical level. However, this effect can, at least in principle, be explained classically as the normal mode splitting of two coupled linear oscillators. It has been suggested that an observation of the scaling of the resonant atom-photon coupling strength in the Jaynes-Cummings energy ladder with the square root of photon number n is sufficient to prove that the system is quantum mechanical in nature. Here we report a direct spectroscopic observation of this characteristic quantum nonlinearity. Measuring the photonic degree of freedom of the coupled system, our measurements provide unambiguous spectroscopic evidence for the quantum nature of the resonant atom-field interaction in cavity QED. We explore atom-photon superposition states involving up to two photons, using a spectroscopic pump and probe technique. The experiments have been performed in a circuit QED set-up, in which very strong coupling is realized by the large dipole coupling strength and the long coherence time of a superconducting qubit embedded in a high-quality on-chip microwave cavity. Circuit QED systems also provide a natural quantum interface between flying qubits (photons) and stationary qubits for applications in quantum information processing and communication.     

压缩真空态的激发态下介观串并联RLC电路的量子涨落

将介观串并联RLC电路等效成阻尼谐振子并量子化,研究了压缩真空态的激发态、压缩真空态、真空态下电流和电压的量子涨落.结果表明,支路电流电压的量子涨落不仅与电路器件的参数有关,而且和激发量子数、压缩因子及压缩角有关,并随时间衰减.     

Single artificial-atom lasing

Solid-state superconducting circuits are versatile systems in which quantum states can be engineered and controlled. Recent progress in this area has opened up exciting possibilities for exploring fundamental physics as well as applications in quantum information technology; in a series of experiments it was shown that such circuits can be exploited to generate quantum optical phenomena, by designing superconducting elements as artificial atoms that are coupled coherently to the photon field of a resonator. Here we demonstrate a lasing effect with a single artificial atom--a Josephson-junction charge qubit--embedded in a superconducting resonator. We make use of one of the properties of solid-state artificial atoms, namely that they are strongly and controllably coupled to the resonator modes. The device is essentially different from existing lasers and masers; one and the same artificial atom excited by current injection produces many photons.     

Thermally fluctuating superconductors in two dimensions

In many two-dimensional superconducting systems, such as Josephson-junction arrays, granular superconducting films, and the high-temperature superconductors, it appears that the electrons bind into Cooper pairs below a pairing temperature (T(P)) that is well above the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature (T(KT)) the temperature below which there is long-range superconducting order). The electron dynamics at temperatures between T(KT) and T(P) involve a complex interplay of thermal and quantum fluctuations, for which no quantitative theory exists. Here we report numerical results for this region, by exploiting its proximity to a T = 0 superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition. This quantum critical point need not be experimentally accessible for our results to apply. We characterize the static, thermodynamic properties by a single dimensionless parameter, gamma(T). Quantitative and universal results are obtained for the frequency dependence of the conductivity, which are dependent only upon gamma(T) and fundamental constants of nature.     

Detection of doubled shot noise in short normal-metal/superconductor junctions

Shot noise refers to the fluctuations in electrical current through a device arising from the discrete nature of the charge-carrying particles. Recent experiments have exploited the fact that the shot noise is proportional to the charge of the carriers to establish fractional quantization of quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect. By a similar argument, it is expected that when a superconducting reservoir emits Cooper pairs, (which have a charge twice that of an electron) into a short normal-metal wire, the shot noise should be double that obtained for a normal-metal reservoir. Although the charge of Cooper pairs has been well established by flux quantization and tunnel experiments, doubling of their shot noise has not yet been observed. Here we report a shot-noise experiment using a short diffusive normal-metal superconductor contact, in which we confirm the predicted noise behaviour for double charges. The measurements, taken over a large range of bias current, establish that phase coherence is not required to observe the effect.     

使自由空间中光速变慢的研究进展

1905年Einstein发表了著名的狭义相对论( SR)文章,其中说光在真空中总以不变的速度传播。然而这个光速不变性原理一直缺乏可靠的实验证明,近年来的一些研究成果倒像是证伪了这一原理。例如,美国Maryland大学的物理学家James Franson于2014年6月发表论文引起物理界的广泛关注,文章宣称已可证明光速比过去所认为的值要慢。他的论据来源于对1987年超新星SN1987A的观测,当时在地球上检测到由爆发而来的光子和中微子,而光子比中微子晚到4.7h,过去对此现象人们只作了模糊的解释。 Franson认为这可能是由光子的真空极化造成的———光子分开为一个正电子和一个电子,在很短时间内又重组为光子。在引力势作用下,重组时粒子能量有微小改变,使速度变慢。粒子在飞经168000光年的过程中(从SN1987A到地球),这种不断发生的分合将造成光子晚到4.7h。另一个例子是,2015年1月英国Glasgow大学的Padgett研究组做到了使光的运行比真空中光速( c)要慢。他们使光子经过一个专用的散射结构物,波形被改变,从而速度变慢。令人惊奇的是,光子出来后(即回到自由空间)仍以减慢了的速度行进。Franson理论和Padgett小组实验损坏了真空中光速的恒值性,使c成为“不恒定的常数”,或“不常的常数”。这种情况妨害了SR理论及现行米定义的理论基础。另外,本文比较了1993年的SKC实验和2015年的空间结构化光子实验,前者以量子隧穿和消失波为基础,后者则改变光束的横向空间结构。二者都使用相关光子对,结果都显示光子群速的变化。如今或许可以终结关于光速不变原理的讨论。……在现代物理学中波粒二象性仍是难题,但新近研究对此有新的理解,与互补原理不同;故更宜于用波理论解释粒子实验。在Padgett小组实验中,无论Bessel波束或Gauss波束光子群速均减小,表现为在1m的实验距离上迟到若干微米。……最后,本文指出近年来的光速研究为波科学带来丰富体验,为理论思维造成新机会。     

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detection system and demonstration in quantum key distribution

We developed a superconducting nanowire single-photon detection(SNSPD) system based on Gifford-McMahon cryocooler for quantum communication applications.Environmental factors which may influence the system performance are intensively studied.Those factors include temperature fluctuations,the ambient magnetic field and the background radiation.By optimizing the bias circuit,the stability of SNSPD system to electrical noise and disturbance was effectively enhanced,thus making it more suitable for field application.A 4-channel SNSPD system with quantum efficiency higher than 4% at the dark count rate of 10 Hz for λ=1550 nm is integrated and applied into a quantum key distribution(QKD) experiment.QKD was successfully carried out over 100 km optical fiber with the final secure key rate of 1.6 kbps and the quantum bit error rate of less than 2%.     

Direct measurement of the quantum wavefunction

The wavefunction is the complex distribution used to completely describe a quantum system, and is central to quantum theory. But despite its fundamental role, it is typically introduced as an abstract element of the theory with no explicit definition. Rather, physicists come to a working understanding of the wavefunction through its use to calculate measurement outcome probabilities by way of the Born rule. At present, the wavefunction is determined through tomographic methods, which estimate the wavefunction most consistent with a diverse collection of measurements. The indirectness of these methods compounds the problem of defining the wavefunction. Here we show that the wavefunction can be measured directly by the sequential measurement of two complementary variables of the system. The crux of our method is that the first measurement is performed in a gentle way through weak measurement, so as not to invalidate the second. The result is that the real and imaginary components of the wavefunction appear directly on our measurement apparatus. We give an experimental example by directly measuring the transverse spatial wavefunction of a single photon, a task not previously realized by any method. We show that the concept is universal, being applicable to other degrees of freedom of the photon, such as polarization or frequency, and to other quantum systems--for example, electron spins, SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices) and trapped ions. Consequently, this method gives the wavefunction a straightforward and general definition in terms of a specific set of experimental operations. We expect it to expand the range of quantum systems that can be characterized and to initiate new avenues in fundamental quantum theory.     

超导金属小粒子的顺磁磁化率

从约化BCS哈密顿量出发．采用配分函数的路径积分表示方法，在静态路径近似(SPA)方法下，考虑准粒子的热涨落以及能级的统计效应对超导纳米粒子的电子磁化率的影响，计算了弱磁场中的超导金属小粒子的顺磁磁化率，并做了分析．     

Non-classical light generated by quantum-noise-driven cavity optomechanics

Optomechanical systems, in which light drives and is affected by the motion of a massive object, will comprise a new framework for nonlinear quantum optics, with applications ranging from the storage and transduction of quantum information to enhanced detection sensitivity in gravitational wave detectors. However, quantum optical effects in optomechanical systems have remained obscure, because their detection requires the object’s motion to be dominated by vacuum fluctuations in the optical radiation pressure; so far, direct observations have been stymied by technical and thermal noise. Here we report an implementation of cavity optomechanics using ultracold atoms in which the collective atomic motion is dominantly driven by quantum fluctuations in radiation pressure. The back-action of this motion onto the cavity light field produces ponderomotive squeezing. We detect this quantum phenomenon by measuring sub-shot-noise optical squeezing. Furthermore, the system acts as a low-power, high-gain, nonlinear parametric amplifier for optical fluctuations, demonstrating a gain of 20?dB with a pump corresponding to an average of only seven intracavity photons. These findings may pave the way for low-power quantum optical devices, surpassing quantum limits on position and force sensing, and the control and measurement of motion in quantum gases.     

Single-mode heat conduction by photons

The thermal conductance of a single channel is limited by its unique quantum value G(Q), as was shown theoretically in 1983. This result closely resembles the well-known quantization of electrical conductance in ballistic one-dimensional conductors. Interestingly, all particles-irrespective of whether they are bosons or fermions-have the same quantized thermal conductance when they are confined within dimensions that are small compared to their characteristic wavelength. The single-mode heat conductance is particularly relevant in nanostructures. Quantized heat transport through submicrometre dielectric wires by phonons has been observed, and it has been predicted to influence cooling of electrons in metals at very low temperatures due to electromagnetic radiation. Here we report experimental results showing that at low temperatures heat is transferred by photon radiation, when electron-phonon as well as normal electronic heat conduction is frozen out. We study heat exchange between two small pieces of normal metal, connected to each other only via superconducting leads, which are ideal insulators against conventional thermal conduction. Each superconducting lead is interrupted by a switch of electromagnetic (photon) radiation in the form of a DC-SQUID (a superconducting loop with two Josephson tunnel junctions). We find that the thermal conductance between the two metal islands mediated by photons indeed approaches the expected quantum limit of G(Q) at low temperatures. Our observation has practical implications-for example, for the performance and design of ultra-sensitive bolometers (detectors of far-infrared light) and electronic micro-refrigerators, whose operation is largely dependent on weak thermal coupling between the device and its environment.