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.     

Coherent control of optical information with matter wave dynamics

In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in manipulating matter with light, and light with matter. Resonant laser fields interacting with cold, dense atom clouds provide a particularly rich system. Such light fields interact strongly with the internal electrons of the atoms, and couple directly to external atomic motion through recoil momenta imparted when photons are absorbed and emitted. Ultraslow light propagation in Bose-Einstein condensates represents an extreme example of resonant light manipulation using cold atoms. Here we demonstrate that a slow light pulse can be stopped and stored in one Bose-Einstein condensate and subsequently revived from a totally different condensate, 160 mum away; information is transferred through conversion of the optical pulse into a travelling matter wave. In the presence of an optical coupling field, a probe laser pulse is first injected into one of the condensates where it is spatially compressed to a length much shorter than the coherent extent of the condensate. The coupling field is then turned off, leaving the atoms in the first condensate in quantum superposition states that comprise a stationary component and a recoiling component in a different internal state. The amplitude and phase of the spatially localized light pulse are imprinted on the recoiling part of the wavefunction, which moves towards the second condensate. When this 'messenger' atom pulse is embedded in the second condensate, the system is re-illuminated with the coupling laser. The probe light is driven back on and the messenger pulse is coherently added to the matter field of the second condensate by way of slow-light-mediated atomic matter-wave amplification. The revived light pulse records the relative amplitude and phase between the recoiling atomic imprint and the revival condensate. Our results provide a dramatic demonstration of coherent optical information processing with matter wave dynamics. Such quantum control may find application in quantum information processing and wavefunction sculpting.     

Plasmon-assisted transmission of entangled photons

The state of a two-particle system is said to be entangled when its quantum-mechanical wavefunction cannot be factorized into two single-particle wavefunctions. This leads to one of the strongest counter-intuitive features of quantum mechanics, namely non-locality. Experimental realization of quantum entanglement is relatively easy for photons; a starting photon can spontaneously split into a pair of entangled photons inside a nonlinear crystal. Here we investigate the effects of nanostructured metal optical elements on the properties of entangled photons. To this end, we place optically thick metal films perforated with a periodic array of subwavelength holes in the paths of the two entangled photons. Such arrays convert photons into surface-plasmon waves--optically excited compressive charge density waves--which tunnel through the holes before reradiating as photons at the far side. We address the question of whether the entanglement survives such a conversion process. Our coincidence counting measurements show that it does, so demonstrating that the surface plasmons have a true quantum nature. Focusing one of the photon beams on its array reduces the quality of the entanglement. The propagation of the surface plasmons makes the array effectively act as a 'which way' detector.     

Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions

Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics. The quantum interpretation of bunching relies on the constructive interference between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterization of the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions should reveal an antibunching effect (a tendency to avoid each other). Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle interference, and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an experimental comparison of the fermionic and bosonic HBT effects in the same apparatus, using two different isotopes of helium: (3)He (a fermion) and 4He (a boson). Ordinary attractive or repulsive interactions between atoms are negligible; therefore, the contrasting bunching and antibunching behaviour that we observe can be fully attributed to the different quantum statistics of each atomic species. Our results show how atom-atom correlation measurements can be used to reveal details in the spatial density or momentum correlations in an atomic ensemble. They also enable the direct observation of phase effects linked to the quantum statistics of a many-body system, which may facilitate the study of more exotic situations.     

电子在水中产生Cherenkov辐射的Geant4模拟

用Geant4模拟能量分别为0.5,1.0,1.5,2.0,2.5 MeV入射电子在水中的Cherenkov辐射角和辐射光谱,分析电子产生Cherenkov辐射光子数与初级电子和次级电子的关系,并模拟Cherenkov辐射光在水中传输不同距离的吸收情况.结果表明:电子在水中产生的Cherenkov辐射角随入射电子能量的增加而增大;在Cherenkov辐射光传播过程中,水介质对紫外波段辐射光的吸收较大.     

Isotope-induced partial localization of core electrons in the homonuclear molecule N2

Because of inversion symmetry and particle exchange, all constituents of homonuclear diatomic molecules are in a quantum mechanically non-local coherent state; this includes the nuclei and deep-lying core electrons. Hence, the molecular photoemission can be regarded as a natural double-slit experiment: coherent electron emission originates from two identical sites, and should give rise to characteristic interference patterns. However, the quantum coherence is obscured if the two possible symmetry states of the electronic wavefunction ('gerade' and 'ungerade') are degenerate; the sum of the two exactly resembles the distinguishable, incoherent emission from two localized core sites. Here we observe the coherence of core electrons in N(2) through a direct measurement of the interference exhibited in their emission. We also explore the gradual transition to a symmetry-broken system of localized electrons by comparing different isotope-substituted species--a phenomenon analogous to the acquisition of partial 'which-way' information in macroscopic double-slit experiments.     

Quantum nonlinear optics with single photons enabled by strongly interacting atoms

The realization of strong nonlinear interactions between individual light quanta (photons) is a long-standing goal in optical science and engineering, being of both fundamental and technological significance. In conventional optical materials, the nonlinearity at light powers corresponding to single photons is negligibly weak. Here we demonstrate a medium that is nonlinear at the level of individual quanta, exhibiting strong absorption of photon pairs while remaining transparent to single photons. The quantum nonlinearity is obtained by coherently coupling slowly propagating photons to strongly interacting atomic Rydberg states in a cold, dense atomic gas. Our approach paves the way for quantum-by-quantum control of light fields, including single-photon switching, all-optical deterministic quantum logic and the realization of strongly correlated many-body states of light.     

激光技术对光电效应实验规律的影响

用弱光作光源时所得到的光电效应实验规律是不完善的,用激光作为光电效应实验中的光源时,得到的结果证明电子不但可以同时吸收到两个光子的能量,还可以只从光子中吸收一部分能量.     

激光与薄膜靶作用产生X射线阿秒脉冲两种方案的比较

运用一维粒子模拟对经由相对论电子束汤姆逊散射来产生阿秒X射线的两种方案进行了研究。第一种是激光驱动薄膜靶产生相对论电子束以及经过汤姆逊散射产生阿秒X射线,运用倍频探测光的方案可得到更短波长X射线。第二种方案添加了反射厚靶,通过厚靶对驱动激光的反射来减小电子束的横向动量但让其通过,而探测脉冲经过电子束汤姆逊散射后的多普勒频移因子提高,得到的X射线波长也明显减小,光子能量达到1KeV,反射光频谱也明显优与第一种方案．     

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.     

用EGSnrc程序包对单能电子实验过程影响因素的研究

本文运用蒙特卡罗程序EGSinpRZ和EGSnrcMP模拟了不同能量的单能电子入射过程中与AL吸收物质的作用,得到了该过程产生并且进入了灵敏区的轫致辐射光子和散射电子平均能量以及他们在相应情况下的百分比,结合两种测量方法(全峰面积法TPA和半峰面积法SPA)讨论了轫致辐射和散射对测量结果的影响;研究了实验所用放射源与其包装材料产生的轫致辐射光子对测量的影响;同时用EGSnrcMP程序模拟了吸收过程,画出了吸收曲线,并与实验吸收曲线相比较,讨论了环境本底对计数的影响.     

用EGSnrc程序包对单能电子实验过程影响因素的研究

本文运用蒙特卡罗程序EGSinpRZ和EGSnrcMP模拟了不同能量的单能电子入射过程中与AL吸收物质的作用,得到了该过程产生的并且进入了灵敏区的轫致辐射光子和散射电子平均能量以及他们在相应情况下的百分比,结合两种计算方法(全峰面积法TPA和半峰面积法SPA)讨论了轫致辐射和散射对测量结果的影响;研究了实验所用放射源与其包装材料产生的轫致辐射光子对测量的影响;同时用EGSnrcMP程序模拟了吸收曲线,并与实验吸收曲线相比较,讨论了环境本底对计数的影响.     

正负电子三光子湮灭的光子角分布

本文采用两种不同的方法全面计算正负电子三光子湮灭的光子角分布,两种方法所得结果基本一致。本文还给出了描述三光子发射方向的随机变量α_1,α_2,α_3的联合概率密度函数。     

Quantum interference between two single photons emitted by independently trapped atoms

When two indistinguishable single photons are fed into the two input ports of a beam splitter, the photons will coalesce and leave together from the same output port. This is a quantum interference effect, which occurs because two possible paths-in which the photons leave by different output ports-interfere destructively. This effect was first observed in parametric downconversion (in which a nonlinear crystal splits a single photon into two photons of lower energy), then from two separate downconversion crystals, as well as with single photons produced one after the other by the same quantum emitter. With the recent developments in quantum information research, much attention has been devoted to this interference effect as a resource for quantum data processing using linear optics techniques. To ensure the scalability of schemes based on these ideas, it is crucial that indistinguishable photons are emitted by a collection of synchronized, but otherwise independent sources. Here we demonstrate the quantum interference of two single photons emitted by two independently trapped single atoms, bridging the gap towards the simultaneous emission of many indistinguishable single photons by different emitters. Our data analysis shows that the observed coalescence is mainly limited by wavefront matching of the light emitted by the two atoms, and to a lesser extent by the motion of each atom in its own trap.     

Complete photo-fragmentation of the deuterium molecule

All properties of molecules--from binding and excitation energies to their geometry--are determined by the highly correlated initial-state wavefunction of the electrons and nuclei. Details of these correlations can be revealed by studying the break-up of these systems into their constituents. The fragmentation might be initiated by the absorption of a single photon, by collision with a charged particle or by exposure to a strong laser pulse: if the interaction causing the excitation is sufficiently understood, the fragmentation process can then be used as a tool to investigate the bound initial state. The interaction and resulting fragment motions therefore pose formidable challenges to quantum theory. Here we report the coincident measurement of the momenta of both nuclei and both electrons from the single-photon-induced fragmentation of the deuterium molecule. The results reveal that the correlated motion of the electrons is strongly dependent on the inter-nuclear separation in the molecular ground state at the instant of photon absorption.     

基于Geant4模拟的康普顿散射研究

在暗物质直接探测实验当中,高能gamma射线是重要的本底来源之一.高能光子由于康普顿散射的原因会在高纯锗探测器中会产生低能本底. CDMSlite实验中发现低能区域的康普顿能谱存在康普顿台阶,脉冲近似(Impulse Approximation, IA)理论解释了台阶出现的原因是原子中电子处于束缚状态,它使用散射函数来描述电子的束缚效应.为了探究这些台阶与散射函数以及入射能量之间的关系,我们使用Geant4程序对康普顿散射中的康普顿台阶进行了研究.研究发现随着初始光子能量增高,K壳层与L壳层的康普顿台阶会变得越来越平缓,直至斜率趋近于零.     

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.     

Spatial quantum noise interferometry in expanding ultracold atom clouds

In a pioneering experiment, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) demonstrated that noise correlations could be used to probe the properties of a (bosonic) particle source through quantum statistics; the effect relies on quantum interference between possible detection paths for two indistinguishable particles. HBT correlations--together with their fermionic counterparts--find numerous applications, ranging from quantum optics to nuclear and elementary particle physics. Spatial HBT interferometry has been suggested as a means to probe hidden order in strongly correlated phases of ultracold atoms. Here we report such a measurement on the Mott insulator phase of a rubidium Bose gas as it is released from an optical lattice trap. We show that strong periodic quantum correlations exist between density fluctuations in the expanding atom cloud. These spatial correlations reflect the underlying ordering in the lattice, and find a natural interpretation in terms of a multiple-wave HBT interference effect. The method should provide a useful tool for identifying complex quantum phases of ultracold bosonic and fermionic atoms.     

Entanglement of single-atom quantum bits at a distance

Quantum information science involves the storage, manipulation and communication of information encoded in quantum systems, where the phenomena of superposition and entanglement can provide enhancements over what is possible classically. Large-scale quantum information processors require stable and addressable quantum memories, usually in the form of fixed quantum bits (qubits), and a means of transferring and entangling the quantum information between memories that may be separated by macroscopic or even geographic distances. Atomic systems are excellent quantum memories, because appropriate internal electronic states can coherently store qubits over very long timescales. Photons, on the other hand, are the natural platform for the distribution of quantum information between remote qubits, given their ability to traverse large distances with little perturbation. Recently, there has been considerable progress in coupling small samples of atomic gases through photonic channels, including the entanglement between light and atoms and the observation of entanglement signatures between remotely located atomic ensembles. In contrast to atomic ensembles, single-atom quantum memories allow the implementation of conditional quantum gates through photonic channels, a key requirement for quantum computing. Along these lines, individual atoms have been coupled to photons in cavities, and trapped atoms have been linked to emitted photons in free space. Here we demonstrate the entanglement of two fixed single-atom quantum memories separated by one metre. Two remotely located trapped atomic ions each emit a single photon, and the interference and detection of these photons signals the entanglement of the atomic qubits. We characterize the entangled pair by directly measuring qubit correlations with near-perfect detection efficiency. Although this entanglement method is probabilistic, it is still in principle useful for subsequent quantum operations and scalable quantum information applications.     

同步辐射装置辐射屏蔽计算的探讨

从第三代同步辐射装置的特点出发 ,提出局部屏蔽的重要性 ,并以光束线前端为例 ,用 M- C方法模拟了 1Ge V的电子在其中的剂量分布 .