Amplitude-squared squeezing in superposed coherent states

We study amplitude-squared squeezing of the Hermitian operator Z_θ=Z₁ cosθ+Z₂ sin θ, in the most general superposition state , of two coherent states and . Here operators Z_1,2 are defined by , a is annihilation operator, θ is angle, and complex numbers C_1,2 , α, β are arbitrary and only restriction on these is the normalization condition of the state . We define the condition for a state to be amplitude-squared squeezed for the operator Z_θ if squeezing parameter , where N=a⁺a and . We find maximum amplitude-squared squeezing of Z_θ in the superposed coherent state with minimum value 0.3268 of the parameter S for an infinite combinations with α- β= 2.16 exp [±i(π/4) + iθ/2], and with arbitrary values of (α+β) and θ. For this minimum value of squeezing parameter S, the expectation value of photon number can vary from the minimum value 1.0481 to infinity. Variations of the parameter S with different variables at maximum amplitude-squared squeezing are also discussed.     

Continuum variable entangled state generated by an asymmetric beam splitter

For an asymmetric beam-splitter a new kind of entangled state is introduced, we then derive the integration measure with which such states can make up a complete and orthonormal representation in two-mode Fock space. We then show how to use in finding new squeezing operator and new squeezed state, whose generation can relies on the asymmetric beamsplitter.     

Lifetime vibrational interference during the NO 1s-1π* resonant excitation studied by the NO+(A 1Π → X 1Σ+) fluorescence

Dispersed fluorescence from fragments formed after the de-excitation of the 1s^-1π^* resonances of N^*O and NO^* has been measured in the spectral range of 118–142 nm. This range is dominated by lines of atomic nitrogen and oxygen fragments and by the bands in the NO⁺ ion which result from the participator Auger decay of the 1s^-1π^* resonances. Ab-initio calculations of the transition probabilities between vibrational levels during the reaction NO N^*O ⇒ NO were used to explain the observed intensity dependence for the fluorescence bands on the exciting-photon energy across the resonances and on both v^′ and v^′′ vibrational quantum numbers. The multiplet structure of the 1s^-1π^* resonance and lifetime vibrational interference explain the observed exciting-photon energy dependence of the fluorescence intensity. A strong spin-orbit coupling between singlet and triplet states of NO⁺ is proposed to reduce additional cascade population of the state via radiative transitions from the and states and to explain remaining differences between measured and calculated integral fluorescence intensities.     

Modular construction of special mixed quantum states

For a homogeneous quantum network of N subsystems with n levels each we consider separable generalized Werner states. A generalized Werner state is defined as a mixture of the totally mixed state and an arbitrary pure state : with a mixture coefficient . For this density operator to be separable, will have an upper bound . Below this bound one should alternatively be able to reproduce by a mixture of entirely separable input-states. For this purpose we introduce a set of modules, each contributing elementary coherence properties with respect to a generalized coherence vector. Based on these there exists a general step-by-step mixing process for any . For being a cat-state it is possible to define an optimal process, which produces states right up to the separability boundary ( ).Received: 3 December 2002, Published online: 29 July 2003PACS: 03.65.Ud Entanglement and quantum nonlocality (e.g. EPR paradox, Bells inequalities, GHZ states, etc.) - 03.67.-a Quantum information - 03.65.-w Quantum mechanics     

Retrodiction for coherent communication with homodyne or heterodyne detection

Previous work on the retrodictive theory of direct detection is extended to cover the homodyne detection of coherent optical signal states and . The retrodictive input state probabilities are obtained by the application of Bayes' theorem to the corresponding predictive distributions, based on the probability operator measure (POM) elements for the homodyne process. Results are derived for the retrodictive information on the complex amplitude of the signal field obtainable from the difference photocount statistics of both 4-port and 8-port balanced homodyne detection schemes. The local oscillator is usually assumed much stronger than the signal but the case of equal strengths in 4-port detection is also considered. The calculated probability distributions and error rates are illustrated numerically for values of signal and local oscillator strengths that extend from the classical to the quantum regimes.     

Hyperfine structure and isotope shift study in singly ionized lead

Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts in five optical transitions: 424.5 nm ( – ), 537.2 nm ( – ), 554.5 nm ( – ), 560.9 nm ( – ) and 666.0 nm ( – ) of Pb  II have been measured. As a light source the discharge tube was used. The hyperfine structure measurements were performed using metallic isotope ²⁰⁷Pb. For isotope shifts measurements natural lead was used. The high resolution spectral apparatus consisted of a silver coated Fabry-Perot etalon and a grating spectrograph combined with a CCD camera used as a detector. In the analysis of the spectra a computer simulation technique was used. The hyperfine structure observations yielded the splitting constants A for seven levels of Pb II. The isotope shift studies enabled to separate the mass and the field shifts and to determine values of changes of the mean square nuclear charge radii.     

Atomic squeezing in assembly of two two-level atoms interacting with a single mode coherent radiation

Saito and Ueda [Phys. Rev. A 59, 3959 (1999)] studied atomic and radiation squeezing in interaction of a single mode coherent state of radiation with two excited two-level atoms, using the Jaynes Cummings Hamiltonian. They considered α real and studied squeezing of the Dicke operator S_x using the Kitagawa-Ueda criterion for squeezing and coupling times less than or nearly equal to . We obtain results to all orders in coupling time for atoms, which are initially in (i) fully excited, (ii) superradiant or in (iii) ground states and obtain more general results. We use our recently reported criterion for atomic squeezing, of which the Kitagawa-Ueda criterion is a special case, and obtain a much stronger (nearly 95%) atomic squeezing than that (nearly 1.1%) reported by Saito and Ueda.     

Hyperfine quenching of the 4s4p <Superscript>3</Superscript>P<Subscript>0</Subscript> level in Zn-like ions

In this paper, we used the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock method to compute with high precision the influence of the hyperfine interaction on the [Ar] P₀ level lifetime in Zn-like ions for stable and some quasi-stable isotopes of nonzero nuclear spin between Z=30 and Z=92. The influence of this interaction on the [Ar] P P₀ separation energy is also calculated for the same ions.     

Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts in near-infrared transitions of atomic nitrogen

We have obtained Doppler-free spectra of transitions in the → 2p²(³P) and → multiplets of atomic nitrogen using saturated absorption spectroscopy. These multiplets consist of respectively of seven and eight transitions, and have center of gravity wavelengths of 821 nm and 869 nm. Values for the hyperfine structure coupling constants of all the upper and lower states for these multiplets were obtained for both ¹⁴N and ¹⁵N. Isotope shifts of three transitions in each multiplet were also measured, and a significant J-dependence to the shifts was observed.     

Decelerated molecular beams for high-resolution spectroscopy

Ultimately, the resolution of any spectroscopic experiment is limited by the interaction time between the particles that are to be examined and the measuring device. The obtainable spectroscopic resolution in a molecular beam experiment can be considerably improved using samples of slow molecules, as produced, for example, in a Stark-decelerator. This is demonstrated here by measuring the inversion tunneling spectrum of using a pulsed molecular beam that has been decelerated to about 52 m/s. Hyperfine resolved inversion transitions in in the state (around 1.43 GHz) are induced in a microwave region, and molecules that have undergone the transition are subsequently detected using a UV-laser based ionization detection scheme. To increase the signal intensity, the decelerated molecular beam is both transversally and longitudinally focused into the laser detection region. The observed spectral width of individual hyperfine transitions in the fully resolved spectrum is about 1 kHz, and the standard deviation of the best fit is 62 Hz.Received: 7 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 33.15.Pw Fine and hyperfine structure - 33.20.Bx Radio-frequency and microwave spectra - 33.40. + f Multiple resonances - 33.70.Jg Line and band widths, shapes, and shifts - 39.10. + j Atomic and molecular beam sources and techniques     

Electron impact excitation of 2p and 3p states of hydrogen at intermediate energies

The recent theoretical work by Bartlett et al. [J. Phys. B 38, L95 (2005)] and the latest measurements on the reduced Stokes parameters , and for 54.4 eV electron impact excitation of the 2p state atomic hydrogen by Williams and Mikosza [J. Phys. B 39, 4113 (2006)] has motivated the present work. A coupled-channel-optical calculation with 9 and 12 atomic states supplemented with the continuum optical potentials for the stronger coupling channels has been performed. The calculated n = 2 and n = 3 differential cross sections and the reduced Stokes parameters are comparable with the state-of-the art calculations. There is closer agreement between the present calculations and the experimental measurements for the reduced Stokes parameters and in the n = 2p excitation at 54.4 eV. The present CCO calculations also display good accord with the limited experimental data for the reduced Stokes parameters in the n=3p excitation.     

Studies of ion energy and yield from argon clusters heated by intense femtosecond laser pulses

Using time-of-flight spectrometry, the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with argon clusters has been studied by measuring the energy and yield of emitted ions. With two different supersonic nozzles, the dependence of average ion energy on cluster size in a large range of has been measured. The experimental results indicate that when the cluster size , the average ion energy Coulomb explosion is the dominant expansion mechanism. Beyond this size, the average ion energy gets saturated gradually, the clusters exhibit a mixed Coulomb-hydrodynamic expansion behavior. We also find that with the increasing gas backing pressure, there is a maximum ion yield, the ion yield decreases as the gas backing pressure is further increased.     

Soft X-ray contact microscopy of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Soft X-ray Contact Microscopy (SXCM) of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes with typical length m and diameter m has been performed using the PALS laser source of wavelength m and pulse duration ps. Pulsed soft X-rays were generated using molybdenum and gold targets with laser intensities W/cm². Images have been recorded on PMMA photo resists and analyzed using an atomic force microscope operating in contact mode. Cuticle features and several internal organs have been identified in the SXCM images including lateral field, cuticle annuli, pharynx, and hypodermal and neuronal cell nuclei.Received: 18 February 2004, Published online: 29 June 2004PACS: 42.62.Be Biological and medical applications - 07.85.Tt X-ray microscopes - 87.59.Bh X-ray radiographyA color version of the figures is available in electronic form at .     

Metastable level lifetimes from electron-shelving measurements with ion clouds and single ions

The lifetime of the -level in singly-ionized calcium has been measured by the electron-shelving technique on different samples of rf trapped ions. The metastable state has been directly populated by exciting the dipole-forbidden transition. In ion clouds, the natural lifetime of this metastable level has been measured to be ( ) ms. For the single-ion case, we determined a lifetime of ( ) ms. The -error bars at the 2%-level have different origins for the two kinds of experiments: data fitting methods for lifetime measurements in an ion cloud and control of experimental parameters for a single ion. De-shelving effects are extensively discussed. The influence of differing approaches for the processing of the single-ion quantum jump data on the lifetime values is shown. Comparison with recent measurements shows excellent agreement when evaluated from a given method.Received: 14 November 2003, Published online: 24 February 2004PACS: 32.70.Cs Oscillator strengths, lifetimes, transition moments - 32.80.Pj Optical cooling of atoms, trapping     

Electromagnetic momentum, magnetic model of light and effects of the Aharonov-Bohm type

The wave equation for light propagation in slowly moving media, which is analogous to that of quantum effects of the Aharonov-Bohm type, is characterized by the interaction momentum , related to the flow . In effects of the Aharonov-Bohm type the interaction momentum is related to the momentum of the electromagnetic (em) fields, that characterizes an em flow . It is shown that in both cases has the same physical origin. Calculation of the interaction em momentum for the light wave dragged by the flow yields exactly the Fresnel-Fizeau momentum. These results corroborate the validity of the magnetic model for light and highlight the role and relevance of the em momentum in new effects of classical and quantum physics. A tentative test of an astrophysical Fizeau-Aharonov-Bohm effect is discussed.     

Noise sensitivity of an atomic velocity sensor

We use Bloch oscillations to accelerate coherently rubidium atoms. The variation of the velocity induced by this acceleration is an integer number times the recoil velocity due to the absorption of one photon. The measurement of the velocity variation is achieved using two velocity selective Raman -pulses: the first pulse transfers atoms from the hyperfine state 5S1/2, $" align="middle" border="0"> to 5S1/2, $" align="middle" border="0"> into a narrow velocity class. After the acceleration of this selected atomic slice, we apply the second Raman pulse to bring the resonant atoms back to the initial state 5S1/2, $" align="middle" border="0"> . The populations in (F=1 and F=2) are measured separately by using a one-dimensional time-of-flight technique. To plot the final velocity distribution we repeat this procedure by scanning the Raman beam frequency of the second pulse. This two -pulses system constitutes then a velocity sensor. Any noise in the relative phase shift of the Raman beams induces an error in the measured velocity. In this paper we present a theoretical and an experimental analysis of this velocity sensor, which take into account the phase fluctuations during the Raman pulses.     

The 4-particle hydrogen-antihydrogen system revisited

The historical importance of the original quantum mechanical bond theory proposed by Heitler and London in 1927 as well as its pitfalls are reviewed. Modern ab initio treatments of H- systems are inconsistent with the logic behind algebraic Hamiltonians H± =H 0 ± H for charge-symmetrical and charge-asymmetrical 4 unit charge systems like H2 and H . Their eigenvalues E± =E 0± are exactly those of 1927 Heitler-London (HL) theory. Since these 2 Hamiltonians are mutually exclusive, only the attractive one can apply for stable natural molecular H2. A wrong choice leads to problems with antiatom . In line with earlier results on band and line spectra, we now prove that HL chose the wrong Hamiltonian for H2. Their theory explains the stability of attractive system H2 with a repulsive Hamiltonian H0 + H instead of with the attractive one H0-H, representative for charge-asymmetrical system H . A new second order symmetry effect is detected in this attractive Hamiltonian, which leads to a 3-dimensional structure for the 4-particle system. Repulsive HL Hamiltonian H+ applies at long range but at the critical distance, attractive charge-inverted Hamiltonian H- takes over and leads to bond H2 but in reality, H , for which we give an analytical proof. This analysis confirms and generalizes an earlier critique of the wrong long range behavior of HL-theory by Bingel, Preuss and Schmidtke and by Herring. Another wrong asymptote choice in the past also applies for atomic antihydrogen , which has hidden the Mexican hat potential for natural hydrogen. This generic solution removes most problems, physicists and chemists experience with atomic and molecular H , including the problem with antimatter in the Universe.     

Probing spin-orbit quenching in Cl (2P) + H2 via crossed molecular beam scattering

In our previous work we investigated electronically non-adiabatic effects in using crossed molecular beam scattering coupled with velocity mapped ion imaging. The prior experiments placed limits on the cross-section for electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit excitation and electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit quenching . In the present work, we investigate electronically non-adiabatic spin-orbit quenching for which is the required first step for the reaction of Cl^* to produce ground state HCl+H products. In these experiments we collide Cl (²P) with H₂ at a series of fixed collision energies using a crossed molecular beam machine with velocity mapped ion imaging detection. Through an analysis of our ion images, we determine the fraction of electronically adiabatic scattering in Cl^* +H₂, which allows us to place limits on the cross-section for electronically non-adiabatic scattering or quenching. We determine the following quenching cross-sections σ _quench(2.1 kcal/mol) = 26 ± 21 ?², σ _quench(4.0 kcal/mol) = 21 ± 49 ?², and σ _quench(5.6 kcal/mol) = 14 ± 41 ?².     

Effective action for phase fluctuations in <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-wave superconductors near a Mott transition

Phase fluctuations of a d-wave superconducting order parameter are theoretically studied in the context of high-T_c cuprates. We consider an extended t-J model describing electrons in a layer which also contains long-range Coulomb interactions. The constraint of having at most singly occupied sites is enforced by an additional Hubbard term. The Heisenberg interaction is decoupled by a d-wave order parameter in the particle-particle channel. Assuming first that the equilibrium state has long-range phase order, the effective action is derived perturbatively for small fluctuations within a path integral formalism, in the presence of the Coulomb and Hubbard interaction terms. In a second step, a more general derivation of is performed in terms of a gradient expansion which only assumes that the gradients of the order parameter are small whereas the value of the phase may be large. We show that in the phase-only approximation the resulting reduces in leading order in the field gradients to the perturbative one which thus allows to treat also the case without long-range phase order or vortices. Our result generalizes previous expressions for to the case of interacting electrons, is explicitly gauge invariant, and avoids problematic singular gauge transformations.