Sum rules for arbitrary-order harmonic generation susceptibilities

Dispersion theory for harmonic generation susceptibilities is considered with the aid of complex analysis. New sum rules are obtained for the powers of arbitrary-order harmonic generation susceptibilities. The theory is based on the holomorphic properties and asymptotic behaviour of nonlinear susceptibilities. The present sum rules are reportedly important in nonlinear optical spectra analysis. Received 19 September 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

Statistical confidentiality tests for a quantum transmission using continuous variables

We describe a cryptographic protocol consisting of two entangled beams of squeezed light which makes use of statistical tests to deduce the secret key bit. The sender (Alice) encrypts a secret key by modulating the phase of the beam sent in public by the receiver (Bob) who keeps the other beam private. The knowledge of the degree of non classical correlation between the beam quadrature components measured in private and in public allows only Bob to decrypt the secret key. With a view towards absolute security, we formally prove that any external intervention from an eavesdropper (Eve) during the communication process introduces necessarily some modification susceptible to be detected. Statistical confidentiality tests are proposed to detect the presence of Eve. Received 12 July 2001 and Received in final form 11 November 2001     

Nonlinear frequency conversion in 2D χ (2) photonic crystals and novel nonlinear double-circle construction

The analytic solution to the wave equation for small-signal sum-frequency process is derived in 2D χ ⁽²⁾ photonic crystals with use of the Green function method. It is predicted that the sum-frequency electrical field at quasi-phase matching (QPM) resonance is proportional to the angle-dependent effective crystal length. This implies that multiple wavelength QPM frequency conversion with controllable intensity output can be realized in a single 2D χ ⁽²⁾ photonic crystal. It is revealed that efficient frequency conversion requires both the QPM and the proper structure matching. A novel double-circle construction, different from the conventional Ewald construction, is presented to reflect important QPM processes. It is also shown that the QPM resonance tuning of second-harmonic generation can operate over the whole transparent wavelength range of crystals. Received 19 April 2001     

Effective nonlinear optical properties of shape distributed composite media

The effective linear and nonlinear optical properties of metal/dielectric composite media, in which ellipsoidal metal inclusions are distributed in shape, are investigated. The shape distribution function P(L _x, L _y) is assumed to be 2Δ^-2θ(L _x - 1/3 + Δ/3)θ(L _y - 1/3 + Δ/3)θ(2/3 + Δ/3 - L _x - L _y), where θ( ^{. . .} ) is the Heaviside function, Δ is the shape variance and L_i are the depolarization factors of the ellipsoidal inclusions along i-symmetric axes (i = x, y). Within the spectral representation, we adopt Maxwell-Garnett type approximation to study the effect of shape variance Δ on the effective nonlinear optical properties. Numerical results show that both the effective linear optical absorption α ∼ ωIm() and the modulus of the effective third-order optical nonlinearity enhancement |χ⁽³⁾ _e|/χ⁽³⁾ ₁ exhibit the nonmonotonic behavior with Δ. Moreover, with increasing Δ, the optical absorption and the nonlinearity enhancement bands become broad, accompanied with the decrease of their peaks. The adjustment of Δ from 0 to 1 allows us to examine the crossover behavior from no separation to large separation between optical absorption and nonlinearity enhancement peaks. As Δ → 0, i.e., the ellipsoidal shape deviates slightly from the spherical one, the dependence of |χ⁽³⁾ _e|/χ⁽³⁾ ₁ on Δ becomes strong first and then weak with increasing the imaginary part of inclusions' dielectric constant. In the dilute limit, the exact formula for the effective optical nonlinearity is derived, and the present approximation characterizes the exact results better than old mean field one does. Received 10 December 2002 Published online 4 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: lgaophys@pub.sz.jsinfo.net     

Femtosecond surface plasmon resonance dynamics and electron-electron interactions in silver nanoparticles

Femtosecond excitation and relaxation of nonequilibrium electrons are investigated in silver clusters using a two color pump-probe technique with resonant excitation of the surface plasmon resonance and off resonant probing. The excitation process is shown to be identical to that in metal films, and permits creation of a strongly athermal single electron excitation in a time scale shorter than the duration of the pulses (25-30 fs), in agreement with the free-electron absorption model. Following the time evolution of the nonequilibrium distribution yields information on the internal energy redistribution dynamics of the conduction electrons and of its modification by confinement in metal clusters. Received 1st December 2000     

Electromagnetically induced transparency in asymmetric double quantum wells

We show how to compute nonlinear optical absorption spectra of an Asymmetric Double Quantum Well (ADQW) in the region of intersubband electronic transitions. The method uses the microscopic calculation of the dephasing due to electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering rates and the macroscopic real density matrix approach to compute the electromagnetic fields and susceptibilities. The polarization dephasing and the corrections to the Rabi frequencies due to the electron-electron interaction are also taken into account. For a proper choice of the QW widths and of the driving fields we obtain electromagnetically induced transparency. This transparency has a very narrow linewidth when a single driving field is applied resonant to the transition between the second and the third subband. In the case of two resonant driving fields or of a driving field resonant between the first and third subband we obtain a large transparency enhancement over the entire absorption spectrum. Results are given for GaAs/GaAlAs QWs and experiments are proposed. Received 21 June 2001 and Received in final form 21 January 2002     

Novel technique for the measurement of fiber dispersion properties

We present a novel method for measuring the linear and nonlinear dispersion properties of conventional and micro-structured fibers. It is based on the automated compensation of phase modulations using a high-resolution pulse-shaping device. No tunable laser source is required. Received: 20 December 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-3641/947202, E-mail: stobrawa@ioq.uni-jena.de RID="**" ID="**"Present address: Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, G?schwitzer Strasse 51–52, 07745 Jena, Germany     

Wavelength dependence of nonlinear absorption in a bis-phthalocyanine studied using the Z-scan technique

The wavelength dependence of the nonlinear absorption of a bis-phthalocyanine, Nd(Pc)₂, dissolved in dimethyl formamide was studied in the rising part of the Q-band using the open aperture Z-scan technique, to determine the wavelength region over which the nonlinear absorption changes from reverse saturable absorption to saturable absorption. It was found that the sample could be used as a reverse saturable absorber, and hence as an optical limiter, up to a wavelength of about 604 nm. The imaginary part of the third order susceptibility was also calculated for these wavelengths. Resonant enhancement of the imaginary part of the third order susceptibility was clearly observed. Received: 26 April 2002 / Revised version: 30 June 2002 / Published online: 20 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +91-484/576-714, E-mail: kpu@cusat.ac.in RID="**" ID="**"Present address: Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA     

PPLN waveguide for quantum communication

We report on energy-time and time-bin entangled photon-pair sources based on a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. Degenerate twin photons at 1 314 nm wavelength are created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion and coupled into standard telecom fibers. Our PPLN waveguide features a very high conversion efficiency of about 10^-6, roughly 4 orders of magnitude more than that obtained employing bulk crystals [#!Tanzilli01a!#]. Even if using low power laser diodes, this engenders a significant probability for creating two pairs at a time - an important advantage for some quantum communication protocols. We point out a simple means to characterize the pair creation probability in case of a pulsed pump. To investigate the quality of the entangled states, we perform photon-pair interference experiments, leading to visibilities of 97% for the case of energy-time entanglement and of 84% for the case of time-bin entanglement. Although the last figure must still be improved, these tests demonstrate the high potential of PPLN waveguide based sources to become a key element for future quantum communication schemes. Received 13 July 2001     

Solitary waves in the Madelung's fluid: Connection between the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the Korteweg-de Vries equation

An investigation to deepen the connection between the family of nonlinear Schr?dinger equations and the one of Korteweg-de Vries equations is carried out within the context of the Madelung's fluid picture. In particular, under suitable hypothesis for the current velocity, it is proven that the cubic nonlinear Schr?dinger equation, whose solution is a complex wave function, can be put in correspondence with the standard Korteweg-de Vries equation, is such a way that the soliton solutions of the latter are the squared modulus of the envelope soliton solution of the former. Under suitable physical hypothesis for the current velocity, this correspondence allows us to find envelope soliton solutions of the cubic nonlinear Schr?dinger equation, starting from the soliton solutions of the associated Korteweg-de Vries equation. In particular, in the case of constant current velocities, the solitary waves have the amplitude independent of the envelope velocity (which coincides with the constant current velocity). They are bright or dark envelope solitons and have a phase linearly depending both on space and on time coordinates. In the case of an arbitrarily large stationary-profile perturbation of the current velocity, envelope solitons are grey or dark and they relate the velocity u₀ with the amplitude; in fact, they exist for a limited range of velocities and have a phase nonlinearly depending on the combined variable x-u_{0 s} (s being a time-like variable). This novel method in solving the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation starting from the Korteweg-de Vries equation give new insights and represents an alternative key of reading of the dark/grey envelope solitons based on the fluid language. Moreover, a comparison between the solutions found in the present paper and the ones already known in literature is also presented. Received 20 February 2002 and Received in final form 22 April 2002 Published online 6 June 2002     

Scaling of hysteresis in a multi-dimensional all-optical bistable system

We analyse the hysteresis enlargements of an optical bistable system involving three dynamical variables. We investigate, both experimentally and numerically, the local dynamics of the up- and down-switching process versus the sweeping frequency of the control parameter. In particular, we delineate the domain of validity of the scaling law predicted for one-dimensional systems. At high sweeping frequency, we show the appearance of another asymptotic scaling low in . Thereafter, we analyse the global evolution of the hysteresis loop induced by these processes. At low frequency, a scaling law is retrieved, whereas at high frequency, the dynamical behaviour is shown to strongly depend on the particular shape of the bistability curve. Received: 14 September 1998 / Received in final form: 15 February 1999     

Time delay as a key to apoptosis induction in the p53 network

A feedback mechanism that involves the proteins p53 and mdm2, induces cell death as a controlled response to severe DNA damage. A minimal model for this mechanism demonstrates that the response may be dynamic and connected with the time needed to translate the mdm2 protein. The response takes place if the dissociation constant k between p53 and mdm2 varies from its normal value. Although it is widely believed that it is an increase in k that triggers the response, we show that the experimental behaviour is better described by a decrease in the dissociation constant. The response is quite robust upon changes in the parameters of the system, as required by any control mechanism, except for few weak points, which could be connected with the onset of cancer. Received 8 May 2002 / Received in final form 9 July 2002 Published online 17 September 2002     

Quantum structures in traveling-wave spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We analyze theoretically spatial structures appearing in the far diffraction zone of the electromagnetic field emitted in the cavityless parametric down-conversion. We investigate in detail the spatial correlation functions of intensity and demonstrate the existence of strong quantum correlations between the regions of the far field symmetrical with respect to the optical axis. Our simplified model allows us to obtain analytical results for some limiting cases. We demonstrate that in the limit of small diffraction and ideal quantum efficiency of photodetection the noise reduction in the photocurrent difference between symmetrical regions in the far diffraction field becomes complete at zero frequency of photocurrent fluctuations. Received 5 February 2001 and Received in final form 11 April 2001     

Structure of nuclei far from the stability in relativistic approach

The recent progress of the relativistic many-body approach by the group at Peking University will be reviewed. In particular, axially deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov approach in Woods-Saxon basis aiming at halo nucleus, time-odd triaxial RMF approach, the adiabatic and configuration-fixed constrained triaxial RMF approaches, a Reflection ASymmetric RMF (RAS-RMF) approach, and a new relativistic Hartree-Fock (RHF) approach with density-dependent σ,ω,ρ and π meson-nucleon couplings for finite nuclei and nuclear matter, will be highlighted.     

Numerical simulation and experiments of a control method to suppress the Bénard von Kármán instability

We report both two-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental results that confirm the robustness of a new method for inhibiting vortex shedding associated to the Bénard-von Kármán (BvK) instability in the wake of a cylinder. Using the SIMPLER algorithm on a 2D channel, we solve the Navier-Stokes equations and we show that pressure suction at the front stagnation point of a circular cylinder, modelled here through a point sink located at the front stagnation point, can completely suppress the Bénard-von Kármán instability for super-critical Reynolds numbers. Comparison with recent experimental results are in close agreement. Received 7 March 2002 / Received in final form 12 September 2002 Published online 29 November 2002     

Scale-free behavior of the Internet global performance

Measurements and data analysis have proved very effective in the study of the Internet's physical fabric and have shown heterogeneities and statistical fluctuations extending over several orders of magnitude. Here we focus on the relationship between the Round-Trip-Time (RTT) and the geographical distance. We define dimensionless variables that contain information on the quality of Internet connections finding that their probability distributions are characterized by a slow power-law decay signalling the presence of scale-free features. These results point out the extreme heterogeneity of Internet delay since the transmission speed between different points of the network exhibits very large fluctuations. The associated scaling exponents appear to have fairly stable values in different data sets and thus define an invariant characteristic of the Internet that might be used in the future as a benchmark of the overall state of “health” of the Internet. Received 25 January 2003 Published online 7 May 2003     

Spin-wave contributions to nuclear magnetic relaxation in magnetic metals

The longitudinal and transverse nuclear magnetic relaxation rates 1/T ₁(T) and 1/T ₂(T) are calculated for three- and two-dimensional (3D and 2D) metallic ferro- and antiferromagnets (FM and AFM) with localized magnetic moments in the spin-wave temperature region. The contribution of the one-magnon decay processes is strongly enhanced in comparison with the standard T-linear Korringa term, especially for the FM case. For the 3D AFM case this contribution diverges logarithmically, the divergence being cut at the magnon gap ω due to magnetic anisotropy, and for the 2D AFM case as ω^-1. The electron-magnon scattering processes yield T ²ln(T/ω) and T ²/ω^1/2-terms in 1/T ₁ for the 3D AFM and 2D FM cases, respectively. The two-magnon (“Raman”) contributions are investigated and demonstrated to be large in the 2D FM case. Peculiarities of the isotropic 2D limit (where the correlation length is very large) are analyzed. Received 29 November 1999 and Received in final form 6 June 2000     

Random phase approximation and extensions applied to a bosonic field theory

An application of a self-consistent version of RPA to quantum field theory with broken symmetry is presented. Although our approach can be applied to any bosonic field theory, we specifically study the ϕ⁴ theory in 1 + 1 dimensions. We show that the standard RPA approach leads to an instability which can be removed when going to a superior version, i.e. the renormalized RPA. We present a method based on the so-called charging formula of the many-electron problem to calculate the correlation energy and the RPA effective potential. Received: 18 February 2002 / Accepted: 8 May 2002     

Upper bounds on the convective heat transport in a rotating fluid layer of infinite Prandtl number: case of large Taylor numbers

By means of the Howard-Busse method of the optimum theory of turbulence we obtain upper bounds on the convective heat transport in a horizontal fluid layer heated from below and rotating about a vertical axis. We consider the interval of large Taylor numbers where the intermediate layers of the optimum fields expand in the direction of the corresponding internal layers. We consider the 1 - α-solution of the arising variational problem for the cases of rigid-stress-free, stress-free, and rigid boundary conditions. For each kind of boundary condition we discuss four cases: two cases where the boundary layers are thinner than the Ekman layers of the optimum field and two cases where the boundary layers are thicker than the Ekman layers. In most cases we use an improved solution of the Euler-Lagrange equations of the variational problem for the intermediate layers of the optimum fields. This solution leads to corrections of the thicknesses of the boundary layers of the optimum fields and to lower upper bounds on the convective heat transport in comparison to the bounds obtained by Chan [J. Fluid Mech. 64, 477 (1974)] and Hunter and Riahi [J. Fluid Mech. 72, 433 (1975)]. Compared to the existing experimental data for the case of a fluid layer with rigid boundaries the corresponding upper bounds on the convective heat transport is less than two times larger than the experimental results, the corresponding upper bound on the convective heat transport, obtained by Hunter and Riahi is about 10% higher than the bound obtained in this article. When Rayleigh number and Taylor number are high enough the upper bound on the convective heat transport ceases to depend on the boundary conditions. Received 30 January 2001 and Received in final form 28 May 2001     

Control of bond-selective photochemistry in CH BrCl using adaptive femtosecond pulse shaping

Adaptive femtosecond laser pulse shaping is employed to achieve bond selective photodissociation/photoionization of CH₂ClBr in the gas phase. The photoproduct signal measured in a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer is used as feedback to improve iteratively the spectral phases of the laser pulse via an evolutionary algorithm. We observe an increase of the fission of the stronger versus the weaker carbon halogen bond by 100%. Single parameter control schemes proved unable to achieve bond-selectivity. The complexity of the control problem is addressed by mapping it onto the well-known problem of maximizing second-harmonic generation (SHG). Further spectroscopic results indicate that the control involves manipulation of wave-packet dynamics on the neutral surfaces. Received 21 December 2001 / Received in final form 2 April 2002 Published online 28 June 2002