Quantum light storage in rare-earth-ion-doped solids

The reversible transfer of unknown quantum states between light and matter is essential for constructing large-scale quantum networks. Over the last decade, various physical systems have been proposed to realize such quantum memory for light. The solid-state quantum memory based on rare-earth-ion-doped solids has the advantages of a reduced setup complexity and high robustness for scalable application. We describe the methods used to spectrally prepare the quantum memory and release the photonic excitation on-demand. We will review the state of the art experiments and discuss the perspective applications of this particular system in both quantum information science and fundamental tests of quantum physics.     

Cavity-enhanced light scattering in optical lattices to probe atomic quantum statistics

Different quantum states of atoms in optical lattices can be nondestructively monitored by off-resonant collective light scattering into a cavity. Angle resolved measurements of photon number and variance give information about atom-number fluctuations and pair correlations without single-site access. Observation at angles of diffraction minima provides information on quantum fluctuations insensitive to classical noise. For transverse probing, no photon is scattered into a cavity from a Mott insulator phase, while the photon number is proportional to the atom number for a superfluid.     

Optimum quantum state of light for gravitational-wave interferometry

The laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors are sensitive to the quantum state of light employed in the dark port of interferometric system. In this paper a general quantum state for the dark input port is assumed. The quantum state of light is expanded versus the Fock states. The quantum noise of interferometric system is computed as a function of the quantum state of light. The variational method and the genetic algorithm are employed to determine the coefficients of the dark input port and the laser input power for the minimization of the quantum noise. Calculation shows that the optimum quantum state for the dark input port is very close to the vacuum squeezed state. For this optimum quantum state the quantum noise and optimum laser power reduces one order of magnitude relative to the conventional interferometer.     

Physical bounds to the entropy-depolarization relation in random light scattering

We present a theoretical study of multimode scattering of light by optically random media, using the Mueller-Stokes formalism which permits us to encode all the polarization properties of the scattering medium in a real 4 x 4 matrix. From this matrix two relevant parameters can be extracted: the depolarizing power D(M) and the polarization entropy E(M) of the scattering medium. By studying the relation between E(M) and D(M), we find that all scattering media must satisfy some universal constraints. These constraints apply to both classical and quantum scattering processes. The results obtained here may be especially relevant for quantum communication applications, where depolarization is synonymous with decoherence.     

Squeezed states of light as self-similar structures

A new approach to investigating a broad class of dynamic states for a quantum oscillator is suggested. It is based on an invariant transformation of the equation to a new time determined by the quantum dispersion of the corresponding state. The squeezed states of a quantum system generated by the ground-state wave function are constructed. In coordinate representation, these states are described by a self-similar wave function localized near a classical trajectory. The statistics of the squeezed state of light is analyzed in the single-mode approximation. The parametric excitation of squeezed states for a quantum harmonic oscillator is considered.     

Fundamental quantum limit to the multiphoton absorption rate for monochromatic light

The local multiphoton absorption rate for an arbitrary quantum state of monochromatic light, taking into account the photon number, momentum, and polarization degrees of freedom, is shown to have an upper bound that can be reached by coherent fields. This surprising result rules out any quantum enhancement of the multiphoton absorption rate by momentum entanglement.     

Quantum stochastic differential equation for squeezed light

In this paper, the quantum stochastic differential equation (QSDE) is derived which is based on explanatory for interaction of open quantum system with squeezed quantum noise. This equation describes the stochastic evolution of unitary operator and is used to compute the evolution of quantum observable and output field. Our QSDE has complete form with respect to previous QSDE for squeezed light, because it bears three fundamental quantum noises for its evolution and the scattering between quantum channels is included. Meanwhile, when squeezed noise reduces to vacuum noise, our QSDE reveals the famous Hudson-Parthasarathy QSDE. Our equations may have application for quantum network analysis of squeezed noise interferometer for gravitational wave detection.     

Transfer of quantum correlations from light to atoms in the case of irreversible evolution

We consider the irreversible dynamics of two two-level atoms that interact with a bipartite broad-band electromagnetic field in an entangled state that forms a heat bath with a quantum correlation. Using Ito’s stochastic integration technique, we have derived a kinetic equation for atoms and found their steady state, which turns out to be inseparable and leads to a violation of Bell’s inequalities. The application of the atomic state found as a quantum channel for teleportation is considered. We have calculated the channel quality or fidelity that determines the possibilities for using the channel, in particular, characterizes its security. The process of teleportation by means of a quantum channel formed by an entangled heat bath is considered. Comparison of two (atomic and light) channels has shown that they have different properties with regard to separability and identical properties with regard to nonlocality. This means that nonlocality can be completely transferred from light to atoms.     

Coherent transfer of light polarization to electron spins in a semiconductor

We demonstrate that the superposition of light polarization states is coherently transferred to electron spins in a semiconductor quantum well. By using time-resolved Kerr rotation, we observe the initial phase of Larmor precession of electron spins whose coherence is transferred from light. To break the electron-hole spin entanglement, we utilized the big discrepancy between the transverse g factors of electrons and light-holes. The result encourages us to make a quantum media converter between flying photon qubits and stationary electron-spin qubits in semiconductors.     

Evolution of entanglement between distinguishable light states

We investigate the evolution of quantum correlations over the lifetime of a multiphoton state. Measurements reveal time-dependent oscillations of the entanglement fidelity for photon pairs created by a single semiconductor quantum dot. The oscillations are attributed to the phase acquired in the intermediate, nondegenerate, exciton-photon state and are consistent with simulations. We conclude that emission of photon pairs by a typical quantum dot with finite polarization splitting is in fact entangled in a time-evolving state, and not classically correlated as previously regarded.     

Wolf equations for two-photon light

The spatiotemporal two-photon probability amplitude that describes light in a two-photon entangled state obeys equations identical to the Wolf equations, which are satisfied by the mutual coherence function for light in any quantum state. Both functions therefore propagate similarly through optical systems. A generalized van Cittert-Zernike theorem explains the predicted enhancement in resolution for entangled-photon microscopy and quantum lithography. The Wolf equations provide a particularly powerful analytical tool for studying three-dimensional imaging and lithography since they describe propagation in continuous inhomogeneous media.     

Spatial quantum correlations in multiple scattered light

We predict a new spatial quantum correlation in light propagating through a multiple scattering random medium. The correlation depends on the quantum state of the light illuminating the medium, is infinite in range, and dominates over classical mesoscopic intensity correlations. The spatial quantum correlation is revealed in the quantum fluctuations of the total transmission or reflection through the sample and should be readily observable experimentally.     

Quantum coherent versus classical coherent light

The paper shows that the Wigner distribution function of quantum optical coherent states, or of a superposition of such states, can be produced and measured with a classical optical set-up using classical coherent light fields. This measurement cannot be done directly in quantum optics since the quantum phase space variables correspond to non-commuting operators. As an example, the Wigner distribution function of Schrödinger cat states of light has been measured. It is also shown that the possibility of measuring the Wigner distribution function of quantum coherent states with classical coherent fields is unique in the sense that it cannot be extended to other quantum states, not even to the incoherent limit of the superposition of coherent states.     

Quantum state transfer between light and matter via teleportation

Quantum teleportation is an interesting feature of quantum mechanics. Entanglement is used as a link between two remote locations to transfer a quantum state without physically sending it – a process that cannot be realized utilizing merely classical tools. Furthermore it has become evident that teleportation is also an important element of future quantum networks and it can be an ingredient for quantum computation. This article reports for the first time the teleportation from light to atoms. In the experiment discussed, the quantum state of a light beam is transferred to an atomic ensemble. The key element of light‐atom entanglement created via a dispersive interaction lays the foundation for the protocol.     

光和原子关联与量子计量

物理量的测量与单位标准的统一推动了计量学的发展.量子力学的建立,激光技术的发明以及原子与分子物理学的发展,在原理与技术上进一步刷新了计量学的研究内涵,特别是激光干涉与原子频标技术的发展,引起了计量学革命性的飞跃.基于激光干涉的引力波测量、激光陀螺仪,基于原子干涉的原子钟、原子陀螺仪等精密测量技术相继诞生,一个以量子物理为基础,探索与开拓物理量精密测量方法与技术的新的科学分支——量子计量学(Quantum Metrology)已然兴起.干涉是计量学中最常用的相位测量方法.量子干涉技术,其相位测量精度能够突破标准量子极限的限制,是量子计量学与量子测量技术的核心研究内容.本文重点介绍近几年我们在量子干涉方面所取得的新开拓与新发展,主要内容包括基于原子系综中四波混频过程的SU(1,1)型光量子关联干涉仪和基于原子系综中拉曼散射过程的光-原子混合干涉仪.     

An introduction to quantum order, string-net condensation, and emergence of light and fermions

We review some recent work on new states of matter. Those states cannot be described by symmetry breaking and hence contain a new kind of order—quantum order. Some quantum orders are shown to be closely related to string-net condensations. Those quantum orders lead to an emergence of gauge bosons and fermions from pure bosonic models.     

Hybrid quantum repeater using bright coherent light

We describe a quantum repeater protocol for long-distance quantum communication. In this scheme, entanglement is created between qubits at intermediate stations of the channel by using a weak dispersive light-matter interaction and distributing the outgoing bright coherent-light pulses among the stations. Noisy entangled pairs of electronic spin are then prepared with high success probability via homodyne detection and postselection. The local gates for entanglement purification and swapping are deterministic and measurement-free, based upon the same coherent-light resources and weak interactions as for the initial entanglement distribution. Finally, the entanglement is stored in a nuclear-spin-based quantum memory. With our system, qubit-communication rates approaching 100 Hz over 1280 km with fidelities near 99% are possible for reasonable local gate errors.     

Continuous-variable quantum information processing with squeezed states of light

We investigate experiments of continuous-variable quantum information processing based on the teleportation scheme. Quantum teleportation, which is realized by a two-mode squeezed vacuum state and measurement-and-feedforward, is considered as an elementary quantum circuit as well as quantum communication. By modifying ancilla states or measurement-and-feedforwards, we can realize various quantum circuits which suffice for universal quantum computation. In order to realize the teleportation-based computation we improve the level of squeezing, and fidelity of teleportation. With a high-fidelity teleporter we demonstrate some advanced teleportation experiments, i.e., teleportation of a squeezed state and sequential teleportation of a coherent state. Moreover, as an example of the teleportation-based computation, we build a QND interaction gate which is a continuous-variable analog of a CNOT gate. A QND interaction gate is constructed only with ancillary squeezed vacuum states and measurement-and-feedforwards. We also create continuous-variable four mode cluster type entanglement for further application, namely, one-way quantum computation.     

Fast light, slow light, and phase singularities: a connection to generalized weak values

We demonstrate that Aharonov-Albert-Vaidman weak values have a direct relationship with the response function of a system, and have a much wider range of applicability in both the classical and quantum domains than previously thought. Using this idea, we have built an optical system, based on a birefringent photonic crystal, with an infinite number of weak values. In this system, the propagation speed of a polarized light pulse displays both superluminal and slow light behavior with a sharp transition between the two regimes. We show that this system's response possesses two-dimensional, vortex-antivortex phase singularities. Important consequences for optical signal processing are discussed.     

Time-modulated entangled states of light

We investigate time-modulated EPR entangled states and intensity quantum correlation of twin light beams in application to time-resolved quantum communication. As a proper device generating such states, the nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator driven by the time-modulated pump field is considered. The text was submitted by the authors in English.