Neutron Matter Wave Quantum Optics

Neutron matter-wave optics provides the basis for new quantum experiments and a step towards applications of quantum phenomena. Most experiments have been performed with a perfect crystal neutron interferometer where widely separated coherent beams can be manipulated individually. Various geometric phases have been measured and their robustness against fluctuation effects has been proven, which may become a useful property for advanced quantum communication. Quantum contextuality for single particle systems shows that quantum correlations are to some extent more demanding than classical ones. In this case entanglement between external and internal degrees of freedom offers new insights into basic laws of quantum physics. Non-contextuality hidden variable theories can be rejected by arguments based on the Kochen-Specker theorem.     

Photoinduced effects in nematic liquid crystals

Temperature, concentration of the solvent and pressure are the parameters that are well known to bring about phase transitions in liquid-crystalline systems. In recent years a new parameter has been added to this list: light. The principle behind these photoinduced transitions is the light-driven shape transformation of certain photoactive materials like, e.g., azobenzene. In this article, we present results of various aspects of our recent investigations on such photoinduced transitions in the nematic phase and highlight the feature that light is a new tool to study phase transitions and the associated critical phenomena.     

Semi‐Classical Model of Strongly Correlated Coulomb Systems in Weak Magnetic Field

The integer and fractional quantum Hall effects are two remarkable macroscopic quantum phenomena occurring in two‐dimensional strongly correlated electronic systems at high magnetic fields and low temperatures. Quantization of Hall resistivity in the very high magnetic field regime at partial filling of the lowest Landau level indicates the stabilization of an electronic liquid quantum Hall phase of matter. Other interesting phases that differ from the quantum Hall phases take prominence in weaker magnetic fields when many more Landau levels are filled. These states manifest anisotropic magneto‐transport properties and, under certain conditions, appear to mimic charge density waves and/or liquid crystalline phases. One way to understand such a behavior has been in terms of effective interaction potentials confined to the highest Landau level partially filled with electrons. In this work we show that, for weak magnetic fields, such a quantum treatment of these strongly correlated Coulomb systems resembles a semi‐classical model of rotating electrons in which the time‐averaged interaction potential can be expressed solely in terms of guiding center coordinates. We discuss how the features of this semi‐classical effective potential may affect the stability of various strongly correlated electronic phases in the weak magnetic field regime (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Nonequilibrium relaxation method — an alternative simulation strategy

One well-established simulation strategy to study the thermal phases and transitions of a given microscopic model system is the so-called equilibrium method, in which one first realizes the equilibrium ensemble of a finite system and then extrapolates the results to infinite system. This equilibrium method traces over the standard theory of the thermal statistical mechanics, and over the idea of the thermodynamic limit. Recently, an alternative simulation strategy has been developed, which analyzes the nonequilibrium relaxation (NER) process. It is called theNER method. NER method has some advantages over the equilibrium method. The NER method provides a simpler analyzing procedure. This implies less systematic error which is inevitable in the simulation and provides efficient resource usage. The NER method easily treats not only the thermodynamic limit but also other limits, for example, non-Gibbsian nonequilibrium steady states. So the NER method is also relevant for new fields of the statistical physics. Application of the NER method have been expanding to various problems: from basic first- and second-order transitions to advanced and exotic phases like chiral, KT spin-glass and quantum phases. These studies have provided, not only better estimations of transition point and exponents, but also qualitative developments. For example, the universality class of a random system, the nature of the two-dimensional melting and the scaling behavior of spin-glass aging phenomena have been clarified.     

Quantum computational capability of a 2D valence bond solid phase

Quantum phases of naturally-occurring systems exhibit distinctive collective phenomena as manifestation of their many-body correlations, in contrast to our persistent technological challenge to engineer at will such strong correlations artificially. Here we show theoretically that quantum correlations exhibited in the 2D valence bond solid phase of a quantum antiferromagnet, modeled by Affleck, Kennedy, Lieb, and Tasaki (AKLT) as a precursor of spin liquids and topological orders, are sufficiently complex yet structured enough to simulate universal quantum computation when every single spin can be measured individually. This unveils that an intrinsic complexity of naturally-occurring 2D quantum systems—which has been a long-standing challenge for traditional computers—could be tamed as a computationally valuable resource, even if we are limited not to create newly entanglement during computation. Our constructive protocol leverages a novel way to herald the correlations suitable for deterministic quantum computation through a random sampling, and may be extensible to other ground states of various 2D valence bond phases beyond the AKLT state.     

Hyperfine-structure measurements and new levels evaluation in singly ionized praseodymium

Results of systematic studies of the hyperfine structure of singly ionized praseodymium are presented. For many of the known energy levels the hyperfine constants A and B have been measured more precisely and found consistent with previous literature data. Identification of some new energy levels has also been performed. The hyperfine structure of some unclassified lines has been recorded by the method of laser induced fluorescence in a hollow cathode discharge. J quantum numbers and A-values for upper and lower levels have been determined. Identification has been achieved through comparison of the obtained results with those for known levels. Three new low-lying levels in singly ionized praseodymium have been discovered. Some of the recorded unclassified lines involve two new levels and their identification requires further investigations. Received 28 February 2001 and Received in final form 3 July 2001     

Quantum percolation in two-dimensional antiferromagnets

The interplay of geometric randomness and strong quantum fluctuations is an exciting topic in quantum many-body physics, leading to the emergence of novel quantum phases in strongly correlated electron systems. Recent investigations have focused on the case of homogeneous site and bond dilution in the quantum antiferromagnet on the square lattice, reporting a classical geometric percolation transition between magnetic order and disorder. In this study we show how inhomogeneous bond dilution leads to percolative quantum phase transitions, which we have studied extensively by quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Quantum percolation introduces a new class of two-dimensional spin liquids, characterized by an infinite percolating network with vanishing antiferromagnetic order parameter.     

GEOMETRIC PHASES AND SCHR?DINGER''S CAT STATE

A matrix method is presented for treating the dynamical phases, adiabatic phases and nonadiabatic phases of quantum superposition states. It is effective for any parameter-varying Hamiltonian system. As two examples, the evolution of mass-varying harmonic oscillator and the evolution of coherent states under parameter-varying displaced operator have been studied, Some new phenomena are obtained in the first case and the possible producing of so-called Schr?dinger's cat state by geometric phases is pointed out. The quantum state useful for the quantum optical verification of Berry's phase is introduced.     

GEOMETRIC PHASES AND SCHR?DINGER'S CAT STATE

A matrix method is presented for treating the dynamical phases, adiabatic phases and nonadiabatic phases of quantum superposition states. It is effective for any parameter-varying Hamiltonian system. As two examples, the evolution of mass-varying harmonic oscillator and the evolution of coherent states under parameter-varying displaced operator have been studied, Some new phenomena are obtained in the first case and the possible producing of so-called Schr?dinger's cat state by geometric phases is pointed out. The quantum state useful for the quantum optical verification of Berry's phase is introduced.     

State-Independent Geometric Quantum Gates via Nonadiabatic and Noncyclic Evolution

Geometric phases are robust to local noises and the nonadiabatic ones can reduce the evolution time, thus nonadiabatic geometric gates have strong robustness and can approach high fidelity. However, the advantage of geometric phase has not been fully explored in previous investigations. Here,a scheme is proposed for universal quantum gates with pure nonadiabatic and noncyclic geometric phases from smooth evolution paths. In the scheme, only geometric phase can be accumulated in a fast way, and thus it not only fully utilizes the local noise resistant property of geometric phase but also reduces the difficulty in experimental realization. Numerical results show that the implemented geometric gates have stronger robustness than dynamical gates and the geometric scheme with cyclic path. Furthermore, it proposes to construct universal quantum gate on superconducting circuits, with the fidelities of single-qubit gate and nontrivial two-qubit gate can achieve 99.97% and 99.87%, respectively. Therefore, these high-fidelity quantum gates are promising for large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computation.     

非线性频率转换新原理新平台与新应用研究

作为最早发现的非线性光学现象之一,非线性频率转换经过几十年的发展,从原理到应用均已不断成熟。非线性频率转换过程中新的相位匹配原理被不断提出和实现。除此之外,随着集成光学、结构光子学及量子光学等领域的不断发展,非线性频率转换在各领域的研究和应用又重新焕发活力,并发挥着不可替代的作用。本篇综述围绕非线性频率转换主题,突出非线性频率转换的新原理、新平台与新应用研究,并以本团队研究成果为基础,介绍相关领域的研究进展,主要分为以下几个方面:非线性界面相位匹配新原理;结构光场非线性谐波调控;铌酸锂薄膜集成非线性光学新平台;单光子频率转换、光量子接口等新应用。     

Broken quantum symmetry and confinement phases in planar physics

Many two-dimensional physical systems have symmetries which are mathematically described by quantum groups (quasitriangular Hopf algebras). In this Letter we introduce the concept of a spontaneously broken Hopf symmetry and show that it provides an effective tool for analyzing a wide variety of phases exhibiting many distinct confinement phenomena.     

Quantum Parrondo’s Games Under Decoherence

We study the effect of quantum noise on history dependent quantum Parrondo’s games by taking into account different noise channels. Our calculations show that entanglement can play a crucial role in quantum Parrondo’s games. It is seen that for the maximally entangled initial state in the presence of decoherence, the quantum phases strongly influence the payoffs for various sequences of the game. The effect of amplitude damping channel leads to winning payoffs. Whereas the depolarizing and phase damping channels lead to the losing payoffs. In case of amplitude damping channel, the payoffs are enhanced in the presence of decoherence for the sequence AAB. This is because the quantum phases interfere constructively which leads to the quantum enhancement of the payoffs in comparison to the undecohered case. It is also seen that the quantum phase angles damp the payoffs significantly in the presence of decoherence. Furthermore, it is seen that for multiple games of sequence AAB, under the influence of amplitude damping channel, the game still remains a winning game. However, the quantum enhancement reduces in comparison to the single game of sequence AAB because of the destructive interference of phase dependent terms. In case of depolarizing channel, the game becomes a loosing game. It is seen that for the game sequence B the game is loosing one and the behavior of sequences B and BB is similar for amplitude damping and depolarizing channels. In addition, the repeated games of A are only influenced by the amplitude damping channel and the game remains a losing game. Furthermore, it is also seen that for any sequence when played in series, the phase damping channel does not influence the game.     

Controllable simulation of topological phases and edge states with quantum walk

We simulate various topological phenomena in condense matter, such as formation of different topological phases, boundary and edge states, through two types of quantum walk with step-dependent coins. Particularly, we show that one-dimensional quantum walk with step-dependent coin simulates all types of topological phases in BDI family, as well as all types of boundary and edge states. In addition, we show that step-dependent coins provide the number of steps as a controlling factor over the simulations. In fact, with tuning number of steps, we can determine the occurrences of boundary, edge states and topological phases, their types and where they should be located. These two features make quantum walks versatile and highly controllable simulators of topological phases, boundary, edge states, and topological phase transitions. We also report on emergences of cell-like structures for simulated topological phenomena. Each cell contains all types of boundary (edge) states and topological phases of BDI family.     

K-causal structure of space-time in general relativity

Using K-causal relation introduced by Sorkin and Woolgar [1], we generalize results of Garcia-Parrado and Senovilla [2,3] on causal maps. We also introduce causality conditions with respect to K-causality which are analogous to those in classical causality theory and prove their inter-relationships. We introduce a new causality condition following the work of Bombelli and Noldus [4] and show that this condition lies in between global hyperbolicity and causal simplicity. This approach is simpler and more general as compared to traditional causal approach [5,6] and it has been used by Penrose et al [7] in giving a new proof of positivity of mass theorem. C ⁰-space-time structures arise in many mathematical and physical situations like conical singularities, discontinuous matter distributions, phenomena of topology-change in quantum field theory etc.      

High-Field Phenomena of Qubits

Electron and nuclear spins are very promising candidates to serve as quantum bits (qubits) for proposed quantum computers, as the spin degrees of freedom are relatively isolated from their surroundings and can be coherently manipulated, e.g., through pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). For solid-state spin systems, impurities in crystals based on carbon and silicon in various forms have been suggested as qubits, and very long relaxation rates have been observed in such systems. We have investigated a variety of these systems at high magnetic fields in our multifrequency pulsed EPR/ENDOR (electron nuclear double resonance) spectrometer. A high magnetic field leads to large electron spin polarizations at helium temperatures, giving rise to various phenomena that are of interest with respect to quantum computing. For example, it allows the initialization of both the electron spin as well as hyperfine-coupled nuclear spins in a well-defined state by combining millimeter and radio-frequency radiation. It can increase the T ₂ relaxation times by eliminating decoherence due to dipolar interaction and lead to new mechanisms for the coherent electrical readout of electron spins. We will show some examples of these and other effects in Si:P, SiC:N and nitrogen-related centers in diamond.     

A three body approach to study the structural properties of 2-n halo nuclei and the search for Efimov states

The discovery of neutron rich isotopes of the lightest elements on the neutron drip line exhibiting a halo structure has opened up new vistas in research activities. The novel structural features associated with the halo phenomena have been the subject for extensive theoretical and experimental investigations in recent times. In this talk, I propose to present a broad overview of the recent developments in this field, bringing out the striking features which show that a large number oflight nuclei near the neutron drip line are characterized by a clear separation between a ‘normal’ core nucleus and a loosely bound low density veil of neutrons. Specifically, the two neutron halos offer a natural premises, from a theoretical standpoint, to employ three body techniques for studying their detailed structural properties. A considerable part of the talk will be devoted to report and highlight the results on a number of light halo nuclei such as ¹¹Li, ¹¹Be, ¹⁹B and ²²C on which we have been carrying out investigations employing a simple but realistic three body model. These three body systems which have been termed as ‘Borromean’ (i.e while three body systems are bound, the corresponding binary subsystems on the other hand are unbound) are characterized by large spacial extension and very low separation energy of the neutron. They are, therefore, ideally suited for exploring the possibility of the existence of Efimov states in two neutron halo nuclei. We have recently carried out the three body analyses to predict the possibility of the occurrence of such states on which experimental work at various laboratories is underway.     

Simulation of n-qubit quantum systems: A computer-algebraic approach

During the last decade, the field of quantum computation has attracted a lot of interest and motivated many theoretical and experimental studies of n-qubit quantum systems. But apart from the promise of more efficient quantum algorithms, these investigations also revealed a number of obstacles which still have to be overcome in practice. In this context, the use of simulation programs has proved to be an appropriate method. In order to facilitate the simulation of n-qubit quantum systems, we present the Feynman software program to provide the necessary tools to define and to deal with quantum registers as well as the operators acting on them. Using an interactive design within the framework of the computer algebra system Maple, we hope that the Feynman software program will be useful not only for teaching the basic elements of quantum computing but also for studying their physical realization in the future. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

High pressure studies on α-cristobalite form of Al0.5Ga0.5PO4: hydrostatic versus non-hydrostatic conditions

High pressure angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction investigations have been carried out on α-cristobalite form of Al_0.5Ga_0.5PO₄. Our investigations show that the structural stability of this phase under high pressure depends on the nature of pressure conditions in the diamond anvil cell. Under hydrostatic pressure conditions using neon as a pressure transmitting medium, ambient orthorhombic C222₁ phase transforms to orthorhombic Cmcm phase at 4.9?GPa. The high pressure Cmcm phase remains stable up to the highest pressure in the experiment, i.e. 19?GPa. The values of bulk modulus for C222₁ and Cmcm phases are 19(2) and 126(4)?GPa, respectively. In contrast to this, under non-hydrostatic pressure conditions, transformation of ambient C222₁ phase to Cmcm phase has not observed up to 17.4?GPa. Instead, a new monoclinic phase P2₁ is observed which contains layers of six coordinated Al/Ga ions separated by less dense five coordinated Al/Ga ions.     

Novel properties of wave propagation in biaxially anisotropic left‐handed materials

Some physically interesting properties and effects (including the quantum effects) of wave propagation in biaxially anisotropic left‐handed materials are investigated in this paper: (i) we show that in the biaxially gyrotropic left‐handed material, the left‐right coupling of circularly polarized light arises due to the negative indices in permittivity and permeability tensors of gyrotropic media; (ii) it is well known that the geometric phases of photons inside a curved fiber in previous experiments often depend on the cone angles of solid angles subtended by a curve traced by the direction of wave vector of light, at the center of photon momentum space. Here, however, for the light propagating inside certain anisotropic left‐handed media we will present a different geometric phase that is independent of the cone angles; (iii) the extra phases of electromagnetic wave resulting from the instantaneous helicity inversion at the interfaces between left‐ and right‐handed (LRH) media is also studied in detail by using the Lewis‐Riesenfeld invariant theory. Some interesting applications (e.g., controllable position‐dependent frequency shift, detection of quantum‐vacuum geometric phases and helicity reversals at the LRH interfaces etc.) of above effects and phenomena in left‐handed media is briefly discussed.