Photon-photon elastic scattering in the visible domain

We are investigating the direct detection of photon-photon elastic scattering at optical energies. In a first experiment using two high-intensity pulsed laser beams, we have explored the feasibility of the method, and in particular the rejection of back-ground noise. We obtained an upper limit of the photon-photon elastic scattering cross section at 95% confidence level of 10^?39 cm². This limit can be lowered by twenty orders of magnitude by stimulating the scattering by a third beam, and by using high repetition rate existing lasers.     

The nonlinear effects of quantum electrodynamics at high energies

In this paper we considere ⁺ e ^? scattering with intermediate photon-photon scattering as a possibility for getting information about the nonlinear effects of quantum electrodynamics (QED) at high energies. This process is a higher-order correction to double bremsstrahlung. However, these two processes have quite different behaviour with the photon-photon scattering angle. Here we calculate the unpolarized differential cross section of thee ⁺ e ^? scattering with intermediate γγ scattering and also the interference terms with the double bremsstrahlung. Moreover, we show that the sum of these two contributions predominates over the contribution of the double bremsstrahlung for sufficiently large scattering angles of the photons. This result enables us to extract the differential cross section of the γγ scattering. Through extrapolation to different kinematical conditions we can get the cross sections for nearly real photon-photon scattering, photon splitting and Delbrück scattering. As a quantitative example we use the result for a test of the electron propagator in a gauge-invariant way with the usual minimal interaction. We give also numerical examples of this test, which will improve the present values of the testing parameters.     

Superfluidity of coherent light in self-focusing nonlinear waveguides

We establish the superfluidity theory of coherent light in waveguides made of nonlinear polar crystals.It is found that the pairing state of photons in a nonlinear polar crystal is the photonic superfluid state.The photon-photon interaction potential is an attractive effective interaction by exchange of virtual optical phonons.In the traveling-wave pairing state of photons,the photon number is conserved,which is similar to the Bose-Einstein condensation(BEC) state of photons.In analogy to the BCS-BEC crossover theory of superconductivity,we derive a set of coupled order parameter and number equations,which determine the solution of the traveling-wave superfluid state of photons.This solution gives the critical velocity of light in a self-focusing nonlinear waveguide.The most important property of the photonic superfluid state is that the system of photon pairs evolves without scattering attenuations.     

Photon Emissions from a Spinor Bose–Einstein Condensate of Positroniums

We investigate the quantum dynamics of the decay of a multiple-component positronium condensate into pairs of photons. A positronium atom has four internal spin states which are interconvertible through s-wave interactions. The quantum fields of all spin states of positroniums and photons are simulated from first principle in quasi-one-dimensional system using the truncated Wigner method. This method warrants us a full treatment of the depletion of positronium fields and the spin mixing induced by s-wave collisions between positronium atoms. Particularly,it yields the momentum spectrum of the emitted photons and the photon-photon correlations.     

Ultraviolet and soft X-ray photon-photon elastic scattering in an electron gas

We have considered the processes which lead to elastic scattering between two far ultraviolet or X-ray photons while they propagate inside a solid, modeled as a simple electron gas. The new ingredient, with respect to the standard theory of photon-photon scattering in vacuum, is the presence of low-energy, nonrelativistic electron-hole excitations. Owing to the existence of two-photon vertices, the scattering processes in the metal are predominantly of second order, as opposed to fourth order for the vacuum case. The main processes in second order are dominated by exchange of virtual plasmons between the two photons. For two photons of similar energy , this gives rise to a cross section rising like ² up to maximum of around 10^–32 cm², and then decreasing like ^–6. The maximal cross section is found for the photon wavevectorkk _F , the Fermi surface size, which typically means a photon energy in the keV range. Possible experiments aimed at checking the existence of these rare but seemingly measurable elastic photon-photon scattering processes are discussed, using in particular intense synchrotron sources.     

Generation of photon pairs in dispersion shift fibers through spontaneous four wave mixing: Influence of self-phase modulation

Correlated signal and idler photon pairs with small detuning in the telecom band can be generated through spontaneous four-wave mixing in dispersion shift fibers. However, photons originated from other nonlinear processes in optical fibers, such as Raman scattering and self-phase modulation, may contaminate the photon pairs. It has been proved that photons produced by Raman scattering are the background noise of photon pairs. Here we show that photons induced by self-phase modulation of pump pulses are another origin of background noise. After studying the dependence of self-phase modulation induced photons in signal and idler bands, we demonstrate that the quantum correlation of photon pairs can be degraded by the self-phase modulation effect. The investigations are useful for characterizing and optimizing an all fiber source of photon pairs.     

Ion-trap quantum information processing: Experimental status

Atomic ions trapped in ultra-high vacuum form an especially well-understood and useful physical system for quantum information processing. They provide excellent shielding of quantum information from environmental noise, while strong, well-controlled laser interactions readily provide quantum logic gates. A number of basic quantum information protocols have been demonstrated with trapped ions. Much current work aims at the construction of large-scale ion-trap quantum computers using complex microfabricated trap arrays. Several groups are also actively pursuing quantum interfacing of trapped ions with photons.     

Ion-trap quantum information processing:experimental status

Atomic ions trapped in ultra-high vacuum form an especially well-understood and useful physical system for quantum information processing. They provide excellent shielding of quantum information from environmental noise, while strong, well-controlled laser interactions readily provide quantum logic gates. A number of basic quantum information protocols have been demonstrated with trapped ions. Much current work aims at the construction of large-scale ion-trap quantum computers using complex microfabricated trap arrays. Several groups are also actively pursuing quantum interfacing of trapped ions with photons.      

Photon-photon interactions via Rydberg blockade

We develop the theory of light propagation under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency in systems involving strongly interacting Rydberg states. Taking into account the quantum nature and the spatial propagation of light, we analyze interactions involving few-photon pulses. We show that this system can be used for the generation of nonclassical states of light including trains of single photons with an avoided volume between them, for implementing photon-photon gates, as well as for studying many-body phenomena with strongly correlated photons.     

Perspective to search for sub-eV neutral boson resonances with stimulated laser colliders

We present a novel approach to search for sub-eV neutral bosons coupling to two photons which can be candidates for dark fields in the universe. Similarly to conventional particle colliders, the search aims at detection of resonance states of these dark fields produced by photon-photon scattering, however, the interaction rate is enhanced by the stimulated decay of resonances into two photons under a background coherent laser field. We discuss the future experimental strategy to explore a large mass-coupling parameter space with high-intensity lasers.     

High transparency of a two-photon scattering channel in triple-barrier structures

An analytical solution of the Schrödinger equation with open boundary conditions in all scattering channels has been found for asymmetric triple-barrier resonance-tunneling structures with thin high barriers. This solution describes resonance transitions between three quantum levels in a high rf electric field. It is found that, under certain conditions, most electrons incident on the upper resonance level can emit two photons and leave a structure through the lower level without intermediate interaction with phonons. The structure appears to be almost absolutely transparent in a wide range of the rf field amplitude. This behavior fundamentally distinguishes the multiphoton scattering process from previously considered single-photon scattering processes and the quantum efficiency of such transitions can be twice as high as the maximum quantum efficiency of the transitions between neighboring levels and can reach a value of 160% in the limiting case.     

原子系综中光学腔增强的Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller写过程激发实验

原子系综中的Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller(DLCZ)过程是产生光与原子(量子界面)量子关联和纠缠的重要手段.当一束写光与原子发生作用时,将会产生斯托克斯(Stokes)光子的自发拉曼散射,并同时产生一个自旋波(spin-wave)存储在原子系综中,上述过程即为DLCZ量子记忆产生过程.这一过程被广泛地研究.本文将87Rb原子系综放入驻波腔,并使Stokes光子与光学腔共振,我们观察到有腔且锁定的情况下Stokes光子产生概率比无腔时增大了8.7倍.在此条件下研究了Stokes光子产生概率和写光功率的关系,Stokes光子产生概率随写光功率线性增大.     

Quantum interference in Mössbauer scattering spectra

The role of quantum interference in the formation of the resonance scattering spectra of Mössbauer photons is studied. A resonant rf field mixing the spin levels of the excited state of a nucleus is considered to be the mechanism ensuring the conditions for quantum interference. A considerable intensity redistribution of the elastic and Raman scattering channels is shown to occur as a result of quantum interference.     

多光子非线性Compton散射的能量转换

研究了多光子非线性Compton散射中电子与光子的能量转换及其转换效率.结果表明:散射光子频率随电子吸收光子数n的增大而增大,随碰撞非弹性成分ξ的增大而迅速减小.在超强激光场中,当极端相对论性电子与光子发生多光子非线性Compton散射且被光场俘获时,能量转换效率趋于无限大,即电子可以从超强激光场中获得巨大的加速能量.用高速电子束入射并与光子发生多光子非线性Compton散射,是提高非线性Compton散射能量转换效率的重要途径.     

Dispersive photon blockade in a superconducting circuit

Mediated photon-photon interactions are realized in a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity coupled to a superconducting charge qubit. These nonresonant interactions blockade the transmission of photons through the cavity. This so-called dispersive photon blockade is characterized by measuring the total transmitted power while varying the energy spectrum of the photons incident on the cavity. A staircase with four distinct steps is observed and can be understood in an analogy with electron transport and the Coulomb blockade in quantum dots. This work differs from previous efforts in that the cavity-qubit excitations retain a photonic nature rather than a hybridization of qubit and photon and provides the needed tolerance to disorder for future condensed matter experiments.     

Study of the energy levels of 62Ni using the (γ, γ′) reaction

Elastic and inelastic scattering of monochromatic photons were used for studying nuclear energy levels in ⁶²Ni; the photons were produced by thermal neutron capture in iron. The energy of the resonance level in ⁶²Ni was 7646 keV. The angular distributions of the elastic and two inelastic lines were measured and the corresponding level spins determined. The parity of the resonance level was found to be odd using polarization measurements.     

Quantum 1/f noise associated with ionized impurity scattering and electron-phonon scattering in condensed matter

Scattering of charged particles is accompanied by the emission of soft photons. Handel's theory of 1/f noise, based on the infrared quasi-divergent coupling of the system to the electromagnetic field, indicates that the current associated with a beam of scattered particles will exhibit 1/f noise. His derivation is valid in a vacuum. Here we extend his results and obtain the fluctuation spectrum for the fluctuations in cross-section and for the scattering rates w _kk′ in k-space, using the Born approximation. Next we consider mobility fluctuations due to these scattering rates, employing the relaxation time solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation, valid in non-degenerate semiconductors. Explicit results are obtained for the mobility-fluctuation noise caused by ionized impurity scattering, acoustic phonon scattering, optical phonon scattering, polar optical phonon scattering, and intervalley scattering. We derive Hooge's law, and the Hooge parameters for the above-mentioned processes are obtained in detail. This is then applied to n-type silicon and n-type gallium arsenide; the overall Hooge parameter, which is a weighted average of the partial α-parameters, is computed as a function of temperature and compared with experiment. For silicon, good agreement is obtained with available data. As a byproduct we also find the mobilities as function of temperature for these materials. Excellent agreement with the well-known experimental data is observed.

We still note that this is the first theoretical derivation of Hooge's law and that the magnitude of the noise is obtained in detail without adjustable parameters. We believe that quantum 1/f noise gives the limiting value of 1/f noise that can be observed.     

Interaction of a Three-Level Atom and Field in a Squeezed Vacuum State with Added Photons: Quantum Phase and Nonclassical Properties

We present a detail study of the evolution of nonlocal correlations of an interacting quantum system comprising a three-level atom and a field mode initially prepared in a squeezed vacuum state with added photons. We compare the dynamical behavior of the quantum phase and entanglement by varying the number of photons added to the squeezed vacuum state. Furthermore, we examine the influence of the added-photon number and the squeeze parameter on the dynamical behavior of entanglement, quantum phase, and nonclassical properties of the field. Moreover, we explore the link between the quantum phase and the nonlocal correlation. Finally, we introduce an effective method to generate and maintain a high level of entanglement for this quantum system based on precise parameter ranges.     

单光子调制频谱用于量子点荧光寿命动力学的研究

本文开展了基于单光子调制频谱测量量子点荧光寿命动力学特性的研究.在脉冲激光激发下,对探测到的量子点单光子荧光信号进行频谱分析以获得荧光调制频谱,研究发现特征频谱信号幅值与荧光寿命之间存在确定的非线性对应关系.这种单光子调制频谱方法能有效消除背景噪声和单光子探测器暗计数的影响,用于分析量子点荧光寿命动力学特性时在准确度以及时间分辨率方面都较目前普遍采用的荧光衰减曲线寿命拟合方法呈现出明显优势:当涨落误差为5%时,寿命测量准确度提高了一个数量级;当涨落误差和偏离误差均为5%时,对动力学测量效率以及时间分辨率提高了四倍以上.因此单光子调制频谱可以作为获取量子点在短时间尺度内激发态动力学信息的一种有效技术手段.