Displacement-noise-free gravitational-wave detection with two Fabry-Perot cavities

We propose two detuned Fabry-Perot cavities, each pumped through both the mirrors, positioned in line as a toy model of the gravitational-wave (GW) detector free from displacement noise of the test masses. It is demonstrated that the noise of cavity mirrors can be completely excluded in a proper linear combination of the cavities output signals. This model is illustrated by a simplified round trip model (without Fabry-Perot cavities). We show that in low-frequency region the obtained displacement-noise-free response signal is stronger than the one of the interferometer recently proposed by S. Kawamura and Y. Chen.     

Effective generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs in a cavity-QED system

We propose a cavity-QED scheme to effectively generate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen polarization-entangled photon pairs. Assisted by a classical π-polarized pump field, a tripod four-level atom successively couples to two high-Q optical cavities possessing polarization degeneracy. Through stimulated Raman adiabatic passage process the polarization-entangled photon pairs can be produced.     

Whispering gallery modes in silicon-nanocrystal-coated silica microspheres

Silica microspheres were deposited into two-dimensional periodic arrays and coated with a thin layer of silicon nanocrystals. The luminescence from the silicon nanocrystals coupled into the whispering gallery modes of the spheres, with Q factors that depended on a range of parameters including sphere size, position on the sphere, viewing direction, and thickness of the nanocrystal coating. Scattering from the film-sphere and/or the sphere-substrate contacts resulted in a lower Q for modes that intersect these regions. The highest Q factors obtained in this work were ∼1500. The results suggest that silica microspheres may be promising candidates for high-Q cavities that incorporate silicon nanocrystals for cavity QED or nonlinear optical effects.     

Control of boundary layer on a flat plate by means of cavity flow

This paper describes the control of boundary layer on a flat plate by means of cavity flow. In this study, classifying the shapes of cavities into circular arc, rectangle and triangle makes the discussion, and the depths of the cavities are changed systematically. It is made clear, by numerical calculations and experiments, what states of flow are shown in the internal parts of cavities and what kinds of influence are exerted to the boundary layers in the upstream and downstream flows. As a result, the following facts are made clear. By taking up properly the depth ratios (k/c) of cavities complying with the individual cavity shapes, the boundary layer thickness in the flow upstream and downstream of the cavities can be controlled. Meanwhile with any of the cavities, the existence of the minimum boundary layer thickness (δ/δ _m ) _min min is seen at a depth ratio.     

Cavity growth in soft adhesives

The growth process of cavities nucleated at the interface between a rigid surface and a soft adhesive layer has been investigated with a probe method. A tensile stress was applied to the highly confined layer resulting in a negative hydrostatic pressure in the layer. The statistics of appearance and rate of growth of cavities as a function of applied negative stress were monitored with a CCD camera. If large germs of cavities were initially present, most of the cavities became optically visible above a critical level of stress independent of layer thickness. Cavities grew simultaneously and at the same expansion rate as a function of applied stress. In the absence of large germs, cavities became optically visible one after another, reaching a limiting size controlled by the thickness of the layer independently and very rapidly. Although, for each sample, we observed a statistical distribution of critical stress levels where a cavity expanded, the mean cavitation stress depended both on surface topography and more surprisingly on layer thickness. We believe that this new and somewhat surprising result can be interpreted with a model for the growth of small germs in finite size layers (J. Dollhofer, A. Chiche, V. Muralidharan et al., Int. J. Solids Struct. 41, 6111 (2004)). This model is mainly based on the dual notion of an energy activated transition from an unexpanded metastable state to an expanded stable state and to the proportionality of the activation energy with the elastic energy stored in the adhesive layer.     

Demonstration of a recombined Fabry-Perot-Michelson interferometer with suspended mirrors

We describe preliminary experimental results concerning the operation of a 3 m arm-length Michelson interferometer with two Fabry-Perot cavities whose mirrors and beam splitter are suspended independently by wires. The reflected light beams from the two Fabry-Perot cavities are recombined to obtain interference at a photo-detector; this scheme is necessary for future power-recycled laser interferometers used to detect gravitational waves. The fundamental properties of the interferometer are presented, including the power spectral density of the displacement noise.     

Dependence of superconducting properties of undoped Bi2201 single crystals on conditions of their free growth in gas-filled cavities of a molten salt

High-quality undoped Bi2201 single crystals were obtained by free growth in gas-filled cavities formed in the volume of a KCl melt. The superconducting transition temperature T_c was found to be affected by the crystallization temperature T_cryst and varied from 10 to 2 K as T_cryst increased from 840 to 860 °C. The crystals with the highest T_c both in the underdoped and overdoped states were near the maximum of doping curve.     

Remote entanglement for quantum networks

Quantum networks are distributed many-body quantum systems with tailored topology and controlled information exchange. We present two schemes to generate remote entanglement, in atomic external degrees of freedom and between cavities. In the first scheme, we entangle two atoms with their cavities in momentum space through Bragg diffraction. Thereafter, in order to trace out the cavities, we let resonantly interact an auxiliary atom with each cavity. In the last, we perform quantum measurement on two auxiliary atoms and get remote entangled state in atomic external degrees of freedom. In the second scheme, we have a three cavities system. The other two cavities, A and B, are entangled with indistinguishable modes of cavity, C. Performing quantum measurement on third cavity, C, we disentangle it from the system and the cavities, A and B, become entangled.     

EPR spectra of Fe centers in layered TlGaSe2 single crystal

A single-crystal TlGaSe₂ doped by paramagnetic Fe ions has been studied at room temperature by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique. The fine structure of EPR spectra of paramagnetic Fe³⁺ ions was observed. The spectra were interpreted to correspond to the transitions among spin multiplet (S=5/2, L=0) of Fe³⁺ ion, which are splitted by the local ligand crystal field (CF) of orthorhombic symmetry. Four equivalent Fe³⁺ centers have been observed in the EPR spectra and the local symmetry of crystal field at the Fe³⁺ site and CF parameters were determined. Experimental results indicate that the Fe ions substitute Ga at the center of GaSe₄ tetrahedrons, and the rhombic distortion of the CF is caused by the Tl ions located in the trigonal cavities between the tetrahedral complexes.     

One-dimensional coupled cavities photonic crystal filters with tapered Bragg mirrors

The performance of one-dimensional (1D) coupled cavities photonic crystal (PC) filters has been analyzed by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. It is shown that the addition of tapered Bragg mirrors at each side of the cavities, to create near-Gaussian field profiles for the cavity modes, results in the prediction of near flat-top passband filters with high out-of-band rejection ratio and near unity transmission. The tapered structures suppress the vertical radiation loss to allow optimization of the number of mirror periods for the best filter response whilst guaranteeing high transmission. A critical coupling condition (k = 2L_out/L_in = 1) for flat-top responses in doubly coupled cavities filters is proposed in the tapered structures. An optimized filter for 100 GHz optical communication system are demonstrated with 1 dB bandwidth of 0.17 nm, roll-off of 0.6 dB/GHz, out-of-band signal rejection of 33 dB and transmission of 95%. Further improvement of roll-off and out-of-band rejection is demonstrated in a triply coupled cavities filter.     

X-ray topographic study of quartz cavities with a triple electrode

AT-cut quartz cavities with a triple electrode have been studied. Their main advantage over cavities with an orthogonally directed electric field is that the triple electrode hinders excitation of vibrations on the first mechanical harmonic. A comparison of the parameters of different cavities shows that, in the case of their excitation on the first harmonic, the equivalent resistance of triple-electrode cavities is higher by a factor of 24, their equivalent inductance is higher by a factor of 3, and their Q factor is lower by a factor of 12 compared to the corresponding parameters of conventional cavities. When working on the third harmonic, the parameters of triple-electrode cavity are comparable with those of cavities with an orthogonally directed electric field. An X-ray topographic study of the vibrations of piezoelectric cells in triple-electrode cavities showed a pronounced vibration antinode on the third harmonic, located at the plate center, whereas the corresponding first-harmonic antinode is distorted and diffuse. The values of the Q factor of element vibrations on these harmonics differ by a factor of almost 8. Thus, the use of a triple electrode provides optimal conditions for cavity operation on the third harmonic. There is no need to use any other tools (e.g., introduce an additional resistor) to suppress the first harmonic.     

Distributed quantum computing in decoherence-free subspace via adiabatic passage

A scheme is proposed to implement distributed quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs) via adiabatic passage. The logical single-qubit is encoded in two atoms trapped in a single-mode cavity and the cavities are connected by an optical fiber. Our scheme is immune from the decoherence due to dephasing in virtue of encoding scheme and the decoherence due to spontaneous emission from excited states as the system in our scheme evolves along a dark state. Furthermore, the decoherence due to photon decay is greatly suppressed since the fiber mode remains in a vacuum state and the populations of the cavities’ modes being excited can be negligible under certain condition. It is shown that the minimum fidelity of the resultant gate operation for an arbitrary input state could be over 0.97.     

Organizing C60 molecules on a nanostructured Au(111) surface

We have studied, using scanning tunneling microscopy, the adsorption of C₆₀ molecules on a nanostructured Au(111) surface consisting of artificially created two-dimensional cavities. These cavities, one atomic layer deep, are found to be effective as molecular traps at room temperature. Gold atoms at step edges are found to respond to the adsorption of C₆₀ molecules and gross faceting is observed for steps connected with R30° oriented C₆₀ molecular islands. Structural models are proposed to establish the step structures related to all three types of molecular islands.     

Analysis of a teleportation scheme involving cavity field states in a linear superposition of Fock states

We analyse a teleportation scheme of cavity field states. The experimental sketch discussed makes use of cavity quantum electrodynamics involving the interaction of Rydberg atoms with superconducting (micromaser) cavities as well as with classical microwave (Ramsey) cavities. In our scheme the Ramsey cavities and the atoms play the role of auxiliary systems used to teleport a field state, which is formed by a linear superposition of vacuum |∅〉 and the one-photon state |1〉, from a micromaser cavity to another.     

Acoustic characteristics of chamfered Hartmann whistles

Experimental studies are conducted to investigate the effect of internal chamfer at the mouth of Hartmann resonators. Studies involve a range of nozzle pressure ratios from 4 to 6, and chamfer angles 15°, 30°, and 45°. Further, the effects of cavity length and stand-off distance are also considered. The spectra, directivity, and acoustic power characteristics are studied in detail. Detailed numerical simulations are carried out to capture the flow oscillations inside as well as at the outside of the mouth of the chamfered cavities. Computations show flow diversion in chamfered cavities and explain the shift in the directivity observed experimentally. The fundamental frequency of cavities with 15° and 30° chamfers is observed to be higher than that of regular cavities. Resonance is intensified by the presence of chamfer resulting in higher overall sound pressure levels of chamfered whistles. Thus, chamfered Hartmann whistles are found to emit more than twice the acoustic power of a regular cylindrical whistle. The tonal quality of sound is analyzed using a new metric termed as “resonance index”.     

Well-aligned ZnO nanocolumns grown by reactive electron beam evaporation

We report on the reactive electron beam evaporative growth of well-aligned ZnO nanocolumns on Si (001) wafers in the environment of NH₃/H₂ gas mixture by using polycrystalline ZnO ceramic target as source material. The growth was carried out at low temperatures (400-450 °C) without employing any metal catalysts. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed that nanocolumns with uniform distributions in their diameters, lengths, and densities were grown vertically from the substrates and terminated by smooth hexagonal (0001) facets with no terrace-like steps emerged, which should render potential applications such as inherent resonance cavities in fabricating ultraviolet-laser arrays. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that ZnO nanocolumns were highly c-axis oriented, which is well consistent with the FESEM observations. More importantly, photoluminescence investigations of the nanocolumns demonstrated the strong excitonic emission and extremely weak deep level emission, indicating the high crystalloid and optical quality of the nanocolumns.     

Adhesive interfaces of enamel and dentin prepared by air-abrasion at different distances

The purpose of this study was to analyse, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the morphology of enamel and dentin/adhesive interfaces in cavities prepared by air-abrasion at different working distances. Thirty sound third human molars were selected and, on both their buccal and lingual surfaces, class V cavities were prepared by air-abrasion, at 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-mm working distances, or high-speed bur (control group). After preparation, all cavities were etched with 35% phosphoric acid gel and restored with Single Bond/Filtek Z-250. Buccal and lingual surfaces were separated and restorations sectioned in a buccolingual direction, providing two sections of each cavity, which were analysed by scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that the distances of 6 and 8 mm promoted more homogeneous dentin/adhesive interfaces, with tags formation, and more uniform for enamel, which were similar to the control group. It may be concluded that the air-abrasion working distance can influence the morphology of enamel and dentin/adhesive interfaces, and the intermediate distances provided better adhesive interfaces.     

All-optical switch based on photonic crystal microcavity with multi-resonant modes

We present a design of all-optical switches based on one-dimensional photonic crystals (1D PhC) doped with nonlinear optical materials. The 1D PhC switch structure is composed of a PhC cavity sandwiched by two accessional PhC microcavities. The center PhC cavity has two resonant frequencies with nearly the same quality factors (Q), while the accessional PhC cavities have the same resonant frequency, which is equal to one of the resonant frequencies of the center cavity. The two accessional PhC cavities cause reduction of Q value in this resonant frequency and result in different Q values of two modes. We realize all-optical switch effect by selecting pump light wavelength at the low Q mode and probe light wavelength at the other mode. The theoretical simulations by using the finite difference time domain method show that the pump light intensity required to realize optical switch effect in the designed switch is 50 times smaller than that in one-dimensional photonic crystals cavity with only one resonant mode.     

Structural, electronic, vibrational, and elastic properties of SWCNTs doped with B and N: an ab initio study

A microscopic model is developed in order to analyse the effects of dissipations on single-photon transport in a coupled cavity array where one of the cavities is coupled to a three-level atom and both cavities and the three-level atom are coupled to an external environment. By employing the quasi-boson approach, the single-photon transmission and reflection amplitudes are found exactly for the Ξ-type, V-type and Λ-type three-level atoms. We focus on the dissipation properties in the case of the Λ-type system. Comparing the dissipative case with the nodissipative one, it can be found that the dissipations of the cavities and the Λ-type three-level atom significantly affect the transmission amplitude of single-photon transport. Whether the atom is in tune with the resonant frequency of the cavity or not, incomplete reflection is mostly caused by atom dissipation near the middle dip of the single-photon transport spectrum, while reduced transmission appears to be mainly controlled by cavity dissipation. Dissipations broaden the line width of the single photon transport spectrum.     

Features of the microstructure of gold nanoparticles inside cavities of cucurbit[7]uril according to XAFS spectra

The Au L ₃ X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectra have been measured for gold nanoparticles with the calibrated size d _Au ～ 1 nm in the cavities of cucurbit[7]uril molecules. The features of their electronic structure and microstructure have been characterized. It has been found that gold clusters in cavities of cucurbit[7]uril are characterized by smaller (by 0.01–0.02 Å) interatomic distances and a noticeably larger (by a factor of 3 at 12 K) Debye-Waller factor as compared to bulk gold. Analysis of the experimental results and their comparison with the model calculations show that the special properties of atoms on the surface of small metal (gold) particles are not determined by their position at the vertices and edges of small clusters; they are likely attributed to the structural disorder, deformations, and stresses, which increase with a decrease in the size of the particles.