Quantum coherence effects in a four-level diamond-shape atomic system

A symmetric four-level closed-loop ? type (the diamond-shape) atomic system driven by four coherent optical fields is investigated. The system shows rich quantum interference and coherence features. When symmetry of the system is broken, interesting phenomena such as single and double-dark resonances appear. As a result, the controllable double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect is generated, which will facilitate the implementation of quantum phase gate (QPG) operation.     

Analysis on generation schemes of Schrödinger cat-like states under experimental imperfections

An analysis and a comparison of two generation schemes of Schrödinger cat-like state including experimental imperfections are presented. Under practical conditions, a scheme using a squeezed vacuum and a photon subtraction will generate a cat-like state with its fidelity to the Schrödinger cat state F = 0.815 and value of its Wigner function at the origin of the phase space W(0,0) = −0.203, and then turned out to be more feasible than the scheme using squeezed single-photon state. The non-classicality of these cat-like states is governed only by non-classical photon number statistics. The criteria for ensuring W(0,0) < 0 are also presented in terms of imperfection parameter diagrams.     

Spatial evolutions of inversionless gain and lasing field intensity in an open V-type system with SGC

This paper studies manly spatial evolution of gain without inversion (GWI) and the Rabi frequency E (intensity ?_p) of the probe field in an open V-type three-level inversionless lasing system with spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) for both cases with and without Doppler broadening. We found that: (1) Varying sizes of SGC strength (measured by angle θ), atomic exit rate (r₀) and ratio (S) of the atomic injection rates has remarkable effect on spatial evolutions of GWI and E (?_p). This effect in the case with Doppler broadening is similar to but weaker than that in the case without Doppler broadening. (2) Regardless of that Doppler broadening is present or not, GWI and E (?_p) increase with increase of θ, r₀ and S in certain value ranges of θ, r₀ and S; in the case with SGC we can obtain GWI and E (?_p) much larger than those in the case without SGC, while by choosing values of γ₀ and S, in the open system we can obtain LWI gain and E (?_p) much larger than those in the corresponding closed system. (3) The propagation distance in which GWI exists in the case with Doppler broadening is longer than that in the case without Doppler broadening; in the case without Doppler broadening, we can obtain larger GWI than that in the case with Doppler broadening; but in the case with Doppler broadening, we can obtain larger E (?_p) than that in the case without Doppler broadening.     

Ghost imaging and ghost interference with pseudo-thermal light: Mode-separation by pure software processing

We report on a new experiment in which ghost imaging and ghost interference with quasi-thermal light are simultaneously obtained from the same set of experimental reference patterns. By sliding the mask along the object arm in a continuous way, one can see imaging and diffraction patterns to come to light and fade out in opposite directions.     

Gain enhancing due to quantum interference effect in an open four-level atomic system with Doppler broadening

The effect of vacuum-induced coherence (VIC) on the gain of lasing without inversion (LWI) is studied in an open four-level atomic system with Doppler broadening for both cases: co- and counter-propagating probe and driving fields. The results show that: (1) in general, for a fixed VIC strength, LWI gain decreases monotonously with the value of the Doppler broadening width increasing. Regardless of the Doppler broadening being obvious or not, the LWI gain much larger than that without VIC always can be gotten by choosing suitable VIC strength, i.e. values of two factors p₁ and p₂ which represent the VIC effect. (2) Varying p₁ or p₂ will produce remarkable different influence on the LWI gain, and the influence is closely related to the value of the Doppler broadening width. (3) In the case of counter-propagating probe and driving fields, when the Doppler broadening is large enough, gain oscillation occurs. For the same value of the Doppler broadening width, the oscillation amplitude increases with increasing values of strength of VIC. (4) The atomic exit and injection rates also can dramatically affect LWI gain. (5) The LWI gain for the co-propagating probe and driving fields is always larger than that for the counter-propagating probe and driving fields. (6) A much larger LWI gain in open system than that in the corresponding closed system can be obtained.     

Obtaining high refractive index with vanishing absorption via spontaneously generated coherence and incoherent pumping

A three-level ∧-model atomic system with incoherent pumping is proposed to achieve high refractive index without absorption. In this kind of model, two lower levels are near-degenerate levels. It is found that high refractive index accompanied by vanishing absorption can be always accomplished by adjusting some related parameters. Although probe field is very weak, the SGC effect is prominent in the presence of incoherent pumping.     

Amplification without population inversion in molecules

We have studied the feasibility of amplification without population inversion (AWI) in LiH molecule for three-level ladder, V, and Λ schemes. We have shown the salient features of AWI in a molecular system in comparison to that in an atomic system, viz. the dependence of gain profile on the choice of different rotational and vibrational transitions. Under different three-level schemes, the effect of homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening on the gain profile has been studied. We have also studied the dependence of gain on different external parameters. The temporal evolution of gain has been analyzed and it was found that AWI is achievable in both the transient and the steady state regime. For all the three-level schemes and in particular for the ladder scheme, amplification of the weak probe was obtained using a coupling laser of smaller frequency.     

Photon-emission properties of quantum-dot-based single-photon sources under different excitations

The photon-emission efficiencies and photon indistinguishabilities of a single-photon source, which employs a cavity coupled with a quantum dot, are studied under above-band and resonant excitations. The results are obtained by solving master equations and by applying the quantum regression theorem. According to the study, the photon indistinguishability increases with the Purcell factor under resonant excitation, which is consistent with the increase in emission efficiency; however, these two figures of merit are inconsistent for the above-band excitation scheme. Moreover, the efficiencies, defined as the average photon number emitted in one excitation cycle, are almost the same for the two different excitation schemes, whereas the excitation power needed to reach that efficiency is much lower under resonant excitation than that for above-band excitation. These results will be helpful in improving the performances of the applications concerning indistinguishability and efficiency.     

Analysis of nonclassical behavior for a two-mode coupled-photon system

We consider a model two-mode coupled-photon system and verify that the photon distribution for this system is exactly super-Poissonian. We calculate the Glauber–Sudarshan diagonal P representation for both the individual photon subsystem and the complete photon–photon complex. We present the detailed analysis on the threshold temperature of the nonclassical behavior for the both cases. We discuss the effect of the interaction between two photons on the threshold temperature.     

Quantum non-demolition measurements in optics: a review and some recent experimental results

We review the schemes which have been implemented, in order to achieve quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements in the optical domain. The simplest schemes can be obtained using the optical Kerr effect, which yields a crossed-phase modulation coupling between two light beams. Other schemes use either independently generated squeezed light, or coupled-mode parametric amplifiers. These various schemes can be characterized using three criteria, which describe, respectively, the quality of the quantum measurement, the non-destruction of the signal, and the conditional variance of the output signal beam, given the output meter beam (quantum-state preparation criterion). We show that quantitative limits can be defined with respect to these criteria, delimiting classical and quantum domains of operation. Then we present in more detail a new experimental implementation of QND measurements, using three-level atoms inside a doubly-resonant optical cavity.     

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.     

The metamorphosis in the emission angular profile from an inverted two-level atoms system

A rich variety of angular distributions in the cooperative emission from a sphere of inverted N two-level atoms are shown to result from the eigenstructure of the complex kernel of scalar photon theory exp(ik₀R)/(ik₀R). This angular distribution is sensitive both to the size of the sphere and to the instant of observation of the emission.     

Noise analysis in correlated imaging, quantum and classical

The theoretical analysis of the noise property is presented in a correlated imaging system. For both entangled source produced by parametric down-conversion (PDC) and classically light source, a small aperture of the imaging system makes the noise increase slightly and the resolution of the imaging signal degrade. We also show that, in PDC case, the noise is strongly influenced by the source size because of the existence of the entanglement, while the effect is not obvious in the thermal case.     

Quantum interferences in coherent population trapping of a cold double Λ-type atom

We investigate quantum interferences in coherent population trapping of a cold double Λ-type four-level atomic system driven by two counterpropagating laser fields. We study both decoherence and enhanced-coherence actions resulting from the multi-transition pathways in building up the trapping state, and analyze the system operating with and without external coherences in various configurations of the atomic dipole moments.     

Coherence induced by incoherent pumping field and decay process in three-level Λ type atomic system

Following the method proposed by Kozlov et al. [Victor V. Kozlov, Yuri Rostovtsev, Marlan O. Scully, Phys. Rev. A 74 (2006) 063829], we have investigated the atomic coherence induced by incoherent pump and vacuum spontaneous decay process in a Λ type three-level atomic system. The system can be in a coherent population trapping state and multi-steady states in different conditions. Interestingly, two kinds of new states are derived from the system with different pumping rate and decaying rate. They are the “robust” steady state and the “weak” steady state. Under the action of pump field and vacuum reservoir, these two kinds of states exhibit stable or unstable characteristics, respectively. Moreover, by investigating the difference between these states, we reveal the mechanism of coherence excitation and level-population transition. The special feature of the Λ atomic system will promise fruitful applications in quantum optics.     

Coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas

We demonstrate two schemes for the coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas of rubidium atoms employing the three-level ladder system 5S_1/2-5P_3/2-n?_j. In the first approach rapid adiabatic passage with pulsed laser fields yields Rydberg excitation probabilities of 90% in the center of the laser focus. In a second experiment two-photon Rydberg excitation with continuous-wave fields is applied which results in Rabi oscillations between the ground and Rydberg state. The experiments represent a prerequisite for the control of interactions in ultracold Rydberg gases and the application of ultracold Rydberg gases for quantum information processing.     

Quantum phase gate in decoherence-free subspace with cavity QED system

We demonstrate how to perform quantum phase gate with cavity QED system in decoherence-free subspace by using only linear optics elements and photon detectors. The qubits are encoded in the singlet state of the atoms in cavities among spatially separated nodes, and the quantum interference of polarized photons decayed from the optical cavities is used to realized the desired quantum operation among distant nodes. In comparison with previous schemes, the distinct advantage is that the gate fidelity could not only resist collective noises, but also immune from atomic spontaneous emission, cavity decay, and imperfection of the photodetectors. We also discuss the experimental feasibility of our scheme.     

Evolution of population in an equispaced three-level ladder-type atomic system

Transient response of nearly equispaced three-level ladder-type atomic system with a broad-band squeezed vacuum (SV) is investigated. We focus our attention in the interplay between the quantum interference and the squeezed field on the population distribution. It is shown that an atomic population inversion can be attained on one of the optical transitions due to the SV. Additionally, we show, with the proper value of the relative phase, the SV can also lead to unexpected population inversion on the transition between two different levels.     

Design and application of three-zone annular filters

We design three-zone annular filters to be applied to optical storage system. The designed filters extend the depth of focus and realize transverse superresolution simultaneously, which will improve the performance of optical storage system greatly. And we propose two feasible schemes to improve imaging resolution of three-dimensional imaging system. One scheme depends on a complex filter formed by cascading of a three-zone phase filter and a three-zone amplitude filter. The complex filter converge the optimized transverse superresolution and the optimized axial superresolution of two different filters onto a single filter. It can improve the three-dimensional imaging performances greatly. Another scheme depends on a single three-zone complex filter. We propose a three-zone complex filter with phase shift 0.8π, which presents bigger design margin, better imaging quality and stronger three-dimensional superresolution capability.     

Creation of atomic W state in a cavity by adiabatic passage

We propose two relatively robust schemes to generate controllable (deterministic) atomic W states of three Λ-like atoms interacting with an optical cavity and a laser beam. Losses due to atomic spontaneous emissions and to cavity decay are efficiently suppressed by employing adiabatic passage technique and appropriately designed atom-field couplings. In these schemes the three atoms traverse the cavity-mode and the laser beam and become entangled in the free space outside the cavity.