Effect of electromagnetic disturbance on the practical QKD system in the smart grid

To improve the security of the smart grid, quantum key distribution（QKD） is an excellent choice. The rapid fluctuations on the power aerial optical cable and electromagnetic disturbance in substations are two main challenges for implementation of QKD. Due to insensitivity to birefringence of the channel, the stable phase-coding Faraday–Michelson QKD system is very practical in the smart grid. However, the electromagnetic disturbance in substations on this practical QKD system should be considered. The disturbance might change the rotation angle of the Faraday mirror, and would introduce an additional quantum bit error rate（QBER）. We derive the new fringe visibility of the system and the additional QBER from the electromagnetic disturbance. In the worst case, the average additional QBER only increases about 0.17% due to the disturbance, which is relatively small to normal QBER values. We also find the way to degrade the electromagnetic disturbance on the QKD system.     

Thermodynamics around magnetic phase transitions in alternating double-chain spin systems

The thermodynamics and quantum phase transitions of two typically alternating double-chain systems are investigated by Green＇s function theory.（i） For the completely antiferromagnetic（AFM） alternating double-chain, the low-temperature antiferromagnetism with gapped behavior is observed, which is in accordance with the experimental result. In a magnetic field, we unveil the ground state phase diagram with zero plateau, 1/2 plateau, and polarized ferromagnetic（FM） phases,as a result of the intra-cluster spin-singlet competition. Furthermore, the Gr ¨uneisen ratio is an excellent tool to identify the quantum criticality and testify various quantum phases.（ii） For the antiferromagnetically coupled FM alternating chains,the 1/2 magnetization plateau and double-peak structure of specific heat appear, which are also observed experimentally.Nevertheless, the M–h curve shows an anomalous behavior in an ultra-low field, which is ascribed to the effectively weak Haldane-like state, demonstrated by the two-site entanglement entropy explicitly.     

Temperature dependence of the photoluminescence of MnS/ZnS core–shell quantum dots

The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence（PL） from Mn S/Zn S core–shell quantum dots is investigated in a temperature range of 8 K–300 K. The orange emission from the ^4T1→^6A1transition of Mn^2＋ions and the blue emission related to the trapped surface state are observed in the Mn S/Zn S core–shell quantum dots. As the temperature increases, the orange emission is shifted toward a shorter wavelength while the blue emission is shifted towards the longer wavelength. Both the orange and blue emissions reduce their intensities with the increase of temperature but the blue emission is quenched faster. The temperature-dependent luminescence intensities of the two emissions are well explained by the thermal quenching theory.     

Afterpulsing characteristics of InGaAs/InP single photon avalanche diodes

In Ga As/In P single photon avalanche diodes（SPADs） are more and more available in many research fields. They are affected by afterpulsing which leads to a poor single photon detection probability. We present an In Ga As/In P avalanche photodiode with an active quenching circuit on an application specific integrated circuit（ASIC）. It can quench the avalanche rapidly and then reduce the afterpulse rate. Also this quenching circuit can operate in both free-running and gated modes.Furthermore, a new technique is introduced to characterize the influence of the higher order of afterpulses, which uses a program running on a field programmable gate array（FPGA） integrated circuit.     

A quantum efficiency analytical model for complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor image pixels with a pinned photodiode structure

A quantum efficiency analytical model for complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor（CMOS） image pixels with a pinned photodiode structure is developed. The proposed model takes account of the non-uniform doping distribution in the N-type region due to the impurity compensation formed by the actual fabricating process. The characteristics of two boundary PN junctions located in the N-type region for the particular spectral response of a pinned photodiode, are quantitatively analyzed. By solving the minority carrier steady-state diffusion equations and the barrier region photocurrent density equations successively, the analytical relationship between the quantum efficiency and the corresponding parameters such as incident wavelength, N-type width, peak doping concentration, and impurity density gradient of the N-type region is established. The validity of the model is verified by the measurement results with a test chip of 160×160 pixels array,which provides the accurate process with a theoretical guidance for quantum efficiency design in pinned photodiode pixels.     

Geometric quantum discord and Berry phase between two charge qubits coupled by a quantum transmission line

Geometric quantum discord（GQD） and Berry phase between two charge qubits coupled by a quantum transmission line are investigated. We show how GQDs evolve and investigate their dependencies on the parameters of the system.We also calculate the energy and the Berry phase and compare them with GQD, finding that there are close connections between them.     

Spatially nonlocal effects on optical absorption properties in coupled quantum wells with an applied electric field

Based on the microscopic nonlocal optical response theory, the intersubband optical absorption properties in AlGa As/Ga As couple quantum wells（CQWs） are investigated for p-polarized states. The numerical results show that spatial nonlocality of optical responses can induce a radiation shift on optical absorption spectra due to nonlocal effects. The dependence of the radiation shift on the CQW structure and the applied electric field is clarified. It is also demonstrated that the maximal radiation shift and the least optical absorbance can be obtained by adopting an appropriate CQW structure and a suitable applied electric field. This work may provide some methods of designing the nanomaterials with controllable nonlocality and observing the spatial nonlocal effects in experiment.     

Realization of quantum Fourier transform over ZN

Since the difficulty in preparing the equal superposition state of amplitude is 1/√N, we construct a quantile transform of quantum Fourier transform （QFT） over ZN based on the elementary transforms, such as Hadamard transform and Pauli transform. The QFT over Z_N can then be realized by the quantile transform, and used to further design its quantum circuit and analyze the requirements for the quantum register and quantum gates. However, the transform needs considerable quantum computational resources and it is difficult to construct a high-dimensional quantum register. Hence, we investigate the design of t-bit quantile transform, and introduce the definition of t-bit semiclassical QFT over Z_N. According to probability amplitude, we prove that the transform can be used to realize QFT over ZN and further design its quantum circuit. For this transform, the requirements for the quantum register, the one-qubit gate, and two-qubit gate reduce obviously when compared with those for the QFT over Z_N.     

Enhancement of four-wave mixing process in a four-level double semiconductor quantum well

The time-dependent four-wave mixing（FWM） is analyzed in a four-level double semiconductor quantum well. The results show that both the amplitude and the conversion efficiency of the FWM field are enhanced with increasing the strength of two-photon Rabi frequency. Interestingly, when the one-photon detuning becomes stronger the control field corresponding to the maximum efficiency increases. Such a controlled enhanced FWM may be used to generate coherent short-wave length radiation, and it can have potential applications in quantum control and communications.     

Spatial weak-light ring soliton in self-assembled quantum dots

By using semiclassical theory combined with multiple-scale method, we analytically study the linear absorption and the nonlinear dynamical properties in a lifetime broadened Λ-type three-level self-assembled quantum dots. It is found that this system can exhibit the transparency, and the width of the transparency window becomes wider with the increase of control light field. Interestingly, a weak probe light beam can form spatial weak-light dark solitons. When it propagates along the axial direction, the soliton will transform into a steady spatial weak-light ring dark soltion. In addition, the stability of two-dimensional spatial optical solitons is testified numerically.     

Isospin violation,light quark masses,and all that

Isospin violation is driven through the light quark mass difference and electromagnetic effects.I review recent progress in extracting the light quark mass difference and tests of the chiral dynamics of Quantum Chromodynamics in various reactions involving light as well as heavy quarks.     

Three-party quantum secret sharing of secure direct communication based on x-type entangled states

Based on x-type entangled states and the two-step protocol [Deng F G, Long G L and Liu X S 2003 Phys. Rev. A 68 042317], a quantum secret sharing protocol of secure direct communication based on x-type entangled states ｜X00〉3214 is proposed. Using some interesting entanglement properties of this state, the agent entirety can directly obtain the secret message from the message sender only if they collaborate together. The security of the scheme is also discussed.     

Multi-state Quantum Teleportation via One Entanglement State

A multi-sender-controlled quantum teleportation scheme is proposed to teleport several secret quantum states from different senders to a distance receiver based on only one Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen （EPR） pair with controlled-NOT （CNOT） gates. In the present scheme, several secret single-qubit quantum states are encoded into a multi-qubit entangled quantum state. Two communication modes, i.e., the detecting mode and the message mode, are employed so that the eavesdropping can be detected easily and the teleported message may be recovered efficiently. It has an advantage over teleporting several different quantum states for one scheme run with more efficiency than the previous quantum teleportation schemes.     

An approach to controlling the fluorescence of graphene quantum dots: From surface oxidation to fluorescent mechanism

We report a facile method of synthesizing graphene quantum dots（GQDs） with tunable emission. The as-prepared GQDs each with a uniform lateral dimension of ca. 6 nm have fine solubility and high stability. The photoluminescence mechanism is further investigated based on the surfacestructure and the photoluminescence behaviors. Based on our discussion, the green fluorescence emission can be attributed to the oxygen functional groups, which could possess broad emission bands within the π –π ＊ gap. This work is helpful to explain the vague fluorescent mechanism of GQDs, and the reported synthetic method is useful to prepare GQDs with controllable fluorescent colors.     

Localization and recurrence of a quantum walk in a periodic potential on a line

We present a numerical study of a model of quantum walk in a periodic potential on a line. We take the simple view that different potentials have different affects on the way in which the coin state of the walker is changed. For simplicity and definiteness, we assume that the walker＇s coin state is unaffected at sites without the potential, and rotated in an unbiased way according to the Hadamard matrix at sites with the potential. This is the simplest and most natural model of a quantum walk in a periodic potential with two coins. Six generic cases of such quantum walks are studied numerically. It is found that, of the six cases, four cases display significant localization effect where the walker is confined in the neighborhood of the origin for a sufficiently long time. Associated with such a localization effect is the recurrence of the probability of the walker returning to the neighborhood of the origin.     

Quantum Secure Direct Communication Using Entangled Photon Pairs and Local Measurement

We present a scheme for quantum secure direct communication, in which the message is encoded by local unitary operations, transmitted through entangled photons, and deduced from both the sender and receiver＇s local measurement results. In such a scheme, only one pair of entangled photons is consumed, and there is no need to transmit the sender＇s qubit carrying the secret message in a public channel, in order to transmit two-bit classical information.     

Binding Energy of Excitons in a Quantum Ring

The binding energy of excitons confined to a quantum ring under the influence of perpendicular homogeneous magnetic field is calculated as a function of the ring radius. Calculations are made by using the method of exact diagonalization within the effective-mass approximation. The feature of binding energy of the ground state as a function of the ring radius for several values of the magnetic field has been revealed. The interesting feature of our study is that, in a quantum ring, the geometric structure of exeitons may reveal transition.     

Study on Quantum Entanglement Between Mesoscopic Circuit and Environment at Coherent State

Taking into account the interaction between electrons and phonons, in the case without-rotating-wave aproximation, we study the entangling property between the mesoscopic circuit and environment at coherent state or equilibrium state. The result indicates that, in long time limit t →∞, the averages of charge and current in the circuit only depend on the average of the system at the initial state when the environment is initially at thermal equilibrimn. However, when the environment is initially at coherent state, the average of charge and current in the circuit is determined by the specific coherent state ensemble. Generally speaking, the entanglement between the circuit and environment will lead to the quantum state purity declining of the circuit, then the circuit emerges decoherent phenomenon, and so a mixed sta.te appears. Purity changes are related to the initial quantum state of environment and circuit. With the further evolution of time, coherence will be gradually restored, but cannot return to 1.     

Quantum thermal discord in a two-spin-i/2 XXZ model

We study the quantum discord in a two-spin-1/2 XXZ model in thermal equilibrium at temperature T in the presence of an external magnetic field B. Special attention is paid to the dependence of quantum discord on the temperature T and magnetic field B. It is found that quantum thermal discord is more robust than concurrence against temperature, in the sense that quantum thermal discord does not vanish at finite temperatures, but concurrence vanishes completely at a critical temperature.     

Optimal 1 → M phase-covariant cloning in three dimensions

In this paper, we derive the explicit transformations of the optimal 1 → 3, 4, 5 phase-covariant cloning in three dimensions, and then generalize them to the cases of 1 → M = 3n, 3n + 1, 3n + 2(n ≥ 1 integer) cloning. The clone fidelities are coincident with the theoretical bounds found.