Effects of coherence on the degree of polarization in a young interference pattern

Recent predictions concerning the relationship between the degree of polarization at a typical point of a Young interference pattern and the degree of coherence of the electromagnetic field at the pinholes are tested by a simple experiment. In particular, it is shown that light that is completely unpolarized at the pinholes can become partially polarized across the fringe pattern.     

Swallowtail band structure of the superfluid Fermi gas in an optical lattice

We investigate the energy band structure of the superfluid flow of ultracold dilute Fermi gases in a one-dimensional optical lattice along the BCS to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover within a mean-field approach. In each side of the crossover region, a loop structure (swallowtail) appears in the Bloch energy band of the superfluid above a critical value of the interaction strength. The width of the swallowtail is largest near unitarity. Across the critical value of the interaction strength, the profiles of density and pairing field change more drastically in the BCS side than in the BEC side. It is found that along with the appearance of the swallowtail, there exists a narrow band in the quasiparticle energy spectrum close to the chemical potential, and the incompressibility of the Fermi gas consequently experiences a profound dip in the BCS side, unlike in the BEC side.     

Controlling the motion of magnetic flux quanta

We study the transport of vortices in superconductors with triangular arrays of boomerang- or V-shaped asymmetric pinning wells, when applying an alternating electrical current. The asymmetry of the pinning landscape induces a very efficient "diode" effect, that allows the sculpting at will of the magnetic field profile inside the sample. We present the first quantitative study of magnetic "lensing" of fluxons inside superconductors. Our proposed vortex lens provides a near threefold increase of the vortex density at its "focus" regions. The main numerical features have been derived analytically.     

Deterministic controlled-NOT gate for single-photon two-qubit quantum logic

We demonstrate a robust implementation of a deterministic linear-optical controlled-not gate for single-photon two-qubit quantum logic. A polarization Sagnac interferometer with an embedded 45 degrees -oriented dove prism is used to enable the polarization control qubit to act on the momentum (spatial) target qubit of the same photon. The optical controlled-not gate requires no active stabilization because the two spatial modes share a common path, and it is used to entangle the polarization and momentum qubits.     

Efficient single-photon counting at 1.55 microm by means of frequency upconversion

We demonstrate efficient single-photon detection at 1.55 microm by means of sum-frequency mixing with a strong pump at 1.064 microm in periodically poled lithium niobate followed by photon counting in the visible region. This scheme offers significant advantages over existing InGaAs photon counters: continuous-wave operation, higher detection efficiency, higher counting rates, and no afterpulsing. We achieved single-photon upconversion efficiency of 90% at 21.6 W of circulating power in a resonant pump cavity with a 400-mW Nd:YAG laser. We observed high background counts at strong circulating pump powers due to efficient upconversion of pump-induced fluorescence photons.     

Shape waves in 2D Josephson junctions: exact solutions and time dilation

We predict a new class of excitations propagating along a Josephson vortex in two-dimensional Josephson junctions. These excitations are associated with the distortion of a Josephson vortex line and have an analogy with shear waves in solid mechanics. Their shapes can have an arbitrary profile, which is retained when propagating. We derive a universal analytical expression for the energy of arbitrary shape excitations, investigate their influence on the dynamics of a vortex line, and discuss conditions where such excitations can be created. Finally, we show that such excitations play the role of a clock for a relativistically moving Josephson vortex and suggest an experiment to measure a time dilation effect analogous to that in special relativity.     

CW laser-induced photothermal conversion and shape transformation of gold nanodogbones in hydrated chitosan films

We investigate the photothermal conversion and transformation of gold nanoparticles with an initial dogbone shape after dispersion in hydrated chitosan films, which is a representative model of biological tissue, and excitation by a CW diode laser for 1 min. Gold nanodogbones are observed to undergo a distinct modification above a sharp threshold of ~11 W cm⁻² and 110 °C. Surprisingly, the very same modification is achieved up to at least 36 W cm⁻² and 250 °C. We use an analytical model derived from Gans theory to associate the change in color of the films with the change in shape statistics of these gold nanoparticles. This model proves both convenient and dependable. We interpret the photothermal transformation as a rearrangement of particles with a dogbone shape and an aspect ratio of 4.1 into rods with an aspect ratio of 2.5, where material from the end lobes of the dogbones may relocate to the waists of the rods. In turn, additional transitions to stable gold nanospheres may exhibit fairly slower kinetics.     

Correspondence between generalized binomial field states and coherent atomic states

We show that the N-photon generalized binomial states of electromagnetic field may be put in a bijective mapping with the coherent atomic states of N two-level atoms. We exploit this correspondence to simply obtain both known and new properties of the N-photon generalized binomial states. In particular, an over-complete basis of these binomial states and an orthonormal basis are obtained. Finally, the squeezing properties of generalized binomial state are analyzed.     

Ion implantation induced by Cu ablation at high laser fluence

High energy laser plasma-produced Cu ions have been implanted in silicon substrates placed at different distances and angles with respect to the normal to the surface of the ablated target. The implanted samples have been produced using the iodine high power Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) using 438 nm wavelength irradiating in vacuum a Cu target. The high laser pulse energy (up to 230 J) and the short pulse duration (400 ps) produced a non-equilibrium plasma expanding mainly along the normal to the Cu target surface. Time-of-flight (TOF) technique was employed, through an electrostatic ion energy analyzer (IEA) placed along the target normal, in order to measure the ion energy, the ion charge state, the energy distribution and the charge state distribution. Ions had a Boltzmann energy distributions with an energy increasing with the charge state. At a laser fluence of the order of 6 × 10⁶ J/cm², the maximum ion energy was about 600 keV and the maximum charge state was about 27+.In order to investigate the implantation processes, Cu depth profiles have been performed with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) of 1.5 MeV helium ions, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) with 3 keV electron beam and 1 keV Ar sputtering ions in combination with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Surface analysis results indicate that Cu ions are implanted within the first surface layers and that the ion penetration ranges are in agreement with the ion energy measured with IEA analysis.     

Stochastic Attractors for Shell Phenomenological Models of Turbulence

Recently, it has been proposed that the Navier–Stokes equations and a relevant linear advection model have the same long-time statistical properties, in particular, they have the same scaling exponents of their structure functions. This assertion has been investigate rigorously in the context of certain nonlinear deterministic phenomenological shell model, the Sabra shell model, of turbulence and its corresponding linear advection counterpart model. This relationship has been established through a “homotopy-like” coefficient λ which bridges continuously between the two systems. That is, for λ=1 one obtains the full nonlinear model, and the corresponding linear advection model is achieved for λ=0. In this paper, we investigate the validity of this assertion for certain stochastic phenomenological shell models of turbulence driven by an additive noise. We prove the continuous dependence of the solutions with respect to the parameter λ. Moreover, we show the existence of a finite-dimensional random attractor for each value of λ and establish the upper semicontinuity property of this random attractors, with respect to the parameter λ. This property is proved by a pathwise argument. Our study aims toward the development of basic results and techniques that may contribute to the understanding of the relation between the long-time statistical properties of the nonlinear and linear models.