Photon blockade, in analogy to Coulomb's or phonon blockades, is a phenomenon when a single photon in a nonlinear cavity blocks the transmission of a second photon. This effect can occur in Kerr-type systems driven by a laser due to strong nonlinear photon-photon interactions. We predict the occurrence of higher-order photon blockades where the transmission of more than two photons is effectively blocked by single- and two-photon states. This photon blockade can be achieved by tuning the frequency of the laser driving field to be equal to the sum of the Kerr nonlinearity and the cavity resonance frequency. We refer to this phenomenon as two-photon blockade or two-photon state truncation via nonlinear scissors, and can also be interpreted as photon-induced tunneling. We also show that, for a driving-field frequency fulfilling another resonance condition and for higher strengths of the driving field, even a three-photon blockade can occur but less clearly than in the case of single- and two-photon blockades. We demonstrate how various photon blockades can be identified by analyzing photon-number correlations, coherence and entropic properties, Wigner functions, and spectra of squeezing. We show that two- and three-photon blockades can, in principle, be observed in various cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamical systems for which the standard single-photon blockade was observed without the need of using higher-order driving interactions or Kerr media exhibiting higher-order nonlinear susceptibility.

In contrast to recent studies [Rabl,   Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 063601 (2011); Nunnenkamp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 063602 (2011)] on photon blockade that prevents subsequent photons from resonantly entering the cavity in optomechanical systems, we study the photon-induced tunneling that increases the probability of admitting subsequent photons in those systems. In particular, we analytically and numerically show how two- or three-photon tunneling can occur by avoiding single-photon blockade. Our study provides another way on photon control using a single mechanical resonator in optomechanical systems.

The $ab$ $initio$ convergent-close-coupling method has been extended to positron-molecule collisions within the adiabatic (fixed-nuclei) approximation. Application to molecular hydrogen at energies from 0.1 to 1000 eV has yielded convergent total ionization and grand total cross sections over most of the energy range. We find that very large calculations are required for convergence, even in the case of low-energy elastic scattering, due to the effects of positronium formation. In general, the comparison with experiment is good.

Beable-guided quantum theories (BGQT) are generalizations of quantum theory, inspired by Bell's concept of beables. They modify the quantum probabilities for some specified set of fundamental events, histories, or other elements of quasiclassical reality by probability laws that depend on the realized configuration of beables. For example, they may define an additional probability weight factor for a beable configuration, independent of the quantum dynamics. Beable-guided quantum theories can be fitted to observational data to provide foils against which to compare explanations based on standard quantum theory. For example, a BGQT could, in principle, characterize the effects attributed to dark energy or dark matter, or any other deviation from the predictions of standard quantum dynamics, without introducing extra fields or a cosmological constant. The complexity of the beable-guided theory would then parametrize how far we are from a standard quantum explanation. Less conservatively, we give reasons for taking suitably simple beable-guided quantum theories as serious phenomenological theories in their own right. Among these are the possibility that cosmological models defined by BGQT might in fact fit the empirical data better than any standard quantum explanation, and the fact that BGQT suggest potentially interesting nonstandard ways of coupling quantum matter to gravity.

Under natural conditions, excitation of biological molecules, which display nonunitary open system dynamics, occurs via incoherent processes such as temperature changes or irradiation by sunlight or moonlight. The dynamics of such processes is explored analytically in a non-Markovian generic model. Specifically, a system S in equilibrium with a thermal bath TB is subjected to an external incoherent perturbation BB (such as sunlight) or another thermal bath TB${}^{\prime }$, which induces time evolution in ($\text{S}+\text{TB}$). Particular focus is on (i) the extent to which the resultant dynamics is coherent, and (ii) the role of “stationary coherences” established in the ($\text{S}+\text{TB}$) equilibration in response to the second incoherent perturbation. Results for systems with parameters analogous to those in light-harvesting molecules in photosynthesis show that the resultant dynamical behavior is incoherent beyond a very short response to the turn on of the perturbation.

We propose a three-qubit partially entangled set of states as a shared resource for optimal and faithful quantum information processing. We show that our states always violate the Svetlichny inequality, which is a Bell-type inequality whose violation is a sufficient condition for the confirmation of genuine three-qubit nonlocality. Although our states can be physically realized from the generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GGHZ) states using a simple quantum circuit, the nonlocal properties of the set are quite different from the GGHZ states. Instead, they are similar to the maximal slice (MS) states, even though our states are not locally equivalent to the MS states. Unlike other two- and three-qubit partially entangled states, quantum teleportation using our states results in faithful transmission of information with unit probability and unit fidelity by performing only standard measurements for the sender, controller, and receiver. We further demonstrate that dense coding also leads to the deterministic transfer of a maximum number of bits from the sender to the receiver. We also introduce witness operators able to experimentally detect the family of states introduced. This work highlights the importance of both the local as well as nonlocal aspects of quantum correlations in multiqubit systems.

We study the dimer-dimer scattering length $a_4$ for a two-component Fermi mixture in which the different fermions have different masses $m_{\uparrow }$ and $m_{\downarrow }$. This is made in the framework of the exact field-theoretic method. In the large mass ratio domain the equations are simplified enough to lead to an analytical solution. In particular we link $a_4$ to the fermion-dimer scattering length $a_3$ for the same fermions and obtain the very simple relation $a_4=a_3/2$. The result $a_4\simeq a_3/2$ is actually valid whatever the mass ratio with quite good precision. As a result we find an analytical expression providing $a_4$ with fairly good precision for any mass. To dominant orders for large mass ratio it agrees with the literature. We show that in this large mass ratio domain, the dominant processes are the repeated dimer-dimer Born scatterings, considered earlier by Pieri and Strinati [Phys Rev. B 61, 15370 (2000)]. We conclude that their approximation of retaining only these processes is a fairly good one whatever the mass ratio.

We apply the energy surface method to study a system of $N_a$ three-level atoms interacting with a one-mode radiation field in the $\Xi$, $\Lambda$, and $\mathsf{V}$ configurations. We obtain an estimation of the ground-state energy, the expectation value of the total number of excitations, and the phase diagram of the model in the interaction parameter space and compare the results with the exact solutions. The phase diagram separates the behavior of, in general, a dominant single state without excitations ($M=0$) from a collective state with excitations ($M\ne 0$). We have first- and second-order phase transitions, except for the $\mathsf{V}$ configuration, which only presents second-order phase transitions.

An ion trap of the end-cap design was built recently at the National Research Council of Canada for improved control of the ${}^{88}$Sr${}^{+}$ single-ion optical frequency standard systematic shifts. The uncertainty on the micromotion-induced shifts is smaller by more than four orders of magnitude when compared to our previous trap system and reaches a fractional frequency uncertainty of $1\times {10}^{-18}$. To obtain this low uncertainty level, the micromotion is minimized with trim electrodes and the trap is operated at a special frequency at which there is anticorrelation between the second-order Doppler and Stark shifts. This choice of operating frequency, determined by the differential scalar polarizability of the clock transition, yields a suppression by a factor of $\approx$28 in the combined micromotion shifts. Like many optical frequency standards, the dominant source of uncertainty in the new trap is the blackbody radiation shift. Its uncertainty has been reduced by an order of magnitude with a recent theoretical evaluation of the differential scalar polarizability of the clock transition. The fractional blackbody shift uncertainty, estimated using a model of the blackbody field at the ion, is $2.2\times {10}^{-17}$. The otherwise dominant electric quadrupole shift is reduced to below the $3\times {10}^{-19}$ level with a cancellation method based on the average frequency of several pairs of Zeeman components. This method also cancels the tensor Stark shift and simplifies the description of the frequency shifts that are quantization-axis dependent. This paper provides a detailed description of the ${}^{88}$Sr${}^{+}$ optical frequency standard uncertainty evaluation and the methods used to make the standard robust against changes in the trap environment. The total fractional frequency uncertainty of the ${}^{88}$Sr${}^{+}$ ion for our current system is estimated at $2.3\times {10}^{-17}$. We also discuss the uncertainty evaluation of a recently reported measurement of the ${}^{88}$Sr${}^{+}$ $S$-$D$ clock transition made over a 2-month period by comparison with a maser referenced to the SI second. The frequency measured is $444779044095485.5\left(9\right)$ Hz, with an uncertainty limited by the evaluation of the maser frequency.

Low-contrast all-optical Zeno switching has been demonstrated in a Si${}_3$N${}_4$ microdisk resonator coupled to warm atomic vapor. The device is based on the suppression of the resonant microcavity field buildup due to nondegenerate two-photon absorption. This experiment used one beam in a resonator and one in free space due to limitations related to device physics. These results suggest that a similar scheme with both beams resonant in the cavity would correspond to input power levels below 150 nW.

The classical definition of degree of polarization (DOP) is expressed in the quantum domain by replacing intensities through quantum mechanical average values of relevant number operators and is viewed as the first generalization of intensity. This definition assigns inaccurately the unpolarized status to some typical optical fields, e.g., amplitude-coherent phase-randomized and hidden-polarized light, which are not truly unpolarized light. The apparent paradoxical trait is circumvented by proposing a new definition of DOP in quantum optics through the second generalization of intensity. The correspondence of a new DOP to the usual DOP in quantum optics is established. It is seen that the two definitions disagree significantly for intense optical fields but coincide for weak light (thermal light) or for optical fields in which occupancy of photons in the orthogonal mode is very feeble. Our proposed definition of DOP, similar to other proposals in literature, reveals an interesting feature that states of polarization of optical quantum fields depend upon the average photons (intensity) present therein.

In 1935 Schrödinger introduced the terms entanglement and steering in the context of the famous gedanken experiment discussed by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR). Here, we report on a sixfold increase of the observed EPR-steering effect with regard to previous experiments, as quantified by the Reid criterion. We achieved an unprecedented low conditional variance product of about $0.04<1$, where 1 is the upper bound below which steering is demonstrated. The steering effect was observed on an unconditional two-mode-squeezed entangled state that contained a total vacuum state contribution of less than 8$\%$, including detection imperfections. Together with the achieved high interference contrast between the entangled state and a bright coherent laser field, our state is compatible with efficient applications in high-power laser interferometers and fiber-based networks for entanglement distribution.

We exploit the inherent entanglement of the ground state of a spin chain with dimerized $XX$ and $XXZ$ Hamiltonians to investigate the entanglement generation between the ends of the chain. The strategy introduced by S. Yang, A. Bayat, and S. Bose [Phys. Rev. A 84, 020302(R) (2011)] is followed to encode the information in the entangled ground state of the system by local rotation. The amount of achieved entanglement in this scheme is higher than the one achieved when attaching a pair of maximally entangled spins to the system. Also, our proposal can be implemented by using the optical lattices.

We present some deterministic schemes to construct universal quantum gates, that is, controlled- not, three-qubit Toffoli, and Fredkin gates, between flying photon qubits and stationary electron-spin qubits assisted by quantum dots inside double-sided optical microcavities. The control qubit of our gates is encoded on the polarization of the moving single photon and the target qubits are encoded on the confined electron spins in quantum dots inside optical microcavities. Our schemes for these universal quantum gates on a hybrid system have some advantages. First, all the gates are accomplished with a success probability of 100$\%$ in principle. Second, our schemes require no additional qubits. Third, the control qubits of the gates are easily manipulated and the target qubits are perfect for storage and processing. Fourth, the gates do not require that the transmission for the uncoupled cavity is balanceable with the reflectance for the coupled cavity, in order to get a high fidelity. Fifth, the devices for the three universal gates work in both the weak coupling and the strong coupling regimes, and they are feasible in experiment.

We consider two approaches to dark-spin-mediated quantum computing in hybrid solid-state spin architectures. First, we review the notion of eigenmode-mediated unpolarized spin-chain state transfer and extend the analysis to various experimentally relevant imperfections: quenched disorder, dynamical decoherence, and uncompensated long-range coupling. In finite-length chains, the interplay between disorder-induced localization and decoherence yields a natural optimal channel fidelity, which we calculate. Long-range dipolar couplings induce a finite intrinsic lifetime for the mediating eigenmode; extensive numerical simulations of dipolar chains of lengths up to $L=12$ show remarkably high fidelity despite these decay processes. We further briefly consider the extension of the protocol to bosonic systems of coupled oscillators. Second, we introduce a quantum mirror based architecture for universal quantum computing that exploits all of the dark spins in the system as potential qubits. While this dramatically increases the number of qubits available, the composite operations required to manipulate dark-spin qubits significantly raise the error threshold for robust operation. Finally, we demonstrate that eigenmode-mediated state transfer can enable robust long-range logic between spatially separated nitrogen-vacancy registers in diamond; disorder-averaged numerics confirm that high-fidelity gates are achievable even in the presence of moderate disorder.

Our approach to the dissociative recombination and competitive processes based on the multichannel quantum defect theory is extended to the full account of the dissociative excitation, including the electronic excitation of the molecular ion. Compared to other existing modelings, ours relies on a simpler and less-time-consuming discretization of the vibrational continua of the target ion and to a more accurate account of the Rydberg-valence interactions via a second-order solution of the Lippman-Schwinger equation. A thorough study of the competition among the dissociative recombination, vibrational excitation, and dissociative excitation is performed, including a detailed analysis of the two different mechanisms governing the ion dissociation. The application of our method to the high-energy electron collisions with ${{\mathrm{H}}_2}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{HD}}^{+}$ ions results in a cross section in good agreement with the best previous modeling and with the most recent measurements performed in the Test Storage Ring of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg.

The $B$-spline $R$-matrix method is employed to calculate elastic electron scattering from chlorine atoms in the $\left(3p^5\right){}^2{P}_{3/2,1/2}^o$ states and electron-induced collisions between these two finestructure levels. The polarizability of the target states is accounted for by including polarized pseudostates in the close-coupling expansion, while relativistic effects are treated at the level of the semirelativistic Breit-Pauli approximation. We find the Ramsauer minimum in the elastic channels at a significantly lower projectile energy ($\approx 0.2$ eV) than previous calculations, due to an apparent strong sensitivity of the theoretical predictions on the details of the model, especially the target structure. The present results are relevant to the determination of chlorine atomic densities in Cl${}_2$-containing industrial plasma etch reactors.

We propose a lens for atoms with reduced chromatic aberrations and calculate its focal length and spot size. In our scheme a two-level atom interacts with a near-resonant standing light wave formed by two running waves of slightly different wave vectors, and a far-detuned running wave propagating perpendicularly to the standing wave. We show that within the Raman-Nath approximation and for an adiabatically slow atom-light interaction, the phase acquired by the atom is independent of the incident atomic velocity.

We explore a few-fermion mixture consisting of two components that are repulsively interacting and confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap. Different scenarios of population imbalance ranging from the completely imbalanced case where the physics of a single impurity in the Fermi sea is discussed to the partially imbalanced and equal population configurations are investigated. For the numerical calculations the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method is employed, extending its application to few-fermion systems. Apart from numerical calculations we generalize our ansatz for a correlated pair wave function proposed recently [I. Brouzos and P. Schmelcher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 045301 (2012)] for bosons to mixtures of fermions. From weak to strong coupling between the components the energies, the densities and the correlation properties of one-dimensional systems change vastly with an upper limit set by fermionization where for infinite repulsion all fermions can be mapped to identical ones. The numerical and analytical treatments are in good agreement with respect to the description of this crossover. We show that for equal populations each pair of different component atoms splits into two single peaks in the density while for partial imbalance additional peaks and plateaus arise for very strong interaction strengths. The case of a single-impurity atom shows rich behavior of the energy and density as we approach fermionization and is directly connected to recent experiments [G. Zürn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 075303 (2012)].

We derive the universal high momentum factorization of the fermion self-energy in the BCS-BEC crossover of ultracold atoms using nonperturbative quantum field theoretical methods. This property is then employed to compute the Tan contact as a function of interaction strength, temperature, and chemical potential or density. We clarify the mechanism of the factorization from an analysis of the self-consistent Schwinger–Dyson equation for the fermion propagator and compute the perturbative contact on the BCS and Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) sides within this framework. A functional renormalization group approach is then put forward, which makes it possible to determine the contact over the whole crossover and, in particular, for the unitary Fermi gas. We present numerical results from an implementation of the renormalization group equations within a basic truncation scheme.