Properties of quantum states have disclosed new and revolutionary technologies, ranging from quantum information to quantum imaging. This last field is intended to overcome the limits of classical imaging by exploiting specific properties of quantum states of light. One of the most interesting proposed schemes exploits spatial quantum correlations between twin beams for realizing sub-shot-noise imaging of weakly absorbing objects, leading ideally to a noise-free imaging. Here we discuss in detail the experimental realization of this scheme, showing its capability to reach a larger signal-to-noise ratio with respect to classical imaging methods and therefore its potential for future practical applications.

We use a parametric down-conversion source pumped by a short-coherence-length continuous-wave (CW) diode laser to perform two-photon interferometry in an intermediate regime between the more familiar Franson-type experiments with a long-coherence-length pump laser, and the short pulsed pump “time-bin” experiments pioneered by Gisin’s group. The use of a time-bin-like Mach-Zehnder interferometer in the CW pumping beam induces coherence between certain two-photon amplitudes, while the CW nature of the experiment prevents the elimination of remaining incoherent ones. The experimental results highlight the role of pump coherence in two-photon interferometry.

We study numerically the effect of boundaries on Anderson localization of light in truncated two-dimensional photonic lattices in a nonlinear medium. We demonstrate suppression of Anderson localization at the edges and corners, so that stronger disorder is needed near the boundaries to obtain the same localization as in the bulk. We find that the level of suppression depends on the location in the lattice (edge vs corner), as well as on the strength of disorder. We also discuss the effect of nonlinearity on various regimes of Anderson localization.

We demonstrate a simple technique for molecular-ion spectroscopy. BaCl${}^{+}$ molecular ions are trapped in a linear Paul trap in the presence of a room-temperature He buffer gas and photodissociated by driving an electronic transition from the ground $X\hspace{0.5em}{}^1{\Sigma }^{+}$ state to the repulsive wall of the $A\hspace{0.5em}{}^1\Pi$ state. The photodissociation spectrum is recorded by monitoring the induced trap loss of BaCl${}^{+}$ ions as a function of excitation wavelength. Accurate molecular potentials and spectroscopic constants are determined. A comparison of the theoretical photodissociation cross sections with the measurements shows excellent agreement. This study represents an important step toward the production of ultracold ground-state molecular ions.

We have estimated the size of the light shifts due to parity-nonconservation (PNC) interactions in different isotopes of Ba${}^{+}$ and Ra${}^{+}$ ions based on the work of Fortson [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2383 (1993)]. We have used the nuclear-spin-independent (NSI) amplitudes calculated earlier by us [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 163003 (2006); Phys. Rev. A 78, 050501(R) (2008)], and we have employed the third-order many-body perturbation theory [MBPT(3)] in this work to estimate the nuclear-spin-dependent (NSD) amplitudes in these ions. Ra${}^{+}$ is found to be more favorable than Ba${}^{+}$ for measuring both the NSI and NSD PNC observables.

We consider repulsively interacting, cold fermionic atoms loaded on an optical ladder lattice in a trapping potential. The density-matrix renormalization-group method is used to numerically calculate the ground state for systematically varied values of interaction $U$ and spin imbalance $p$ in the Hubbard model on the ladder. The system exhibits rich structures, where a fully spin-polarized phase, spatially separated from other domains in the trapping potential, appears for large enough $U$ and $p$. The phase-separated ferromagnetism can be captured as a real-space image of the energy gap between the ferromagnetic and other states arising from the combined effect of the Nagaoka ferromagnetism extended to the ladder and the density dependence of the energy separation between competing states. We also predict how to maximize the ferromagnetic region.

Lenses allow the formation of clear images in homogeneous linear media. Holography is an alternative imaging method, but its use is limited to cases in which it provides an advantage, such as three-dimensional imaging. In nonlinear media, lenses no longer work. The light produces intensity-dependent aberrations. The reverse propagation method used in digital holography to form images from recorded holograms works even in Kerr media [M. Tsang, D. Psaltis, and F. G. Omenetto, Opt. Lett. 28, 1873 (2003).]. The principle has been experimentally demonstrated recently in defocusing media [C. Barsi, W.Wan, and J.W. Fleischer, Nat. Photonics 3, 211 (2009).]. Here, we report experimental results in focusing media.

A detailed analysis of the photon emission spectra of an electron scattered by a laser pulse containing only very few cycles of the carrying electromagnetic field is presented. The analysis is performed in the framework of strong-field quantum electrodynamics, with the laser field taken into account exactly in the calculations. We consider different emission regimes depending on the laser intensity, placing special emphasis on the regime of one-cycle beams and of high laser intensities, where the emission spectra depend nonperturbatively on the laser intensity. In this regime, we, in particular, present an accurate stationary phase analysis of the integrals that are shown to determine the computed emission spectra. The emission spectra show significant differences with respect to those in a long pulsed or monochromatic laser field: The emission lines obtained here are much broader, and more important, no dressing of the electron mass is observed.

Spin chains have been proposed as quantum wires in many quantum-information processing architectures. Coherent transmission of quantum information in spin chains over short distances is enabled by their internal dynamics, which drives the transport of single-spin excitations in perfectly polarized chains. Given the practical challenge of preparing the chain in a pure state, we propose to use a chain that is initially in the maximally mixed state. We compare the transport properties of pure and mixed-state chains and find similarities that enable the experimental study of pure-state transfer via mixed-state chains. We also demonstrate protocols for the perfect transfer of quantum information in these chains. Remarkably, mixed-state chains allow the use of Hamiltonians that do not preserve the total number of single-spin excitations and are more readily obtainable from the naturally occurring magnetic dipolar interaction. We discuss experimental implementations using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and defect centers in diamond.

We propose a scheme to generate hybrid Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entanglement where multiple photons are entangled in different degrees of freedom of spin, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and path (linear momentum). The generation involves mapping the preliminary OAM entanglement of photon pairs onto their spin-orbit and spin-path degrees of freedom, respectively. Based on the hybrid GHZ entanglement, we demonstrate an open-destination teleportation with multiples degrees of freedom, via which a spin state of a single photon is teleported onto a superposition of multiple photons with the postselection technique and the original information could be read out at any photon in individual spin, OAM, or the linear-momentum state. Our scheme holds promise for asymmetric optical quantum network.

We describe a model of inelastic and elastic collisional dynamics of atoms in an optical dipole trap that utilizes numerical evaluation of statistical mechanical quantities and numerical solution of equations for the evolution of number and temperature of trapped atoms. It can be used for traps that possess little spatial symmetry and when the ratio of trap depth to sample temperature is relatively small. We compare simulation results with experiments on ${}^{88}\mathrm{Sr}$ and ${}^{84}\mathrm{Sr}$, which have well-characterized collisional properties.

We analyze in this paper the process of double-electron ejection through two-photon absorption from the fundamental state of helium. We focus on the case of photon energies close to 2 a.u., which marks the threshold between direct and sequential double-ionization regimes. We demonstrate the crucial role of two-photon excitation-plus-ionization process of ${\mathit{nlk}}^{\prime }{l}^{\prime }$ Rydberg series. We show that the latter channel must be taken into account in the theory in order to properly describe two-electron ejection. A simple expression is derived for the electron energy spectrum, leading to better insights into the physics underlying two-photon absorption close to the sequential threshold.

We study a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate small enough to be treated as a single magnetic domain: a system that we term a microcondensate. Because all particles occupy a single spatial mode, this quantum many-body system has a well-defined classical limit consisting of three degrees of freedom, corresponding to the three macroscopically occupied spin states. We study both the classical limit and its quantization, finding an integrable system in both cases. Depending on the sign of the ratio of the spin interaction energy and the quadratic Zeeman energy, the classical limit displays either a separatrix in phase space or Hamiltonian monodromy corresponding to nontrivial phase space topology. We discuss the quantum signatures of these classical phenomena using semiclassical quantization as well as an exact solution using the Bethe ansatz.

We study the dynamics of ultracold attractive atoms in a weakly linked two potential wells. We consider an unbalanced initial state and monitor dynamics of the population difference between the two wells. The average imbalance between wells undergoes damped oscillations, like in a classical counterpart, but then it revives almost to the initial value. We explain in detail the whole behavior using three different models of the system. Furthermore, we investigate the sensitivity of the revivals on the decoherence caused by one- and three-body losses. We include the dissipative processes using appropriate master equations and solve them using the stochastic wave approximation method.

We develop a model for predicting the thermal emission spectrum of a two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal for arbitrary angles based on coupled-mode theory. Calculating the appropriate coupled-mode parameters over a range of geometrical parameters allows one to tailor the emissivity spectrum to a specific application. As an example, we design an emitter with a step-function cutoff suppressing long-wavelength emission, which is necessary for high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic systems. We also confirm the accuracy of the results of our model with finite-difference time-domain simulations.

We investigate the coherence properties of an array of one-dimensional Bose gases with short-scale phase fluctuations. The momentum distribution is measured using Bragg spectroscopy, and an effective coherence length of the whole ensemble is defined. In addition, we propose and demonstrate that time-of-flight absorption imaging can be used as a simple probe to directly measure the coherence length of one-dimensional gases in the regime where phase fluctuations are strong. This method is suitable for future studies such as investigating the effect of disorder on the phase coherence.

We perform large-scale quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations for strongly interacting bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice trap and confirm an excellent agreement with the benchmarking in situ density measurements by the Chicago group [N. Gemelke et al., Nature (London) 460, 995 (2009)]. We further present a general finite-temperature phase diagram for both the uniform and the trapped systems, demonstrating how the universal scaling properties near the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition can be observed from the in situ density profile. The characteristic temperature to find such quantum criticality is estimated to be of the order of the single-particle bandwidth, which should be achievable in the present experiments. Finally, we examine the validity regime of the local fluctuation-dissipation theorem, which can be a used as a thermometry in the strongly interacting regime.

Emission from a molecular light source depends on its optical and chemical environment. This dependence is different for various sources. We present a general classification in terms of constant-amplitude and constant-power sources. Using this classification, we have described the response to both changes in the local density of states and stimulated emission. The unforeseen consequences of this classification are illustrated for photonic studies by random laser experiments and are in good agreement with our correspondingly developed theory. Our results require a revision of studies on sources in complex media.

We demonstrate through exact solutions that a spin bath leads to stronger (faster) dephasing of a qubit than a bosonic bath with an identical bath-coupling spectrum. This difference is due to the spin-bath “dressing” by the coupling. Consequently, the quantum statistics of the bath strongly affects the pulse sequences required to dynamically decouple the qubit from its bath.

Maintaining quantum coherence is a crucial requirement for quantum computation; hence protecting quantum systems against their irreversible corruption due to environmental noise is an important open problem. Dynamical decoupling (DD) is an effective method for reducing decoherence with a low control overhead. It also plays an important role in quantum metrology, where, for instance, it is employed in multiparameter estimation. While a sequence of equidistant control pulses [the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) sequence] has been ubiquitously used for decoupling, Uhrig recently proposed that a nonequidistant pulse sequence [the Uhrig dynamic decoupling (UDD) sequence] may enhance DD performance, especially for systems where the spectral density of the environment has a sharp frequency cutoff. On the other hand, equidistant sequences outperform UDD for soft cutoffs. The relative advantage provided by UDD for intermediate regimes is not clear. In this paper, we analyze the relative DD performance in this regime experimentally, using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Our system qubits are ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ nuclear spins and the environment consists of a ${}^1\mathrm{H}$ nuclear spin bath whose spectral density is close to a normal (Gaussian) distribution. We find that in the presence of such a bath, the CPMG sequence outperforms the UDD sequence. An analogy between dynamical decoupling and interference effects in optics provides an intuitive explanation as to why the CPMG sequence performs better than any nonequidistant DD sequence in the presence of this kind of environmental noise.