Fu-li Li

Measuring mode indices of a partially coherent vortex beam with Hanbury Brown and Twiss type experiment

It is known that the cross-correlation function (CCF) of a partially coherent vortex (PCV) beam shows a robust link with the radial and azimuthal mode indices. However, the previous proposals are difficult to measure the CCF in practical systems, especially in the case of astronomical objects. In this letter, we demonstrate experimentally that the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect can be used to measure the mode indices of the original vortex beam and investigate the relationship between the spatial coherent width and the characterization of CCF of the PCV beam. The technique we exploit is quite efficient and robust, and it may be useful in the field of free space communication and astronomy which are related to the photons orbital angular momentum.

Enhanced electromechanical coupling of a nanomechanical resonator to coupled superconducting cavities

We investigate the electromechanical coupling between a nanomechanical resonator and two parametrically coupled superconducting coplanar waveguide cavities that are driven by a two-mode squeezed microwave source. We show that, with the selective coupling of the resonator to the cavity Bogoliubov modes, the radiation-pressure type coupling can be greatly enhanced by several orders of magnitude, enabling the single photon strong coupling to be reached. This allows the investigation of a number of interesting phenomena such as photon blockade effects and the generation of nonclassical quantum states with electromechanical systems.

Probing the fractional topological charge of a vortex light beam by using dynamic angular double slits

Vortex beams with fractional topological charge (FTC) have many special characteristics and novel applications. However, one of the obstacles for their application is the difficulty of precisely determining the FTC of fractional vortex beams. We find that when a vortex beam with an FTC illuminates a dynamic angular double slit (ADS), the far-field interference patterns that include the information of the FTC of the beam at the angular bisector direction of the ADS vary periodically. Based on this property, a simple dynamic ADS device and data fitting method can be used to precisely measure the FTC of a vortex light beam with an error of less than 5%.

Second-order interference of two independent and tunable single-mode continuous-wave lasers*

The second-order temporal interference between two independent single-mode continuous-wave lasers is discussed by employing two-photon interference in Feynmans path integral theory. It is concluded that whether the second-order temporal interference pattern can be retrieved via two-photon coincidence counting measurement is dependent on the relationship between the resolution time of the detection system and the frequency difference between these two lasers. Two identical and tunable single-mode diode lasers are employed to verify the predictions experimentally. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions. These studies are helpful to understand the physics of two-photon interference with photons of different spectrums and application of two-photon interference in quantum information processing.

Four-state quantum key distribution exploiting maximum mutual information measurement strategy

We propose a four-state quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme using generalized measurement of nonorthogonal states, the maximum mutual information measurement strategy. Then, we analyze the eavesdropping process in intercept–resend and photon number splitting attack scenes. Our analysis shows that in the intercept–resend and photon number splitting attack eavesdropping scenes, our scheme is more secure than BB84 protocol and has higher key generation rate which may be applied to high-density QKD.

Coherent control of multiphoton dynamics and high-order-harmonic generation driven by two frequency-comb fields with a relative envelope delay

We present a theoretical investigation of the coherent control of multiphoton dynamics and a high-order-harmonic generation (HHG) process driven by two frequency-comb fields, via the interference of multiphoton transition paths by tuning the relative envelope delay between fields. The many-mode Floquet theorem is employed to provide a nonperturbative and exact treatment of the interaction between a quantum system and frequency-comb laser fields. The case of two frequency-comb fields with the same repetition frequency and the carrier frequencies of fundamental and second harmonics, respectively, is considered. Due to the coupling of the second harmonic controlling the frequency-comb laser field, multiphoton transitions involving both fundamental- and second-harmonic photons occur. Different multiphoton transition paths can be superpositioned when the matching condition for carrier-envelope-phase shifts is satisfied, offering the possibility of coherent control of HHG power spectra via the interference of paths by tuning the relative envelope delay between fields. The calculated HHG power spectra present both sub-cycle oscillation and multi-cycle modulation behavior when the relative envelope delay is varied. It is also found that, under the condition of multiphoton resonance, the HHG power spectra can be further enhanced by about 10 times via the interference of multiphoton transition paths by tuning the relative envelope delay.

Observation of multi-Raman gain resonances in rubidium vapor*

We present an experimental study of multi-Raman gain resonances in a hot rubidium vapor. The experiment is performed based on a high-efficiency four-wave mixing process due to the Raman-driven coherence in a double-Λ configuration. The Raman gain resonance for 85Rb atoms under a bias magnetic field is shown to be split into five or six peaks, depending on the orientation of the magnetic field. The formed multi-Raman gain resonances have potential applications in measurement of magnetic fields and generation of multi-frequency correlated twin beams.

Ultrafast optical beam deflection in a pump probe configuration

Propagation of a signal beam in an AlGaAs/GaAs waveguide multiple;prism light deflector is theoretically investigated by solving the scalar Helmholtz equation to obtain the dependences of the temporal and spatial resolvable characteristics of the ultrafast deflector on the material dispersion of GaAs including group velocity dispersion and angular dispersion, interface reflection, and interface scattering of multiple;prism deflector. Furthermore, we experimentally confirm that, in this ultrafast beam deflection device, the deflecting angle of the signal light beam is linear with the pump fluence and the temporal resolution of the ultrafast deflection is 10 ps. Our results show that the improvement of the temporal and spatial resolvable performances is possible by properly choosing the structural parameters and enhancing the quality of the device.