Ren-Gang Wan

Two-dimensional sub-half-wavelength atom localization via controlled spontaneous emission

We propose a scheme for two-dimensional (2D) atom localization based on the controlled spontaneous emission, in which the atom interacts with two orthogonal standing-wave fields. Due to the spatially dependent atom-field interaction, the position probability distribution of the atom can be directly determined by measuring the resulting spontaneously emission spectrum. The phase sensitive property of the atomic system leads to quenching of the spontaneous emission in some regions of the standing-waves, which significantly reduces the uncertainty in the position measurement of the atom. We find that the frequency measurement of the emitted light localizes the atom in half-wavelength domain. Especially the probability of finding the atom at a particular position can reach 100% when a photon with certain frequency is detected. By increasing the Rabi frequencies of the driving fields, such 2D sub-half-wavelength atom localization can acquire high spatial resolution.

Metal-dielectric-metal based narrow band absorber for sensing applications

We have investigated numerically the narrowband absorption property of a metal-dielectric-metal based structure which includes a top metallic nanoring arrays, a metal backed plate, and a middle dielectric spacer. Its absorption is up to 90% with linewidth narrower than 10 nm. This can be explained in terms of surface lattice resonance of the periodic structure. The spectrum with the sharp absorption dip, i.e. the lattice resonance, strongly depends on the refractive index of media surrounding the nanorings. This feature can be explored to devise a refractive index sensor, of which the bulk sensitivity factor is one order larger than that based on gap resonance mode, while the surface sensitivity factor can be two times larger. The proposed narrowband absorber has potential in applications of plasmonic biosensors.

Giant and tunable electric field enhancement in the terahertz regime

A novel array of slits design combining the nano-slit grating and dielectric-metal is proposed to obtain giant and tunable electric field enhancement in the terahertz regime. The maximum amplitude of electric field is more than 6000 times larger than that of the incident electric field. It is found that the enhancement depends primarily on the stripe and nano-slits width of grating, as well as the thickness of spacer layer. This property is particularly beneficial for the realization of ultra-sensitive nanoparticles detection and nonlinear optics in the terahertz range, such as the second harmonic generation (SHG).

High-sensitivity plasmonic sensor based on perfect absorber with metallic nanoring structures

We propose a nanoring array structure backed by a metal mirror to achieve perfect infrared absorber with absorption as high as 99.99%. The frequency of the absorption peak strongly depends on the refractive index surrounding the structured surface, while the maximum of absorption remains constant with varying the surrounding refractive index. These features can be used as plasmonic sensor for refractive index measurement. This plasmonic sensor possesses the figure of merit 700. In addition, we investigate the effect of various materials on the performance of the sensor, including , , TiN, and dielectric spacer and Au, Ag, Al, and Cu back plate and top structure. Due to the high sensitivity and simple sensing scheme, the sensing strategy can find potential applications in chemical and biosensor applications.

Optimizing the Phase-Matching Parameters of a BIBO Crystal for Ultrafast Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion

We analyze and optimize the parameters of the Type I spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process in BiB3O6 (BIBO) crystal directly from calculations. This can be used to construct a system to generate ultrafast entangled photon pairs, which play an important role in quantum communication, quantum positioning, and quantum clock synchronization. Our work on the problem makes it clear that the optimal phase matching orientation in the process of SPDC is a key mechanism in the BIBO crystal in a way that appears not to have been appreciated before. In the case of ω = 0.405 μm , the numerical results of the optimization parameters at room temperature ( 295 K ) are:θ = 152.00° ,φ = 90° , and d eff = 3.48 pm/V . Finally, we use a pair of 0.6 mm thick biaxial BIBO crystals to construct an ultrafast entangled photon source, where the crystals are stacked together perpendicularly and pumped by a 405 nm pulsed laser doubling from a Tsunami mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser.

Standoff two-color quantum ghost imaging through turbulence

Recently, a two-color quantum ghost imaging configuration was proposed by Karmakar et al. [Phys. Rev. A81, 033845 (2010)]. By illuminating an object located far away from the source and detector, with a signal beam of long wavelength to avoid absorption of short wavelengths in the atmosphere while a reference beam of short wavelength is detected locally, this imaging configuration can be appropriate for standoff sensing. In practice, the signal beam must propagate through atmosphere in the presence of serious turbulence. We analyzed theoretically the performance of this ghost imaging configuration through turbulence. Based on the Gaussian state source model and extended Huygens-Fresnel integral, a formula is derived to depict the ghost image formed through turbulence of a standoff reflective object. Numerical calculations are also given according to the formula. The results show that the image quality will be degraded by the turbulence, but the resolution can be improved by means of optimizing the wavelengths of the reference and signal beams even when the turbulence is very serious.

Ghost interference with pseudo-thermal light

Ghost imaging (correlated imaging) has been extensively investigated in recent years, both theoretically and experimentally. By using the second-order or high-order coherence properties of light field and the correlation measurement, ghost imaging was realized with quantum entangled light, pseudo-thermal light and even true thermal light. In this work, basing on the theory of statistical optics, we model the dynamic process of thermal variation, and obtain the ghost interference and ghost imaging by means of simulated calculation. In the later experiment, a pseudo-thermal source is firstly prepared by using a laser beam to pass through a rotating ground glass plate, and the parameters of the pseudo-thermal source are obtained via Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) experiment. With the pseudo-thermal light, we perform ghost interference. The experimental results demonstrate the accordance of numerical prediction. And our conclusion shows that the quality of ghost interference is influenced by the size of the pinhole in the reference path, the little pinhole due to a higher quality of ghost interference.

Review on quantum clock synchronization schemes

Accurate remote clock synchronization is the backbone of applications such as high-accuracy satellite navigation, digital and/or cryptographic communication systems, space-based interferometric surveillance, coherent distributed-aperture sensing at high frequencies, and geolocation. During the last decade, several clock synchronization schemes have been proposed based on quantum mechanical concepts. Quantum clock synchronization promises more precision and better security. In this paper, the various proposed quantum clock synchronization schemes are reviewed. We compare and discuss several different quantum clock synchronization schemes. The advantages and disadvantages of these schemes are investigated with emphasis on the application in space-based satellite navigation systems.

Experiments on a compact and robust polarization-entangled photon source

We construct a compact polarization-entangled photon source using type-II degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in beta-barium borate (BBO) crystal pumped by a 405 nm violet laser diode. In order to compensate the spatial displacement and the temporal delay due to the birefringence and dispersion effect of signal and idler photons, we make the down-converted photon pairs pass through a half wave plate and an additional BBO crystal with the half thickness of the original one. This improves the visibility of two-photon interference by eliminating the distinguishability of the paired photons. We measure the polarization correlations by two adjustable polarization analyzers in two conjugate bases, H/V and +45°/-45°, respectively. The polarization analyzer consists of a polarization beam splitter cube preceded by a rotatable half wave plate. When rotating one of the half wave plates and keeping the other one at fixed angle, we obtain the expected sin2 dependence of the coincidence counts. The highly visible sinusoidal coincidence indicates the violation of the Bell inequality and demonstrates the high quality of the polarization-entangled photon source. This compact polarization-entangled photon source is easily configurable and robust to demonstrate optical quantum information processing.