1,721,117 research outputs found
Thermal and superthermal noise signals as resources for underwater quantum communication
No full textQuantum technologies have opened new perspectives for enhancing communication speed and security, particularly in challenging underwater environments, where conventional protocols rely on acoustic wave propagation. In this study, we introduce an innovative communication protocol built upon the utilization of mesoscopic twin-beam (TWB) states, entangled in the number of photons, and photon-number-resolving detectors. Our approach involves transmitting information by mixing the part of TWB that propagates through water with two signals having identical mean values but different statistical distributions. Specifically, we explore the advantages and limitations associated with employing pseudothermal states and two distinct types of superthermal states in our communication protocol. Through both theoretical analysis and experimental investigation, we assess the feasibility of accurately discriminating which state has been superimposed onto the TWB by evaluating the noise reduction factor. Our findings demonstrate promis- ing outcomes, suggesting the practical implementation of this protocol in real-world underwater communication scenarios
Preserving nonclassical correlations in strongly unbalanced conditions
No full textIt is well known that optical losses represent the main obstacle to the real exploitation of quantum optical systems for quantum technology. Here we investigate to what extent the presence of unbalanced losses between the two parties of a mesoscopic twin-beam state can prevent or not the observation of nonclassical correlations. Moreover, we focus on the survival of nonclassicality in the presence of asymmetric lossy channels modeled according to specific statistical distributions
Effect of noisy channels on the transmission of mesoscopic twin-beam states
Full text linkQuantum properties of light, which are crucial resources for quantum technologies, are quite fragile in nature and can be degraded and even concealed by the environment. We show, both theoretically and experimentally, that mesoscopic twin-beam states of light can preserve their nonclassicality even in the presence of major losses and different types of noise, thus suggesting their potential usefulness to encode information in quantum communication protocols. We develop a comprehensive general analytical model for a measurable nonclassicality criterion and find thresholds on noise and losses for the survival of entanglement in the twin beam
DNA-ligand binding-mode discrimination by characterizing fluorescence resonant energy transfer through lifetime measurements with picosecond resolution
No full textWe describe a method for distinguishing between minor groove binders and base intercalators that is based on measurements of the fluorescence lifetime of a donor (D) in the presence of an acceptor (A). The D-A pair is separated by a short double helix DNA with which the ligands interact. By plotting the D fluorescence lifetime as a function of the ligand-to-base pair concentration ratio we find a clear signature that distinguishes between the two binding mechanisms: minor groove binding induces an asymptotic decrease of the D fluorescence lifetime, while intercalation gives a monotonically increasing lifetime and the appearance of an additional short lifetime. We assayed Quinacrine, Hoechst and 4′-6′diamidine-2-phenyl indole, which in control experiments performed on oligodeoxyribonucleotides (oligos) lacking the A are demonstrated not to interfere with the D fluorescence. The changes in fluorescence lifetimes measured in the case of dual-labeled oligos are thus caused by structural changes in the DNA that modify the D-A distance. The appearance of the short-lived transient in the fluorescence decay of Ds attached to dual-labeled oligos upon binding of an intercalator can be interpreted as denaturation. © 2007 The Authors
Photon-number correlations by photon-number resolving detectors
No full textWe demonstrate that by using pairs of photodetectors endowed with internal gain we are able to quantify the photon-number correlation coefficient between the two components of a pulsed bipartite state in the "mesoscopic" intensity regime (less than 100 mean photons). We compare the performances of hybrid photoemissive detectors to those of multipixel silicon photon counters and demonstrate that the absence of significant noise allows the evaluation of the variance of the distribution of the differences in photon numbers, and hence of the shot-noise level, without any correction
Effects of nonideal features of silicon photomultiplier on the measurements of quantum correlations
No full textWe analyze the effects of some stochastic deviations from the ideal response in silicon photomultipliers that prove to be detrimental for the measurement of quantum properties of light. We demonstrate that an optimized operation mode can overcome some limitations of the detectors allowing the characterization of entanglement in mesoscopic twin-beam states
Tailoring asymmetric lossy channels to test the robustness of mesoscopic quantum states of light
Full text linkIn the past twenty years many experiments have demonstrated that quantum states of light can be used for secure data transfer, despite the presence of many noise sources. In this paper we investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, the role played by a statistically-distributed asymmetric amount of loss in the degradation of nonclassical photon-number correlations between the two parties of multimode twin-beam states in the mesoscopic intensity regime. To be as close as possible to realistic scenarios, we consider two different statistical distributions of such a loss, a Gaussian distribution and a log-normal one. The results achieved in the two cases show to what extent the involved parameters, both those connected to loss and those describing the employed states of light, preserve nonclassicality
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