arXiv subjects

Enrico Pomarico

Publications and source records attributed to Enrico Pomarico.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Electrical thermography via centimetre-scale fiber-based distributed temperature sensing

We present a Raman-based Distributed Temperature Sensor (RDTS) with centimetre-scale resolution for thermographic analysis of electronic circuits. Temperature is measured along a single-mode fiber routed across a custom printed circuit board (PCB) with 1 cm$^2$ heating elements, using optical time-domain reflectometry of Raman signals detected by superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). This approach enables two-dimensional thermal mapping of the PCB under heating configurations with multiple hotspots. A spatial resolution of 3 cm and a temperature accuracy of 2 °C are achieved with an integration time of 5 minutes. Thermography can be performed down to 77 K, revealing that the PCB thermal resistance decreases by nearly an order of magnitude compared to room temperature, due to enhanced convective cooling in liquid nitrogen. These results establish centimetre-scale RDTS as a robust technique for real-time, spatially resolved thermography of electronic circuits, particularly in regimes where infrared imaging is ineffective, such as at low temperatures or within volumetric electronic architectures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Data Models for Dataset Drift Controls in Machine Learning With Optical Images

Camera images are ubiquitous in machine learning research. They also play a central role in the delivery of important services spanning medicine and environmental surveying. However, the application of machine learning models in these domains has been limited because of robustness concerns. A primary failure mode are performance drops due to differences between the training and deployment data. While there are methods to prospectively validate the robustness of machine learning models to such dataset drifts, existing approaches do not account for explicit models of the primary object of interest: the data. This limits our ability to study and understand the relationship between data generation and downstream machine learning model performance in a physically accurate manner. In this study, we demonstrate how to overcome this limitation by pairing traditional machine learning with physical optics to obtain explicit and differentiable data models. We demonstrate how such data models can be constructed for image data and used to control downstream machine learning model performance related to dataset drift. The findings are distilled into three applications. First, drift synthesis enables the controlled generation of physically faithful drift test cases to power model selection and targeted generalization. Second, the gradient connection between machine learning task model and data model allows advanced, precise tolerancing of task model sensitivity to changes in the data generation. These drift forensics can be used to precisely specify the acceptable data environments in which a task model may be run. Third, drift optimization opens up the possibility to create drifts that can help the task model learn better faster, effectively optimizing the data generating process itself. A guide to access the open code and datasets is available at https://github.com/aiaudit-org/raw2logit.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2020

Quantifying the effect of image compression on supervised learning applications in optical microscopy

The impressive growth of data throughput in optical microscopy has triggered a widespread use of supervised learning (SL) models running on compressed image datasets for efficient automated analysis. However, since lossy image compression risks to produce unpredictable artifacts, quantifying the effect of data compression on SL applications is of pivotal importance to assess their reliability, especially for clinical use. We propose an experimental method to evaluate the tolerability of image compression distortions in 2D and 3D cell segmentation SL tasks: predictions on compressed data are compared to the raw predictive uncertainty, which is numerically estimated from the raw noise statistics measured through sensor calibration. We show that predictions on object- and image-specific segmentation parameters can be altered by up to 15% and more than 10 standard deviations after 16-to-8 bits downsampling or JPEG compression. In contrast, a recently developed lossless compression algorithm provides a prediction spread which is statistically equivalent to that stemming from raw noise, while providing a compression ratio of up to 10:1. By setting a lower bound to the SL predictive uncertainty, our technique can be generalized to validate a variety of data analysis pipelines in SL-assisted fields.

eess.IV↗

arXiv2019

Ultrafast electron energy-loss spectroscopy in transmission electron microscopy

In the quest for dynamic multimodal probing of a material's structure and functionality, it is critical to be able to quantify the chemical state on the atomic and nanoscale using element specific electronic and structurally sensitive tools such as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Ultrafast EELF, with combined energy, time, and spatial resolution in a transmission electron microscope, has recently enabled transformative studies of photo excited nanostructure evolution and mapping of evanescent electromagnetic fields. This article aims to describe the state of the art experimental techniques in this emerging field and its major uses and future applications.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Clocking the Ultrafast Electron Cooling in Anatase Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

The recent identification of strongly bound excitons in room temperature anatase TiO$_2$ single crystals and nanoparticles underscores the importance of bulk many-body effects in samples used for applications. Here, for the first time, we unravel the interplay between many-body interactions and correlations in highly-excited anatase TiO$_2$ nanoparticles using ultrafast two-dimensional deep-ultraviolet spectroscopy. With this approach, under non-resonant excitation, we disentangle the optical nonlinearities contributing to the bleach of the lowest direct exciton peak. This allows us to clock the ultrafast timescale of the hot electron thermalization in the conduction band with unprecedented temporal resolution, which we determine to be < 50 fs, due to the strong electron-phonon coupling in the material. Our findings call for the design of alternative resonant excitation schemes in photonics and nanotechnology.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Sucralose Interaction with Protein Structures

Sucralose is a commonly employed artificial sweetener that appears to destabilize protein native structures. This is in direct contrast to the bio-preservative nature of its natural counterpart, sucrose, which enhances the stability of biomolecules against environmental stress. We have further explored the molecular interactions of sucralose as compared to sucrose to illuminate the origin of the differences in their bio-preservative efficacy. We show that the mode of interactions of sucralose and sucrose in bulk solution differ subtly using hydration dynamics measurement and computational simulation. Sucralose does not appear to disturb the native state of proteins for moderate concentrations (<0.2 M) at room temperature. However, as the concentration increases, or in the thermally stressed state, sucralose appears to differ in its interactions with protein leading to the reduction of native state stability. This difference in interaction appears weak. We explored the difference in the preferential exclusion model using time-resolved spectroscopic techniques and observed that both molecules appear to be effective reducers of bulk hydration dynamics. However, the chlorination of sucralose appears to slightly enhance the hydrophobicity of the molecule, which reduces the preferential exclusion of sucralose from the protein-water interface. The weak interaction of sucralose with hydrophobic pockets on the protein surface differs from the behavior of sucrose. We experimentally followed up upon the extent of this weak interaction using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurements. We propose this as a possible origin for the difference in their bio-preservative properties.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2016

Retardation of Bulk Water Dynamics by Disaccharide Osmolytes

The bioprotective nature of disaccharides is hypothesized to derive from the modification of the hydrogen bonding network of water which protects biomolecules through lowered water activity at the protein interface. Using ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy we measured the relaxation of bulk water dynamics around the induced dipole moment of two fluorescent probes (Lucifer Yellow Ethylenediamine and Tryptophan). Our results indicate a reduction in bulk water reorganization rate of approximately of 30%. We observe this retardation in the low concentration regime measured at 0.1M and 0.25 M, far below the onset of glassy dynamics. This reduction in water activity could be significant in crowded biological systems, contributing to global change in protein energy landscape, resulting in a significant enhancement of protein stability under environmental stress. We observed similar dynamic reduction for two disaccharide osmolytes, sucrose and trehalose, with trehalose being the more effective dynamic reducer.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2013

Interaction of Independent Single Photons based on Integrated Nonlinear Optics

Photons are ideal carriers of quantum information, as they can be easily created and can travel long distances without being affected by decoherence. For this reason, they are well suited for quantum communication. However, the interaction between single photons is negligible under most circumstances. Realising such an interaction is not only fundamentally fascinating but holds great potential for emerging technologies. It has recently been shown that even weak optical nonlinearities between single photons can be used to perform important quantum communication tasks more efficiently than methods based on linear optics, which have fundamental limitations. Nonlinear optical effects at single photon levels in atomic media have been studied and demonstrated but these are neither flexible nor compatible with quantum communication as they impose restrictions on photons' wavelengths and bandwidths. Here we use a high efficiency nonlinear waveguide to observe the sum-frequency generation between a single photon and a single-photon level coherent state from two independent sources. The use of an integrated, room-temperature device and telecom wavelengths makes this approach to photon-photon interaction well adapted to long distance quantum communication, moving quantum nonlinear optics one step further towards complex quantum networks and future applications such as device independent quantum key distribution.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Retinal and post-retinal contributions to the quantum efficiency of the human eye

The retina is one of the best known quantum detectors with rods able to respond to a single photon. However, estimates on the number of photons eliciting conscious perception, based on signal detection theory, are systematically above these values. One possibility is that post-retinal processing significantly contributes to the decrease in the quantum efficiency determined by signal detection. We carried out experiments in humans using controlled sources of light while recording EEG and reaction times. Half of the participants behaved as noisy detectors reporting perception in trials where no light was sent. DN subjects were significantly faster to take decisions. Reaction times significantly increased with the decrease in the number of photons. This trend was reflected in the latency and onset of the EEG responses over frontal and parietal contacts where the first significant differences in latency comparable to differences in reaction time appeared. Delays in latency of neural responses across intensities were observed later over visual areas suggesting that they are due to the time required to reach the decision threshold in decision areas rather than to longer integration times at sensory areas. Our results suggest that post-retinal processing significantly contribute to increase detection noise and thresholds, decreasing the efficiency of the retina brain detector system.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2012

MHz rate and efficient synchronous heralding of single photons at telecom wavelengths

We report on the realization of a synchronous source of heralded single photons at telecom wavelengths with MHz heralding rates and high heralding efficiency. This source is based on the generation of photon pairs at 810 and 1550 nm via Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) in a 1 cm periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal pumped by a 532 nm pulsed laser. As high rates are fundamental for multi-photon experiments, we show that single telecom photons can be announced at 4.4MHz rate with 45% heralding efficiency. When we focus only on the optimization of the coupling of the heralded photon, the heralding efficiency can be increased up to 80%. Furthermore, we experimentally observe that group velocity mismatch inside long crystals pumped in a pulsed mode affects the spectrum of the emitted photons and their fibre coupling efficiency. The length of the crystal in this source has been chosen as a trade off between high brightness and high coupling efficiency.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Engineering integrated pure narrow-band photon sources

Engineering and controlling well defined states of light for quantum information applications is of increasing importance as the complexity of quantum systems grows. For example, in quantum networks high multi-photon interference visibility requires properly devised single mode sources. In this paper we propose a spontaneous parametric down conversion source based on an integrated cavity-waveguide, where single narrow-band, possibly distinct, spectral modes for the idler and the signal fields can be generated. This mode selection takes advantage of the clustering effect, due to the intrinsic dispersion of the nonlinear material. In combination with a CW laser and fast detection, our approach provides a means to engineer a source that can efficiently generate pure photons, without filtering, that is compatible with long distance quantum communication. Furthermore, it is extremely flexible and could easily be adapted to a wide variety of wavelengths and applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Experimental amplification of an entangled photon: what if the detection loophole is ignored?

The experimental verification of quantum features, such as entanglement, at large scales is extremely challenging because of environment-induced decoherence. Indeed, measurement techniques for demonstrating the quantumness of multiparticle systems in the presence of losses are difficult to define and, if not sufficiently accurate, they provide wrong conclusions. We present a Bell test where one photon of an entangled pair is amplified and then detected by threshold detectors, whose signals undergo postselection. The amplification is performed by a classical machine, which produces a fully separable micro-macro state. However, by adopting such a technique, one can surprisingly observe a violation of the CHSH inequality. This is due to the fact that ignoring the detection loophole, opened by the postselection and the system losses, can lead to misinterpretations, such as claiming the micro-macro entanglement in a setup where evidently there is not. By using threshold detectors and postselection, one can only infer the entanglement of the initial pair of photons, so micro-micro entanglement, as it is further confirmed by the violation of a non-separability criterion for bipartite systems. How to detect photonic micro-macro entanglement in the presence of losses with currently available technology remains an open question.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Various quantum nonlocality tests with a simple 2-photon entanglement source

Nonlocality is a fascinating and counterintuitive aspect of Nature, revealed by the violation of a Bell inequality. The standard and easiest configuration in which Bell inequalities can be measured has been proposed by Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH). However, alternative nonlocality tests can also be carried out. In particular, Bell inequalities requiring multiple measurement settings can provide deeper fundamental insights about quantum nonlocality as well as offering advantages in the presence of noise and detection inefficiency. In this article we show how these nonlocality tests can be performed using a commercially available source of entangled photon pairs. We report the violation of a series of these nonlocality tests (I3322, I4422 and chained inequalities). With the violation of the chained inequality with 4 settings per side we put an upper limit at 0.49 on the local content of the states prepared by the source (instead of 0.63 attainable with CHSH). We also quantify the amount of true randomness that has been created during our experiment (assuming fair sampling of the detected events).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

32 Bin Near-Infrared Time-Multiplexing Detector with Attojoule Single-Shot Energy Resolution

We present two implementations of photon counting time-multiplexing detectors for near-infrared wavelengths, based on Peltier cooled InGaAs/InP avalanche photo diodes (APDs). A first implementation is motivated by practical considerations using only commercially available components. It features 16 bins, pulse repetition rates of up to 22 kHz and a large range of applicable pulse widths of up to 100 ns. A second implementation is based on rapid gating detectors, permitting deadtimes below 10 ns. This allows one to realize a high dynamic-range 32 bin detector, able to process pulse repetition rates of up to 6 MHz for pulse width of up to 200 ps. Analysis of the detector response at 16.5% detection efficiency, reveals a single-shot energy resolution on the attojoule level.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Cloning Entangled Qubits to Scales One Can See

By amplifying photonic qubits it is possible to produce states that contain enough photons to be seen with a human eye, potentially bringing quantum effects to macroscopic scales [1]. In this paper we theoretically study quantum states obtained by amplifying one side of an entangled photon pair with different types of optical cloning machines for photonic qubits. We propose a detection scheme that involves lossy threshold detectors (such as human eye) on the amplified side and conventional photon detectors on the other side. We show that correlations obtained with such coarse-grained measurements prove the entanglement of the initial photon pair and do not prove the entanglement of the amplified state. We emphasize the importance of the detection loophole in Bell violation experiments by giving a simple preparation technique for separable states that violate a Bell inequality without closing this loophole. Finally we analyze the genuine entanglement of the amplified states and its robustness to losses before, during and after amplification.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Quantum Cloning for Absolute Radiometry

In the quantum regime information can be copied with only a finite fidelity. This fidelity gradually increases to 1 as the system becomes classical. In this article we show how this fact can be used to directly measure the amount of radiated power. We demonstrate how these principles could be used to build a practical primary standard.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Room temperature photon number resolving detector at telecom wavelengths

Large dynamic range room temperature photon number resolving (PNR) detectors can be very useful for measuring very low light intensities and for analyzing multiphoton quantum states. In this paper we present a PNR detector based on the up-conversion (UC) of telecom signal into visible wavelength and on its detection by a thermoelectrically cooled multi-pixel silicon avalanche photodiodode (APD), also known as Silicon Photon Multiplier (SiPM). An efficiency of 4% is attained and the poissonian statistics of input coherent states is maintained up to approximately 20 simultaneous detections. The cross-talk effects on the detected signal are estimated in order to properly calibrate the detector. This scheme can be used at arbitrary wavelengths above the visible spectral window with appropriate up-conversion.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Waveguide-based OPO source of entangled photon pairs

In this paper we present a compact source of narrow-band energy-time entangled photon pairs in the telecom regime based on a Ti-indiffused Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) waveguide resonator, i.e. a waveguide with end-face dielectric multi-layer mirrors. This is a monolithic doubly resonant Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) far below threshold, which generates photon pairs by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) at around 1560nm with a 117MHz (0.91 pm)- bandwidth. A coherence time of 2.7 ns is estimated by a time correlation measurement and a high quality of the entangled states is confirmed by a Bell-type experiment. Since highly coherent energy-time entangled photon pairs in the telecom regime are suitable for long distance transmission and manipulation, this source is well suited to the requirements of quantum communication.

quant-ph↗