arXiv subjects

Fei Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Fei Zhou.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Measurement device independent quantum key distribution over 404 km optical fibre

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide unconditional secure communication between two distant parties. Although the significance of QKD is undisputed, its feasibility has been questioned because of certain limitations in the practical application of real-life QKD systems. It is a common belief the lack of perfect single-photon source and the existence of detection loss will handicap the feasibility of QKD by creating security loopholes and distance limitations. The measurement device independent QKD (MDIQKD) with decoy-state method removes the security threats from both the imperfect single-photon source and the detection loss. Lengthening the distance and improving the key rate of QKD with such a superior method is thus the central issue in the practical application of QKD. Here, we report the results of MDIQKD over 404 km of ultralow-loss optical fibre and 311 km of standard optical fibre by employing an optimized four-intensity decoy-state method. This record-breaking implementation of MDIQKD method not only provides a new distance record for both MDIQKD and all types of QKD systems, more significantly, it achieves a distance that the traditional BB84 QKD would not be able to achieve with the same detection devices even with ideal single-phone sources. For the first time, our work demonstrates that with the MDIQKD method, imperfect devices can achieve better results than what ideal sources could have achieved. This work represents a significant step towards proving and developing a feasible long-distance QKD.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Electronic Structure Descriptor for Discovery of Narrow-Band Red-Emitting Phosphors

Narrow-band red-emitting phosphors are a critical component in phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes for highly efficient illumination-grade lighting. In this work, we report the discovery of a quantitative descriptor for narrow-band Eu2+-activated emission identified through a comparison of the electronic structure of known narrow-band and broad-band phosphors. We find that a narrow emission bandwidth is characterized by a large splitting of more than 0.1 eV between the two highest Eu2+ 4f7 bands. By incorporating this descriptor in a high throughput first principles screening of 2,259 nitride compounds, we identify five promising new nitride hosts for Eu2+-activated red-emitting phosphors that are predicted to exhibit good chemical stability, thermal quenching resistance and quantum efficiency, as well as narrow-band emission. Our findings provide important insights into the emission characteristics of rare-earth activators in phosphor hosts, and a general strategy to the discovery of phosphors with a desired emission peak and bandwidth.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Crystal field calculations for transition metal ions by application of an opposing potential

We propose a fully ab initio method, the opposing crystal potential (OCP), to calculate the crystal field parameters of transition metal impurities in insulator hosts. Through constrained density functional calculations, OCP obtains the constraining Lagrange multipliers, which act as cancellation potential against the crystal field and lead to spherical $d$-electron distribution. The method is applied to several insulators doped with Mn$^{4+}$ and Mn$^{2+}$ ions and shown to be in good agreement with experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Universal Scaling Properties of Cold Atom Scattering Dynamics in Confined Low Dimensional Geometries

Intermediate energy scale physics plays a very important role in non-equilibrium dynamics of quasi-low dimensional cold atom systems. In this article we obtain the universal scaling relations for the generalized reflection coefficient, i.e., the fraction of atoms scattered out of the initial state, at intermediate energies scales. These intermediate energies are larger than the trap frequency, but necessarily smaller than the effective range of the inter-atomic potential. For harmonically confined one and two dimensional geometries, whenever the energy of the system is commensurate with a transverse energy level, it is shown that the system becomes non-interacting. For energies close to a transverse energy level, the reflection coefficient and scattering dynamics take on universal scaling forms, only depending on the difference between the energy of the particles and the transverse energy level. In this article, the universal power law behaviors of these scattering observables are obtained.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Stability and Anomalous Compressibility of Bose Gases Near Resonance: The scale-dependent interactions and thermal effects

The stability of Bose gases near resonance has been a puzzling problem in recent years. In this Letter, we demonstrate that in addition to generating thermal pressure, thermal atoms enhance the repulsiveness of the scale-dependent interactions between condensed atoms due to renormalization effect and further stabilize the Bose gases. Consequently, we find that, as a precursor of instability, the compressibility develops an anomalous structure as a function of scattering length and is drastically reduced compared with the mean-field value. Furthermore, the density profile of a Bose gas in a harmonic trap is found to develop a flat top near the center. This is due to the anomalous behavior of compressibility and can be a potential smoking gun for probing such an effect.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Lattice anharmonicity and thermal conductivity from compressive sensing of first-principles calculations

First-principles prediction of lattice thermal conductivity $κ_L$ of strongly anharmonic crystals is a long-standing challenge in solid state physics. Making use of recent advances in information science, we propose a systematic and rigorous approach to this problem, compressive sensing lattice dynamics (CSLD). Compressive sensing is used to select the physically important terms in the lattice dynamics model and determine their values in one shot. Non-intuitively, high accuracy is achieved when the model is trained on first-principles forces in {\it quasi-random\/} atomic configurations. The method is demonstrated for Si, NaCl, and Cu$_{12}$Sb$_4$S$_{13}$, an earth-abundant thermoelectric with strong phonon-phonon interactions that limit the room-temperature $κ_L$ to values near the amorphous limit.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Non-Grotthuss Proton Diffusion Mechanism in Tungsten Oxide Dihydrate from First-Principles Calculations

Fast proton conduction mechanism is of key importance for achieving high performance in fuel cell membranes, batteries, supercapacitors, and electrochromic materials. Enhanced proton diffusion is often observed in hydrated materials where it is thought to occur via the famous Grotthuss mechanism through pathways formed by structural water. Using first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that proton diffusion in tungsten oxide dihydrate (WO$_{3}$.2H$_{2}$O), a known good proton conductor, takes place within the layers of corner-sharing WO$_{6}$ octahedra without direct involvement of structural water. The calculated proton migration barrier in WO$_{3}$.2H$_{2}$O (0.42 eV) is in good agreement with the experimental value inferred from the temperature dependence of conductivity (0.36 eV). The preferred proton diffusion path in WO$_{3}$.2H$_{2}$O is essentially the same as in $γ$-WO$_{3}$, and we find an activation energy of 0.35 eV for the latter, which agrees well with the experimental values. In contrast to the small intercalation voltages calculated for WO$_{3}$ and WO$_{3}$.2H$_{2}$O, we find that proton absorption in the monohydrate WO$_{3}$.H$_{2}$O is energetically highly favorable, corresponding to voltages in excess of 1 eV in the dilute limit. However, strong proton-proton repulsion limits the equilibrium H content at zero voltage. We find a fast one-dimensional diffusion channel in WO$_{3}$.H$_{2}$O with an activation energy of only 0.07 eV at dilute proton concentrations, but much higher barriers are expected at near-equilibrium concentrations due to strong repulsive interactions with other protons. Our results illustrate that low proton diffusion barriers and low insertion voltages both contribute to fast proton transport in bulk WO$_{3}$.2H$_{2}$O and $γ$-WO$_{3}$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Experimental Passive Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution

The decoy-state method is widely used in practical quantum key distribution systems to replace ideal single photon sources with realistic light sources by varying intensities. Instead of active modulation, the passive decoy-state method employs built-in decoy states in a parametric down-conversion photon source, which can decrease the side channel information leakage in decoy state preparation and hence increase the security. By employing low dark count up-conversion single photon detectors, we have experimentally demonstrated the passive decoy-state method over a 50-km-long optical fiber and have obtained a key rate of about 100 bit/s. Our result suggests that the passive decoy-state source is a practical candidate for future quantum communication implementation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Quantum N-Boson States and Quantized Motion of Solitonic Droplets: Universal Scaling Properties in Low Dimensions

In this article, we illustrate the scaling properties of a family of solutions for N attractive bosonic atoms in the limit of large $N$. These solutions represent the quantized dynamics of solitonic degrees of freedom in atomic droplets. In dimensions lower than two, or $d=2-ε$, we demonstrate that the number of isotropic droplet states scales as $N^{3/2}/ε^{1/2}$, and for $ε=0$, or $d=2$, scales as ${N^2}$. The ground state energies scale as $N^{2 / ε+ 1}$ in $d=2-ε$, and when $d=2$, scale as an exponential function of N. We obtain the universal energy spectra and the generalized Tjon relation; their scaling properties are uniquely determined by the asymptotic freedom of quantum bosonic fields at short distances, a distinct feature in low dimensions. We also investigate the effect of quantum loop corrections that arise from various virtual processes and show that the resultant lifetime for a wide range of excited states scales as $N^{ε/2}E^{1-ε/2}$.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Correlated spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by zero-point fluctuations in a quantum mixture

We propose a form of spontaneous symmetry breaking driven by zero-point quantum fluctuations. To be specific, we consider the low-energy dynamics of a mixture of two species of spin-$1$ Bose gases. It is demonstrated that the quantum fluctuations lift a degeneracy regarding the relative orientations of the spin directors of the two species, and result in correlation or locking between these macroscopic variables. This locking persists in the presence of the trapping potential and weak magnetic fields, allowing, in principle, an experimental probe of this correlated spontaneous symmetry breaking, as a macroscopic manifestation of zero-point quantum fluctuations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Universal Bose Gases Near Resonance: A Rigorous Solution

We obtain a rigorous solution of universal Bose gases near resonance and offer an answer to one of the long-standing challenges of quantum gases at large scattering lengths, where the standard dilute theory breaks down. The solution was obtained by using an $ε$ expansion near four spatial dimension. In dimension $d = 4 - ε$, the chemical potential of Bose gases near resonances is shown to approach the universal value $ε^{(2/(4-ε))} ε_F \sqrt{2/3} (1 + 0.474 ε- i 1.217 ε+ ...)$, where $ε_F$ is the Fermi energy defined for a Fermi gas of density $n$, and the condensation fraction is equal to $2/3 (1 + 0.0877 ε+ ...)$. We also discuss the implications on ultra-cold gases in physical dimensions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Entanglement-based quantum key distribution with biased basis choice via free space

We report a free-space entanglement-based quantum key distribution experiment, implementing the biased basis protocol between two sites which are 15.3 km apart. Photon pairs from a polarization-entangled source are distributed through two 7.8-km free-space optical links. An optimal bias 20:80 between the X and Z basis is used. A post-processing scheme with finite-key analysis is applied to extract the final secure key. After three-hour continuous operation at night, a 4293-bit secure key is obtained, with a final key rate of 0.124 bit per raw key bit which increases the final key rate by 14.8% comparing to the standard BB84 case. Our results experimentally demonstrate that the efficient BB84 protocol, which increases key generation efficiency by biasing Alice and Bob's basis choices, is potentially useful for the ground-satellite quantum communication.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Cluster expansion made easy with Bayesian compressive sensing

Long-standing challenges in cluster expansion (CE) construction include choosing how to truncate the expansion and which crystal structures to use for training. Compressive sensing (CS), which is emerging as a powerful tool for model construction in physics, provides a mathematically rigorous framework for addressing these challenges. A recently-developed Bayesian implementation of CS (BCS) provides a parameterless framework, a vast speed up over current CE construction techniques, and error estimates on model coefficients. Here, we demonstrate the use of BCS to build cluster expansion models for several binary alloy systems. The speed of the method and the accuracy of the resulting fits are shown to be far superior than state-of-the-art evolutionary methods for all alloy systems shown. When combined with high throughput first-principles frameworks, the implications of BCS are that hundreds of lattice models can be automatically constructed, paving the way to high throughput thermodynamic modeling of alloys.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Bounding the speed of `spooky action at a distance'

In the well-known EPR paper, Einstein et al. called the nonlocal correlation in quantum entanglement as `spooky action at a distance'. If the spooky action does exist, what is its speed? All previous experiments along this direction have locality loopholes and thus can be explained without having to invoke any `spooky action' at all. Here, we strictly closed the locality loopholes by observing a 12-hour continuous violation of Bell inequality and concluded that the lower bound speed of `spooky action' was four orders of magnitude of the speed of light if the Earth's speed in any inertial reference frame was less than 10^(-3) times of the speed of light.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

A complicated Duffing oscillator in the surface-electrode ion trap

The oscillation coupling and different nonlinear effects are observed in a single trapped $^{40}Ca^{+}$ ion confined in our home-built surface-electrode trap (SET). The coupling and the nonlinearity are originated from the high-order multipole potentials due to different layouts and the fabrication asymmetry of the SET. We solve a complicated Duffing equation with coupled oscillation terms by the multiple scale method, which fits the experimental values very well. Our investigation in the SET helps for exploring nonlinearity using currently available techniques and for suppressing instability of qubits in quantum information processing with trapped ions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum teleportation and entanglement distribution over 100-kilometre free-space channels

A long standing goal for quantum communication is to transfer a quantum state over arbitrary distances. Free-space quantum communication provides a promising solution towards this challenging goal. Here, through a 97-km free space channel, we demonstrate long distance quantum teleportation over a 35-53 dB loss one-link channel, and entanglement distribution over a 66-85 dB high-loss two-link channel. We achieve an average fidelity of {80.4(9)}% for teleporting six distinct initial states and observe the violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality after distributing entanglement. Besides being of fundamental interest, our result represents a significant step towards a global quantum network. Moreover, the high-frequency and high-accuracy acquiring, pointing and tracking technique developed in our experiment provides an essential tool for future satellite-based quantum communication.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Compressive sensing as a new paradigm for model building

The widely-accepted intuition that the important properties of solids are determined by a few key variables underpins many methods in physics. Though this reductionist paradigm is applicable in many physical problems, its utility can be limited because the intuition for identifying the key variables often does not exist or is difficult to develop. Machine learning algorithms (genetic programming, neural networks, Bayesian methods, etc.) attempt to eliminate the a priori need for such intuition but often do so with increased computational burden and human time. A recently-developed technique in the field of signal processing, compressive sensing (CS), provides a simple, general, and efficient way of finding the key descriptive variables. CS is a new paradigm for model building-we show that its models are just as robust as those built by current state-of-the-art approaches, but can be constructed at a fraction of the computational cost and user effort.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Two-dimensional Bose gases near resonance: universal three-body effects

We report in this Letter the results of our investigation of 2D Bose gases beyond the dilute limit emphasizing the role played by three-body scattering events. We demonstrate that a competition between three-body attractive interactions and two-body repulsive forces results in the chemical potential of 2D Bose gases to exhibit a maximum at a critical scattering length beyond which these quantum gases possess a negative compressibility. For larger scattering lengths, the increasingly prominent role played by three-body attractive interactions leads to an onset instability at a second critical value. The three-body effects studied here are universal, fully characterized by the effective 2D scattering length $a_{2D}$ (or the size of the 2D bound states) and are, in comparison to the 3D case, independent of three-body ultraviolet physics. We find, within our approach, the ratios of the contribution to the chemical potential due to three-body interactions to the one due to two-body to be 0.27 near the maximum of the chemical potential and 0.73 in the vicinity of the onset instability.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗