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Ke Li

Publications and source records attributed to Ke Li.

At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources

Iterative Instance Segmentation

Existing methods for pixel-wise labelling tasks generally disregard the underlying structure of labellings, often leading to predictions that are visually implausible. While incorporating structure into the model should improve prediction quality, doing so is challenging - manually specifying the form of structural constraints may be impractical and inference often becomes intractable even if structural constraints are given. We sidestep this problem by reducing structured prediction to a sequence of unconstrained prediction problems and demonstrate that this approach is capable of automatically discovering priors on shape, contiguity of region predictions and smoothness of region contours from data without any a priori specification. On the instance segmentation task, this method outperforms the state-of-the-art, achieving a mean $\mathrm{AP}^{r}$ of 63.6% at 50% overlap and 43.3% at 70% overlap.

cs.CV↗

Learning to Optimize

Algorithm design is a laborious process and often requires many iterations of ideation and validation. In this paper, we explore automating algorithm design and present a method to learn an optimization algorithm, which we believe to be the first method that can automatically discover a better algorithm. We approach this problem from a reinforcement learning perspective and represent any particular optimization algorithm as a policy. We learn an optimization algorithm using guided policy search and demonstrate that the resulting algorithm outperforms existing hand-engineered algorithms in terms of convergence speed and/or the final objective value.

cs.LG↗

CVD nanodiamonds with non-blinking, near transform-limited linewidths emitters

Near transform-limited single photon sources are required for perfect photon indistinguishability in quantum networks. Having such sources in nanodiamonds is particularly important since it can enable engineering hybrid quantum photonic systems. In this letter, we report the generation of optically stable, nearly transform-limited single silicon vacancy emitters in nanodiamonds. Lines as narrow as 325 MHz are reported, which is comparable to the lifetime limited linewidth. Moreover, the emitters exhibit minimal spectrum diffusion and absolute photostability, even if pumped well above saturation. Our results suggest that nanodiamonds can host color centers with supreme properties suitable for hybrid photonic devices and quantum information.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Generating multi-photon W-like states for perfect quantum teleportation and superdense coding

An interesting aspect of multipartite entanglement is that for perfect teleportation and superdense coding, not the maximally entangled W states but a special class of non-maximally entangled W-like states are required. Therefore, efficient preparation of such W-like states is of great importance in quantum communications, which has not been studied as much as the preparation of W states. In this letter, we propose a simple optical scheme for efficient preparation of large-scale polarization based entangled W-like states by fusing two W-like states or expanding a W-like state with an ancilla photon. Our scheme can also generate large-scale W states by fusing or expanding W or even W-like states. The cost analysis show that in generating large scale W states, the fusion mechanism achieves a higher efficiency with non-maximally entangled W-like states than maximally entangled W states. Our scheme can also start fusion or expansion with Bell states, and it is composed of a polarization dependent beam splitter, two polarizing beam splitters and photon detectors. Requiring no ancilla photons or controlled gates to operate, our scheme can be realized with the current photonics technology and we believe it enables advances in quantum teleportation and superdense coding in multipartite settings.

quant-ph↗

Uniform Additivity in Classical and Quantum Information

Information theory establishes the fundamental limits on data transmission, storage, and processing. Quantum information theory unites information theoretic ideas with an accurate quantum-mechanical description of reality to give a more accurate and complete theory with new and more powerful possibilities for information processing. The goal of both classical and quantum information theory is to quantify the optimal rates of interconversion of different resources. These rates are usually characterized in terms of entropies. However, nonadditivity of many entropic formulas often makes finding answers to information theoretic questions intractable. In a few auspicious cases, such as the classical capacity of a classical channel, the capacity region of a multiple access channel and the entanglement assisted capacity of a quantum channel, additivity allows a full characterization of optimal rates. Here we present a new mathematical property of entropic formulas, uniform additivity, that is both easily evaluated and rich enough to capture all known quantum additive formulas. We give a complete characterization of uniformly additive functions using the linear programming approach to entropy inequalities. In addition to all known quantum formulas, we find a new and intriguing additive quantity: the completely coherent information. We also uncover a remarkable coincidence---the classical and quantum uniformly additive functions are identical; the tractable answers in classical and quantum information theory are formally equivalent. Our techniques pave the way for a deeper understanding of the tractability of information theory, from classical multi-user problems like broadcast channels to the evaluation of quantum channel capacities.

quant-ph↗

Wood Species Recognition Based on SIFT Keypoint Histogram

Traditionally, only experts who are equipped with professional knowledge and rich experience are able to recognize different species of wood. Applying image processing techniques for wood species recognition can not only reduce the expense to train qualified identifiers, but also increase the recognition accuracy. In this paper, a wood species recognition technique base on Scale Invariant Feature Transformation (SIFT) keypoint histogram is proposed. We use first the SIFT algorithm to extract keypoints from wood cross section images, and then k-means and k-means++ algorithms are used for clustering. Using the clustering results, an SIFT keypoints histogram is calculated for each wood image. Furthermore, several classification models, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) are used to verify the performance of the method. Finally, through comparing with other prevalent wood recognition methods such as GLCM and LBP, results show that our scheme achieves higher accuracy.

cs.CV↗

Bandit Label Inference for Weakly Supervised Learning

The scarcity of data annotated at the desired level of granularity is a recurring issue in many applications. Significant amounts of effort have been devoted to developing weakly supervised methods tailored to each individual setting, which are often carefully designed to take advantage of the particular properties of weak supervision regimes, form of available data and prior knowledge of the task at hand. Unfortunately, it is difficult to adapt these methods to new tasks and/or forms of data, which often require different weak supervision regimes or models. We present a general-purpose method that can solve any weakly supervised learning problem irrespective of the weak supervision regime or the model. The proposed method turns any off-the-shelf strongly supervised classifier into a weakly supervised classifier and allows the user to specify any arbitrary weakly supervision regime via a loss function. We apply the method to several different weak supervision regimes and demonstrate competitive results compared to methods specifically engineered for those settings.

cs.LG↗

Quantum de Finetti theorem under fully-one-way adaptive measurements

We prove a version of the quantum de Finetti theorem: permutation-invariant quantum states are well approximated as a probabilistic mixture of multi-fold product states. The approximation is measured by distinguishability under fully one-way LOCC (local operations and classical communication) measurements. Our result strengthens Brandão and Harrow's de Finetti theorem where a kind of partially one-way LOCC measurements was used for measuring the approximation, with essentially the same error bound. As main applications, we show (i) a quasipolynomial-time algorithm which detects multipartite entanglement with amount larger than an arbitrarily small constant (measured with a variant of the relative entropy of entanglement), and (ii) a proof that in quantum Merlin-Arthur proof systems, polynomially many provers are not more powerful than a single prover when the verifier is restricted to one-way LOCC operations.

quant-ph↗

Investigation of practical application for QAM hybrid receiver

We present a quantum receiver for quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) coherent states discrimination with homodyne-displacement hybrid structure. Our strategy is to carry out two successive measurements on parts of the quantum states. The homodyne result of the first measurement reveals partial information about the state and is forward to a displacement receiver, which finally identifies the input state by using feedback to adjust a reference field. Numerical simulation results show that for 16-QAM, the hybrid receiver could outperform the standard quantum limit (SQL) with a reduced number of codeword interval partitions and on-off detectors, which shows great potential toward implementing the practical application.

quant-ph↗

QAM Adaptive Measurements Feedback Quantum Receiver Performance

We theoretically study the quantum receivers with adaptive measurements feedback for discriminating quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) coherent states in terms of average symbol error rate. For rectangular 16-QAM signal set, with different stages of adaptive measurements, the effects of realistic imperfection parameters including the sub-unity quantum efficiency and the dark counts of on-off detectors, as well as the transmittance of beam splitters and the mode mismatch factor between the signal and local oscillating fields on the symbol error rate are separately investigated through Monte Carlo simulations. Using photon-number-resolving detectors (PNRD) instead of on-off detectors, all the effects on the symbol error rate due to the above four imperfections can be suppressed in a certain degree. The finite resolution and PNR capability of PNRDs are also considered. We find that for currently available technology, the receiver shows a reasonable gain from the standard quantum limit (SQL) with moderate stages.

quant-ph↗

An SVD-based Fragile Watermarking Scheme With Grouped Blocks

This paper proposes a novel fragile watermarking scheme for digital image authentication which is based on Singular Value Decomposition(SVD) and grouped blocks. The watermark bits which include two types of bits are inserted into the least significant bit(LSB) plane of the host image using the adaptive chaotic map to determine the positions. The groped blocks break the block-wise independence and therefore can withstand the Vector Quantization attack(VQ attack). The inserting positions are related to the statistical information of image block data, in order to increase the security and provide an auxiliary way to authenticate the image data. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is checked by a variety of attacks, and the experimental results prove that it has a remarkable tamper detection ability and also has a precise locating ability.

cs.CR↗

Combined 3D PET and Optical Projection Tomography Techniques for Plant Root Phenotyping

New imaging techniques are in great demand for investigating underground plant roots systems which play an important role in crop production. Compared with other non-destructive imaging modalities, PET can image plant roots in natural soil and produce dynamic 3D functional images which reveal the temporal dynamics of plant-environment interactions. In this study, we combined PET with optical projection tomography (OPT) to evaluate its potential for plant root phenotyping. We used a dedicated high resolution plant PET imager that has a 14 cm transaxial and 10 cm axial field of views, and multi-bed imaging capability. The image resolution is around 1.25 mm using ML-EM reconstruction algorithm. B73 inbred maize seeds were germinated and then grown in a sealed jar with transparent gel-based media. PET scanning started on the day when the first green leaf appeared, and was carried out once a day for 5 days. Each morning, around 10 mCi of 11CO2 was administrated into a custom built plant labeling chamber. After 10 minutes, residual activity was flushed out with fresh air before a 2-h PET scan started. For the OPT imaging, the jar was placed inside an acrylic cubic container filled with water, illuminated with a uniform surface light source, and imaged by a DSLR camera from 72 angles to acquire optical images for OPT reconstruction. The same plant was imaged 3 times a day by the OPT system. Plant roots growth is measured from the optical images. Co-registered PET and optical images indicate that most of the hot spots appeared in later time points of the PET images correspond to the most actively growing root tips. The strong linear correlation between 11C allocation at root tips measured by PET and eventual root growth measured by OPT suggests that we can use PET as a phenotyping tool to measure how a plant makes subterranean carbon allocation decisions in different environmental scenarios.

q-bio.QM↗

Two-stage magneto-optical trapping and narrow-line cooling of $^6$Li atoms to high phase-space density

We report an experimental study of peak and phase-space density of a two-stage magneto-optical trap (MOT) of 6-Li atoms, which exploits the narrower $2S_{1/2}\rightarrow 3P_{3/2}$ ultra-violet (UV) transition at 323 nm following trapping and cooling on the more common D2 transition at 671 nm. The UV MOT is loaded from a red MOT and is compressed to give a high phase-space density up to $3\times 10^{-4}$. Temperatures as low as 33 $μ$K are achieved on the UV transition. We study the density limiting factors and in particular find a value for the light-assisted collisional loss coefficient of $1.3 \pm0.4\times10^{-10}\,\textrm{cm}^3/\textrm{s}$ for low repumping intensity.

physics.atom-ph↗

Second-order asymptotics for quantum hypothesis testing

In the asymptotic theory of quantum hypothesis testing, the minimal error probability of the first kind jumps sharply from zero to one when the error exponent of the second kind passes by the point of the relative entropy of the two states in an increasing way. This is well known as the direct part and strong converse of quantum Stein's lemma. Here we look into the behavior of this sudden change and have make it clear how the error of first kind grows smoothly according to a lower order of the error exponent of the second kind, and hence we obtain the second-order asymptotics for quantum hypothesis testing. This actually implies quantum Stein's lemma as a special case. Meanwhile, our analysis also yields tight bounds for the case of finite sample size. These results have potential applications in quantum information theory. Our method is elementary, based on basic linear algebra and probability theory. It deals with the achievability part and the optimality part in a unified fashion.

quant-ph↗

Maximal Privacy Without Coherence

Privacy lies at the fundament of quantum mechanics. A coherently transmitted quantum state is inherently private. Remarkably, coherent quantum communication is not a prerequisite for privacy: there are quantum channels that are too noisy to transmit any quantum information reliably that can nevertheless send private classical information. Here, we ask how much private classical information a channel can transmit if it has little quantum capacity. We present a class of channels N_d with input dimension d^2, quantum capacity Q(N_d) <= 1, and private capacity P(N_d) = log d. These channels asymptotically saturate an interesting inequality P(N) <= (log d_A + Q(N))/2 for any channel N with input dimension d_A, and capture the essence of privacy stripped of the confounding influence of coherence.

quant-ph↗

A dedicated high resolution PET imager for plant sciences

PET provides in vivo molecular and functional imaging capability that is crucial to studying the interaction of plant with changing environment at the whole-plant level. We have developed a dedicated plant PET imager that features high spatial resolution, housed in a fully controlled environment provided by a plant growth chamber (PGC). The system currently contains two types of detector modules: 84 microPET R4 block detectors with 2.2 mm crystals to provide a large detecting area; and 32 Inveon block detectors with 1.5 mm crystals to provide higher spatial resolution. Outputs of the four microPET block detectors in a modular housing are concatenated by a custom printed circuit board to match the output characteristics of an Inveon detector. All the detectors are read out by QuickSilver electronics. The detector modules are configured to full rings with a 15 cm diameter trans-axial field of view (FOV) for dynamic tomographic imaging of small plants. Potentially, the Inveon detectors can be reconfigured to quarter-rings to get a 25 cm FOV using step-and-shoot motion. The imager contains 2 linear stages to position detectors at different heights for multi-bed scanning, and 2 rotation stages to collect coincidence events from all angles. The PET system has been built and integrated into the PGC. The system has a typical energy resolution of 15% for Inveon blocks and 24% for R4 blocks; timing resolution of 1.8 ns; and sensitivity of 1.3%,1.4%,3.0% measured at center of FOV, 5 cm off to R4 half-ring and 5 cm off to Inveon half-ring, respectively(with a 350-650 KeV energy and 3.1 ns timing window). System spatial resolution is similar to that of commercial microPET sytems, with 1.25 mm rod sources in the micro-Derenzo phantom resolved using ML-EM algorithm. Preliminary imaging experiments using different plants labeled with 11C-CO2 produced high-quality dynamic PET images.

physics.ins-det↗