arXiv subjects

Ping Koy Lam

Publications and source records attributed to Ping Koy Lam.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

12.6 dB squeezed light at 1550 nm from a bow-tie cavity for long-term high duty cycle operation

Squeezed states are an interesting class of quantum states that have numerous applications. This work presents the design, characterisation, and operation of a bow-tie optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for squeezed vacuum generation. We report the high duty cycle operation and long-term stability of the system that makes it suitable for post-selection based continuous-variable quantum information protocols, cluster-state quantum computing, quantum metrology, and potentially gravitational wave detectors. Over a 50 hour continuous operation, the measured squeezing levels were greater than 10 dB with a duty cycle of 96.6%. Alternatively, in a different mode of operation, the squeezer can also operate 10 dB below the quantum noise limit over a 12 hour period with no relocks, with an average squeezing of 11.9 dB. We also measured a maximum squeezing level of 12.6 dB at 1550 nm. This represents one of the best reported squeezing results at 1550 nm to date for a bow-tie cavity. We discuss the design aspects of the experiment that contribute to the overall stability, reliability, and longevity of the OPA, along with the automated locking schemes and different modes of operation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Entropic Accord: A new measure in the quantum correlation hierarchy

Quantum correlation often refers to correlations exhibited by two or more local subsystems under a suitable measurement. These correlations are beyond the framework of classical statistics and the associated classical probability distribution. Quantum entanglement is the most well known of such correlations and plays an important role in quantum information theory. However, there exist non-entangled states that still possess quantum correlations which cannot be described by classical statistics. One such measure that captures these nonclassical correlations is discord. Here we introduce a new measure of quantum correlations which we call entropic accord that fits between entanglement and discord. It is defined as the optimised minimax mutual information of the outcome of the projective measurements between two parties. We show a strict hierarchy exists between entanglement, entropic accord and discord for two-qubit states. We study two-qubit states which shows the relationship between the three entropic quantities. In addition to revealing a class of correlations that are distinct from discord and entanglement, the entropic accord measure can be inherently more intuitive in certain contexts.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Surpassing the repeaterless bound with a photon-number encoded measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution protocol

Decoherence is detrimental to quantum key distribution (QKD) over large distances. One of the proposed solutions is to use quantum repeaters, which divide the total distance between the users into smaller segments to minimise the effects of the losses in the channel. However, the secret key rates that repeater protocols can achieve are fundamentally bounded by the separation between each neighbouring node. Here we introduce a measurement-device-independent protocol which uses high-dimensional states prepared by two distant trusted parties and a coherent total photon number detection for the entanglement swapping measurement at the repeater station. We present an experimentally feasible protocol that can be implemented with current technology as the required states reduce down to the single-photon level over large distances. This protocol outperforms the existing measurement-device-independent and twin-field QKD protocols by surpassing the fundamental limit of the repeaterless bound for the pure-loss channel at a shorter distance and achieves a higher transmission distance in total when experimental imperfections are considered.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Cancellation of photothermally induced instability in an optical resonator

Optical systems are often subject to parametric instability caused by the delayed response of the optical field to the system dynamics. In some cases, parasitic photothermal effects aggravate the instability by adding new interaction dynamics. This may lead to the possible insurgence or amplification of parametric gain that can further destabilize the system. In this paper, we show that the photothermal properties of an optomechanical cavity can be modified to mitigate or even completely cancel optomechanical instability. By inverting the sign of the photothermal interaction to let it cooperate with radiation pressure, we achieve control of the system dynamics to be fully balanced around a stable equilibrium point. Our study provides a feedback solution for optical control and precise metrological applications, specifically in high-sensitivity resonating systems that are particularly susceptible to parasitic photothermal effects, such as our test case of a macroscopic optical levitation setup. This passive stabilization technique is beneficial for improving system performance limited by photothermal dynamics in broad areas of optics, optomechanics, photonics, and laser technologies.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Enhancing the precision limits of interferometric satellite geodesy missions

Satellite geodesy uses the measurement of the motion of one or more satellites to infer precise information about the Earth's gravitational field. In this work, we consider the achievable precision limits on such measurements by examining approximate models for the three main noise sources in the measurement process of the current Gravitational Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission: laser phase noise, accelerometer noise and quantum noise. We show that, through time-delay interferometry, it is possible to remove the laser phase noise from the measurement, allowing for almost three orders of magnitude improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Several differential mass satellite formations are presented which can further enhance the signal-to-noise ratio through the removal of accelerometer noise. Finally, techniques from quantum optics have been studied, and found to have great promise for reducing quantum noise in other alternative mission configurations. We model the spectral noise performance using an intuitive 1D model and verify that our proposals have the potential to greatly enhance the performance of near-future satellite geodesy missions.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Observation of cross phase modulation in cold atom gradient echo memory

Strong nonlinear interactions between single photons have important applications in optical quantum information processing. Demonstrations of these interactions in cold atomic ensembles have largely been limited to exploiting slow light generated using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). However, these EIT implementations have limited achievable phase shifts due to spontaneous emission. Here, we demonstrate and characterize a scheme free from these limitations using gradient echo memory with inferred single photon phase shifts of $0.07\pm0.02$ $μ\text{rad}$. Excellent agreement with theoretical modelling was observed. Degradation of memory efficiency was observed for large phase shifts but strategies to overcome that are presented.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Efficient, ever-ready quantum memory at room temperature for single photons

Efficient quantum memories will be an essential building block of large scale networked quantum systems and provide a link between flying photonic qubits and atomic or quasi-atomic local quantum processors. To provide a path to scalability avoidance of bulky, difficult to maintain systems such as high vacuum and low temperature cryogenics is imperative. Memory efficiencies above 50% are required to be operating above the quantum no-cloning limit. Such high efficiencies have only been achieved in systems with photon sources tailored to the memory bandwidth. In this paper we explore the combination of an ultralow spectral bandwidth source of single photons from cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion with a gas-ensemble atomic memory. Our rubidium vapour gradient echo memory achieves 84$\pm$3% recall efficiency of single photons: a record for an always-ready, hot, and vacuum system free optical memory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Non-Gaussian mechanical motion via single and multi-phonon subtraction from a thermal state

Quantum optical measurement techniques offer a rich avenue for quantum control of mechanical oscillators via cavity optomechanics. In particular, a powerful yet little explored combination utilizes optical measurements to perform heralded non-Gaussian mechanical state preparation followed by tomography to determine the mechanical phase-space distribution. Here, we experimentally perform heralded single- and multi-phonon subtraction via photon counting to a laser-cooled mechanical thermal state with a Brillouin optomechanical system at room temperature, and use optical heterodyne detection to measure the $s$-parameterized Wigner distribution of the non-Gaussian mechanical states generated. The techniques developed here advance the state-of-the-art for optics-based tomography of mechanical states and will be useful for a broad range of applied and fundamental studies that utilize mechanical quantum-state engineering and tomography.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Machine learner optimization of optical nanofiber-based dipole traps for cold $^{87}$Rb atoms

In two-color optical nanofiber-based dipole traps for cold alkali atoms, the trap efficiency depends on the wavelength and intensity of light in the evanescent field, and the initial laser-cooling process. Typically, no more than one atom can be trapped per trapping site. Improving the trapping efficiency can increase the number of filled trapping sites, thereby increasing the optical depth. Here, we report on the implementation of an in-loop stochastic artificial neural network machine learner to trap $^{87}$Rb atoms in an uncompensated two-color evanescent field dipole trap by optimizing the absorption of a near-resonant, nanofiber-guided, probe beam. By giving the neural network control of the laser cooling process, we observe an increase in the number of dipole-trapped atoms by $\sim$ 50%, a small decrease in their average temperature from 150 $μ$K to 140 $μ$K, and an increase in peak optical depth by 70%. The machine learner is able to quickly and effectively explore the large parameter space of the laser cooling control to find optimal parameters for loading the dipole traps. The increased number of atoms should facilitate studies of collective atom-light interactions mediated via the evanescent field.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2021

Efficient computation of the Nagaoka--Hayashi bound for multi-parameter estimation with separable measurements

Finding the optimal attainable precisions in quantum multiparameter metrology is a non trivial problem. One approach to tackling this problem involves the computation of bounds which impose limits on how accurately we can estimate certain physical quantities. One such bound is the Holevo Cramer Rao bound on the trace of the mean squared error matrix. The Holevo bound is an asymptotically achievable bound when one allows for any measurement strategy, including collective measurements on many copies of the probe. In this work we introduce a tighter bound for estimating multiple parameters simultaneously when performing separable measurements on finite copies of the probe. This makes it more relevant in terms of experimental accessibility. We show that this bound can be efficiently computed by casting it as a semidefinite program. We illustrate our bound with several examples of collective measurements on finite copies of the probe. These results have implications for the necessary requirements to saturate the Holevo bound.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Optimal probes for continuous variable quantum illumination

Quantum illumination is the task of determining the presence of an object in a noisy environment. We determine the optimal continuous variable states for quantum illumination in the limit of zero object reflectivity. We prove that the optimal single mode state is a coherent state, while the optimal two mode state is the two-mode squeezed-vacuum state. We find that these probes are not optimal at non-zero reflectivity, but remain near optimal. This demonstrates the viability of the continuous variable platform for an experimentally accessible, near optimal quantum illumination implementation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Sensitive single-photon test of extended quantum theory with 2D hexagonal boron nitride

Quantum theory is the foundation of modern physics. Some of its basic principles, such as Born's rule, however, are based on postulates which require experimental testing. Any deviation from Born's rule would result in higher-order interference and can thus be tested in an experiment. Here, we report on such a test with a quantum light source based on a color center in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) coupled to a microcavity. Our room temperature photon source features a narrow linewidth, high efficiency, high purity, and on-demand single-photon generation. With the single-photon source we can increase the interferometric sensitivity of our three-path interferometer compared to conventional laser-based light sources by fully suppressing the detector nonlinearity. We thereby obtain a tight bound on the third-order interference term of $3.96(523)\times 10^{-4}$. We also measure an interference visibility of 98.58% for our single-photons emitted from hBN at room temperature, which provides a promising route for using the hBN platform as light source for phase-encoding schemes in quantum key distribution.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Optical back-action on the photothermal relaxation rate

Photothermal effects can alter the response of an optical cavity, for example, by inducing self-locking behavior or unstable anomalies. The consequences of these effects are often regarded as parasitic and generally cause limited operational performance of the cavity. Despite their importance, however, photothermal parameters are usually hard to characterize precisely. In this work we use an optical cavity strongly coupled to photothermal effects to experimentally observe an optical back-action on the photothermal relaxation rate. This effect, reminiscent of the radiation-pressure-induced optical spring effect in cavity optomechanical systems, uses optical detuning as a fine control to change the photothermal relaxation process. The photothermal relaxation rate of the system can be accordingly modified by more than an order of magnitude. This approach offers an opportunity to obtain precise in-situ estimations of the parameters of the cavity, in a way that is compatible with a wide range of optical resonator platforms. Through this back-action effect we are able to determine the natural photothermal relaxation rate and the effective thermal conductivity of the cavity mirrors with unprecedented resolution.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Observation of Nonlinear Dynamics in an Optical Levitation System

Optical levitation of mechanical oscillators has been suggested as a promising way to decouple the environmental noise and increase the mechanical quality factor. Here, we investigate the dynamics of a free-standing mirror acting as the top reflector of a vertical optical cavity, designed as a testbed for a tripod cavity optical levitation setup. To reach the regime of levitation for a milligram-scale mirror, the optical intensity of the intracavity optical field approaches 3 MW cm$^{-2}$. We identify three distinct optomechanical effects: excitation of acoustic vibrations, expansion due to photothermal absorption, and partial lift-off of the mirror due to radiation pressure force. These effects are intercoupled via the intracavity optical field and induce complex system dynamics inclusive of high-order sideband generation, optical bistability, parametric amplification, and the optical spring effect. We modify the response of the mirror with active feedback control to improve the overall stability of the system.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Single-Phonon Addition and Subtraction to a Mechanical Thermal State

Adding or subtracting a single quantum of excitation to a thermal state of a bosonic system has the counter-intuitive effect of approximately doubling its mean occupation. We perform the first experimental demonstration of this effect outside optics by implementing single-phonon addition and subtraction to a thermal state of a mechanical oscillator via Brillouin optomechanics in an optical whispering-gallery microresonator. Using a detection scheme that combines single-photon counting and optical heterodyne detection, we observe this doubling of the mechanical thermal fluctuations to a high precision. The capabilities of this joint click-dyne detection scheme adds a significant new dimension for optomechanical quantum science and applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Maximum entanglement of formation for a two-mode Gaussian state over passive operations

We quantify the maximum amount of entanglement of formation (EoF) that can be achieved by continuous-variable states under passive operations, which we refer to as EoF-potential. Focusing, in particular, on two-mode Gaussian states we derive analytical expressions for the EoF-potential for specific classes of states. For more general states, we demonstrate that this quantity can be upper-bounded by the minimum amount of squeezing needed to synthesize the Gaussian modes, a quantity called squeezing of formation. Our work, thus, provides a new link between non-classicality of quantum states and the non-classicality of correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Decoupling Cross-Quadrature Correlations using Passive Operations

Quadrature correlations between subsystems of a Gaussian quantum state are fully characterised by its covariance matrix. For example, the covariance matrix determines the amount of entanglement or decoherence of the state. Here, we establish when it is possible to remove correlations between conjugate quadratures using only passive operations. Such correlations are usually undesired and arise due to experimental cross-quadrature contamination. Using the Autonne--Takagi factorisation, we present necessary and sufficient conditions to determine when such removal is possible. Our proof is constructive, and whenever it is possible we obtain an explicit expression for the required passive operation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

A high fidelity heralded squeezing gate

A universal squeezing gate capable of squeezing arbitrary input states is essential for continuous-variable quantum computation~\cite{PRA79062318,PRL112120504}. However, in present state-of-the-art techniques~\cite{PRA90060302,PRL106240504}, the fidelity of such gates is ultimately limited by the need to create squeezed vacuum modes of unbounded energy. Here we circumvent this fundamental limitation by using a heralded squeezing gate. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a squeezing gate that can achieve near unit fidelity for coherent input states. In particular, for a target squeezing of \SI{2.3}{\dB}, we report a fidelity of \SI{98.5}{\%}. This result cannot be reproduced by conventional schemes even if the currently best available squeezing of \SI{15}{\dB}~\cite{PRL117110801} is utilised when benchmarked on identical detection inefficiencies. Our technique can be applied to non-Gaussian states and provides a promising pathway towards high-fidelity gate operations and fault-tolerant quantum computation.

quant-ph↗