arXiv subjects

R. Schnabel

Publications and source records attributed to R. Schnabel.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Demonstration of 3-port grating phase relations

We experimentally demonstrate the phase relations of 3-port gratings by investigating 3-port coupled Fabry-Perot cavities. Two different gratings which have the same 1st order diffraction efficiency but differ substantially in their 2nd order diffraction efficiency have been designed and manufactured. Using the gratings as couplers to Fabry-Perot cavities we could validate the results of an earlier theoretical description of the phases at a three port grating.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2007

Experimental demonstration of continuous variable purification of squeezed states

We report on the first experimental demonstration of purification of nonclassical continuous variable states. The protocol uses two copies of phase-diffused states overlapped on a beam splitter and provides Gaussified, less mixed states with the degree of squeezing improved. The protocol uses only linear optical devices such as beam splitters and homodyne detection, thereby proving these optical elements can be used for successful purification of this type of state decoherence which occurs in optical transmission channels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Three-port beam splitters-combiners for interferometer applications

We derive generic phase and amplitude coupling relations for beam splitters-combiners that couple a single port with three output ports or input ports, respectively. We apply the coupling relations to a reflection grating that serves as a coupler to a single-ended Fabry-Perot ring cavity. In the impedance-matched case such an interferometer can act as an all-reflective ring mode cleaner. It is further shown that in the highly undercoupled case almost complete separation of carrier power and phase signal from a cavity strain can be achieved.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2006

High reflectivity grating waveguide coatings for 1064nm

We propose thin single-layer grating waveguide structures to be used as high-reflectivity, but low thermal noise, alternative to conventional coatings for gravitational wave detector test mass mirrors. Grating waveguide (GWG) coatings can show a reflectivity of up to 100% with an overall thickness of less than a wavelength. We theoretically investigate GWG coatings for 1064nm based on tantala (Ta2O5) on a Silica substrate focussing on broad spectral response and low thickness.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2004

The finite mass beamsplitter in high power interferometers

The beamplitter in high-power interferometers is subject to significant radiation-pressure fluctuations. As a consequence, the phase relations which appear in the beamsplitter coupling equations oscillate and phase modulation fields are generated which add to the reflected fields. In this paper, the transfer function of the various input fields impinging on the beamsplitter from all four ports onto the output field is presented including radiation-pressure effects. We apply the general solution of the coupling equations to evaluate the input-output relations of the dual-recycled laser-interferometer topology of the gravitational-wave detector GEO600 and the power-recycling, signal-extraction topology of advanced LIGO. We show that the input-output relation exhibits a bright-port dark-port coupling. This mechanism is responsible for bright-port contributions to the noise density of the output field and technical laser noise is expected to decrease the interferometer's sensitivity at low frequencies. It is shown quantitatively that the issue of technical laser noise is unimportant in this context if the interferometer contains arm cavities.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2004

Unity gain and non-unity gain quantum teleportation

We investigate continuous variable quantum teleportation. We discuss the methods presently used to characterize teleportation in this regime, and propose an extension of the measures proposed by Grangier and Grosshans \cite{Grangier00}, and Ralph and Lam \cite{Ralph98}. This new measure, the gain normalized conditional variance product $\mathcal{M}$, turns out to be highly significant for continuous variable entanglement swapping procedures, which we examine using a necessary and sufficient criterion for entanglement. We elaborate on our recent experimental continuous variable quantum teleportation results \cite{Bowen03}, demonstrating success over a wide range of teleportation gains. We analyze our results using fidelity; signal transfer, and the conditional variance product; and a measure derived in this paper, the gain normalized conditional variance product.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Squeezed light at sideband frequencies below 100 kHz from a single OPA

Quantum noise of the electromagnetic field is one of the limiting noise sources in interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Shifting the spectrum of squeezed vacuum states downwards into the acoustic band of gravitational wave detectors is therefore of challenging demand to quantum optics experiments. We demonstrate a system that produces nonclassical continuous variable states of light that are squeezed at sideband frequencies below 100 kHz. A single optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is used in an optical noise cancellation scheme providing squeezed vacuum states with coherent bright phase modulation sidebands at higher frequencies. The system has been stably locked for half an hour limited by thermal stability of our laboratory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Squeezed Light for the Interferometric Detection of High Frequency Gravitational Waves

The quantum noise of the light field is a fundamental noise source in interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Injected squeezed light is capable of reducing the quantum noise contribution to the detector noise floor to values that surpass the so-called Standard-Quantum-Limit (SQL). In particular, squeezed light is useful for the detection of gravitational waves at high frequencies where interferometers are typically shot-noise limited, although the SQL might not be beaten in this case. We theoretically analyze the quantum noise of the signal-recycled laser interferometric gravitational-wave detector GEO600 with additional input and output optics, namely frequency-dependent squeezing of the vacuum state of light entering the dark port and frequency-dependent homodyne detection. We focus on the frequency range between 1 kHz and 10 kHz, where, although signal recycled, the detector is still shot-noise limited. It is found that the GEO600 detector with present design parameters will benefit from frequency dependent squeezed light. Assuming a squeezing strength of -6 dB in quantum noise variance, the interferometer will become thermal noise limited up to 4 kHz without further reduction of bandwidth. At higher frequencies the linear noise spectral density of GEO600 will still be dominated by shot-noise and improved by a factor of 10^{6dB/20dB}~2 according to the squeezing strength assumed. The interferometer might reach a strain sensitivity of 6x10^{-23} above 1 kHz (tunable) with a bandwidth of around 350 Hz. We propose a scheme to implement the desired frequency dependent squeezing by introducing an additional optical component to GEO600s signal-recycling cavity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2004

A characterization of continuous variable entanglement

We present an experimental analysis of quadrature entanglement produced from a pair of amplitude squeezed beams. The correlation matrix of the state is characterized within a set of reasonable assumptions, and the strength of the entanglement is gauged using measures of the degree of inseparability and the degree of EPR paradox. We introduce controlled decoherence in the form of optical loss to the entangled state, and demonstrate qualitative differences in the response of the degrees of inseparability and EPR paradox to this loss. The entanglement is represented on a photon number diagram that provides an intuitive and physically relevant description of the state. We calculate efficacy contours for several quantum information protocols on this diagram, and use them to predict the effectiveness of our entanglement in those protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2003

Fe II lifetimes and transition probabilities

Fe II radiative lifetimes were measured applying the time-resolved nonlinear laser-induced fluoresence technique. We investigated 21 levels of up to 47000 1/cm. The uncertainties are typically 2-3%. The lifetimes provide an improved absolute scale to our branching fractions which were measured with a Fourier transform spectrometer and a high-resolution grating spectrometer and which have been published earlier. We report absolute transition probabilities of 140 Fe II lines in the wavelength range 220-780 nm. The overall uncertainties are estimated to be 6% for the strong and up to 26% for the weak transitions. The results are compared with recent experimental data from the literature. Our large set of accurate data can be used for a reliability check of theoretical data calculated for iron abundances in astrophysical plasmas.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

An experimental investigation of criteria for continuous variable entanglement

We generate a pair of entangled beams from the interference of two amplitude squeezed beams. The entanglement is quantified in terms of EPR-paradox [Reid88] and inseparability [Duan00] criteria, with observed results of $Δ^{2} X_{x|y}^{+} Δ^{2} X_{x|y}^{-} = 0.58 \pm 0.02$ and $\sqrt{Δ^{2} X_{x \pm y}^{+} Δ^{2} X_{x \pm y}^{-}} = 0.44 \pm 0.01$, respectively. Both results clearly beat the standard quantum limit of unity. We experimentally analyze the effect of decoherence on each criterion and demonstrate qualitative differences. We also characterize the number of required and excess photons present in the entangled beams and provide contour plots of the efficacy of quantum information protocols in terms of these variables.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Recovery of continuous wave squeezing at low frequencies

We propose and demonstrate a system that produces squeezed vacuum using a pair of optical parametric amplifiers. This scheme allows the production of phase sidebands on the squeezed vacuum which facilitate phase locking in downstream applications. We observe strong, stably locked, continuous wave vacuum squeezing at frequencies as low as 220 kHz. We propose an alternative resonator configuration to overcome low frequency squeezing degradation caused by the optical parametric amplifiers.

quant-ph↗