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An intuitive model of classical guitar intonation is presented that includes the effects of the resonant length of the fretted string, linear mass density, tension, and bending stiffness. An expression is derived for the vibration frequencies of a stiff string using asymmetric boundary conditions at the saddle and the fret. Based on logarithmic frequency differences ("cents") that decouple these physical effects, Taylor series expansions are introduced that exhibit clearly the origins of frequency deviations of fretted notes from the corresponding 12-tone equal temperament (12-TET) values. A simple in situ technique is demonstrated for measurement of the changes in frequency of open strings arising from small adjustments in length, and a simple procedure is proposed that any interested guitarist can use to estimate the corresponding frequency shifts due to tension and bending stiffness for their own guitars and string sets. Based on these results, a least-squares fit method is employed to select values of saddle and nut setbacks that map fretted frequencies—for a particular string set and guitar—almost perfectly onto their 12-TET targets. A general approach to tempering an "off-the-shelf" guitar is shown to further reduce the tonal errors inherent in any fretted musical instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports on a systematic investigation of the frequency comb enhancement in hybrid InAs/GaAs multisection quantum dot lasers on silicon. The colliding configuration provides an operating frequency at twice the fundamental frequency of the free-spectral range of the cold cavity. In particular, the contribution of the linewidth enhancement factor, or αH-factor, on the comb formation is investigated with respect to the reverse voltage and temperature conditions. When those parameters are varied, the formation of the combs is found to increase with respect to αH. In addition, we also demonstrate that this quantum dot laser exhibits a comb behavior, while the beatnote locking is not fully achieved. This effect is essentially due to the dispersion which is not fully compensated from the optical nonlinearities. These results bring further insights on comb and pulse formations in multisection quantum dot lasers, which is important for designing future light sources for on-chip and chip-to-chip optical interconnects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Mach–Zehnder interferometer is a basic building block for linear transformations that has been widely applied in optical neural networks. However, its sinusoidal transfer function leads to the inevitable dynamic phase quantization error, which is hard to eliminate through pre-calibration. Here, a strongly overcoupled ring is introduced to compensate for the phase change without adding perceptible loss. Two full-scale linearized Mach–Zehnder interferometers are proposed and experimentally validated to improve the bit precision from 4-bit to 6- and 7-bit, providing ∼3.5× to 6.1 × lower phase quantization errors while maintaining the same scalability. The corresponding optical neural networks demonstrate higher training accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is the most studied optical center in diamond and is very important for applications in quantum information science. Many proposals for integrating NV centers in quantum and sensing applications rely on their tailored fabrication in ultra pure host material. In this study, we use ion implantation to controllably introduce nitrogen into high purity, low nitrogen chemical vapor deposition diamond samples. The properties of the resulting NV centers are studied as a function of implantation temperature, annealing temperature, and implantation fluence. We compare the implanted NV centers with native NV centers present deep in the bulk of the as-grown samples. The results for implanted NV centers are promising but indicate, at this stage, that the deep native NV centers possess overall superior optical properties. In particular, the implanted NV centers obtained after annealing at 2000 °C under a stabilizing pressure of 8 GPa showed an ensemble linewidth of 0.17 nm compared to 0.61 nm after annealing at 1000 °C. Over the same temperature range, the ensemble NV-/NV0 ratio increased by a factor of ∼5, although this was accompanied by an overall decrease in the NV count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale computer installations are severely limited by network-bandwidth constraints and energy costs that arise from architectural designs originally based on copper interconnects. Wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) photonic links can increase the network bandwidth but are sensitive to environmental perturbations and manufacturing imperfections that can affect the precise emission wavelength and output power of laser transmitters. Here, we demonstrate a new design of a three-terminal hybrid III-V-on-silicon laser that integrates a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor into the laser cavity. The MOS capacitor makes it possible to introduce the plasma-dispersion effect and thus change the laser modal refractive index and free-carrier absorption (FCA) loss to tune the laser wavelength and output power, respectively. The approach enables a highly energy efficient method to tune the output power and wavelength of microring lasers, with future prospects for high-speed, chirp-free direct laser modulation. The concept is potentially applicable to other diode laser platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a method to create nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond using focused helium ion microscopy. Near-surface NV centers can be created with spatial resolution below 0.6 μm. We studied the density, creation efficiency, and spectral linewidths at optical and microwave frequencies for NV centers produced using various helium ion implantation doses. The optical linewidths are narrower than those of similar nitrogen-vacancy centers produced using nitrogen ion implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show reduction in the emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in single crystal diamond due to exposure to hydrogen plasmas ranging from 700 °C to 1000 °C. Significant fluorescence reduction was observed beneath the exposed surface to 80 μm depth after ∼10 min and did not recover after post-annealing in vacuum for 7 h at 1100 °C. We attribute the fluorescence reduction to the formation of nitrogen-vacancy-hydrogen centers by the plasma-induced diffusion of hydrogen. These results have important implications for the formation of NV centers for quantum applications, whilst also providing experimental evidence of long range hydrogen diffusion through intrinsic high-purity diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has often been proposed for generating nonlinear optical effects at the single photon level; in particular, as a means to effect a quantum non-demolition measurement of a single-photon field. Previous treatments have usually considered homogeneously broadened samples, but realizations in any medium will have to contend with inhomogeneous broadening. Here we reappraise an earlier scheme (Munro et al 2005 Phys. Rev. A 71 033819) with respect to inhomogeneities and show an alternative mode of operation that is preferred in an inhomogeneous environment. We further show the implications of these results on a potential implementation in diamond-containing nitrogen-vacancy colour centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a broad outline of the requirements that should be met by components produced for a Quantum Information Technology (QIT) industry, and we identify electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) as potentially key enabling science toward the goal of providing widely available few-qubit quantum information processing within the next decade. As a concrete example, we build on earlier work and discuss the implementation of a two-photon controlled phase gate (and, briefly, a one-photon phase gate) using the approximate Kerr nonlinearity provided by KIT. In this paper, we rigorously analyze the dependence of the performance of these gates on atomic dephasing and field detuning and intensity, and we calculate the optimum parameters needed to apply a π phase shift in a gate of a given fidelity. Although high-fidelity gate operation will be difficult to achieve with realistic system dephasing rates, the moderate fidelities that we believe will he needed for few-qubit QIT seem much more obtainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a theoretical framework for the exploration of quantum mechanical coherent population transfer phenomena, with the ultimate goal of constructing faithful models of devices for classical and quantum information processing applications. We begin by outlining a general formalism for weak-field quantum optics in the Schrödinger picture, and we include a general phenomenological representation of Lindblad decoherence mechanisms. We use this formalism to describe the interaction of a single stationary multilevel atom with one or more propagating classical or quantum laser fields, and we describe in detail several manifestations and applications of electromagnetically induced transparency. In addition to providing a clear description of the nonlinear optical characteristics of electromagnetically transparent systems that lead to 'ultraslow light', we verify that--in principle--a multi-particle atomic or molecular system could be used as either a low power optical switch or a quantum phase shifter. However, we demonstrate that the presence of significant dephasing effects destroys the induced transparency, and that increasing the number of particles weakly interacting with the probe field only reduces the nonlinearity further. Finally, a detailed calculation of the relative quantum phase induced by a system of atoms on a superposition of spatially distinct Fock states predicts that a significant quasi-Kerr nonlinearity and a low entropy cannot be simultaneously achieved in the presence of arbitrary spontaneous emission rates. Within our model, we identify the constraints that need to be met for this system to act as a one-qubit and a two-qubit conditional phase gate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of neutral nitrogen-vacancy centers to negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers is demonstrated for centers created by ion implantation and annealing in high-purity diamond. Conversion occurs with surface exposure to an oxygen atmosphere at 465 °C. The spectral properties of the charge-converted centers are investigated. Charge state control of nitrogen-vacancy centers close to the diamond surface is an important step toward the integration of these centers into devices for quantum information and magnetic sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical coupling of guided modes in a GaP waveguide to nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is demonstrated. The electric field penetration into diamond and the loss of the guided mode are measured. The results indicate that the GaP-diamond system could be useful in realizing coupled microcavity-NV devices for quantum information processing in diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the narrow electron-spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Working with a multipass diamond chip at temperatures 6-30 K, the zero-phonon absorption line (637 nm) exhibits an optical depth of 6 and inhomogeneous linewidth of ~30 GHz FWHM. Simultaneous optical excitation at two frequencies separated by the ground-state zero-field splitting (2.88 GHz) reveals EIT resonances with a contrast exceeding 6% and FWHM down to 0.4 MHz. The resonances provide an all-optical probe of external electric and magnetic fields with a projected photon-shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 0.2 V/cm/√Hz and 0.1 nT/√Hz, respectively. Operation of a prototype diamond-EIT magnetometer measures a noise floor of ≤ nT/√Hz for frequencies above 10 Hz and Allan deviation of 1.3 ± 1.1 nT for 100 s intervals. The results demonstrate the potential of diamond-EIT devices for applications ranging from quantum-optical memory to precision measurement and tests of fundamental physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) center in diamond is an attractive candidate for applications that range from magnetometry to quantum information processing. Here we show that only a fraction of the nitrogen (typically <0.5%) incoϕorated during homoepitaxial diamond growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is in the form of undecorated NV- centers. Furthermore, studies on CVD diamond grown on (llO)-oriented substrates show a near 100% preferential orientation of NV centers along only the [111] and [&1macr;&1macr;1] directions, rather than the four possible orientations. The results indicate that NV centers grow in as units, as the diamond is deposited, rather than by migration and association of their components. The NV unit of the NVH- is similarly preferentially oriented, but it is not possible to determine whether this defect was formed by Η capture at a preferentially aligned NV center or as a complete unit. Reducing the number of NV orientations from four orientations to two orientations should lead to increased optically detected magnetic resonance contrast and thus improved magnetic sensitivity in ensemble-based magnetometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report electrical tuning by the Stark effect of the excited-state structure of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers located S 100 nm from the diamond surface. The zero-phonon line (ZPL) emission frequency is controllably varied over a range of 300 GHz. Using high-resolution emission spectroscopy, we observe electrical tuning of the strengths of both cycling and spin-altering transitions. Under resonant excitation, we apply dynamic feedback to stabilize the ZPL frequency. The transition is locked over several minutes and drifts of the peak position on timescales ä 100 ms are reduced to a fraction of the single-scan linewidth, with standard deviation as low as 16 MHz (obtained for an NV in bulk, ultrapure diamond). These techniques should improve the entanglement success probability in quantum communications protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialized function gradient computing hardware could greatly improve the performance of state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. Prior work on such hardware, performed in the context of Ising Machines and related concepts, is limited to quadratic polynomials and not scalable to commonly used higher-order functions. Here, we propose an approach for massively parallel gradient calculations of high-degree polynomials, which is conducive to efficient mixed-signal in-memory computing circuit implementations and whose area scales proportionally with the product of the number of variables and terms in the function and, most importantly, independent of its degree. Two flavors of such an approach are proposed. The first is limited to binary-variable polynomials typical in combinatorial optimization problems, while the second type is broader at the cost of a more complex periphery. To validate the former approach, we experimentally demonstrated solving a small-scale third-order Boolean satisfiability problem based on integrated metal-oxide memristor crossbar circuits, with competitive heuristics algorithm. Simulation results for larger-scale, more practical problems show orders of magnitude improvements in area, speed and energy efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art. We discuss how our work could enable even higher-performance systems after co-designing algorithms to exploit massively parallel gradient computation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

We have designed a polarization-splitting grating coupler (PSGC) in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) that has 1.2 dB peak loss in numerical simulations, which is the best simulated performance of PSGCs without a bottom reflector to the best of our knowledge. Adjoint method-based shape optimization enables us to explore complex geometries that are intractable with conventional design approaches. Physics-based process-independent knowledge of PSGCs is extracted from the adjoint optimization and can be transferred to other platforms with a minimum of effort.

Perfectly vertical grating couplers have various applications in optical I/O such as connector design, coupling to multicore optical fibers and multilayer silicon photonics. However, it is challenging to achieve perfectly vertical coupling without simultaneously increasing reflection. In this paper, we use the adjoint method as well as an adjoint-inspired methodology to design devices that can be fabricated using only a single-etch step in a c-Si 193 nm DUV immersion lithography process, while maintaining good coupling and low reflection. Wafer-level testing of devices fabricated by a pilot line foundry confirms that both design paradigms result in state-of-the-art experimental insertion loss (<2 dB) and bandwidths (∼20 nm) while having only moderate in-band reflection (<-10 dB). Our best design has a (median) 1.82 dB insertion loss and 21.3 nm 1 dB-bandwidth.

We have designed a grating coupler on Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) platform that has sufficient bandwidth to cover the entire CWDM O-band from 1270 nm to 1330 nm. The grating architecture is inspired by adjoint method-based geometry optimization, and then parameterized to accommodate DOE construction for tapeouts at commercial CMOS foundries and wafer-level testing on fiber probe stations. One grating design achieved peak loss of 3.2 dB with 1-dB bandwidth spanning from 1265 nm to 1338 nm in simulations.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) thin-film transistor (TFT) is a promising candidate for flexible and wearable electronics. However, it usually suffers from low semiconducting tube purity, low device yield, and the mismatch between p- and n-type TFTs. Here, we report low-voltage and high-performance digital and analog CNT TFT circuits based on high-yield (19.9%) and ultrahigh purity (99.997%) polymer-sorted semiconducting CNTs. Using high-uniformity deposition and pseudo-CMOS design, we demonstrated CNT TFTs with good uniformity and high performance at low operation voltage of 3 V. We tested forty-four 2-µm channel 5-stage ring oscillators on the same flexible substrate (1,056 TFTs). All worked as expected with gate delays of 42.7 ± 13.1 ns. With these high-performance TFTs, we demonstrated 8-stage shift registers running at 50 kHz and the first tunable-gain amplifier with 1,000 gain at 20 kHz. These results show great potentials of using solution-processed CNT TFTs for large-scale flexible electronics.

We generate photon pairs in a-Si:H microrings using a CW pump, and find the Kerr coefficient of a-Si:H to be 3.73 ± 0.25 × 10 -17 m 2 /W. By measuring the Q factor with coupled power we find that the loss in the a-Si:H micro-rings scales linearly with power, and therefore cannot originate from two photon absorption. Theoretically comparing a-Si:H and c-Si micro-ring pair sources, we show that the high Kerr coefficient of this sample of a-Si:H is best utilized for microrings with Q factors below 10 3 , but that for higher Q factor devices the photon pair rate is greatly suppressed due to the first order loss.

Individual channels of a five-channel microring silicon photonics transmitter are used for bit error ratio analysis and demonstrate error-free transmission at 10Gb/s. Two channels of the same transmitter are concurrently modulated using an 80GHz channel spacing comb laser and demonstrate open eye diagrams at 10Gb/s and 12.5Gb/s. Finally, concurrent modulation with tunable lasers is done to quantify optical power penalty for link bit error ratio versus channel spacing from +100GHz to -100GHz. When using a comb laser for concurrent modulation, no direct power penalty is observed for an 80GHz channel separation.

Optical microcavities and waveguides coupled to diamond are needed to enable efficient communication between quantum systems such as nitrogen-vacancy centers which are known already to have long electron spin coherence lifetimes. This paper describes recent progress in realizing microcavities with low loss and small mode volume in two hybrid systems: silica microdisks coupled to diamond nanoparticles, and gallium phosphide microdisks coupled to single-crystal diamond. A theoretical proposal for a gallium phosphide nanowire photonic crystal cavity coupled to diamond is also discussed. Comparing the two material systems, silica microdisks are easier to fabricate and test. However, at low temperature, nitrogen-vacancy centers in bulk diamond are spectrally more stable, and we expect that in the long term the bulk diamond approach will be better suited for on-chip integration of a photonic network.