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This work provides theoretical calculations of fluorescence angular distribution and polarization within an XUV pump–XUV probe scheme designed for determining ultra-short lifetimes of highly charged heavy ions. The initial pumping leads to a non-zero alignment in the excited levels. After the probing stage, the anisotropies in angular distribution and polarization of subsequent fluorescence are significantly enhanced due to the existence of a previous alignment. Furthermore, two-photon sequential excitation from a ground state with zero angular momentum to a level with angular momentum one by two aligned linearly polarized photon beams is strictly prohibited by the selection rules and may be used as a diagnostic tool to determine beam misalignment. The present approach is based on the density matrix and statistical tensor framework. We provide the analytical form for the alignment parameters caused by successive photoexcitation either with linearly polarized photon beams, or with unpolarized photons. The analytical results can generally be used to compute angular distribution asymmetry parameters and linear polarization of subsequent fluorescence for a large array of atomic systems used in pump–probe experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angle-resolved photoelectron spectrometers with microchannel plate detectors and fast digitizer electronics are versatile and powerful devices for providing non-invasive single-shot photon diagnostics at a MHz repetition rate X-ray free-electron lasers. In this contribution, we demonstrate and characterize the performance of our two operational photoelectron spectrometers for the application of hard X-rays and soft X-rays as well as new automation tools and online data analysis that enable continuous support for machine operators and instrument scientists. Customized software has been developed for the real-time monitoring of photon beam polarization and spectral distribution both in single-color and two-color operation. Hard X-ray operation imposes specific design challenges due to poor photoionization cross-sections and very high photoelectron velocities. Furthermore, recent advancements in machine learning enable resolution enhancement by training the photoelectron spectrometer together with an invasive high-resolution spectrometer, which generates a response function model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and curriculum development on quantum information science is a novel but technologically and socially significant challenge for physics education. While the debate is open on the core content, the approaches, and the strategies for addressing the need of effective instruction on the subject-matter, some indications have begun to emerge. Among them, the importance of an earlier start of education and of helping students develop not only a theoretical knowledge, but also high-level experimental skills including ideal design and conduction of experiments. Such skills are challenging to attain in existing traditional programs and may be considered inaccessible at introductory level because of the difficulties connected with qubit implementations. Here we present the design process, the structure, and a preliminary evaluation of a course for secondary school that is aimed to promote the building of a basic but integrated understanding of quantum information science, including experimental design and lab activities. The course was developed within the model of educational reconstruction, and embedded into a conceptual change framework in physics and computation. The encoding of polarization and which-path information of a photon is used to engage students in the development of a global model of logical encoding and processing, in ideal experimental design of gates and circuits, and in their implementation on the optical bench. Data show the effectiveness of the course in promoting student engagement in the modelling of gates in different encodings, in fostering an understanding of the computational role of physical setups, and a positive attitude and interest towards quantum computation and innovative teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first experimental observation of entangled visible light was achieved by optically exciting free atoms of calcium and detecting pairs of photons emitted in a two-stage cascade. The polarizations of the entangled photons were observed to be correlated, in agreement with quantum theory. This review describes the rationale, methodology, challenges, and results, including experimental details not previously published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin-polarized light-emitting diodes (spin-LEDs) convert the electronic spin information to photon circular polarization, offering potential applications including spin amplification, optical communications, and advanced imaging. The conventional control of the emitted light's circular polarization requires a change in the external magnetic field, limiting the operation conditions of spin-LEDs. Here, we demonstrate an atomically thin spin-LED device based on a heterostructure of a monolayer WSe2 and a few-layer antiferromagnetic CrI3, separated by a thin hBN tunneling barrier. The CrI3 and hBN layers polarize the spin of the injected carriers into the WSe2. With the valley optical selection rule in the monolayer WSe2, the electroluminescence exhibits a high degree of circular polarization that follows the CrI3 magnetic states. Importantly, we show an efficient electrical tuning, including a sign reversal, of the electroluminescent circular polarization by applying an electrostatic field due to the electrical tunability of the few-layer CrI3 magnetization. Our results establish a platform to achieve on-demand operation of nanoscale spin-LED and electrical control of helicity for device applications. Spin-polarized light-emitting diodes (spin-LEDs) convert the electronic spin information to photon circular polarization, but they are usually controlled only by external magnetic fields. Here, the authors report the realization of spin-LEDs based on 2D CrI3/hBN/WSe2 heterostructures, showing electrical tunability of the electroluminescence helicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultracompact entangled photon sources are pivotal to miniaturized quantum photonic devices. Van der Waals (vdW) nonlinear crystals promise efficient photon-pair generation and on-chip monolithic integration with nanophotonic circuitry. However, it remains challenging to generate maximally entangled Bell states of photon pairs with high purity, generation rate, and fidelity required for practical applications. Here, we realize a polarization-entangled photon-pair source based on spontaneous parametric down conversion in an ultrathin rhombohedral tungsten disulfide (3R-WS2) crystal. This vdW entangled photonic source exhibits a high photon-pair purity with a coincidence-to-accidental ratio of above 800, a generation rate of 31 Hz, and two maximally polarization-entangled Bell states with fidelities exceeding 0.93 and entanglement degree over 0.97. These results stem from scalable optical nonlinearity, enhanced second-order susceptibility by electronic transitions, and a well-defined symmetry-enabled selection rule inherent in 3R-WS2. Our polarization entangled photon source can be integrated with photonic structures for generating more complex entangled states, thus paving an avenue for advanced quantum photonic systems toward computation and metrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dichroic techniques are highly relevant in the field of topological materials, layered systems, and spin-polarized electronic states. Dichroism in angle-resolved photoemission is per se a matrix element effect, which depends on the initial and final states as well as on the perturbation by the light field. Although matrix element effects in ARPES such as dichroism are important for addressing properties of the initial state wave functions, the results can strongly depend on experimental geometry or final state effects. Combining experimental data on bulk WSe2 taken at soft x-ray photon energies with state-of-the-art photoemission calculations, we demonstrate that a dichroic observable called time-reversal dichroism remains unaffected against variation of photon energy, light polarization, and the angle of incidence. We demonstrate a direct link of TRDAD obtained with both linearly and circularly polarized photons to the initial state properties indicating its broad applicability. The robustness of this matrix element effect indicates a considerable benefit over other dichroic techniques and encourages further experimental and theoretical investigations. Matrix element effects in ARPES are important for addressing properties of the initial state wave functions, but the results can strongly vary with experimental configuration or final state. The authors show that an observable called time-reversal dichroism can filter out such effects, providing a direct link to orbital angular momentum and pseudospin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, we present a self-contained introduction to axion-like particles (ALPs) with a particular focus on their effects on photon polarization: both theoretical and phenomenological aspects are discussed. We derive the photon survival probability in the presence of photon–ALP interaction, the corresponding final photon degree of linear polarization, and the polarization angle in a wide energy interval. The presented results can be tested by current and planned missions such as IXPE (already operative), eXTP, XL-Calibur, NGXP, XPP in the X-ray band and like COSI (approved to launch), e-ASTROGAM, and AMEGO in the high-energy range. Specifically, we describe ALP-induced polarization effects on several astrophysical sources, such as galaxy clusters, blazars, and gamma-ray bursts, and we discuss their real detectability. In particular, galaxy clusters appear as very good observational targets in this respect. Moreover, in the very-high-energy (VHE) band, we discuss a peculiar ALP signature in photon polarization, in principle capable of proving the ALP existence. Unfortunately, present technologies cannot detect photon polarization up to such high energies, but the observational capability of the latter ALP signature in the VHE band could represent an interesting challenge for the future. As a matter of fact, the aim of this review is to show new ways to make progress in the physics of ALPs, thanks to their effects on photon polarization, a topic that has aroused less interest in the past, but which is now timely with the advent of many new polarimetric missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of e± plasmas within pulsar magnetospheres through quantum electrodynamics (QED) cascades in vacuum gaps is widely acknowledged. This paper aims to investigate the effect of photon polarization during the QED cascade occurring over the polar cap of a pulsar. We employ a Monte Carlo-based QED algorithm that accurately accounts for both spin and polarization effects during photon emission and pair production in both single-particle and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Our findings reveal distinctive properties in the photon polarization of curvature radiation (CR) and synchrotron radiation (SR). CR photons exhibit high linear polarization parallel to the plane of the curved magnetic field lines, whereas SR photons, on average, demonstrate weak polarization. As the QED cascade progresses, SR photons gradually dominate over CR photons, thus reducing the average degree of photon polarization. Additionally, our study highlights an intriguing observation: the polarization of CR photons enhances e± pair production by approximately 5 per cent, in contrast to the inhibition observed in laser–plasma interactions. Our self-consistent QED-PIC simulations in the corotating frame reproduce the essential results obtained from single-particle simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although water is almost transparent to visible light, we demonstrate that the air--water interface interacts strongly with visible light via what we hypothesize as the photomolecular effect. In this effect, transverse- magnetic polarized photons cleave off water clusters from the air--water interface. We use 14 different experiments to demonstrate the existence of this effect and its dependence on the wavelength, incident angle, and polarization of visible light. We further demonstrate that visible light heats up thin fogs, suggesting that this process can impact weather, climate, and the earth's water cycle and that it provides a mechanism to resolve the long- standing puzzle of larger measured clouds absorption to solar radiation than theory could predict based on bulk water optical constants. Our study suggests that the photomolecular effect should happen widely in nature, from clouds to fogs, ocean to soil surfaces, and plant transpiration and can also lead to applications in energy and clean water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-layer transition-metal dichalcogenides provide an unique intrinsic entanglement between the spin/valley/orbital degrees of freedom and the polarization of scattered photons. This scenario gives rise to the well-assessed optical dichroism observed by using both steady and time-resolved probes. In this paper, we provide compact analytical modeling of the onset of a finite Faraday/Kerr optical rotation upon shining with circularly polarized light. We identify different optical features displaying optical rotation at different characteristic energies, and we describe in an analytical framework the time-dependence of their intensities as a consequence of the main spin-conserving and spin-flip processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D materials have important fundamental properties allowing for their use in many potential applications, including quantum computing. Various Van der Waals materials, including Tungsten disulfide (WS2), have been employed to showcase attractive device applications such as light emitting diodes, lasers and optical modulators. To maximize the utility and value of integrated quantum photonics, the wavelength, polarization and intensity of the photons from a quantum emission (QE) must be stable. However, random variation of emission energy, caused by the inhomogeneity in the local environment, is a major challenge for all solid-state single photon emitters. In this work, we assess the random nature of the quantum fluctuations, and we present time series forecasting deep learning models to analyse and predict QE fluctuations for the first time. Our trained models can roughly follow the actual trend of the data and, under certain data processing conditions, can predict peaks and dips of the fluctuations. The ability to anticipate these fluctuations will allow physicists to harness quantum fluctuation characteristics to develop novel scientific advances in quantum computing that will greatly benefit quantum technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on IXPE, NICER, and XMM–Newton observations of the magnetar 1E 2259+586. We find that the source is significantly polarized at about or above 20  per cent for all phases except for the secondary peak where it is more weakly polarized. The polarization degree is strongest during the primary minimum which is also the phase where an absorption feature has been identified previously. The polarization angle of the photons are consistent with a rotating vector model with a mode switch between the primary minimum and the rest of the rotation of the neutron star. We propose a scenario in which the emission at the source is weakly polarized (as in a condensed surface) and, as the radiation passes through a plasma arch, resonant cyclotron scattering off of protons produces the observed polarized radiation. This confirms the magnetar nature of the source with a surface field greater than about 1015 G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unitarity and the optical theorem are used to derive the reduced density matrices of Compton scattering in the presence of a witness particle. Two photons are initially entangled wherein one photon participates in Compton scattering, while the other is a witness, i.e., does not interact with the electron. Unitarity is shown to require that the entanglement entropy of the witness photon does not change after its entangled partner undergoes scattering. The final mutual information of the electron's and witness particle's polarizations is shown to be nonzero for low-energy Compton scattering. This indicates that the two particles became correlated in spite of no direct interaction. Assuming an initial maximally entangled state, the change in entanglement entropy of the scattered photon's polarization is calculated in terms of Stokes parameters. A common ratio of areas occurs in the final reduced density matrix elements, von Neumann entropies, Stokes parameter, and mutual information. This common ratio consists of the Thomson scattering cross-section and an accessible regularized scattering area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present here a model-independent theoretical discussion of differential cross-sections in photodisintegration of lithium with unpolarized and linearly polarized photons. In recent years, experimental measurements are being carried out on the photodisintegration of lithium in the reaction channel 7Li(γ, n)6Li to study the angular dependence of cross-section. In this regard, we have studied the spin structure of amplitudes in 7Li(γ, n)6Li by expressing the differential cross-section in terms of Legendre polynomials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structured photons are a crucial resource in both classical and quantum technologies, particularly in spin–orbit hybrid photons, enabling various practical applications ranging from ultra-sensitive metrology techniques to quantum-enhanced information processing tasks. However, the two-photon interference of spin–orbit hybrid photons, which combines polarization modes and complex transverse spatial structures across the beam profile, remains unexplored. Here, we present an experimental observation of Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference of spin–orbit hybrid photons. The tunable q-plates that work as spin–orbit coupler devices are used to prepare various forms of spin–orbit hybrid entangled photons. By harnessing the match degree in the temporal domain, the coalescence and anti-coalescence effects resulting from the symmetric and anti-symmetric properties of the incident quantum states are observed. Moreover, we demonstrated the feasibility of quantum-enhanced photon polarization gears through HOM interference and theoretically analyze the noise-resilient advantages based on coherent HOM measurements. These results provide an alternative route toward quantum experiments with structured photons that allows for controlling their quantum interference in a compact, stable, and efficient way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A formalism for the experimental analysis of mesons produced by a beam of linearly polarized photons is presented. This formalism introduces a more general use of the reflectivity operator. The goal is to recognize resonances in cross-sections, their associated quantum numbers, and production mechanisms by performing partial wave analysis of multiple-meson final states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the inclusive Hb→ Xsγ decay with Hb a beauty baryon, in particular Λb, employing an expansion in the heavy quark mass at O m b − 3 at leading order in αs, keeping the dependence on the hadron spin. For a polarized baryon we compute the distribution d 2 Γ dy d cos θ P , with y = 2Eγ/mb, Eγ the photon energy and θP the angle between the baryon spin vector and the photon momentum in the Hb rest-frame. We discuss the correlation between the baryon and photon polarization, and show that effects of physics beyond the Standard Model can modify the photon polarization asymmetry. We also discuss a method to treat the singular terms in the photon energy spectrum obtained by the OPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study of exceptional points (EPs) in non-Hermitian (NH) systems. It is reported that EPs are branch point singularities in the parameter space and are associated with the dispersion of interface states. It is further reported that these EPs has interesting topological properties and find applications in various areas, including sensing, wave propagation, laser emission, and more.

The article presents an innovative approach for on-chip generation of single photons with specific spin and orbital angular momenta (SAM and OAM) states using anisotropic nanodimers. This approach enables the production of circularly polarized single-mode vortex beams with different topological charges, high single-photon purity, and remarkable stability at room temperature, offering promising potential for advanced quantum photonic technologies.

Non-equilibrium spin-polarized transport properties of antiferromagnetic stanene nanoribbons are theoretically studied under the combining effect of a normal electric field and linearly polarized irradiation based on the tight-binding model at room temperature. Due to the existence of spin-orbit coupling in stanene lattice, applying normal electric field leads to splitting of band degeneracy of spin-resolved energy levels in conduction and valence bands. Furthermore, unequivalent absorption of the polarized photons at two valleys which is attributed to an antiferromagnetic exchange field results in unequal spin-polarized photocurrent for spin-up and spin-down components. Interestingly, in the presence of band bending which has been induced by edge potentials, an allowable quantum efficiency occurs over a wider wavelength region of the incident light. It is especially important that the variation of an exchange magnetic field generates spin semi-conducting behavior in the bended band structure. Moreover, it is shown that optical spin-filtering effect is obtained under the simultaneous effect of uniaxial strain and narrow edge potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In [1], we performed the first complete computation of the back-to-back inclusive dijet cross-section in Deeply Inelastic Scattering (DIS) at small xBj to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory (CGC EFT). We demonstrate here that for dijets with relative transverse momentum P⊥ and transverse momentum imbalance q⊥, to leading power in q⊥/P⊥, the cross-section for longitudinally polarized photons can be fully factorized into the product of a perturbative impact factor and the non-perturbative Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) transverse momentum dependent (TMD) gluon distribution to NLO accuracy. The impact factor can further be expressed as the product of a universal soft factor which resums Sudakov double and single logs in P⊥/q⊥ and a coefficient function given by a remarkably compact analytic expression. We show that in the CGC EFT the WW TMD satisfies a kinematically constrained JIMWLK renormalization group evolution in rapidity. This factorization formula is valid to all orders in Qs/q⊥ for q⊥, Qs ≪ P⊥, where Qs is the semi-hard saturation scale that grows with rapidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the formalism of the light-cone wave function along with the colour glass condensate effective theory, we consider next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections to the production of a pair of hadrons in electron-proton, or electron-nucleus, collisions at small Bjorken x. To the order of interest, the process involves the fluctuation of a virtual photon into a quark-antiquark pair, followed by the emission of a gluon from either the quark, or the antiquark. For the case of a virtual photon with transverse polarization, we compute the real NLO corrections, where the emitted gluon is present in the final state. We first compute the tree-level cross-section for the production of the quark-antiquark-gluon system and then deduce the real NLO corrections to dihadron production by integrating out the kinematics of the gluon. We verify in detail that, in the limit where the gluon is soft, our calculation reproduces the (real piece of the) B-JIMWLK evolution of the leading-order cross-section for quark-antiquark production. Similarly, in the limit where the gluon is collinear with its emitter, we recover the real terms in the DGLAP evolution of the fragmentation function. The virtual NLO corrections to dihadron production will be presented by one of us in a subsequent publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new experimental study of the quantum entanglement of photon pairs produced in positron-electron annihilation at rest. Each annihilation photon has an energy that is five orders of magnitude higher than the energy of photons in optical experiments. It provides a unique opportunity for controlled Compton pre-scattering of initial photons before the polarization measurements. The experimental setup includes a system of Compton polarimeters to measure the angular correlations of annihilation photons in initial and thus prepared pre-scattered states. For the first time, a direct comparison of the polarization correlations of initial and pre-scattered annihilation photons has been carried out. The angular distributions of scattered in polarimeters photons turned out to be the same for both types of events. Moreover, the correlation function in the Bell's inequality is also the same for both states. We discuss the implications of our results for quantum measurement theory and for the quantum-entangled positron emission tomography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsars 4U 0142+61 and 1RXS J170849.0-400910 by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) opened up a new avenue to study magnetars, neutron stars endowed with superstrong magnetic fields (B & 1014 G). The detected polarized X-rays from 4U 0142+61 exhibit a 90° linear polarization swing from low photon energies (E. 4 keV) to high energies (E & 5:5 keV). We show that this swing can be explained by photon polarization mode conversion at the vacuum resonance in the magnetar atmosphere; the resonance arises from the combined effects of plasma-induced birefringence and Quantum electrodynamics (QED)-induced vacuum birefringence in strong magnetic fields. This explanation suggests that the atmosphere of 4U 0142 is composed of partially ionized heavy elements and that the surface magnetic field is comparable to or less than 1014 G, consistent with the dipole field inferred from the measured spindown. It also implies that the spin axis of 4U 0142+61 is aligned with its velocity direction. The polarized X-rays from 1RXS J170849.0-400910 do not show such 90° swing, consistent with magnetar atmospheric emission with B & 5 x 1014 G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hong–Ou–Mandel interference experiment is a fundamental demonstration of nonclassical interference and a basis for many investigations of quantum information. This experiment involves the interference of two photons reaching a symmetric beamsplitter. When the photons are made indistinguishable in all possible ways, an interference of quantum amplitudes results in both photons always leaving the same beamsplitter output port. Thus, a scan of distinguishable parameters, such as the arrival time difference of the photons reaching the beamsplitter, produces a dip in the coincidences measured at the outputs of the beamsplitter. The main challenge for its implementation as an undergraduate laboratory is the alignment of the photon paths at the beamsplitter. We overcome this difficulty by using a pre-aligned commercial fiber-coupled beamsplitter. In addition, we use waveplates to vary the distinguishability of the photons by their state of polarization. We present a theoretical description at the introductory quantum mechanics level of the two types of experiments, plus a discussion of the apparatus alignment and list of parts needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel BC 6 N/Janus MoSSe van der Waals heterostructure (vdWH) photodetectors were constructed asymmetric contacts with varying stacking structures, and their electronic structure, optical absorptivity, and photogalvanic effect were investigated using first-principles combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function. The stable BC 6 N/SMoSe and BC 6 N/SeMoS vdWHs exhibited distinct band alignments: a type-II indirect bandgap of 1.04 eV and type I direct bandgap of 1.61 eV, respectively. The formation of vdWH enhanced optical absorptivity and significantly improved photocurrent compared to the BC 6 N and MoSSe monolayers. The photocurrents of BC 6 N/SMoSe and BC 6 N/SeMoS exhibited significant anisotropy, influenced by the linearly polarized light's polarization angle and photon energy. Ultrahigh photocurrents of magnitudes 25.65 and 61.55 a 0 2 /photon were obtained for BC 6 N/SMoSe and BC 6 N/SeMoS along the armchair direction at photon energies of 2.3 and 2.4 eV, respectively. Additionally, the extinction ratio exhibited outstanding anisotropy across different directions, highlighting the excellent polarization sensitivity of these photodetectors. Therefore, the BC 6 N/Janus MoSSe vdWH with asymmetric contacts demonstrated superior optical absorptivity, ultrahigh photocurrent, and excellent polarization sensitivity, making it a promising candidate for optoelectronic nanodevices. [Display omitted] • BC 6 N/Janus MoSSe vdWHs photodetectors with asymmetric contacts were constructed. • van der Waals heterostructure formation enhances optical absorptivity. • The BC 6 N/MoSSe photodetectors have ultrahigh and anisotropic photocurrents. • Polarization of incident light and photon energy affect the photocurrent. • The BC 6 N/MoSSe photodetectors have excellent polarization sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research study where researchers construct an non-Hermiticity (NH) system in a new configuration along the synthetic orbital angular momentum (OAM) dimension in a degenerate cavity. researchers have developed a unique method to explore the band structure along the synthetic OAM dimension. It is evident that EPs along the OAM lattice have unique optical applications.

With quantum physics being a particularly difficult subject to teach because of its contextual distance from everyday life, the need for multiperspective teaching material arises. Quantum physics education aims at exploring these methods but often lacks physical models and haptic components. In this paper, we provide two analog models and corresponding teaching concepts that present analogies to quantum phenomena for implementation in secondary school and university classrooms: While the first model focuses on the polarization of single photons and the deduction of reasoning tools for elementary comprehension of quantum theory, the second model investigates analog Hardy experiments as an alternative to Bell's theorem. We show how working with physical models to compare classical and quantum perspectives has proven helpful for novice learners to grasp the abstract nature of quantum experiments and discuss our findings as an addition to existing quantum physics teaching concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moiré superlattices in twistronic heterostructures are a powerful tool for materials engineering. In marginally twisted (small misalignment angle, θ) bilayers of nearly lattice-matched two-dimensional (2D) crystals moiré patterns take the form of domains of commensurate stacking, separated by a network of domain walls (NoDW) with strain hot spots at the NoDW nodes. Here, we show that, for type-II transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers MoX2/WX2 (X=S, Se), the hydrostatic strain component in these hot spots creates quantum dots for electrons and holes. We investigate the electron/hole states bound by such objects, discussing their manifestations via the intralayer intraband infrared transitions. The electron/hole confinement, which is strongest for θ < 0.5°, leads to a red-shift of their recombination line producing single-photon emitters (SPE) broadly tuneable around 1 eV by misalignment angle. These self-organized dots can form in bilayers with both aligned and inverted MoX2 and WX2 unit cells, emitting photons with different polarizations. We also find that the hot spots of strain reduce the intralayer MoX2 A-exciton energy, enabling selective population of the quantum dot states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entanglement states serve as the central resource for a number of important applications in quantum information science, including quantum key distribution, quantum precision measurement, and quantum computing. In pursuit of more promising applications, efforts have been made to generate entangled states with more qubits. However, the efficient creation of a high-fidelity multiparticle entanglement remains an outstanding challenge due to the difficulty that increases exponentially with the number of particles. We design an interferometer that is capable of coupling the polarization and spatial paths of photons and prepare 2-D four-qubit GHZ entanglement states. Using quantum state tomography, entanglement witness, and the violation of Ardehali inequality against local realism, the properties of the prepared 2-D four-qubit entangled state are analyzed. The experimental results show that the prepared four-photon system is an entangled state with high fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the MAMI-C microtron at an accelerator facility in Mainz, Germany, fixed target experiments carry on to study the excitation spectrum of the nucleon via the photoproduction of mesons. In this paper, the photon-induced production of the π0π+/- -pairs with a liquid deuterium target has been investigated in view of the helicity dependence of the two isospin channels. While unpolarized cross-sections for protons and neutrons have been extracted, this data alone is not sufficient to separate the resonances, therefore polarization observables are vital factors essential in disentangling the contributing resonant and non-resonant amplitudes. The double-polarization observable E was extracted with the help of a longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target and a circularly polarized photon beam. The antiparallel and parallel spin configurations between the beam photon and the target nucleon imply the spin-dependent cross-sections σ1/2 and σ3/2, respectively, which have been derived from E. Reaction products were detected with an almost 4π solid-angle covering calorimeter composed of the Crystal Ball, TAPS detectors, and particle identification detectors. The results are sensitive to sequential decays of nucleon resonances that include intermediate states and also involve the emission of charged ρ mesons. Furthermore, comparative studies of the results of the most recent available model calculations were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entanglement of photons originating from electron--positron annihilation has not been experimentally proven. owever, the independent experiments performed so far unanimously confirm that the correlation between the linear polarizations of back-to-back photons from electron--positron annihilation is consistent with the assumption that these photons are entangled in the polarization. Yet, unexpectedly, recent experiments differ as regards the correlation of polarization direction of back-to-back photons after the decoherence induced by the scattering of one of these photons on the electron in the scattering material. In one of the experiments, the correlation before and after the decoherence of the photon state is the same, and in the other experiment, the scattering of one photon leads to a significant decrease in this correlation. Here we discuss this puzzle. Decoherent states were ensured provided by forcing one of the annihilation photons to scatter earlier before measuring the polarization correlation based on Compton kinematics. The comparison is made between the experimental setups used for the different measurements, and the results obtained are briefly discussed, highlighting the parameters that are important in performing such measurements. Finally, the main features of the J-PET detector are presented, along with the schemes for performing similar studies, so that the conclusive results can be used as remarks to solve the puzzle in question. Solving the decoherence puzzle will have crucial consequences for basic studies of entanglement, as well as for the proposed application of the photon polarization in positron emission tomography. If the correlation of the polarization of back-to-back photons from the electron--positron annihilation is the same before and after the scattering of these photons, then it will not be useful for the reduction of scatter fraction in positron emission tomography diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous "Things" is becoming the future trend as the role, and responsibility of IoT keep diversifying. Its applicability and deployment need to re-stand technological advancement. The versatile security interaction between IoTs in human-to-machine and machine-to-machine must also endure mathematical and computational cryptographic attack intricacies. Quantum cryptography uses the laws of quantum mechanics to generate a secure key by manipulating light properties for secure end-to-end communication. We present a proof-of-principle via a communication architecture model and implementation to simulate these laws of nature. The model relies on the BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol with two scenarios, without and with the presence of an eavesdropper via the interception-resend attack model from a theoretical, methodological, and practical perspective. The proposed simulation initiates communication over a quantum channel for polarized photon transmission after a pre-agreed configuration over a Classic Channel with parameters. Simulation implementation results confirm that the presence of an eavesdropper is detectable during key generation due to Heisenberg's uncertainty and no-cloning principles. An eavesdropper has a 0.5 probability of guessing transmission qubit and 0.25 for the polarization state. During simulation re-iterations, a base-mismatch process discarded about 50 percent of the total initial key bits with an Error threshold of 0.11 percent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time, the production of a massive dark photon (DP) in the γ e - scattering at the future lepton colliders ILC, CLIC, and CEPC is examined. The invisible decay mode of the DP is addressed. We have studied both the unpolarized scattering and the collision of the Compton backscattered photons with the polarized electron. The missing energy distributions are shown. We have considered the wide range 1–1000 GeV of the DP mass m A ′ . The excluded regions at the 95% CL in the plane (ε , m A ′) , where ε is the kinetic mixing parameter, are obtained. In particular, in the low mass region, 1–10 GeV our bounds for the 90 GeV CEPC are several times stronger than experimental limits obtained by the BaBar collaboration. For the polarized scattering, the excluded bounds for all three colliders are approximately 20% stronger as compared with the unpolarized case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a simplified form of Stokes operators for quantum optical fields that involve the known concept of binning. Behind polarization analyzer photon numbers (more generally intensities) are measured. We have two outputs, say, for horizontal and vertical polarization. If the value obtained in horizontal output is greater than in vertical one we put 1. Otherwise, we put − 1. For equal photon numbers, we put 0. Such observables do not have all properties of the Stokes operators, but can be employed in Bell type measurements, involving polarization analyzers. They are especially handy for states of undefined number of photons, e.g. squeezed vacuum and their realisation is intuitive. We show that our observables can lead to quite robust violations of associated Bell inequalities. We formulate a strongly supported numerically conjecture that one can observe with this approach violations of local realism for the four mode squeezed vacuum for all pumping powers (i.e. gain values). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a paper published in the journal [Phys. Essays 34, 340 (2021)], Mamas writes "A polarized photon interacts with a polarizer through the component of the photon's electric field which is aligned with the polarizer. This component varies as the cosine of the angle through which the polarizer is rotated, explaining the cosine observed in Bell test data. Quantum mechanics is unnecessary and plays no role". Mamas is right that according to this physical model, one will observe a negative cosine. However, the amplitude of the cosine curve is 50%, not 100%, and it consequently does not violate any Bell-CHSH inequality. Mamas' physical model is a classic local hidden variables model. The result is illustrated with a Monte Carlo simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has focused on shorter pulses, new spectral ranges, higher photon fluxes, and the production of photons with a variety of polarizations. A time-dependent three-dimensional free-electron laser oscillator code was developed for a two-beam free-electron laser system with an elliptically polarized undulator. Characteristics of the interaction of the electron beams and polarized radiation in the XUV region were studied using this code. The code utilized an optical field using the spectral method in the paraxial approximation by a fast Fourier transformation, a Gaussian modal expansion for the optical field, and Newton–Lorentz force equations for particle tracking. As the emittance was increased, the degrees of polarization of the single-beam system with an elliptically polarized undulator and the two-beam system with a planar undulator were decreased significantly compared to those of a two-beam system with an elliptically polarized undulator in the XUV regions. The radiation intensities, the evolutions of the radiation power for wavelength, and the time in the two-beam system were increased significantly compared to those of a single-beam system. The statistical simulation result for the distribution of the number of shots in the degrees of polarization in the two-beam system was much better than that of the case with the single-beam system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We offer a pedagogical introduction to axion-like particles (ALPs) as far as their relevance for high-energy astrophysics is concerned, from a few MeV to 1000 TeV. This review is self-contained, in such a way to be understandable even to non-specialists. Among other things, we discuss two strong hints at a specific ALP that emerge from two very different astrophysical situations. More technical matters are contained in three Appendices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum key distribution (QKD) can protect the exchange process of confidential information between communicating parties. By using the basic principles of quantum mechanics and combined with "one-time pad" cipher encryption, information can be unconditionally secure. The BB84 protocol first describes the method of transmitting information by photon polarization state, and it expounds the transmission process of services between trusted relays. However, due to the defects of real experimental devices, there are security vulnerabilities in QKD in a real system. The birth of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol solves the problem, providing immunity to hacker attacks at the end of the detector. It can enable both sides of the transmission service to establish a connection and generate secret keys through an untrusted relay node to ensure information security. However, the types and properties of link nodes in quantum key distribution network (QKDN) based on partially trusted relay are more complex, which can easily result in network fault. Therefore, how to prevent the impact of failure on QKDN has become an urgent problem. In this paper, we propose a protection scheme for QKDN with partially trusted relays. The method deals with trusted and untrusted relays differently and constructs the working and protection paths of the secret key for each service. It reduces resource conflict between the protection and working paths by establishing a key protection threshold, which realizes the resource trade-off between the two factors. Simulation results show that the scheme provides effective protection to the services, and it improves the stability and reliability of QKDN based on partially trusted relay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersubband (intraband) transitions allow absorption of photons in the infrared spectral regime, which is essential for IR-photodetector and optical communication applications. Among various technologies, nanodisks embedded in nanowires offer a unique opportunity to be utilized in intraband devices due to the ease of tuning the fundamental parameters such as strain distribution, band energy, and confinement of the active region. Here, we show the transverse electric polarized intraband absorption using InGaN/GaN nanodisks cladded by AlGaN. Fourier transform infrared reflection (FTIR) measurement confirms absorption of normal incident in-plane transverse electric polarized photons in the mid-IR regime (wavelength of ~ 15 μm) at room temperature. The momentum matrix of the nanodisk energy states indicates electron transition from the ground state s into the px or py orbital-like excited states. Furthermore, the absorption characteristics depending on the indium composition and nanowire diameter exhibits tunability of the intraband absorption spectra within the nanodisks. We believe nanodisks embedded nanowires is a promising technology for achieving tunable detection of photons in the IR spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents demonstrate a room-temperature on-chip integrated OAM source that emits well-collimated single photons. It mentions that the OAM-encoded single photons are generated by efficiently outcoupling diverging surface plasmon polaritons excited with a deterministically positioned quantum emitter via Archimedean spiral gratings.

Geometric nature, which appears in photon polarization, also appears in spin polarization under a zero magnetic field. These two polarized quanta, one travelling in vacuum and the other staying in matter, behave the same as geometric quantum bits or qubits, which are promising for noise resilience compared to the commonly used dynamic qubits. Here we show that geometric photon and spin qubits are entangled upon spontaneous emission with the help of the spin − orbit entanglement inherent in a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The geometric spin qubit is defined in a degenerate subsystem of spin triplet electrons and manipulated with a polarized microwave. An experiment shows an entanglement state fidelity of 86.8%. The demonstrated entangled emission, combined with previously demonstrated entangled absorption, generates purely geometric entanglement between remote matters in a process that is insensitive of time, frequency, and space mode matching, which paves the way for building a noise-resilient quantum repeater network or a quantum internet. Preserving the entanglement of quantum bits is essential for the operation for all quantum technologies. Here, the geometric nature of spins in a diamond nitrogen vacancy is leveraged to improve the fidelity of entanglement with a spontaneously emitted photon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical metasurfaces are perfect candidates for the phase and amplitude modulation of light, featuring an excellent basis for holographic applications. In this work, we present a dual amplitude holographic scheme based on the photon sieve principle, which is then combined with a phase hologram by utilizing the Pancharatnam–Berry phase. We demonstrate that two types of apertures, rectangular and square shapes in a gold film filled with silicon nanoantennas are sufficient to create two amplitude holograms at two different wavelengths in the visible, multiplexed with an additional phase-only hologram. The nanoantennas are tailored to adjust the spectral transmittance of the apertures, enabling the wavelength sensitivity. The phase-only hologram is implemented by utilizing the anisotropic rectangular structure. Interestingly, such three holograms have quantitative mathematical correlations with each other. Thus, the flexibility of polarization and wavelength channels can be utilized with custom-tailored features to achieve such amplitude and phase holography simultaneously without sacrificing any space-bandwidth product. The present scheme has the potential to store different pieces of information which can be displayed separately by switching the wavelength or the polarization state of the reading light beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a novel explanation to the muon g − 2 excess with new physics contributions at the two-loop level. In this scenario, light millicharged particles are introduced to modify the photon vacuum polarization that contributes to muon g − 2 at one additional loop. The muon g − 2 excess can be explained with the millicharged particle mass mχ around 10 MeV and the product of the multiplicity factor and millicharge squared of Nχε2 ∼ 10−3. The minimal model faces severe constraints from direct searches at fixed-target experiments and astrophysical observables. However, if the millicharged particles are also charged under a hidden confining gauge group SU(Nχ) with a confinement scale of MeV, hidden-sector hadrons are unstable and can decay into neutrinos, which makes this scenario consistent with existing constraints. This explanation can be well tested at low-energy lepton colliders such as BESIII and Belle II as well as other proposed fixed-target experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive a general expression for the absorptive part of the one-loop photon polarization tensor in a strongly magnetized quark-gluon plasma at nonzero baryon chemical potential. To demonstrate the application of the main result in the context of heavy-ion collisions, we study the effect of a nonzero baryon chemical potential on the photon emission rate. The rate and the ellipticity of photon emission are studied numerically as a function the transverse momentum (energy) for several values of temperature and chemical potential. When the chemical potential is small compared to the temperature, the rates of the quark and antiquark splitting processes (i.e., q → q + γ and q ¯ → q ¯ + γ , respectively) are approximately the same. However, the quark splitting gradually becomes the dominant process with increasing the chemical potential. We also find that increasing the chemical potential leads to a growing total photon production rate but has only a small effect on the ellipticity of photon emission. The quark-antiquark annihilation ( q + q ¯ → γ ) also contributes to the photon production, but its contribution remains relatively small for a wide range of temperatures and chemical potentials investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper we have described an optical implementation of a measure-once one-way quantum finite automaton recognizing a well-known family of unary periodic languages, accepting words not in the language with a given error probability. To process input words, the automaton exploits the degree of polarization of single photons and, to reduce the acceptance error probability, a technique of confidence amplification using the photon counts is implemented. In this paper, we show that the performance of this automaton may be further improved by using strategies that suitably consider both the orthogonal output polarizations of the photon. In our analysis, we also take into account how detector dark counts may affect the performance of the automaton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A black hole image contains a bright ring of photons that have closely circled the black hole on their way from the source to the detector. Here, we study the photon ring of a rotating black hole which is pierced by a global hyper-light axion-type cosmic string. We show that the coupling 𝜙F F ~ between the axion 𝜙 and the photon can give rise to a unique polarimetric structure of the photon ring. The structure emerges due to an Aharonov-Bohm type effect that leads to a change of the polarization directions of linear polarized photons when they circle the black hole. For several parameter choices, we determine concrete polarization patterns in the ring. Measuring these patterns can provide us with a way of determining the value of the coefficient of the mixed anomaly between electromagnetism and the symmetry that gave rise to the cosmic string. Finally, we briefly review a possible formation mechanism of black holes that are pierced by cosmic strings and discuss under which conditions we can expect such objects to be present as supermassive black holes in the center of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of the enhanced superconductivity in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO3 has been enthusiastically studied and debated over the past decade. One specific observation has been taken to be of central importance: the replica bands in the photoemission spectrum. Although suggestive of electron-phonon interaction in the material, the essence of these spectroscopic features remains highly controversial. In this work, we conduct angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on monolayer FeSe/SrTiO3 using linearly polarized photons. This configuration enables unambiguous characterization of the valence electronic structure with a suppression of the spectral background. We consistently observe high-order replica bands derived from various Fe 3d bands, similar to those observed on bare SrTiO3. The intensity of the replica bands is unexpectedly high and different between dxy and dyz bands. Our results provide new insights on the electronic structure of this high-temperature superconductor and the physical origin of the photoemission replica bands. The origin of the photoemission replica bands in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO3 remains controversial. Here, the authors perform angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with polarized photon on FeSe/SrTiO3 and observe high-order replica bands with high intensity from various Fe 3d bands, suggesting a mixed mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]