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The study of light propagation has been a cornerstone of progress in physics and technology. Recently, advances in control and shaping of light have created significant interest in the propagation of complex structures of light -- particularly under realistic terrestrial conditions. While theoretical understanding of this research question has significantly grown over the last two decades, outdoor-experiments with complex light structures are rare, and comparisons with theory have been nearly lacking. Such situations show a significant gap between theoretical models of atmospheric light behaviour and current experimental effort. Here, in an attempt to reduce this gap, we describe an interesting result of atmospheric models which are feasible for empirical observation. We analyze in detail light propagation in different spatial bases and present results of the theory that the influence of atmospheric turbulence is basis-dependent. Concretely, light propagating as eigenstate in one complete basis is stronger influenced by atmosphere than light propagating in a different, complete basis. We obtain these results by exploiting a family of the continuously adjustable, complete basis of spatial modes -- the Ince-Gauss modes. Our concrete numerical results will hopefully inspire experimental efforts and bring the theoretical and empirical study of complex light patterns in realistic scenarios closer together., Comment: 9 pages and 5 figures; supplementary: 2 pages and 6 tables

As the inevitable development trend of quantum key distribution, quantum networks have attracted extensive attention, and many prototypes have been deployed over recent years. Existing quantum networks based on optical fibers or quantum satellites can realize the metro and even global communications. However, for some application scenarios that require emergency or temporary communications, such networks cannot meet the requirements of rapid deployment, low cost, and high mobility. To solve this problem, we introduce an important concept of classical networks, i.e., self-organization, to quantum networks, and give two simple network prototypes based on acquisition, tracking, and pointing systems. In these networks, the users only need to deploy the network nodes, which will rapidly, automatically, and adaptively organize and mange a quantum network. Our method expands the application scope of quantum networks, and gives a new approach for the design and implementation of quantum networks. It also provides users with a low-cost access network solution, and can be used to fundamentally solve the security problem of classical self-organizing networks., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

We propose a hierarchical distributed algorithm to solve optimal power flow (OPF) problems that aim at dispatching controllable distributed energy resources (DERs) for voltage regulation at minimum cost. The proposed algorithm features unprecedented scalability to large multi-phase distribution networks by jointly exploring the tree/subtrees structure of a large radial distribution network and the structure of the linearized distribution power flow (LinDistFlow) model to derive a hierarchical, distributed implementation of the primal-dual gradient algorithm that solves OPF. The proposed implementation significantly reduces the computation loads compared to the centrally coordinated implementation of the same primal-dual algorithm without compromising optimality. Numerical results on a 4,521-node test feeder show that the designed algorithm achieves more than 10-fold acceleration in the speed of convergence compared to the centrally coordinated primal-dual algorithm through reducing and distributing computational loads., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1809.08624

Post-processing is a significant step in quantum key distribution(QKD), which is used for correcting the quantum-channel noise errors and distilling identical corrected keys between two distant legitimate parties. Efficient error reconciliation protocol, which can lead to an increase in the secure key generation rate, is one of the main performance indicators of QKD setups. In this paper, we propose a multi-low-density parity-check codes based reconciliation scheme, which can provide remarkable perspectives for highly efficient information reconciliation. With testing our approach through data simulation, we show that the proposed scheme combining multi-syndrome-based error rate estimation allows a more accurate estimation about the error rate as compared with random sampling and single-syndrome estimation techniques before the error correction, as well as a significant increase in the efficiency of the procedure without compromising security and sacrificing reconciliation efficiency., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

Quantum entanglement plays an important role in quantum information processes, such as quantum computation and quantum communication. Experiments in laboratories are unquestionably crucial to increase our understanding of quantum systems and inspire new insights into future applications. However, there are no general recipes for the creation of arbitrary quantum states with many particles entangled in high dimensions. Here, we exploit a recent connection between quantum experiments and graph theory and answer this question for a plethora of classes of entangled states. We find experimental setups for Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, W states, general Dicke states, and asymmetrically high-dimensional multipartite entangled states. This result sheds light on the producibility of arbitrary quantum states using photonic technology with probabilistic pair sources and allows us to understand the underlying technological and fundamental properties of entanglement., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; Appendix 3 pages, 5 figures

We consider the signal-anticipating behavior in local Volt/Var control for distribution systems. Such a behavior makes interaction among the nodes a game. We characterize Nash equilibrium of the game as the optimum of a global optimization problem and establish its asymptotic global stability. We also show that the signal-anticipating voltage control has less restrictive convergence condition than the signal-taking control. We then introduce the notion of Price of Signal-Anticipation (PoSA) to characterize the impact of signal-anticipating control, and use the gap in cost between network equilibrium in the signal-taking control and Nash equilibrium in the signal-anticipating control as the metric for PoSA. We characterize how the PoSA scales with the size, topology, and heterogeneity of the distribution network for a few network settings. Our results show that the PoSA is upper bounded by a constant and the average PoSA per node will go to zero as the size of the network increases. This is desirable as it means that the PoSA will not be arbitrarily large, no matter what the size of the network is, and no mechanism is needed to mitigate the signal-anticipating behavior. We further carry out numerical experiments with a real-world distribution circuit to complement the theoretical analysis.