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We report on the dependence of the frequency-to-intensity noise conversion in the locking of an ultrafast laser against a high-finesse optical enhancement resonator from the carrier envelope offset frequency. By a proper combination of the cavity finesse and laser carrier envelope offset frequency, it is possible to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio of the laser intensity trapped into the optical resonator. In this paper, we describe the effect of the laser-enhancement cavity coupling on the intracavity power relative noise, and we demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally its reduction.

We report on a novel and general measurement technique to characterize the finesse of optical resonators. The method retrieves the cavity transmission profile coefficient by using an amplitude modulation of the probe beam and a synchronous detection scheme. Both the real and imaginary parts of the transmission profile can be accurately measured. Validation of the method is performed using two different cavity configurations, a linear and a ring resonator, probed by both continuous-wave and mode-locked laser sources. A comparison with respect to conventional cavity-ring-down measurement scheme shows the accuracy of the proposed method.

We describe and realize an experimental procedure for assessing the incompatibility of two qubit measurements. The experiment consists in a state discrimination task where either measurement is used according to some partial intermediate information. The success statistics of the task provides an upper bound for the amount of incompatibility of the two measurements, as it is quantified by means of their incompatibility robustness. For a broad class of unbiased and possibly noisy qubit measurements, one can make this upper bound coincide with the true value of the robustness by suitably tuning the preparation of the experiment. We demonstrate this fact in an optical setup, where the qubit states are encoded into the photons' polarization degrees of freedom, and incompatibility is directly accessed by virtue of a refined control on the amplitude, phase and purity of the final projection stage of the measurements. Our work thus establishes the practical feasibility of a recently proposed method for the detection of quantum incompatibility., 12+3 pages, 9 figures

We design and demonstrate a novel technique for the active stabilization of the relative phase between seed and pump in an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). We show that two error signals for the stabilization of the OPO frequency, based on Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH), and of the seed-pump relative phase can be obtained just from the reflected beam of the OPO cavity, without the necessity of two different modulation and demodulation stages. We also analyze the effect of the pump in the cavity stabilization for different seed-pump relative phase configurations, resulting in an offset in the PDH error signal, which has to be compensated. Finally, an application of our technique in the reliable generation of squeezed coherent states is presented., Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures

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., 12 pages, 5 figures

We present an interferometric method suitable to measure particle masses and, where applicable to the particle and its corresponding antiparticle, their mass ratio in order to detect possible symmetry violations between matter and antimatter. The method is based on interferometric techniques tunable to the specific mass range of the particle under consideration. The case study of electron and positron is presented, following the recent observation of positron interferometry.

We address the exploitation of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) in the task of mitigating, at least partially, phase noise produced by phase diffusion. In particular, we analyze two scenarios where phase diffusion is typically present. The first one is the measurement of the phase of a noisy optical field, while the second involves a quantum estimation scheme of a phase shift imposed on a noisy probe. In both cases, we prove that an OPO may lead to a partial or full compensation of the noise., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

We address a phase estimation scheme using Gaussian states in the presence of non-Gaussian phase noise. At variance with previous analysis, we analyze situations in which the noise occurs before encoding phase information. In particular, we study how squeezing may be profitably used before or after phase diffusion. Our results show that squeezing the probe after the noise greatly enhances the sensitivity of the estimation scheme, as witnessed by the increase of the quantum Fisher information. We then consider a realistic setup where homodyne detection is employed at the measurement stage, and address its optimality as well as its performance in the two different scenarios., 7 pages, 6 figures

We describe a physical implementation of a quantum finite automaton recognizing a well known family of periodic languages. The realization exploits the polarization degree of freedom of single photons and their manipulation through linear optical elements. We use techniques of confidence amplification to reduce the acceptance error probability of the automaton. It is worth remarking that the quantum finite automaton we physically realize is not only interesting per se, but it turns out to be a crucial building block in many quantum finite automaton design frameworks theoretically settled in the literature., 16 pages, 11 figures

We demonstrate the transition from local to global noise in a two-qubit all-optical quantum simulator subject to classical random fluctuations. Qubits are encoded in the polarization degree of freedom of two entangled photons generated by parametric down-conversion (PDC) while the environment is implemented using their spatial degrees of freedom. The ability to manipulate with high accuracy the number of correlated pixels of a spatial-light-modulator and the spectral PDC width, allows us to control the transition from a scenario where the qubits are embedded in local environments to the situation where they are subject to the same global noise. We witness the transition by monitoring the decoherence of the two-qubit state., Comment: 5 pages+ 3 (Suppl. material)

Kilovoltage rotational radiotherapy of breast cancer has been proposed as an alternative procedure to the conventional breast radiotherapy with 6 MeV photon beams. The use of orthovoltage X-ray tubes rotating around the breast, instead of conventional medical linear accelerators, would allow for significant reduction of acquisition and management costs. However, the employment of an X-ray tube limits the maximum available photon flux: a synchrotron radiation source could provide a high dose rate, but its clinical use is prevented by the size of such a source. In this work, we propose the use of the BriXS twin Compton pulsed X-ray source as a compact alternative to the synchrotron radiation source, for kilovoltage radiotherapy of breast cancer. This proposed source presents a footprint of 40 m × 20 m, and the X-ray spectrum presents a mean energy of 88 keV with a suitable photon flux. The dose distribution in a simulated radiotherapy session was computed via a Monte Carlo software based on the Geant4 simulation toolkit. The study focused on the skin dose ratio, i.e. the percent ratio between the dose to the skin and that to the tumor volume in the modelled breast. A low skin dose allows for a suitable sparing of skin tissue during radiotherapy. For a cylindrical model breast with a diameter of 140 mm embedding a spherical simulated lesion with a diameter of 10 mm placed at the rotational axis of the cylinder, the calculated skin-to-tumor dose ratio was as low as 7%.

MariX is a research infrastructure conceived for multi-disciplinary studies, based on a cutting-edge system of combined electron accelerators at the forefront of the world-wide scenario of X-ray sources. The generation of X-rays over a large photon energy range will be enabled by two unique X-ray sources: a Free Electron Laser and an inverse Compton source, called BriXS (Bright compact X-ray Source). The X-ray beam provided by BriXS is expected to have an average energy tunable in the range 20–180 keV and intensities between 1011 and 1013 photon/s within a relative bandwidth Δ E / E = 1 –10 % . These characteristics, together with a very small source size ( ~ 20 μ m) and a good transverse coherence, will enable a wide range of applications in the bio-medical field. An additional unique feature of BriXS will be the possibility to make a quick switch of the X-ray energy between two values for dual-energy and K-edge subtraction imaging. In this paper, the expected characteristics of BriXS will be presented, with a particular focus on the features of interest to its possible medical applications.

We suggest a method to reconstruct the zero-delay-time second-order correlation function g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) of Gaussian states using a single homodyne detector. To this purpose, we have found an analytic expression of g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) for single- and two-mode Gaussian states in terms of the elements of their covariance matrix and the displacement amplitude. In the single-mode case we demonstrate our scheme experimentally, and also show that when the input state is nonclassical, there exist a threshold value of the coherent amplitude, and a range of values of the complex squeezing parameter, above which g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) 1 . For amplitude squeezing and real coherent amplitude, the threshold turns out to be a necessary and sufficient condition for the nonclassicality of the state. Analogous results hold also for two-mode squeezed thermal states.

We propose an innovative method to shift the transversal position of the focal point of an optical cavity keeping it actively frequency stabilized. Our cavity is a 4 mirrors bow-tie cavity and the spatial shift of the resonant mode is obtained by properly rotating the two curved mirrors by piezo actuators. This method allows us to move the transversal position of the cavity focal point of 135 µm in a time of 50 ms, keeping the resonance condition of the cavity by means of the Pound–Drever–Hall technique. We propose to use this technique for the generation of 2-color X-rays via Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS). This technique exploits the large average power stored in the high finesse cavity by shifting the laser beam with respect to the electron beam trajectory, hence controlling the spatial superposition of the electron and photon beams in the interaction region. Arranging two cavities assembled one on top of the other, with different collision angle with the electron beam, allows the generation of X-ray bursts of different energies just by swiftly moving the two cavities, switching the two focal points onto the electron beam trajectory, thus activating in sequence two different ICS spectral lines .

We provide an experimental study of the relationship between the action of different classical noises on the dephasing dynamics of a two-level system and the non-Markovianity of the quantum dynamics. The two-level system is encoded in the photonic polarization degrees of freedom and the action of the noise is obtained via a spatial light modulator, thus allowing for an easy engineering of different random environments. The quantum non-Markovianity of the dynamics driven by classical Markovian and non-Markovian noise, both Gaussian and non-Gaussian, is studied by means of the trace distance. Our study clearly shows the different nature of the notion of non-Markovian classical process and non-Markovian quantum dynamics., 9 pages, 5 figures

We present a design study of an innovative scheme to generate high rep rate (MHz-class) GeV electron beams by adopting a two-pass two-way acceleration in a superconducting (SC) linac operated in continuous wave (CW) mode. The electron beam is accelerated twice by being reinjected in opposite direction of propagation into the linac after the first passage. Acceleration in opposite directions is accomplished thanks to standing waves supported in rf cavities. The task of recirculating the electron beam when it leaves the linac after first pass is performed by a bubble-shaped arc compressor composed by a sequence of double bend achromat. In this paper we address the main issues inherent to the two-pass acceleration process and the preservation of the electron beam quality parameters (emittance, energy spread, peak current) required to operate x-ray free electron lasers (FEL) with low jitters in the amplitude, spectral and temporal domain, as achieved by operating in seeding and/or oscillator mode a CW FEL up to 1 MHz rep rate. Detailed start-to-end simulations are shown to assess the capability of this new scheme to double the electron beam energy as well as to compress the electron bunch length from picoseconds down to tens of femtoseconds. The advantage of such a scheme is to halve the requested linac length for the same final electron beam energy, which is typically in the few GeV range, as needed to drive an x-ray FEL. The AC power to supply the cryogenic plant is also significantly reduced with respect to a conventional single-pass SC linac for the same final energy. We are reporting also x-ray FEL simulations for typical values of wavelengths of interest (in the 200 eV--8 keV photon energy range) to better illustrate the potentiality of this new scheme.

There is a strong demand for small foot-print high-flux hard X-rays machines in order to enable a large variety of science activities and serve a multidisciplinary user community. For this purpose, two compact Inverse Compton Sources (ICSs) are currently being developed in Italy. The most recent one is the Bright and Compact X-ray Source (BriXS) which has recently been proposed to produce very energetic X-rays (up to 180 keV) and high photon flux (up to 1013 photons/s with expected bandwidth of 1-10%). BriXS will be installed in Milan and it will enable advanced large area radiological imaging applications to be conducted with mono-chromatic X-rays, as well as allowing basic fundamental science of matter and health sciences at both pre- and clinical levels. Based on an energy-recovery linac (ERL) scheme and superconducting technology, BriXS will operate in CW regime with an unprecedented electron beam repetition rate of 100 MHz. The second Italian ICS light source is the Southern Europe Thomson back-scattering source for Applied Research (STAR) which is currently installed at the University of Calabria (UniCal). STAR is a compact machine that has been designed to produce monochromatic and tunable, ps-long, polarized X-ray beams in the range 40-140 keV with a photon flux up to 1010 photons/s and energy bandwidth below 10%. The electron beam injector is based on normal-conducting technology in S-Band with a repetition rate up to 100 Hz.

We address the use of optical parametric oscillator (OPO) to counteract phase-noise in quantum optical communication channels, and demonstrate reduction of phase diffusion for coherent signals travelling through a suitably tuned OPO. In particular, we theoretically and experimentally show that there is a threshold value on the phase-noise, above which OPO can be exploited to squeeze phase noise. The threshold depends on the energy of the input coherent state, and on the relevant parameters of the OPO, i.e. gain and input/output and crystal loss rates.

The need of a fs-scale pulsed, high repetition rate, X-ray source for time-resolved fine analysis of matter (spectroscopy and photon scattering) in the linear response regime is addressed by the conceptual design of a facility called MariX (Multi-disciplinary Advanced Research Infrastructure for the generation and application of X-rays) outperforming current X-ray sources for the declared scope. MariX is based on the original design of a two-pass two-way superconducting linear electron accelerator , equipped with an arc compressor, to be operated in CW mode (1 MHz). MariX provides FEL emission in the range 0.2–8 keV with 1 0 8 photons per pulse ideally suited for photoelectric effect and inelastic X-ray scattering experiments. The accelerator complex includes an early stage that supports an advanced inverse Compton source of very high-flux hard X-rays of energies up to 180 keV that is well adapted for large area radiological imaging, realizing a broad science programme and serving a multidisciplinary user community, covering fundamental science of matter and application to life sciences, including health at preclinical and clinical level.

The MariX project (Multi-disciplinary Advanced Infra-structure for Research with X-rays) is a free electron laser (FEL) light source proposed by the INFN-Milan. It will produce highly coherent X-rays, in the range 0.2-8 keV, with ultra-short pulses (10-50 fs) and a repetition rate up to 1MHz. At the same time, MariX will host a compact monochromatic X-ray source, called BriXS (Bright and compact X-ray Source), by using an inverse-Compton scattering scheme, with energies up to 180 keV and a repetition rate of 100 MHz (continuous-wave CW operation) that will generate fluxes up to 1013 photons per second. In this paper, the Radio-Frequency (RF) and beam dynamics designs of the electron injector for the MariX-FEL project are presented. The choice of the main devices, such as the electron gun and the accelerating linear accelerators, as well as the main parameters for CW operation are discussed in detail.

QUPLAS (QUantum interferometry and gravitation with Positrons and LASers) is an experimental project for the study of antimatter; it makes use of positrons and positronium and mainly aims at performing quantum interferometry, decoherence and gravitational studies. The first phase of the project, called QUPLAS-0, consisted in the first successful demonstration of quantum interference of an antimatter particle: the positron. The experimental apparatus is composed by the positron beam, the interferometer, and the detector. This paper describes these three elements of QUPLAS-0 and how they were combined to achieve the goal of positron interference.

Scintillating optical fibres have shown interesting results for ionizing radiation monitoring. Since they may enable a remote, punctual and real-time dose assessment, their application in medical dosimetry is very promising. This work aims to summarize some recent progresses in the development and characterization of rare-earth doped silica optical fibres. The radioluminescent and dosimetric properties of Ce, Eu and Yb-doped fibres are presented and the advantages and challenges in the use of these sensors for radiation therapy dosimetry are discussed. For such application, an effective approach to deal with the stem effect, i.e. the spurious luminescent signal originated in the light guide as a consequence of its exposition to ionizing radiations (i.e. Cerenkov light and intrinsic fluorescence) must be considered. The stem effect mainly occurs in the UV-VIS region. We demonstrated that the use of a dopant emitting in the near infrared, like Yb, is suitable for an optical discrimination of the dosimetric signal. Indeed, through a characterization of the dosimetric properties of Yb-doped fibres in conjunction with an optical filter and an avalanche detector, we proved that the drawback due to the stem effect does not impair the system response even in the most challenging irradiation geometries, attesting to the robustness of the device in complex dosimetric scenarios.

We address the experimental implementation of a quantum simulator based on an optical setup. Our device can simulate the dynamical evolution of a qubit undergoing a dephasing process. In particular, we focus on the dynamics arising from the interaction with a classical stochastic field. We encode the state of the qubit in the polarization of a single photon, while the realizations of the stochastic evolution affect its spectral components by a programmable spatial-light-modulator. This setup can simulate in one shot the ensemble-averaged dynamics of the dephasing qubit. We experimentally reconstruct the system density matrix and we show how it is possible to move from a Markovian to a non-Markovian quantum map by changing the spectral parameter of the simulated noise.

AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) is an experiment that aims to perform the first direct measurement of the gravitational acceleration g of antihydrogen in the Earth’s field. A cold antihydrogen beam will be produced by charge exchange reaction between cold antiprotons and positronium excited in Rydberg states. Rydberg positronium (with quantum number n between 20 and 30) will be produced by a two steps laser excitation. The antihydrogen beam, after being accelerated by Stark effect, will fly through the gratings of a moir´e deflectometer. The deflection of the horizontal beam due to its free fall will be measured by a position sensitive detector. It is estimated that the detection of about 103 antihydrogen atoms is required to determine the gravitational acceleration with a precision of 1%. In this report an overview of the AEgIS experiment is presented and its current status is described. Details on the production of slow positronium and its excitation with lasers are discussed.

Over the years, many efforts have been made to develop radiation detectors to handle the complex issues of small field dosimetry and achieve the increasing accuracy, precision and in vivo dose monitoring required by the new advanced treatment modalities. In this context, interest has surged in the development of sensors based on scintillating optical fibres. In this paper, the near-infrared radioluminescence and dosimetric properties of Yb-doped silica optical fibres, coupled with a laboratory prototype based on an avalanche photodiode, were studied by irradiating the fibres with photons and electron beams generated by a Varian Trilogy accelerator. The performance of the system in standard and small field sizes has also been investigated, comparing the output factor, percentage depth dose and off-axis ratio measurements of the prototypal detector with other commercial sensors, including the Exradin W1 scintillator. The results of this study demonstrate that the drawback due to the stem effect in Yb-doped silica optical fibres can be managed in a simple but effective way by optical filtering. The robustness of the system in complex dosimetric scenarios and the accuracy and precision achieved by Yb-doped fibres in relative dose assessments suggest an effective use of the system for real-time in vivo dosimetry applications.

We suggest and demonstrate an all-optical quantum simulator for single-qubit noisy channels originating from the interaction with a fluctuating field. The simulator employs the polarization degree of freedom of a single photon, and exploits its spectral components to average over the realizations of the stochastic dynamics. As a proof of principle, we run simulations of dephasing channels driven either by Gaussian (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck) or non-Gaussian (random telegraph) stochastic processes., Comment: Close to published version

The near-infrared radioluminescence and dosimetric properties of Yb-doped silica optical fibers, coupled with an optical detector prototype based on an avalanche photo-diode, were studied by irradiating the fibers with clinical beams generated by a Varian Trilogy accelerator. The performances of the system in standard and small field sizes have been also investigated comparing the output factor, percent depth dose and off axis ratio measurements of the prototypal dosimetric system with other commercial sensors. The results demonstrated that the drawback due to the stem effect in Yb-doped silica optical fibers can be managed in a simple but effective way by optical filtering. These features, together with the accuracy and precision achieved by Ybdoped fibers in relative dose assessments make the device promising for in-vivo dosimetry studies in radiation therapy.

The AEgIS experiment aims at performing the first test of the Weak Equivalence Principle of General Relativity in the antimatter sector by measuring the gravitational acceleration acting on a beam of cold antihydrogen to a precision of 1 %. The installation of the apparatus is making good progress and large parts were taken into operation. Parasitic detector tests during the beamtime in December 2012 gave essential input for an optimal moir´e deflectometer and the detector layout necessary to perform the gravity measurement.

Multi-bunch electron linac operation is required in many applications, like plasma wake field acceleration, narrow band THz generation and two color FEL. We present a short review of laser techniques employed in multi-bunch photoinjectors and propose a new scheme based on spectral phase manipulation of the laser pulse. In conclusion we show some application of multi-bunches electron beams done at SPARC_ LAB.

The main goal of the AEgIS experiment at CERN is to test the weak equivalence principle for antimatter. We will measure the Earth's gravitational acceleration g with antihydrogen atoms being launched in a horizontal vacuum tube and traversing a moire deflectometer. We intend to use a position sensitive device made of nuclear emulsions (combined with a time-of-flight detector such as silicon μ� strips) to

We study the transient oscillatory behavior of a Nd:YAG laser modulated in such a way that at the beginning of time evolution the population inversion is approximately equal to its threshold value and the photons present in the cavity are much less than at steady state. Under those conditions the laser dynamics is very regular. We measure the period and width of the pulses as a function of the pulse intensity finding a very good agreement with the predictions of the Toda oscillator model.

Two-photon interference and Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect are relevant tools for quantum metrology and quantum information processing. In optical coherence tomography, the HOM effect is exploited to achieve high-resolution measurements with the width of the HOM dip being the main parameter. On the other hand, applications like dense coding require high-visibility performance. Here we address high-order dispersion effects in two-photon interference and study, theoretically and experimentally, the dependence of the visibility and the width of the HOM dip on both the pump spectrum and the downconverted photon spectrum. In particular, a spatial light modulator is exploited to experimentally introduce and manipulate a custom phase function to simulate the high-order dispersion effects. Overall, we show that it is possible to effectively introduce high-order dispersion effects on the propagation of photons and also to compensate for such effect. Our results clarify the role of the different dispersion phenomena and pave the way for optimization procedures in quantum technological applications involving PDC photons and optical fibers.

We demonstrate laser excitation of the n=3 state of positronium (Ps) in vacuum. A specially designed high-efficiency pulsed slow positron beam and single shot positronium annihilation lifetime spectroscopy were used to produce and detect Ps. Pulsed laser excitation of n=3 level at 205 nm was monitored via Ps photoionization induced by a second intense laser pulse at 1064 nm. About 15% of the overall positronium emitted in vacuum was excited to n=3 and photoionized. Saturation of both the n=3 excitation and the following photoionization was observed and is explained by a simple rate equation model. Scanning the laser frequency allowed us to extract the positronium transverse temperature related to the width of the Doppler-broadened line. Moreover, preliminary observation of excitation to Rydberg states (n = 15...17) using n=3 as intermediate level was observed, giving an independent confirmation of efficient excitation to the 33P state. We demonstrate the laser excitation of the n=3 state of positronium (Ps) in vacuum. A combination of a specially designed pulsed slow positron beam and a high-efficiency converter target was used to produce Ps. Its annihilation was recorded by single-shot positronium annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. Pulsed laser excitation of the n=3 level at a wavelength λ≈205 nm was monitored via Ps photoionization induced by a second intense laser pulse at λ=1064 nm. About 15% of the overall positronium emitted into vacuum was excited to n=3 and photoionized. Saturation of both the n=3 excitation and the following photoionization was observed and explained by a simple rate equation model. The positronium's transverse temperature was extracted by measuring the width of the Doppler-broadened absorption line. Moreover, excitation to Rydberg states n=15 and 16 using n=3 as the intermediate level was observed, giving an independent confirmation of excitation to the $3^{3}P$ state.

International audience; The weak equivalence principle states that the motion of a body in a gravitational field is independent of its structure or composition. This postulate of general relativity has been tested to very high precision with ordinary matter, but no relevant experimental verification with antimatter has ever been carried out. The AEGIS experiment will measure the gravitational acceleration of antihydrogen to ultimately 1% precision. For this purpose, a pulsed horizontal antihydrogen beam with a velocity of several 100 m s−1 will be produced. Its vertical deflection due to gravity will be detected by a setup consisting of material gratings coupled with a position-sensitive detector, operating as a moiré deflectometer or an atom interferometer. The AEGIS experiment is installed at CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator, currently the only facility in the world which produces copious amounts of low-energy antiprotons. The construction of the setup has been going on since 2010 and is nearing completion. A proof-of-principle experiment with antiprotons has demonstrated that the deflection of antiparticles by a few μm due to an external force can be detected. Technological and scientific development pertaining to specific challenges of the experiment, such as antihydrogen formation by positronium charge exchange or the position-sensitive detection of antihydrogen annihilations, is ongoing.

We suggest and demonstrate a scheme to reconstruct the symmetric two-mode squeezed thermal states of spectral sideband modes from an optical parametric oscillator. The method is based on both a single homodyne detector and the error signal from the active stabilization of the oscillator cavity. The measurement scheme has been successfully tested on different two-mode squeezed thermal states, ranging from uncorrelated coherent states to entangled states.

Production of antihydrogen by using the charge exchange reaction, as proposed by AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy), requires the formation of a dense cloud of positronium atoms excited to Rydberg states. In this work, the recent advances in AEgIS towards this result are described. Namely, the manipulation of positrons to produce bunches containing more than 108 particles and the laser excitation of positronium to Rydberg states, using n=3 as intermediate level, are presented.

see paper for full list of authors; International audience; We present here the first results obtained employing the Timepix3 for the detection and tagging of annihilations of low energy antiprotons. The Timepix3 is a recently developed hybrid pixel detector with advanced Time-of-Arrival and Time-over-Threshold capabilities and has the potential of allowing precise kinetic energy measurements of low energy charged particles from their time of flight. The tagging of the characteristic antiproton annihilation signature, already studied by our group, is enabled by the high spatial and energy resolution of this detector. In this study we have used a new, dedicated, energy selection beamline (GRACE). The line is symbiotic to the AEgIS experiment at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator and is dedicated to detector tests and possibly antiproton physics experiments. We show how the high resolution of the Timepix3 on the Time-of-Arrival and Time-over-Threshold information allows for a precise 3D reconstruction of the annihilation prongs. The presented results point at the potential use of the Timepix3 in antimatter-research experiments where a precise and unambiguous tagging of antiproton annihilations is required.

Antihydrogen production by charge exchange reaction between Positronium atoms and antiprotons requires efficient excitation of Positronium atoms up to high-n levels (Rydberg levels). A two-step optical excitation, the first from ground to n = 3 and the second from this level to a Rydberg level, is proposed and a suitable laser system is discussed. The requirements on the energy and bandwidth of the excitation laser suggest the use of optical parametric generation technology for both wavelengths. The laser system is composed by two subsystems: one for the generation of 205 nm radiation and the other for the generation of 1670 nm radiation. We have separately developed and tested the laser sources and results are here presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AEgIS (Antimatter experiment: gravity, interferometry, spectroscopy) is an experiment approved by CERN with the goal of studying antihydrogen physics. In AEgIS, antihydrogen will be produced by charge exchange reactions of cold antiprotons with positronium atoms excited in a Rydberg state (n > 20). In the first phase of the experiment, controlled acceleration by an electric field gradient (Stark effect) and subsequent measurement of free fall in a Moiré deflectometer will allow a test of the weak equivalence principle. In a second phase, the antihydrogen will be slowed, confined, and laser-cooled to perform CPT studies and detailed spectroscopy. In the present work, after a general description of the experiment, the present status of advancement will be reviewed, with special attention to the production and excitation of positronium atoms.

We design and demonstrate a homodyne detection scheme based on a glass-integrated optical device (GID) operating in the quantum regime, that is, able to detect genuine nonclassical features. Our device is entirely fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining. The GID incorporates on the same chip a balanced waveguide beamsplitter and a thermo-optic phase shifter, allowing us to record homodyne traces at different phases and to perform reliable quantum state tomography. In particular, we show that the GID allows for the detection of nonclassical features of continuous-variable quantum states, such as squeezed states. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America.

We unveil a novel source of non-Markovianity for the dynamics of quantum systems, which appears when the system does not explore the full set of dynamical trajectories in the interaction with its environment. We term this effect non-Markovianity by undersampling and demonstrate its appearance in the operation of an all-optical quantum simulator involving a polarization qubit interacting with a dephasing fluctuating environment., Comment: Accepted version

A radiofrequency electron gun followed by a compressor can generate trains of subpicosecond electron pulses by illuminating the photocathode with a comb laser pulse. This kind of electron beams can generate trains of single radiation spikes in a SASE-FEL. The dynamics of different electron beam trains traveling in an accelerator is investigated by PARMELA simulations. A set of parameters relative to the SPARC machine are studied with the intent of generating a train of single radiation spikes in a 500 nm SASE-FEL.

A radiofrequency electron gun joined to a compressor can generate trains of THz sub-picosecond electron pulses by illuminating the photocathode with trains of laser pulses. Assuming a prompt electron emission, each laser pulse generates an electron disk at the cathode. The disk train evolves toward a slightly modulated slug having a peculiar sawtooth energy modulation. This kind of energy modulation is transformed into a density modulation within a velocity-bunching compressor recovering at a good extent the initial multi-disk profile. The electron beam evolution is analyzed through simulations looking at its features as function of pulse and frequency characteristics of the laser and of the accelerator parameters.