Physics Commons^™

Intracavity Phase Interferometry Based Fiber Sensors, Luke Jameson Horstman

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Intracavity Phase Interferometry (IPI) is a detection technique that exploits the inherent sensitivity of a laser's frequency to the parameters of its cavity. Intracavity interferometry is orders of magnitude more sensitive than its extracavity alternatives. This dissertation improves on previous free-space proof-of-concept designs. By implementing the technique in fiber optics, using optical parametric oscillation, and investigating non-Hermitian quantum mechanics and dispersion tailoring enhancement techniques, IPI has become more applicable and sensitive. Ring and linear IPI configurations were realized in this work, both operating as bidirectional fiber optical parametric oscillators. The benefit of using externally pumped synchronous optical parametric oscillation is …

Quantum Field Theories, Topological Materials, And Topological Quantum Computing, Muhammad Ilyas

Dissertations and Theses

A quantum computer can perform exponentially faster than its classical counterpart. It works on the principle of superposition. But due to the decoherence effect, the superposition of a quantum state gets destroyed by the interaction with the environment. It is a real challenge to completely isolate a quantum system to make it free of decoherence. This problem can be circumvented by the use of topological quantum phases of matter. These phases have quasiparticles excitations called anyons. The anyons are charge-flux composites and show exotic fractional statistics. When the order of exchange matters, then the anyons are called non-Abelian anyons. Majorana …

Limits On Parameter Estimation Of Quantum Channels, Vishal Katariya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to study parameter estimation of quantum channels. We begin by describing the classical task of parameter estimation that we build upon. In its most basic form, parameter estimation is the task of obtaining an estimate of an unknown parameter from some experimental data. This experimental data can be seen as a number of samples of a parameterized probability distribution. In general, the goal of such a task is to obtain an estimate of the unknown parameter while minimizing its error.

We study the task of estimating unknown parameters which …

Computer Program Simulation Of A Quantum Turing Machine With Circuit Model, Shixin Wu

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

Molina and Watrous present a variation of the method to simulate a quantum Turing machine employed in Yao’s 1995 publication “Quantum Circuit Complexity”. We use a computer program to implement their method with linear algebra and an additional unitary operator defined to complete the details. Their method is verified to be correct on a quantum Turing machine.

Hybrid Two Dimensional Quantum Devices, Joshua Patrick Thompson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes measurements on hybrid material systems involving two dimensional (2D) materials and phenomena along with the development of a small, hermetically sealed cell. The hermetic cell is designed to assist with analyzing sensitive 2D materials outside of an inert environment. When working with van der Waals materials that are especially sensitive to oxygen or water, it can be difficult to identify usable thin flakes without exposing them to air. To help preserve materials for analysis in air, a capsule was designed that isolates the material in an inert environment. Although the capsule is hermetically sealed, the encapsulated material …

Quantum State Estimation And Tracking For Superconducting Processors Using Machine Learning, Shiva Lotfallahzadeh Barzili

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Quantum technology has been rapidly growing; in particular, the experiments that have been performed with superconducting qubits and circuit QED have allowed us to explore the light-matter interaction at its most fundamental level. The study of coherent dynamics between two-level systems and resonator modes can provide insight into fundamental aspects of quantum physics, such as how the state of a system evolves while being continuously observed. To study such an evolving quantum system, experimenters need to verify the accuracy of state preparation and control since quantum systems are very fragile and sensitive to environmental disturbance. In this thesis, I look …

A Quantum Mechanics Approach For The Dynamics Of An Immigration, Emigration Fission Model, Leon Arriola

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Gravitational Wave Sensors Based On Superconducting Transducers, Armen Gulian, Joe Foreman, Vahan Nikoghosyan, Louis Sica, Pablo Abramian-Barco, Jeff Tollaksen, Gurgen Melkonyan, Iris Mowgood, Chris Burdette, Rajendra Dulal, Serafim Teknowijoyo, Sara Chahid, Shmuel Nussinov

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Following the initial success of LIGO, new advances in gravitational wave (GW) detector systems are planned to reach fruition during the next decades. These systems are interferometric and large. Here we suggest different, more compact detectors of GW radiation with competitive sensitivity. These nonresonant detectors are not interferometric. They use superconducting Cooper pairs in a magnetic field to transform mechanical motion induced by GW into detectable magnetic flux. The detectors can be oriented relative to the source of GW, so as to maximize the signal output and help determine the direction of nontransient sources. In this design an incident GW …

Wave Function Identity: A New Symmetry For 2-Electron Systems In An Electromagnetic Field, Marlina Slamet, Viraht Sahni

Publications and Research

Stationary-state Schrödinger-Pauli theory is a description of electrons with a spin moment in an external electromagnetic field. For 2-electron systems as described by the Schrödinger-Pauli theory Hamiltonian with a symmetrical binding potential, we report a new symmetry operation of the electronic coordinates. The symmetry operation is such that it leads to the equality of the transformed wave function to the wave function. This equality is referred to as the Wave Function Identity. The symmetry operation is a two-step process: an interchange of the spatial coordinates of the electrons whilst keeping their spin moments unchanged, followed by an inversion. The Identity …

Loren Haarsma - When Did Sin Begin?, Loren Haarsma

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Patrick Hamilton speaks to Calvin University Professor, Loren Haarsma, about the origins of sin and various ways to make sense of the doctrine of original sin in light of evolutionary origins. Other topics of conversation include psychology, free will and the theology of Saint Augustine.

Linear And Non Linear Properties Of Two-Dimensional Exciton-Polaritons, Mandeep Khatoniar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Technology has been accelerating at breakneck speed since the first quantum revolution, an era that ushered transistors and lasers in the late 1940s and early 1960s. Both of these technologies relied on a matured understanding of quantum theories and since their inception has propelled innovation and development in various sectors like communications, metrology, and sensing. Optical technologies were thought to be the game changers in terms of logic and computing operations, with the elevator pitch being "computing at speed of light", a fundamental speed limit imposed by this universe’s legal system (a.k.a physics). However, it was soon realized that that …

A Dynamical Quantum Cheshire Cat Effect And Implications For Counterfactual Communication, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, Sandu Popescu

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Here we report a type of dynamic effect that is at the core of the so called “counterfactual computation” and especially “counterfactual communication” quantum effects that have generated a lot of interest recently. The basic feature of these counterfactual setups is the fact that particles seem to be affected by actions that take place in locations where they never (more precisely, only with infinitesimally small probability) enter. Specifically, the communication/computation takes place without the quantum particles that are supposed to be the information carriers travelling through the communication channel or entering the logic gates of the computer. Here we show …

High Sensitivity Multi-Axes Rotation Sensing Using Large Momentum Transfer Point Source Atom Interferometry, Jinyang Li, Gregório R. M. Da Silva, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Mohamed Fouda, Jason Bonacum, Timothy L. Kovachy, Selim M. Shahriar

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

A point source interferometer (PSI) is a device where atoms are split and recombined by applying a temporal sequence of Raman pulses during the expansion of a cloud of cold atoms behaving approximately as a point source. The PSI can work as a sensitive multi-axes gyroscope that can automatically filter out the signal from accelerations. The phase shift arising from the rotations is proportional to the momentum transferred to each atom from the Raman pulses. Therefore, by increasing the momentum transfer, it should be possible to enhance the sensitivity of the PSI. Here, we investigate the degree of enhancement in …

Modeling Of Argon Bombardment And Densification Of Low Temperature Organic Precursors Using Reactive Md Simulations And Machine Learning, Kwabena Asante-Boahen

MSU Graduate Theses

In this study, an important aspect of the synthesis process for a-BxC:Hy was systematically modeled by utilizing the Reactive Molecular Dynamics (MD) in modeling the argon bombardment from the orthocarborane molecules as the precursor. The MD simulations are used to assess the dynamics associated with the free radicals that result from the ion bombardment. By applying the Data Mining/Machine Learning analysis into the datasets generated from the large reactive MD simulations, I was able to identify and quality the kinetics of these radicals. Overall, this approach allows for a better understanding of the overall mechanism at the atomistic level of …

Macroscopic Superposition States In Isolated Quantum Systems, Roman V. Buniy, Stephen D. H. Hsu

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

For any choice of initial state and weak assumptions about the Hamiltonian, large isolated quantum systems undergoing Schrödinger evolution spend most of their time in macroscopic superposition states. The result follows from von Neumann’s 1929 Quantum Ergodic Theorem. As a specific example, we consider a box containing a solid ball and some gas molecules. Regardless of the initial state, the system will evolve into a quantum superposition of states with the ball in macroscopically different positions. Thus, despite their seeming fragility, macroscopic superposition states are ubiquitous consequences of quantum evolution. We discuss the connection to many worlds quantum mechanics.

Experimental Observation Of Topological Z2 Excitonpolaritons In Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers, Mengyao Li, Ivan Sinev, Fedor Benimetskiy, Tatyana Ivanova, Ekaterina Khestanova, Svetlana Kiriushechkina, Anton Vakulenko, Sriram Guddala, Maurice Skolnick, Vinod M. Menon, Dmitry Krizhanovskii, Andrea Alù, Anton Samusev, Alexander B. Khanikaev

Publications and Research

The rise of quantum science and technologies motivates photonics research to seek new platforms with strong light-matter interactions to facilitate quantum behaviors at moderate light intensities. Topological polaritons (TPs) offer an ideal platform in this context, with unique properties stemming from resilient topological states of light strongly coupled with matter. Here we explore polaritonic metasurfaces based on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as a promising platform for topological polaritonics. We show that the strong coupling between topological photonic modes of the metasurface and excitons in TMDs yields a topological polaritonic Z₂ phase. We experimentally confirm the emergence of one-way …

Medical Schools Ignore The Nature Of Consciousness At Great Cost, Anoop Kumar

Journal of Wellness

The essential question of the relationship between consciousness and matter is ignored in medical school curricula, leading to a machine-like view of the human being that contributes to physician burnout and intellectual dissatisfaction. The evidence suggesting that the brain may not be the seat of consciousness is generally ignored to preserve the worldview of the primacy of matter. By investigating new frameworks detailing the nature of consciousness at different levels of hierarchy, we can bring intellectual rigor to a once opaque subject that supports a fundamental reality about our experience: We are human beings, not only human bodies.

The Exact Factorization Equations For One- And Two-Level Systems, Bart Rosenzweig

Theses and Dissertations

Exact Factorization is a framework for studying quantum many-body problems. This decomposes the wavefunctions of such systems into conditional and marginal components. We derive corresponding evolution equations for molecular systems whose conditional electronic subsystems are described by one or two Born-Oppenheimer levels and develop a program for their mathematical study.

Connectivism: Adopting Quantum Holism In International Relations, Grant Randal Highland

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The current scientific context of both quantum science and an ever-increasingly connected global citizenry has set the conditions for a new perspective whereby the social sciences are on the cusp of adopting a quantum approach of probability and potentiality versus the clockwork mechanistic determinism of cause-and-effect Newtonian mechanics. While a scientific realist approach toward the application of quantum science to the social sciences is germane, there is a valid reason international relations should also consider and adopt the philosophical worldviews outside the genealogical canon of our early western forbears, as well as the philosophical explorations of consciousness and humanism which …

Probing The Structure Of Deuteron At Very Short Distances, Frank Vera

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We study the electro-disintegration of deuteron at quasi-elastic kinematics and high transferred momentum as a probe for the short distance structure in nuclei. In this reaction, an electron hits a nucleus of deuterium, which breaks up into a pair of nucleons (proton-neutron). We focus our attention on events where fast nucleons emerge, corresponding to nuclear configurations where the bound nucleons have a high relative momentum (exceeding 700 MeV/c). The present research is relevant to physical systems where high-density nuclear matter is present. This condition covers a wide range of physics, from neutron stars to nuclei stability and the repulsive nuclear …

Kapitza-Dirac Blockade: A Universal Tool For The Deterministic Preparation Of Non-Gaussian Oscillator States, Wayne Cheng-Wei Huang, Herman Batelaan, Markus Arndt

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Harmonic oscillators count among the most fundamental quantum systems with important applications in molecular physics, nanoparticle trapping, and quantum information processing. Their equidistant energy level spacing is often a desired feature, but at the same time a challenge if the goal is to deterministically populate specific eigenstates. Here, we show how interference in the transition amplitudes in a bichromatic laser field can suppress the sequential climbing of harmonic oscillator states (Kapitza-Dirac blockade) and achieve selective excitation of energy eigenstates, cat states, and other non-Gaussian states. This technique can transform the harmonic oscillator into a coherent two-level system or be used …

Solving Chromatic Number With Quantum Search And Quantum Counting, David Lutze

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a novel quantum algorithm that solves the Chromatic Number problem. Complexity analysis of this algorithm revealed a run time of O(2^n/2n²(log2n)²). This is an improvement over the best known algorithm, with a run time of 2ⁿn^O(1) [1]. This algorithm uses the Quantum Search algorithm (often called Grover's Algorithm), and the Quantum Counting algorithm. Chromatic Number is an example of an NP-Hard problem, which suggests that other NP-Hard problems can also benefit from a speed-up provided by quantum technology. This has wide implications as many real world problems can …

A Theoretical Study Of Synchronous Proton Transfer In (Hf)N, (H2O) N, And (Hcl) N Where N = 3, 4, 5, Johnny Yang

Honors Theses

For (HF)_n, (H₂O)_n, and (HCl)_n (n = 3 − 5), we have rigorously characterized the structures for the minima and transition states for synchronous proton transfer (SPT) with the CCSD(T) method and aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. The electronic barrier heights (∆E^†) associated with these transition states have also been computed with the explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12 method and the aug-cc-pVQZ-F12 basis set (abbreviated aQZ-F12). (HCl)_n (n = 3 − 5) SPT transition states have not been previously identified to the best of our knowledge, and they have been found …

A New Method To Generate Superoscillating Functions And Supershifts, Yakir Aharonov, Fabrizio Colombo, Irene Sabadini, Tomer Shushi, Daniele C. Struppa, Jeff Tollaksen

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Superoscillations are band-limited functions that can oscillate faster than their fastest Fourier component. These functions (or sequences) appear in weak values in quantum mechanics and in many fields of science and technology such as optics, signal processing and antenna theory. In this paper, we introduce a new method to generate superoscillatory functions that allows us to construct explicitly a very large class of superoscillatory functions.

Partial Measurements Of Quantum Systems, Jonathan Tyler Monroe

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Projective measurement is a commonly used assumption in quantum mechanics. However, advances in quantum measurement techniques allow for partial measurements, which accurately estimate state information while keeping the wavefunction intact. We employ partial measurements to study two phenomena. First, we investigate an uncertainty relation—in the style of Heisenberg’s 1929 thought experiment—which includes partial measurements in addition to projective measurements. We find that a weak partial measurement can decrease the uncertainty between two incompatible (non-commuting) observables. In the second study, we investigate the foundation of irreversible dynamics resulting from partial measurements. We do so by comparing the forward and time-reversed probabilities …

Realization Of Bsu First Magneto-Optical Trap For The Spatial Confinement Of Rb Atoms Using Next Generation Fiber Optic Capabilities With Minimot, Brahmin Thurber-Carbone

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This paper will be a combination of my theoretical and experimental work toward Bridgewater State Universities first Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) for laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms in order to study fundamental quantum mechanical behavior of Rubidium (Rb) atoms. The goal of the theoretical aspect is to complete details of well-established works on how the complicated quantum, atomic, and electromagnetic (laser) interactions required to understand the design and operation of the MOT reduce to the physics and mathematics of a damped oscillator. This is made explicitly clear using familiar damped oscillator systems, such as a spring/mass/damping or pendulum/mass/damping (ie …

Model Of Electromagnetic Waves In An Axion-Induced Parity Symmetry Violation, Sarah Lipstone

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Axion particles have been postulated to resolve the strong CP problem in Quantum chromodynamics. The axion field may double as the inflaton field that produces cosmic inflation. In this project, we use a combination of analytical and numerical analysis to study how axion-induced parity symmetry violation affects the dynamics of electromagnetic waves.

Characterization And Benchmarking Of Quantum Computers, Megan L. Dahlhauser

Doctoral Dissertations

Quantum computers are a promising technology expected to provide substantial speedups to important computational problems, but modern quantum devices are imperfect and prone to noise. In order to program and debug quantum computers as well as monitor progress towards more advanced devices, we must characterize their dynamics and benchmark their performance. Characterization methods vary in measured quantities and computational requirements, and their accuracy in describing arbitrary quantum devices in an arbitrary context is not guaranteed. The leading techniques for characterization are based on fine-grain physical models that are typically accurate but computationally expensive. This raises the question of how to …

Curved Spacetime In The Causal Set Approach To Quantum Gravity, Ayush Dhital

Honors Theses

Causal Set theory is an approach to quantum gravity. In this approach, the spacetime continuum is assumed to be discrete rather than continuous. The discrete points in a causal set can be seen as a continuum spacetime if they can be embedded in a manifold such that the causal structure is preserved. In this regard, a manifold can be constructed by embedding a causal set preserving causal information between the neighboring points. In this thesis, some of the fundamental properties of causal sets are discussed and the curvature and dimension information of Minkowski, de Sitter, and Anti-de Sitter spaces is …

Zeta Function Regularization And Its Relationship To Number Theory, Stephen Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the "path integral" formulation of quantum mechanics is both highly intuitive and far reaching, the path integrals themselves often fail to converge in the usual sense. Richard Feynman developed regularization as a solution, such that regularized path integrals could be calculated and analyzed within a strictly physics context. Over the past 50 years, mathematicians and physicists have retroactively introduced schemes for achieving mathematical rigor in the study and application of regularized path integrals. One such scheme was introduced in 2007 by the mathematicians Klaus Kirsten and Paul Loya. In this thesis, we reproduce the Kirsten and Loya approach to …