In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.

Estudamos o amortecimento radiativo e o ruído de spins de um material magnético acoplado a um circuito ressonante. O amortecimento radiativo em ressonância magnética é um fenômeno de dissipação, na qual a magnetização preparada após um pulso de Rabi sofre um decaimento até seu estado de equilíbrio. O material magnético perde energia através do seu acoplamento com o circuito ressonante, que deve estar sintonizado na freqüência de Larmor dos spins do material. Apesar deste fenômeno ter sido estudado há vários anos, nenhuma descrição quântica completa lhe foi dada. Apresentamos um modelo hamiltoniano quântico que descreve o amortecimento radiativo. Para isto usamos o método de equações de Langevin quânticas. Mostramos que além do amortecimento radiativo do material magnético, se o circuito está em um estado inicial coerente, a magnetização adquire um movimento complicado não-trivial. Usando as mesmas equações de Langevin, estudamos a influência da amostra no ruído do circuito ressonante. Calculamos a densidade espectral da corrente no caso em que todo o sistema está em equilíbrio térmico. Pudemos verifcar a efcácia do método comparando-o com estudos anteriores. Além disso, estudamos as alterações do ruído do circuito quando uma tensão oscilante externa é aplicada. Nesta situação surgem dois outros picos laterais ao pico central do espectro de absorção da amostra magnética. Isso leva a três depressões no espectro da corrente do circuito. Este efeito deve-se à separação dupla dos estados de energia dos spins. Comentamos sobre a analogia deste fenômeno com a fluorescência ressonante observada na Óptica Quântica. / We study the radiation damping and the spin noise of a magnetic material coupled with a resonant circuit. Radiation damping in magnetic resonance is a dissipation phenomenon, where magnetization prepared after a Rabi pulse decays toward its equilibrium state. The magnetic sample loses its energy by the coupling with resonant circuit, that must be tuned in Larmor frequency of the sample spins. Even though this phenomenon had been studied many years ago, no full quantum description was done. We present a quantum Hamiltonian model, that explains the radiation damping. We use quantum Langevin equation method for this task. Beyond radiation damping, we show the magnetization acquires an unusual intrincate motion, if the circuit initial state is coherent. Using the same Langevin equation, we study the sample influence on the resonant circuit noise. We calculate the current spectral density in the case of thermal equilibrium of whole system. We can verify the method efectiveness, comparing former papers. Moreover we study modifcations in the circuit noise, if an external oscillating tension is applied. In this situation, other two peaks emerge in the central peak sidebands of the sample absorption spectrum. It leads to appear three dips in circuit current spectrum. This efect is due to the splitting of the spin energy states. We comment about the analogy between this phenomenon and the resonance fluorescence in Quantum Optics.

L'étude du couplage optomécanique, soit l'interaction entre un résonateur mécanique et la lumière venant mesurer sa position est née avec les recherches visant à détecter les ondes gravitationnelles. Ce couplage limite la sensibilité des mesures interférométriques nécessaires à leur observation.Cette limite est d'origine quantique : à tout appareil de mesure est associé un bruit (le bruit de phase des lasers). De plus, en vertu des inégalités de Heisenberg toute mesure d'un système le perturbe. On parle d'action en retour (liée aux bruits d'intensité des lasers). La lumière étant un objet quantique, il n'est pas possible de réduire simultanément les fluctuations de phase et d'intensité. La sensibilité d'une mesure interférométrique a donc pour minimum la limite quantique standard. Cette limite n'a jamais été observée à température ambiante.Nous décrivons dans ce manuscrit les effets de la pression de radiation sur un résonateur mécanique plan-convexe utilisé comme miroir de fond d'une cavité Fabry-Perot de grande finesse. A température ambiante, le bruit de pression de radiation est largement masqué par le bruit thermique. Ceci conduit à la mise en place d'une expérience pompe-sonde et à mesurer les corrélations entre ces deux faisceaux. En outre, cette expérience est très sensible au désaccord du laser avec la cavité. Nous utilisons une modulation de la position du résonateur afin de s'asservir le mieux possible à la cavité. Compte tenu du faible niveau de corrélations à mesurer, nous caractérisons les limites qu'impose le bruit classique des lasers. Nous présentons également le développement de nouveaux résonateurs optomecaniques en quartz. / Optomechanical coupling, that is the interaction between mechanicals modes of a resonator and light sensing its position, is a field of study that was born with the gravitational waves quest. This coupling poses limits to the sensitivity of interferometric measurements needed to detect them.This limit is of quantum origin. Indeed, every measurement apparatus has its own noise, we call it measurement noise. Moreover according to the Heisenberg inequalities, every measurement of a system disturbs it in some way. We call it back-action. In optomechanics, the measurement noise is the laser phase-noise while back-action stems from intensity-noise. Both of them have quantum origin and cannot be made arbitrary small. The sensitivity of classic interferometric measurement is then the result of a tradeoff between those two noises and cannot be lower than what is called the standard quantum limit. This limit has never been observed at room-temperature in a table-top experiment. The effects of radiation-pressure on a plano-convex resonator embedded in a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity are described in this work. At room-temperature the quantum radiation pressure noise is overwhelmed by thermal noise. This lead to use a pump-probe experiment where two laser beams are send in the cavity and measure their correlations. This experiment is extremely sensitive to the cavity- laser detuning. We propose to modulate the mirror position and use this precisely lock the lasers to the cavity. The correlations we aim to measure are extremely low so we characterize the limits put by classical noise of the laser system on the experiment. We also present the development of new quartz resonators.

<p>Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice Bloch oscillate when subject to a constant force. In the first work presented in this thesis we have theoretically studied the scenario where the optical lattice potential is provided by the electric field inside an optical cavity. The coherent atom-light interaction in a cavity gives rise to a backaction effect on the light field which can modify the intracavity field amplitude and phase. In our first treatment of this problem we model the cavity light field and atoms by classical fields and solve the coupled atom-light equations of motion. As a result, we find that the amplitude and phase of the transmitted light field is modulated at the Bloch frequency. Remarkably, the Bloch frequency itself is not modified by the backaction. Thus the transmitted light field can be used to observe the oscillations continuously, allowing high-precision measurement with small clouds of atoms.</p> <p>In the second problem presented in this thesis, we explore the band structure of the steady state solutions of the atom-cavity system. A crucial first step towards determining the band structure is the identification of an energy functional that describes the coupled atom-light system. Although, we do not include direct atom-atom interactions in our models, the coupling of the atoms to the single mode light field of the cavity introduces an effective mutual interaction which is correctly taken into account by the energy functional we introduce. Corresponding to each point in the band there exists a steady state light field associated with an average cavity photon number. The dispersive nonlinear atom-light interaction can lead to bistable solutions for this intracavity photon number. For parameters where the atom-cavity system exhibits bistability, the atomic band structure develops loop structures akin to the ones predicted for Bose-Einstein condensates in ordinary (non-cavity) optical lattices. However, in our case the nonlinearity derives from the cavity backaction rather than from direct interatomic interactions. We find both bi- and tri-stable regimes associated with the lowest band, and show that the multistability we observe can be analysed in terms of swallowtail catastrophes. Dynamic and energetic stability of the meanfield solutions is also studied, and we show that the bistable solutions have, as expected, one unstable and two stable branches. The presence of loops in the band structure can lead to a breakdown in adiabaticity during Bloch oscillations as the entire band is sampled during the dynamics. We therefore use the insight gleaned from this work in choosing parameters for the Bloch oscillation measurement proposal presented in the rest of the thesis.</p> <p>In the third work presented in the thesis, we go beyond the mean field description and consider effects of the quantised nature of the light and atomic fields. The cavity light field is always in contact with external electromagnetic fields through the partially transmissive mirrors. This coupling to the external modes enters as quantum noise in the dynamics of the intracavity field and can also be viewed as a manifestation of quantum measurement backaction corresponding to the continuous observation of the transmitted light field. We solve the Heisenberg-Langevin equations for linearized fluctuations about the atomic and optical meanfields and examine how this influences the signal-to-noise ratio of a measurement of external forces using this system. In particular, we investigate the effects of changing the number of atoms, the intracavity lattice depth, and the atom-light coupling strength, and show how resonances between the Bloch oscillation dynamics and the quasiparticle spectrum have a strong influence on the signal-to-noise ratio as well as heating effects. One of the hurdles we overcome along the way is the proper treatment of fluctuations about time-dependent meanfields in the context of cold atom cavity-QED.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Un conducteur est bien caractérisé par sa conductance donnée par la formule de Landauer. Toutefois, le bruit contient davantage d'informations. Il mesure les fluctuations temporelles du courant autour de sa valeur moyenne. De plus, le signe des corrélations croisées est lié à la statistique des porteurs de charge. Cette thèse aborde deux principaux thèmes à savoir le transport dans les liquides de Luttinger et dans les structures hybrides. Dans la première partie, nous commençons par donner une vision détaillée des liquides de Luttinger et des systèmes qu'ils modélisent. Nous parlons également du formalisme de Keldysh permettant de traiter des problèmes hors équilibre. Puis, nous rentrons dans le vif du sujet en étudiant l'effet de la largeur d'un contact ponctuel quantique sur le courant de rétrodiffusion entre les deux états de bords de l'effet Hall quantique. L'augmentation de la largeur du contact ponctuel quantique entraîne une forte diminution du courant de rétrodiffusion. Dans un autre chapitre, nous développons une technique permettant l'utilisation d'un circuit RLC couplé inductivement au circuit mésoscopique pour détecter les corrélations de courant en régime photo-assisté. La mesure de ces corrélations s'effectue à travers la charge aux bornes du condensateur. Dans une deuxième partie, nous consacrons notre étude au transport non-local dans les structures hybrides supraconductrices. L'étude de la réflexion d'Andreev croisée y est détaillée. Finalement, nous étudions une structure en double point quantique reliée à deux électrodes en métal normal et une supraconductrice. Nous mettons en avant la séparation des paires de Cooper en mesurant simultanément les courants de branchement et les corrélations croisées. Nous démontrons que dans le régime antisymétrique, c'est-à-dire lorsque les deux points quantiques ont des niveaux d'énergie opposés par rapport au potentiel chimique du supraconducteur, la réflexion d'Andreev croisée est optimisée. / The conductance is the most natural quantity to characterize a quantum conductor. It is given by the Landauer Formula. However, noise contains more information. It measures the current fluctuations around its average value. Moreover, the sign of the crossed correlations is related to the statistics of carriers. This thesis broaches two main topics which are the transport in the quantum Hall effect and in hybrid circuits.First, we start by introducing the Luttinger liquid and the systems which are modelized by them. Also, we discuss the Keldysh formalism in order to treat nonequilibrium problems. Then, we study the effect of the width of a quantum point contact on the backscattering current between two edge states of the quantum Hall effect. By increasing the width of the quantum point contact, we show that the backscattering current is strongly reduced. In another chapter, we develop a technique to use a RLC circuit inductively coupled to a mesoscopic circuit in order to measure the current correlations in the photo-assisted regime. The measurement of these correlations is performed through the charge on the capacitor plates.Secondly, we present the non-local transport in hybrid structures. The mechanism of Crossed Andreev Reflection is explained. Finally, we study a double quantum dot connected to two normal leads and a superconducting lead. We introduce the separation of the Cooper pair by measuring together the branching currents and the crossed correlations. We demonstrate that in the anti-symmetric regime (the energy level of the two quantum dots have opposite values with respect to the chemical potential of the superconducting lead), crossed Andreev reflection is optimized.

Quantum mechanics is the physics of the very small. Quantum computers are devices that utilize the power of quantum mechanics for their computational primitives. Associated to each quantum system is an abstract space known as the Hilbert space. A subspace of the Hilbert space is known as a quantum code. Quantum codes allow to protect the computational state of a quantum computer against decoherence errors. The well-known classes of quantum codes are stabilizer or additive codes, non-additive codes and Clifford codes. This thesis aims at demonstrating a general approach to the construction of the various classes of quantum codes. The framework utilized is the Fourier transform over finite groups. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to basic quantum mechanics, quantum computation and quantum noise. It lays the foundation for an understanding of quantum error correction theory in the next chapter. The second chapter introduces the basic theory behind quantum error correction. Also, the various classes and constructions of active quantum error-control codes are introduced. The third chapter introduces the Fourier transform over finite groups, and shows how it may be used to construct all the known classes of quantum codes, as well as a class of quantum codes as yet unpublished in the literature. The transform domain approach was originally introduced in (Arvind et al., 2002). In that paper, not all the classes of quantum codes were introduced. We elaborate on this work to introduce the other classes of quantum codes, along with a new class of codes, codes from idempotents in the transform domain. The fourth chapter details the computer programs that were used to generate and test for the various code classes. Code was written in the GAP (Groups, Algorithms, Programming) computer algebra package. The fifth and final chapter concludes, with possible directions for future work. References cited in the thesis are attached at the end of the thesis.

Early detection is vital to successfully treating breast cancer, and mammography screening is the most efficient and wide-spread method to reach this goal. Imaging low-contrast targets, while minimizing the radiation exposure to a large population is, however, a major challenge. Optimizing the image quality per unit radiation dose is therefore essential. In this thesis, two optimization schemes with respect to x-ray photon energy have been investigated: filtering the incident spectrum with refractive x-ray optics (spectral shaping), and utilizing the transmitted spectrum with energy-resolved photon-counting detectors (spectral imaging). Two types of x-ray lenses were experimentally characterized, and modeled using ray tracing, field propagation, and geometrical optics. Spectral shaping reduced dose approximately 20% compared to an absorption-filtered reference system with the same signal-to-noise ratio, scan time, and spatial resolution. In addition, a focusing pre-object collimator based on the same type of optics reduced divergence of the radiation and improved photon economy by about 50%. A photon-counting silicon detector was investigated in terms of energy resolution and its feasibility for spectral imaging. Contrast-enhanced tumor imaging with a system based on the detector was characterized and optimized with a model that took anatomical noise into account. Improvement in an ideal-observer detectability index by a factor of 2 to 8 over that obtained by conventional absorption imaging was found for different levels of anatomical noise and breast density. Increased conspicuity was confirmed by experiment. Further, the model was extended to include imaging of unenhanced lesions. Detectability of microcalcifications increased no more than a few percent, whereas the ability to detect large tumors might improve on the order of 50% despite the low attenuation difference between glandular and cancerous tissue. It is clear that inclusion of anatomical noise and imaging task in spectral optimization may yield completely different results than an analysis based solely on quantum noise. / QC 20100714