Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1004.4118

DC-powered Fe3+:sapphire Maser and its Sensitivity to Ultraviolet Light

Mark Oxborrow·Pierre-Yves Bourgeois·Yann Kersalé·Vincent Giordano
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The zero-field Fe3+:sapphire whispering-gallery-mode maser oscillator exhibits several alluring features: Its output is many orders of magnitude brighter than that of an active hydrogen maser and thus far less degraded by spontaneous-emission (Schawlow-Townes) and/or receiving-amplifier noise. Its oscillator loop is confined to a piece of mono-crystalline rock bolted into a metal can. Its quiet amplification combined with high resonator Q provide the ingredients for exceptionally low phase noise. We here concentrate on novelties addressing the fundamental conundrums and technical challenges that impede progress. (1) Roasting: The "mase-ability" of sapphire depends significantly on the chemical conditions under which it is grown and heat-treated. We provide some fresh details and nuances here. (2) Simplification: This paper obviates the need for a Ka-band synthesizer: it describes how a 31.3 GHz loop oscillator, operating on the preferred WG pump mode, incorporating Pound locking, was built from low-cost components. (3) "Dark Matter": A Siegman-level analysis of the experimental data determines the substitutional concentration of Fe3+ in HEMEX to be less than a part per billion prior to roasting and up to a few hundred ppb afterwards. Chemical assays, using different techniques (incl. glow discharge mass spectra spectroscopy and neutron activation analysis) consistently indicate, however, that HEMEX contains iron at concentrations of a few parts per million. Drawing from several forgotten-about/under-appreciated papers, this substantial discrepancy is addressed. (4) Excitons: Towards providing a new means of controlling the Fe3+:sapph. system, a cryogenic sapphire ring was illuminated, whilst masing, with UV light at wavelengths corresponding to known electronic and charge-transfer (thus valence-altering) transitions. Preliminary experiments are reported.

Explore related subjects

quant-phcond-mat.otherphysics.ins-det

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Mark Oxborrow, Pierre-Yves Bourgeois, Yann Kersalé, Vincent Giordano. 2010-04-26. DC-powered Fe3+:sapphire Maser and its Sensitivity to Ultraviolet Light. https://arxiv.org/abs/1004.4118

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Designing a Hybrid Digital / Analog Quantum Physics Emulator as Open Hardware

Existing approaches to emulating quantum computing algorithms using classical electronic hardware are limited by exponential scaling limitations in space, such as circuit size, or time, such as runtime or bandwidth. We introduce a scheme for representing quantum information using analog signals that lessens the bandwidth limitation problem (in certain regimes) seen in existing approaches [1, 2] by taking full advantage of the ability of analog signals to encode information using RMS voltage as well as frequency and phase. We introduce the mathematical framework for this representation, which separates the information relevant for measurement in the computational basis from information that is not relevant to it. We introduce circuits that take advantage of this separation of concerns to achieve simplifications, for working with quantum information in this representation. We argue that it is comparatively very inexpensive (as low as ~$5.00 / qubit) to outmatch the computing capabilities of existing FPGA based emulators [3], though scaling beyond tens of qubits is still impractical due to constraints of analog hardware module precision. However, our approach opens the door to a new avenue by which classical emulators can hope to improve: by improving on analog electronic circuit performance.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Measuring a Quantum Measure Exceeding Unity

The history based formalism known as Quantum Measure Theory (QMT) generalizes the concept of probability-measure so as to incorporate quantum interference. The resulting quantum measure $μ$ is defined for arbitrary events (sets of histories), not just for observables at a fixed moment of time. Thanks to interference effects, $μ$ can exceed unity, exhibiting its non-classical nature in a particularly striking manner. Here, in an optical experiment, we illustrate an ancilla based filtering scheme that gives operational meaning to the quantum measure. For a specific photonic event $E$, we report a measured value of $μ(E)=1.172^{+0.013}_{-0.019}$, which within errors agrees with the theoretical value of $5/4$, while exceeding the maximum value permissible for a classical probability (namely $1$) by $13.32$ upper or $8.89$ lower percentile widths. The directly observed quantity is an ordinary detector probability $p_D\le 1$ (or, with laser light, an equivalent power ratio); the value $μ(E)>1$ is inferred via the calibrated relation $μ(E)=2p_D$ for our filter. If an unconventional theoretical concept is to play a role in meeting the foundational challenges of quantum theory, it seems important to bring it into contact with experiment as much as possible. Our experiment does this for the quantum measure.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Complexity Theory for Quantum Promise Problems

We begin by establishing structural results for several fundamental quantum complexity classes: p/mBQP, p/mQ(C)MA, $\text{p/mQSZK}_{\text{hv}}$, p/mQIP, p/mBQP/qpoly, p/mBQP/poly, and p/mPSPACE. This includes identifying complete problems, as well as proving containment and separation results among these classes. Here, p/mC denotes the corresponding quantum promise complexity class with pure (p) or mixed (m) quantum input states for any classical complexity class C. Surprisingly, our findings uncover relationships that diverge from their classical analogues -- specifically, we show unconditionally that p/mQIP$\neq$p/mPSPACE and p/mBQP/qpoly$\neq$p/mBQP/poly. This starkly contrasts the classical setting, where QIP$=$PSPACE and separations such as BQP/qpoly$\neq$BQP/poly are only known relative to oracles. More interestingly, these separation results further connected to the topic of for both quantum property testing and unitary synthesis. This new framework has numerous applications in quantum cryptography, particularly in the contexts of Microcrypt. We provide a better characterization of its primitives; for example, we show that OWSG and PRS can be broken by a p/mQCMA oracle, leading to a natural quantum analogue of Impagliazzo's five worlds by substituting the classical complexity classes in Pessiland, Heuristica, and Algorithmica with mBQP and mQCMA. Moreover, we establish the relativization barrier for proving the existence of EFI, noting that no such barrier currently exists within traditional complexity theory.

quant-ph↗