Biomedical subjects

M O Scully

Publications and source records attributed to M O Scully.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Raman and Thompson regimes of amplification in a wiggler with noncollinear laser and electron beams.

The collective and single-electron amplification regimes of a noncollinear free-electron laser (FEL) are studied within the framework of dispersion equations. In the limit of small-signal gain the growth rates and the conditions for self-amplified excitations are found for the collective (Raman) and single-electron (Thompson) regimes. The Raman regime is shown to be preferable for the coherent spontaneous second harmonic generation by ultrarelativistic electron beams. Raman excitations in a noncollinear FEL, e.g., in an FEL without inversion, are favored by the noncollinear geometry of the electron and the laser beams, and by the relativity of the beam electrons.

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PubMed2006

Quantum lithography with classical light.

We show how to achieve subwavelength diffraction and imaging with classical light, previously thought to require quantum fields. By correlating wave vector and frequency in a narrow band, multiphoton detection process that uses Doppleron-type resonances, we show how to achieve arbitrary focal and image plane patterning with classical laser light at submultiples of the Rayleigh limit, with high efficiency, visibility, and spatial coherence. A frequency-selective measurement process thus allows one to simulate, semiclassically, the path-number correlations that distinguish a quantum entangled field.

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PubMed2006

All-ultraviolet time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.

We report all-UV coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) in calcite with 250-280 nm pump, Stokes, probe, and anti-Stokes light. UV CARS efficiency is approximately 7x higher than for comparable scattering in the visible, 480-540 nm. Time-resolved UV CARS reveals lengthening of the dephasing time of 1086 cm(-1) CO3(2-) internal vibrations from 4 to 7 ps with increasing vibrational excitation, consistent with a phonon depletion model.

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PubMed2005

Electromagnetically induced magnetochiral anisotropy in a resonant medium.

Chirality has been extensively studied for well over a century, and its potential applications range from optics to chemistry, medicine, and biology. Ingenious experiments have been designed to measure this naturally small effect. Here we discuss the possibility of producing a medium having a large chiral effect by using the ideas of coherent control. The coherent fields resonant with appropriate transitions in atomic or molecular systems can be used to manipulate the optical properties of a medium. We demonstrate experimentally very large magnetochiral anisotropy by using electromagnetic fields in atomic Rb vapors.

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PubMed2005

Gain-swept superradiance applied to the stand-off detection of trace impurities in the atmosphere.

We show that gain-swept superradiance can be used to detect low (parts per million) concentrations of various gases at distances on the order of kilometers, which is done by using pulse timing to create small regions of gain at positions that sweep toward a detector. The technique is far more sensitive than previous methods such as light detection and ranging or differential absorption light detection and ranging.

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PubMed2003

Fast optical switching via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage.

We demonstrate a new approach to fast optical switching with a technique based on stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in which a laser pulse switches the probe field on and off via another coupling pulse. This new kind of optical switching is not limited by the decay rate of an excited state and can operate in the subnanosecond time domain. The experimental observation in Rb atomic vapor is in good agreement with numerical simulations.

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PubMed2003

Magneto-optical spectroscopy with entangled photons.

We suggest a way in which entangled photons produced by a type II downconverter can be used for magneto-optical spectroscopy with district advantages. Both collinear and noncollinear geometries can be used. We present quantum mechanical results for the coincidence detection of different polarizations at the output.

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PubMed2002

Four-wave mixing of optical and microwave fields.

We demonstrate degenerate four-wave mixing involving both optical and microwave fields. This four-wave mixing process, with fields that differ in frequency by 5 orders of magnitude, results from stimulated Raman scattering of the optical field from an atomic ground-state Zeeman coherence in warm rubidium vapor, which is induced and maintained by the microwave field.

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PubMed2002

FAST CARS: engineering a laser spectroscopic technique for rapid identification of bacterial spores.

Airborne contaminants, e.g., bacterial spores, are usually analyzed by time-consuming microscopic, chemical, and biological assays. Current research into real-time laser spectroscopic detectors of such contaminants is based on e.g., resonance fluorescence. The present approach derives from recent experiments in which atoms and molecules are prepared by one (or more) coherent laser(s) and probed by another set of lasers. However, generating and using maximally coherent oscillation in macromolecules having an enormous number of degrees of freedom is challenging. In particular, the short dephasing times and rapid internal conversion rates are major obstacles. However, adiabatic fast passage techniques and the ability to generate combs of phase-coherent femtosecond pulses provide tools for the generation and utilization of maximal quantum coherence in large molecules and biopolymers. We call this technique FAST CARS (femtosecond adaptive spectroscopic techniques for coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy), and the present article proposes and analyses ways in which it could be used to rapidly identify preselected molecules in real time.

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PubMed2002

Transporting and time reversing light via atomic coherence.

We study basic issues central to the storage of quantum information in a coherently prepared atomic medium such as the role of adiabaticity. We also propose and demonstrate transporting, multiplexing, and time reversing of stored light.

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PubMed2001

Extracting work from a single thermal bath via quantum negentropy.

Classical heat engines produce work by operating between a high temperature energy source and a low temperature entropy sink. The present quantum heat engine has no cooler reservoir acting as a sink of entropy but has instead an internal reservoir of negentropy which allows extraction of work from one thermal bath. The process is attended by constantly increasing entropy and does not violate the second law of thermodynamics.

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PubMed2001

Radiation trapping in coherent media.

We show that the effective decay rate of Zeeman coherence, generated in a (87)Rb vapor by linearly polarized laser light, increases significantly with the atomic density. We explain this phenomenon as the result of radiation trapping. Our study shows that radiation trapping must be taken into account to fully understand many electromagnetically induced transparency experiments with optically thick media.

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PubMed2001

Quantum optical implementation of Grover's algorithm.

We present a scheme for a quantum optical implementation of Grover's algorithm based on resonant atomic interactions with classical fields and dispersive couplings with quantized cavity fields. The proposed scheme depends on preparation of entangled states and is within current state-of-the-art technology.

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PubMed2001

Broadband optical gain via interference in the free electron laser: principles and proposed realizations.

We propose experimentally simplified schemes of an optically dispersive interface region between two coupled free electron lasers (FELs), aimed at achieving a much broader gain bandwidth than in a conventional FEL or a conventional optical klystron composed of two separated FELs. The proposed schemes can universally enhance the gain of FELs, regardless of their design, when operated in the short pulsed regime.

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PubMed2001

Inhibition of decoherence due to decay in a continuum.

We propose a scheme for slowing down decay into a continuum. We make use of a sequence of ultrashort 2pi pulses applied on an auxiliary transition of the system so that there is a destructive interference between the two transition amplitudes--one before the application of the pulse and the other after the application of the pulse. We give explicit results for a structured continuum. Our scheme can also inhibit unwanted transitions.

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PubMed2001

Anomalous stimulated Brillouin scattering via ultraslow light.

We study stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in an ultradispersive coherent medium, and show that the properties of SBS change drastically when the group velocity of light in the material approaches or becomes less than the speed of sound. In particular, forward SBS not allowed in a dispersionless bulk medium takes place in the coherent medium.

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PubMed2001

Stopping light via hot atoms.

We prove that it is possible to freeze a light pulse (i.e., to bring it to a full stop) or even to make its group velocity negative in a coherently driven Doppler broadened atomic medium via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). This remarkable phenomenon of the ultraslow EIT polariton is based on the spatial dispersion of the refraction index n(omega,k), i.e., its wave number dependence, which is due to atomic motion and provides a negative contribution to the group velocity. This is related to, but qualitatively different from, the recently observed light slowing caused by large temporal (frequency) dispersion.

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PubMed2000

Using slow light to enhance acousto-optical effects: application to squeezed light.

We propose a technique for achieving phase matching in Brillouin scattering in a dielectric fiber doped by three-level Lambda-type ions. This can lead to a dramatic increase of efficiency of ponderomotive nonlinear interaction between the electromagnetic waves and holds promise for applications in quantum optics such as squeezing and quantum nondemolition measurements.

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