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The recent Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations of type III radio bursts show that the effects of finite background magnetic field can be an important factor in the interpretation of data. In the present paper, the effects of background magnetic field on the plasma emission process, which is believed to be the main emission mechanism for solar coronal and interplanetary type III radio bursts, are investigated by means of the particle-in-cell simulation method. The effects of ambient magnetic field are systematically surveyed by varying the ratio of plasma frequency to electron gyro-frequency. The present study shows that for a sufficiently strong ambient magnetic field, the wave-particle interaction processes lead to a highly field-aligned longitudinal mode excitation and anisotropic electron velocity distribution function, accompanied by a significantly enhanced plasma emission at the second harmonic plasma frequency. For such a case, the polarization of the harmonic emission is almost entirely in the sense of extraordinary mode. On the other hand, for moderate strengths of the ambient magnetic field, the interpretation of the simulation result is less than clear. The underlying nonlinear mode coupling processes indicate that to properly understand and interpret the simulation results require sophisticated analyses involving interactions among magnetized plasma normal modes including the two transverse modes of the magneto-active plasma, namely, extraordinary and ordinary modes, as well as electron-cyclotron-whistler, plasma oscillation, and upper-hybrid modes. At present, a nonlinear theory suitable for quantitatively analyzing such complex mode-coupling processes in magnetized plasmas is incomplete, which calls for further theoretical research, but the present simulation results could provide a guide for future theoretical efforts., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. This paper will be submitted to Astrophysical Journal(ApJ)

Point defects in crystals provide important building blocks for quantum applications. To initialize, control, and read-out their quantum states, an efficient optical interface for addressing defects with photons is required. However, conventional confocal fluorescence microscopy with high refractive index crystals has limited photon collection efficiency and spatial resolution. Here, we demonstrate high resolution, high contrast imaging for defects qubits using microsphere-assisted confocal microscopy. A microsphere provides an excellent optical interface for point defects with a magnified virtual image that improves spatial resolution up to ~${\lambda}$/5 as well as an optical signal-to-noise ratio by four times. These features enable individual optical addressing of single photons and single spins of spatially-unresolved defects in conventional confocal microscopy with improved signal contrast. The combined optical tweezers show the possibility of positioning or scanning the microspheres for deterministic coupling and wide-field imaging of defects. The approach does not require any complicated fabrication and additional optical system but uses simple micro-optics off-the-shelf. From these distinctive advantages of the microspheres, our approach can provide an efficient way for imaging and addressing closely-spaced defects with higher resolution and sensitivity., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

TXS 0506+056 is a blazar that has been recently identified as the counterpart of the neutrino event IceCube-170922A. Understanding blazar type of TXS 0506+056 is important to constrain the neutrino emission mechanism, but the blazar nature of TXS 0506+056 is still uncertain. As an attempt to understand the nature of TXS 0506+056, we report the medium-band observation results of TXS 0506+056, covering the wavelength range of 0.575 to 1.025 $\mu$m. The use of the medium-band filters allow us to examine if there were any significant changes in its spectral shapes over the course of one month and give a better constraint on the peak frequency of synchrotron radiation with quasi-simultaneous datasets. The peak frequency is found to be $10^{14.28}$ Hz, and our analysis shows that TXS 0506+056 is not an outlier from the blazar sequence. As a way to determine the blazar type, we also analyzed if TXS 0506+056 is bluer-when-brighter (BL Lac type and some flat spectrum radio quasars, FSRQs) or redder-when-brighter (found only in some FSRQs). Even though we detect no significant variability in the spectral shape larger than observational error during our medium-band observation period, the comparison with a dataset taken at 2012 shows a possible redder-when-brighter behavior of FSRQs. Our results demonstrate that medium-band observations with small to moderate-sized telescopes can be an effective way to trace the spectral evolution of transients such as TXS 0506+056., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Single-photon emitting devices have been identified as an important building block for applications in quantum information and quantum communication. They allow to transduce and collect quantum information over a long distance via photons as so called flying qubits. In addition, substrates like silicon carbide provides an excellent material platform for electronic devices. In this work we combine these two features and show that one can drive single photon emitters within a silicon carbide p-i-n-diode. To achieve this, we specifically designed a lateral oriented diode. We find a variety of new color centers emitting non-classical lights in VIS and NIR range. One type of emitter can be electrically excited, demonstrating that silicon carbide can act as an ideal platform for electrically controllable single photon sources.

Different nonlocal quantum correlations of entanglement, steering and Bell nonlocality are defined with the help of local hidden state (LHS) and local hidden variable (LHV) models. Considering their unique roles in quantum information processing, it is of importance to understand the individual nonlocal quantum correlation as well as their relationship. Here, we investigate the effects of amplitude damping decoherence on different nonlocal quantum correlations. In particular, we have theoretically and experimentally shown that the entanglement sudden death phenomenon is distinct from those of steering and Bell nonlocality. In our scenario, we found that all the initial states present sudden death of steering and Bell nonlocality, while only some of the states show entanglement sudden death. These results suggest that the environmental effect can be different for different nonlocal quantum correlations, and thus, it provides distinct operational interpretations of different quantum correlations., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures including appendix

Colour centres with long-lived spins are established platforms for quantum sensing and quantum information applications. Colour centres exist in different charge states, each of them with distinct optical and spin properties. Application to quantum technology requires the capability to access and stabilize charge states for each specific task. Here, we investigate charge state manipulation of individual silicon vacancies in silicon carbide, a system which has recently shown a unique combination of long spin coherence time and ultrastable spin-selective optical transitions. In particular, we demonstrate charge state switching through the bias applied to the colour centre in an integrated silicon carbide opto-electronic device. We show that the electronic environment defined by the doping profile and the distribution of other defects in the device plays a key role for charge state control. Our experimental results and numerical modeling evidence that control of these complex interactions can, under certain conditions, enhance the photon emission rate. These findings open the way for deterministic control over the charge state of spin-active colour centres for quantum technology and provide novel techniques for monitoring doping profiles and voltage sensing in microscopic devices.

Quantum technology relies on proper hardware, enabling coherent quantum state control as well as efficient quantum state readout. In this regard, wide-bandgap semiconductors are an emerging material platform with scalable wafer fabrication methods, hosting several promising spin-active point defects. Conventional readout protocols for such defect spins rely on fluorescence detection and are limited by a low photon collection efficiency. Here, we demonstrate a photo-electrical detection technique for electron spins of silicon vacancy ensembles in the 4H polytype of silicon carbide (SiC). Further, we show coherent spin state control, proving that this electrical readout technique enables detection of coherent spin motion. Our readout works at ambient conditions, while other electrical readout approaches are often limited to low temperatures or high magnetic fields. Considering the excellent maturity of SiC electronics with the outstanding coherence properties of SiC defects the approach presented here holds promises for scalability of future SiC quantum devices.

Intensive Monitoring Survey of Nearby Galaxies (IMSNG) is a high cadence observation program monitoring nearby galaxies with high probabilities of hosting supernovae (SNe). IMSNG aims to constrain the SN explosion mechanism by inferring sizes of SN progenitor systems through the detection of the shock-heated emission that lasts less than a few days after the SN explosion. To catch the signal, IMSNG utilizes a network of 0.5-m to 1-m class telescopes around the world and monitors the images of 60 nearby galaxies at distances D < 50 Mpc to a cadence as short as a few hours. The target galaxies are bright in near-ultraviolet (NUV) with M_NUV < -18.4 AB mag and have high probabilities of hosting SNe (0.06 SN/yr per galaxy). With this strategy, we expect to detect the early light curves of 3.4 SNe per year to a depth of R ~ 19.5 mag, enabling us to detect the shock-heated emission from a progenitor star with a radius as small as 0.1 R_sun. The accumulated data will be also useful for studying faint features around the target galaxies and other science projects. So far, 18 SNe have occurred in our target fields (16 in IMSNG galaxies) over 5 years, confirming our SN rate estimate of 0.06 SN/yr per galaxy., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Journal of Korean Astronomical Society, February 2019 issue

The plasma emission process, which is the mechanism for solar type II and type III radio bursts phenomena, is studied by means of particle-in-cell and weak turbulence simulation methods. By plasma emission, it is meant as a loose description of a series of processes, starting from the solar flare associated electron beam exciting Langmuir and ion-acoustic turbulence, and subsequent partial conversion of beam energy into the radiation energy by nonlinear processes. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is rigorous but the method is computationally intense, and it is difficult to diagnose the results. Numerical solution of equations of weak turbulence (WT) theory, termed WT simulation, on the other hand, is efficient and naturally lends itself to diagnostics since various terms in the equation can be turned on or off. Nevertheless, WT theory is based upon a number of assumptions. It is, therefore, desirable to compare the two methods, which is carried out for the first time in the present paper with numerical solutions of the complete set of equations of the WT theory and with two-dimensional electromagnetic PIC simulation. Upon making quantitative comparisons it is found that WT theory is largely valid, although some discrepancies are also found. The present study also indicates that it requires large computational resources in order to accurately simulate the radiation emission processes, especially for low electron beam speeds. Findings from the present paper thus imply that both methods may be useful for the study of solar radio emissions as they are complementary., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures

Scalable spin-to-photon interfaces require quantum emitters with strong optical transition dipole moment and low coupling to phonons and stray electric fields. It is known that particularly for coupling to stray electric fields, these conditions can be simultaneously satisfied for emitters that show inversion symmetry. Here, we show that inversion symmetry is not a prerequisite criterion for a spectrally stable quantum emitter. We find that identical electron density in ground and excited states can eliminate the coupling to the stray electric fields. Further, a strong optical transition dipole moment is achieved in systems with altering sign of the ground and excited wavefunctions. We use density functional perturbation theory to investigate an optical center that lacks of inversion symmetry. Our results show that this system close to ideally satisfies the criteria for an ideal quantum emitter. Our study opens a novel rationale in seeking promising materials and point defects towards the realisation of robust spin-to-photon interfaces., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables

Optically interfaced spins in the solid promise scalable quantum networks. Robust and reliable optical properties have so far been restricted to systems with inversion symmetry. Here, we release this stringent constraint by demonstrating outstanding optical and spin properties of single silicon vacancy centres in silicon carbide. Despite the lack of inversion symmetry, the system's particular wave function symmetry decouples its optical properties from magnetic and electric fields, as well as from local strain. This provides a high-fidelity spin-to-photon interface with exceptionally stable and narrow optical transitions, low inhomogeneous broadening, and a large fraction of resonantly emitted photons. Further, the weak spin-phonon coupling results in electron spin coherence times comparable with nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. This allows us to demonstrate coherent hyperfine coupling to single nuclear spins, which can be exploited as qubit memories. Our findings promise quantum network applications using integrated semiconductor-based spin-to-photon interfaces., Comment: Main text: 16 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary information: 16 pages, 4 figures

We present an optimized scheme for nanoscale measurements of temperature in a complex environment using the nitrogen-vacancy center in nanodiamonds. To this end we combine a Ramsey measurement utilized to temperature determination with advanced optimal control theory. We test our new design on single nitrogen-vacancy centers in bulk diamond and fixed nanodiamonds, achieving better readout signal than with common soft or hard microwave control pulses. We demonstrate temperature readout using rotating nanodiamonds in an agarose matrix. Our method opens the way to measure temperature fluctuations in complex biological environment. The used principle however, is universal and not restricted to temperature sensing., Comment: 29 pages

Recent advances in quantitative phase imaging (QPI) and artificial intelligence (AI) have opened up the possibility of an exciting frontier. The fast and label-free nature of QPI enables the rapid generation of large-scale and uniform-quality imaging data in two, three, and four dimensions. Subsequently, the AI-assisted interrogation of QPI data using data-driven machine learning techniques results in a variety of biomedical applications. Also, machine learning enhances QPI itself. Herein, we review the synergy between QPI and machine learning with a particular focus on deep learning. Further, we provide practical guidelines and perspectives for further development.

Bell state measurement (BSM) plays crucial roles in photonic quantum information processing. The standard linear optical BSM is based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interference where two photons meet and interfere at a beamsplitter (BS). However, a generalized two-photon interference is not based on photon-photon interaction, but interference between two-photon probability amplitudes. Therefore, it might be possible to implement BSM without interfering photons at a BS. Here, we investigate a linear optical BSM scheme which does not require two photon overlapping at a BS. By unleashing the two photon coexistence condition, it can be symmetrically divided into two parties. The symmetrically dividable property suggests informationally symmetrical BSM between remote parties without a third party. We also present that our BSM scheme can be used for Bell state preparation between remote parties without a third party. Since our BSM scheme can be easily extended to multiple photons, it can be useful for various quantum communication applications.

Nonlocal quantum correlation is at the heart of bizarre nature of quantum physics. While there are various classes of nonlocal quantum correlation, steerability of a quantum state by local measurements provides unique operational features. Here, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the hidden quantum steerability. In particular, we find that there are initially unsteerable states which can reveal the steerability by using local filters on individual quantum systems. It is remarkable that a certain set of local filters are more effective on revealing steerability than Bell nonlocality whereas there exists another set of filters that is more effective on revealing Bell nonlocality than steerability. Finally, we present a counter-intuitive result that mixed states originating from non-maximally pure entangled states can have hidden steerability while the mixed state from a maximally pure entangled state fails to show steerability., Comment: The manuscript has been updated to the published version

The controlled generation and manipulation of atom-like defects in solids has a wide range of applications in quantum technology. Although various defect centres have displayed promise as either quantum sensors, single photon emitters or light-matter interfaces, the search for an ideal defect with multi-functional ability remains open. In this spirit, we investigate here the optical and spin properties of the V1 defect centre, one of the silicon vacancy defects in the 4H polytype of silicon carbide (SiC). The V1 centre in 4H-SiC features two well-distinguishable sharp optical transitions and a unique S=3/2 electronic spin, which holds promise to implement a robust spin-photon interface. Here, we investigate the V1 defect at low temperatures using optical excitation and magnetic resonance techniques. The measurements, which are performed on ensemble, as well as on single centres, prove that this centre combines coherent optical emission, with up to 40% of the radiation emitted into the zero-phonon line (ZPL), a strong optical spin signal and long spin coherence time. These results single out the V1 defect in SiC as a promising system for spin-based quantum technologies.

Reference-Frame-Independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) is known to be robust against slowly varying reference frames. However, other QKD protocols such as BB84 can also provide secrete keys if the speed of the relative motion of the reference frames is slow enough. While there has been a few studies to quantify the speed of the relative motion of the reference frames in RFI- QKD, it is not yet clear if RFI-QKD provides better performance than other QKD protocols under this condition. Here, we analyze and compare the security of RFI-QKD and BB84 protocol in the presence of the relative motion of the reference frames. In order to compare their security in real world implementation, we also consider the QKD protocols with decoy state method. Our analysis shows that RFI-QKD provides more robustness than BB84 protocol against the relative motion of the reference frames., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, comments and suggestions are welcome

Silicon carbide is a promising platform for single photon sources, quantum bits (qubits) and nanoscale sensors based on individual color centers. Towards this goal, we develop a scalable array of nanopillars incorporating single silicon vacancy centers in 4H-SiC, readily available for efficient interfacing with free-space objective and lensed-fibers. A commercially obtained substrate is irradiated with 2 MeV electron beams to create vacancies. Subsequent lithographic process forms 800 nm tall nanopillars with 400-1,400 nm diameters. We obtain high collection efficiency, up to 22 kcounts/s optical saturation rates from a single silicon vacancy center, while preserving the single photon emission and the optically induced electron-spin polarization properties. Our study demonstrates silicon carbide as a readily available platform for scalable quantum photonics architecture relying on single photon sources and qubits., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

Point defects in solids promise precise measurements of various quantities. Especially magnetic field sensing using the spin of point defects has been of great interest recently. When optical readout of spin states is used, point defects achieve optical magnetic imaging with high spatial resolution at ambient conditions. Here, we demonstrate that genuine optical vector magnetometry can be realized using the silicon vacancy in SiC, which has an uncommon S=3/2 spin. To this end, we develop and experimentally test sensing protocols based on a reference field approach combined with multi frequency spin excitation. Our works suggest that the silicon vacancy in an industry-friendly platform, SiC, has potential for various magnetometry applications at ambient conditions.

Electronic spin systems with S>1/2 provide an efficient method for DC vector magnetometry, since the conventional electron spin resonance spectra at a given magnetic field reflect not only the field strength but also orientation in the presence of strong spin-spin interactions. S=1 spins, e.g. the nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, have been intensively investigated for such a purpose. In this report, we compare S=1 and S=3/2 spins, and discuss how one can apply general principles for the use of high spin systems as a vector magnetometer to the S=3/2 spin systems. We find analytical solutions which allow a reconstruction of the magnetic field strength and polar angle using the observed resonance transitions if an uniaxial symmetry exists for the spin-spin interaction as in S=1 systems. We also find that an ambiguity of determining the field parameters may arise due to the unique properties of S=3/2 systems, and present solutions for it utilizing additional transitions in the low-field region. The electronic spins of the silicon vacancy in silicon carbide will be introduced as a model for the S=3/2 DC vector magnetometer and the practical usage of it, including the magic-angle spinning type method, will be presented too.

Narrow-band filtering of light is widely used in optical spectroscopy. Atomic filters, which rely on the Faraday effect, allow for GHz-wide transmission spectra, which are intrinsically matched to an atomic transition. We present an experimental realization and a theoretical study of a Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF) based on cesium and its D$_1$-line-transition ($6^2S_{1/2}\rightarrow6^2P_{1/2}$) around 894nm. We also present the prospects and visions for combining this filter with the single photon emission of a single quantum dot (QD), which matches with the atomic transition., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures