Development of a Rapid Point-of-Use DNA Test for the Screening of Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® Soybean in Seed Samples.

Testing for the presence of genetically modified material in seed samples is of critical importance for all stakeholders in the agricultural industry, including growers, seed manufacturers, and regulatory bodies. While rapid antibody-based testing for the transgenic protein has fulfilled this need in the past, the introduction of new variants of a given transgene demands new diagnostic regimen that allows distinguishing different traits at the nucleic acid level. Although such molecular tests can be performed by PCR in the laboratory, their requirement for expensive equipment and sophisticated operation have prevented its uptake in point-of-use applications.

Entanglement between light and an optical atomic excitation.

The generation, distribution and control of entanglement across quantum networks is one of the main goals of quantum information science. In previous studies, hyperfine ground states of single atoms or atomic ensembles have been entangled with spontaneously emitted light. The probabilistic character of the spontaneous emission process leads to long entanglement generation times, limiting realized network implementations to just two nodes.

Emergence of spatial spin-wave correlations in a cold atomic gas.

Rydberg spin-waves are optically excited in a quasi-one-dimensional atomic sample of Rb atoms. Pairwise spin-wave correlations are observed by a spatially selective transfer of the quantum state onto a light field and photoelectric correlation measurements of the light. The correlations are interpreted in terms of the dephasing of multiply excited spin-waves by long-range Rydberg interactions.

Strongly interacting Rydberg excitations of a cold atomic gas.

Highly excited Rydberg atoms have many exaggerated properties. In particular, the interaction strength between such atoms can be varied over an enormous range. In a mesoscopic ensemble, such strong, long-range interactions can be used for fast preparation of desired many-particle states.

Dephasing of multiparticle Rydberg excitations for fast entanglement generation.

An approach to fast entanglement generation based on Rydberg dephasing of collective excitations (spin waves) in large, optically thick atomic ensembles is proposed. Long-range 1/r(3) atomic interactions are induced by microwave mixing of opposite-parity Rydberg states. The required long coherence times are achieved via four-photon excitation and readout of long wavelength spin waves.