55 research outputs found
Spin and Orbital angular momentum propagation in anisotropic media: theory
This paper is devoted to study the propagation of light beams carrying
orbital angular momentum in optically anisotropic media. We first review some
properties of homogeneous anisotropic media, and describe how the paraxial
formalism is modified in order to proceed with a new approach dealing with a
general setting of paraxial propagation along uniaxial inhomogeneous media.
This approach is suitable for describing the space-variant-optical-axis phase
plates
Atomtronics with holes: Coherent transport of an empty site in a triple well potential
We investigate arrays of three traps with two fermionic or bosonic atoms. The
tunneling interaction between neighboring sites is used to prepare multi-site
dark states for the empty site, i.e., the hole, allowing for the coherent
manipulation of its external degrees of freedom. By means of an ab initio
integration of the Schr\"odinger equation, we investigate the adiabatic
transport of a hole between the two extreme traps of a triple-well potential.
Furthermore, a quantum-trajectory approach based on the de Broglie-Bohm
formulation of quantum mechanics is used to get physical insight into the
transport process. Finally, we discuss the use of the hole for the construction
of a coherent single hole diode and a coherent single hole transistor.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Solving the transport without transit quantum paradox of the spatial adiabatic passage technique
We discuss and solve the transport without transit quantum paradox recently
introduced in the context of the adiabatic transport of a single particle or a
Bose--Einstein condensate between the two extreme traps of a triple-well
potential. To this aim, we address the corresponding quantum dynamics in terms
of Bohmian trajectories and show that transport always implies transit through
the middle well, in full agreement with the quantum continuity equation. This
adiabatic quantum transport presents a very counterintuitive effect: by slowing
down the total time duration of the transport process, ultra-high Bohmian
velocities are achieved such that, in the limit of perfect adiabaticity,
relativistic corrections are needed to properly address the transfer process
while avoiding superluminal matter wave propagation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Transferring orbital and spin angular momenta of light to atoms
Light beams carrying orbital angular momentum, such as Laguerre-Gaussian
beams, give rise to the violation of the standard dipolar selection rules
during the interaction with matter yielding, in general, an exchange of angular
momentum larger than hbar per absorbed photon. By means of ab initio 3D
numerical simulations, we investigate in detail the interaction of a hydrogen
atom with intense Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian light pulses. We analyze the
dependence of the angular momentum exchange with the polarization, the orbital
angular momentum, and the carrier-envelope phase of light, as well as with the
relative position between the atom and the light vortex. In addition, a
quantum-trajectory approach based on the de Broglie-Bohm formulation of quantum
mechanics is used to gain physical insight into the absorption of angular
momentum by the hydrogen atom
Speeding up the spatial adiabatic passage of matter waves in optical microtraps by optimal control
We numerically investigate the performance of atomic transport in optical
microtraps via the so called spatial adiabatic passage technique. Our analysis
is carried out by means of optimal control methods, which enable us to
determine suitable transport control pulses. We investigate the ultimate limits
of the optimal control in speeding up the transport process in a triple well
configuration for both a single atomic wave packet and a Bose-Einstein
condensate within a regime of experimental parameters achievable with current
optical technology.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figure
Conditional Born–Oppenheimer Dynamics: Quantum Dynamics Simulations for the Model Porphine
We report a new theoretical approach to solve adiabatic quantum molecular dynamics halfway between wave function and trajectory-based methods. The evolution of a N-body nuclear wave function moving on a 3N-dimensional Born–Oppenheimer potential-energy hyper-surface is rewritten in terms of single-nuclei wave functions evolving nonunitarily on a 3-dimensional potential-energy surface that depends parametrically on the configuration of an ensemble of generally defined trajectories. The scheme is exact and, together with the use of trajectory-based statistical techniques, can be exploited to circumvent the calculation and storage of many-body quantities (e.g., wave function and potential-energy surface) whose size scales exponentially with the number of nuclear degrees of freedom. As a proof of concept, we present numerical simulations of a 2-dimensional model porphine where switching from concerted to sequential double proton transfer (and back) is induced quantum mechanically
Calcium Ions Promote Formation of Amyloid β-Peptide (1–40) Oligomers Causally Implicated in Neuronal Toxicity of Alzheimer's Disease
Amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) is directly linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). In its monomeric form, Aβ aggregates to produce fibrils and a range of oligomers, the latter being the most neurotoxic. Dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis in aging brains and in neurodegenerative disorders plays a crucial role in numerous processes and contributes to cell dysfunction and death. Here we postulated that calcium may enable or accelerate the aggregation of Aβ. We compared the aggregation pattern of Aβ(1–40) and that of Aβ(1–40)E22G, an amyloid peptide carrying the Arctic mutation that causes early onset of the disease. We found that in the presence of Ca2+, Aβ(1–40) preferentially formed oligomers similar to those formed by Aβ(1–40)E22G with or without added Ca2+, whereas in the absence of added Ca2+ the Aβ(1–40) aggregated to form fibrils. Morphological similarities of the oligomers were confirmed by contact mode atomic force microscopy imaging. The distribution of oligomeric and fibrillar species in different samples was detected by gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis, the results of which were further supported by thioflavin T fluorescence experiments. In the samples without Ca2+, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed conversion of oligomers from an anti-parallel β-sheet to the parallel β-sheet conformation characteristic of fibrils. Overall, these results led us to conclude that calcium ions stimulate the formation of oligomers of Aβ(1–40), that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of AD
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