11,762 research outputs found
Nonlinear phase shift from photon-photon scattering in vacuum
We show that QED nonlinear effects imply a phase correction to the linear
evolution of electromagnetic waves in vacuum. We provide explicit solutions of
the modified Maxwell's equations for the propagation of a superposition of two
plane waves, and calculate analytically and numerically the corresponding phase
shift. This provides a new framework for the search of all-optical signatures
of photon-photon scattering in vacuum. In particular, we propose an experiment
for measuring the phase shift in projected high-power laser facilities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Some references were added, and the comparison
with AC Kerr effect has been improve
Hydromagnetic Instability in plane Couette Flow
We study the stability of a compressible magnetic plane Couette flow and show
that compressibility profoundly alters the stability properties if the magnetic
field has a component perpendicular to the direction of flow. The necessary
condition of a newly found instability can be satisfied in a wide variety of
flows in laboratory and astrophysical conditions. The instability can operate
even in a very strong magnetic field which entirely suppresses other MHD
instabilities. The growth time of this instability can be rather short and
reach shear timescales.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. To appear on PR
Spin noise in quantum dot ensembles
We study theoretically spin fluctuations of resident electrons or holes in
singly charged quantum dots. The effects of external magnetic field and
effective fields caused by the interaction of electron and nuclei spins are
analyzed. The fluctuations of spin Faraday, Kerr and ellipticity signals
revealing the spin noise of resident charge carriers are calculated for the
continuous wave probing at the singlet trion resonance.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
High-growth-rate magnetohydrodynamic instability in differentially rotating compressible flow
The transport of angular momentum in the outward direction is the fundamental
requirement for accretion to proceed in an accretion disc. This objective can
be achieved if the accretion flow is turbulent. Instabilities are one of the
sources for the turbulence. We study a differentially rotating compressive flow
in the presence of non vanishing radial and azimuthal magnetic field and
demonstrate the occurrence of a high growth rate instability. This instability
operates in a region where magnetic energy density exceeds the rotational
energy density
Observation of ground-state quantum beats in atomic spontaneous emission
We report ground-state quantum beats in spontaneous emission from a
continuously driven atomic ensemble. Beats are visible only in an intensity
autocorrelation and evidence spontaneously generated coherence in radiative
decay. Our measurement realizes a quantum eraser where a first photon detection
prepares a superposition and a second erases the "which-path" information in
the intermediate state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter
Quantum, Multi-Body Effects and Nuclear Reaction Rates in Plasmas
Detailed calculations of the contribution from off-shell effects to the
quasiclassical tunneling of fusing particles are provided. It is shown that
these effects change the Gamow rates of certain nuclear reactions in dense
plasma by several orders of magnitude.Comment: 11 pages; change of content: added clarification of one of the
important steps in the derivatio
Time-Symmetric Quantum Theory of Smoothing
Smoothing is an estimation technique that takes into account both past and
future observations, and can be more accurate than filtering alone. In this
Letter, a quantum theory of smoothing is constructed using a time-symmetric
formalism, thereby generalizing prior work on classical and quantum filtering,
retrodiction, and smoothing. The proposed theory solves the important problem
of optimally estimating classical Markov processes coupled to a quantum system
under continuous measurements, and is thus expected to find major applications
in future quantum sensing systems, such as gravitational wave detectors and
atomic magnetometers.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, v2: accepted by PR
Detection of radio frequency magnetic fields using nonlinear magneto-optical rotation
We describe a room-temperature alkali-metal atomic magnetometer for detection
of small, high frequency magnetic fields. The magnetometer operates by
detecting optical rotation due to the precession of an aligned ground state in
the presence of a small oscillating magnetic field. The resonance frequency of
the magnetometer can be adjusted to any desired value by tuning the bias
magnetic field. We demonstrate a sensitivity of in a 3.5 cm diameter, paraffin coated cell. Based
on detection at the photon shot-noise limit, we project a sensitivity of
.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Probing photo-ionization: simulations of positive streamers in varying N2:O2 mixtures
Photo-ionization is the accepted mechanism for the propagation of positive
streamers in air though the parameters are not very well known; the efficiency
of this mechanism largely depends on the presence of both nitrogen and oxygen.
But experiments show that streamer propagation is amazingly robust against
changes of the gas composition; even for pure nitrogen with impurity levels
below 1 ppm streamers propagate essentially with the same velocity as in air,
but their minimal diameter is smaller, and they branch more frequently.
Additionally, they move more in a zigzag fashion and sometimes exhibit a
feathery structure. In our simulations, we test the relative importance of
photo-ionization and of the background ionization from pulsed repetitive
discharges, in air as well as in nitrogen with 1 ppm O2 . We also test
reasonable parameter changes of the photo-ionization model. We find that photo-
ionization dominates streamer propagation in air for repetition frequencies of
at least 1 kHz, while in nitrogen with 1 ppm O2 the effect of the repetition
frequency has to be included above 1 Hz. Finally, we explain the feather-like
structures around streamer channels that are observed in experiments in
nitrogen with high purity, but not in air.Comment: 12 figure
Nonlinear magneto-optical resonances at D1 excitation of 85Rb and 87Rb in an extremely thin cell
Nonlinear magneto-optical resonances have been measured in an extremely thin
cell (ETC) for the D1 transition of rubidium in an atomic vapor of natural
isotopic composition. All hyperfine transitions of both isotopes have been
studied for a wide range of laser power densities, laser detunings, and ETC
wall separations. Dark resonances in the laser induced fluorescence (LIF) were
observed as expected when the ground state total angular momentum F_g was
greater than or equal to the excited state total angular momentum F_e. Unlike
the case of ordinary cells, the width and contrast of dark resonances formed in
the ETC dramatically depended on the detuning of the laser from the exact
atomic transition. A theoretical model based on the optical Bloch equations was
applied to calculate the shapes of the resonance curves. The model averaged
over the contributions from different atomic velocity groups, considered all
neighboring hyperfine transitions, took into account the splitting and mixing
of magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field, and included a detailed
treatment of the coherence properties of the laser radiation. Such a
theoretical approach had successfully described nonlinear magneto-optical
resonances in ordinary vapor cells. Although the values of certain model
parameters in the ETC differed significantly from the case of ordinary cells,
the same physical processes were used to model both cases. However, to describe
the resonances in the ETC, key parameters such as the transit relaxation rate
and Doppler width had to be modified in accordance with the ETC's unique
features. Agreement between the measured and calculated resonance curves was
satisfactory for the ETC, though not as good as in the case of ordinary cells.Comment: v2: substantial changes and expanded theoretical model; 13 pages, 10
figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review
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