1,272 research outputs found
Controlling Condensate Collapse and Expansion with an Optical Feshbach Resonance
We demonstrate control of the collapse and expansion of an 88Sr Bose-Einstein
condensate using an optical Feshbach resonance (OFR) near the 1S0-3P1
intercombination transition at 689 nm. Significant changes in dynamics are
caused by modifications of scattering length by up to +- ?10a_bg, where the
background scattering length of 88Sr is a_bg = -2a0 (1a0 = 0.053 nm). Changes
in scattering length are monitored through changes in the size of the
condensate after a time-of-flight measurement. Because the background
scattering length is close to zero, blue detuning of the OFR laser with respect
to a photoassociative resonance leads to increased interaction energy and a
faster condensate expansion, whereas red detuning triggers a collapse of the
condensate. The results are modeled with the time-dependent nonlinear
Gross-Pitaevskii equation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Recent results of a seismically isolated optical table prototype designed for advanced LIGO
The Horizontal Access Module Seismic Attenuation System (HAM-SAS) is a mechanical device expressly designed to isolate a multipurpose optical table and fit in the tight space of the LIGO HAM Ultra-High-Vacuum chamber. Seismic attenuation in the detectors' sensitivity frequency band is achieved with state of the art passive mechanical attenuators. These devices should provide an attenuation factor of about 70dB above 10Hz at the suspension point of the Advanced LIGO triple pendulum suspension. Automatic control techniques are used to position the optical table and damp rigid body modes. Here, we report the main results obtained from the full scale prototype installed at the MIT LIGO Advanced System Test Interferometer (LASTI) facility. Seismic attenuation performance, control strategies, improvements and limitations are also discussed
Ultralong-Range Rydberg Molecules in a Divalent-Atomic System
We report the creation of ultralong-range Sr molecules comprising one
ground-state atom and one atom in a Rydberg state
for ranging from 29 to 36. Molecules are created in a trapped ultracold
atomic gas using two-photon excitation near resonant with the
intermediate state, and their formation is detected through ground-state atom
loss from the trap. The observed molecular binding energies are fit with the
aid of first-order perturbation theory that utilizes a Fermi pseudopotential
with effective -wave and -wave scattering lengths to describe the
interaction between an excited Rydberg electron and a ground-state Sr atom.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Sr Through Sympathetic Cooling with Sr
We report Bose-Einstein condensation of Sr, which has a small,
negative s-wave scattering length (\,). We overcome the poor
evaporative cooling characteristics of this isotope by sympathetic cooling with
Sr atoms. Sr is effective in this role in spite of the fact that
it is a fermion because of the large ground state degeneracy arising from a
nuclear spin of , which reduces the impact of Pauli blocking of
collisions. We observe a limited number of atoms in the condensate
() that is consistent with the value of and the
optical dipole trap parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Simulation of underground gravity gradients from stochastic seismic fields
We present results obtained from a finite-element simulation of seismic
displacement fields and of gravity gradients generated by those fields. The
displacement field is constructed by a plane wave model with a 3D isotropic
stochastic field and a 2D fundamental Rayleigh field. The plane wave model
provides an accurate representation of stationary fields from distant sources.
Underground gravity gradients are calculated as acceleration of a free test
mass inside a cavity. The results are discussed in the context of
gravity-gradient noise subtraction in third generation gravitational-wave
detectors. Error analysis with respect to the density of the simulated grid
leads to a derivation of an improved seismometer placement inside a 3D array
which would be used in practice to monitor the seismic field.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure
Degenerate Fermi Gas of Sr
We report quantum degeneracy in a gas of ultra-cold fermionic Sr
atoms. By evaporatively cooling a mixture of spin states in an optical dipole
trap for 10.5\,s, we obtain samples well into the degenerate regime with
. The main signature of degeneracy is a change in the
momentum distribution as measured by time-of-flight imaging, and we also
observe a decrease in evaporation efficiency below .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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