71 research outputs found
Continuous-wave Doppler-cooling of hydrogen atoms with two-photon transitions
We propose and analyze the possibility of performing two-photon
continuous-wave Doppler-cooling of hydrogen atoms using the 1S-2S transition.
"Quenching" of the 2S level (by coupling with the 2P state) is used to increase
the cycling frequency, and to control the equilibrium temperature. Theoretical
and numerical studies of the heating effect due to Doppler-free two-photon
transitions evidence an increase of the temperature by a factor of two. The
equilibrium temperature decreases with the effective (quenching dependent)
width of the excited state and can thus be adjusted up to values close to the
recoil temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures in eps forma
Non-linear spectroscopy of rubidium: An undergraduate experiment
In this paper, we describe two complementary non-linear spectroscopy methods
which both allow to achieve Doppler-free spectra of atomic gases. First,
saturated absorption spectroscopy is used to investigate the structure of the
transition in rubidium. Using a slightly
modified experimental setup, Doppler-free two-photon absorption spectroscopy is
then performed on the transition in
rubidium, leading to accurate measurements of the hyperfine structure of the
energy level. In addition, electric dipole selection rules of
the two-photon transition are investigated, first by modifying the polarization
of the excitation laser, and then by measuring two-photon absorption spectra
when a magnetic field is applied close to the rubidium vapor. All experiments
are performed with the same grating-feedback laser diode, providing an
opportunity to compare different high resolution spectroscopy methods using a
single experimental setup. Such experiments may acquaint students with quantum
mechanics selection rules, atomic spectra and Zeeman effect.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Conformal scattering for a nonlinear wave equation on a curved background
The purpose of this paper is to establish a geometric scattering result for a
conformally invariant nonlinear wave equation on an asymptotically simple
spacetime. The scattering operator is obtained via trace operators at null
infinities. The proof is achieved in three steps. A priori linear estimates are
obtained via an adaptation of the Morawetz vector field in the Schwarzschild
spacetime and a method used by H\"ormander for the Goursat problem. A
well-posedness result for the characteristic Cauchy problem on a light cone at
infinity is then obtained. This requires a control of the nonlinearity uniform
in time which comes from an estimates of the Sobolev constant and a decay
assumption on the nonlinearity of the equation. Finally, the trace operators on
conformal infinities are built and used to define the conformal scattering
operator
An Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron
An experimental search for an electric-dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron has
been carried out at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble. Spurious
signals from magnetic-field fluctuations were reduced to insignificance by the
use of a cohabiting atomic-mercury magnetometer. Systematic uncertainties,
including geometric-phase-induced false EDMs, have been carefully studied. Two
independent approaches to the analysis have been adopted. The overall results
may be interpreted as an upper limit on the absolute value of the neutron EDM
of |d_n| < 2.9 x 10^{-26} e cm (90% CL).Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. The published PRL is slightly more terse (e.g. no
section headings) than this version, due to space constraints. Note a small
correction-to-a-correction led to an adjustment of the final limit from 3.0
to 2.9 E-26 e.cm compared to the first version of this preprin
On the existence of Killing vector fields
In covariant metric theories of coupled gravity-matter systems the necessary
and sufficient conditions ensuring the existence of a Killing vector field are
investigated. It is shown that the symmetries of initial data sets are
preserved by the evolution of hyperbolic systems.Comment: 9 pages, no figure, to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
CPT and Lorentz Tests in Hydrogen and Antihydrogen
Signals for CPT and Lorentz violation at the Planck scale may arise in
hydrogen and antihydrogen spectroscopy. We show that certain 1S-2S and
hyperfine transitions can exhibit theoretically detectable effects unsuppressed
by any power of the fine-structure constant.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, submitted for publicatio
Revised experimental upper limit on the electric dipole moment of the neutron
We present for the first time a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the experimental results that set the current world sensitivity limit on the magnitude of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron. We have extended and enhanced our earlier analysis to include recent developments in the understanding of the effects of gravity in depolarizing ultracold neutrons; an improved calculation of the spectrum of the neutrons; and conservative estimates of other possible systematic errors, which are also shown to be consistent with more recent measurements undertaken with the apparatus. We obtain a net result of dn=−0.21±1.82×10−26  e cm, which may be interpreted as a slightly revised upper limit on the magnitude of the EDM of 3.0×10−26  e cm (90% C.L.) or 3.6×10−26  e cm (95% C.L.)
Optical frequency measurement of the 1S-3S two-photon transition in hydrogen
This article reports the first optical frequency measurement of the
transition in hydrogen. The excitation of this
transition occurs at a wavelength of 205 nm which is obtained with two
frequency doubling stages of a titanium sapphire laser at 820 nm. Its frequency
is measured with an optical frequency comb. The second-order Doppler effect is
evaluated from the observation of the motional Stark effect due to a transverse
magnetic field perpendicular to the atomic beam. The measured value of the
frequency splitting is with a relative uncertainty of
. After the measurement of the
frequency, this result is the most precise of the optical frequencies in
hydrogen
Symmetries of spacetime and their relation to initial value problems
We consider covariant metric theories of coupled gravity-matter systems
satisfying the following two conditions: First, it is assumed that, by a
hyperbolic reduction process, a system of first order symmetric hyperbolic
partial differential equations can be deduced from the matter field equations.
Second, gravity is supposed to be coupled to the matter fields by requiring
that the Ricci tensor is a smooth function of the basic matter field variables
and the metric. It is shown then that the ``time'' evolution of these type of
gravity-matter systems preserves the symmetries of initial data specifications.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
A measurement of the neutron to 199Hg magnetic moment ratio
The neutron gyromagnetic ratio has been measured relative to that of the 199Hg atom with an uncertainty of 0.8 ppm. We employed an apparatus where ultracold neutrons and mercury atoms are stored in the same volume and report the result γn/γHg=3.8424574(30)
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