Microscopic Optical Trapping of Ultracold Neutral Atoms for Applications in Quantum Information

In this thesis, the development of an experimental system for microscopic dipole trapping of ultracold neutral rubidium atoms is presented. The purpose of this system is to advance towards the experimental realisation of a quantum computational protocol utilising neutral atoms as qubits. It is intended that the quantum gate operations between qubits will be implemented by a scheme using Rydberg blockade, imposing a restriction on the maximum size of the dipole-trapped atom cloud; the spatial extent of the atomic ensemble contained in this trap must be smaller than the blockade radius to ensure that one single collective Rydberg state per qubit can be achieved. Therefore the experiment was designed with the intent of fulfilling these challenging requirements. This project involved the design and construction of an improved ultra-high vacuum chamber containing the optical setup for the experiment, successfully achieving pressures below 5 x 10-10 mbar. A magneto-optical trap was produced to act as a background reservoir of atoms from which to load the dipole trap. Numerous experimental measurements were done to characterise the physical properties of the trapped atoms, including the number, density and temperature of atoms, as well as the lifetime of the trap. The results of these measurements led to the conclusion that a suitable reservoir for loading the dipole trap had been produced. Significant work was carried out to set up and obtain the dipole trap in the laboratory. Measurements of the characteristic properties of the trap and the atoms confined in the trap were carried out to investigate the behaviour of the atoms and to validate our design. Ultimately a trap containing tens of atoms was achieved, with an atom cloud diameter of ~1.2 µm in two dimensions, being well within the estimated Rydberg blockade radius of ~4.4 µm for n ~ 60 as intended. The two-photon excitation laser system for the probing of Rydberg states, for future applications in Rydberg blockade-based quantum gate operations, was also developed during the course of this work. Different Rydberg states were detected experimentally by the observation of Autler-Townes splitting in a three-level atom scheme. Overall, the work presented in this thesis provides a strong groundwork for the advancement towards neutral atom-based quantum gates, including the development of the experimental system and the production of standard procedures to carry out characterisation measurements of the traps efficiently in the future. The main achievements of this work are the establishment of the experimental apparatus, the achievement of a microscopic dipole trap which conforms to the requirements of an atomic qubit, and the significant growth in the knowledge of atom trapping specific to our system

Comparison of Phenotypes between Different vangl2vangl2 Mutants Demonstrates Dominant Effects of the LooptailLooptail Mutation during Hair Cell Development

Experiments utilizing the $Looptail$ mutant mouse, which harbors a missense mutation in the $vangl2$ gene, have been essential for studies of planar polarity and linking the function of the core planar cell polarity proteins to other developmental signals. Originally described as having dominant phenotypic traits, the molecular interactions underlying the $Looptail$ mutant phenotype are unclear because Vangl2 protein levels are significantly reduced or absent from mutant tissues. Here we introduce a $vangl2$ knockout mouse and directly compare the severity of the knockout and $Looptail$ mutant phenotypes by intercrossing the two lines and assaying the planar polarity of inner ear hair cells. Overall the $vangl2$ knockout phenotype is milder than the phenotype of compound mutants carrying both the $Looptail$ and $vangl2$ knockout alleles. In compound mutants a greater number of hair cells are affected and changes in the orientation of individual hair cells are greater when quantified. We further demonstrate in a heterologous cell system that the protein encoded by the Looptail mutation $(Vangl2^{S464N})$ disrupts delivery of Vangl1 and Vangl2 proteins to the cell surface as a result of oligomer formation between Vangl1 and $Vangl2^{S464N}$, or Vangl2 and $Vangl2^{S464N}$, coupled to the intracellular retention of $Vangl2^{S464N}$. As a result, Vangl1 protein is missing from the apical cell surface of vestibular hair cells in $Looptail$ mutants, but is retained at the apical cell surface of hair cells in $vangl2$ knockouts. Similarly the distribution of Prickle-like2, a putative Vangl2 interacting protein, is differentially affected in the two mutant lines. In summary, we provide evidence for a direct physical interaction between Vangl1 and Vangl2 through a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches and propose that this interaction underlies the dominant phenotypic traits associated with the $Looptail$ mutation

Sexually monomorphic maps and dimorphic responses in rat genital cortex

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Current Biology 26 (2016): 106-113, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.041.Mammalian external genitals show sexual dimorphism [1,2] and can change size and shape upon sexual arousal. Genitals feature prominently in the oldest pieces of figural art [3] and phallic depictions of penises informed psychoanalytic thought about sexuality [4, 5]. Despite this longstanding interest, the neural representations of genitals are still poorly understood [6]. In somatosensory cortex specifically, many studies did not detect any cortical representation of genitals [7-9]. Studies in humans debate, if genitals are represented displaced below the foot of the cortical body map [10-12], or if they are represented somatotopically [13-15]. We wondered, what a high-resolution mapping of genital representations might tell us about the sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain. We identified genital responses in rat somatosensory cortex in a region previously assigned as arm/leg cortex. Genital responses were more common in males than in females. Despite such response dimorphism, we observed a stunning anatomical monomorphism of cortical penis and clitoris input maps revealed by cytochrome-oxidasestaining of cortical layer-4. Genital representations were somatotopic, bilaterally symmetric and their relative size increased markedly during puberty. Size, shape and erect posture give the cortical penis representation a phallic appearance pointing to a role in sexually aroused states. Cortical genital neurons showed unusual multi-body-part responses and sexually dimorphic receptive fields. Specifically, genital neurons were coactivated by distant body regions, which are touched during mounting in the respective sex. Genital maps indicate a deep homology of penis and clitoris representations in line with a fundamentally bi-sexual layout [16] of the vertebrate brain.This work was supported by Marine Biological Laboratory, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Neurocure. M.B. was a recipient of a Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

A comparison of lithium-ion cell performance across three different cell formats

To investigate the influence of cell formats during a cell development programme, lithium-ion cells have been prepared in three different formats. Coin cells, single layer pouch cells, and stacked pouch cells gave a range of scales of almost three orders of magnitude. The cells used the same electrode coatings, electrolyte and separator. The performance of the different formats was compared in long term cycling tests and in measurements of resistance and discharge capacities at different rates. Some test results were common to all three formats. However, the stacked pouch cells had higher discharge capacities at higher rates. During cycling tests, there were indications of differences in the predominant degradation mechanism between the stacked cells and the other two cell formats. The stacked cells showed faster resistance increases, whereas the coin cells showed faster capacity loss. The difference in degradation mechanism can be linked to the different thermal and mechanical environments in the three cell formats. The correlation in the electrochemical performance between coin cells, single layer pouch cells, and stacked pouch cells shows that developments within a single cell format are likely to lead to improvements across all cell formats

Characterization of Cracks in Oxidation-Protective Coatings

Carbon-carbon materials are being developed for high temperature use in gas turbine engines and other applications. They have high specific strength and stiffness at elevated temperature, as well as thermal shock resistance. Silicon carbide based coatings are commonly used to protect the material from oxidation

The C-Band All-Sky Survey: Instrument design, status, and first-look data

The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS) aims to produce sensitive, all-sky maps of diffuse Galactic emission at 5 GHz in total intensity and linear polarization. These maps will be used (with other surveys) to separate the several astrophysical components contributing to microwave emission, and in particular will allow an accurate map of synchrotron emission to be produced for the subtraction of foregrounds from measurements of the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background. We describe the design of the analog instrument, the optics of our 6.1 m dish at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, the status of observations, and first-look data.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, published in Proceedings of SPIE MIllimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V (2010), Vol. 7741, 77411I-1 - 77411I-1

Machine learning for investigating the relative importance of electrodes’ N:P areal capacity ratio in the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery cells

This work studies the impact of the ratio between the areal capacity of Graphite anode to NMC622 cathode for Lithium-ion batteries compared to the electrode characteristics of thickness, mass loading and cathode areal capacity, on their electrochemical properties. The influence of factors on energy capacity and gravimetric capacity at various Crates starting from C/20 up to 10C is quantified by combining experiments obtained via design of experiment techniques, machine learning modelling and explanation techniques. The results highlight that the performance at all Crates is highly affected by all features however their relative importance, and the linearity and nonlinearity of the dependencies is quite unique for each Crate capacity. N:P ratio is showing a relatively smaller effect on electrochemical performance compared to thickness, mass loading of active material and cathode areal capacity. It is also concluded that while the impact of N:P ratio is almost linear at lower Crates, it is nonlinear with a local optimum at medium and high Crates. This study offers a methodology for smart selection of a ratio between anode and cathode aerial capacity for a balanced performance of cells at all Crates

Distinct Stromal Cell Factor Combinations Can Separately Control Hematopoietic Stem Cell Survival, Proliferation, and Self-Renewal

SummaryHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are identified by their ability to sustain prolonged blood cell production in vivo, although recent evidence suggests that durable self-renewal (DSR) is shared by HSC subtypes with distinct self-perpetuating differentiation programs. Net expansions of DSR-HSCs occur in vivo, but molecularly defined conditions that support similar responses in vitro are lacking. We hypothesized that this might require a combination of factors that differentially promote HSC viability, proliferation, and self-renewal. We now demonstrate that HSC survival and maintenance of DSR potential are variably supported by different Steel factor (SF)-containing cocktails with similar HSC-mitogenic activities. In addition, stromal cells produce other factors, including nerve growth factor and collagen 1, that can antagonize the apoptosis of initially quiescent adult HSCs and, in combination with SF and interleukin-11, produce >15-fold net expansions of DSR-HSCs ex vivo within 7 days. These findings point to the molecular basis of HSC control and expansion