Optical Weak Link between Two Spatially Separate Bose-Einstein Condensates

Two spatially separate Bose-Einstein condensates were prepared in an optical double-well potential. A bidirectional coupling between the two condensates was established by two pairs of Bragg beams which continuously outcoupled atoms in opposite directions. The atomic currents induced by the optical coupling depend on the relative phase of the two condensates and on an additional controllable coupling phase. This was observed through symmetric and antisymmetric correlations between the two outcoupled atom fluxes. A Josephson optical coupling of two condensates in a ring geometry is proposed. The continuous outcoupling method was used to monitor slow relative motions of two elongated condensates and characterize the trapping potential.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Inferring the eccentricity distribution

Standard maximum-likelihood estimators for binary-star and exoplanet eccentricities are biased high, in the sense that the estimated eccentricity tends to be larger than the true eccentricity. As with most non-trivial observables, a simple histogram of estimated eccentricities is not a good estimate of the true eccentricity distribution. Here we develop and test a hierarchical probabilistic method for performing the relevant meta-analysis, that is, inferring the true eccentricity distribution, taking as input the likelihood functions for the individual-star eccentricities, or samplings of the posterior probability distributions for the eccentricities (under a given, uninformative prior). The method is a simple implementation of a hierarchical Bayesian model; it can also be seen as a kind of heteroscedastic deconvolution. It can be applied to any quantity measured with finite precision--other orbital parameters, or indeed any astronomical measurements of any kind, including magnitudes, parallaxes, or photometric redshifts--so long as the measurements have been communicated as a likelihood function or a posterior sampling.Comment: Ap

Observation of inhomogeneous domain nucleation in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors

We investigated domain nucleation process in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors under a modified piezoresponse force microscope. We obtained domain evolution images during polarization switching process and observed that domain nucleation occurs at particular sites. This inhomogeneous nucleation process should play an important role in an early stage of switching and under a high electric field. We found that the number of nuclei is linearly proportional to log(switching time), suggesting a broad distribution of activation energies for nucleation. The nucleation sites for a positive bias differ from those for a negative bias, indicating that most nucleation sites are located at ferroelectric/electrode interfaces

Fetal atrial septal aneurysm: A cause of fetal atrial arrhythmias

AbstractAtrial arrhythmias are commonly found during fetal echocardiography performed during pregnancy to evaluate fetal arrhythmias. An association between atrial arrhythmias and an atrial septal aneurysm has been noted in children and adults. In this study, 105 fetuses were evaluated by fetal echocardiography, 39 (37%) referred to evaluate fetal arrhythmia and 66 (63%) to rule out congenital heart disease. An atrial septal aneurysm was found in 42 (40%) of the fetuses and an atrial arrhythmia in 37 (35%). An atrial septal aneurysm was found in 25 (64%) of the 39 fetuses referred to evaluate a fetal arrhythmia compared with only 17 (26%) of the 66 fetuses referred to rule out congenital heart disease. In this study, the association of an atrial septal aneurysm with an atrial arrhythmia was highly significant (p < 0.001)

Polarization Switching Dynamics Governed by Thermodynamic Nucleation Process in Ultrathin Ferroelectric Films

A long standing problem of domain switching process - how domains nucleate - is examined in ultrathin ferroelectric films. We demonstrate that the large depolarization fields in ultrathin films could significantly lower the nucleation energy barrier (U*) to a level comparable to thermal energy (kBT), resulting in power-law like polarization decay behaviors. The "Landauer's paradox": U* is thermally insurmountable is not a critical issue in the polarization switching of ultrathin ferroelectric films. We empirically find a universal relation between the polarization decay behavior and U*/kBT.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Low velocity quantum reflection of Bose-Einstein condensates

We studied quantum reflection of Bose-Einstein condensates at normal incidence on a square array of silicon pillars. For incident velocities of 2.5-26 mm/s observations agreed with theoretical predictions that the Casimir-Polder potential of a reduced density surface would reflect slow atoms with much higher probability. At low velocities (0.5-2.5 mm/s), we observed that the reflection probability saturated around 60% rather than increasing towards unity. We present a simple model which explains this reduced reflectivity as resulting from the combined effects of the Casimir-Polder plus mean field potential and predicts the observed saturation. Furthermore, at low incident velocities, the reflected condensates show collective excitations.Comment: 4 figure

Phase Sensitive Recombination of Two Bose-Einstein Condensates on an Atom Chip

The recombination of two split Bose-Einstein condensates on an atom chip is shown to result in heating which depends on the relative phase of the two condensates. This heating reduces the number of condensate atoms between 10 and 40% and provides a robust way to read out the phase of an atom interferometer without the need for ballistic expansion. The heating may be caused by the dissipation of dark solitons created during the merging of the condensates.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure