Novel fabrication technique for planar glass waveguides

A novel technique has been developed for the deposition of low-loss planar glass waveguides by directly spin coating from the liquid, thus overcoming the problems of reproducing glass stoichiometry when depositing from the vapour

On Bogovski\u{\i} and regularized Poincar\'e integral operators for de Rham complexes on Lipschitz domains

We study integral operators related to a regularized version of the classical Poincar\'e path integral and the adjoint class generalizing Bogovski\u{\i}'s integral operator, acting on differential forms in $R^n$. We prove that these operators are pseudodifferential operators of order -1. The Poincar\'e-type operators map polynomials to polynomials and can have applications in finite element analysis. For a domain starlike with respect to a ball, the special support properties of the operators imply regularity for the de Rham complex without boundary conditions (using Poincar\'e-type operators) and with full Dirichlet boundary conditions (using Bogovski\u{\i}-type operators). For bounded Lipschitz domains, the same regularity results hold, and in addition we show that the cohomology spaces can always be represented by $C^\infty$ functions.Comment: 23 page

Correlated electron emission in laser-induced nonsequence double ionization of Helium

In this paper, we have investigated the correlated electron emission of the nonsequence double ionization (NSDI) in an intense linearly polarized field. The theoretical model we employed is the semiclassical rescattering model, the model atom we used is the helium. We find a significant correlation between magnitude and direction of the momentum of two emission electrons, and give a good explanation for this striking phenomenon by observing the classical collisional trajectories. We argue that this correlation phenomenon is universal in NSDI process, as revealed by the recent experiment on the argon.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Magnetically Stabilized Luminescent Excitations in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Magnetically stabilized luminescence is observed in hexagonal boron nitride. The luminescence is induced by absorption of cold neutrons and is in the visible region. In the absence of a magnetic field, the photon emission level is observed to decay over several hundred seconds. A fraction of this luminescence can be suppressed if the temperature is T <~ 0.6 K and the magnetic field is B >~ 1.0 T. Subsequent to irradiation and suppression, luminescence can be induced by an increase in T or lowering of B. Possible explanations include stabilization of triplet states or the localization and stabilization of excitons.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to appear in the Journal of Luminescenc

Scintillation and charge extraction from the tracks of energetic electrons in superfluid helium-4

An energetic electron passing through liquid helium causes ionization along its track. The ionized electrons quickly recombine with the resulting positive ions, which leads to the production of prompt scintillation light. By applying appropriate electric fields, some of the ionized electrons can be separated from their parent ions. The fraction of the ionized electrons extracted in a given applied field depends on the separation distance between the electrons and the ions. We report the determination of the mean electron-ion separation distance for charge pairs produced along the tracks of beta particles in superfluid helium at 1.5 K by studying the quenching of the scintillation light under applied electric fields. Knowledge of this mean separation parameter will aid in the design of particle detectors that use superfluid helium as a target material.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Nuttier Bubbles

We construct new explicit solutions of general relativity from double analytic continuations of Taub-NUT spacetimes. This generalizes previous studies of 4-dimensional nutty bubbles. One 5-dimensional locally asymptotically AdS solution in particular has a special conformal boundary structure of $AdS_3\times S^1$. We compute its boundary stress tensor and relate it to the properties of the dual field theory. Interestingly enough, we also find consistent 6-dimensional bubble solutions that have only one timelike direction. The existence of such spacetimes with non-trivial topology is closely related to the existence of the Taub-NUT(-AdS) solutions with more than one NUT charge. Finally, we begin an investigation of generating new solutions from Taub-NUT spacetimes and nuttier bubbles. Using the so-called Hopf duality, we provide new explicit time-dependent backgrounds in six dimensions.Comment: 32 pages, 1 figure; v.3. typos corrected. Matches the published versio

Creating diamond color centers for quantum optical applications

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have distinct promise as solid-state qubits. This is because of their large dipole moment, convenient level structure and very long room-temperature coherence times. In general, a combination of ion irradiation and subsequent annealing is used to create the centers, however for the rigorous demands of quantum computing all processes need to be optimized, and decoherence due to the residual damage caused by the implantation process itself must be mitigated. To that end we have studied photoluminescence (PL) from NV$^-$, NV$^0$ and GR1 centers formed by ion implantation of 2MeV He ions over a wide range of fluences. The sample was annealed at $600^{\circ}$C to minimize residual vacancy diffusion, allowing for the concurrent analysis of PL from NV centers and irradiation induced vacancies (GR1). We find non-monotic PL intensities with increasing ion fluence, monotonic increasing PL in NV$^0$/NV$^-$ and GR1/(NV$^0$ + NV$^1$) ratios, and increasing inhomogeneous broadening of the zero-phonon lines with increasing ion fluence. All these results shed important light on the optimal formation conditions for NV qubits. We apply our findings to an off-resonant photonic quantum memory scheme using vibronic sidebands

Acousto-optically Q-switched fibre laser source of high peak power and short duration pulses for fibre sensor applications

We report on a fibre laser source which emits high peak power (&gt;0.7 kW) and short (2.8 ns) Q-switched pulses at 1.06 µm suitable for distributed fibre sensor applications using an absorbed pump power of 13 mW and miniature acousto-optic modulator

Emergent Gravity from Noncommutative Gauge Theory

We show that the matrix-model action for noncommutative U(n) gauge theory actually describes SU(n) gauge theory coupled to gravity. This is elaborated in the 4-dimensional case. The SU(n) gauge fields as well as additional scalar fields couple to an effective metric G_{ab}, which is determined by a dynamical Poisson structure. The emergent gravity is intimately related to noncommutativity, encoding those degrees of freedom which are usually interpreted as U(1) gauge fields. This leads to a class of metrics which contains the physical degrees of freedom of gravitational waves, and allows to recover e.g. the Newtonian limit with arbitrary mass distribution. It also suggests a consistent picture of UV/IR mixing in terms of an induced gravity action. This should provide a suitable framework for quantizing gravity.Comment: 28 pages + 11 pages appendix. V2: references and discussion added. V3: minor correctio

A diode-laser-pumped, Er³⁺-doped fibre laser operating at 1.57µm

Erbium-doped fibers show promise as stable narrow-linewidth laser sources and optical amplifiers operating in the third telecommunications window around 1.55µm Diode laser pumping is possible using the weak pump-band located at 807nm, although this band suffers severely from excited-state absorption (ESA), which reduces gain and pump efficiency. At the low pump power available from diode lasers the Er3+ behaves as a quasi four-level system. However, by codoping the core glass heavily with Yb3+, it is possible to excite the Er3+ ions indirectly using energy transfer. The Yb3+ provides an intense broad pump-band centered at 900nm, which reduces the effect of ESA. As a consequence of the resulting higher pump efficiency, the laser will oscillate at the required shorter wavelengths