Ultra-high sensitivity magnetic field and magnetization measurements with an atomic magnetometer

We describe an ultra-sensitive atomic magnetometer using optically-pumped potassium atoms operating in spin-exchange relaxation free (SERF) regime. We demonstrate magnetic field sensitivity of 160 aT/Hz$^{1/2}$ in a gradiometer arrangement with a measurement volume of 0.45 cm$^3$ and energy resolution per unit time of $44 \hbar$. As an example of a new application enabled by such a magnetometer we describe measurements of weak remnant rock magnetization as a function of temperature with a sensitivity on the order of 10$^{-10}$ emu/cm$^3$/Hz$^{1/2}$ and temperatures up to 420$^\circ$C

On "the authentic damping mechanism" of the phonon damping model

Some general features of the phonon damping model are presented. It is concluded that the fits performed within this model have no physical content

Excitonic properties of strained wurtzite and zinc-blende GaN/Al(x)Ga(1-x)N quantum dots

We investigate exciton states theoretically in strained GaN/AlN quantum dots with wurtzite (WZ) and zinc-blende (ZB) crystal structures, as well as strained WZ GaN/AlGaN quantum dots. We show that the strain field significantly modifies the conduction and valence band edges of GaN quantum dots. The piezoelectric field is found to govern excitonic properties of WZ GaN/AlN quantum dots, while it has a smaller effect on WZ GaN/AlGaN, and very little effect on ZB GaN/AlN quantum dots. As a result, the exciton ground state energy in WZ GaN/AlN quantum dots, with heights larger than 3 nm, exhibits a red shift with respect to the bulk WZ GaN energy gap. The radiative decay time of the red-shifted transitions is large and increases almost exponentially from 6.6 ns for quantum dots with height 3 nm to 1100 ns for the quantum dots with height 4.5 nm. In WZ GaN/AlGaN quantum dots, both the radiative decay time and its increase with quantum dot height are smaller than those in WZ GaN/AlN quantum dots. On the other hand, the radiative decay time in ZB GaN/AlN quantum dots is of the order of 0.3 ns, and is almost independent of the quantum dot height. Our results are in good agreement with available experimental data and can be used to optimize GaN quantum dot parameters for proposed optoelectronic applications.Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physic

Pairing reentrance in hot rotating nuclei

The pairing gaps, heat capacities and level densities are calculated within the BCS-based quasiparticle approach including the effect of thermal fluctuations on the pairing field within the pairing model plus noncollective rotation along the z axis for $^{60}$Ni and $^{72}$Ge nuclei. The analysis of the numerical results obtained shows that, in addition to the pairing gap, the heat capacity can also serve as a good observable to detect the appearance of the pairing reentrance in hot rotating nuclei, whereas such signature in the level density is rather weak.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Giant-dipole Resonance and the Deformation of Hot, Rotating Nuclei

The development of nuclear shapes under the extreme conditions of high spin and/or temperature is examined. Scaling properties are used to demonstrate universal properties of both thermal expectation values of nuclear shapes as well as the minima of the free energy, which can be used to understand the Jacobi transition. A universal correlation between the width of the giant dipole resonance and quadrupole deformation is found, providing a novel probe to measure the nuclear deformation in hot nuclei.Comment: 6 pages including 6 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. Revtex

Nuclear pairing: new perspectives

Nuclear pairing correlations are known to play an important role in various single-particle and collective aspects of nuclear structure. After the first idea by A. Bohr, B. Mottelson and D. Pines on similarity of nuclear pairing to electron superconductivity, S.T. Belyaev gave a thorough analysis of the manifestations of pairing in complex nuclei. The current revival of interest in nuclear pairing is connected to the shift of modern nuclear physics towards nuclei far from stability; many loosely bound nuclei are particle-stable only due to the pairing. The theoretical methods borrowed from macroscopic superconductivity turn out to be insufficient for finite systems as nuclei, in particular for the cases of weak pairing and proximity of continuum states. We suggest a simple numerical procedure of exact solution of the nuclear pairing problem and discuss the physical features of this complete solution. We show also how the continuum states can be naturally included in the consideration bridging the gap between the structure and reactions. The path from coherent pairing to chaos and thermalization and perspectives of new theoretical approaches based on the full solution of pairing are discussed.Comment: 47 pages, 11 figure

Complete spectral data for analytic Anosov maps of the torus

Using analytic properties of Blaschke factors we construct a family of analytic hyperbolic diffeomorphisms of the torus for which the spectral properties of the associated transfer operator acting on a suitable Hilbert space can be computed explicitly. As a result, we obtain explicit expressions for the decay of correlations of analytic observables without resorting to any kind of perturbation argument.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure