Pressure Shifts in High-Precision Hydrogen Spectroscopy: I. Long-Range Atom-Atom and Atom-Molecule Interactions

We study the theoretical foundations for the pressure shifts in high-precision atomic beam spectrosopy of hydrogen, with a particular emphasis on transitions involving higher excited P states. In particular, the long-range interaction of an excited hydrogen atom in a 4P state with a ground-state and metastable hydrogen atom is studied, with a full resolution of the hyperfine structure. It is found that the full inclusion of the 4P_1/2 and 4P_3/2 manifolds becomes necessary in order to obtain reliable theoretical predictions, because the 1S ground state hyperfine frequency is commensurate with the 4P fine-structure splitting. An even more complex problem is encountered in the case of the 4P-2S interaction, where the inclusion of quasi-degenerate 4S-2P_1/2 state becomes necessary in view of the dipole couplings induced by the van der Waals Hamiltonian. Matrices of dimension up to 40 have to be treated despite all efforts to reduce the problem to irreducible submanifolds within the quasi-degenerate basis. We focus on the phenomenologically important second-order van der Waals shifts, proportional to 1/R^6 where R is the interatomic distance, and obtain results with full resolution of the hyperfine structure. The magnitude of van der Waals coefficients for hydrogen atom-atom collisions involving excited P states is drastically enhanced due to energetic quasi-degeneracy; we find no such enhancement for atom-molecule collisions involving atomic nP states, even if the complex molecular spectrum involving ro-vibrational levels requires a deeper analysis.Comment: 32 pages; 2 figures; this is part 1 of a series of two papers; part 1 carries article number 075005, while part 2 carries article number 075006 in the journal (online journal version has been rectified). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1711.1003

Distribution, morphology, and genetic affinities of dwarf embedded Fucus populations from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Dwarf embedded Fucus populations in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are restricted to the upper intertidal zone in sandy salt marsh environments; they lack holdfasts and are from attached parental populations of F. spiralis or F. spiralis x F. vesiculosus hybrids after breakage and entanglement with halophytic marsh grasses. Dwarf forms are dichotomously branched, flat, and have a mean overall length and width of 20.3 and 1.3 mm, respectively. Thus, they are longer than Irish (mean 9.3 mm) and Alaskan (mean 15.0 mm) populations identified as F cottonii. Reciprocal transplants of different Fucus taxa in a Maine salt marsh confirm that F spiralis can become transformed into dwarf embedded thalli within the high intertidal zone, while the latter can grow into F. s. ecad lutarius within the mid intertidal zone. Thus, vertical transplantation can modify fucoid morphology and result in varying ecads. Microsatellite markers indicate that attached F spiralis and F vesiculosus are genetically distinct, while dwarf forms may arise via hybridization between the two taxa. The ratio of intermediate to species-specific-genotypes decreased with larger thalli. Also, F s. ecad lutarius consists of a mixture of intermediate and pure genotypes, while dwarf thalli show a greater frequency of hybrids

The Asian red seaweed Grateloupia turuturu (Rhodophyta) invades the Gulf of Maine

We report the invasion of the Gulf of Maine, in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, by the largest red seaweed in the world, the Asian Grateloupia turuturu. First detected in 1994 in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, south of Cape Cod, this alga had expanded its range in the following years only over to Long Island and into Long Island Sound. In July 2007 we found Grateloupia in the Cape Cod Canal and as far north (east) as Boston, Massachusetts, establishing its presence in the Gulf of Maine. Grateloupia can be invasive and may be capable of disrupting low intertidal and shallow subtidal seaweeds. The plant\u27s broad physiological tolerances suggest that it will be able to expand possibly as far north as the Bay of Fundy. We predict its continued spread in North America and around the world, noting that its arrival in the major international port of Boston may now launch G. turuturu on to new global shipping corridors

Full transmission through perfect-conductor subwavelength hole arrays

Light transmission through 2D subwavelength hole arrays in perfect-conductor films is shown to be complete (100%) at some resonant wavelengths even for arbitrarily narrow holes. Conversely, the reflection on a 2D planar array of non-absorbing scatterers is shown to be complete at some wavelengths regardless how weak the scatterers are. These results are proven analytically and corroborated by rigorous numerical solution of Maxwell's equations. This work supports the central role played by dynamical diffraction during light transmission through subwavelength hole arrays and it provides a systematics to analyze more complex geometries and many of the features observed in connection with transmission through hole arrays.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Micrometeorological processes driving snow ablation in an Alpine catchment

Mountain snow covers typically become patchy over the course of a melting season. The snow pattern during melt is mainly governed by the end of winter snow depth distribution and the local energy balance. The objective of this study is to investigate micrometeorological processes driving snow ablation in an Alpine catchment. For this purpose we combine a meteorological model (ARPS) with a fully distributed energy balance model (Alpine3D). Turbulent fluxes above melting snow are further investigated by using data from eddy-correlation systems. We compare modelled snow ablation to measured ablation rates as obtained from a series of Terrestrial Laser Scanning campaigns covering a complete ablation season. The measured ablation rates indicate that the advection of sensible heat causes locally increased ablation rates at the upwind edges of the snow patches. The effect, however, appears to be active over rather short distances except for very strong wind conditions. Neglecting this effect, the model is able to capture the mean ablation rates for early ablation periods but strongly overestimates snow ablation once the fraction of snow coverage is below a critical value. While radiation dominates snow ablation early in the season, the turbulent flux contribution becomes important late in the season. Simulation results indicate that the air temperatures appear to overestimate the local air temperature above snow patches once the snow coverage is below a critical value. Measured turbulent fluxes support these findings by suggesting a stable internal boundary layer close to the snow surface causing a strong decrease of the sensible heat flux towards the snow cover. Thus, the existence of a stable internal boundary layer above a patchy snow cover exerts a dominant control on the timing and magnitude of snow ablation for patchy snow covers.<br/

Quantum state tomography of slow and stored light

Quantum information can be transferred from a beam of light to a cloud of atoms and controllably released at a later time. These quantum memory devices are fundamental to applications in quantum information science, quantum computing, and quantum communication. We propose a technique for measuring the quantum state of light that has been stored and released from a quantum memory system. This technique does not require careful mode matching can in fact be used to optimize the measured field mode without a priori knowledge of the stored light

All-Optical Switching with Transverse Optical Patterns

We demonstrate an all-optical switch that operates at ultra-low-light levels and exhibits several features necessary for use in optical switching networks. An input switching beam, wavelength $\lambda$, with an energy density of $10^{-2}$ photons per optical cross section [$\sigma=\lambda^2/(2\pi)$] changes the orientation of a two-spot pattern generated via parametric instability in warm rubidium vapor. The instability is induced with less than 1 mW of total pump power and generates several $\mu$Ws of output light. The switch is cascadable: the device output is capable of driving multiple inputs, and exhibits transistor-like signal-level restoration with both saturated and intermediate response regimes. Additionally, the system requires an input power proportional to the inverse of the response time, which suggests thermal dissipation does not necessarily limit the practicality of optical logic devices