16,359 research outputs found
Negative differential resistance due to single-electron switching
We present the multilevel fabrication and measurement of a Coulomb-blockade
device displaying tunable negative differential resistance (NDR). Applications
for devices displaying NDR include amplification, logic, and memory circuits.
Our device consists of two Al/AlO islands that are strongly coupled
by an overlap capacitor. Our measurements agree excellently with a model based
on the orthodox theory of single-electron transport.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures; submitted to AP
Flutter at Mach 3 of thermally stressed panels and comparison with theory for panels with edge rotational restraint
Flutter at Mach 3 of thermally stressed flat isotropic panel
Precision frequency measurements with interferometric weak values
We demonstrate an experiment which utilizes a Sagnac interferometer to
measure a change in optical frequency of 129 kHz per root Hz with only 2 mW of
continuous wave, single mode input power. We describe the measurement of a weak
value and show how even higher frequency sensitivities may be obtained over a
bandwidth of several nanometers. This technique has many possible applications,
such as precision relative frequency measurements and laser locking without the
use of atomic lines.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published in PR
Ultrasensitive Beam Deflection Measurement via Interferometric Weak Value Amplification
We report on the use of an interferometric weak value technique to amplify
very small transverse deflections of an optical beam. By entangling the beam's
transverse degrees of freedom with the which-path states of a Sagnac
interferometer, it is possible to realize an optical amplifier for polarization
independent deflections. The theory for the interferometric weak value
amplification method is presented along with the experimental results, which
are in good agreement. Of particular interest, we measured the angular
deflection of a mirror down to 560 femtoradians and the linear travel of a
piezo actuator down to 20 femtometers
Optimizing the Signal to Noise Ratio of a Beam Deflection Measurement with Interferometric Weak Values
The amplification obtained using weak values is quantified through a detailed
investigation of the signal to noise ratio for an optical beam deflection
measurement. We show that for a given deflection, input power and beam radius,
the use of interferometric weak values allows one to obtain the optimum signal
to noise ratio using a coherent beam. This method has the advantage of reduced
technical noise and allows for the use of detectors with a low saturation
intensity. We report on an experiment which improves the signal to noise ratio
for a beam deflection measurement by a factor of 54 when compared to a
measurement using the same beam size and a quantum limited detector
The Dynamics of a Classical Spinning Particle in Vaidya Space-Time
Based on the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations and the Vaidya
metric, the motion of a spinning point particle orbiting a non-rotating star
while undergoing radiation-induced gravitational collapse is studied in detail.
A comprehensive analysis of the orbital dynamics is performed assuming distinct
central mass functions which satisfy the weak energy condition, in order to
determine a correspondence between the choice of mass function and the spinning
particle's orbital response, as reflected in the gravitational waves emitted by
the particle. The analysis presented here is likely most beneficial for the
observation of rotating solar mass black holes or neutron stars in orbit around
intermediate-sized Schwarzschild black holes undergoing radiation collapse. The
possibility of detecting the effects of realistic mass accretion based on this
approach is considered. While it seems unlikely to observe such effects based
on present technology, they may perhaps become observable with the advent of
future detectors.Comment: REVTeX file, 20 pages, 26 figure
Fuels treatment and wildfire effects on runoff from Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests
We applied an eco-hydrologic model (Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation System [RHESSys]), constrained with spatially distributed field measurements, to assess the impacts of forest-fuel treatments and wildfire on hydrologic fluxes in two Sierra Nevada firesheds. Strategically placed fuels treatments were implemented during 2011–2012 in the upper American River in the central Sierra Nevada (43 km2) and in the upper Fresno River in the southern Sierra Nevada (24 km2). This study used the measured vegetation changes from mechanical treatments and modelled vegetation change from wildfire to determine impacts on the water balance. The well-constrained headwater model was transferred to larger catchments based on geologic and hydrologic similarities. Fuels treatments covered 18% of the American and 29% of the Lewis catchment. Averaged over the entire catchment, treatments in the wetter central Sierra Nevada resulted in a relatively light vegetation decrease (8%), leading to a 12% runoff increase, averaged over wet and dry years. Wildfire with and without forest treatments reduced vegetation by 38% and 50% and increased runoff by 55% and 67%, respectively. Treatments in the drier southern Sierra Nevada also reduced the spatially averaged vegetation by 8%, but the runoff response was limited to an increase of less than 3% compared with no treatment. Wildfire following treatments reduced vegetation by 40%, increasing runoff by 13%. Changes to catchment-scale water-balance simulations were more sensitive to canopy cover than to leaf area index, indicating that the pattern as well as amount of vegetation treatment is important to hydrologic response
Continuous phase amplification with a Sagnac interferometer
We describe a weak value inspired phase amplification technique in a Sagnac
interferometer. We monitor the relative phase between two paths of a slightly
misaligned interferometer by measuring the average position of a split-Gaussian
mode in the dark port. Although we monitor only the dark port, we show that the
signal varies linearly with phase and that we can obtain similar sensitivity to
balanced homodyne detection. We derive the source of the amplification both
with classical wave optics and as an inverse weak value.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, previously submitted for publicatio
Speckle-visibility spectroscopy: A tool to study time-varying dynamics
We describe a multispeckle dynamic light scattering technique capable of
resolving the motion of scattering sites in cases that this motion changes
systematically with time. The method is based on the visibility of the speckle
pattern formed by the scattered light as detected by a single exposure of a
digital camera. Whereas previous multispeckle methods rely on correlations
between images, here the connection with scattering site dynamics is made more
simply in terms of the variance of intensity among the pixels of the camera for
the specified exposure duration. The essence is that the speckle pattern is
more visible, i.e. the variance of detected intensity levels is greater, when
the dynamics of the scattering site motion is slow compared to the exposure
time of the camera. The theory for analyzing the moments of the spatial
intensity distribution in terms of the electric field autocorrelation is
presented. It is demonstrated for two well-understood samples, a colloidal
suspension of Brownian particles and a coarsening foam, where the dynamics can
be treated as stationary. However, the method is particularly appropriate for
samples in which the dynamics vary with time, either slowly or rapidly, limited
only by the exposure time fidelity of the camera. Potential applications range
from soft-glassy materials, to granular avalanches, to flowmetry of living
tissue.Comment: review - theory and experimen
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