Search for Gravitational Waves from Intermediate Mass Binary Black Holes

We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of non-spinning intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the total mass range 100--450 solar masses and with the component mass ratios between 1:1 and 4:1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the IMBH mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88 solar masses, for non-spinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures: data for plots and archived public version at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=62326, see also the public announcement at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5IMBH

Optical techniques for Rydberg physics in lattice geometries

We address the technical challenges when performing quantum information experiments with ultracold Rydberg atoms in lattice geometries. We discuss the following key aspects: (i) the coherent manipulation of atomic ground states, (ii) the coherent excitation of Rydberg states, and (iii) spatial addressing of individual lattice sites. We briefly review methods and solutions which have been successfully implemented, and give examples based on our experimental apparatus. This includes an optical phase-locked loop, an intensity and frequency stabilization setup for lasers, and a nematic liquid-crystal spatial light modulator