Dressed matter waves

We suggest to view ultracold atoms in a time-periodically shifted optical lattice as a "dressed matter wave", analogous to a dressed atom in an electromagnetic field. A possible effect lending support to this concept is a transition of ultracold bosonic atoms from a superfluid to a Mott-insulating state in response to appropriate "dressing" achieved through time-periodic lattice modulation. In order to observe this effect in a laboratory experiment, one has to identify conditions allowing for effectively adiabatic motion of a many-body Floquet state.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, to be published in: J. Phys.: Conference Serie

Tunneling control and localization for Bose-Einstein condensates in a frequency modulated optical lattice

The similarity between matter waves in periodic potential and solid-state physics processes has triggered the interest in quantum simulation using Bose-Fermi ultracold gases in optical lattices. The present work evidences the similarity between electrons moving under the application of oscillating electromagnetic fields and matter waves experiencing an optical lattice modulated by a frequency difference, equivalent to a spatially shaken periodic potential. We demonstrate that the tunneling properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in shaken periodic potentials can be precisely controlled. We take additional crucial steps towards future applications of this method by proving that the strong shaking of the optical lattice preserves the coherence of the matter wavefunction and that the shaking parameters can be changed adiabatically, even in the presence of interactions. We induce reversibly the quantum phase transition to the Mott insulator in a driven periodic potential.Comment: Laser Physics (in press

Multitemporal and Multispectral Remote Sensing of Soils in Cultured Landscapes of North Germany

Different techniques have been tested since 1974 to meet the difficult task of soil remote sensing in intensively cultured and small-parcelled landscapes of North Germany. Conventional stereo - interpretation of physiographic elements and patterns of landscapes by pan, color and infrared air photographs lowers the necessary number of soil borings and the cost of survey appreciably as well as increasing the information content and accuracy of soil maps. Especially, man-induced soil erosion and accumulation of hilly young moraines, position of sand dunes and old river beds on outwash terraces and appearance of periglacial polygon soils on flattened old moraines, only partly or not detectable in the field, were made visible with remote sensing. To increase the information content of remote sensing data and make interpretation more reproducible the multispectral remission was measured by an 11-channel-scanner. These data were calibrated by spectral photometry of soil samples within the wavelength range of 250 - 1400 nm to estimate by multiple regression analysis soil components, especially organic matter, free iron and clay. Additional information was achieved by measuring three times a day the multitemporal thermal emission with the scanner in autumn and spring of test areas. The data were interpreted by experiments in the field and laboratory, which measured the heat balance of soils in relation to external factors and the soil moisture regime

New Results from NA49

We present recent results of the SPS experiment NA49 on production of strange particles and event-by-event fluctuations of mean $p_t$ and of charged particle ratios in central Pb+Pb collisions at various beam energies (40, 80, 158 AGeV) as well as in different collisions at 158 AGeV, going from p+p over light-ion collisions to peripheral and central Pb+Pb.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures (in eps) talk given at XXXI International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, Sep. 1-7, 2001, Datong China URL http://ismd31.ccnu.edu.cn

Quantifying and Controlling Prethermal Nonergodicity in Interacting Floquet Matter

The use of periodic driving for synthesizing many-body quantum states depends crucially on the existence of a prethermal regime, which exhibits drive-tunable properties while forestalling the effects of heating. This dependence motivates the search for direct experimental probes of the underlying localized nonergodic nature of the wave function in this metastable regime. We report experiments on a many-body Floquet system consisting of atoms in an optical lattice subjected to ultrastrong sign-changing amplitude modulation. Using a double-quench protocol, we measure an inverse participation ratio quantifying the degree of prethermal localization as a function of tunable drive parameters and interactions. We obtain a complete prethermal map of the drive-dependent properties of Floquet matter spanning four square decades of parameter space. Following the full time evolution, we observe sequential formation of two prethermal plateaux, interaction-driven ergodicity, and strongly frequency-dependent dynamics of long-time thermalization. The quantitative characterization of the prethermal Floquet matter realized in these experiments, along with the demonstration of control of its properties by variation of drive parameters and interactions, opens a new frontier for probing far-from-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics and new possibilities for dynamical quantum engineering

55% conversion efficiency to green in bulk quasi-phase-matching lithium niobate

High voltage and liquid electrodes were used for periodic poling of lithium niobate. A sample with a period of 6.80 µm was used for first-order frequency doubling of 1064 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG light with an average power conversion of 55%, implying greater than 90% power conversion at the peak of the pulse. The effective nonlinear coefficient for both Q-switched and continuous-wave measurements was ~15 pm/V

Modified spin-wave theory with ordering vector optimization I: frustrated bosons on the spatially anisotropic triangular lattice

We investigate a system of frustrated hardcore bosons, modeled by an XY antiferromagnet on the spatially anisotropic triangular lattice, using Takahashi's modified spin-wave (MSW) theory. In particular we implement ordering vector optimization on the ordered reference state of MSW theory, which leads to significant improvement of the theory and accounts for quantum corrections to the classically ordered state. The MSW results at zero temperature compare favorably to exact diagonalization (ED) and projected entangled-pair state (PEPS) calculations. The resulting zero-temperature phase diagram includes a 1D quasi-ordered phase, a 2D Neel ordered phase, and a 2D spiraling ordered phase. We have strong indications that the various ordered or quasi-ordered phases are separated by spin-liquid phases with short-range correlations, in analogy to what has been predicted for the Heisenberg model on the same lattice. Within MSW theory we also explore the finite-temperature phase diagram. We find that the zero-temperature long-range-ordered phases turn into quasi-ordered phases (up to a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature), while zero-temperature quasi-ordered phases become short-range correlated at finite temperature. These results show that modified spin-wave theory is very well suited for describing ordered and quasi-ordered phases of frustrated XY spins (or, equivalently, of frustrated lattice bosons) both at zero and finite temperatures. While MSW theory, just as other theoretical methods, cannot describe spin-liquid phases, its breakdown provides a fast method for singling out Hamiltonians which may feature these intriguing quantum phases. We thus suggest a tool for guiding our search for interesting systems whose properties are necessarily studied with a physical quantum simulator.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figure

Approach to Perturbative Results in the N-Delta Transition

We show that constraints from perturbative QCD calculations play a role in the nucleon to Delta(1232) electromagnetic transition even at moderate momentum transfer scales. The pQCD constraints, tied to real photoproduction data and unseparated resonance response functions, lead to explicit forms for the helicity amplitudes wherein the E2/M1 ratio remains small at moderately large momentum transfer.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ReVTe