Observation of Interactions between Trapped Ions and Ultracold Rydberg Atoms

We report on the observation of interactions between ultracold Rydberg atoms and ions in a Paul trap. The rate of observed inelastic collisions, which manifest themselves as charge transfer between the Rydberg atoms and ions, exceeds that of Langevin collisions for ground state atoms by about three orders of magnitude. This indicates a huge increase in interaction strength. We study the effect of the vacant Paul trap's electric fields on the Rydberg excitation spectra. To quantitatively describe the exhibited shape of the ion loss spectra, we need to include the ion-induced Stark shift on the Rydberg atoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate Rydberg excitation on a dipole-forbidden transition with the aid of the electric field of a single trapped ion. Our results confirm that interactions between ultracold atoms and trapped ions can be controlled by laser coupling to Rydberg states. Adding dynamic Rydberg dressing may allow for the creation of spin-spin interactions between atoms and ions, and the elimination of collisional heating due to ionic micromotion in atom-ion mixtures.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, including appendices. Note that the title has been changed in version

Computer simulations of two-dimensional melting with dipole-dipole interactions

We perform molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional melting with dipole-dipole interactions. Both static and dynamic behaviors are examined. In the isotropic liquid phase, the bond orientational correlation length 6 and susceptibility 6 are measured, and the data are fitted to the theoretical ansatz. An algebraic decay is detected for both spatial and temporal bond orientational correlation functions in an intermediate temperature regime, and it provides an explicit evidence for the existence of the hexatic phase. From the finite-size scaling analysis of the global bond orientational order parameter, the disclination unbinding temperature Ti is estimated. In addition, from dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of the positional order parameter, we extract the critical exponents at the dislocation unbinding temperature Tm. All the results are in agreement with those from experiments and support the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory.Comment: 23 pages, 12figure

Dynamical Diffraction Theory for Wave Packet Propagation in Deformed Crystals

We develop a theory for the trajectory of an x ray in the presence of a crystal deformation. A set of equations of motion for an x-ray wave packet including the dynamical diffraction is derived, taking into account the Berry phase as a correction to geometrical optics. The trajectory of the wave packet has a shift of the center position due to a crystal deformation. Remarkably, in the vicinity of the Bragg condition, the shift is enhanced by a factor $\omega /\Delta \omega$ ($\omega$: frequency of an x ray, $\Delta\omega$: gap frequency induced by the Bragg reflection). Comparison with the conventional dynamical diffraction theory is also made.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Title change

Two-Dimensional Wigner Crystal in Anisotropic Semiconductor

We investigate the effect of mass anisotropy on the Wigner crystallization transition in a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas. The static and dynamical properties of a 2D Wigner crystal have been calculated for arbitrary 2D Bravais lattices in the presence of anisotropic mass, as may be obtainable in Si MOSFETs with (110) surface. By studying the stability of all possible lattices, we find significant change in the crystal structure and melting density of the electron lattice with the lowest ground state energy.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 4 figure

Boundary conditions for interfaces of electromagnetic (photonic) crystals and generalized Ewald-Oseen extinction principle

The problem of plane-wave diffraction on semi-infinite orthorhombic electromagnetic (photonic) crystals of general kind is considered. Boundary conditions are obtained in the form of infinite system of equations relating amplitudes of incident wave, eigenmodes excited in the crystal and scattered spatial harmonics. Generalized Ewald-Oseen extinction principle is formulated on the base of deduced boundary conditions. The knowledge of properties of infinite crystal's eigenmodes provides option to solve the diffraction problem for the corresponding semi-infinite crystal numerically. In the case when the crystal is formed by small inclusions which can be treated as point dipolar scatterers with fixed direction the problem admits complete rigorous analytical solution. The amplitudes of excited modes and scattered spatial harmonics are expressed in terms of the wave vectors of the infinite crystal by closed-form analytical formulae. The result is applied for study of reflection properties of metamaterial formed by cubic lattice of split-ring resonators.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, submitted to PR

Evolutionary bi-stability in pathogen transmission mode

Many pathogens transmit to new hosts by both infection (horizontal transmission) and transfer to the infected host's offspring (vertical transmission). These two transmission modes require speci®c adap- tations of the pathogen that can be mutually exclusive, resulting in a trade-off between horizontal and vertical transmission. We show that in mathematical models such trade-offs can lead to the simultaneous existence of two evolutionary stable states (evolutionary bi-stability) of allocation of resources to the two modes of transmission. We also show that jumping between evolutionary stable states can be induced by gradual environmental changes. Using quantitative PCR-based estimates of abundance in seed and vege- tative parts, we show that the pathogen of wheat, Phaeosphaeria nodorum, has jumped between two distinct states of transmission mode twice in the past 160 years, which, based on published evidence, we interpret as adaptation to environmental change. The ®nding of evolutionary bi-stability has impli- cations for human, animal and other plant diseases. An ill-judged change in a disease control programme could cause the pathogen to evolve a new, and possibly more damaging, combination of transmission modes. Similarly, environmental changes can shift the balance between transmission modes, with adverse effects on human, animal and plant health

Laughlin-Jastrow-correlated Wigner crystal in a strong magnetic field

We propose a new ground state trial wavefunction for a two-dimensional Wigner crystal in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. The wavefunction includes Laughlin-Jastrow correlations between electron pairs, and may be interpreted as a crystal state of composite fermions or composite bosons. Treating the power $m$ of the Laughlin-Jastrow factor as a variational parameter, we use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to compute the energy of these new states. We find that our wavefunctions have lower energy than existing crystalline wavefunctions in the lowest Landau level. Our results are consistent with experimental observations of the filling factor at which the transition between the fractional quantum Hall liquid and the Wigner crystal occurs for electron systems. Exchange contributions to the wavefunctions are estimated quantitatively and shown to be negligible for sufficiently small filling factors

Improved analysis of neutral pion electroproduction off deuterium in chiral perturbation theory

Near threshold neutral pion electroproduction on the deuteron is studied in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. We include the next-to-leading order corrections to the three-body contributions. We find an improved description of the total and differential cross section data measured at MAMI. We also obtain more precise values for the threshold S-wave multipoles. We discuss in detail the theoretical uncertainties of the calculation.Comment: 14 pp, 11 figs, uses svjour.cl

Subtle competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order in a Mn(II) - free radical ferrimagnetic chain

The macroscopic magnetic characterization of the Mn(II) - nitronyl nitroxide free radical chain (Mn(hfac)2(R)-3MLNN) evidenced its transition from a 1-dimensional behavior of ferrimagnetic chains to a 3-dimensional ferromagnetic long range order below 3 K. Neutron diffraction experiments, performed on a single crystal around the transition temperature, led to a different conclusion : the magnetic Bragg reflections detected below 3 K correspond to a canted antiferromagnet where the magnetic moments are mainly oriented along the chain axis. Surprisingly in the context of other compounds in this family of magnets, the interchain coupling is antiferromagnetic. This state is shown to be very fragile since a ferromagnetic interchain arrangement is recovered in a weak magnetic field. This peculiar behavior might be explained by the competition between dipolar interaction, shown to be responsible for the antiferromagnetic long range order below 3 K, and exchange interaction, the balance between these interactions being driven by the strong intrachain spin correlations. More generally, this study underlines the need, in this kind of molecular compounds, to go beyond macroscopic magnetization measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Analysing the changing landscape of European financial centres: the role of financial products and the case of Amsterdam

The turn of the twenty-first century saw the re-emergence of debates about the reconfiguration of European financial geographies and the role of stock exchange mergers in this process. There has been, however, no systematic attempt to date to analyse such changes. This paper proposes a specific conceptual framework to explore these issues. It uses a product-based analysis to examine, in the context of recent stock exchange mergers, the factors affecting the competitiveness of a financial centre. It argues that it is important to understand three intertwined influences – product complementarities, the nature of local epistemic communities, and regulation – and their contingent effects on change. This is exemplified by a tentative application of the framework to the case of Amsterdam in order to better understand its recent decline in competitiveness as a European financial centre