Conversion of 40^{40}K-87^{87}Rb mixtures into stable molecules

We study the conversion of $^{40}$K and $^{87}$Rb atoms into stable molecules through the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in photoassociation assisted with Feshbach resonance. Starting with the mean-field Langrange density, we show that the atom-to-molecule conversion efficiency by STIRAP aided by Feshbach resonance is much larger than that by bare Feshbach resonance. We also study the influence of the population imbalance on the atom-to-molecule conversion.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 3 figures; version to appear in PRA (some content changed

Dynamical decoupling of superconducting qubits

We show that two superconducting qubits interacting via a fixed transversal coupling can be decoupled by appropriately-designed microwave feld excitations applied to each qubit. This technique is useful for removing the effects of spurious interactions in a quantum processor. We also simulate the case of a qubit coupled to a two-level system (TLS) present in the insulating layer of the Josephson junction of the qubit. Finally, we discuss the qubit-TLS problem in the context of dispersive measurements, where the qubit is coupled to a resonator.Comment: 4 figures, 6 page

On the accuracy of the S/N estimates obtained with the exposure time calculator of the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope

We have studied the accuracy and reliability of the exposure time calculator (ETC) of the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with the objective of determining how well it represents actual observations and, therefore, how much confidence can be invested in it and in similar software tools. We have found, for example, that the ETC gives, in certain circumstances, very optimistic values for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of point sources. These values overestimate by up to a factor of 2 the HST performance when simulations are needed to plan deep imaging observations, thus bearing serious implications on observing time allocation. For this particular case, we calculate the corrective factors to compute the appropriate SNR and detection limits and we show how these corrections vary with field crowding and sky background. We also compare the ETC of the WFPC2 with a more general ETC tool, which takes into account the real effects of pixel size and charge diffusion. Our analysis indicates that similar problems may afflict other ETCs in general showing the limits to which they are bound and the caution with which their results must be taken.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, to be published in PASP on July 200

Analysis of microsprings for calculating the force produced by microactuators

We present models of two types of microsprings namely box-spring and zig-zag spring that can be used to measure the force generated by microactuators. The spring constant for both springs is calculated by FEM using ANSYS software. In these models, the effects of short beams that act as connectors in the spring structures are considered and analyzed by changing their width. Also, from the results, we find that the box spring appears more balanced than the zig-zag spring when the force is applied in the single central direction. A series of SDAs with box spring have been fabricated and forces ofthose SDAs have been calculated