Photon correlations in positron annihilation

The two-photon positron annihilation density matrix is found to separate into a diagonal center of energy factor implying maximally entangled momenta, and a relative factor describing decay. For unknown positron injection time, the distribution of the difference in photon arrival times is a double exponential at the para-Ps decay rate, consistent with experiment (V. D. Irby, Meas. Sci. Technol. 15, 1799 (2004)).Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Avionics architecture studies for the entry research vehicle

This report is the culmination of a year-long investigation of the avionics architecture for NASA's Entry Research Vehicle (ERV). The Entry Research Vehicle is conceived to be an unmanned, autonomous spacecraft to be deployed from the Shuttle. It will perform various aerodynamic and propulsive maneuvers in orbit and land at Edwards AFB after a 5 to 10 hour mission. The design and analysis of the vehicle's avionics architecture are detailed here. The architecture consists of a central triply redundant ultra-reliable fault tolerant processor attached to three replicated and distributed MIL-STD-1553 buses for input and output. The reliability analysis is detailed here. The architecture was found to be sufficiently reliable for the ERV mission plan

The information of high-dimensional time-bin encoded photons

We determine the shared information that can be extracted from time-bin entangled photons using frame encoding. We consider photons generated by a general down-conversion source and also model losses, dark counts and the effects of multiple photons within each frame. Furthermore, we describe a procedure for including other imperfections such as after-pulsing, detector dead-times and jitter. The results are illustrated by deriving analytic expressions for the maximum information that can be extracted from high-dimensional time-bin entangled photons generated by a spontaneous parametric down conversion. A key finding is that under realistic conditions and using standard SPAD detectors one can still choose frame size so as to extract over 10 bits per photon. These results are thus useful for experiments on high-dimensional quantum-key distribution system.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Small-Signal Amplification of Period-Doubling Bifurcations in Smooth Iterated Maps

Various authors have shown that, near the onset of a period-doubling bifurcation, small perturbations in the control parameter may result in much larger disturbances in the response of the dynamical system. Such amplification of small signals can be measured by a gain defined as the magnitude of the disturbance in the response divided by the perturbation amplitude. In this paper, the perturbed response is studied using normal forms based on the most general assumptions of iterated maps. Such an analysis provides a theoretical footing for previous experimental and numerical observations, such as the failure of linear analysis and the saturation of the gain. Qualitative as well as quantitative features of the gain are exhibited using selected models of cardiac dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

High-order optical nonlinearity at low light levels

We observe a nonlinear optical process in a gas of cold atoms that simultaneously displays the largest reported fifth-order nonlinear susceptibility \chi^(5) = 1.9x10^{-12} (m/V)^4 and high transparency. The nonlinearity results from the simultaneous cooling and crystallization of the gas, and gives rise to efficient Bragg scattering in the form of six-wave-mixing at low-light-levels. For large atom-photon coupling strengths, the back-action of the scattered fields influences the light-matter dynamics. This system may have important applications in many-body physics, quantum information processing, and multidimensional soliton formation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Crystal-to-crystal transition of ultrasoft colloids under shear

Ultrasoft colloids typically do not spontaneously crystallize, but rather vitrify, at high concentrations. Combining in-situ rheo-SANS experiments and numerical simulations we show that shear facilitates crystallization of colloidal star polymers in the vicinity of their glass transition. With increasing shear rate well beyond rheological yielding, a transition is found from an initial bcc-dominated structure to an fcc-dominated one. This crystal-to-crystal transition is not accompanied by intermediate melting but occurs via a sudden reorganization of the crystal structure. Our results provide a new avenue to tailor colloidal crystallization and crystal-to-crystal transition at molecular level by coupling softness and shear

Total integrated dose testing of solid-state scientific CD4011, CD4013, and CD4060 devices by irradiation with CO-60 gamma rays

The total integrated dose response of three CMOS devices manufactured by Solid State Scientific has been measured using CO-60 gamma rays. Key parameter measurements were made and compared for each device type. The data show that the CD4011, CD4013, and CD4060 produced by this manufacturers should not be used in any environments where radiation levels might exceed 1,000 rad(Si)

Competition between Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and Raman Processes

We present a theoretical formulation of competition among electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Raman processes. The latter become important when the medium can no longer be considered to be dilute. Unlike the standard formulation of EIT, we consider all fields applied and generated as interacting with both the transitions of the $\Lambda$ scheme. We solve Maxwell equations for the net generated field using a fast-Fourier-transform technique and obtain predictions for the probe, control and Raman fields. We show how the intensity of the probe field is depleted at higher atomic number densities due to the build up of multiple Raman fields.Comment: 3.5 pages, 7 figure

Stability of an oscillating tip in Non-Contact Atomic Force Microscopy: theoretical and numerical investigations

This paper is a theoretical and a numerical investigation of the stability of a tip-cantilever system used in Non-Contact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM) when it oscillates close to a surface. No additional dissipative force is considered. The theoretical approach is based on a variationnal method exploiting a coarse grained operation that gives the temporal dependence of the nonlinear coupled equations of motion in amplitude and phase of the oscillator. Stability criterions for the resonance peak are deduced and predict a stable behavior of the oscillator in the vicinity of the resonance. The numerical approach is based on results obtained with a virtual NC-AFM developped in our group. The effect of the size of the stable domain in phase is investigated. These results are in particularly good agreement with the theoretical predictions. Also they show the influence of the phase shifter in the feedback loop and the way it can affect the damping signal