1,166 research outputs found
High-precision spectroscopy of ultracold molecules in an optical lattice
The study of ultracold molecules tightly trapped in an optical lattice can
expand the frontier of precision measurement and spectroscopy, and provide a
deeper insight into molecular and fundamental physics. Here we create, probe,
and image microkelvin Sr molecules in a lattice, and demonstrate
precise measurements of molecular parameters as well as coherent control of
molecular quantum states using optical fields. We discuss the sensitivity of
the system to dimensional effects, a new bound-to-continuum spectroscopy
technique for highly accurate binding energy measurements, and prospects for
new physics with this rich experimental system.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Weak Long-Ranged Casimir Attraction in Colloidal Crystals
We investigate the influence of geometric confinement on the free energy of
an idealized model for charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions. The mean-field
Poisson-Boltzmann formulation for this system predicts pure repulsion among
macroionic colloidal spheres. Fluctuations in the simple ions' distribution
provide a mechanism for the macroions to attract each other at large
separations. Although this Casimir interaction is long-ranged, it is too weak
to influence colloidal crystals' dynamics.Comment: 5 pages 2 figures ReVTe
Colloidal hydrodynamic coupling in concentric optical vortices
Optical vortex traps created from helical modes of light can drive
fluid-borne colloidal particles in circular trajectories. Concentric
circulating rings of particles formed by coaxial optical vortices form a
microscopic Couette cell, in which the amount of hydrodynamic drag experienced
by the spheres depends on the relative sense of the rings' circulation.
Tracking the particles' motions makes possible measurements of the hydrodynamic
coupling between the circular particle trains and addresses recently proposed
hydrodynamic instabilities for collective colloidal motions on optical
vortices.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter
Correlated particle dynamics in concentrated quasi-two-dimensional suspensions
We investigate theoretically and experimentally how the hydrodynamically
correlated lateral motion of particles in a suspension confined between two
surfaces is affected by the suspension concentration. Despite the long range of
the correlations (decaying as 1/r^2 with the inter-particle distance r), the
concentration effect is present only at short inter-particle distances for
which the static pair correlation is nonuniform. This is in sharp contrast with
the effect of hydrodynamic screening present in unconfined suspensions, where
increasing the concentration changes the prefactor of the large-distance
correlation.Comment: 13 page
Photonic crystals of coated metallic spheres
It is shown that simple face-centered-cubic (fcc) structures of both metallic
and coated metallic spheres are ideal candidates to achieve a tunable complete
photonic bandgap (CPBG) for optical wavelengths using currently available
experimental techniques. For coated microspheres with the coating width to
plasma wavelength ratio and the coating and host
refractive indices and , respectively, between 1 and 1.47, one can
always find a sphere radius such that the relative gap width (gap
width to the midgap frequency ratio) is larger than 5% and, in some cases,
can exceed 9%. Using different coatings and supporting liquids, the width
and midgap frequency of a CPBG can be tuned considerably.Comment: 14 pages, plain latex, 3 ps figures, to appear in Europhys. Lett. For
more info on this subject see
http://www.amolf.nl/research/photonic_materials_theory/moroz/moroz.htm
Melting of Quasi-Two-Dimensional Charge Stripes in La5/3Sr1/3NiO4
Commensurability effects for nickelates have been studied by the first
neutron experiments on La5/3Sr1/3NiO4. Upon cooling, this system undergoes
three successive phase transitions associated with quasi-two-dimensional (2D)
commensurate charge and spin stripe ordering in the NiO planes. The two
lower temperature phases (denoted as phase II and III) are stripe lattice
states with quasi-long-range in-plane charge correlation. When the lattice of
2D charge stripes melts, it goes through an intermediate glass state (phase I)
before becoming a disordered liquid state. This glass state shows short-range
charge order without spin order, and may be called a "stripe glass" which
resembles the hexatic/nematic state in 2D melting.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex, 4 figures available on request to
[email protected]
Fault-Tolerant Exact State Transmission
We show that a category of one-dimensional XY-type models may enable
high-fidelity quantum state transmissions, regardless of details of coupling
configurations. This observation leads to a fault- tolerant design of a state
transmission setup. The setup is fault-tolerant, with specified thresholds,
against engineering failures of coupling configurations, fabrication
imperfections or defects, and even time-dependent noises. We propose the
implementation of the fault-tolerant scheme using hard-core bosons in
one-dimensional optical lattices.Comment: 5 pages and 4 figure
Anisotropic effect on two-dimensional cellular automaton traffic flow with periodic and open boundaries
By the use of computer simulations we investigate, in the cellular automaton
of two-dimensional traffic flow, the anisotropic effect of the probabilities of
the change of the move directions of cars, from up to right () and from
right to up (), on the dynamical jamming transition and velocities
under the periodic boundary conditions in one hand and the phase diagram under
the open boundary conditions in the other hand. However, in the former case,
the first order jamming transition disappears when the cars alter their
directions of move ( and/or ). In the open boundary
conditions, it is found that the first order line transition between jamming
and moving phases is curved. Hence, by increasing the anisotropy, the moving
phase region expand as well as the contraction of the jamming phase one.
Moreover, in the isotropic case, and when each car changes its direction of
move every time steps (), the transition from the jamming
phase (or moving phase) to the maximal current one is of first order.
Furthermore, the density profile decays, in the maximal current phase, with an
exponent .}Comment: 13 pages, 22 figure
An optically actuated surface scanning probe
We demonstrate the use of an extended, optically trapped probe that is capable of imaging surface topography with nanometre precision, whilst applying ultra-low, femto-Newton sized forces. This degree of precision and sensitivity is acquired through three distinct strategies. First, the probe itself is shaped in such a way as to soften the trap along the sensing axis and stiffen it in transverse directions. Next, these characteristics are enhanced by selectively position clamping independent motions of the probe. Finally, force clamping is used to refine the surface contact response. Detailed analyses are presented for each of these mechanisms. To test our sensor, we scan it laterally over a calibration sample consisting of a series of graduated steps, and demonstrate a height resolution of ∼ 11 nm. Using equipartition theory, we estimate that an average force of only ∼ 140 fN is exerted on the sample during the scan, making this technique ideal for the investigation of delicate biological samples
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