15,198 research outputs found
Ad- and desorption of Rb atoms on a gold nanofilm measured by surface plasmon polaritons
Hybrid quantum systems made of cold atoms near nanostructured surfaces are
expected to open up new opportunities for the construction of quantum sensors
and for quantum information. For the design of such tailored quantum systems
the interaction of alkali atoms with dielectric and metallic surfaces is
crucial and required to be understood in detail. Here, we present real-time
measurements of the adsorption and desorption of Rubidium atoms on gold
nanofilms. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) are excited at the gold surface and
detected in a phase sensitive way. From the temporal change of the SPP phase
the Rubidium coverage of the gold film is deduced with a sensitivity of better
than 0.3 % of a monolayer. By comparing the experimental data with a Langmuir
type adsorption model we obtain the thermal desorption rate and the sticking
probability. In addition, also laser-induced desorption is observed and
quantified.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Direct Measurement of intermediate-range Casimir-Polder potentials
We present the first direct measurements of Casimir-Polder forces between
solid surfaces and atomic gases in the transition regime between the
electrostatic short-distance and the retarded long-distance limit. The
experimental method is based on ultracold ground-state Rb atoms that are
reflected from evanescent wave barriers at the surface of a dielectric glass
prism. Our novel approach does not require assumptions about the potential
shape. The experimental data confirm the theoretical prediction in the
transition regime.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Characterizing flows with an instrumented particle measuring Lagrangian accelerations
We present in this article a novel Lagrangian measurement technique: an
instrumented particle which continuously transmits the force/acceleration
acting on it as it is advected in a flow. We develop signal processing methods
to extract information on the flow from the acceleration signal transmitted by
the particle. Notably, we are able to characterize the force acting on the
particle and to identify the presence of a permanent large-scale vortex
structure. Our technique provides a fast, robust and efficient tool to
characterize flows, and it is particularly suited to obtain Lagrangian
statistics along long trajectories or in cases where optical measurement
techniques are not or hardly applicable.Comment: submitted to New Journal of Physic
Thermodynamics and Excitations of Condensed Polaritons in Disordered Microcavities
We study the thermodynamic condensation of microcavity polaritons using a
realistic model of disorder in semiconductor quantum wells. This approach
correctly describes the polariton inhomogeneous broadening in the low density
limit, and treats scattering by disorder to all orders in the condensed regime.
While the weak disorder changes the thermodynamic properties of the transition
little, the effects of disorder in the condensed state are prominent in the
excitations and can be seen in resonant Rayleigh scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figures (published version
Cold atoms near superconductors: Atomic spin coherence beyond the Johnson noise limit
We report on the measurement of atomic spin coherence near the surface of a
superconducting niobium wire. As compared to normal conducting metal surfaces,
the atomic spin coherence is maintained for time periods beyond the Johnson
noise limit. The result provides experimental evidence that magnetic near field
noise near the superconductor is strongly suppressed. Such long atomic spin
coherence times near superconductors open the way towards the development of
coherently coupled cold atom / solid state hybrid quantum systems with
potential applications in quantum information processing and precision force
sensing.Comment: Major revisions of the text for submission to New Journal of Physics
8 pages, 4 figure
Staging superstructures in high- Sr/O co-doped LaSrCuO
We present high energy X-ray diffraction studies on the structural phases of
an optimal high- superconductor LaSrCuO tailored by
co-hole-doping. This is specifically done by varying the content of two very
different chemical species, Sr and O, respectively, in order to study the
influence of each. A superstructure known as staging is observed in all
samples, with the staging number increasing for higher Sr dopings . We
find that the staging phases emerge abruptly with temperature, and can be
described as a second order phase transition with transition temperatures
slightly depending on the Sr doping. The Sr appears to correlate the
interstitial oxygen in a way that stabilises the reproducibility of the staging
phase both in terms of staging period and volume fraction in a specific sample.
The structural details as investigated in this letter appear to have no direct
bearing on the electronic phase separation previously observed in the same
samples. This provides new evidence that the electronic phase separation is
determined by the overall hole concentration rather than specific Sr/O content
and concommittant structural details.Comment: 8 pages, incl. 4 figure
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