4,656 research outputs found
Experimental study of granular surface flows via a fast camera: a continuous description
Depth averaged conservation equations are written for granular surface flows.
Their application to the study of steady surface flows in a rotating drum
allows to find experimentally the constitutive relations needed to close these
equations from measurements of the velocity profile in the flowing layer at the
center of the drum and from the flowing layer thickness and the static/flowing
boundary profiles. The velocity varies linearly with depth, with a gradient
independent of both the flowing layer thickness and the static/flowing boundary
local slope. The first two closure relations relating the flow rate and the
momentum flux to the flowing layer thickness and the slope are then deduced.
Measurements of the profile of the flowing layer thickness and the
static/flowing boundary in the whole drum explicitly give the last relation
concerning the force acting on the flowing layer. Finally, these closure
relations are compared to existing continuous models of surface flows.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. FLuid
A quantum trampoline for ultra-cold atoms
We have observed the interferometric suspension of a free-falling
Bose-Einstein condensate periodically submitted to multiple-order diffraction
by a vertical 1D standing wave. The various diffracted matter waves recombine
coherently, resulting in high contrast interference in the number of atoms
detected at constant height. For long suspension times, multiple-wave
interference is revealed through a sharpening of the fringes. We use this
scheme to measure the acceleration of gravity
Heat Capacity of Mesoscopic Superconducting Disks
We study the heat capacity of isolated giant vortex states, which are good
angular momentum () states, in a mesoscopic superconducting disk using the
Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory. At small magnetic fields the =0 state
qualitatively behaves like the bulk sample characterized by a discontinuity in
heat capacity at . As the field is increased the discontinuity slowly
turns into a continuous change which is a finite size effect. The higher
states show a continuous change in heat capacity at at all fields. We
also show that for these higher states, the behavior of the peak position
with change in field is related to the paramagnetic Meissner effect
(irreversible) and can lead to an unambiguous observation of positive
magnetization in mesoscopic superconductors.Comment: Final versio
Anisotropic 2D diffusive expansion of ultra-cold atoms in a disordered potential
We study the horizontal expansion of vertically confined ultra-cold atoms in
the presence of disorder. Vertical confinement allows us to realize a situation
with a few coupled harmonic oscillator quantum states. The disordered potential
is created by an optical speckle at an angle of 30{\deg} with respect to the
horizontal plane, resulting in an effective anisotropy of the correlation
lengths of a factor of 2 in that plane. We observe diffusion leading to
non-Gaussian density profiles. Diffusion coefficients, extracted from the
experimental results, show anisotropy and strong energy dependence, in
agreement with numerical calculations
Response of Mouse Lung Air-Blood Barrier to X-Irradiation: Ultrastructural and Stereological Analysis
Male mice of the Balb/c strain were exposed, at an age of three months, to a single dose of 10 or 20 Gy on the right hemithorax. At 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months after exposure, lungs were processed for electron microscopy following a standardized procedure in order to allow stereological analysis. By this method, the arithmetical mean thickness and, the air-blood barrier mean thickness in the lung parenchyma was shown to increase quickly with time by oedemization and fibrinization of the septal space. The ratio endothelium/epithelium surfaces (Sr/SF) gradually decreased by reduction of both surfaces but this was more marked for Si. The endothelium and epithelium were both highly damaged. Quantitative results indicate that damage to the epithelial cells and mainly to type II, appear at the same time as damage to the endothelium. From the time lapse quantitation it is not possible to determine which one plays the predominant role in the radiation pneumonitis. The strong reaction of the basement membrane and mainly of the interstitial cells could play a decisive role in the evolution of the illness
The theory of quantum levitators
We develop a unified theory for clocks and gravimeters using the
interferences of multiple atomic waves put in levitation by traveling light
pulses. Inspired by optical methods, we exhibit a propagation invariant, which
enables to derive analytically the wave function of the sample scattering on
the light pulse sequence. A complete characterization of the device sensitivity
with respect to frequency or to acceleration measurements is obtained. These
results agree with previous numerical simulations and confirm the conjecture of
sensitivity improvement through multiple atomic wave interferences. A realistic
experimental implementation for such clock architecture is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 6 Figures. Minor typos corrected. Final versio
Full counting statistics of laser excited Rydberg aggregates in a one-dimensional geometry
We experimentally study the full counting statistics of few-body Rydberg
aggregates excited from a quasi-one-dimensional Rydberg gas. We measure
asymmetric excitation spectra and increased second and third order statistical
moments of the Rydberg number distribution, from which we determine the average
aggregate size. Direct comparisons with numerical simulations reveal the
presence of liquid-like spatial correlations, and indicate sequential growth of
the aggregates around an initial grain. These findings demonstrate the
importance of dissipative effects in strongly correlated Rydberg gases and
introduce a way to study spatio-temporal correlations in strongly-interacting
many-body quantum systems without imaging.Comment: 6 pages plus supplemen
Vortices in Ginzburg-Landau billiards
We present an analysis of the Ginzburg-Landau equations for the description
of a two-dimensional superconductor in a bounded domain. Using the properties
of a special integrability point of these equations which allows vortex
solutions, we obtain a closed expression for the energy of the superconductor.
The role of the boundary of the system is to provide a selection mechanism
for the number of vortices.
A geometrical interpretation of these results is presented and they are
applied to the analysis of the magnetization recently measured on small
superconducting disks. Problems related to the interaction and nucleation of
vortices are discussed.Comment: RevTex, 17 pages, 3 eps figure
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