144 research outputs found
Experimental exploration of the optomechanical attractor diagram and its dynamics
We demonstrate experimental exploration of the attractor diagram of an
optomechanical system where the optical forces compensate for the mechanical
losses. In this case stable self-induced oscillations occur but only for
specific mirror amplitudes and laser detunings. We demonstrate that we can
amplify the mechanical mode to an amplitude 500 times larger than the thermal
amplitude at 300K. The lack of unstable or chaotic motion allows us to
manipulate our system into a non-trivial steady state and explore the dynamics
of self-induced oscillations in great detail.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Coherent Optomechanical State Transfer between Disparate Mechanical Resonators
Hybrid quantum systems have been developed with various mechanical, optical
and microwave harmonic oscillators. The coupling produces a rich library of
interactions including two mode squeezing, swapping interactions, back-action
evasion and thermal control. In a multimode mechanical system, coupling
resonators of different scales (both in frequency and mass) leverages the
advantages of each resonance. For example: a high frequency, easily manipulated
resonator could be entangled with a low frequency massive object for tests of
gravitational decoherence. Here we demonstrate coherent optomechanical state
swapping between two spatially and frequency separated resonators with a mass
ratio of 4. We find that, by using two laser beams far detuned from an optical
cavity resonance, efficient state transfer is possible through a process very
similar to STIRAP (Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage) in atomic physics.
Although the demonstration is classical, the same technique can be used to
generate entanglement between oscillators in the quantum regime
High-Q nested resonator in an actively stabilized optomechanical cavity
Experiments involving micro- and nanomechanical resonators need to be
carefully designed to reduce mechanical environmental noise. A small scale
on-chip approach is to add an additional resonator to the system as a
mechanical low-pass filter. Unfortunately, the inherent low frequency of the
low-pass filter causes the system to be easily excited mechanically. Fixating
the additional resonator ensures that the resonator itself can not be excited
by the environment. This, however, negates the purpose of the low-pass filter.
We solve this apparent paradox by applying active feedback to the resonator,
thereby minimizing the motion with respect the front mirror of an
optomechanical cavity. Not only does this method actively stabilize the cavity
length, but it also retains the on-chip vibration isolation.Comment: Minor adjustments mad
Probing the magnetic moment of FePt micromagnets prepared by Focused Ion Beam milling
We investigate the degradation of the magnetic moment of a 300 nm thick FePt
film induced by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling. A rod is milled out of a film by a FIB process and is attached
to a cantilever by electron beam induced deposition. Its magnetic moment is
determined by frequency-shift cantilever magnetometry. We find that the
magnetic moment of the rod is , which implies that 70% of the magnetic moment is preserved
during the FIB milling process. This result has important implications for atom
trapping and magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), that are addressed in
this paper.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Vibration isolation with high thermal conductance for a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator
We present the design and implementation of a mechanical low-pass filter
vibration isolation used to reduce the vibrational noise in a cryogen-free
dilution refrigerator operated at 10 mK, intended for scanning probe
techniques. We discuss the design guidelines necessary to meet the competing
requirements of having a low mechanical stiffness in combination with a high
thermal conductance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by
measuring the vibrational noise levels of an ultrasoft mechanical resonator
positioned above a SQUID. Starting from a cryostat base temperature of 8 mK,
the vibration isolation can be cooled to 10.5 mK, with a cooling power of 113
W at 100 mK. We use the low vibrations and low temperature to demonstrate
an effective cantilever temperature of less than 20 mK. This results in a force
sensitivity of less than 500 zN/, and an integrated
frequency noise as low as 0.4 mHz in a 1 Hz measurement bandwidth
Cubic Dice: Archaeological Material for Understanding Historical Processes
The characteristics of dice found in archaeological contexts assist in the understanding of historical processes and human behavior. The dice attributes of configuration and dot pattern are regionally and/or temporally specific and can be used to help date dice themselves or the context in which they are found. As well, dice have been used to decipher Etruscan words and may identify novice and expert dice makers in the archaeological record. The shape and size of the dots and dice cubes further inform the distinctive appearance of dice in medieval versus Roman times
Sex-Ratio, Health, and Social Status: A Biographical Description of Middle and Late Period Bay Area Children
The aim of this paper is to present new information pertaining to the demographic profile of the juvenile burial assemblage (n=39) from a Late Holocene site located on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. CA-ALA-329 is commonly referred to as Ryan Mound and now bears the Muwekma Ohlone name of MĂĄnni MuwĂ©kma KĂșksĂș HĂłowok YatiĆĄ TĂșnneĆĄte-tka, which means Place Where the People of the KĂșksĂș (Bighead) Pendants are Buried. This site has been extensively studied and has contributed significantly to our understanding of life on the Bay during the Middle and Late Periods. However, most of the previous studies have focused on adults. The goal of the present study is to identify patterns in the profiles of those who died prematurely, including their sex, their degree of stress experienced based on skeletal indicators of disease/malnutrition, and their social status based on associated grave goods. Results show high incidence of skeletal indicators consistent with nutritional deficiency, disease/infection, and/or metabolic disorder observed in the sample. This suggests that this population was experiencing stress. Individual circumstances, such as age and sex, may also have contributed to poor health because infants have the highest prevalence of cribra orbitalia and periostitis. The distribution of wealth as evidenced by burial goods associated with the sample shows some correlation with age-at-death and the types of artifacts. Distribution of wealth also differs temporally. Inequality seems to have been highest in the Middle Period, while inequality decreased, but overall wealth increased, into the Late Period
Contrasting Male and Female Dietary Life Histories: A Case Study at an Ancestral Muwekma Ohlone Heritage Site in San Jose, California
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bones and teeth at the ancestral heritage Muwekma Ohlone site of Yakmuy âOoyĂĄkma-tka (âPlace of the East Ridge Siteâ; CA-SCL-215) reveal significant differences in the dietary life history of males and females. Overall, isotope data indicate that site inhabitants were primarily dependent on low trophic-level foods, likely plants, and minor amounts of marine food for their main source of dietary protein. From tooth dentin serial samples, we found that males were elevated by 0.6-1.0â° in ÎŽ15N in early childhood (age 1-9 years) relative to females, while ÎŽ13C values were similar by sex, indicating boys were accessing slightly greater amounts of higher trophic-level foods, such as meat from game. The sex-biased difference in ÎŽ15N diminishes during the second decade of life, as female ÎŽ15N values increase and become equal to males. However, a difference in ÎŽ13C emerges during the second decade where female ÎŽ13C values are elevated relative to males. This could indicate that teenage females consumed higher amounts of low trophic-level, marine-derived protein, such as shellfish. During later adult years, the difference in ÎŽ13C disappears, while males again show an increase in ÎŽ15N relative to females. Although these differences are small, they reveal important sex-biased life history patterns during childhood and adulthood in this ancient community
Behavioral Modernity and the Cultural Transmission of Structured Information: The Semantic Axelrod Model
Cultural transmission models are coming to the fore in explaining increases
in the Paleolithic toolkit richness and diversity. During the later
Paleolithic, technologies increase not only in terms of diversity but also in
their complexity and interdependence. As Mesoudi and O'Brien (2008) have shown,
selection broadly favors social learning of information that is hierarchical
and structured, and multiple studies have demonstrated that teaching within a
social learning environment can increase fitness. We believe that teaching also
provides the scaffolding for transmission of more complex cultural traits.
Here, we introduce an extension of the Axelrod (1997} model of cultural
differentiation in which traits have prerequisite relationships, and where
social learning is dependent upon the ordering of those prerequisites. We
examine the resulting structure of cultural repertoires as learning
environments range from largely unstructured imitation, to structured teaching
of necessary prerequisites, and we find that in combination with individual
learning and innovation, high probabilities of teaching prerequisites leads to
richer cultural repertoires. Our results point to ways in which we can build
more comprehensive explanations of the archaeological record of the Paleolithic
as well as other cases of technological change.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to "Learning Strategies and Cultural
Evolution during the Paleolithic", edited by Kenichi Aoki and Alex Mesoudi,
and presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American
Archaeology, Austin TX. Revised 5/14/1
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