Rotational velocities of A-type stars II. Measurement of vsini in the northern hemisphere

This work is the second part of the set of measurements of vsini for A-type stars, begun by Royer et al. (2002). Spectra of 249 B8 to F2-type stars brighter than V=7 have been collected at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP). Fourier transforms of several line profiles in the range 4200--4600 A are used to derive vsini from the frequency of the first zero. Statistical analysis of the sample indicates that measurement error mainly depends on vsini and this relative error of the rotational velocity is found to be about 5% on average. The systematic shift with respect to standard values from Slettebak et al. (1975), previously found in the first paper, is here confirmed. Comparisons with data from the literature agree with our findings: vsini values from Slettebak et al. are underestimated and the relation between both scales follows a linear law: vsini(new) = 1.03 vsini(old) + 7.7. Finally, these data are combined with those from the previous paper (Royer et al. 2002), together with the catalogue of Abt & Morrell (1995). The resulting sample includes some 2150 stars with homogenized rotational velocities.Comment: 16 pages, includes 13 figures, accepted in A&

Observation of extremely slow hole spin relaxation in self-assembled quantum dots

We report the measurement of extremely slow hole spin relaxation dynamics in small ensembles of self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots. Individual spin orientated holes are optically created in the lowest orbital state of each dot and read out after a defined storage time using spin memory devices. The resulting luminescence signal exhibits a pronounced polarization memory effect that vanishes for long storage times. The hole spin relaxation dynamics are measured as a function of external magnetic field and lattice temperature. We show that hole spin relaxation can occur over remarkably long timescales in strongly confined quantum dots (up to ~270 us), as predicted by recent theory. Our findings are supported by calculations that reproduce both the observed magnetic field and temperature dependencies. The results suggest that hole spin relaxation in strongly confined quantum dots is due to spin orbit mediated phonon scattering between Zeeman levels, in marked contrast to higher dimensional nanostructures where it is limited by valence band mixing.Comment: Published by Physical Review

First electron beam polarization measurements with a Compton polarimeter at Jefferson Laboratory

A Compton polarimeter has been installed in Hall A at Jefferson Laboratory. This letter reports on the first electron beam polarization measurements performed during the HAPPEX experiment at an electron energy of 3.3 GeV and an average current of 40 $\mu$A. The heart of this device is a Fabry-Perot cavity which increased the luminosity for Compton scattering in the interaction region so much that a 1.4% statistical accuracy could be obtained within one hour, with a 3.3% total error

A photon calorimeter using lead tungstate crystals for the CEBAF Hall A Compton polarimeter

The performances of the calorimeter of the Jlab Hall A Compton Polarimeter have been measured using the Mainz tagged photon beam.Comment: 13 page

End-to-End Beam Dynamics for CERN LINAC4

LINAC 4 is a normal conducting H- linac which aims to intensify the proton flux available for the CERN accelerator complex. This injector is designed to accelerate a 65 mA beam of H- ions up to 160 MeV for injection into the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster. The acceleration is done in three stages : up to 3 MeV with a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (the IPHI RFQ) operating at 352 MHz, then continued to 90 MeV with drift-tube structures at 352 MHz (conventional Alvarez and Cell Coupled Drift Tube Linac) and, finally with a Side Coupled Linac at 704 MHz. The accelerator is completed by a chopper line at 3 MeV and a transport and matching line to the PS booster. After the overall layout was determined based on general consideration of beam dynamics and RF, a global optimisation based on end-to-end simulation has refined some design choices. The results and lessons learned from the end-to-end simulations are reported in this paper

Error study of CERN Linac 4

LINAC 4 is a normal conducting H- structure proposed to intensify the proton flux currently available for the CERN accelerator chain. This linac is designed to accelerate a 65 mA beam up to 160 MeV to be injected into the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster. The acceleration is performed up to 3 MeV by a Radio-Frequency Quadrupole resonating at 352 MHz followed by a serie of two drift tube systems (conventional Alvarez and Cell Coupled Drift Tube Linac) boosting the beam up to 90 MeV at 352 MHz and finished by a Side Coupled Linac at 704 MHz. Beam dynamics was studied and optimized performing end-to-end simulations. Robustness of this design was verified by modelling machine errors. This paper presents the results of this error study.Comment: Poster presented to European Particle Accelerator Conference (EPAC'06), Edinburgh, Scotland, 26-30 June 200

Spin sensitive bleaching and monopolar spin orientation in quantum wells

Spin sensitive bleaching of the absorption of far-infrared radiation has been observed in $p$-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures. The absorption of circularly polarized radiation saturates at lower intensities than that of linearly polarized light due to monopolar spin orientation in the first heavy hole subband. Spin relaxation times of holes in $p$-type material in the range of tens of ps were derived from the intensity dependence of the absorption.Comment: Figures have been updated due to technical printing problems (Postscript mismatch

Spin relaxation in low-dimensional systems

We review some of the newest findings on the spin dynamics of carriers and excitons in GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells. In intrinsic wells, where the optical properties are dominated by excitonic effects, we show that exciton-exciton interaction produces a breaking of the spin degeneracy in two-dimensional semiconductors. In doped wells, the two spin components of an optically created two-dimensional electron gas are well described by Fermi-Dirac distributions with a common temperature but different chemical potentials. The rate of the spin depolarization of the electron gas is found to be independent of the mean electron kinetic energy but accelerated by thermal spreading of the carriers.Comment: 1 PDF file, 13 eps figures, Proceedings of the 1998 International Workshop on Nanophysics and Electronics (NPE-98)- Lecce (Italy

Production of highly-polarized positrons using polarized electrons at MeV energies

The Polarized Electrons for Polarized Positrons experiment at the injector of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility has demonstrated for the first time the efficient transfer of polarization from electrons to positrons produced by the polarized bremsstrahlung radiation induced by a polarized electron beam in a high-$Z$ target. Positron polarization up to 82\% have been measured for an initial electron beam momentum of 8.19~MeV/$c$, limited only by the electron beam polarization. This technique extends polarized positron capabilities from GeV to MeV electron beams, and opens access to polarized positron beam physics to a wide community.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Spectroscopic survey of the Galaxy with Gaia I. Design and performance of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer

The definition and optimisation studies for the Gaia satellite spectrograph, the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS), converged in late 2002 with the adoption of the instrument baseline. This paper reviews the characteristics of the selected configuration and presents its expected performance. The RVS is a 2.0 by 1.6 degree integral field spectrograph, dispersing the light of all sources entering its field of view with a resolving power R=11 500 over the wavelength range [848, 874] nm. The RVS will continuously and repeatedly scan the sky during the 5 years of the Gaia mission. On average, each source will be observed 102 times over this period. The RVS will collect the spectra of about 100-150 million stars up to magnitude V~17-18. At the end of the mission, the RVS will provide radial velocities with precisions of ~2 km/s at V=15 and \~15-20 km/s at V=17, for a solar metallicity G5 dwarf. The RVS will also provide rotational velocities, with precisions (at the end of the mission) for late type stars of sigma_vsini ~5 km/s at V~15 as well as atmospheric parameters up to V~14-15. The individual abundances of elements such as Silicon and Magnesium, vital for the understanding of Galactic evolution, will be obtained up to V~12-13. Finally, the presence of the 862.0 nm Diffuse Interstellar Band (DIB) in the RVS wavelength range will make it possible to derive the three dimensional structure of the interstellar reddening.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Fig. 1,2,4,5, 6 in degraded resolution; available in full resolution at http://blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08282.x/pd