Two-photon interaction between trapped ions and cavity fields

In this paper, we generalize the ordinary two-photon Jaynes-Cummings model (TPJCM) by considering the atom (or ion) to be trapped in a simple harmonic well. A typical setup would be an optical cavity containing a single ion in a Paul trap. Due to the inclusion of atomic vibrational motion, the atom-field coupling becomes highly nonlinear what brings out quite different behaviors for the system dynamics when compared to the ordinary TPJCM. In particular, we derive an effective two-photon Hamiltonian with dependence on the number operator of the ion's center-of-mass motion. This dependence occurs both in the cavity induced Stark-shifs and in the ion-field coupling, and its role in the dynamics is illustrated by showing the time evolution of the probability of occupation of the electronic levels for simple initial preparations of the state of the system.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Coordination cages as permanently porous ionic liquids

Porous materials are widely used in industry for applications that include chemical separations and gas scrubbing. These materials are typically porous solids, although the liquid state can be easier to manipulate in industrial settings. The idea of combining the size and shape selectivity of porous domains with the fluidity of liquids is a promising one and porous liquids composed of functionalized organic cages have recently attracted attention. Here we describe an ionic-liquid, porous, tetrahedral coordination cage. Complementing the gas binding observed in other porous liquids, this material also encapsulates non-gaseous guests—shape and size selectivity was observed for a series of isomeric alcohols. Three gaseous chlorofluorocarbon guests, trichlorofluoromethane, dichlorodifluoromethane and chlorotrifluoromethane, were also shown to be taken up by the liquid coordination cage with an affinity that increased with their size. We hope that these findings will lead to the synthesis of other porous liquids whose guest-uptake properties may be tailored to fulfil specific functions

Measurement of relative phase diffusion between two Bose-Einstein condensates

We propose a method of measuring diffusion of the relative phase between two Bose-Einstein condensates occupying different nuclear or spin hyperfine states coupled by a two-photon transition via an intermediate level. Due to the macroscopic quantum coherence the condensates can be decoupled from the electromagnetic fields. The rate of decoherence and the phase collapse may be determined from the occupation of the intermediate level or the absorption of radiation.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 2 ps figure

Bose-Einstein condensation in a one-dimensional interacting system due to power-law trapping potentials

We examine the possibility of Bose-Einstein condensation in one-dimensional interacting Bose gas subjected to confining potentials of the form $V_{\rm ext}(x)=V_0(|x|/a)^\gamma$, in which $\gamma < 2$, by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation within the semi-classical two-fluid model. The condensate fraction, chemical potential, ground state energy, and specific heat of the system are calculated for various values of interaction strengths. Our results show that a significant fraction of the particles is in the lowest energy state for finite number of particles at low temperature indicating a phase transition for weakly interacting systems.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 8 figures, uses grafik.sty (included), to be published in Phys. Rev.

Generic model of an atom laser

We present a generic model of an atom laser by including a pump and loss term in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We show that there exists a threshold for the pump above which the mean matter field assumes a non-vanishing value in steady-state. We study the transient regime of this atom laser and find oscillations around the stationary solution even in the presence of a loss term. These oscillations are damped away when we introduce a position dependent loss term. For this case we present a modified Thomas-Fermi solution that takes into account the pump and loss. Our generic model of an atom laser is analogous to the semi-classical theory of the laser.Comment: 15 pages, including 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. A, revised manuscript, file also available at http://www.physik.uni-ulm.de/quan/users/kne

Culture Enriched Molecular Profiling of the Cystic Fibrosis Airway Microbiome

The microbiome of the respiratory tract, including the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal microbiota, is a dynamic community of microorganisms that is highly diverse. The cystic fibrosis (CF) airway microbiome refers to the polymicrobial communities present in the lower airways of CF patients. It is comprised of chronic opportunistic pathogens (such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and a variety of organisms derived mostly from the normal microbiota of the upper respiratory tract. The complexity of these communities has been inferred primarily from culture independent molecular profiling. As with most microbial communities it is generally assumed that most of the organisms present are not readily cultured. Our culture collection generated using more extensive cultivation approaches, reveals a more complex microbial community than that obtained by conventional CF culture methods. To directly evaluate the cultivability of the airway microbiome, we examined six samples in depth using culture-enriched molecular profiling which combines culture-based methods with the molecular profiling methods of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We demonstrate that combining culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches enhances the sensitivity of either approach alone. Our techniques were able to cultivate 43 of the 48 families detected by deep sequencing; the five families recovered solely by culture-independent approaches were all present at very low abundance (<0.002% total reads). 46% of the molecular signatures detected by culture from the six patients were only identified in an anaerobic environment, suggesting that a large proportion of the cultured airway community is composed of obligate anaerobes. Most significantly, using 20 growth conditions per specimen, half of which included anaerobic cultivation and extended incubation times we demonstrate that the majority of bacteria present can be cultured

J-Integral Calculation by Finite Element Processing of Measured Full-Field Surface Displacements

© 2017 The Author(s)A novel method has been developed based on the conjoint use of digital image correlation to measure full field displacements and finite element simulations to extract the strain energy release rate of surface cracks. In this approach, a finite element model with imported full-field displacements measured by DIC is solved and the J-integral is calculated, without knowledge of the specimen geometry and applied loads. This can be done even in a specimen that develops crack tip plasticity, if the elastic and yield behaviour of the material are known. The application of the method is demonstrated in an analysis of a fatigue crack, introduced to an aluminium alloy compact tension specimen (Al 2024, T351 heat condition)