11,608 research outputs found
_Limusaurus_ and bird digit identity
_Limusaurus_ is a remarkable herbivorous ceratosaur unique among theropods in having digits II, III and IV, with only a small metacarpal vestige of digit I. This raises interesting questions regarding the controversial identity of avian wing digits. The early tetanuran ancestors of birds had tridactyl hands with digital morphologies corresponding to digits I, II & III of other dinosaurs. In bird embryos, however, the pattern of cartilage formation indicates that their digits develop from positions that become digits II, III, & IV in other amniotes. _Limusaurus_ has been argued to provide evidence that the digits of tetanurans, currently considered to be I, II and III, may actually be digits II, III, & IV, thus explaining the embryological position of bird wing digits. However, morphology and gene expression of the anterior bird wing digit specifically resemble digit I, not II, of other amniotes. We argue that digit I loss in _Limusaurus_ is derived and thus irrelevant to understanding the development of the bird wing
Coherent population trapping of a single nuclear spin under ambient conditions
Coherent control of quantum systems has far-reaching implications in quantum
engineering. In this context, coherent population trapping (CPT) involving dark
resonances has played a prominent role, leading to a wealth of major
applications including laser cooling of atoms and molecules, optical
magnetometry, light storage and highly precise atomic clocks. Extending CPT
methods to individual solid-state quantum systems has been only achieved in
cryogenic environments for electron spin impurities and superconducting
circuits. Here, we demonstrate efficient CPT of a single nuclear spin in a room
temperature solid. To this end, we make use of a three-level system with a
-configuration in the microwave domain, which consists of nuclear spin
states addressed through their hyperfine coupling to the electron spin of a
single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. Dark state pumping requires a
relaxation mechanism which, in atomic systems, is simply provided by
spontaneous emission. In this work, the relaxation process is externally
controlled through incoherent optical pumping and separated in time from
consecutive coherent microwave excitations of the nuclear spin
-system. Such a pumping scheme with controlled relaxation allows us
(i) to monitor the sequential accumulation of population into the dark state
and (ii) to reach a new regime of CPT dynamics for which periodic arrays of
dark resonances can be observed, owing to multiple constructive interferences.
This work offers new prospects for quantum state preparation, information
storage in hybrid quantum systems and metrology.Comment: 13 pages including supplementary information, links to figures
correcte
Coherent population trapping of a single nuclear spin under ambient conditions
Coherent control of quantum systems has far-reaching implications in quantum
engineering. In this context, coherent population trapping (CPT) involving dark
resonances has played a prominent role, leading to a wealth of major
applications including laser cooling of atoms and molecules, optical
magnetometry, light storage and highly precise atomic clocks. Extending CPT
methods to individual solid-state quantum systems has been only achieved in
cryogenic environments for electron spin impurities and superconducting
circuits. Here, we demonstrate efficient CPT of a single nuclear spin in a room
temperature solid. To this end, we make use of a three-level system with a
-configuration in the microwave domain, which consists of nuclear spin
states addressed through their hyperfine coupling to the electron spin of a
single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. Dark state pumping requires a
relaxation mechanism which, in atomic systems, is simply provided by
spontaneous emission. In this work, the relaxation process is externally
controlled through incoherent optical pumping and separated in time from
consecutive coherent microwave excitations of the nuclear spin
-system. Such a pumping scheme with controlled relaxation allows us
(i) to monitor the sequential accumulation of population into the dark state
and (ii) to reach a new regime of CPT dynamics for which periodic arrays of
dark resonances can be observed, owing to multiple constructive interferences.
This work offers new prospects for quantum state preparation, information
storage in hybrid quantum systems and metrology.Comment: 13 pages including supplementary information, links to figures
correcte
Optimal scan strategies for future CMB satellite experiments
The B-mode polarisation power spectrum in the Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) is about four orders of magnitude fainter than the CMB temperature power
spectrum. Any instrumental imperfections that couple temperature fluctuations
to B-mode polarisation must therefore be carefully controlled and/or removed.
We investigate the role that a scan strategy can have in mitigating certain
common systematics by averaging systematic errors down with many crossing
angles. We present approximate analytic forms for the error on the recovered
B-mode power spectrum that would result from differential gain, differential
pointing and differential ellipticity for the case where two detector pairs are
used in a polarisation experiment. We use these analytic predictions to search
the parameter space of common satellite scan strategies in order to identify
those features of a scan strategy that have most impact in mitigating
systematic effects. As an example we go on to identify a scan strategy suitable
for the CMB satellite proposed for the ESA M5 call. considering the practical
considerations of fuel requirement, data rate and the relative orientation of
the telescope to the earth. Having chosen a scan strategy we then go on to
investigate the suitability of the scan strategy.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, Comments welcom
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