Phase Space Tomography of Classical and Nonclassical Vibrational States of Atoms in an Optical Lattice

Atoms trapped in optical lattice have long been a system of interest in the AMO community, and in recent years much study has been devoted to both short- and long-range coherence in this system, as well as to its possible applications to quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate for the first time complete determination of the quantum phase space distributions for an ensemble of $^{85}Rb$ atoms in such a lattice, including a negative Wigner function for atoms in an inverted state.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics. Special issue in connection with the 9th International Conference on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations, to be held in Besancon, France, on 2-6 May 200

An Examination of the Noken and Indigenous Cultural Identity: Voices of Papuan Women

Noken is an essential tool/bag/clothing in the lives of Indigenous people of West Papua, which is made from knitting thin strips of wood primarily from the Gnetum Gnemon tree. Raw materials required to make noken have become scarce due to massive deforestation. An analysis of the noken lends itself to a useful understanding of the link between economic development initiatives in the Merauke Regency of West Papua and shifting cultural identity among Indigenous Papuans. Drawing on the Women, Culture and Development (WCD) approach, this qualitative study examines interviews from Papuan women in order to understand how the noken resonates with Indigenous Papuans, and how perceptions of noken and their accessibility have changed. The findings reveal that a combination of factors contribute to dwindling noken supplies, which adversely impact Papuans’ ability to produce and reproduce their culture. This paper argues that Papuan women possess an unwritten specialized knowledge that is of increased value in a shifting social context and hold new meaning in response to competing influences of non-Papuans

Observation of high-order quantum resonances in the kicked rotor

Quantum resonances in the kicked rotor are characterized by a dramatically increased energy absorption rate, in stark contrast to the momentum localization generally observed. These resonances occur when the scaled Planck's constant hbar=(r/s)*4pi, for any integers r and s. However only the hbar=r*2pi resonances are easily observable. We have observed high-order quantum resonances (s>2) utilizing a sample of low temperature, non-condensed atoms and a pulsed optical standing wave. Resonances are observed for hbar=(r/16)*4pi r=2-6. Quantum numerical simulations suggest that our observation of high-order resonances indicates a larger coherence length than expected from an initially thermal atomic sample

Anomalous diffusion in the resonant quantum kicked rotor

We study the resonances of the quantum kicked rotor subjected to an excitation that follows a deterministic time-dependent prescription. For the primary resonances we find an analytical relation between the long-time behavior of the standard deviation and the external kick strength. For the secondary resonances we obtain essentially the same result numerically. Selecting the time sequence of the kick allows to obtain a variety of asymptotic wave-function spreadings: super-ballistic, ballistic, sub-ballistic, diffusive, sub-diffusive and localized.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures To appear in Physica A

Coherent acceleration of material wavepackets in modulated optical fields

We study the quantum dynamics of a material wavepacket bouncing off a modulated atomic mirror in the presence of a gravitational field. We find the occurrence of coherent accelerated dynamics for atoms beyond the familiar regime of dynamical localization. The acceleration takes place for certain initial phase space data and within specific windows of modulation strengths. The realization of the proposed acceleration scheme is within the range of present day experimental possibilities

Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in strong- and weak-field seeking states

We report the Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in the strong-field seeking ground state and in a weak-field seeking component of a rotationally-excited state. We use two types of decelerator, a conventional Stark decelerator for the weak-field seekers, and an alternating gradient decelerator for the strong-field seekers, and we compare their relative merits. We also consider the application of laser cooling to increase the phase-space density of decelerated molecules.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Opinion: The rights of women and girls are not negotiable

No Abstract

Lifetime of the A(v(')=0) state and Franck-Condon factor of the A-X(0-0) transition of CaF measured by the saturation of laser-induced fluorescence

We describe a method for determining the radiative decay properties of a molecule by studying the saturation of laser-induced fluorescence and the associated power broadening of spectral lines. The fluorescence saturates because the molecules decay to states that are not resonant with the laser. The amplitudes and widths of two hyperfine components of a spectral line are measured over a range of laser intensities and the results compared to a model of the laser-molecule interaction. Using this method we measure the lifetime of the A(v'=0) state of CaF to be tau=19.2 \pm 0.7 ns, and the Franck-Condon factor for the transition to the X(v=0) state to be Z=0.987 (+0.013 || -0.019). In addition, our analysis provides a measure of the hyperfine interval in the lowest-lying state of A(v'=0), Delta_e=4.8 \pm 1.1 MHz.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Minor revisions following referee suggestion