1,306 research outputs found
High Resolution Ionization of Ultracold Neutral Plasmas
Collective effects, such as waves and instabilities, are integral to our
understanding of most plasma phenomena. We have been able to study these in
ultracold neutral plasmas by shaping the initial density distribution through
spatial modulation of the ionizing laser intensity. We describe a relay imaging
system for the photoionization beam that allows us to create higher resolution
features and its application to extend the observation of ion acoustic waves to
shorter wavelengths. We also describe the formation of sculpted density
profiles to create fast expansion of plasma into vacuum and streaming plasmas
Probing Nonlocal Spatial Correlations in Quantum Gases with Ultra-long-range Rydberg Molecules
We present photo-excitation of ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules as a probe
of spatial correlations in quantum gases. Rydberg molecules can be created with
well-defined internuclear spacing, set by the radius of the outer lobe of the
Rydberg electron wavefunction . By varying the principal quantum number
of the target Rydberg state, the molecular excitation rate can be used to
map the pair-correlation function of the trapped gas . We
demonstrate this with ultracold Sr gases and probe pair-separation length
scales ranging from , which are on the order of the
thermal de Broglie wavelength for temperatures around 1 K. We observe
bunching for a single-component Bose gas of Sr and anti-bunching due to
Pauli exclusion at short distances for a polarized Fermi gas of Sr,
revealing the effects of quantum statistics.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Evolutionary pathway for the 2017 emergence of a novel highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H7N9) virus among domestic poultry in Tennessee, United States
In March 2017, a novel highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was detected at two commercial broiler breeder facilities in Tennessee, United States. In this study, a wild bird low pathogenic avian influenza A virus, A/blue-winged teal/Wyoming/AH0099021/2016(H7N9), was shown to be the probable precursor of the novel H7N9 virus; this low pathogenic virus has eight possible progenitor genes sharing\u3e 99% sequence identity with the novel H7N9 virus. Phylogeographic analyses showed that viral gene constellations that formed and circulated among dabbling ducks contributed to the emergence of the novel H7N9 virus. This is in contrast to the virus that caused the 2016 H7N8 outbreak, which had more genetic contributions from viruses circulating among diving ducks. Study findings support the need for ongoing wild bird surveillance to monitor circulating viruses and to understand possible evolutionary pathways of virus emergence in poultry
Ion holes in the hydrodynamic regime in ultracold neutral plasmas
We describe the creation of localized density perturbations, or ion holes, in an ultracold neutral
plasma in the hydrodynamic regime, and show that the holes propagate at the local ion acoustic wave
speed. We also observe the process of hole splitting, which results from the formation of a density
depletion initially at rest in the plasma. One-dimensional, two-fluid hydrodynamic simulations
describe the results well. Measurements of the ion velocity distribution also show the effects of the
ion hole and confirm the hydrodynamic conditions in the plasma
Measuring nonlocal three-body spatial correlations with Rydberg trimers in ultracold quantum gases
We measure nonlocal third-order spatial correlations in non-degenerate
ultracold gases of bosonic (Sr) and spin-polarized fermionic (Sr)
strontium through studies of the formation rates for ultralong-range trimer
Rydberg molecules. The trimer production rate is observed to be very sensitive
to the effects of quantum statistics with a strong enhancement of up to a
factor of six (3!) in the case of bosonic Sr due to bunching, and a
marked reduction for spin-polarized fermionic Sr due to anti-bunching.
The experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions and good
agreement is observed. The present approach opens the way to {\it{in situ}}
studies of higher-order nonlocal spatial correlations in a wide array of
ultracold atomic-gas systems.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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