336 research outputs found
Nickel hydrogen low Earth orbit test program update and status
The current status of nickel-hydrogen (NiH2) testing ongong at NWSC, Crane In, and The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Ca are described. The objective of this testing is to develop a database for NiH2 battery use in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and support applications in Medium Altitude Orbit (MAO). Individual pressure vessel-type cells are being tested. A minimum of 200 cells (3.5 in diameter and 4.5 in diameter) are included in the test, from four U.S. vendors. As of this date (Nov. 18, 1986) approximately 60 cells have completed preliminary testing (acceptance, characterization, and environmental testing) and have gone into life cycling
Electronic energy relaxation and transition frequency jumps of single molecules at 30 mK
Transition frequency jumps for single terrylene molecules in a polyethylene matrix caused by resonant laser irradiation are investigated at 30 mK. These jumps are not accompanied by substantial sample heating. A model for the effect is: proposed, based on the interaction of tunneling two-level systems (TLSs) surrounding the single molecule with high-energy nonthermal phonons emitted by the molecule during electronic energy relaxation. The radius of the effective interaction volume is estimated to be r(m) approximate to 12.5 nm, and the interaction cross section for nonequilibrium phonon -TLS scattering is estimated as similar to 10(-22) cm(-2)
A microscopic quantum dynamics approach to the dilute condensed Bose gas
We derive quantum evolution equations for the dynamics of dilute condensed
Bose gases. The approach contains, at different orders of approximation, for
cases close to equilibrium, the Gross Pitaevskii equation and the first order
Hartree Fock Bogoliubov theory. The proposed approach is also suited for the
description of the dynamics of condensed gases which are far away from
equilibrium. As an example the scattering of two Bose condensates is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Phosphorene: Synthesis, Scale-up, and Quantitative Optical Spectroscopy
Phosphorene, a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer of black phosphorus, has
attracted considerable theoretical interest, although the experimental
realization of monolayer, bilayer, and few-layer flakes has been a significant
challenge. Here we systematically survey conditions for liquid exfoliation to
achieve the first large-scale production of monolayer, bilayer, and few-layer
phosphorus, with exfoliation demonstrated at the 10-gram scale. We describe a
rapid approach for quantifying the thickness of 2D phosphorus and show that
monolayer and few-layer flakes produced by our approach are crystalline and
unoxidized, while air exposure leads to rapid oxidation and the production of
acid. With large quantities of 2D phosphorus now available, we perform the
first quantitative measurements of the material's absorption edge-which is
nearly identical to the material's band gap under our experimental
conditions-as a function of flake thickness. Our interpretation of the
absorbance spectrum relies on an analytical method introduced in this work,
allowing the accurate determination of the absorption edge in polydisperse
samples of quantum-confined semiconductors. Using this method, we found that
the band gap of black phosphorus increased from 0.33 +/- 0.02 eV in bulk to
1.88 +/- 0.24 eV in bilayers, a range that is larger than any other 2D
material. In addition, we quantified a higher-energy optical transition (VB-1
to CB), which changes from 2.0 eV in bulk to 3.23 eV in bilayers. This work
describes several methods for producing and analyzing 2D phosphorus while also
yielding a class of 2D materials with unprecedented optoelectronic properties
Microscopic Dynamics in a Strongly Interacting Bose-Einstein Condensate
An initially stable 85Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) was subjected to a
carefully controlled magnetic field pulse in the vicinity of a Feshbach
resonance. This pulse probed the strongly interacting regime for the
condensate, with calculated values for the diluteness parameter (na^3) ranging
from 0.01 to 0.5. The field pulse was observed to cause loss of atoms from the
condensate on remarkably short time scales (>=10 microsec). The dependence of
this loss on magnetic field pulse shape and amplitude was measured. For
triangular pulses shorter than 1 ms, decreasing the pulse length actually
increased the loss, until extremely short time scales (a few tens of
microseconds) were reached. Such time scales and dependencies are very
different from those expected in traditional condensate inelastic loss
processes, suggesting the presence of new microscopic BEC physics.Comment: 4 pages in latex2E, 4 eps figures; revised Fig.1, revised
scatt.lengths, added discussion, new refs., resubmitted to PR
Early Universe Quantum Processes in BEC Collapse Experiments
We show that in the collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) {For an
excellent introduction to BEC theory, see C. Pethick and H. Smith,
Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, England, 2002)} certain processes involved and mechanisms at work
share a common origin with corresponding quantum field processes in the early
universe such as particle creation, structure formation and spinodal
instability. Phenomena associated with the controlled BEC collapse observed in
the experiment of Donley et al E. Donley et. al., Nature 412, 295 (2001)(they
call it `Bose-Nova', see also J. Chin, J. Vogels and W. Ketterle, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 90, 160405 (2003)) such as the appearance of bursts and jets can be
explained as a consequence of the squeezing and amplification of quantum
fluctuations above the condensate by the dynamics of the condensate. Using the
physical insight gained in depicting these cosmological processes, our analysis
of the changing amplitude and particle contents of quantum excitations in these
BEC dynamics provides excellent quantitative fits with the experimental data on
the scaling behavior of the collapse time and the amount of particles emitted
in the jets. Because of the coherence properties of BEC and the high degree of
control and measurement precision in atomic and optical systems, we see great
potential in the design of tabletop experiments for testing out general ideas
and specific (quantum field) processes in the early universe, thus opening up
the possibility for implementing `laboratory cosmology'.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Invited Talk presented at the Peyresq Meetings of
Gravitation and Cosmology, 200
Three Dimensional Simulation of Jet Formation in Collapsing Condensates
We numerically study the behavior of collapsing and exploding condensates
using the parameters of the experiments by E.A. Donley et al. [Nature,
412, 295, (2001)]. Our studies are based on a full three-dimensional
numerical solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) including three body
loss. We determine the three body loss rate from the number of remnant
condensate atoms and collapse times and obtain only one possible value which
fits with the experimental results. We then study the formation of jet atoms by
interrupting the collapse and find very good agreement with the experiment.
Furthermore we investigate the sensitivity of the jets to the initial
conditions. According to our analysis the dynamics of the burst atoms is not
described by the GPE with three body loss incorporated.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
BEC Collapse and Dynamical Squeezing of Vacuum Fluctuations
We analyze the phenomena of Bose Novae, as described by Donley et al [Nature
412, 295 (2001)], by focusing on the behavior of excitations or fluctuations
above the condensate, as driven by the dynamics of the condensate (rather than
the dynamics of the condensate alone or the kinetics of the atoms). The
dynamics of the condensate squeezes and amplifies the quantum excitations,
mixing the positive and negative frequency components of their wave functions
thereby creating particles which appear as bursts and jets. By analyzing the
changing amplitude and particle content of these excitations, our simple
physical picture (based on a test field approximation) explains well the
overall features of the Bose Novae phenomena and provide excellent quantitative
fits with experimental data on several aspects, such as the scaling behavior of
the collapse time and the amount of particles in the jet. The predictions of
the bursts at this level of approximation is less than satisfactory but may be
improved on by including the backreaction of the excitations on the condensate.
The mechanism behind the dominant effect -- parametric amplification of vacuum
fluctuations and freezing of modes outside of horizon -- is similar to that of
cosmological particle creation and structure formation in a rapid quench (which
is fundamentally different from Hawking radiation in black holes). This shows
that BEC dynamics is a promising venue for doing `laboratory cosmology'.Comment: Latex 36 pages, 6 figure
Dynamically turning off interactions in a two component condensate
We propose a mechanism to change the interaction strengths of a two component
condensate. It is shown that the application of pi/2 pulses allows to alter the
effective interspecies interaction strength as well as the effective
interaction strength between particles of the same kind. This mechanism
provides a simple method to transform spatially stable condensates into
unstable once and vice versa. It also provides a means to store a squeezed spin
state by turning off the interaction for the internal states and thus allows to
gain control over many body entangled states.Comment: 7 pages 5 figures, symbols changed, minor changes, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Dynamics of Fermionic Four-Wave Mixing
We study the dynamics of a beam of fermions diffracted off a density grating
formed by fermionic atoms in the limit of a large grating. An exact description
of the system in terms of particle-hole operators is developed. We use a
combination of analytical and numerical methods to quantitatively explore the
Raman-Nath and the Bragg regimes of diffraction. We discuss the limits in
diffraction efficiency resulting from the dephasing of the grating due the
distribution of energy states occupied by the fermions. We propose several
methods to overcome these limits, including the novel technique of ``atom
echoes''.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
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