28,996 research outputs found
Anomalies in Universal Intensity Scaling in Ultrarelativistic Laser-Plasma Interactions
Laser light incident on targets at intensities such that the electron
dynamics is ultrarelativistic gives rise to a harmonic power spectrum extending
to high orders and characterized by a relatively slow decay with the harmonic
number m that follows a power law dependence, m^{-p}. Relativistic similarity
theory predicts a universal value for p = 8/3 up to some cut-off m = m*. The
results presented in this work suggest that under conditions in which plasma
effects contribute to the emission spectrum, the extent of this contribution
may invalidate the concept of universal decay. We report a decay with harmonic
number in the ultrarelativistic range characterised by an index 5/3 < p < 7/3,
significantly weaker than that predicted by the similarity model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Effects of self-phase modulation on weak nonlinear optical quantum gates
A possible two-qubit gate for optical quantum computing is the parity gate
based on the weak Kerr effect. Two photonic qubits modulate the phase of a
coherent state, and a quadrature measurement of the coherent state reveals the
parity of the two qubits without destroying the photons. This can be used to
create so-called cluster states, a universal resource for quantum computing.
Here, the effect of self-phase modulation on the parity gate is studied,
introducing generating functions for the Wigner function of a modulated
coherent state. For materials with non-EIT-based Kerr nonlinearities, there is
typically a self-phase modulation that is half the magnitude of the cross-phase
modulation. Therefore, this effect cannot be ignored. It is shown that for a
large class of physical implementations of the phase modulation, the quadrature
measurement cannot distinguish between odd and even parity. Consequently, weak
nonlinear parity gates must be implemented with physical systems where the
self-phase modulation is negligable.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Interaction of a Modulated Electron Beam with a Plasma
The results of a theoretical and experimental investigation of the high-frequency interaction of an electron beam with a plasma are reported. An electron beam, modulated at a microwave frequency, passes through a uniform region of a mercury arc discharge after which it is demodulated. Exponentially growing wave amplification along the electron beam was experimentally observed for the first time at a microwave frequency equal to the plasma frequency. Approximate theories of the effects of 1) plasma-electron collision frequencies, 2) plasma-electron thermal velocities and 3) finite beam diameter, are given. In a second experiment the interaction between a modulated electron beam and a slow electrostatic wave on a plasma column has been studied. A strong interaction occurs when the velocity of the electron beam is approximately equal to the velocity of the wave and the interaction is essentially the same as that which occurs in traveling-wave amplifiers, except that here the plasma colum replaces the usual helical slow-wave circuit. The theory predicting rates of growth is presented and compared with the experimental results
Post Big Bang Processing of the Primordial Elements
We explore the Gnedin-Ostriker suggestion that a post-Big-Bang
photodissociation process may modify the primordial abundances of the light
elements. We consider several specific models and discuss the general features
that are necessary (but not necessarily sufficient) to make the model work. We
find that with any significant processing, the final D and He abundances,
which are independent of their initial standard big bang nucleosynthesis (SBBN)
values, rise quickly to a level several orders of magnitude above the
observationally inferred primordial values. Solutions for specific models show
that the only initial abundances that can be photoprocessed into agreement with
observations are those that undergo virtually no processing and are already in
agreement with observation. Thus it is unlikely that this model can work for
any non-trivial case unless an artificial density and/or photon distribution is
invoked.Comment: 12 page Latex file (AASTEX style). Tarred, gzipped, and uuencoded
postscript files of seven figures. Also available (with ps file of paper) at
ftp://www-physics.mps.ohio-state.edu/pub/nucex/phot
Detecting D-Wave Pairing and Collective Modes in Fermionic Condensates with Bragg Scattering
We show how the appearance of d-wave pairing in fermionic condensates
manifests itself in inelastic light scattering. Specifically, we calculate the
Bragg scattering intensity from the dynamic structure factor and the spin
susceptibility, which can be inferred from spin flip Raman transitions. This
information provides a precise tool with which we can identify nontrivial
correlations in the state of the system beyond the information contained in the
density profile imaging alone. Due to the lack of Coulomb effects in neutral
superfluids, this is also an opportunity to observe the Anderson-Bogoliubov
collective mode
- …