Thermometry of bosonic mixtures in Optical Lattices via Demixing

Motivated by recent experiments and theoretical investigations on binary mixtures, we investigate the miscible-immiscible transition at finite temperature by means of Quantum Monte Carlo. Based on the observation that the segregated phase is strongly affected by temperature, we propose to use the degree of demixing for thermometry of a binary bosonic mixture trapped in an optical lattice. We show that the proposed method is especially sensitive at low temperatures, of the order of the tunnelling amplitude, and therefore is particularly suitable in the regime where quantum magnetism is expected.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Supplemental Materia

Observation of heteronuclear atomic Efimov resonances

The Efimov effect represents a cornerstone in few-body physics. Building on the recent experimental observation with ultracold atoms, we report the first experimental signature of Efimov physics in a heteronuclear system. A mixture of $^{41}$K and $^{87}$Rb atoms was cooled to few hundred nanoKelvins and stored in an optical dipole trap. Exploiting a broad interspecies Feshbach resonance, the losses due to three-body collisions were studied as a function of the interspecies scattering length. We observe an enhancement of the three-body collisions for three distinct values of the interspecies scattering lengths, both positive and negative. We attribute the two features at negative scattering length to the existence of two kind of Efimov trimers, namely KKRb and KRbRb.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Collision of impurities with Bose-Einstein condensates

open5noQuantum dynamics of impurities in a bath of bosons is a long-standing problem of solid-state, plasma, and atomic physics. Recent experimental and theoretical investigations with ultracold atoms focused on this problem, studying atomic impurities immersed in a atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and for various relative coupling strengths tuned by the Fano-Feshbach resonance technique. Here we report extensive numerical simulations on a closely related problem: the collision between a bosonic impurity made of few 41K atoms and a BEC made of 87Rb atoms in a quasi one-dimensional configuration and under a weak harmonic axial confinement. For small values of the interspecies interaction strength (no matter the sign of it), we find that the impurity, which starts from outside the BEC, simply oscillates back and forth the BEC cloud, but the frequency of oscillation depends on the interaction strength. For intermediate couplings, after a few cycles of oscillation the impurity is captured by the BEC and strongly changes its amplitude of oscillation. In the strong interaction regime, if the interspecies interaction is attractive, a local maximum (bright soliton) in the density of BEC occurs where the impurity is trapped; instead, if the interspecies interaction is repulsive, the impurity is not able to enter in the BEC cloud and the reflection coefficient is close to one. On the other hand, if the initial displacement of the impurity is increased, the impurity is able to penetrate in the cloud leading to the appearance of a moving hole (dark soliton) in the BEC.openLingua, F.; Lepori, L.; Minardi, F.; Penna, V.; Salasnich, L.Lingua, F.; Lepori, Luca; Minardi, F.; Penna, V.; Salasnich, L

An estimate of attributable cases of alzheimer disease and vascular dementia due to modifiable risk factors. the impact of primary prevention in europe and in italy

Background: Up to 53.7% of all cases of dementia are assumed to be due to Alzheimer disease (AD), while 15.8% are considered to be due to vascular dementia (VaD). In Europe, about 3 million cases of AD could be due to 7 potentially modifiable risk factors: diabetes, midlife hypertension and/or obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking, and low educational level. Aims: To estimate the number of VaD cases in Europe and the number of AD and VaD cases in Italy attributable to these 7 potentially modifiable risk factors. Methods: Assuming the nonindependence of the 7 risk factors, the adjusted combined population attributable risk (PAR) was estimated for AD and VaD. Results: In Europe, adjusted combined PAR was 31.4% for AD and 37.8% for VaD. The total number of attributable cases was 3,033,000 for AD and 873,000 for VaD. In Italy, assuming a 20% reduction of the prevalence of each risk factor, adjusted combined PAR decreased from 45.2 to 38.9% for AD and from 53.1 to 46.6% for VaD, implying a 6.4 and 6.5% reduction in the prevalence of AD and VaD, respectively. Conclusion: A relevant reduction of AD and VaD cases in Europe and Italy could be obtained through primary prevention

Three-Dimensional Light Bullets in Arrays of Waveguides

We report the first experimental observation of 3D-LBs, excited by femtosecond pulses in a system featuring quasi-instantaneous cubic nonlinearity and a periodic, transversally-modulated refractive index. Stringent evidence of the excitation of LBs is based on time-gated images and spectra which perfectly match our numerical simulations. Furthermore, we reveal a novel evolution mechanism forcing the LBs to follow varying dispersion/diffraction conditions, until they leave their existence range and decay.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures - Published by the American Physical Societ

Shape of the spatial mode function of photons generated in noncollinear spontaneous parametric downconversion

We show experimentally how noncollinear geometries in spontaneous parametric downconversion induce ellipticity of the shape of the spatial mode function. The degree of ellipticity depends on the pump beam width, especially for highly focused beams. We also discuss the ellipticity induced by the spectrum of the pump beam

General quasi-non-spreading linear three-dimensional wave-packets

We introduce a general approach for generation of sets of three-dimensional quasi-non-spreading wavepackets propagating in linear media, also referred to as linear light bullets. The spectrum of rigorously non-spreading wavepackets in media with anomalous group velocity dispersion is localized on the surface of a sphere, thus drastically restricting the possible wavepacket shapes. However, broadening slightly the spectrum affords the generation of a large variety of quasi-non-spreading distributions featuring complex topologies and shapes in space and time that are of interest in different areas, such as biophysics or nanosurgery. Here we discuss the method and show several illustrative examples of its potential.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Nonlinear photonic lattices in anisotropic nonlocal self-focusing media

We analyze theoretically and generate experimentally two-dimensional nonlinear periodic lattices in a photorefractive medium. We demonstrate that the light-induced periodically modulated nonlinear refractive index is highly anisotropic and nonlocal, and it depends on the lattice orientation relative to the crystal axis. We discuss stability of such induced photonic structures and their guiding properties.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Stable ring vortex solitons in Bessel optical lattices

Stable ring vortex solitons, featuring a bright-shape, appear to be very rare in nature. However, here we show that they exist and can be made dynamically stable in defocusing cubic nonlinear media with an imprinted Bessel optical lattice. We find the families of vortex lattice solitons and reveal their salient properties, including the conditions required for their stability. We show that the higher the soliton topological charge, the deeper the lattice modulation necessary for stabilization.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Stable one-dimensional periodic waves in Kerr-type saturable and quadratic nonlinear media

We review the latest progress and properties of the families of bright and dark one-dimensional periodic waves propagating in saturable Kerr-type and quadratic nonlinear media. We show how saturation of the nonlinear response results in appearance of stability (instability) bands in focusing (defocusing) medium, which is in sharp contrast with the properties of periodic waves in Kerr media. One of the key results discovered is the stabilization of multicolor periodic waves in quadratic media. In particular, dark-type waves are shown to be metastable, while bright-type waves are completely stable in a broad range of energy flows and material parameters. This yields the first known example of completely stable periodic wave patterns propagating in conservative uniform media supporting bright solitons. Such results open the way to the experimental observation of the corresponding self-sustained periodic wave patterns.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure