22,794 research outputs found
Azimuthal distinguishability of entangled photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion
We experimentally demonstrate that paired photons generated in different
sections of a down-conversion cone, when some of the interacting waves show
Poynting vector walk-off, carry different spatial correlations, and therefore a
different degree of spatial entanglement. This is shown to be in agreement with
theoretical results. We also discuss how this azimuthal distinguishing
information of the down-conversion cone is relevant for the implementation of
quantum sources aimed at the generation of entanglement in other degrees of
freedom, such as polarization.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Opt. Expres
Optical surface modes in the presence of nonlinearity and disorder
We investigate numerically the effect of the competition of disorder,
nonlinearity, and boundaries on the Anderson localization of light waves in
finite-size, one-dimensional waveguide arrays. Using the discrete Anderson -
nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, the propagation of the mode amplitudes up to
some finite distance is monitored. The analysis is based on the calculated
localization length and the participation number, two standard measures for the
statistical description of Anderson localization. For relatively weak disorder
and nonlinearity, a higher disorder strength is required to achieve the same
degree of localization at the edge than in the interior of the array, in
agreement with recent experimental observations in the linear regime. However,
for relatively strong disorder and/or nonlinearity, this behavior is reversed
and it is now easier to localize an excitation at the edge than in the
interior.Comment: 5 double-column pages, 7 figures, submitted for publicatio
Stellar populations in the Carina region: The Galactic plane at l = 291
Previous studies of the Carina region have revealed its complexity and
richness as well as a significant number of early-type stars. In many cases,
these studies only concentrated on the central region or were not homogeneous.
This latter aspect, in particular, is crucial because very different ages and
distances for key clusters have been claimed in recent years. The aim of this
work is to study in detail an area of the Galactic plane in Carina. We analyze
the properties of different stellar populations and focus on a sample of open
clusters and their population of YSOs and highly reddened early stars. We also
studied the stellar mass distribution in these clusters and the possible
scenario of their formation. Finally, we outline the Galactic spiral structure
in this direction. We obtained photometric data for six young open clusters
located in Carina at l = 291, and their adjacent stellar fields, which we
complemented with spectroscopic observations of a few selected targets. We also
culled additional information from the literature. Our results provide more
reliable estimates of distances, color excesses, masses, and ages of the
stellar populations in this direction. We estimate the basic parameters of the
studied clusters and find that they identify two overdensities of young stellar
populations. We find evidence of PMS populations inside them, with an apparent
coeval stellar formation in the most conspicuous clusters. We also discuss
apparent age and distance gradients in the direction NW-SE. We study the mass
distributions of several clusters in the region. They consistently show a
canonical IMF slope. We discover and characterise an abnormally reddened
massive stellar population. Spectroscopic observations of ten stars of this
latter population show that all selected targets were massive OB stars. Their
location is consistent with the position of the Car-Sag spiral arm.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure
Inhomogeneous soliton ratchets under two ac forces
We extend our previous work on soliton ratchet devices [L. Morales-Molina et
al., Eur. Phys. J. B 37, 79 (2004)] to consider the joint effect of two ac
forces including non-harmonic drivings, as proposed for particle ratchets by
Savele'v et al. [Europhys. Lett. 67}, 179 (2004); Phys. Rev. E {\bf 70} 066109
(2004)]. Current reversals due to the interplay between the phases, frequencies
and amplitudes of the harmonics are obtained. An analysis of the effect of the
damping coefficient on the dynamics is presented. We show that solitons give
rise to non-trivial differences in the phenomenology reported for particle
systems that arise from their extended character. A comparison with soliton
ratchets in homogeneous systems with biharmonic forces is also presented. This
ratchet device may be an ideal candidate for Josephson junction ratchets with
intrinsic large damping
Coulomb blockade without potential barriers
We study transport through a strongly correlated quantum dot and show that
Coulomb blockade can appear even in the presence of perfect contacts. This
conclusion arises from numerical calculations of the conductance for a
microscopic model of spinless fermions in an interacting chain connected to
each lead via a completely open channel. The dependence of the conductance on
the gate voltage shows well defined Coulomb blockade peaks which are sharpened
as the interaction strength is increased. Our numerics is based on the
embedding method and the DMRG algorithm. We explain the emergence of Coulomb
blockade with perfect contacts by a reduction of the effective coupling matrix
elements between many-body states corresponding to successive particle numbers
in the interacting region. A perturbative approach, valid in the strong
interaction limit, yields an analytic expression for the interaction-induced
suppression of the conductance in the Coulomb blockade regime.Comment: Fixed problems with eps figure
Ratchet behavior in nonlinear Klein-Gordon systems with point-like inhomogeneities
We investigate the ratchet dynamics of nonlinear Klein-Gordon kinks in a
periodic, asymmetric lattice of point-like inhomogeneities. We explain the
underlying rectification mechanism within a collective coordinate framework,
which shows that such system behaves as a rocking ratchet for point particles.
Careful attention is given to the kink width dynamics and its role in the
transport. We also analyze the robustness of our kink rocking ratchet in the
presence of noise. We show that the noise activates unidirectional motion in a
parameter range where such motion is not observed in the noiseless case. This
is subsequently corroborated by the collective variable theory. An explanation
for this new phenomenom is given
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