1,766 research outputs found
A magnetic lens for cold atoms controlled by a rf field
We report on a new type of magnetic lens that focuses atomic clouds using a
static inhomogeneous magnetic field in combination with a radio-frequency
field. The experimental study is performed with a cloud of cold cesium atoms.
The rf field adiabatically deforms the magnetic potential of a coil and
therefore changes its focusing properties. The focal length can be tuned
precisely by changing the rf frequency value. Depending on the rf antenna
position relative to the DC magnetic profile, the focal length of the atomic
lens can be either decreased or increased by the rf field
Resonant demagnetization of a dipolar BEC in a 3D optical lattice
We study dipolar relaxation of a chromium BEC loaded into a 3D optical
lattice. We observe dipolar relaxation resonances when the magnetic energy
released during the inelastic collision matches an excitation towards higher
energy bands. A spectroscopy of these resonances for two orientations of the
magnetic field provides a 3D band spectroscopy of the lattice. The narrowest
resonance is registered for the lowest excitation energy. Its line-shape is
sensitive to the on-site interaction energy. We use such sensitivity to probe
number squeezing in a Mott insulator, and we reveal the production of
three-body states with entangled spin and orbital degrees of freedom.Comment: 5 pages, 3 Figures, Supplemental Materia
All-Optical Production of Chromium Bose-Einstein Condensates
We report on the production of ^52Cr Bose Einstein Condensates (BEC) with an
all-optical method. We first load 5.10^6 metastable chromium atoms in a 1D
far-off-resonance optical trap (FORT) from a Magneto Optical Trap (MOT), by
combining the use of Radio Frequency (RF) frequency sweeps and depumping
towards the ^5S_2 state. The atoms are then pumped to the absolute ground
state, and transferred into a crossed FORT in which they are evaporated. The
fast loading of the 1D FORT (35 ms 1/e time), and the use of relatively fast
evaporative ramps allow us to obtain in 20 s about 15000 atoms in an almost
pure condensate.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Dipolar atomic spin ensembles in a double-well potential
We experimentally study the spin dynamics of mesoscopic ensembles of
ultracold magnetic spin-3 atoms located in two separated wells of an optical
dipole trap. We use a radio-frequency sweep to selectively flip the spin of the
atoms in one of the wells, which produces two separated spin domains of
opposite polarization. We observe that these engineered spin domains are
metastable with respect to the long-range magnetic dipolar interactions between
the two ensembles. The absence of inter-cloud dipolar spin-exchange processes
reveals a classical behavior, in contrast to previous results with atoms loaded
in an optical lattice. When we merge the two subsystems, we observe
spin-exchange dynamics due to contact interactions which enable the first
determination of the s-wave scattering length of 52Cr atoms in the S=0
molecular channel a_0=13.5^{+11}_{-10.5}a_B (where a_B is the Bohr radius).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Accumulation and thermalization of cold atoms in a finite-depth magnetic trap
We experimentally and theoretically study the continuous accumulation of cold
atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) into a finite depth trap, consisting in
a magnetic quadrupole trap dressed by a radiofrequency (RF) field. Chromium
atoms (52 isotope) in a MOT are continuously optically pumped by the MOT lasers
to metastable dark states. In presence of a RF field, the temperature of the
metastable atoms that remain magnetically trapped can be as low as 25 microK,
with a density of 10^17 atoms.m-3, resulting in an increase of the phase-space
density, still limited to 7.10^-6 by inelastic collisions. To investigate the
thermalization issues in the truncated trap, we measure the free evaporation
rate in the RF-truncated magnetic trap, and deduce the average elastic cross
section for atoms in the 5D4 metastable states, equal to 7.0 10^-16m2.Comment: 9 pages, 10 Figure
Thermodynamics of a Bose Einstein condensate with free magnetization
We study thermodynamic properties of a gas of spin 3 52Cr atoms across Bose
Einstein condensation. Magnetization is free, due to dipole-dipole interactions
(DDIs). We show that the critical temperature for condensation is lowered at
extremely low magnetic fields, when the spin degree of freedom is thermally
activated. The depolarized gas condenses in only one spin component, unless the
magnetic field is set below a critical value, below which a non ferromagnetic
phase is favored. Finally we present a spin thermometry efficient even below
the degeneracy temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Self-assembly and entropic effects in pear-shaped colloid systems. I. Shape sensitivity of bilayer phases in colloidal pear-shaped particle systems
The role of particle shape in self-assembly processes is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, particle shape and particle elongation are often considered the most fundamental determinants of soft matter structure formation. On the other hand, structure formation is often highly sensitive to details of shape. Here, we address the question of particle shape sensitivity for the self-assembly of hard pear-shaped particles by studying two models for this system: (a) the pear hard Gaussian overlap (PHGO) and (b) the hard pears of revolution (HPR) model. Hard pear-shaped particles, given by the PHGO model, are known to form a bicontinuous gyroid phase spontaneously. However, this model does not replicate an additive object perfectly and, hence, varies slightly in shape from a “true” pear-shape. Therefore, we investigate in the first part of this series the stability of the gyroid phase in pear-shaped particle systems. We show, based on the HPR phase diagram, that the gyroid phase does not form in pears with such a “true” hard pear-shaped potential. Moreover, we acquire first indications from the HPR and PHGO pair-correlation functions that the formation of the gyroid is probably attributed to the small non-additive properties of the PHGO potential
Self-assembly and entropic effects in pear-shaped colloid systems. II. Depletion attraction of pear-shaped particles in a hard-sphere solvent
We consider depletion effects of a pear-shaped colloidal particle in a hard-sphere solvent for two different model realizations of the pear-shaped colloidal particle. The two models are the pear hard Gaussian overlap (PHGO) particles and the hard pears of revolution (HPR). The motivation for this study is to provide a microscopic understanding for the substantially different mesoscopic self-assembly properties of these pear-shaped colloids, in dense suspensions, that have been reported in the previous studies. This is done by determining their differing depletion attractions via Monte Carlo simulations of PHGO and HPR particles in a pool of hard spheres and comparing them with excluded volume calculations of numerically obtained ideal configurations on the microscopic level. While the HPR model behaves as predicted by the analysis of excluded volumes, the PHGO model showcases a preference for splay between neighboring particles, which can be attributed to the special non-additive characteristics of the PHGO contact function. Lastly, we propose a potentially experimentally realizable pear-shaped particle model, the non-additive hard pear of revolution model, which is based on the HPR model but also features non-additive traits similar to those of PHGO particles to mimic their depletion behavior
TRIDENT: an Infrared Differential Imaging Camera Optimized for the Detection of Methanated Substellar Companions
A near-infrared camera in use at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)
and at the 1.6-m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont-Megantic is described.
The camera is based on a Hawaii-1 1024x1024 HgCdTe array detector. Its main
feature is to acquire three simultaneous images at three wavelengths across the
methane absorption bandhead at 1.6 microns, enabling, in theory, an accurate
subtraction of the stellar point spread function (PSF) and the detection of
faint close methanated companions. The instrument has no coronagraph and
features fast data acquisition, yielding high observing efficiency on bright
stars. The performance of the instrument is described, and it is illustrated by
laboratory tests and CFHT observations of the nearby stars GL526, Ups And and
Chi And. TRIDENT can detect (6 sigma) a methanated companion with delta H = 9.5
at 0.5" separation from the star in one hour of observing time. Non-common path
aberrations and amplitude modulation differences between the three optical
paths are likely to be the limiting factors preventing further PSF attenuation.
Instrument rotation and reference star subtraction improve the detection limit
by a factor of 2 and 4 respectively. A PSF noise attenuation model is presented
to estimate the non-common path wavefront difference effect on PSF subtraction
performance.Comment: 41 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Purely entropic self-assembly of the bicontinuous Ia3Ě…d gyroid phase in equilibrium hard-pear systems
We investigate a model of hard pear-shaped particles which forms the bicontinuous Ia3d structure by entropic self-assembly, extending the previous observations of Barmes et al. (2003 Phys. Rev. E 68, 021708. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.68.021708)) and Ellison et al. (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 237801. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.237801)). We specifically provide the complete phase diagram of this system, with global density and particle shape as the two variable parameters, incorporating the gyroid phase as well as disordered isotropic, smectic and nematic phases. The phase diagram is obtained by two methods, one being a compression–decompression study and the other being a continuous change of the particle shape parameter at constant density. Additionally, we probe the mechanism by which interdigitating sheets of pears in these systems create surfaces with negative Gauss curvature, which is needed to form the gyroid minimal surface. This is achieved by the use of Voronoi tessellation, whereby both the shape and volume of Voronoi cells can be assessed in regard to the local Gauss curvature of the gyroid minimal surface. Through this, we show that the mechanisms prevalent in this entropy-driven system differ from those found in systems which form gyroid structures in nature (lipid bilayers) and from synthesized materials (di-block copolymers) and where the formation of the gyroid is enthalpically driven. We further argue that the gyroid phase formed in these systems is a realization of a modulated splay-bend phase in which the conventional nematic has been predicted to be destabilized at the mesoscale due to molecular-scale coupling of polar and orientational degrees of freedo
- …