4,324 research outputs found
Two-Level Systems in Evaporated Amorphous Silicon
In -beam evaporated amorphous silicon (-Si), the densities of two-level
systems (TLS), and , determined from specific heat
and internal friction measurements, respectively, have been shown to
vary by over three orders of magnitude. Here we show that and
are proportional to each other with a constant of
proportionality that is consistent with the measurement time dependence
proposed by Black and Halperin and does not require the introduction of
additional anomalous TLS. However, and depend strongly
on the atomic density of the film () which depends on both film
thickness and growth temperature suggesting that the -Si structure is
heterogeneous with nanovoids or other lower density regions forming in a dense
amorphous network. A review of literature data shows that this atomic density
dependence is not unique to -Si. These findings suggest that TLS are not
intrinsic to an amorphous network but require a heterogeneous structure to
form
Pinning an Ion with an Intracavity Optical Lattice
We report one-dimensional pinning of a single ion by an optical lattice. The
lattice potential is produced by a standing-wave cavity along the rf-field-free
axis of a linear Paul trap. The ion's localization is detected by measuring its
fluorescence when excited by standing-wave fields with the same period, but
different spatial phases. The experiments agree with an analytical model of the
localization process, which we test against numerical simulations. For the best
localization achieved, the ion's average coupling to the cavity field is
enhanced from 50% to 81(3)% of its maximum possible value, and we infer that
the ion is bound in a lattice well with over 97% probability.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Text edited for clarity, results unchange
Coulomb crystallization in expanding laser-cooled neutral plasmas
We present long-time simulations of expanding ultracold neutral plasmas,
including a full treatment of the strongly coupled ion dynamics. Thereby, the
relaxation dynamics of the expanding laser-cooled plasma is studied, taking
into account elastic as well as inelastic collisions. It is demonstrated that,
depending on the initial conditions, the ionic component of the plasma may
exhibit short-range order or even a superimposed long-range order resulting in
concentric ion shells. In contrast to ionic plasmas confined in traps, the
shell structures are built up from the center of the plasma cloud rather than
from the periphery
Laser cooling of new atomic and molecular species with ultrafast pulses
We propose a new laser cooling method for atomic species whose level
structure makes traditional laser cooling difficult. For instance, laser
cooling of hydrogen requires single-frequency vacuum-ultraviolet light, while
multielectron atoms need single-frequency light at many widely separated
frequencies. These restrictions can be eased by laser cooling on two-photon
transitions with ultrafast pulse trains. Laser cooling of hydrogen,
antihydrogen, and many other species appears feasible, and extension of the
technique to molecules may be possible.Comment: revision of quant-ph/0306099, submitted to PR
Laser Phase and Frequency Stabilization Using Atomic Coherence
We present a novel and simple method of stabilizing the laser phase and
frequency by polarization spectroscopy of an atomic vapor. In analogy to the
Pound-Drever-Hall method, which uses a cavity as a memory of the laser phase,
this method uses atomic coherence (dipole oscillations) as a phase memory of
the transmitting laser field. A preliminary experiment using a distributed
feedback laser diode and a rubidium vapor cell demonstrates a
shot-noise-limited laser linewidth reduction (from 2 MHz to 20 kHz). This
method would improve the performance of gas-cell-based optical atomic clocks
and magnetometers and facilitate laser-cooling experiments using narrow
transitions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, appendix on the derivation of Eq.(3) (transfer
function for a polarization-spectroscopy-based frequency discriminator) has
been adde
Filling of the Mott-Hubbard gap in the high temperature photoemission spectrum of (V_0.972Cr_0.028)_2O_3
Photoemission spectra of the paramagnetic insulating (PI) phase of
(V_0.972Cr_0.028)_2O_3, taken in ultra high vacuum up to the unusually high
temperature (T) of 800 K, reveal a property unique to the Mott-Hubbard (MH)
insulator and not observed previously. With increasing T the MH gap is filled
by spectral weight transfer, in qualitative agreement with high-T theoretical
calculations combining dynamical mean field theory and band theory in the local
density approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Narrow Line Cooling and Momentum-Space Crystals
Narrow line laser cooling is advancing the frontier for experiments ranging
from studies of fundamental atomic physics to high precision optical frequency
standards. In this paper, we present an extensive description of the systems
and techniques necessary to realize 689 nm 1S0 - 3P1 narrow line cooling of
atomic 88Sr. Narrow line cooling and trapping dynamics are also studied in
detail. By controlling the relative size of the power broadened transition
linewidth and the single-photon recoil frequency shift, we show that it is
possible to continuously bridge the gap between semiclassical and quantum
mechanical cooling. Novel semiclassical cooling process, some of which are
intimately linked to gravity, are also explored. Moreover, for laser
frequencies tuned above the atomic resonance, we demonstrate momentum-space
crystals containing up to 26 well defined lattice points. Gravitationally
assisted cooling is also achieved with blue-detuned light. Theoretically, we
find the blue detuned dynamics are universal to Doppler limited systems. This
paper offers the most comprehensive study of narrow line laser cooling to date.Comment: 14 pages, 19 figure
Cavity Assisted Nondestructive Laser Cooling of Atomic Qubits
We analyze two configurations for laser cooling of neutral atoms whose
internal states store qubits. The atoms are trapped in an optical lattice which
is placed inside a cavity. We show that the coupling of the atoms to the damped
cavity mode can provide a mechanism which leads to cooling of the motion
without destroying the quantum information.Comment: 12 page
State-Insensitive Cooling and Trapping of Single Atoms in an Optical Cavity
Single Cesium atoms are cooled and trapped inside a small optical cavity by
way of a novel far-off-resonance dipole-force trap (FORT), with observed
lifetimes of 2 to 3 seconds. Trapped atoms are observed continuously via
transmission of a strongly coupled probe beam, with individual events lasting ~
1 s. The loss of successive atoms from the trap N = 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 0 is thereby
monitored in real time. Trapping, cooling, and interactions with strong
coupling are enabled by the FORT potential, for which the center-of-mass motion
is only weakly dependent on the atom's internal state.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures Revised version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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