Cold Atomic Collisions: Coherent Control of Penning and Associative Ionization

Coherent Control techniques are computationally applied to cold (1mK < T < 1 K) and ultracold (T < 1 microK) Ne*(3s,3P2) + Ar(1S0) collisions. We show that by using various initial superpositions of the Ne*(3s,3P2) M = {-2,-1,0,1,2} Zeeman sub-levels it is possible to reduce the Penning Ionization (PI) and Associative Ionization (AI) cross sections by as much as four orders of magnitude. It is also possible to drastically change the ratio of these two processes. The results are based on combining, within the "Rotating Atom Approximation", empirical and ab-initio ionization-widths.Comment: 4 pages, 2 tables, 2 figure

Direct in situ GDD measurement in optical coating process

In the presented work a fast frequency domain measurement system to determine group delay (GD) and group delay dispersion (GDD) of optical coatings is proposed. The measurements are performed in situ directly on moving substrates during the thin film coating process. The method is based on a Michelson interferometer, which is equipped with a high power broad band light source and a fast spectrometer. Especially for the production of chirped mirrors it is advantageous to obtain group delay and group delay dispersion data of the last layers. This additional information allows for online corrections of coating errors to enhance the precision of complex interference filters for short pulse applications. © 2015 SPIE

Improved LIDT values for dielectric dispersive compensating mirrors applying ternary composites

The present contribution is addressed to an improved method to fabricate dielectric dispersive compensating mirrors (CMs) with an increased laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) by the use of ternary composite layers. Taking advantage of a novel in-situ phase monitor system, it is possible to control the sensitive deposition process more precisely. The study is initiated by a design synthesis, to achieve optimum reflection and GDD values for a conventional high low stack (HL)n. Afterwards the field intensity is analyzed, and layers affected by highest electric field intensities are exchanged by ternary composites of TaxSiyOz. Both designs have similar target specifications whereby one design is using ternary composites and the other one is distinguished by a (HL)n. The first layers of the stack are switched applying in-situ optical broad band monitoring in conjunction with a forward re-optimization algorithm, which also manipulates the layers remaining for deposition at each switching event. To accomplish the demanded GDD-spectra, the last layers are controlled by a novel in-situ white light interferometer operating in the infrared spectral range. Finally the CMs are measured in a 10.000 on 1 procedure according to ISO 21254 applying pulses with a duration of 130 fs at a central wavelength of 775 nm to determine the laser induced damage threshold. © 2016 SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.DFG/EXC/QUESTVolkswagen StiftungBMBF/13N1155

Bio mit Gesicht - Erfolgschancen einer kundennahen und innovativen Marketingstrategie

Mangelndes Vertrauen in Bio-Produkte wirkt als eine zentrale Kaufbarriere. Mit der Marketingstrategie Bio mit Gesicht (BMG) soll die Anonymität von Produkten aufgehoben und Vertrauen geschaffen werden, indem die Erzeuger und Verarbeiter im Internet vorgestellt werden. Ziel des Projekts "Bio mit Gesicht – Erfolgschancen einer kundennahen und innovativen Marketingstrategie“ war es, die Markteinführung der Produktlinie BMG wissenschaftlich zu begleiten und praxisrelevante Aussagen über die Konzeption zukünftiger Marketingstrategien zu treffen. Dabei wurde im Rahmen einer quantitativen und einer qualitativen Studie untersucht, worauf das Vertrauen in Bio-Produkte grundsätzlich beruht und ob BMG geeignet ist, das Vertrauen in Bio-Produkte zu steigern. Die Studien zeigen, dass die Kennzeichnung von Bio-Lebensmitteln mit Bio-Labels eine zentrale Rolle dabei spielt, wie Konsumenten deren Vertrauenswürdigkeit beurteilen. Bio-Produkte, die ein Verbandslabel aufweisen, genießen das höchste Vertrauen, gefolgt von staatlichen Labels. Trotz seines geringen Bekanntheitsgrads wirkt auch das BMG-Logo vertrauensbildend. Offenbar erweckt bereits allein das signalgebende Wort „bio“ im Label Vertrauen. Auch schaffen Einkaufsstätten Vertrauen, die aus Sicht der Konsumenten Bio-Produkte aus Überzeugung verkaufen. Regionalität erhöht ebenfalls die Vertrauenswürdigkeit eines Bio-Produkts signifikant. Am höchsten ist das Vertrauen in Bio-Lebensmittel unter Konsumenten, die Bio-Lebensmittel überwiegend in Bio-Läden kaufen. Im Gegensatz zum BMG-Label steigert BMG als Rückverfolgbarkeitssystem via Internet das Vertrauen in Bio-Produkte derzeit kaum. Doch insbesondere durch die zunehmende Verbreitung von Smartphones und den damit verbundenen Vorteil, Produktinformationen noch vor dem Einkauf abrufen zu können, könnte die Bedeutung von BMG zukünftig steigern. Auch die wachsende Bedeutung von elektronischen Lesegeräten, mit denen sich Artikeldaten bereits während des Lebensmitteleinkaufs abrufen lassen, steigert das Potenzial von Rückverfolgbarkeitssystemen. Die Analyse der Zugriffszahlen zeigte zudem, dass in Zeiten eines Lebensmittelskandals (z.B. Dioxin in Eiern, EHEC) die Besucherzahlen auf der Internetseite von BMG deutlich steigen

Precise fabrication of ultra violet dielectric dispersion compensating mirrors

The present contribution is concentrated on an improved method to manufacture dielectric dispersion compensating mirrors in the ultra violet (UV) range by applying a novel online phase monitoring device. This newly developed measurement tool monitors the group delay (GD) and group delay dispersion (GDD) of the electromagnetic field in situ during the deposition of the layer system. Broad band monitoring of the phase enhances the accuracy in the near infrared spectral range (NIR), significantly. In this study, the correlation of the GDD in the NIR and in the UV spectral range is investigated. A design synthesis is introduced to achieve optimum reflection and GDD target values in the UV and NIR. This requires a similar behavior of both bands according to deposition errors, to guarantee switching off the UV GDD target band proper, while monitoring the GDD in the NIR spectral range. The synthesis results in a design, characterized by a GDD of -100fs2±20fs2 between 330nm and 360nm in the UV and by -450fs2±10fs2 within 820nm to 870nm in the NIR. The fabricated sample, applying an ion beam sputtering process, consists of a 9μm layer stack of Hafnium oxide and Silicon dioxide. The first layers of the stack are switched and controlled by a conventional in situ spectrometric broad band monitoring in conjunction with a forward re-optimization algorithm, which also manipulates the layers remaining for deposition at each switching event. To accomplish the demanded GDD-spectra, the last layers are controlled by the novel in situ GDD monitor. © 2015 SPIE.DFG/EXC/QUESTDFG/13N1155

X-ray structure of the dimeric cytochrome bc1 complex from the soil bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans at 2.7-Å resolution

AbstractThe respiratory cytochrome bc1 complex is a fundamental enzyme in biological energy conversion. It couples electron transfer from ubiquinol to cytochrome c with generation of proton motive force which fuels ATP synthesis. The complex from the α-proteobacterium Paracoccus denitrificans, a model for the medically relevant mitochondrial complexes, lacked structural characterization. We show by LILBID mass spectrometry that truncation of the organism-specific, acidic N-terminus of cytochrome c1 changes the oligomerization state of the enzyme to a dimer. The fully functional complex was crystallized and the X-ray structure determined at 2.7-Å resolution. It has high structural homology to mitochondrial complexes and to the Rhodobacter sphaeroides complex especially for subunits cytochrome b and ISP. Species-specific binding of the inhibitor stigmatellin is noteworthy. Interestingly, cytochrome c1 shows structural differences to the mitochondrial and even between the two Rhodobacteraceae complexes. The structural diversity in the cytochrome c1 surface facing the ISP domain indicates low structural constraints on that surface for formation of a productive electron transfer complex. A similar position of the acidic N-terminal domains of cytochrome c1 and yeast subunit QCR6p is suggested in support of a similar function. A model of the electron transfer complex with membrane-anchored cytochrome c552, the natural substrate, shows that it can adopt the same orientation as the soluble substrate in the yeast complex. The full structural integrity of the P. denitrificans variant underpins previous mechanistic studies on intermonomer electron transfer and paves the way for using this model system to address open questions of structure/function relationships and inhibitor binding

Multilayer ion trap technology for scalable quantum computing and quantum simulation

We present a novel ion trap fabrication method enabling the realization of multilayer ion traps scalable to an in principle arbitrary number of metal-dielectric levels. We benchmark our method by fabricating a multilayer ion trap with integrated three-dimensional microwave circuitry. We demonstrate ion trapping and microwave control of the hyperfine states of a laser cooled 9Be+ ion held at a distance of 35 above the trap surface. This method can be used to implement large-scale ion trap arrays for scalable quantum information processing and quantum simulation

Robust and Resource-Efficient Microwave Near-Field Entangling 9Be+ Gate

Microwave trapped-ion quantum logic gates avoid spontaneous emission as a fundamental source of decoherence. However, microwave two-qubit gates are still slower than laser-induced gates and hence more sensitive to fluctuations and noise of the motional mode frequency. We propose and implement amplitude-shaped gate drives to obtain resilience to such frequency changes without increasing the pulse energy per gate operation. We demonstrate the resilience by noise injection during a two-qubit entangling gate with $^9$Be$^+$ ion qubits. In absence of injected noise, amplitude modulation gives an operation infidelity in the $10^{-3}$ range