17 research outputs found
Water Vapour Effects in Mass Measurement
Water vapour inside the mass comparator enclosure is a critical parameter. In
fact, fluctuations of this parameter during mass weighing can lead to errors in
the determination of an unknown mass. To control that, a proposal method is
given and tested. Preliminary results of our observation of water vapour
sorption and desorption processes from walls and mass standard are reported
Bloch oscillations of ultracold atoms: a tool for a metrological determination of
We use Bloch oscillations in a horizontal moving standing wave to transfer a
large number of photon recoils to atoms with a high efficiency (99.5% per
cycle). By measuring the photon recoil of , using velocity selective
Raman transitions to select a subrecoil velocity class and to measure the final
accelerated velocity class, we have determined with a relative
precision of 0.4 ppm. To exploit the high momentum transfer efficiency of our
method, we are developing a vertical standing wave set-up. This will allow us
to measure better than and hence the fine structure
constant with an uncertainty close to the most accurate value coming
from the () determination
Progress towards an accurate determination of the Boltzmann constant by Doppler spectroscopy
In this paper, we present significant progress performed on an experiment
dedicated to the determination of the Boltzmann constant, k, by accurately
measuring the Doppler absorption profile of a line in a gas of ammonia at
thermal equilibrium. This optical method based on the first principles of
statistical mechanics is an alternative to the acoustical method which has led
to the unique determination of k published by the CODATA with a relative
accuracy of 1.7 ppm. We report on the first measurement of the Boltzmann
constant by laser spectroscopy with a statistical uncertainty below 10 ppm,
more specifically 6.4 ppm. This progress results from improvements in the
detection method and in the statistical treatment of the data. In addition, we
have recorded the hyperfine structure of the probed saQ(6,3) rovibrational line
of ammonia by saturation spectroscopy and thus determine very precisely the
induced 4.36 (2) ppm broadening of the absorption linewidth. We also show that,
in our well chosen experimental conditions, saturation effects have a
negligible impact on the linewidth. Finally, we draw the route to future
developments for an absolute determination of with an accuracy of a few ppm.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure
Proposal for new experimental schemes to realize the Avogadro constant
We propose two experimental schemes to determine and so to realize the
Avogadro constant at the level of 10 or better with a watt
balance experiment and a cold atom experiment measuring (where is
the Planck constant and the mass of the atom ). We give some
prospects about achievable uncertainties and we discuss the opportunity to test
the existence of possible unknown correction factors for the Josephson effect
and quantum Hall effect
Viral epidemics in a cell culture: novel high resolution data and their interpretation by a percolation theory based model
Because of its relevance to everyday life, the spreading of viral infections
has been of central interest in a variety of scientific communities involved in
fighting, preventing and theoretically interpreting epidemic processes. Recent
large scale observations have resulted in major discoveries concerning the
overall features of the spreading process in systems with highly mobile
susceptible units, but virtually no data are available about observations of
infection spreading for a very large number of immobile units. Here we present
the first detailed quantitative documentation of percolation-type viral
epidemics in a highly reproducible in vitro system consisting of tens of
thousands of virtually motionless cells. We use a confluent astroglial
monolayer in a Petri dish and induce productive infection in a limited number
of cells with a genetically modified herpesvirus strain. This approach allows
extreme high resolution tracking of the spatio-temporal development of the
epidemic. We show that a simple model is capable of reproducing the basic
features of our observations, i.e., the observed behaviour is likely to be
applicable to many different kinds of systems. Statistical physics inspired
approaches to our data, such as fractal dimension of the infected clusters as
well as their size distribution, seem to fit into a percolation theory based
interpretation. We suggest that our observations may be used to model epidemics
in more complex systems, which are difficult to study in isolation.Comment: To appear in PLoS ONE. Supporting material can be downloaded from
http://amur.elte.hu/BDGVirus
RéfractomÚtre : référence de longueur d'onde dans l'air
L'une des principales sources d'incertitudes limitant la précision des mesures
dimensionnelles dans l'air par méthode interférométrique est liée à l'incertitude de mesure de l'indice
de réfraction et à celle de ses fluctuations. A ce jour les meilleurs réfractomÚtres n'atteignent que des
incertitudes à l'échelle des 10-7, et leurs temps de réponse relativement grands ne permettent pas
d'effectuer des mesures en temps réel. Dans cet article, nous présentons le principe d'un nouveau
type de réfractomÚtre, en développement à l'INM, pour la mesure en temps réel de l'indice de l'air
avec une précision d'environ 10-9, ainsi que quelques résultats préliminaires
Photoelectrochemical impedance spectroscopy sensor for cloxacillin based on tetrabutylammonium octamolybdate
Technologies for the ELGAR large scale atom interferometer array
We proposed the European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research (ELGAR), an array of atom gradiometers aimed at studying space-time and gravitation with the primary goal of observing gravitational waves (GWs) in the infrasound band with a peak strain sensitivity of 3.3Ă10â22/HzâŸâŸâŸâ at 1.7 Hz. In this paper we detail the main technological bricks of this large scale detector and emphasis the research pathways to be conducted for its realization. We discuss the site options, atom optics, and source requirements needed to reach the target sensitivity. We then discuss required seismic isolation techniques, Gravity Gradient Noise reduction strategies, and the metrology of various noise couplings to the detector