Ponderomotive manipulation of cold subwavelength plasmas

Ponderomotive forces (PFs) induced in cold subwavelength plasmas by an externally applied electromagnetic wave are studied analytically. To this end, the plasma is modeled as a sphere with a radially varying permittivity, and the internal electric fields are calculated by solving the macroscopic Maxwell equations using an expansion in Debye potentials. It is found that the PF is directed opposite to the plasma density gradient, similarly to large-scale plasmas. In case of a uniform density profile, a residual spherically symmetric compressive PF is found, suggesting possibilities for contactless ponderomotive manipulation of homogeneous subwavelength objects. The presence of a surface PF on discontinuous plasma boundaries is derived. This force is essential for a microscopic description of the radiation-plasma interaction consistent with momentum conservation. It is shown that the PF integrated over the plasma volume is equivalent to the radiation pressure exerted on the plasma by the incident wave. The concept of radiative acceleration of subwavelength plasmas, proposed earlier, is applied to ultracold plasmas. It is estimated that these plasmas may be accelerated to keV ion energies, resulting in a neutralized beam with a brightness comparable to that of current high-performance ion sources.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Classical formulations of the electromagnetic self-force of extended charged bodies

Several noncovariant formulations of the electromagnetic self-force of extended charged bodies, as have been developed in the context of classical models of charged particles, are compared. The mathematical equivalence of the various dissimilar self-force expressions is demonstrated explicitly by deriving these expressions directly from one another. The applicability of the self-force formulations and their significance in the wider context of classical charged particle models are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

Gigahertz repetition rate thermionic electron gun concept

We present a novel concept for the generation of gigahertz repetition rate high brightness electron bunches. A custom design 100 kV thermionic gun provides a continuous electron beam, with the current determined by the filament size and temperature. A 1 GHz rectangular RF cavity deflects the beam across a knife-edge, creating a pulsed beam. Adding a higher harmonic mode to this cavity results in a flattened magnetic field profile which increases the duty cycle to 30%. Finally, a compression cavity induces a negative longitudinal velocity-time chirp in a bunch, initiating ballistic compression. Adding a higher harmonic mode to this cavity increases the linearity of this chirp and thus decreases the final bunch length. Charged particle simulations show that with a 0.15 mm radius LaB6 filament held at 1760 K, this method can create 279 fs, 3.0 pC electron bunches with a radial rms core emittance of 0.089 mm mrad at a repetition rate of 1 GHz.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Spatially encoded light for Large-alphabet Quantum Key Distribution

Most Quantum Key Distribution protocols use a two-dimensional basis such as HV polarization as first proposed by Bennett and Brassard in 1984. These protocols are consequently limited to a key generation density of 1 bit per photon. We increase this key density by encoding information in the transverse spatial displacement of the used photons. Employing this higher-dimensional Hilbert space together with modern single-photon-detecting cameras, we demonstrate a proof-of-principle large-alphabet Quantum Key Distribution experiment with 1024 symbols and a shared information between sender and receiver of 7 bit per photon.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Added references, Updated Fig. 1 in the main text, Updated Fig.1 in supplementary material, Added section Trojan-horse attacks in supplementary material, title changed, Added paragraphs about final key rate and overfilling the detector to result sectio

High quality ultrafast transmission electron microscopy using resonant microwave cavities

Ultrashort, low-emittance electron pulses can be created at a high repetition rate by using a TM$_{110}$ deflection cavity to sweep a continuous beam across an aperture. These pulses can be used for time-resolved electron microscopy with atomic spatial and temporal resolution at relatively large average currents. In order to demonstrate this, a cavity has been inserted in a transmission electron microscope, and picosecond pulses have been created. No significant increase of either emittance or energy spread has been measured for these pulses. At a peak current of $814\pm2$ pA, the root-mean-square transverse normalized emittance of the electron pulses is $\varepsilon_{n,x}=(2.7\pm0.1)\cdot 10^{-12}$ m rad in the direction parallel to the streak of the cavity, and $\varepsilon_{n,y}=(2.5\pm0.1)\cdot 10^{-12}$ m rad in the perpendicular direction for pulses with a pulse length of 1.1-1.3 ps. Under the same conditions, the emittance of the continuous beam is $\varepsilon_{n,x}=\varepsilon_{n,y}=(2.5\pm0.1)\cdot 10^{-12}$ m rad. Furthermore, for both the pulsed and the continuous beam a full width at half maximum energy spread of $0.95\pm0.05$ eV has been measured

Heating mechanisms in radio frequency driven ultracold plasmas

Several mechanisms by which an external electromagnetic field influences the temperature of a plasma are studied analytically and specialized to the system of an ultracold plasma (UCP) driven by a uniform radio frequency (RF) field. Heating through collisional absorption is reviewed and applied to UCPs. Furthermore, it is shown that the RF field modifies the three body recombination process by ionizing electrons from intermediate high-lying Rydberg states and upshifting the continuum threshold, resulting in a suppression of three body recombination. Heating through collisionless absorption associated with the finite plasma size is calculated in detail, revealing a temperature threshold below which collisionless absorption is ineffective.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Insulin-like growth factor II receptors in human brain and their absence in astrogliotic plaques in multiple sclerosis

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) II receptors were studied in human adult brain by using autoradiography with [(125)I]IGF-II. Receptors were found to be widely distributed throughout all neuronal regions. The highest densities were found in plexus choroideus, granular layer of the cerebellar cortex, gyrus dendatus and pyramidal layer of the hippocampus, striatum, and cerebral cortex. White matter was devoid of IGF-II receptors. We also examined [(125)I]IGF-II binding in six plaques of multiple sclerosis, which were characterized by a dense network of astrocytes. Ne were unable to detect IGF-II receptors in any of the astrogliotic plaques, suggesting that IGF-II receptors in human brain are not involved in astrogliosis. The regional variations in neuronal distribution of IGF-II receptors suggest involvement of IGF-II in functions associated with specific neuronal pathways. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved