176 research outputs found
Design and Fabrication of Memristors
This paper details the design and fabrication of memristors in the RIT Semiconductor and Microsystem Fabrication Laboratory. Two methods of partially oxidizing titanium were explored, reactive sputtering and thermal oxidation. It is determined that thermal oxidation allows for greater control over the oxidation process due to an inability to sufficiently control the gas flow in the sputter chamber. Electron beam lithography is used to define holes in oxide in which the memristors will be fabricated. Due to issues with the lithography, fabrication is incomplete and ongoing
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
Optical clocks based on ultra-narrow three-photon resonances in alkaline earth atoms
A sharp resonance line that appears in three-photon transitions between the
and states of alkaline earth and Yb atoms is proposed
as an optical frequency standard. This proposal permits the use of the even
isotopes, in which the clock transition is narrower than in proposed clocks
using the odd isotopes and the energy interval is not affected by external
magnetic fields or the polarization of trapping light. The method has the
unique feature that the width and rate of the clock transition can be
continuously adjusted from the level to sub- without loss of signal
amplitude by varying the intensities of the three optical beams. Doppler and
recoil effects can be eliminated by proper alignment of the three optical beams
or by point confinement in a lattice trap. The three beams can be mixed to
produce the optical frequency corresponding to the -
clock interval.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Intensification of hydrological drought in California by human water management
We analyze the contribution of human water management to the intensification and mitigation of hydrological drought over California using the PCR-GLOBWB hydrological model for the period 1979-2014. We demonstrate that considering water management results in more accurate discharge representation. During the severe 2014 drought, water management alleviated the drought deficit by âŒ50% in Southern California through reservoir operation during low flow periods. However, human water consumption (mostly irrigation) in the Central Valley increased drought duration and deficit by 50% and 50-100%, respectively. Return level analysis indicates that there is more than 50% chance that the probability of occurrence of an extreme 2014-magnitude drought event was at least doubled under the influence of human activities compared to natural variability. This impact is most significant over the San Joaquin Drainage basin with a 50% and 75% likelihood that the return period is more than 3.5 and 1.5 times larger, respectively, because of human activities
Codes for the Quantum Erasure Channel
The quantum erasure channel (QEC) is considered. Codes for the QEC have to
correct for erasures, i. e., arbitrary errors at known positions. We show that
four qubits are necessary and sufficient to encode one qubit and correct one
erasure, in contrast to five qubits for unknown positions. Moreover, a family
of quantum codes for the QEC, the quantum BCH codes, that can be efficiently
decoded is introduced.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX, no figures, submitted to Physical Review A, code
extended to encode 2 qubits, references adde
Speed of ion trap quantum information processors
We investigate theoretically the speed limit of quantum gate operations for
ion trap quantum information processors. The proposed methods use laser pulses
for quantum gates which entangle the electronic and vibrational degrees of
freedom of the trapped ions. Two of these methods are studied in detail and for
both of them the speed is limited by a combination of the recoil frequency of
the relevant electronic transition, and the vibrational frequency in the trap.
We have experimentally studied the gate operations below and above this speed
limit. In the latter case, the fidelity is reduced, in agreement with our
theoretical findings. //
Changes: a) error in equ. 24 and table III repaired b) reference Jonathan et
al, quant-ph/ 0002092, added (proposes fast quantum gates using the AC-Stark
effect)Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Quantum state engineering on an optical transition and decoherence in a Paul trap
A single Ca+ ion in a Paul trap has been cooled to the ground state of
vibration with up to 99.9% probability. Starting from this Fock state |n=0> we
have demonstrated coherent quantum state manipulation on an optical transition.
Up to 30 Rabi oscillations within 1.4 ms have been observed. We find a similar
number of Rabi oscillations after preparation of the ion in the |n=1> Fock
state. The coherence of optical state manipulation is only limited by laser and
ambient magnetic field fluctuations. Motional heating has been measured to be
as low as one vibrational quantum in 190 ms.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
A Search for Time Variation of the Fine Structure Constant
A method offering an order of magnitude sensitivity gain is described for
using quasar spectra to investigate possible time or space variation in the
fine structure constant, alpha. Applying the technique to a sample of 30
absorption systems, spanning redshifts 0.5 < z< 1.6, obtained with the Keck I
telescope, we derive limits on variations in alpha over a wide range of epochs.
For the whole sample Delta(alpha)/alpha = -1.1 +/- 0.4 x 10^{-5}. This
deviation is dominated by measurements at z > 1, where Delta(alpha)/alpha =
-1.9 +/- 0.5 x 10^{-5}. For z < 1, Delta(alpha)/alpha = -0.2 +/- 0.4 x 10^{-5},
consistent with other known constraints. Whilst these results are consistent
with a time-varying alpha, further work is required to explore possible
systematic errors in the data, although careful searches have so far not
revealed any.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Spontaneous emission of an atom in front of a mirror
Motivated by a recent experiment [J. Eschner {\it et al.}, Nature {\bf 413},
495 (2001)], we now present a theoretical study on the fluorescence of an atom
in front of a mirror. On the assumption that the presence of the distant mirror
and a lens imposes boundary conditions on the electric field in a plane close
to the atom, we derive the intensities of the emitted light as a function of an
effective atom-mirror distance. The results obtained are in good agreement with
the experimental findings.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, revised version, references adde
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