4,496 research outputs found
Hyperfine quenching of the metastable states in divalent atoms
Hyperfine quenching rates of the lowest-energy metastable and
states of Mg, Ca, Sr, and Yb atoms are computed. The calculations are carried
out using ab initio relativistic many-body methods. The computed lifetimes may
be useful for designing novel ultra-precise optical clocks and trapping
experiments with the fermionic isotopes. The resulting natural widths of
the clock transition are 0.44 mHz for Mg, 2.2 mHz for
Ca, 7.6 mHz for Sr, 43.5 mHz for Yb, and 38.5 mHz for
Yb. Compared to the bosonic isotopes, the lifetime of the states
in fermionic isotopes is noticeably shortened by the hyperfine quenching but
still remains long enough for trapping experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Highly charged ions: optical clocks and applications in fundamental physics
Recent developments in frequency metrology and optical clocks have been based
on electronic transitions in atoms and singly charged ions as references. These
systems have enabled relative frequency uncertainties at a level of a few parts
in . This accomplishment not only allows for extremely accurate time
and frequency measurements, but also to probe our understanding of fundamental
physics, such as variation of fundamental constants, violation of the local
Lorentz invariance, and forces beyond the Standard Model of Physics. In
addition, novel clocks are driving the development of sophisticated technical
applications. Crucial for applications of clocks in fundamental physics are a
high sensitivity to effects beyond the Standard Model and Einstein's Theory of
Relativity and a small frequency uncertainty of the clock. Highly charged ions
offer both. They have been proposed as highly accurate clocks, since they
possess optical transitions which can be extremely narrow and less sensitive to
external perturbations compared to current atomic clock species. The selection
of highly charged ions in different charge states offers narrow transitions
that are among the most sensitive ones for a change in the fine-structure
constant and the electron-to-proton mass ratio, as well as other new physics
effects. Recent advances in trapping and sympathetic cooling of highly charged
ions will in the future enable high accuracy optical spectroscopy. Progress in
calculating the properties of selected highly charged ions has allowed the
evaluation of systematic shifts and the prediction of the sensitivity to the
"new physics" effects. This article reviews the current status of theory and
experiment in the field.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figures, submitted to RM
Enhancement of the electric dipole moment of the electron in PbO
The a(1) state of PbO can be used to measure the electric dipole moment of
the electron d_e. We discuss a semiempirical model for this state, which yields
an estimate of the effective electric field on the valence electrons in PbO.
Our final result is an upper limit on the measurable energy shift, which is
significantly larger than was anticipated earlier: .Comment: 4 pages, revtex4, no figures, submitted to PR
Effect of Plasma Irradiation on films
The effect of plasma irradiation is studied systematically on a 4H polytype
(002) oriented stoichiometric film having compressive residual
stress. Plasma irradiation was found to change the orientation to (110) of the
film at certain moderate irradiation distances. A linear decrease in grain size
and residual stress was observed with decreasing irradiation distance (or
increasing ion energy) consistent with both structural and morphological
observations. The direct optical energy gap was found to increase
linearly at the rate with the compressive stress. The
combined data of present compressive stress and from earlier reported tensile
stress show a consistent trend of change with stress. The
iodine-iodine distance in the unit cell could be responsible for the observed
change in with stress.Comment: 13 pages and 10 fi
The Bose-Einstein correlation function from a Quantum Field Theory point of view
We show that a recently proposed derivation of Bose-Einstein correlations
(BEC) by means of a specific version of thermal Quantum Field Theory (QFT),
supplemented by operator-field evolution of the Langevin type, allows for a
deeper understanding of the possible coherent behaviour of the emitting source
and a clear identification of the origin of the observed shape of the BEC
function . Previous conjectures in this matter obtained by other
approaches are confirmed and have received complementary explanation.Comment: Some misprints corrected. To be publishe in Phys. Rev.
A search for varying fundamental constants using Hz-level frequency measurements of cold CH molecules
Many modern theories predict that the fundamental constants depend on time,
position, or the local density of matter. We develop a spectroscopic method for
pulsed beams of cold molecules, and use it to measure the frequencies of
microwave transitions in CH with accuracy down to 3 Hz. By comparing these
frequencies with those measured from sources of CH in the Milky Way, we test
the hypothesis that fundamental constants may differ between the high and low
density environments of the Earth and the interstellar medium. For the fine
structure constant we find \Delta\alpha/\alpha = (0.3 +/- 1.1)*10^{-7}, the
strongest limit to date on such a variation of \alpha. For the
electron-to-proton mass ratio we find \Delta\mu/\mu = (-0.7 +/- 2.2) * 10^{-7}.
We suggest how dedicated astrophysical measurements can improve these
constraints further and can also constrain temporal variation of the constants.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
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