Robust Digital Holography For Ultracold Atom Trapping

We have formulated and experimentally demonstrated an improved algorithm for design of arbitrary two-dimensional holographic traps for ultracold atoms. Our method builds on the best previously available algorithm, MRAF, and improves on it in two ways. First, it allows for creation of holographic atom traps with a well defined background potential. Second, we experimentally show that for creating trapping potentials free of fringing artifacts it is important to go beyond the Fourier approximation in modelling light propagation. To this end, we incorporate full Helmholtz propagation into our calculations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

A study of one-dimensional transport of Bose-Einstein condensates using exterior complex scaling

We numerically investigate the one-dimensional transport of Bose-Einstein condensates in the context of guided atom lasers using a mean-field description of the condensate in terms of a spatially discretized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We specifically consider a waveguide configuration in which spatial inhomogeneities and nonvanishing atom-atom interactions are restricted to a spatially localized scattering region of finite extent. We show how the method of smooth exterior complex scaling can be implemented for this particular onfiguration in order to efficiently absorb the outgoing flux within the waveguide. A numerical comparison with the introduction of a complex absorbing potential as well as with the analytically exact elimination of the dynamics of the free non-interacting motion outside the scattering region, giving rise to transparent boundary conditions, clearly confirms the accuracy and efficiency of the smooth exterior complex scaling method

Saliva from Obese Individuals Suppresses the Release of Aroma Compounds from Wine

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests that a lower extent of the retronasal aroma release correspond to a higher amount of ad libitum food intake. This has been regarded as one of the bases of behavioral choices towards food consumption in obese people. In this pilot study we investigated the hypothesis that saliva from obese individuals could be responsible for an alteration of the retro-nasal aroma release. We tested this hypothesis in vitro, by comparing the release of volatiles from a liquid food matrix (wine) after its interaction with saliva from 28 obese (O) and 28 normal-weight (N) individuals. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA V4 region indicated that Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were more abundant in O, while Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria dominated in N. Streptococcaceae were significantly more abundant in the O subjects and constituted 34% and 19% on average of the saliva microbiota of O and N subjects, respectively. The Total Antioxidant Capacity was higher in O vs N saliva samples. A model mouth system was used to test whether the in-mouth wine aroma release differs after the interaction with O or N saliva. In O samples, a 18% to 60% significant decrease in the mean concentration of wine volatiles was detected as a result of interaction with saliva, compared with N. This suppression was linked to biochemical differences in O and N saliva composition, which include protein content. CONCLUSION: Microbiological and biochemical differences were found in O vs N saliva samples. An impaired retronasal aroma release from white wine was detected in vitro and linked to compositional differences between saliva from obese and normal-weight subjects. Additional in vivo investigations on diverse food matrices could contribute to understanding whether a lower olfactory stimulation due to saliva composition can be a co-factor in the development/maintenance of obesity