90 research outputs found
Rotational cooling of trapped polyatomic molecules
Controlling the internal degrees of freedom is a key challenge for
applications of cold and ultracold molecules. Here, we demonstrate
rotational-state cooling of trapped methyl fluoride molecules (CH3F) by
optically pumping the population of 16 M-sublevels in the rotational states
J=3,4,5, and 6 into a single level. By combining rotational-state cooling with
motional cooling, we increase the relative number of molecules in the state
J=4, K=3, M=4 from a few percent to over 70%, thereby generating a
translationally cold (~30mK) and nearly pure state ensemble of about 10^6
molecules. Our scheme is extendable to larger sets of initial states, other
final states and a variety of molecule species, thus paving the way for
internal-state control of ever larger molecules
Dissociation of Feshbach Molecules into Different Partial Waves
Ultracold molecules can be associated from ultracold atoms by ramping the
magnetic field through a Feshbach resonance. A reverse ramp dissociates the
molecules. Under suitable conditions, more than one outgoing partial wave can
be populated. A theoretical model for this process is discussed here in detail.
The model reveals the connection between the dissociation and the theory of
multichannel scattering resonances. In particular, the decay rate, the
branching ratio, and the relative phase between the partial waves can be
predicted from theory or extracted from experiment. The results are applicable
to our recent experiment in 87Rb, which has a d-wave shape resonance.Comment: Added Refs.[32-38
Dynamics, correlations and phases of the micromaser
The micromaser possesses a variety of dynamical phase transitions
parametrized by the flux of atoms and the time-of-flight of the atom within the
cavity. We discuss how these phases may be revealed to an observer outside the
cavity using the long-time correlation length in the atomic beam. Some of the
phase transitions are not reflected in the average excitation level of the
outgoing atom, which is the commonly used observable. The correlation length is
directly related to the leading eigenvalue of the time evolution operator,
which we study in order to elucidate the phase structure. We find that as a
function of the time-of-flight the transition from the thermal to the maser
phase is characterized by a sharp peak in the correlation length. For longer
times-of-flight there is a transition to a phase where the correlation length
grows exponentially with the flux. We present a detailed numerical and
analytical treatment of the different phases and discuss the physics behind
them.Comment: 60 pages, 18 figure files, Latex + \special{} for the figures, (some
redundant figures are eliminated and others are changed
Detection statistics in the micromaser
We present a general method for the derivation of various statistical
quantities describing the detection of a beam of atoms emerging from a
micromaser. The user of non-normalized conditioned density operators and a
linear master equation for the dynamics between detection events is discussed
as are the counting statistics, sequence statistics, and waiting time
statistics. In particular, we derive expressions for the mean number of
successive detections of atoms in one of any two orthogonal states of the
two-level atom. We also derive expressions for the mean waiting times between
detections. We show that the mean waiting times between de- tections of atoms
in like states are equivalent to the mean waiting times calculated from the
uncorrelated steady state detection rates, though like atoms are indeed
correlated. The mean waiting times between detections of atoms in unlike states
exhibit correlations. We evaluate the expressions for various detector
efficiencies using numerical integration, reporting re- sults for the standard
micromaser arrangement in which the cavity is pumped by excited atoms and the
excitation levels of the emerging atoms are measured. In addition, the atomic
inversion and the Fano-Mandel function for the detection of de-excited atoms is
calculated for compari- son to the recent experimental results of Weidinger et
al. [1], which reports the first observation of trapping states.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure
Storage and Adiabatic Cooling of Polar Molecules in a Microstructured Trap
We present a versatile electric trap for the exploration of a wide range of
quantum phenomena in the interaction between polar molecules. The trap combines
tunable fields, homogeneous over most of the trap volume, with steep gradient
fields at the trap boundary. An initial sample of up to 10^8 CH3F molecules is
trapped for as long as 60 seconds, with a 1/e storage time of 12 seconds.
Adiabatic cooling down to 120 mK is achieved by slowly expanding the trap
volume. The trap combines all ingredients for opto-electrical cooling, which,
together with the extraordinarily long storage times, brings field-controlled
quantum-mechanical collision and reaction experiments within reach
SpikingLab: modelling agents controlled by Spiking Neural Networks in Netlogo
The scientific interest attracted by Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) has lead to the development of tools for the simulation and study of neuronal dynamics ranging from phenomenological models to the more sophisticated and biologically accurate Hodgkin-and-Huxley-based and multi-compartmental models. However, despite the multiple features offered by neural modelling tools, their integration with environments for the simulation of robots and agents can be challenging and time consuming. The implementation of artificial neural circuits to control robots generally involves the following tasks: (1) understanding the simulation tools, (2) creating the neural circuit in the neural simulator, (3) linking the simulated neural circuit with the environment of the agent and (4) programming the appropriate interface in the robot or agent to use the neural controller. The accomplishment of the above-mentioned tasks can be challenging, especially for undergraduate students or novice researchers. This paper presents an alternative tool which facilitates the simulation of simple SNN circuits using the multi-agent simulation and the programming environment Netlogo (educational software that simplifies the study and experimentation of complex systems). The engine proposed and implemented in Netlogo for the simulation of a functional model of SNN is a simplification of integrate and fire (I&F) models. The characteristics of the engine (including neuronal dynamics, STDP learning and synaptic delay) are demonstrated through the implementation of an agent representing an artificial insect controlled by a simple neural circuit. The setup of the experiment and its outcomes are described in this work
Time evolution of Matrix Product States
In this work we develop several new simulation algorithms for 1D many-body
quantum mechanical systems combining the Matrix Product State variational
ansatz with Taylor, Pade and Arnoldi approximations to the evolution operator.
By comparing all methods with previous techniques based on Trotter
decompositions we demonstrate that the Arnoldi method is the best one, reaching
extremely good accuracy with moderate resources. Finally we apply this
algorithm to studying the formation of molecules in an optical lattices when
crossing a Feschbach resonance with a cloud of two-species hard-core bosons.Comment: More extensive comparison with all nearest-neighbor spin s=1/2
models. The results in this manuscript have been superseded by a more
complete work in cond-mat/061021
Feshbach resonances in rubidium 87: Precision measurement and analysis
More than 40 Feshbach resonances in rubidium 87 are observed in the magnetic
field range between 0.5 and 1260 G for various spin mixtures in the lower
hyperfine ground state. The Feshbach resonances are observed by monitoring the
atom loss, and their positions are determined with an accuracy of 30 mG. In a
detailed analysis, the resonances are identified and an improved set of model
parameters for the rubidium interatomic potential is deduced. The elastic width
of the broadest resonance at 1007 G is predicted to be significantly larger
than the magnetic field resolution of the apparatus. This demonstrates the
potential for applications based on tuning the scattering length.Comment: figure 2 corrected; minor changes in the tex
Design of a mode converter for efficient light-atom coupling in free space
In this article, we describe how to develop a mode converter that transforms
a plane electromagnetic wave into an inward moving dipole wave. The latter one
is intended to bring a single atom or ion from its ground state to its excited
state by absorption of a single photon wave packet with near-100% efficiency.Comment: RevTex4, 3 figures, revised version, accepted for publication at
Appl. Phys.
Sisyphus Cooling of Electrically Trapped Polyatomic Molecules
The rich internal structure and long-range dipole-dipole interactions
establish polar molecules as unique instruments for quantum-controlled
applications and fundamental investigations. Their potential fully unfolds at
ultracold temperatures, where a plethora of effects is predicted in many-body
physics, quantum information science, ultracold chemistry, and physics beyond
the standard model. These objectives have inspired the development of a wide
range of methods to produce cold molecular ensembles. However, cooling
polyatomic molecules to ultracold temperatures has until now seemed
intractable. Here we report on the experimental realization of opto-electrical
cooling, a paradigm-changing cooling and accumulation method for polar
molecules. Its key attribute is the removal of a large fraction of a molecule's
kinetic energy in each step of the cooling cycle via a Sisyphus effect,
allowing cooling with only few dissipative decay processes. We demonstrate its
potential by reducing the temperature of about 10^6 trapped CH_3F molecules by
a factor of 13.5, with the phase-space density increased by a factor of 29 or a
factor of 70 discounting trap losses. In contrast to other cooling mechanisms,
our scheme proceeds in a trap, cools in all three dimensions, and works for a
large variety of polar molecules. With no fundamental temperature limit
anticipated down to the photon-recoil temperature in the nanokelvin range, our
method eliminates the primary hurdle in producing ultracold polyatomic
molecules. The low temperatures, large molecule numbers and long trapping times
up to 27 s will allow an interaction-dominated regime to be attained, enabling
collision studies and investigation of evaporative cooling toward a BEC of
polyatomic molecules
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