4,624 research outputs found
Cold atom gravimetry with a Bose-Einstein Condensate
We present a cold atom gravimeter operating with a sample of Bose-condensed
Rubidium-87 atoms. Using a Mach-Zehnder configuration with the two arms
separated by a two-photon Bragg transition, we observe interference fringes
with a visibility of 83% at T=3 ms. We exploit large momentum transfer (LMT)
beam splitting to increase the enclosed space-time area of the interferometer
using higher-order Bragg transitions and Bloch oscillations. We also compare
fringes from condensed and thermal sources, and observe a reduced visibility of
58% for the thermal source. We suspect the loss in visibility is caused partly
by wavefront aberrations, to which the thermal source is more susceptible due
to its larger transverse momentum spread. Finally, we discuss briefly the
potential advantages of using a coherent atomic source for LMT, and present a
simple mean-field model to demonstrate that with currently available
experimental parameters, interaction-induced dephasing will not limit the
sensitivity of inertial measurements using freely-falling, coherent atomic
sources.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Final version, published PR
Optically trapped atom interferometry using the clock transition of large Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensates
We present a Ramsey-type atom interferometer operating with an optically
trapped sample of 10^6 Bose-condensed Rb-87 atoms. The optical trap allows us
to couple the |F =1, mF =0>\rightarrow |F =2, mF =0> clock states using a
single photon 6.8GHz microwave transition, while state selective readout is
achieved with absorption imaging. Interference fringes with contrast
approaching 100% are observed for short evolution times. We analyse the process
of absorption imaging and show that it is possible to observe atom number
variance directly, with a signal-to-noise ratio ten times better than the
atomic projection noise limit on 10^6 condensate atoms. We discuss the
technical and fundamental noise sources that limit our current system, and
outline the improvements that can be made. Our results indicate that, with
further experimental refinements, it will be possible to produce and measure
the output of a sub-shot-noise limited, large atom number BEC-based
interferometer.
In an addendum to the original paper, we attribute our inability to observe
quantum projection noise to the stability of our microwave oscillator and
background magnetic field. Numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii
equations for our system show that dephasing due to spatial dynamics driven by
interparticle interactions account for much of the observed decay in fringe
visibility at long interrogation times. The simulations show good agreement
with the experimental data when additional technical decoherence is accounted
for, and suggest that the clock states are indeed immiscible. With smaller
samples of 5 \times 10^4 atoms, we observe a coherence time of {\tau} =
(1.0+0.5-0.3) s.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures Addendum: 11 pages, 6 figure
A multibeam atom laser: coherent atom beam splitting from a single far detuned laser
We report the experimental realisation of a multibeam atom laser. A single
continuous atom laser is outcoupled from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) via
an optical Raman transition. The atom laser is subsequently split into up to
five atomic beams with slightly different momenta, resulting in multiple,
nearly co-propagating, coherent beams which could be of use in interferometric
experiments. The splitting process itself is a novel realization of Bragg
diffraction, driven by each of the optical Raman laser beams independently.
This presents a significantly simpler implementation of an atomic beam
splitter, one of the main elements of coherent atom optics
Statistical inference of the generation probability of T-cell receptors from sequence repertoires
Stochastic rearrangement of germline DNA by VDJ recombination is at the
origin of immune system diversity. This process is implemented via a series of
stochastic molecular events involving gene choices and random nucleotide
insertions between, and deletions from, genes. We use large sequence
repertoires of the variable CDR3 region of human CD4+ T-cell receptor beta
chains to infer the statistical properties of these basic biochemical events.
Since any given CDR3 sequence can be produced in multiple ways, the probability
distribution of hidden recombination events cannot be inferred directly from
the observed sequences; we therefore develop a maximum likelihood inference
method to achieve this end. To separate the properties of the molecular
rearrangement mechanism from the effects of selection, we focus on
non-productive CDR3 sequences in T-cell DNA. We infer the joint distribution of
the various generative events that occur when a new T-cell receptor gene is
created. We find a rich picture of correlation (and absence thereof), providing
insight into the molecular mechanisms involved. The generative event statistics
are consistent between individuals, suggesting a universal biochemical process.
Our distribution predicts the generation probability of any specific CDR3
sequence by the primitive recombination process, allowing us to quantify the
potential diversity of the T-cell repertoire and to understand why some
sequences are shared between individuals. We argue that the use of formal
statistical inference methods, of the kind presented in this paper, will be
essential for quantitative understanding of the generation and evolution of
diversity in the adaptive immune system.Comment: 20 pages, including Appendi
Quantifying structure in networks
We investigate exponential families of random graph distributions as a
framework for systematic quantification of structure in networks. In this paper
we restrict ourselves to undirected unlabeled graphs. For these graphs, the
counts of subgraphs with no more than k links are a sufficient statistics for
the exponential families of graphs with interactions between at most k links.
In this framework we investigate the dependencies between several observables
commonly used to quantify structure in networks, such as the degree
distribution, cluster and assortativity coefficients.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
Electromagnetically induced transparency and four-wave mixing in a cold atomic ensemble with large optical depth
We report on the delay of optical pulses using electromagnetically induced
transparency in an ensemble of cold atoms with an optical depth exceeding 500.
To identify the regimes in which four-wave mixing impacts on EIT behaviour, we
conduct the experiment in both rubidium 85 and rubidium 87. Comparison with
theory shows excellent agreement in both isotopes. In rubidium 87, negligible
four-wave mixing was observed and we obtained one pulse-width of delay with 50%
efficiency. In rubidium 85, four-wave-mixing contributes to the output. In this
regime we achieve a delay-bandwidth product of 3.7 at 50% efficiency, allowing
temporally multimode delay, which we demonstrate by compressing two pulses into
the memory medium.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Optically guided linear Mach Zehnder atom interferometer
We demonstrate a horizontal, linearly guided Mach Zehnder atom interferometer
in an optical waveguide. Intended as a proof-of-principle experiment, the
interferometer utilises a Bose-Einstein condensate in the magnetically
insensitive |F=1,mF=0> state of Rubidium-87 as an acceleration sensitive test
mass. We achieve a modest sensitivity to acceleration of da = 7x10^-4 m/s^2.
Our fringe visibility is as high as 38% in this optically guided atom
interferometer. We observe a time-of-flight in the waveguide of over half a
second, demonstrating the utility of our optical guide for future sensors.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Pilot Study with a Novel Setup for Collaborative Play of the Humanoid Robot KASPAR with children with autism
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article describes a pilot study in which a novel experimental setup, involving an autonomous humanoid robot, KASPAR, participating in a collaborative, dyadic video game, was implemented and tested with children with autism, all of whom had impairments in playing socially and communicating with others. The children alternated between playing the collaborative video game with a neurotypical adult and playing the same game with the humanoid robot, being exposed to each condition twice. The equipment and experimental setup were designed to observe whether the children would engage in more collaborative behaviours while playing the video game and interacting with the adult than performing the same activities with the humanoid robot. The article describes the development of the experimental setup and its first evaluation in a small-scale exploratory pilot study. The purpose of the study was to gain experience with the operational limits of the robot as well as the dyadic video game, to determine what changes should be made to the systems, and to gain experience with analyzing the data from this study in order to conduct a more extensive evaluation in the future. Based on our observations of the childrens’ experiences in playing the cooperative game, we determined that while the children enjoyed both playing the game and interacting with the robot, the game should be made simpler to play as well as more explicitly collaborative in its mechanics. Also, the robot should be more explicit in its speech as well as more structured in its interactions. Results show that the children found the activity to be more entertaining, appeared more engaged in playing, and displayed better collaborative behaviours with their partners (For the purposes of this article, ‘partner’ refers to the human/robotic agent which interacts with the children with autism. We are not using the term’s other meanings that refer to specific relationships or emotional involvement between two individuals.) in the second sessions of playing with human adults than during their first sessions. One way of explaining these findings is that the children’s intermediary play session with the humanoid robot impacted their subsequent play session with the human adult. However, another longer and more thorough study would have to be conducted in order to better re-interpret these findings. Furthermore, although the children with autism were more interested in and entertained by the robotic partner, the children showed more examples of collaborative play and cooperation while playing with the human adult.Peer reviewe
- …