Two components in charged particle production in heavy-ion collisions

Transverse momentum spectra of charged particle production in heavy-ion collisions are considered in terms of a recently introduced Two Component parameterization combining exponential ("soft") and power-law ("hard") functional forms. The charged hadron densities calculated separately for them are plotted versus number of participating nucleons, $N_{part}$. The obtained dependences are discussed and the possible link between the two component parameterization introduced by the authors and the two component model historically used for the case of heavy-ion collisions is established. Next, the variations of the parameters of the introduced approach with the center of mass energy and centrality are studied using the available data from RHIC and LHC experiments. The spectra shapes are found to show universal dependences on $N_{part}$ for all investigated collision energies.Comment: a version as to appear in NPB after editorial comment

Buffer-gas induced absorption resonances in Rb vapor

We observe transformation of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonance into the absorption resonance in a $\Lambda$ interaction configuration in a cell filled with $^{87}$Rb and a buffer gas. This transformation occurs as a one-photon detuning of the coupling fields is varied from the atomic transition. No such absorption resonance is found in the absence of a buffer gas. The width of the absorption resonance is several times smaller than the width of the EIT resonance, and the changes of absorption near these resonances are about the same. Similar absorption resonances are detected in the Hanle configuration in a buffered cell.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures; 13 pages, 17 figures, added numerical simulatio

Ultralow-power local laser control of the dimer density in alkali-metal vapors through photodesorption

Ultralow-power diode-laser radiation is employed to induce photodesorption of cesium from a partially transparent thin-film cesium adsorbate on a solid surface. Using resonant Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrate that this photodesorption process enables an accurate local optical control of the density of dimer molecules in alkali-metal vapors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure