673 research outputs found
Inversionless gain in a three-level system driven by a strong field and collisions
Inversionless gain in a three-level system driven by a strong external field
and by collisions with a buffer gas is investigated. The mechanism of
populating of the upper laser level contributed by the collision transfer as
well as by relaxation caused by a buffer gas is discussed in detail. Explicit
formulae for analysis of optimal conditions are derived. The mechanism
developed here for the incoherent pump could be generalized to other systems.Comment: RevTeX, 9 pages, 4 eps figure
Elastic scattering theory and transport in graphene
Electron properties of graphene are described in terms of Dirac fermions.
Here we thoroughly outline the elastic scattering theory for the
two-dimensional massive Dirac fermions in the presence of an axially symmetric
potential. While the massless limit is relevant for pristine graphene, keeping
finite mass allows for generalizations onto situations with broken symmetry
between the two sublattices, and provides a link to the scattering theory of
electrons in a parabolic band. We demonstrate that the Dirac theory requires
short-distance regularization for potentials which are more singular than 1/r.
The formalism is then applied to scattering off a smooth short-ranged
potential. Next we consider the Coulomb potential scattering, where the Dirac
theory is consistent for a point scatterer only for the effective impurity
strength below 1/2. From the scattering phase shifts we obtain the exact
Coulomb transport cross-section in terms of the impurity strength. The results
are relevant for transport in graphene in the presence of impurities that do
not induce scattering between the Dirac points in the Brillouin zone.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. Published versio
The Zel'dovich effect and evolution of atomic Rydberg spectra along the Periodic Table
In 1959 Ya. B. Zel'dovich predicted that the bound-state spectrum of the
non-relativistic Coulomb problem distorted at small distances by a short-range
potential undergoes a peculiar reconstruction whenever this potential alone
supports a low-energy scattering resonance. However documented experimental
evidence of this effect has been lacking. Previous theoretical studies of this
phenomenon were confined to the regime where the range of the short-ranged
potential is much smaller than Bohr's radius of the Coulomb field. We go beyond
this limitation by restricting ourselves to highly-excited s states. This
allows us to demonstrate that along the Periodic Table of elements the
Zel'dovich effect manifests itself as systematic periodic variation of the
Rydberg spectra with a period proportional to the cubic root of the atomic
number. This dependence, which is supported by analysis of experimental and
numerical data, has its origin in the binding properties of the ionic core of
the atom.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure
Inversionless light amplification and optical switching controlled by state-dependent alignment of molecules
We propose a method to achieve amplification without population inversion by
anisotropic molecules whose orientation by an external electric field is
state-dependent. It is based on decoupling of the lower-state molecules from
the resonant light while the excited ones remain emitting. The suitable class
of molecules is discussed, the equation for the gain factor is derived, and the
magnitude of the inversionless amplification is estimated for the typical
experimental conditions. Such switching of the sample from absorbing to
amplifying via transparent state is shown to be possible both with the aid of
dc and ac control electric fields.Comment: AMS-LaTeX v1.2, 4 pages with 4 figure
Electron-Positron Pair Production in Space- or Time-Dependent Electric Fields
Treating the production of electron and positron pairs by a strong electric
field from the vacuum as a quantum tunneling process we derive, in
semiclassical approximation, a general expression for the pair production rate
in a -dependent electric field pointing in the -direction. We also
allow for a smoothly varying magnetic field parallel to . The result is
applied to a confined field for , a
semi-confined field for , and a linearly increasing
field . The boundary effects of the confined fields on
pair-production rates are exhibited. A simple variable change in all formulas
leads to results for electric fields depending on time rather than space.
In addition, we discuss tunneling processes in which empty atomic bound
states are spontaneously filled by negative-energy electrons from the vacuum
under positron emission. In particular, we calculate the rate at which the
atomic levels of a bare nucleus of finite size and large
are filled by spontaneous pair creation.Comment: 33 pages and 9 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev.
Pair creation in transport equations using the equal-time Wigner function
Based on the equal-time Wigner function for the Klein-Gordon field, we
discuss analytically the mechanism of pair creation in a classical
electromagnetic field including back-reaction. It is shown that the equations
of motion for the Wigner function can be reduced to a variable-frequency
oscillator. The pair-creation rate results then from a calculation analogous to
barrier penetration in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The Wigner function
allows one to utilize this treatment for the formulation of an effective
transport theory for the back-reaction problem with a pair-creation source term
including Bose enhancement.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, UFTP 316/199
Critical nucleus charge in a superstrong magnetic field: effect of screening
A superstrong magnetic field stimulates the spontaneous production of
positrons by naked nuclei by diminishing the value of the critical charge
Z_{cr} . The phenomenon of screening of the Coulomb potential by a superstrong
magnetic field which has been discovered recently acts in the opposite
direction and prevents the nuclei with Z52
for a nucleus to become critical stronger B are needed than without taking
screening into account.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, version to be published in Physical Review
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