Autoionization of spin-polarized metastable helium in tight anisotropic harmonic traps

Spin-dipole mediated interactions between tightly confined metastable helium atoms couple the spin-polarized quintet 5+\ud g state to the singlet 1+g state from which autoionization is highly probable, resulting in finite lifetimes for the trap eigenstates. We extend our earlier study on spherically symmetric harmonic traps to the interesting cases of axially symmetric anisotropic harmonic traps and report results for the lowest 10 states in ”cigar-like” and ”pancake-like” traps with average frequencies of 100 kHz and 1 MHz. We find that there is a significant suppression of ionization, and subsequent increase in lifetimes, at trap aspect ratios A = p/q, where p and q are integers, for those states that are degenerate in the absence of collisions or spin-dipole interactions

Highly Reproducible Near-Field Optical Imaging with Sub-20-nm Resolution Based on Template-Stripped Gold Pyramids

With a template-stripping fabrication technique, we demonstrate the mass fabrication of high-quality, uniform, ultrasharp (10 nm) metallic probes suitable for single-molecule fluorescence imaging, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), and other near-field imaging techniques. We achieve reproducible single-molecule imaging with sub-20-nm spatial resolution and an enhancement in the detected fluorescence signal of up to 200. Similar results are obtained for TERS imaging of carbon nanotubes. We show that the large apex angle (70.5°) of our pyramidal tip is well suited to scatter the near-field optical signal into the far-field, leading to larger emission enhancement and hence to a larger quantum yield. Each gold or silver pyramidal probe is used on-demand, one at a time, and the unused tips can be stored for extended times without degradation or contamination. The high yield (>95%), reproducibility, durability, and massively parallel fabrication (1.5 million identical probes over a wafer) of the probes hold promise for reliable optical sensing and detection and for cementing near-field optical imaging and spectroscopy as a routine characterization technique.ISSN:1936-0851ISSN:1936-086