321 research outputs found
Quantum Fluctuations of a Single Trapped Atom: Transient Rabi Oscillations and Magnetic Bistability
Isolation of a single atomic particle and monitoring its resonance
fluorescence is a powerful tool for studies of quantum effects in
radiation-matter interaction. Here we present observations of quantum dynamics
of an isolated neutral atom stored in a magneto-optical trap. By means of
photon correlations in the atom's resonance fluorescence we demonstrate the
well-known phenomenon of photon antibunching which corresponds to transient
Rabi oscillations in the atom. Through polarization-sensitive photon
correlations we show a novel example of resolved quantum fluctuations:
spontaneous magnetic orientation of an atom. These effects can only be observed
with a single atom.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 14 pages, 7 Postscript figure
Coherence properties and quantum state transportation in an optical conveyor belt
We have prepared and detected quantum coherences with long dephasing times at
the level of single trapped cesium atoms. Controlled transport by an "optical
conveyor belt" over macroscopic distances preserves the atomic coherence with
slight reduction of coherence time. The limiting dephasing effects are
experimentally identified and are of technical rather than fundamental nature.
We present an analytical model of the reversible and irreversible dephasing
mechanisms. Coherent quantum bit operations along with quantum state transport
open the route towards a "quantum shift register" of individual neutral atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Mean-Field Treatment of the Many-Body Fokker-Planck Equation
We review some properties of the stationary states of the Fokker - Planck
equation for N interacting particles within a mean field approximation, which
yields a non-linear integrodifferential equation for the particle density.
Analytical results show that for attractive long range potentials the steady
state is always a precipitate containing one cluster of small size. For
arbitrary potential, linear stability analysis allows to state the conditions
under which the uniform equilibrium state is unstable against small
perturbations and, via the Einstein relation, to define a critical temperature
Tc separating two phases, uniform and precipitate. The corresponding phase
diagram turns out to be strongly dependent on the pair-potential. In addition,
numerical calculations reveal that the transition is hysteretic. We finally
discuss the dynamics of relaxation for the uniform state suddenly cooled below
Tc.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Hydrogen adsorption on Pd(133) surface
In this study used is an approach based on measurements of the total energy
distribution (TED) of field emitted electrons in order to examine the
properties of Pd (133) from the aspect of both hydrogen adsorption and surface
hydrides formation. The most favourable sites offered to a hydrogen atom to be
adsorbed have been indicated and an attempt to describe the peaks of the
enhancement factor R spectrum to the specific adsorption sites has also been
made.Comment: to be submitted to the Centr. Eur. J. Phy
Diffusive Spreading of Chainlike Molecules on Surfaces
We study the diffusion and submonolayer spreading of chainlike molecules on
surfaces. Using the fluctuating bond model we extract the collective and tracer
diffusion coefficients D_c and D_t with a variety of methods. We show that
D_c(theta) has unusual behavior as a function of the coverage theta. It first
increases but after a maximum goes to zero as theta go to one. We show that the
increase is due to entropic repulsion that leads to steep density profiles for
spreading droplets seen in experiments. We also develop an analytic model for
D_c(theta) which agrees well with the simulations.Comment: 3 pages, RevTeX, 4 postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Letters (1996
Non-Arrhenius Behavior of Surface Diffusion Near a Phase Transition Boundary
We study the non-Arrhenius behavior of surface diffusion near the
second-order phase transition boundary of an adsorbate layer. In contrast to
expectations based on macroscopic thermodynamic effects, we show that this
behavior can be related to the average microscopic jump rate which in turn is
determined by the waiting-time distribution W(t) of single-particle jumps at
short times. At long times, W(t) yields a barrier that corresponds to the
rate-limiting step in diffusion. The microscopic information in W(t) should be
accessible by STM measurements.Comment: 4 pages, Latex with RevTeX macro
The Discovery and Broad-band Follow-up of the Transient Afterglow of GRB 980703
We report on the discovery of the radio, infrared and optical transient
coincident with an X-ray transient proposed to be the afterglow of GRB 980703.
At later times when the transient has faded below detection, we see an
underlying galaxy with R=22.6; this galaxy is the brightest host galaxy (by
nearly 2 magnitudes) of any cosmological GRB thus far. In keeping with an
established trend, the GRB is not significantly offset from the host galaxy.
Interpreting the multi-wavelength data in the framework of the popular fireball
model requires that the synchrotron cooling break was between the optical and
X-ray bands on July 8.5 UT and that the intrinsic extinction of the transient
is Av=0.9. This is somewhat higher than the extinction for the galaxy as a
whole, as estimated from spectroscopy.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, and 2 tables. Submitted to the Astrophysical
Journal Letters on 27 August 199
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