Slow light in paraffin-coated Rb vapor cells

We present preliminary results from an experimental study of slow light in anti-relaxation-coated Rb vapor cells, and describe the construction and testing of such cells. The slow ground state decoherence rate allowed by coated cell walls leads to a dual-structured electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum with a very narrow (<100 Hz) transparency peak on top of a broad pedestal. Such dual-structure EIT permits optical probe pulses to propagate with greatly reduced group velocity on two time scales. We discuss ongoing efforts to optimize the pulse delay in such coated cell systems.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Journal of Modern Optic

Temperature and Kinematics of CIV Absorption Systems

We use Keck HIRES spectra of three intermediate redshift QSOs to study the physical state and kinematics of the individual components of CIV selected heavy element absorption systems. Fewer than 8 % of all CIV lines with column densities greater than 10^{12.5} cm^{-2} have Doppler parameters b < 6 km/s. A formal decomposition into thermal and non-thermal motion using the simultaneous presence of SiIV gives a mean thermal Doppler parameter b_{therm}(CIV) = 7.2 km/s, corresponding to a temperature of 38,000 K although temperatures possibly in excess of 300,000 K occur occasionally. We also find tentative evidence for a mild increase of temperature with HI column density. Non-thermal motions within components are typically small (< 10 km/s) for most systems, indicative of a quiescent environment. The two-point correlation function (TPCF) of CIV systems on scales up to 500 km/s suggests that there is more than one source of velocity dispersion. The shape of the TPCF can be understood if the CIV systems are caused by ensembles of objects with the kinematics of dwarf galaxies on a small scale, while following the Hubble flow on a larger scale. Individual high redshift CIV components may be the building blocks of future normal galaxies in a hierarchical structure formation scenario.Comment: submitted to the ApJ Letters, March 16, 1996 (in press); (13 Latex pages, 4 Postscript figures, and psfig.sty included

Creation and control of a two-dimensional electron liquid at the bare SrTiO3 surface

Many-body interactions in transition-metal oxides give rise to a wide range of functional properties, such as high-temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, or multiferroicity. The seminal recent discovery of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the interface of the insulating oxides LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 represents an important milestone towards exploiting such properties in all-oxide devices. This conducting interface shows a number of appealing properties, including a high electron mobility, superconductivity, and large magnetoresistance and can be patterned on the few-nanometer length scale. However, the microscopic origin of the interface 2DEG is poorly understood. Here, we show that a similar 2DEG, with an electron density as large as 8x10^13 cm^-2, can be formed at the bare SrTiO3 surface. Furthermore, we find that the 2DEG density can be controlled through exposure of the surface to intense ultraviolet (UV) light. Subsequent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements reveal an unusual coexistence of a light quasiparticle mass and signatures of strong many-body interactions.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, supplementary information (see other files

The Effects of Starburst Activity on Low Surface Brightness Disk Galaxies

Although numerous simulations have been done to understand the effects of intense bursts of star formation on high surface brightness galaxies, few attempts have been made to understand how localized starbursts would affect both the color and surface brightness of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. To remedy this, we have run 53 simulations involving bursts of star formation activity on LSB galaxies, varying both the underlying galaxy properties and the parameters describing the starbursts. We discovered that although changing the total color of a galaxy was fairly straightforward, it was virtually impossible to alter a galaxy's central surface brightness and thereby remove it from the LSB galaxy classification without placing a high (and fairly artificial) threshold for the underlying gas density. The primary effect of large amounts of induced star formation was to produce a centralized core (bulge) component which is generally not observed in LSB galaxies. The noisy morphological appearance of LSB galaxies as well as their noisy surface brightness profiles can be reproduced by considering small bursts of star formation that are localized within the disk. The trigger mechanism for such bursts is likely distant/weak tidal encounters. The stability of disk central surface brightness to these periods of star formation argues that the large space density of LSB galaxies at z = 0 should hold to substantially higher redshifts.Comment: 38 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, tarred and compressed Also available on http://guernsey.uoregon.edu/~kare

Filling of the Mott-Hubbard gap in the high temperature photoemission spectrum of (V_0.972Cr_0.028)_2O_3

Photoemission spectra of the paramagnetic insulating (PI) phase of (V_0.972Cr_0.028)_2O_3, taken in ultra high vacuum up to the unusually high temperature (T) of 800 K, reveal a property unique to the Mott-Hubbard (MH) insulator and not observed previously. With increasing T the MH gap is filled by spectral weight transfer, in qualitative agreement with high-T theoretical calculations combining dynamical mean field theory and band theory in the local density approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Photoemission study of (V1−x_{1-x}Mx_x)2_2O3_3 (M=Cr, Ti)

We present high-resolution bulk-sensitive photoemission spectra of (V$_{1-x}$M$_x$)$_2$O$_3$ (M=Cr, Ti). The measurements were made for the paramagnetic metal (PM), paramagnetic insulator (PI), and antiferromagnetic insulator (AFI) phases of (V$_{1-x}$M$_x$)$_2$O$_3$ with the samples of $x$ = 0, 0.012, and 0.028 for Cr-doping and $x$ = 0.01 for Ti-doping. In the PM phase, we observe a prominent quasiparticle peak in general agreement with theory, which combines dynamical mean-field theory with the local density approximation (LDA+DMFT). The quasiparticle peak shows a significantly larger peak width and weight than in the theory. For both the PI and AFI phases, the vanadium 3d parts of the valence spectra are not simple one peak structures. For the PI phase, there is not yet a good theoretical understanding of these structures. The size of the electron removal gap increases, and spectral weight accumulates in the energy range closer to the chemical potential, when the PI to AFI transition occurs. Spectra taken in the same phases with different compositions show interesting monotonic changes as the dopant concentration increases, regardless of the dopant species. With increased Cr-doping, the AFI phase gap decreases and the PI phase gap increases.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures. accepted for publication in Physical Review