733 research outputs found
Saturation induced coherence loss in coherent backscattering of light
We use coherent backscattering (CBS) of light by cold Strontium atoms to
study the mutual coherence of light waves in the multiple scattering regime. As
the probe light intensity is increased, the atomic optical transition starts to
be saturated. Nonlinearities and inelastic scattering then occur. In our
experiment, we observe a strongly reduced enhancement factor of the coherent
backscattering cone when the intensity of the probe laser is increased,
indicating a partial loss of coherence in multiple scattering
Propagation inhibition and wave localization in a 2D random liquid medium
Acoustic propagation and scattering in water containing many parallel
air-filled cylinders is studied. Two situations are considered and compared:
(1) wave propagating through the array of cylinders, imitating a traditional
experimental setup, and (2) wave transmitted from a source located inside the
ensemble. We show that waves can be blocked from propagation by disorders in
the first scenario, but the inhibition does not necessarily imply wave
localization. Furthermore, the results reveal the phenomenon of wave
localization in a range of frequencies.Comment: Typos in Fiures are correcte
Time-resolved broadband analysis of slow-light propagation and superluminal transmission of electromagnetic waves in three-dimensional photonic crystals
A time-resolved analysis of the amplitude and phase of THz pulses propagating
through three-dimensional photonic crystals is presented. Single-cycle pulses
of THz radiation allow measurements over a wide frequency range, spanning more
than an octave below, at and above the bandgap of strongly dispersive photonic
crystals. Transmission data provide evidence for slow group velocities at the
photonic band edges and for superluminal transmission at frequencies in the
gap. Our experimental results are in good agreement with
finite-difference-time-domain simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency in South Africa
Background. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) caused by deficiency of the 21-hydoxylase (21-OH) enzyme is the most common form of CAH worldwide.Objective. To evaluate the prevalence of CAH due to 21-OH deficiency, and its clinical presentation and biochemical profiles in affected children.Methods. We performed a retrospective subset analysis of 44 children with confirmed CAH.Results. All the children had classic CAH. The majority (59.8%) had classic salt-wasting (CSW) CAH and 40.1% had simple virilising (SV) CAH. The median age of presentation was 8.1 years (interquartile range (IQR) 4.5 - 11) in the SV group and 2 months (IQR 2 weeks - 5 months) in the CSW group (p=0.0001). No difference in age of presentation was noted between males and females (p=0.541). The clinical presentation was significantly different between the CSW and SV groups, and between males and females in the CSW group (p<0.0001). Most of the females with 46,XX CSW CAH (66.7%) presented with disorders of sex development (DSD), while the remaining 33.3% presented with DSD and dehydration and shock. All the males with 46,XY CSW CAH presented with dehydration and shock. Overall, 37.9% (11/29) of the children were obese or overweight at presentation. Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone-dependent central precocious puberty was observed on follow-up in 29.4% (10/34) of the children at a median of 6.7 years (IQR 5 - 7.7).Conclusion. The diagnosis of CAH is delayed in males and females in both SV and CSW forms of the disorder, which probably contributes to under-reporting of cases and a high mortality rate
Photon statistics of a random laser
A general relationship is presented between the statistics of thermal
radiation from a random medium and its scattering matrix S. Familiar results
for black-body radiation are recovered in the limit S to 0. The mean photocount
is proportional to the trace of 1-SS^dagger, in accordance with Kirchhoff's law
relating emissivity and absorptivity. Higher moments of the photocount
distribution are related to traces of powers of 1-SS^dagger, a generalization
of Kirchhoff's law. The theory can be applied to a random amplifying medium (or
"random laser") below the laser threshold, by evaluating the Bose-Einstein
function at a negative temperature. Anomalously large fluctuations are
predicted in the photocount upon approaching the laser threshold, as a
consequence of overlapping cavity modes with a broad distribution of spectral
widths.Comment: 26 pages, including 9 figure
Diffusive and localization behavior of electromagnetic waves in a two-dimensional random medium
In this paper, we discuss the transport phenomena of electromagnetic waves in
a two-dimensional random system which is composed of arrays of electrical
dipoles, following the model presented earlier by Erdogan, et al. (J. Opt. Soc.
Am. B {\bf 10}, 391 (1993)). A set of self-consistent equations is presented,
accounting for the multiple scattering in the system, and is then solved
numerically. A strong localization regime is discovered in the frequency
domain. The transport properties within, near the edge of and nearly outside
the localization regime are investigated for different parameters such as
filling factor and system size. The results show that within the localization
regime, waves are trapped near the transmitting source. Meanwhile, the
diffusive waves follow an intuitive but expected picture. That is, they
increase with travelling path as more and more random scattering incurs,
followed by a saturation, then start to decay exponentially when the travelling
path is large enough, signifying the localization effect. For the cases that
the frequencies are near the boundary of or outside the localization regime,
the results of diffusive waves are compared with the diffusion approximation,
showing less encouraging agreement as in other systems (Asatryan, et al., Phys.
Rev. E {\bf 67}, 036605 (2003).)Comment: 8 pages 9 figure
Resonance optimization of polychromatic light in disordered structures
Disorder offers rich possibilities for manipulating the phase and intensity of light and designing photonic devices for various applications including random lasers, light storage, and speckle-free imaging. Disorder-based optical systems can be implemented in one-dimensional structures based on random or pseudo-random alternating layers with different refractive indices. Such structures can be treated as sequences of scatterers, in which spatial light localization is characterized by random sets of spectral transmission resonances, each accompanied by a relatively high-intensity concentration. The control and manipulation of resonances is the key element in designing disorder-based photonic systems. In this work, we introduce a method of controlling disorder-induced resonances by using the established non-trivial interconnection between the symmetry of bi-directional light propagation properties and the features of the resonant transmissions. Considering a fiber with resonant Bragg gratings as an example, the mechanism of enhancing or suppressing the resonant transmission of polychromatic light and the effectiveness of the method have been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. The proposed algorithm of controlling disorder-induced resonances is general and applicable to classical waves and quantum particles, for disordered systems both with and without gain
Photon Localization in Resonant Media
We report measurements of microwave transmission over the first five Mie
resonances of alumina spheres randomly positioned in a waveguide. Though
precipitous drops in transmission and sharp peaks in the photon transit time
are found near all resonances, measurements of transmission fluctuations show
that localization occurs only in a narrow frequency window above the first
resonance. There the drop in the photon density of states is found to be more
pronounced than the fall in the photon transit time, leading to a minimum in
the Thouless number.Comment: To appear in PRL; 5 pages, including 5 figure
Localization of electromagnetic waves in a two dimensional random medium
Motivated by previous investigations on the radiative effects of the electric
dipoles embedded in structured cavities, localization of electromagnetic waves
in two dimensions is studied {\it ab initio} for a system consisting of many
randomly distributed two dimensional dipoles. A set of self-consistent
equations, incorporating all orders of multiple scattering of the
electromagnetic waves, is derived from first principles and then solved
numerically for the total electromagnetic field. The results show that
spatially localized electromagnetic waves are possible in such a simple but
realistic disordered system. When localization occurs, a coherent behavior
appears and is revealed as a unique property differentiating localization from
either the residual absorption or the attenuation effects
Light transport in cold atoms: the fate of coherent backscattering in the weak localization regime
The recent observation of coherent backscattering (CBS) of light by atoms has
emphasized the key role of the velocity spread and of the quantum internal
structure of the atoms. Firstly, using highly resonant scatterers imposes very
low temperatures of the disordered medium in order to keep the full contrast of
the CBS interference. This criterion is usually achieved with standard laser
cooling techniques. Secondly, a non trivial internal atomic structure leads to
a dramatic decrease of the CBS contrast. Experiments with Rubidium atoms (with
a non trivial internal structure) and with Strontium (with the simplest
possible internal structure) show this behaviour and confirm theoretical
calculations
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