1,353 research outputs found
What Kind of Scientist Are You? Science and Interdisciplinary Research
Scientific research that crosses disciplinary boundaries (“interdisciplinary research”) – and in particular, research that crosses academic boundaries to engage with industry, government and non-government agencies, and the broader public – can be rewarding personally and yield novel approaches and findings. While the scholarly literature suggests that interdisciplinary approaches are of immense value, interdisciplinary research carries challenges to academics, particularly in terms of funding and in relation to finding an academic “home.” In this article, the author outlines what is meant by interdisciplinary research and reflects on her career leading from graduate school to tenure. She illustrates how the interdisciplinary projects she has been involved in have been both rewarding and challenging. While not every scientist must be interdisciplinary, she concludes that being open to such an approach has many advantages.La recherche scientifique qui dépasse les frontières disciplinaires (la recherche « interdisciplinaire ») —et, particulièrement, celle qui dépasse les frontières académiques pour s’engager avec l’industrie, les agences gouvernementales et nongouvernementales et le public—peuvent être personnellement enrichissantes et engendrer de nouvelles approches et résultats. Même si la littérature académique indique que les approches interdisciplinaires ont beaucoup de mérite, la recherche interdisciplinaire pose des défis aux universitaires, notamment par rapport à l’obtention de subventions et la possibilité de trouver un chez-soi académique. Dans cet article, l’auteure décrit ce que l’on entend par recherche interdisciplinaire et réfléchit sur son propre parcours, des études supérieures à la titularisation. Elle montre ainsi comment les projets interdisciplinaires auxquels elle a participé ont été à la fois enrichissants et stimulants pour elle. Elle conclut que, bien que chaque savant ne doive pas être interdisciplinaire, être ouvert à une telle approche a plusieurs avantages
A universal ionization threshold for strongly driven Rydberg states
We observe a universal ionization threshold for microwave driven one-electron
Rydberg states of H, Li, Na, and Rb, in an {\em ab initio} numerical treatment
without adjustable parameters. This sheds new light on old experimental data,
and widens the scene for Anderson localization in light matter interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
A new chiral electro-optic effect: Sum-frequency generation from optically active liquids in the presence of a dc electric field
We report the observation of sum-frequency signals that depend linearly on an
applied electrostatic field and that change sign with the handedness of an
optically active solution. This recently predicted chiral electro-optic effect
exists in the electric-dipole approximation. The static electric field gives
rise to an electric-field-induced sum-frequency signal (an achiral third-order
process) that interferes with the chirality-specific sum-frequency at
second-order. The cross-terms linear in the electrostatic field constitute the
effect and may be used to determine the absolute sign of second- and
third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities in isotropic media.Comment: Submitted to Physical Revie
Ultrasonographic features of children presenting with abdominal pain : normal versus abnormal
This thesis describes five ultrasonogaphic studies in children with abdominal pain. The normal appendix can be visualized by ultrasound in 82% of the children without abdominal complaints, according to the first study. In cases of non-depiction of the appendix in children with a clinical suspicion of appendicitis, the ultrasonographic presence of secondary signs of appendicitis is a strong indicator of this diagnosis. In the absence of these ultrasonographic signs acute appendicitis can be ruled out. The third study shows that increased renal cortex echogenicity in children with acute illness is a transient feature and does not necessarily indicate renal disease. It should alert the radiologist to search the abdomen more thoroughly for a cause of the acute illness, such as appendicitis. The fourth study showed that ultrasonography can differentiate between ileoileal and ileocolic intussusceptions. The diameter and the length of the intussusception are the main criteria. Finally, the last study shows no relation between enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes and parasitic intestinal infections in children with recurrent abdominal pain. In addition, this study shows organic abnormalities in less than 5% of the children with recurrent abdominal pain at ultrasound.Guerbet Nederland B.V., Toshiba Medical Systems Nederland B.V., MEDRAD B.V., Leuwico Nederland B.V., Foundation Imago OegstgeestUBL - phd migration 201
Light scattering from an amplifying medium bounded by a randomly rough surface: A numerical study
We study by numerical simulations the scattering of -polarized light from
a rough dielectric film deposited on the planar surface of a semi-infinite
perfect conductor. The dielectric film is allowed to be either active or
passive, situations that we model by assigning negative and positive values,
respectively, to the imaginary part of the dielectric constant of
the film. We study the reflectance and the total scattered energy
for the system as functions of both and the angle of
incidence of the light. Furthermore, the positions and widths of the enhanced
backscattering and satellite peaks are discussed. It is found that these peaks
become narrower and higher when the amplification of the system is increased,
and that their widths scale linearly with . The positions of the
backscattering peaks are found to be independent of , while we find
a weak dependence on this quantity in the positions of the satellite peaks.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, 9 figure
Coherent backscattering of light by atoms in the saturated regime
We present the first calculation of coherent backscattering with inelastic
scattering by saturated atoms. We consider the scattering of a
quasi-monochromatic laser pulse by two distant atoms in free space. By
restricting ourselves to scattering of two photons, we employ a perturbative
approach, valid up to second order in the incident laser intensity. The
backscattering enhancement factor is found to be smaller than two (after
excluding single scattering), indicating a loss of coherence between the doubly
scattered light emitted by both atoms. Since the undetected photon carries
information about the path of the detected photon, the coherence loss can be
explained by a which-path argument, in analogy with a double-slit experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Smoothing effect and delocalization of interacting Bose-Einstein condensates in random potentials
We theoretically investigate the physics of interacting Bose-Einstein
condensates at equilibrium in a weak (possibly random) potential. We develop a
perturbation approach to derive the condensate wavefunction for an amplitude of
the potential smaller than the chemical potential of the condensate and for an
arbitrary spatial variation scale of the potential. Applying this theory to
disordered potentials, we find in particular that, if the healing length is
smaller than the correlation length of the disorder, the condensate assumes a
delocalized Thomas-Fermi profile. In the opposite situation where the
correlation length is smaller than the healing length, we show that the random
potential can be significantly smoothed and, in the meanfield regime, the
condensate wavefunction can remain delocalized, even for very small correlation
lengths of the disorder.Comment: The word "screening" has been changed to "smoothing" to avoid
confusions with other effects discussed in the literature. This does not
affect the content of paper, nor the results, nor the physical discussio
Determination of the diffusion constant using phase-sensitive measurements
We apply a pulsed-light interferometer to measure both the intensity and the
phase of light that is transmitted through a strongly scattering disordered
material. From a single set of measurements we obtain the time-resolved
intensity, frequency correlations and statistical phase information
simultaneously. We compare several independent techniques of measuring the
diffusion constant for diffuse propagation of light. By comparing these
independent measurements, we obtain experimental proof of the consistency of
the diffusion model and corroborate phase statistics theory.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Hydrated Electron Dynamics at a Five Femtosecond Time Scale
Hydrated electrons are studied by frequency resolved pump probe with 5 fs time resolution in the spectral range from 600 nm to 1000 nm. A recurrence detected in the pumpprobe signal at —40 fs is tentatively assigned to coupling to librational motions in the electron's solvent cage
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
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