36,033 research outputs found
Theory and simulation of the confined Lebwohl-Lasher model
We discuss the Lebwohl-Lasher model of nematic liquid crystals in a confined
geometry, using Monte Carlo simulation and mean-field theory. A film of
material is sandwiched between two planar, parallel plates that couple to the
adjacent spins via a surface strength . We consider the cases where
the favoured alignments at the two walls are the same (symmetric cell) or
different (asymmetric or hybrid cell). In the latter case, we demonstrate the
existence of a {\it single} phase transition in the slab for all values of the
cell thickness. This transition has been observed before in the regime of
narrow cells, where the two structures involved correspond to different
arrangements of the nematic director. By studying wider cells, we show that the
transition is in fact the usual isotropic-to-nematic (capillary) transition
under confinement in the case of antagonistic surface forces. We show results
for a wide range of values of film thickness, and discuss the phenomenology
using a mean-field model.Comment: 40 pages 19 figures (preprint format). Part of the text and some
figures were modified. New figure was include
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Sr Through Sympathetic Cooling with Sr
We report Bose-Einstein condensation of Sr, which has a small,
negative s-wave scattering length (\,). We overcome the poor
evaporative cooling characteristics of this isotope by sympathetic cooling with
Sr atoms. Sr is effective in this role in spite of the fact that
it is a fermion because of the large ground state degeneracy arising from a
nuclear spin of , which reduces the impact of Pauli blocking of
collisions. We observe a limited number of atoms in the condensate
() that is consistent with the value of and the
optical dipole trap parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Photoassociative spectroscopy at long range in ultracold strontium
We report photoassociative spectroscopy of Sr in a magneto-optical
trap operating on the intercombination line at 689 nm.
Photoassociative transitions are driven with a laser red-detuned by 600-2400
MHz from the atomic resonance at 461 nm. Photoassociation
takes place at extremely large internuclear separation, and the
photoassociative spectrum is strongly affected by relativistic retardation. A
fit of the transition frequencies determines the atomic lifetime
( ns) and resolves a discrepancy between experiment and
recent theoretical calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitte
Recommended from our members
Ultrafast laser welding of ceramics.
Welding of ceramics is a key missing component in modern manufacturing. Current methods cannot join ceramics in proximity to temperature-sensitive materials like polymers and electronic components. We introduce an ultrafast pulsed laser welding approach that relies on focusing light on interfaces to ensure an optical interaction volume in ceramics to stimulate nonlinear absorption processes, causing localized melting rather than ablation. The key is the interplay between linear and nonlinear optical properties and laser energy-material coupling. The welded ceramic assemblies hold high vacuum and have shear strengths comparable to metal-to-ceramic diffusion bonds. Laser welding can make ceramics integral components in devices for harsh environments as well as in optoelectronic and/or electronic packages needing visible-radio frequency transparency
Degenerate Fermi Gas of Sr
We report quantum degeneracy in a gas of ultra-cold fermionic Sr
atoms. By evaporatively cooling a mixture of spin states in an optical dipole
trap for 10.5\,s, we obtain samples well into the degenerate regime with
. The main signature of degeneracy is a change in the
momentum distribution as measured by time-of-flight imaging, and we also
observe a decrease in evaporation efficiency below .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Inelastic and elastic collision rates for triplet states of ultracold strontium
We report measurement of the inelastic and elastic collision rates for
^{88}Sr atoms in the (5s5p)^3P_0 state in a crossed-beam optical dipole trap.
This is the first measurement of ultracold collision properties of a ^3P_0
level in an alkaline-earth atom or atom with similar electronic structure.
Since the (5s5p)^3P_0 state is the lowest level of the triplet manifold, large
loss rates indicate the importance of principle-quantum-number-changing
collisions at short range. We also provide an estimate of the collisional loss
rates for the (5s5p){^3P_2} state.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Using Absorption Imaging to Study Ion Dynamics in an Ultracold Neutral Plasma
We report optical absorption imaging of ultracold neutral plasmas.Images are
used to measure the ion absorption spectrum, which is Doppler-broadened.
Through the spectral width, we monitor ion equilibration in the first 250ns
after plasma formation. The equilibration leaves ions on the border between the
weakly coupled gaseous and strongly coupled liquid states. On a longer
timescale of microseconds, we observe radial acceleration of ions resulting
from pressure exerted by the trapped electron gas.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Spectroscopic determination of the s-wave scattering lengths of 86Sr and 88Sr
We report the use of photoassociative spectroscopy to determine the ground
state s-wave scattering lengths for the main bosonic isotopes of strontium,
86Sr and 88Sr. Photoassociative transitions are driven with a laser red-detuned
by up to 1400 GHz from the 1S0-1P1 atomic resonance at 461 nm. A minimum in the
transition amplitude for 86Sr at -494+/-5 GHz allows us to determine the
scattering lengths 610a0 < a86 < 2300a0 for 86Sr and a much smaller value of
-1a0 < a88 < 13a0 for 88Sr.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
- …