Ground state cooling, quantum state engineering and study of decoherence of ions in Paul traps

We investigate single ions of $^{40}Ca^+$ in Paul traps for quantum information processing. Superpositions of the S$_{1/2}$ electronic ground state and the metastable D$_{5/2}$ state are used to implement a qubit. Laser light on the S$_{1/2} \leftrightarrow$ D$_{5/2}$ transition is used for the manipulation of the ion's quantum state. We apply sideband cooling to the ion and reach the ground state of vibration with up to 99.9% probability. Starting from this Fock state $|n=0>$, we demonstrate coherent quantum state manipulation. A large number of Rabi oscillations and a ms-coherence time is observed. Motional heating is measured to be as low as one vibrational quantum in 190 ms. We also report on ground state cooling of two ions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. submitted to Journal of Modern Optics, Special Issue on Quantum Optics: Kuehtai 200

Dirac-Foldy term and the electromagnetic polarizability of the neutron

We reconsider the Dirac-Foldy contribution $\mu^2/m$ to the neutron electric polarizability. Using a Dirac equation approach to neutron-nucleus scattering, we review the definitions of Compton continuum ($\bar{\alpha}$), classical static ($\alpha^n_E$), and Schr\"{o}dinger ($\alpha_{Sch}$) polarizabilities and discuss in some detail their relationship. The latter $\alpha_{Sch}$ is the value of the neutron electric polarizability as obtained from an analysis using the Schr\"{o}dinger equation. We find in particular $\alpha_{Sch} = \bar{\alpha} - \mu^2/m$ , where $\mu$ is the magnitude of the magnetic moment of a neutron of mass $m$. However, we argue that the static polarizability $\alpha^n_E$ is correctly defined in the rest frame of the particle, leading to the conclusion that twice the Dirac-Foldy contribution should be added to $\alpha_{Sch}$ to obtain the static polarizability $\alpha^n_E$.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, to appear in Physical Review

Calculations of the A_1 phonon frequency in photoexcited Tellurium

Calculations of the A_1 phonon frequency in photoexcited tellurium are presented. The phonon frequency as a function of photoexcited carrier density and phonon amplitude is determined. Recent pump probe experiments are interpreted in the light of these calculatons. It is proposed that, in conjunction with measurements of the phonon period in ultra-fast pump-probe reflectivity experiments, the calculated frequency shifts can be used to infer the evolution of the density of photoexcited carriers on a sub-picosecond time-scale.Comment: 15 pages Latex, 3 postscript figure

Design and Tests of the Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur

X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information bout high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole  systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and tested ahard X-ray polarimeter, X-Calibur, to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCuS grazing incidence hard X-ray telescope.X-Calibur combines a low-Z Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the polarization of 20−60 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation; in principal, a similar space-borne experiment could be operated in the 5−100 keV regime. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity

Ultrafast changes in lattice symmetry probed by coherent phonons

The electronic and structural properties of a material are strongly determined by its symmetry. Changing the symmetry via a photoinduced phase transition offers new ways to manipulate material properties on ultrafast timescales. However, in order to identify when and how fast these phase transitions occur, methods that can probe the symmetry change in the time domain are required. We show that a time-dependent change in the coherent phonon spectrum can probe a change in symmetry of the lattice potential, thus providing an all-optical probe of structural transitions. We examine the photoinduced structural phase transition in VO2 and show that, above the phase transition threshold, photoexcitation completely changes the lattice potential on an ultrafast timescale. The loss of the equilibrium-phase phonon modes occurs promptly, indicating a non-thermal pathway for the photoinduced phase transition, where a strong perturbation to the lattice potential changes its symmetry before ionic rearrangement has occurred.Comment: 14 pages 4 figure

Precision Astrometry with the Very Long Baseline Array: Parallaxes and Proper Motions for 14 Pulsars

Astrometry can bring powerful constraints to bear on a variety of scientific questions about neutron stars, including their origins, astrophysics, evolution, and environments. Using phase-referenced observations at the VLBA, in conjunction with pulsar gating and in-beam calibration, we have measured the parallaxes and proper motions for 14 pulsars. The smallest measured parallax in our sample is 0.13+-0.02 mas for PSR B1541+09, which has a most probable distance of 7.2+1.3-1.1 kpc. We detail our methods, including initial VLA surveys to select candidates and find in-beam calibrators, VLBA phase-referencing, pulsar gating, calibration, and data reduction. The use of the bootstrap method to estimate astrometric uncertainties in the presence of unmodeled systematic errors is also described. Based on our new model-independent estimates for distance and transverse velocity, we investigate the kinematics and birth sites of the pulsars and revisit models of the Galactic electron density distribution. We find that young pulsars are moving away from the Galactic plane, as expected, and that age estimates from kinematics and pulsar spindown are generally in agreement, with certain notable exceptions. Given its present trajectory, the pulsar B2045-16 was plausibly born in the open cluster NGC 6604. For several high-latitude pulsars, the NE2001 electron density model underestimates the parallax distances by a factor of two, while in others the estimates agree with or are larger than the parallax distances, suggesting that the interstellar medium is irregular on relevant length scales. The VLBA astrometric results for the recycled pulsar J1713+0747 are consistent with two independent estimates from pulse timing, enabling a consistency check between the different reference frames.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables; results unchanged; revised version accepted by Ap

Anisotropic Spin Hamiltonians due to Spin-Orbit and Coulomb Exchange Interactions

This paper contains the details of Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2919 (1994) and, to a lesser extent, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 3710 (1994). We treat a Hubbard model which includes all the 3d states of the Cu ions and the 2p states of the O ions. We also include spin-orbit interactions, hopping between ground and excited crystal field states of the Cu ions, and rather general Coulomb interactions. Our analytic results for the spin Hamiltonian, H, are corroborated by numerical evaluations of the energy splitting of the ground manifold for two holes on either a pair of Cu ions or a Cu-O-Cu complex. In the tetragonal symmetry case and for the model considered, we prove that H is rotationally invariant in the absence of Coulomb exchange. When Coulomb exchange is present, each bond Hamiltonian has full biaxial anisotropy, as expected for this symmetry. For lower symmetry situations, the single bond spin Hamiltonian is anisotropic at order t**6 for constant U and at order t**2 for nonconstant U. (Constant U means that the Coulomb interaction between orbitals does not depend on which orbitals are involved.)Comment: 50 pages, ILATEX Version 2.09 <13 Jun 1989

An epistatic interaction between pre-natal smoke exposure and socioeconomic status has a significant impact on bronchodilator drug response in African American youth with asthma.

Background: Asthma is one of the leading chronic illnesses among children in the United States. Asthma prevalence is higher among African Americans (11.2%) compared to European Americans (7.7%). Bronchodilator medications are part of the first-line therapy, and the rescue medication, for acute asthma symptoms. Bronchodilator drug response (BDR) varies substantially among different racial/ethnic groups. Asthma prevalence in African Americans is only 3.5% higher than that of European Americans, however, asthma mortality among African Americans is four times that of European Americans; variation in BDR may play an important role in explaining this health disparity. To improve our understanding of disparate health outcomes in complex phenotypes such as BDR, it is important to consider interactions between environmental and biological variables. Results: We evaluated the impact of pairwise and three-variable interactions between environmental, social, and biological variables on BDR in 233 African American youth with asthma using Visualization of Statistical Epistasis Networks (ViSEN). ViSEN is a non-parametric entropy-based approach able to quantify interaction effects using an information-theory metric known as Information Gain (IG). We performed analyses in the full dataset and in sex-stratified subsets. Our analyses identified several interaction models significantly, and suggestively, associated with BDR. The strongest interaction significantly associated with BDR was a pairwise interaction between pre-natal smoke exposure and socioeconomic status (full dataset IG: 2.78%, Conclusions: Our study identified novel interaction effects significantly, and suggestively, associated with BDR in African American children with asthma. Notably, we found that all of the interactions identified by ViSEN were pure interaction effects, in that they were not the result of strong main effects on BDR, highlighting the complexity of the network of biological and environmental factors impacting this phenotype. Several associations uncovered by ViSEN would not have been detected using regression-based methods, thus emphasizing the importance of employing statistical methods optimized to detect both additive and non-additive interaction effects when studying complex phenotypes such as BDR. The information gained in this study increases our understanding and appreciation of the complex nature of the interactions between environmental and health-related factors that influence BDR and will be invaluable to biomedical researchers designing future studies