10,146 research outputs found
Observation of two-orbital spin-exchange interactions with ultracold SU(N)-symmetric fermions
We report on the direct observation of spin-exchanging interactions in a
two-orbital SU(N)-symmetric quantum gas of ytterbium in an optical lattice. The
two orbital states are represented by two different (meta-)stable electronic
configurations of fermionic Yb-173. A strong spin-exchange between particles in
the two separate orbitals is mediated by the contact interaction between atoms,
which we characterize by clock shift spectroscopy in a 3D optical lattice. We
find the system to be SU(N)-symmetric within our measurement precision and
characterize all relevant scattering channels for atom pairs in combinations of
the ground and the excited state. Elastic scattering between the orbitals is
dominated by the antisymmetric channel, which leads to the strong spin-exchange
coupling. The exchange process is directly observed, by characterizing the
dynamic equilibration of spin imbalances between two large ensembles in the two
orbital states, as well as indirectly in atom pairs via interaction shift
spectroscopy in a 3D lattice. The realization of a stable SU(N)-symmetric
two-orbital Hubbard Hamiltonian opens the route towards experimental quantum
simulation of condensed-matter models based on orbital interactions, such as
the Kondo lattice model.Comment: Correction: In the original version of this preprint the assignment
of states with symmetric electronic wavefunction (|eg+>) and with
antisymmetric electronic wavefunction (|eg->) to the observed spectral lines
was inverted. This has been corrected in the current version. The results of
the paper remain unchanged, with the exchange coupling being inverted to a
ferromagnetic exchang
Nitrogen doping of TiO2 photocatalyst forms a second eg state in the Oxygen (1s) NEXAFS pre-edge
Close inspection of the pre-edge in oxygen near-edge x-ray absorption fine
structure spectra of single step, gas phase synthesized titanium oxynitride
photocatalysts with 20 nm particle size reveals an additional eg resonance in
the VB that went unnoticed in previous TiO2 anion doping studies. The relative
spectral weight of this Ti(3d)-O(2p) hybridized state with respect to and
located between the readily established t2g and eg resonances scales
qualitatively with the photocatalytic decomposition power, suggesting that this
extra resonance bears co-responsibility for the photocatalytic performance of
titanium oxynitrides at visible light wavelengths
Investigating the interstellar dust through the Fe K-edge
The chemical and physical properties of interstellar dust in the densest
regions of the Galaxy are still not well understood. X-rays provide a powerful
probe since they can penetrate gas and dust over a wide range of column
densities (up to ). The interaction (scattering and
absorption) with the medium imprints spectral signatures that reflect the
individual atoms which constitute the gas, molecule, or solid. In this work we
investigate the ability of high resolution X-ray spectroscopy to probe the
properties of cosmic grains containing iron. Although iron is heavily depleted
into interstellar dust, the nature of the Fe-bearing grains is still largely
uncertain. In our analysis we use iron K-edge synchrotron data of minerals
likely present in the ISM dust taken at the European Synchrotron Radiation
Facility. We explore the prospects of determining the chemical composition and
the size of astrophysical dust in the Galactic centre and in molecular clouds
with future X-ray missions. The energy resolution and the effective area of the
present X-ray telescopes are not sufficient to detect and study the Fe K-edge,
even for bright X-ray sources. From the analysis of the extinction cross
sections of our dust models implemented in the spectral fitting program SPEX,
the Fe K-edge is promising for investigating both the chemistry and the size
distribution of the interstellar dust. We find that the chemical composition
regulates the X-ray absorption fine structures in the post edge region, whereas
the scattering feature in the pre-edge is sensitive to the mean grain size.
Finally, we note that the Fe K-edge is insensitive to other dust properties,
such as the porosity and the geometry of the dust.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Dust absorption and scattering in the silicon K-edge
The composition and properties of interstellar silicate dust are not well
understood. In X-rays, interstellar dust can be studied in detail by making use
of the fine structure features in the Si K-edge. The features in the Si K-edge
offer a range of possibilities to study silicon-bearing dust, such as
investigating the crystallinity, abundance, and the chemical composition along
a given line of sight. We present newly acquired laboratory measurements of the
silicon K-edge of several silicate-compounds that complement our measurements
from our earlier pilot study. The resulting dust extinction profiles serve as
templates for the interstellar extinction that we observe. The extinction
profiles were used to model the interstellar dust in the dense environments of
the Galaxy. The laboratory measurements, taken at the Soleil synchrotron
facility in Paris, were adapted for astrophysical data analysis and implemented
in the SPEX spectral fitting program. The models were used to fit the spectra
of nine low-mass X-ray binaries located in the Galactic center neighborhood in
order to determine the dust properties along those lines of sight. Most lines
of sight can be fit well by amorphous olivine. We also established upper limits
on the amount of crystalline material that the modeling allows. We obtained
values of the total silicon abundance, silicon dust abundance, and depletion
along each of the sightlines. We find a possible gradient of
dex/kpc for the total silicon abundance versus the Galactocentric distance. We
do not find a relation between the depletion and the extinction along the line
of sight.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Energy and entropy of relativistic diffusing particles
We discuss energy-momentum tensor and the second law of thermodynamics for a
system of relativistic diffusing particles. We calculate the energy and entropy
flow in this system. We obtain an exact time dependence of energy, entropy and
free energy of a beam of photons in a reservoir of a fixed temperature.Comment: 14 pages,some formulas correcte
Atomic and itinerant effects at the transition metal x-ray absorption K-pre-edge exemplified in the case of VO
X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a well established tool for obtaining
information about orbital and spin degrees of freedom in transition metal- and
rare earth-compounds. For this purpose usually the dipole transitions of the L-
(2p to 3d) and M- (3d to 4f) edges are employed, whereas higher order
transitions such as quadrupolar 1s to 3d in the K-edge are rarely studied in
that respect. This is due to the fact that usually such quadrupolar transitions
are overshadowed by dipole allowed 1s to 4p transitions and, hence, are visible
only as minor features in the pre-edge region. Nonetheless, these features
carry a lot of valuable information, similar to the dipole L-edge transition,
which is not accessible in experiments under pressure due to the absorption of
the diamond anvil pressurecell. We recently performed a theoretical and
experimental analysis of such a situation for the metal insulator transition of
(V(1-x)Crx)2O3. Since the importance of the orbital degrees of freedom in this
transition is widely accepted, a thorough understanding of quadrupole
transitions of the vanadium K-pre-edge provides crucial information about the
underlying physics. Moreover, the lack of inversion symetry at the vanadium
site leads to onsite mixing of vanadium 3d- and 4p- states and related quantum
mechanical interferences between dipole and quadrupole transitions. Here we
present a theoretical analysis of experimental high resolution x-ray absorption
spectroscopy at the V pre-K edge measured in partial fluorescence yield mode
for single crystals. We carried out density functional as well as configuration
interaction calculations in order to capture effects coming from both,
itinerant and atomic limits
Low-crosstalk bifurcation detectors for coupled flux qubits
We present experimental results on the crosstalk between two AC-operated
dispersive bifurcation detectors, implemented in a circuit for high-fidelity
readout of two strongly coupled flux qubits. Both phase-dependent and
phase-independent contributions to the crosstalk are analyzed. For proper
tuning of the phase the measured crosstalk is 0.1 % and the correlation between
the measurement outcomes is less than 0.05 %. These results show that
bifurcative readout provides a reliable and generic approach for multi-partite
correlation experiments.Comment: Copyright 2010 American Institute of Physics. This article may be
downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of
the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article
appeared in Applied Physics Letters and may be found at
http://link.aip.org/link/?apl/96/12350
Moment evolution across the ferromagnetic phase transition of giant magnetocaloric (Mn,Fe)2(P,Si,B) compounds
A strong electronic reconstruction resulting in a quenching of the Fe
magnetic moments has recently been predicted to be at the origin of the giant
magnetocaloric effect displayed by Fe2Pbased materials. To verify this
scenario, X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism experiments have been carried out
at the L edges of Mn and Fe for two typical compositions of the
(Mn,Fe)2(P,Si,B) system. The dichroic absorption spectra of Mn and Fe have been
measured element specific in the vicinity of the first-order ferromagnetic
transition. The experimental spectra are compared with first-principle
calculations and charge-transfer multiplet simulations in order to derive the
magnetic moments. Even though signatures of a metamagnetic behaviour are
observed either as a function of the temperature or the magnetic field, the
similarity of the Mn and Fe moment evolution suggests that the quenching of the
Fe moment is weaker than previously predicted
Strong Shock Waves and Nonequilibrium Response in a One-dimensional Gas: a Boltzmann Equation Approach
We investigate the nonequilibrium behavior of a one-dimensional binary fluid
on the basis of Boltzmann equation, using an infinitely strong shock wave as
probe. Density, velocity and temperature profiles are obtained as a function of
the mixture mass ratio \mu. We show that temperature overshoots near the shock
layer, and that heavy particles are denser, slower and cooler than light
particles in the strong nonequilibrium region around the shock. The shock width
w(\mu), which characterizes the size of this region, decreases as w(\mu) ~
\mu^{1/3} for \mu-->0. In this limit, two very different length scales control
the fluid structure, with heavy particles equilibrating much faster than light
ones. Hydrodynamic fields relax exponentially toward equilibrium, \phi(x) ~
exp[-x/\lambda]. The scale separation is also apparent here, with two typical
scales, \lambda_1 and \lambda_2, such that \lambda_1 ~ \mu^{1/2} as \mu-->0$,
while \lambda_2, which is the slow scale controlling the fluid's asymptotic
relaxation, increases to a constant value in this limit. These results are
discussed at the light of recent numerical studies on the nonequilibrium
behavior of similar 1d binary fluids.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figs, published versio
Inelastic X-ray Scattering by Electronic Excitations in Solids at High Pressure
Investigating electronic structure and excitations under extreme conditions
gives access to a rich variety of phenomena. High pressure typically induces
behavior such as magnetic collapse and the insulator-metal transition in 3d
transition metals compounds, valence fluctuations or Kondo-like characteristics
in -electron systems, and coordination and bonding changes in molecular
solids and glasses. This article reviews research concerning electronic
excitations in materials under extreme conditions using inelastic x-ray
scattering (IXS). IXS is a spectroscopic probe of choice for this study because
of its chemical and orbital selectivity and the richness of information it
provides. Being an all-photon technique, IXS has a penetration depth compatible
with high pressure requirements. Electronic transitions under pressure in 3d
transition metals compounds and -electron systems, most of them strongly
correlated, are reviewed. Implications for geophysics are mentioned. Since the
incident X-ray energy can easily be tuned to absorption edges, resonant IXS,
often employed, is discussed at length. Finally studies involving local
structure changes and electronic transitions under pressure in materials
containing light elements are briefly reviewed.Comment: submitted to Rev. Mod. Phy
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