54 research outputs found
Sympathetic and swap cooling of trapped ions by cold atoms in a MOT
A mixed system of cooled and trapped, ions and atoms, paves the way for ion
assisted cold chemistry and novel many body studies. Due to the different
individual trapping mechanisms, trapped atoms are significantly colder than
trapped ions, therefore in the combined system, the strong binary ionatom
interaction results in heat flow from ions to atoms. Conversely, trapped ions
can also get collisionally heated by the cold atoms, making the resulting
equilibrium between ions and atoms intriguing. Here we experimentally
demonstrate, Rubidium ions (Rb) cool in contact with magneto-optically
trapped (MOT) Rb atoms, contrary to the general expectation of ion heating for
equal ion and atom masses. The cooling mechanism is explained theoretically and
substantiated with numerical simulations. The importance of resonant charge
exchange (RCx) collisions, which allows swap cooling of ions with atoms,
wherein a single glancing collision event brings a fast ion to rest, is
discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Optical Trapping of an Ion
For several decades, ions have been trapped by radio frequency (RF) and
neutral particles by optical fields. We implement the experimental
proof-of-principle for trapping an ion in an optical dipole trap. While
loading, initialization and final detection are performed in a RF trap, in
between, this RF trap is completely disabled and substituted by the optical
trap. The measured lifetime of milliseconds allows for hundreds of oscillations
within the optical potential. It is mainly limited by heating due to photon
scattering. In future experiments the lifetime may be increased by further
detuning the laser and cooling the ion. We demonstrate the prerequisite to
merge both trapping techniques in hybrid setups to the point of trapping ions
and atoms in the same optical potential.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A trapped single ion inside a Bose-Einstein condensate
Improved control of the motional and internal quantum states of ultracold
neutral atoms and ions has opened intriguing possibilities for quantum
simulation and quantum computation. Many-body effects have been explored with
hundreds of thousands of quantum-degenerate neutral atoms and coherent
light-matter interfaces have been built. Systems of single or a few trapped
ions have been used to demonstrate universal quantum computing algorithms and
to detect variations of fundamental constants in precision atomic clocks. Until
now, atomic quantum gases and single trapped ions have been treated separately
in experiments. Here we investigate whether they can be advantageously combined
into one hybrid system, by exploring the immersion of a single trapped ion into
a Bose-Einstein condensate of neutral atoms. We demonstrate independent control
over the two components within the hybrid system, study the fundamental
interaction processes and observe sympathetic cooling of the single ion by the
condensate. Our experiment calls for further research into the possibility of
using this technique for the continuous cooling of quantum computers. We also
anticipate that it will lead to explorations of entanglement in hybrid quantum
systems and to fundamental studies of the decoherence of a single, locally
controlled impurity particle coupled to a quantum environment
Single-atom imaging of fermions in a quantum-gas microscope
Single-atom-resolved detection in optical lattices using quantum-gas
microscopes has enabled a new generation of experiments in the field of quantum
simulation. Fluorescence imaging of individual atoms has so far been achieved
for bosonic species with optical molasses cooling, whereas detection of
fermionic alkaline atoms in optical lattices by this method has proven more
challenging. Here we demonstrate single-site- and single-atom-resolved
fluorescence imaging of fermionic potassium-40 atoms in a quantum-gas
microscope setup using electromagnetically-induced-transparency cooling. We
detected on average 1000 fluorescence photons from a single atom within 1.5s,
while keeping it close to the vibrational ground state of the optical lattice.
Our results will enable the study of strongly correlated fermionic quantum
systems in optical lattices with resolution at the single-atom level, and give
access to observables such as the local entropy distribution and individual
defects in fermionic Mott insulators or anti-ferromagnetically ordered phases.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; Nature Physics, published online 13 July 201
Precise revolution control in three-dimensional off-axis trapping with single Laguerre-Gaussian beam
Author Correction: Ultrafast switch-on dynamics of frequency-tuneable semiconductor lasers
The original version of this Article contained an error in the Acknowledgements, which incorrectly omitted the following: 'We also acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects Funding Scheme (Grant DP 160 103910).' This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article
Delimiting the Origin of a B Chromosome by FISH Mapping, Chromosome Painting and DNA Sequence Analysis in Astyanax paranae (Teleostei, Characiformes)
Supernumerary (B) chromosomes have been shown to contain a wide variety of repetitive sequences. For this reason, fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) is a useful tool for ascertaining the origin of these genomic elements, especially when combined with painting from microdissected B chromosomes. In order to investigate the origin of B chromosomes in the fish species Astyanax paranae, these two approaches were used along with PCR amplification of specific DNA sequences obtained from the B chromosomes and its comparison with those residing in the A chromosomes. Remarkably, chromosome painting with the one-arm metacentric B chromosome probe showed hybridization signals on entire B chromosome, while FISH mapping revealed the presence of H1 histone and 18S rDNA genes symmetrically placed in both arms of the B chromosome. These results support the hypothesis that the B chromosome of A. paranae is an isochromosome. Additionally, the chromosome pairs Nos. 2 or 23 are considered the possible B chromosome ancestors since both contain syntenic H1 and 18S rRNA sequences. The analysis of DNA sequence fragments of the histone and rRNA genes obtained from the microdissected B chromosomes showed high similarity with those obtained from 0B individuals, which supports the intraspecific origin of B chromosomes in A. paranae. Finally, the population hereby analysed showed a female-biased B chromosome presence suggesting that B chromosomes in this species could influence sex determinism.This research was funded by grants from the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) to DMZAS (2011/16825-3) and CO (2010/17009-2), grants from National Council for Research and Development (CNPq) to FF and by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Social Factors Key to Landscape-Scale Coastal Restoration: Lessons Learned from Three U.S. Case Studies
In the United States, extensive investments have been made to restore the ecological function and services of coastal marine habitats. Despite a growing body of science supporting coastal restoration, few studies have addressed the suite of societally enabling conditions that helped facilitate successful restoration and recovery efforts that occurred at meaningful ecological (i.e., ecosystem) scales, and where restoration efforts were sustained for longer (i.e., several years to decades) periods. Here, we examined three case studies involving large-scale and long-term restoration efforts including the seagrass restoration effort in Tampa Bay, Florida, the oyster restoration effort in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and the tidal marsh restoration effort in San Francisco Bay, California. The ecological systems and the specifics of the ecological restoration were not the focus of our study. Rather, we focused on the underlying social and political contexts of each case study and found common themes of the factors of restoration which appear to be important for maintaining support for large-scale restoration efforts. Four critical elements for sustaining public and/or political support for large-scale restoration include: (1) resources should be invested in building public support prior to significant investments into ecological restoration; (2) building political support provides a level of significance to the recovery planning efforts and creates motivation to set and achieve meaningful recovery goals; (3) recovery plans need to be science-based with clear, measurable goals that resonate with the public; and (4) the accountability of progress toward reaching goals needs to be communicated frequently and in a way that the general public comprehends. These conclusions may help other communities move away from repetitive, single, and seemingly unconnected restoration projects towards more large-scale, bigger impact, and coordinated restoration efforts
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