Circular-Polarization-Dependent Study of Microwave-Induced Conductivity Oscillations in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas on Liquid Helium

The polarization dependence of photoconductivity response at cyclotron-resonance harmonics in a nondegenerate two-dimensional (2D) electron system formed on the surface of liquid helium is studied using a setup in which a circular polarization of opposite directions can be produced. Contrary to the results of similar investigations reported for semiconductor 2D electron systems, for electrons on liquid helium, a strong dependence of the amplitude of magnetoconductivity oscillations on the direction of circular polarization is observed. This observation is in accordance with theoretical models based on photon-assisted scattering and, therefore, it solves a critical issue in the dispute over the origin of microwave-induced conductivity oscillations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Coupling between Rydberg states and Landau levels of electrons trapped on liquid helium

We investigate the coupling between Rydberg states of electrons trapped on a liquid Helium surface and Landau levels induced by a perpendicular magnetic field. We show that this realises a prototype quantum system equivalent to an atom in a cavity, where their coupling strength can be tuned by a parallel magnetic field. We determine experimentally the renormalisation of the atomic transition energies induced by the coupling to the cavity, which can be seen as an analogue of the Lamb shift. When the coupling is sufficiently strong the transition between the ground and first excited Rydberg states splits into two resonances corresponding to dressed states with vacuum and one photon in the cavity. Our results are in quantitative agreement with the energy shifts predicted by the effective atom in a cavity model where all parameters are known with high accuracy

Sliding of Electron Crystal of Finite Size on the Surface of Superfluid He-4 Confined in a Microchannel

We present a new study of the nonlinear transport of a two-dimensional electron crystal on the surface of liquid helium confined in a 10 micrometer-wide channel in which the effective length of the crystal can be varied from 10 to 215 micrometers. At low driving voltages, the moving electron crystal is strongly coupled to deformation of the liquid surface arising from resonant excitation of surface capillary waves, ripplons, while at higher driving voltages the crystal decouples from the deformation. We find strong dependence of the decoupling threshold of the driving electric field acting on the electrons, on the size of the crystal. In particular, the threshold electric field significantly decreases when the length of the crystal becomes shorter than 25 micrometers. We explain this effect as arising from weakening of surface deformations due to radiative loss of resonantly-excited ripplons from an electron crystal of finite size, and we account for the observed effect using an instructive analytical model.Comment: 5 figure

On Possible Measurement of Gravitational Interaction Parameters on Board a Satellite

The recently suggested SEE (Satellite Energy Exchange) method of measuring the gravitational constant $G$, possible equivalence principle violation (measured by the E\"{o}tv\"{o}s parameter $\eta$) and the hypothetic 5th force parameters $\alpha$ and $\lambda$ on board a drag-free Earth's satellite is discussed and further developed. Various particle trajectories near a heavy ball are numerically simulated. Some basic sources of error are analysed. The $G$ measurement procedure is modelled by noise insertion to a ``true'' trajectory. It is concluded that the present knowledge of $G, \alpha$ (for $\lambda \geq 1$ m) and $\eta$ can be improved by at least two orders of magnitude.Comment: (only two misprints on title page) 7 page

Dephasing of qubits by transverse low-frequency noise

We analyze the dissipative dynamics of a two-level quantum system subject to low-frequency, e.g. 1/f noise, motivated by recent experiments with superconducting quantum circuits. We show that the effect of transverse linear coupling of the system to low-frequency noise is equivalent to that of quadratic longitudinal coupling. We further find the decay law of quantum coherent oscillations under the influence of both low- and high-frequency fluctuations, in particular, for the case of comparable rates of relaxation and pure dephasing