Aspects of Urban Decline: Experiments with a Multilevel Economic- Demographic Model for the Dortmund Region

In this paper, selected results of a multilevel dynamic simulation model of the economic and demographic development in the urban region of Dortmund, FRG, are presented. The model simulates location decisions of industry, residential developers, and households, the resulting migration and commuting patterns, the land use development, and the impacts of public policies in the fields of industrial development, housing, and infrastructure. In particular, the paper illustrates the capability of the model to capture not only urban growth processes, but also processes of urban decline. For this purpose, first the mechanisms which control spatial growth, decline, or redistribution of activities in the model are outlined. Second, it is demonstrated how the model reproduces the general pattern of past spatial development in the region. Third, results of simulations covering a wide range of potential over all economic and demographic development in the region are discussed

Teaching Physics Using Virtual Reality

We present an investigation of game-like simulations for physics teaching. We report on the effectiveness of the interactive simulation "Real Time Relativity" for learning special relativity. We argue that the simulation not only enhances traditional learning, but also enables new types of learning that challenge the traditional curriculum. The lessons drawn from this work are being applied to the development of a simulation for enhancing the learning of quantum mechanics

Twisted split-ring-resonator photonic metamaterial with huge optical activity

Coupled split-ring-resonator metamaterials have previously been shown to exhibit large coupling effects, which are a prerequisite for obtaining large effective optical activity. By a suitable lateral arrangement of these building blocks, we completely eliminate linear birefringence and obtain pure optical activity and connected circular optical dichroism. Experiments at around 100-THz frequency and corresponding modeling are in good agreement. Rotation angles of about 30 degrees for 205nm sample thickness are derived.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Single-cycle gap soliton in a subwavelength structure

We demonstrate that a single sub-cycle optical pulse can be generated when a pulse with a few optical cycles penetrates through resonant two-level dense media with a subwavelength structure. The single-cycle gap soliton phenomenon in the full Maxwell-Bloch equations without the frame of slowly varying envelope and rotating wave approximations is observed. Our study shows that the subwavelength structure can be used to suppress the frequency shift caused by intrapulse four-wave mixing in continuous media and supports the formation of single-cycle gap solitons even in the case when the structure period breaks the Bragg condition. This suggests a way toward shortening high-intensity laser fields to few- and even single-cycle pulse durations.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Carrier-envelope phase dependence in single-cycle laser pulse propagation with the inclusion of counter-rotating terms

We focus on the propagation properties of a single-cycle laser pulse through a two-level medium by numerically solving the full-wave Maxwell-Bloch equations. The counter-rotating terms in the spontaneous emission damping are included such that the equations of motion are slightly different from the conventional Bloch equations. The counter-rotating terms can considerably suppress the broadening of the pulse envelope and the decrease of the group velocity rooted from dispersion. Furthermore, for incident single-cycle pulses with envelope area 4$\pi$, the time-delay of the generated soliton pulse from the main pulse depends crucially on the carrier-envelope phase of the incident pulse. This can be utilized to determine the carrier-envelope phase of the single-cycle laser pulse.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Ultrashort light bullets described by the two-dimensional sine-Gordon equation

By using a reductive perturbation technique applied to a two-level model, this study puts forward a generic two-dimensional sine-Gordon evolution equation governing the propagation of femtosecond spatiotemporal optical solitons in Kerr media beyond the slowly varying envelope approximation. Direct numerical simulations show that, in contrast to the long-wave approximation, no collapse occurs, and that robust (2+1)-dimensional ultrashort light bullets may form from adequately chosen few-cycle input spatiotemporal wave forms. In contrast to the case of quadratic nonlinearity, the light bullets oscillate in both space and time and are therefore not steady-state lumps

Self-consistent calculation of metamaterials with gain

We present a computational scheme allowing for a self-consistent treatment of a dispersive metallic photonic metamaterial coupled to a gain material incorporated into the nanostructure. The gain is described by a generic four-level system. A critical pumping rate exists for compensating the loss of the metamaterial. Nonlinearities arise due to gain depletion beyond a certain critical strength of a test field. Transmission, reflection, and absorption data as well as the retrieved effective parameters are presented for a lattice of resonant square cylinders embedded in layers of gain material and split ring resonators with gain material embedded into the gaps.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Estimating Multiattribute Spatial Choice Models

In this paper, an interactive computer program for estimating the parameters of spatial choice models with multiattribute utilities is presented. The models to be calibrated may be unconstrained, singly constrained, or doubly constrained random utility choice or entropy-maximizing interaction models. Utilities may be associated with choice alternatives (zones) or with the choices themselves (trips). The program maximizes the likelihood of the choice matrix (trip table) given observed choices (trips) using a combination of gradient search and Newton-Raphson iteration methods. The paper contains a specification of the range of models that can be calibrated with the program and a description of its solution algorithm and organization, as well as an illustrative application and a listing of the source code

Coherent control of atomic excitation using off-resonant strong few-cycle pulses

We study the dynamics of a two-level system driven by an off-resonant few-cycle pulse which has a phase jump $\phi$ at $t=t_{0}$, in contrast to many cycle pulses, under non rotating-wave approximation (NRWA). We give a closed form analytical solution for the evolution of the probability amplitude $|C_{a} (t)|$ for the upper level. Using the appropriate pulse parameters like phase-jump $\phi$, jump time $t_{0}$, pulse width $\tau$, frequency $\nu$ and Rabi frequency $\Omega_{0}$ the population transfer, after the pulse is gone, can be optimized and for the pulse considered here, enhancement of $10^{6}-10^{8}$ factor was obtained.Comment: 5 Pages, 7 Figure