Mixtures of Bose gases confined in concentrically coupled annular traps

A two-component Bose-Einstein condensate confined in an axially-symmetric potential with two local minima, resembling two concentric annular traps, is investigated. The system shows a number of quantum phase transitions that result from the competition between phase coexistence, and radial/azimuthal phase separation. The ground-state phase diagram, as well as the rotational properties, including the (meta)stability of currents in this system, are analysed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, minor revision

Final-state read-out of exciton qubits by observing resonantly excited photoluminescence in quantum dots

We report on a new approach to detect excitonic qubits in semiconductor quantum dots by observing spontaneous emissions from the relevant qubit level. The ground state of excitons is resonantly excited by picosecond optical pulses. Emissions from the same state are temporally resolved with picosecond time resolution. To capture weak emissions, we greatly suppress the elastic scattering of excitation beams, by applying obliquely incident geometry to the micro photoluminescence set-up. Rabi oscillations of the ground-state excitons appear to be involved in the dependence of emission intensity on excitation amplitude.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Appl. Phys. Let

AdS3 Gravitational Instantons from Conformal Field Theory

A conformal field theory on the boundary of three-dimensional asymptotic anti-de Sitter spaces which appear as near horizon geometry of D-brane bound states is discussed. It is shown that partition functions of gravitational instantons appear as high and low temperature limits of the partition function of the conformal field theory. The result reproduces phase transition between the anti-de Sitter space and the BTZ black hole in the bulk gravity.Comment: 22 pages, minor correction

Wettability influences cell behavior on superhydrophobic surfaces with different topographies

Surface wettability and topography are recognized as critical factors influencing cell behavior on biomaterials. So far only few works have reported cell responses on surfaces exhibiting extreme wettability in combination with surface topography. The goal of this work is to study whether cell behavior on superhydrophobic surfaces is influenced by surface topography and polymer type. Biomimetic superhydrophobic rough surfaces of polystyrene and poly(l-lactic acid) with different micro/nanotopographies were obtained from smooth surfaces using a simple phase-separation based method. Total protein was quantified and showed a less adsorption of bovine serum albumin onto rough surfaces as compared to smooth surfaces of the same material. The mouse osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cell line and primary bovine articular chondrocytes were used to study cell attachment and proliferation. Cells attached and proliferate better in the smooth surfaces. The superhydrophobic surfaces allowed cells to adhere but inhibited their proliferation. This study indicates that surface wettability, rather than polymer type or the topography of the superhydrophobic surfaces, is a critical factor in determining cell behavior

Chitosan membranes exhibiting shape memory capability by the action of controlled hydration

Chitosan membranes can undergo a glass transition at room temperaturetriggered by hydration. The mechanical properties of the membranes were followed by atension test and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), with the sample in wet conditionsafter being immersed in varying compositions of water/ethanol mixtures. Results show thatwith the increasing of water content, the Young’s and storage modulus decreasesystematically. For water contents of ca. 35 vol%, chitosan (CHT) exhibits a glasstransition, showing an elastomeric plateau in the elastic modulus above this hydration leveland the occurrence of a peak in the loss factor. Due to the semi-crystalline nature of CHT,membranes of this biomaterial present a shape memory capability induced by water uptake.By fixation of the permanent shape by further covalent cross-linking, the membranes canhave different permanent shapes appropriate for different applications, including in thebiomedical area.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) through project PTDC/FIS/115048/2009

Thermal Transport Imaging in the Quantum Hall Edge Channel

Research focused on heat transport in the quantum Hall (QH) edge channel has successfully addressed fundamental theoretical questions surrounding the QH physics. However, the picture of the edge channel is complicated by the phenomenon of energy dissipation out of the edge, and theories treating this dissipation are lacking. More experimental data is also needed to determine the coupling mechanism by which energy leaves the edge channel. We developed a method to map the heat transport in the QH edge to study the dissipation of heat. We locally heated the QH edge and locally detected the temperature increase while continuously varying the distance between heater and thermometer. We thereby obtained the thermal decay length of the edge state, which we found to depend on magnetic field strength