455 research outputs found
Thermometry of bosonic mixtures in Optical Lattices via Demixing
Motivated by recent experiments and theoretical investigations on binary
mixtures, we investigate the miscible-immiscible transition at finite
temperature by means of Quantum Monte Carlo. Based on the observation that the
segregated phase is strongly affected by temperature, we propose to use the
degree of demixing for thermometry of a binary bosonic mixture trapped in an
optical lattice. We show that the proposed method is especially sensitive at
low temperatures, of the order of the tunnelling amplitude, and therefore is
particularly suitable in the regime where quantum magnetism is expected.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Supplemental Materia
Observation of heteronuclear atomic Efimov resonances
The Efimov effect represents a cornerstone in few-body physics. Building on
the recent experimental observation with ultracold atoms, we report the first
experimental signature of Efimov physics in a heteronuclear system. A mixture
of K and Rb atoms was cooled to few hundred nanoKelvins and
stored in an optical dipole trap. Exploiting a broad interspecies Feshbach
resonance, the losses due to three-body collisions were studied as a function
of the interspecies scattering length. We observe an enhancement of the
three-body collisions for three distinct values of the interspecies scattering
lengths, both positive and negative. We attribute the two features at negative
scattering length to the existence of two kind of Efimov trimers, namely KKRb
and KRbRb.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Collision of impurities with Bose-Einstein condensates
open5noQuantum dynamics of impurities in a bath of bosons is a long-standing problem of solid-state, plasma, and atomic physics. Recent experimental and theoretical investigations with ultracold atoms focused on this problem, studying atomic impurities immersed in a atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and for various relative coupling strengths tuned by the Fano-Feshbach resonance technique. Here we report extensive numerical simulations on a closely related problem: the collision between a bosonic impurity made of few 41K atoms and a BEC made of 87Rb atoms in a quasi one-dimensional configuration and under a weak harmonic axial confinement. For small values of the interspecies interaction strength (no matter the sign of it), we find that the impurity, which starts from outside the BEC, simply oscillates back and forth the BEC cloud, but the frequency of oscillation depends on the interaction strength. For intermediate couplings, after a few cycles of oscillation the impurity is captured by the BEC and strongly changes its amplitude of oscillation. In the strong interaction regime, if the interspecies interaction is attractive, a local maximum (bright soliton) in the density of BEC occurs where the impurity is trapped; instead, if the interspecies interaction is repulsive, the impurity is not able to enter in the BEC cloud and the reflection coefficient is close to one. On the other hand, if the initial displacement of the impurity is increased, the impurity is able to penetrate in the cloud leading to the appearance of a moving hole (dark soliton) in the BEC.openLingua, F.; Lepori, L.; Minardi, F.; Penna, V.; Salasnich, L.Lingua, F.; Lepori, Luca; Minardi, F.; Penna, V.; Salasnich, L
An estimate of attributable cases of alzheimer disease and vascular dementia due to modifiable risk factors. the impact of primary prevention in europe and in italy
Background:
Up to 53.7% of all cases of dementia are assumed to be due to Alzheimer disease (AD), while 15.8% are considered to be due to vascular dementia (VaD). In Europe, about 3 million cases of AD could be due to 7 potentially modifiable risk factors: diabetes, midlife hypertension and/or obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking, and low educational level.
Aims:
To estimate the number of VaD cases in Europe and the number of AD and VaD cases in Italy attributable to these 7 potentially modifiable risk factors.
Methods:
Assuming the nonindependence of the 7 risk factors, the adjusted combined population attributable risk (PAR) was estimated for AD and VaD.
Results:
In Europe, adjusted combined PAR was 31.4% for AD and 37.8% for VaD. The total number of attributable cases was 3,033,000 for AD and 873,000 for VaD. In Italy, assuming a 20% reduction of the prevalence of each risk factor, adjusted combined PAR decreased from 45.2 to 38.9% for AD and from 53.1 to 46.6% for VaD, implying a 6.4 and 6.5% reduction in the prevalence of AD and VaD, respectively.
Conclusion:
A relevant reduction of AD and VaD cases in Europe and Italy could be obtained through primary prevention
Three-Dimensional Light Bullets in Arrays of Waveguides
We report the first experimental observation of 3D-LBs, excited by
femtosecond pulses in a system featuring quasi-instantaneous cubic nonlinearity
and a periodic, transversally-modulated refractive index. Stringent evidence of
the excitation of LBs is based on time-gated images and spectra which perfectly
match our numerical simulations. Furthermore, we reveal a novel evolution
mechanism forcing the LBs to follow varying dispersion/diffraction conditions,
until they leave their existence range and decay.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures - Published by the American Physical Societ
Shape of the spatial mode function of photons generated in noncollinear spontaneous parametric downconversion
We show experimentally how noncollinear geometries in spontaneous parametric
downconversion induce ellipticity of the shape of the spatial mode function.
The degree of ellipticity depends on the pump beam width, especially for highly
focused beams. We also discuss the ellipticity induced by the spectrum of the
pump beam
General quasi-non-spreading linear three-dimensional wave-packets
We introduce a general approach for generation of sets of three-dimensional
quasi-non-spreading wavepackets propagating in linear media, also referred to
as linear light bullets. The spectrum of rigorously non-spreading wavepackets
in media with anomalous group velocity dispersion is localized on the surface
of a sphere, thus drastically restricting the possible wavepacket shapes.
However, broadening slightly the spectrum affords the generation of a large
variety of quasi-non-spreading distributions featuring complex topologies and
shapes in space and time that are of interest in different areas, such as
biophysics or nanosurgery. Here we discuss the method and show several
illustrative examples of its potential.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter
Nonlinear photonic lattices in anisotropic nonlocal self-focusing media
We analyze theoretically and generate experimentally two-dimensional
nonlinear periodic lattices in a photorefractive medium. We demonstrate that
the light-induced periodically modulated nonlinear refractive index is highly
anisotropic and nonlocal, and it depends on the lattice orientation relative to
the crystal axis. We discuss stability of such induced photonic structures and
their guiding properties.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Stable ring vortex solitons in Bessel optical lattices
Stable ring vortex solitons, featuring a bright-shape, appear to be very rare
in nature. However, here we show that they exist and can be made dynamically
stable in defocusing cubic nonlinear media with an imprinted Bessel optical
lattice. We find the families of vortex lattice solitons and reveal their
salient properties, including the conditions required for their stability. We
show that the higher the soliton topological charge, the deeper the lattice
modulation necessary for stabilization.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Stable one-dimensional periodic waves in Kerr-type saturable and quadratic nonlinear media
We review the latest progress and properties of the families of bright and
dark one-dimensional periodic waves propagating in saturable Kerr-type and
quadratic nonlinear media. We show how saturation of the nonlinear response
results in appearance of stability (instability) bands in focusing (defocusing)
medium, which is in sharp contrast with the properties of periodic waves in
Kerr media. One of the key results discovered is the stabilization of
multicolor periodic waves in quadratic media. In particular, dark-type waves
are shown to be metastable, while bright-type waves are completely stable in a
broad range of energy flows and material parameters. This yields the first
known example of completely stable periodic wave patterns propagating in
conservative uniform media supporting bright solitons. Such results open the
way to the experimental observation of the corresponding self-sustained
periodic wave patterns.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure
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