A superfluid 4He interferometer operating near 2 K

Matter-wave interferometers reveal some of the most fascinating phenomena of the quantum world. Phase shifts due to rotation (the Sagnac effect) for neutrons, free atoms and superfluid 3He reveal the connection of matter waves to a non-rotating inertial frame. In addition, phase shifts in electron waves due to magnetic vector potentials (the Aharonov-Bohm effect) show that physical states can be modified in the absence of classical forces. We report here the observation of interference induced by the Earth's rotation in superfluid 4He at 2 K, a temperature 2000 times higher than previously achieved with 3He. This interferometer, an analog of a dc-SQUID, employs a recently reported phenomenon wherein superfluid 4He exhibits quantum oscillations in an array of sub-micron apertures. We find that the interference pattern persists not only when the aperture array current-phase relation is a sinusoidal function characteristic of the Josephson effect, but also at lower temperatures where it is linear and oscillations occur by phase slips. The modest requirements for the interferometer (2 K cryogenics and fabrication of apertures at the level of 100nm) and its potential resolution suggest that, when engineering challenges such as vibration isolation are met, superfluid 4He interferometers could become important scientific probes.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Chromatophore Activity during Natural Pattern Expression by the Squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana: Contributions of Miniature Oscillation

Squid can rapidly change the chromatic patterns on their body. The patterns are created by the expansion and retraction of chromatophores. The chromatophore consists of a central pigment-containing cell surrounded by radial muscles that are controlled by motor neurons located in the central nervous system (CNS). In this study we used semi-intact squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana) displaying centrally controlled natural patterns to analyze spatial and temporal activities of chromatophores located on the dorsal mantle skin. We found that chromatophores oscillated with miniature expansions/retractions at various frequencies, even when the chromatic patterns appear macroscopically stable. The frequencies of this miniature oscillation differed between “feature” and “background” areas of chromatic patterns. Higher frequencies occurred in feature areas, whereas lower frequencies were detected in background areas. We also observed synchronization of the oscillation during chromatic pattern expression. The expansion size of chromatophores oscillating at high frequency correlated with the number of synchronized chromatophores but not the oscillation frequency. Miniature oscillations were not observed in denervated chromatophores. These results suggest that miniature oscillations of chromatophores are driven by motor neuronal activities in the CNS and that frequency and synchrony of this oscillation determine the chromatic pattern and the expansion size, respectively

Electron-beam-induced shift in the apparent position of a pinned vortex in a thin superconducting film

When an electron beam strikes a superconducting thin film near a pinned vortex, it locally increases the temperature-dependent London penetration depth and perturbs the circulating supercurrent, thereby distorting the vortex's magnetic field toward the heated spot. This phenomenon has been used to visualize vortices pinned in SQUIDs using low-temperature scanning electron microscopy. In this paper I develop a quantitative theory to calculate the displacement of the vortex-generated magnetic-flux distribution as a function of the distance of the beam spot from the vortex core. The results are calculated using four different models for the spatial distribution of the thermal power deposited by the electron beam.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, resubmitted to PRB with referee-suggested revisions, includes new paragraph on numerical evaluatio

Submillimeter satellite radiometer Final engineering report

All solid-state superheterodyne Dicke radiometer for submillimeter wavelength

Shape deformations and angular momentum transfer in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

Angular momentum can be transferred to a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate by distorting its shape with an external rotating field, provided the rotational frequency is larger than a critical frequency fixed by the energy and angular momentum of the excited states of the system. By using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and sum rules, we explore the dependence of such a critical frequency on the multipolarity of the excitations and the asymmetry of the confining potential. We also discuss its possible relevance for vortex nucleation in rotating traps.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 2 figures include

Anomalous modes drive vortex dynamics in confined Bose-Einstein condensates

The dynamics of vortices in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated both analytically and numerically. In axially symmetric traps, the critical rotation frequency for the metastability of an isolated vortex coincides with the largest vortex precession frequency (or anomalous mode) in the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum. As the condensate becomes more elongated, the number of anomalous modes increases. The largest frequency of these modes exceeds both the thermodynamic critical frequency and the nucleation frequency at which vortices are created dynamically. Thus, anomalous modes describe not only the critical rotation frequency for creation of the first vortex in an elongated condensate but also the vortex precession in a single-component spherical condensate.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 3 embedded figure

Coherently Scattering Atoms from an Excited Bose-Einstein Condensate

We consider scattering atoms from a fully Bose-Einstein condensed gas. If we take these atoms to be identical to those in the Bose-Einstein condensate, this scattering process is to a large extent analogous to Andreev reflection from the interface between a superconducting and a normal metal. We determine the scattering wave function both in the absence and the presence of a vortex. Our results show a qualitative difference between these two cases that can be understood as due to an Aharonov-Bohm effect. It leads to the possibility to experimentally detect and study vortices in this way.Comment: 5 pages of ReVTeX and 2 postscript figure

Normal Modes of a Vortex in a Trapped Bose-Einstein Condensate

A hydrodynamic description is used to study the normal modes of a vortex in a zero-temperature Bose-Einstein condensate. In the Thomas-Fermi (TF) limit, the circulating superfluid velocity far from the vortex core provides a small perturbation that splits the originally degenerate normal modes of a vortex-free condensate. The relative frequency shifts are small in all cases considered (they vanish for the lowest dipole mode with |m|=1), suggesting that the vortex is stable. The Bogoliubov equations serve to verify the existence of helical waves, similar to those of a vortex line in an unbounded weakly interacting Bose gas. In the large-condensate (small-core) limit, the condensate wave function reduces to that of a straight vortex in an unbounded condensate; the corresponding Bogoliubov equations have no bound-state solutions that are uniform along the symmetry axis and decay exponentially far from the vortex core.Comment: 15 pages, REVTEX, 2 Postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. A. We have altered the material in Secs. 3B and 4 in connection with the normal modes that have |m|=1. Our present treatment satisfies the condition that the fundamental dipole mode of a condensate with (or without) a vortex should have the bare frequency $\omega_\perp

DC and AC Josephson effects with superfluid Fermi atoms across a Feshbach resonance

We show that both DC and AC Josephson effects with superfluid Fermi atoms in the BCS-BEC crossover can be described at zero temperature by a nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE). By comparing our NLSE with mean-field extended BCS calculations, we find that the NLSE is reliable in the BEC side of the crossover up to the unitarity limit. The NLSE can be used for weakly-linked atomic superfluids also in the BCS side of the crossover by taking the tunneling energy as a phenomenological parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, presented at the Scientific Seminar on Physics of Cold Trapped Atoms, 17th International Laser Physics Workshop (Trondheim, June 30 - July 4, 2008