6,013 research outputs found
Evaluating Outer Segment Length as A Surrogate Measure of Peak Foveal Cone Density
Adaptive optics (AO) imaging tools enable direct visualization of the cone photoreceptor mosaic, which facilitates quantitative measurements such as cone density. However, in many individuals, low image quality or excessive eye movements precludes making such measures. As foveal cone specialization is associated with both increased density and outer segment (OS) elongation, we sought to examine whether OS length could be used as a surrogate measure of foveal cone density. The retinas of 43 subjects (23 normal and 20 albinism; aged 6–67 years) were examined. Peak foveal cone density was measured using confocal adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO), and OS length was measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and longitudinal reflectivity profile-based approach. Peak cone density ranged from 29,200 to 214,000 cones/mm2(111,700 ± 46,300 cones/mm2); OS length ranged from 26.3 to 54.5 μm (40.5 ± 7.7 μm). Density was significantly correlated with OS length in albinism (p \u3c 0.0001), but not normals (p = 0.99). A cubic model of density as a function of OS length was created based on histology and optimized to fit the albinism data. The model includes triangular cone packing, a cylindrical OS with a fixed volume of 136.6 μm3, and a ratio of OS to inner segment width that increased linearly with increasing OS length (R2 = 0.72). Normal subjects showed no apparent relationship between cone density and OS length. In the absence of adequate AOSLO imagery, OS length may be used to estimate cone density in patients with albinism. Whether this relationship exists in other patient populations with foveal hypoplasia (e.g., premature birth, aniridia, isolated foveal hypoplasia) remains to be seen
Self-consistency in non-extensive thermodynamics of highly excited hadronic states
The self-consistency of a thermodynamical theory for hadronic sys- tems based
on the non-extensive statistics is investigated. We show that it is possible to
obtain a self-consistent theory according to the asymptotic bootstrap principle
if the mass spectrum and the energy density increase q-exponentially. A direct
consequence is the existence of a limiting effective temperature for the
hadronic system. We show that this result is in agreement with experiments.Comment: 8 page
Systematic analysis of pT -distributions in p + p collisions
A systematic analysis of transverse momentum distribution of hadrons produced
in ultra-relativistic p + p collisions is presented. We investigate the
effective temperature and the entropic parameter from the non-extensive
thermodynamic theory of strong interaction. We conclude that the existence of a
limiting effective temperature and of a limiting entropic parameter is in
accordance with experimental data.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Duality and spatial inhomogeneity
Within the framework on non-extensive thermostatistics we revisit the
recently advanced q-duality concept. We focus our attention here on a modified
q-entropic measure of the spatial inhomogeneity for binary patterns. At a fixed
length-scale this measure exhibits a generalised duality that links appropriate
pairs of q and q' values. The simplest q q' invariant function, without any
free parameters, is deduced here. Within an adequate interval q < qo < q', in
which the function reaches its maximum value at qo, this invariant function
accurately approximates the investigated q-measure, nitidly evidencing the
duality phenomenon. In the close vicinity of qo, the approximate meaningful
relation q + q' = 2qo holds.Comment: Contribution to International School and Conference on "Non Extensive
Thermodynamics and physical applications", Villasimius-Capo Boi (Cagliari),
Italy, 23-30 May 2001, 6 pages, 2 figures, replaced with published versio
Evaluating Descriptive Metrics of the Human Cone Mosaic
Purpose: To evaluate how metrics used to describe the cone mosaic change in response to simulated photoreceptor undersampling (i.e., cell loss or misidentification).
Methods: Using an adaptive optics ophthalmoscope, we acquired images of the cone mosaic from the center of fixation to 10° along the temporal, superior, inferior, and nasal meridians in 20 healthy subjects. Regions of interest (n = 1780) were extracted at regular intervals along each meridian. Cone mosaic geometry was assessed using a variety of metrics − density, density recovery profile distance (DRPD), nearest neighbor distance (NND), intercell distance (ICD), farthest neighbor distance (FND), percentage of six-sided Voronoi cells, nearest neighbor regularity (NNR), number of neighbors regularity (NoNR), and Voronoi cell area regularity (VCAR). The “performance” of each metric was evaluated by determining the level of simulated loss necessary to obtain 80% statistical power.
Results: Of the metrics assessed, NND and DRPD were the least sensitive to undersampling, classifying mosaics that lost 50% of their coordinates as indistinguishable from normal. The NoNR was the most sensitive, detecting a significant deviation from normal with only a 10% cell loss.
Conclusions: The robustness of cone spacing metrics makes them unsuitable for reliably detecting small deviations from normal or for tracking small changes in the mosaic over time. In contrast, regularity metrics are more sensitive to diffuse loss and, therefore, better suited for detecting such changes, provided the fraction of misidentified cells is minimal. Combining metrics with a variety of sensitivities may provide a more complete picture of the integrity of the photoreceptor mosaic
Analysis of the entanglement between two individual atoms using global Raman rotations
Making use of the Rydberg blockade, we generate entanglement between two
atoms individually trapped in two optical tweezers. In this paper we detail the
analysis of the data and show that we can determine the amount of entanglement
between the atoms in the presence of atom losses during the entangling
sequence. Our model takes into account states outside the qubit basis and
allows us to perform a partial reconstruction of the density matrix describing
the two atom state. With this method we extract the amount of entanglement
between pairs of atoms still trapped after the entangling sequence and measure
the fidelity with respect to the expected Bell state. We find a fidelity
for the 62% of atom pairs remaining in the traps at
the end of the entangling sequence
Polarization-controlled single photons
Vacuum-stimulated Raman transitions are driven between two magnetic substates
of a rubidium-87 atom strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A magnetic field
lifts the degeneracy of these states, and the atom is alternately exposed to
laser pulses of two different frequencies. This produces a stream of single
photons with alternating circular polarization in a predetermined
spatio-temporal mode. MHz repetition rates are possible as no recycling of the
atom between photon generations is required. Photon indistinguishability is
tested by time-resolved two-photon interference.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Entanglement of two individual neutral atoms using Rydberg blockade
We report the generation of entanglement between two individual Rb
atoms in hyperfine ground states and which are held in
two optical tweezers separated by 4 m. Our scheme relies on the Rydberg
blockade effect which prevents the simultaneous excitation of the two atoms to
a Rydberg state. The entangled state is generated in about 200 ns using pulsed
two-photon excitation. We quantify the entanglement by applying global Raman
rotations on both atoms. We measure that 61% of the initial pairs of atoms are
still present at the end of the entangling sequence. These pairs are in the
target entangled state with a fidelity of 0.75.Comment: text revised, with additional reference
Antiresonance phase shift in strongly coupled cavity QED
We investigate phase shifts in the strong coupling regime of single-atom
cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). On the light transmitted through the
system, we observe a phase shift associated with an antiresonance and show that
both its frequency and width depend solely on the atom, despite the strong
coupling to the cavity. This shift is optically controllable and reaches 140
degrees - the largest ever reported for a single emitter. Our result offers a
new technique for the characterization of complex integrated quantum circuits.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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