Can atomic force microscopy achieve atomic resolution in contact mode?

Atomic force microscopy operating in the contact mode is studied using total-energy pseudopotential calculations. It is shown that, in the case of a diamond tip and a diamond surface, it is possible for a tip terminated by a single atom to sustain forces in excess of 30 nN. It is also shown that imaging at atomic resolution may be limited by blunting of the tip during lateral scanning.     

Magnetism of Zr atomic wires

By using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method to perform ab initio total energy calculations, we have explored magnetic ordering in one-dimensional Zr wires. The result shows that Zr can form linear, or dimerized, or zigzag wires, and the magnetic properties strongly depend on their geometric structures. The linear and zigzag wires exhibit ferromagnetic ground states at the equilibrium bonding distance, while the dimerized wire, despite its higher stability than that of the linear one, exhibits nonmagnetic ground states. The most stable geometry is shown to be the zigzag wire with a magnetic moment of 0.26μB per atom.     

Optical bistability and multistability via atomic coherence in the quasi-Λ-type atomic system

The steady-state optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM) behavior in the quasi-Λ-type atomic system driven by a probe field and a coherent coupling field inside a unidirectional ring cavity are shown, and the effects of coupling-field detuning and coupling-field intensity on the OB and OM behavior are investigated. The transition from OB to OM or vice versa is found by varying the detuning of the coherent coupling field or by adjusting the intensity of the coupling field. The influence of the atomic cooperation parameter on the OM behavior is also discussed. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi of China (Grant No. 2007GZW0819), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2005CB724508), and the Foundation of Talent of Jinggang of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. 2008DQ00400)     

关于atomic laser的订名

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Imaging an atomic beam using fluorescence

A fluorescence detection scheme is applied to image an atomic beam. Using two laser diodes as the sources of detection light and pumping light respectively, the fluorescence image of the atomic beam is then observed by a commercial CCD-camera, which is corresponding to the atomic state and velocity distribution. The detection scheme has a great utilization in the experiments of cold atoms and atomic optics.     

Equilibrium vortex lattices of a binary rotating atomic Bose–Einstein condensate with unequal atomic masses

We perform a detailed numerical study of the equilibrium ground-state structures of a binary rotating Bose–Einstein condensate with unequal atomic masses. Our results show that the ground-state distribution and its related vortex configurations are complex events that differ markedly depending strongly on the strength of rotation frequency, as well as on the ratio of atomic masses. We also discuss the structures and radii of the clouds, the number and the size of the core region of the vortices, as a function of the rotation frequency, and of the ratio of atomic masses, and the analytical results agree well with our numerical simulations. This work may open an alternate way in the quantum control of the binary rotating quantum gases with unequal atomic masses.     

Frequency-dependent optical pumping in atomic ?-systems

We consider the effects of optical pumping on the conversion of laser-frequency modulation into intensity modulation by an atomic absorption line in a vapor of alkali atoms driven in a ?-configuration. It is found that, due to optical pumping in combination with the excited-state hyperfine structure, the absorption line shape is distorted substantially as the Fourier frequency of the FM is changed. The most significant effect of the distortion is a shift of the apparent line center, which depends on how the frequency of the modulation compares with the optical pumping rate. This shift has implications for locking lasers to atomic transitions and also for FM-AM noise conversion in atomic vapors.     

Relativistic atomic data for W XLVⅡ

Energy levels, radiative rates, and lifetimes are calculated for all levels of 3s23 p, 3s23 d, 3s3p2, 3s3d2, 3s3p3 d, 3p23 d,3s3d2, 3p3d2, 3p3, and 3d3 configurations of Al-like tungsten ion(W XLVII). Multiconfigurational Dirac–Fock(MCDF)method is adopted for calculating energy levels and radiative rates. Oscillator strengths, radiative rates, and line strengths are reported for some E1 transitions from the ground level. Comparisons are made with the available data in the literature and good agreement has been found which confirms the reliability of our results.     

Bose–Einstein condensation of atomic hydrogen

The recent creation of a Bose–Einstein condensate of atomic hydrogen has added a new system to this exciting field. The differences between hydrogen and the alkali metal atoms require other techniques for the initial trapping and cooling of the atoms and the subsequent detection of the condensate. The use of a cryogenic loading technique results in a larger number of trapped atoms. Spectroscopic detection is well suited to measuring the temperature and density of the sample in situ. The transition was observed at a temperature of 50 μK and a density of 2×10¹⁴ cm^-3. The number of condensed atoms is about 10⁹ at a condensate fraction of a few percent. A peak condensate density of 4.8×10¹⁵ cm^-3 has been observed. Received: 22 June 1999 / Published online: 3 November 1999     

Propagation characteristics of biphotons in cold atomic vapor

We investigate the propagation characteristics of the narrowband Stokes/anti-Stokes photons in cold atomic vapor. The four-wave mixing process results from parametric amplification of the anti-Stokes photons. We find that the process of parametric amplification is very similar to the light pulse propagating through an anomalous dispersion gain medium. Finally, we obtain the general solutions of the Glauber biphoton correlation functions, which are in good agreement with the experiment results.     

Scanned-cantilever atomic force microscope with large scanning range

A scanned-cantilever atomic force microscope (AFM) with large scanning range is proposed, which adopts a new design named laser spot tracking. The scanned-cantilever AFM uses the separate flexure x-y scanner and z scanner instead of the conventional piezoelectric tube scanner. The closed-loop control and integrated capacitive sensors of these scanners can insure that the images of samples have excellent linearity and stability. According to the experimental results, the scanned-cantilever AFM can realize maximal 100×100 (μm) scanning range, and 1-nm resolution in z direction, which can meet the requirements of large scale sample testing.     

Spinor molecule in atomic Bose–Einstein condensate

We have performed two-photon photoassociation experiments in atomic Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of ⁸⁷Rb with spin degree of freedom which is created by all-optical method with CO₂ lasers. The spinor character of the molecules has been revealed by the photoassociation spectrum with a new structure. The hyperfine structure of the molecules near the dissociation limit is identified by observations of the Zeeman and AC-Stark effects of the molecules. The molecules have been spin-selectively probed by the use of the light shift. This result would open the new possibility of research on novel spinor molecular BEC.     

Long-wavelength static atomic displacements in γ-FeNi alloys

The temperature dependences of the intensity of elastic diffuse neutron scattering from γ-Fe_xNi_100?x (x=57 and 68 at. %) alloy single crystals near basic reciprocal-lattice sites in the (110) plane are measured using a triaxial neutron spectrometer. New effects of instability of the γ-phase lattice with respect to long-wavelength (transverse and longitudinal) static atomic displacements have been detected. The displacements are found to depend on the iron concentration in the alloys and on temperature. The relations of these structural distortions to premartensitic phenomena and the invar effect in γ-FeNi alloys are discussed     

Squeezing and entanglemëent of atomic beams

We propose and analyze a scheme for generating entangled atomic beams out of a Bose-Einstein condensate using spin-exchanging collisions. In particular, we show how to create both atomic squeezed states and entangled states of pairs of atoms.     

Ferroelectric"gourd"goes into vdW atomic cage

Ferroelectric materials have been discovered for one century and widely served in many devices,especially in micro-electro-mechanical systems.With increasing demands for device miniaturization,the ferroelectricity persisting to nanoscale and below becomes more and more crucial,but remains a challenging scientific question.Although cutting-edge molecular bean epitaxy and pulsed laser deposition techniques can grow thin films down to atomic level,the surface charges from dangling bonds,uncompensated depolarization field,as well as epitaxial substrates,can easily kill their ferroelectricity and lead to the notorious"dead layer".     

Core–shell-structured nanothermites synthesized by atomic layer deposition

Chitosan was conjugated with folic acid (FA) and the resulting chitosan derivatives with a FA-substitution degree of around 6 % was used to synthesize FA-conjugated chitosan–polylactide (FA–CH–PLA) copolymers to build a drug carrier with active targeting characteristics for the anticancer drug of paclitaxel (PTX). Selected FA–CH–PLAs with various polylactide percentages of about 40 wt% or lower were employed to fabricate nanoparticles using sodium tripolyphosphate as a crosslinker, and different types of nanoparticles were endued with similar average particle-sizes located in a range between 100 and 200 nm. Certain types of PTX-loaded FA–CH–PLA nanoparticles having encapsulation efficiency of around 90 % and initial load of about 12 % were able to release PTX in a controlled manner with significant regulation by polylactide content in FA–CH–PLAs. Targeting characteristic of achieved nanoparticles was confirmed using FA-receptor-expressed MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The uptake of PTX revealed that optimized FA–CH–PLA nanoparticles with an equivalent PTX-dose of around 1 μg/mL could have more than sixfold increasing abilities to facilitate intracellular paclitaxel accumulation in MCF-7 cells after 24 h treatment as compared to free PTX. At a relatively safe equivalent PTX-dose for normal MCF-10A mammary epithelial cells, the obtained results from Hoechst 33342 staining indicated that optimized PTX-loaded FA–CH–PLA nanoparticles had more than threefold increasing abilities to induce MCF-7 cell apoptosis in comparison to free PTX.     

A scheme for the generation of two-mode atomic laser

The quantum dynamic behavior of the system composed of V-type three-level atomic Bose-Einstein con-densate (BEC) interacting with two-mode coherent light field has been studied. The results show that the atoms of V-type three-level atomic BEC, which are excited to higher-level states under the action of light field, still keep their properties of coherent states. It demonstrates theoretically that two-mode atomic laser may be prepared by V-type three-level atomic BEC.