Atom number calibration in absorption imaging at very small atom numbers

Cold atom experiments often use images of the atom clouds as their exclusive source of experimental information. The most commonly used technique is absorption imaging, which provides accurate information about the shapes of the atom clouds, but requires care when seeking the absolute atom number for small atom samples. In this paper, we present an independent, absolute calibration of the atom numbers. We directly compare the atom number detected using dark-ground imaging to the one observed by fluorescence imaging of the same atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We normalise the signal using single-atom resolved fluorescence imaging. In order to be able to image the absorption of the very low atom numbers involved, we use diffractive dark-ground imaging as a novel, ultra-sensitive method of in situ imaging for untrapped atom clouds down to only 100 atoms. We demonstrate that the Doppler shift due to the acceleration of the atoms by the probe beam has to be taken into account when measuring the atom-number.     

Multi-photoelectron fluorescence selective detection of single atoms by laser radiation

The results of fluorescence detection of single Na atoms in atomic beams have been presented. It has been shown that, in recording single atoms via the fluorescence signal from the photoelectron of thek>1 atom, it is possible to achieve extremely high selectivity (S≃10²⁰) of detection of these atoms against a great number of other atoms. The probability of recording the atom is slightly decreased.     

Surface diffusion of lead on tungsten

Field electron microscopy is used to study the surface diffusion of lead on tungsten. A simple method to measure rough values of the diffusion coefficient and its dependence on sub-monolayer coverage is described and tested. In the region around (001) the displacement energy found is about 1.30 eV/atom up to 10¹⁵ atoms/cm² where it decreases to 0.78 eV/atom. In the residual region except (110) this energy at 1.5×10¹⁴ atoms/cm² is 1.22 eV/atom, it decreases at 4 × 10¹⁴ atoms/cm² to 0.61 eV/atom and increases at 10¹⁵ atoms/cm² to 0.78 eV/atom. Corresponding values of the diffusion coefficient D and of the preexponential D₀ are given. The dependence of D on submonolayer coverage is discussed.     

Elastic and inelastic evanescent-wave mirrors for cold atoms

We report on experiments on an evanescent-wave mirror for cold ⁸⁷Rb atoms. Measurements of the bouncing fraction show the importance of the Van der Waals attraction to the surface. We have directly observed radiation pressure parallel to the surface, exerted on the atoms by the evanescent-wave mirror. We analyze the radiation pressure by imaging the motion of the atom cloud after the bounce. The number of photon recoils ranges from 2 to 31. This is independent of laser power, inversely proportional to the detuning and proportional to the evanescent-wave decay length. By operating the mirror on an open transition, we have also observed atoms that bounce inelastically due to a spontaneous Raman transition. The observed distributions consist of a dense peak at the minimum velocity and a long tail of faster atoms, showing that the transition is a stochastic process with a strong preference to occur near the turning point of the bounce.     

超高泵浦功率下的Xe(6p[1/2]0, 6p[3/2]2, 和6p[5/2]2)原子的能量转移过程

本文研究了Xe(6p[1/2]₀, 6p[3/2]₂, and 6p[5/2]₂)原子在聚焦条件下的动力学过程. 激发能级的原子密度在聚焦条件下会显著地增加,因此两个高激发态原子之间的energy-pooling碰撞的概率也会增加. 这种energy-pooling碰撞主要有三种类型. 第一种类型为energy-pooling碰撞导致的电离. 一旦将激发激光聚焦,就可以从侧面的窗口观察到非常明显的电离现象,不论激发能级是6p[1/2]₀、6p[3/2]₂或6p[5/2]₂能级. 这种电离的产生机理是energy-pooling电离或者一个Xe^*原子再吸收一个光子产生电离. 第二种类型为跨越较大能极差的energy-pooling碰撞. 当激发能级为6p[1/2]₀能级的情况下,两个6p[1/2]₀原子碰撞会产生一个5d[3/2]₁原子和一个6s''[1/2]₀原子. 第三种类型为跨越较小能级差的energy-pooling碰撞. 以5个二次产生的6p能级为上能级的荧光强度都变得更强,并且这些荧光的上升沿都变得更陡峭. 产生这些6p原子的主要机理是energy-pooling碰撞并非简单的碰撞弛豫. 基于理想气体原子之间的碰撞概率公式,推导出两个6p[1/2]₀原子的energy-pooling碰撞速率为6.39x10⁸s^-1. 此外,6s原子在聚焦条件下的密度也会增加. 因此所有的荧光曲线会因为辐射俘获效应而出现非常严重的拖尾.     

离子速度成像系统校准及1,4-氯溴丁烷的紫外光解动力学

大气臭氧层破坏越来越严重, 卤代烷烃在太阳紫外线辐射下解离生成破坏臭氧的游离态卤素原子, 是主要元凶之一. 本文选用碘甲烷作为校准分子, 利用离子速度成像技术和共振增强多光子电离技术测得碘甲烷在266 nm紫外光解离下产生的基态碘原子I(²P_3/2)在不同聚焦电压下的离子速度影像, 得到离子速度成像系统的放大系数N=1.13. 并利用该系统研究了1, 4-氯溴丁烷在～ 234 nm紫外辐射下的解离动力学, 分析讨论了解离产生的基态Br (²P_3/2)和激发态Br^* (²P_1/2)的速度和角度分布信息, 揭示了1, 4-氯溴丁烷在～ 234 nm紫外光解离产生基态Br原子和激发态Br^* 原子的通道都是源于C-Br键排斥势能面上的快速解离. 文中通过计算碎片影像角度分布的各项异性参数β值, 得到了生成基态Br(²P_3/2)和激发态Br^* (²P_1/2) 两个解离通道中的平行跃迁和垂直跃迁比例. 另外, 本文还对氯溴甲烷, 1, 2-氯溴乙烷, 1, 3-氯溴丙烷和1, 4-氯溴丁烷在～ 234 nm下的光解动力学进行比较, 分析得到双卤代烷烃分子解离机理对烷基支链长度的依赖关系.     

利用蓝失谐激光诱导微型光学偶极阱中冷原子间的光助碰撞提高单原子制备概率

借助于微米尺度的远失谐光学偶极阱(FORT)中蓝失谐光的光助碰撞效应与反馈控制系统,文章在实验上实现了FORT中单个原子的高效制备.结合原子的势能曲线,分析了原子在红失谐光和蓝失谐光作用下的光助碰撞效应,并且在实验上得到红失谐光诱导下单原子的制备概率约50%,蓝失谐光诱导下单原子的制备概率约80%.通过反馈控制系统,当原子数目小于1时,反馈控制使磁场梯度减小以快速俘获原子,当原子数目大于1时,反馈控制开启蓝失谐光场,使得原子一个个逃逸出阱中,最终实现了FORT中单原子的制备概率约95%,为下一步偶极阱的二维扩展奠定了基础.通过HBT实验测量FORT中单原子发出光子的统计特性,得到二阶相干度g(2)(τ=0)=0.08.     

Oxygen adsorption on Cu(110): Determination of atom positions with low energy ion scattering

The position of adsorbed oxygen on Cu($\text{1}$10) surfaces was determined with Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS). The experiments were performed by bombarding the copper surface at small angles of incidence with low energy Ne⁺ ions (3–5 keV). Measurements of the Ne⁺ ions scattered by adsorbed oxygen showed regular peaks in the azimuthal distribution of the scattered ions due to a shadowing effect. From the symmetry of the azimuthal distributions it follows that the centre of an adsorbed oxygen atom on the Cu(1̄10) surface lies about 0.6 Å below the midpoint between two neighbouring Cu atoms in a 〈001〉 row. A comparison of the azimuthal distributions of Ne⁺ ions scattered from clean Cu surfaces and oxygen-covered Cu surfaces showed that hardly any surface reconstruction had occurred in the oxygen-covered surfaces. The applied method seems to be an appropriate one for locating adsorbed atoms because it uses only simple qualitative considerations about azimuthal distributions of scattered ions.     

Atom chip based fast production of Bose–Einstein condensate

We have developed a simple method for the fast and efficient production of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) on an atom chip. By using a standard six-beam magneto-optical trap and light-induced atom desorption for loading, 3×10^{7 87}Rb atoms are collected within 1 s and loaded into a small-volume magnetic potential of the chip with high efficiency. With this method, a BEC of 3×10³ atoms is realized within a total time of 3 s. We can realize a condensate of up to 2×10⁴ atoms by reducing three-body collisions. The present system can be used as a fast and high-flux coherent matter-wave source for an atom interferometer. PACS 03.75.Be; 32.80.Pj; 39.25.+k     

Efficient transfer of light energy to a nanoparticle by means of a resonance atomic lens

A cascade transfer of light energy to a resonance atom situated near a spherical nanoparticle and then, by a nonradiative mechanism, to the nanoparticle itself is considered. It is established that the efficiency of the cascade transfer essentially depends on the frequency and polarization of light, on the distance between the atom and the particle, on the optical properties of the particle, and on the time conditions of radiation. The rate of light absorption by a metal nanoparticle via cascade energy transfer may be 10⁴–10⁵ times higher than the direct absorption of light by a nanoparticle. For a fixed frequency of light, the cascade transfer of energy is a sharply selective function of the distance between the atom and the particle (the resonance width is about 10^?2 of the particle radius). Atomic fluorescence exhibits similar behavior. This feature can form the basis for a new method of optical scanning microscopy and location and localization of atoms near the surface of a particle.     

Investigation of the active media in pulsed gas discharge lasers by the Rozhdestvenskii hook method

In this review we generalize the results of our experimental investigations in which the Rozhdestvenskii hook method was first used to look for an inverted population in new spectral transitions. An inverted population in new 3p–3s transitions of the neon atom with =588.1, 594.4, 650.6, and 653.2 nm was discovered in the active medium of a Penning plasma laser emitting the =585.3 nm neon line in Ne-H₂ and Ne-H₂-Ar mixtures. Results of investigations of a number of active media are given. An analysis is made of the spatial and temporal distributions of copper atoms in the ground state and of their influence on the lasing efficiency of a copper-vapor laser. Using the rhenium atom as an example, it was shown to be possible to obtain a sufficiently high concentration of refractory metal atoms (>10¹⁴ cm^–3) in an active medium to form active media of lasers utilizing self-terminating transitions and also plasma lasers.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 3–27, December, 1994.     

An atom and a photon

The coherent control of single-photon emitters as, e.g., single ions or atoms, is a crucial element for mapping quantum information between light and matter. The possibility of generating entanglement between a photon and the emitter system provides an interface between matter-based quantum memories and photonic quantum communication channels, which is the essential resource for quantum repeaters and other future quantum information applications. To generate entangled atom-photon states, in our experiment, we store a single ⁸⁷Rb atom in an optical dipole trap. The single-atom/single-photon character is confirmed by the observation of photon antibunching in the detected fluorescence light. The spectral properties of single photons emitted by the atom allowed us to determine the mean kinetic energy of the atom corresponding to 105 μK. We describe a single-atom state analysis method which allowed us to characterize the entanglement between the atom and a single photon emitted in the spontaneous decay. We obtain an entanglement fidelity of 89% that clearly shows the high degree of entanglement in our system and potential for further applications in quantum communication.     

Reactive scattering of a supersonic oxygen atom beam O+ICl

Reactive scattering of O atoms with ICl molecules has been studied at an initial translational energy E = 40 kJ mol^-1 using a supersonic beam of O atoms seeded in He and at E = 15 kJ mol^-1 using O atoms seeded in Ne. Velocity distributions of OI product were measured by cross-correlation time-of-flight analysis. Full contour maps of the differential reaction cross-section have been obtained which show peaking almost equally in the forward and backward directions at both initial translational energies. The product translational energy distributions are consistent with a long-lived O-I-Cl collision complex dissociating via a loose transition state. The stability of the O-I-Cl complex is attributed to the low electronegativity of the central I atom compared with the peripheral atoms. This electronegativity ordering rule also determines the stability of the intermediates in the other reactions of oxygen atoms with halogen molecules. The mild peaking of the product angular distributions for O + ICl and IBr indicates that collision complexes have quite modest collision angular momenta L ～ 40 ? corresponding to impact parameters b ～ 1·4 Å and that the angular momentum of the OI molecule in the loose transition state may be approximately half the product orbital angular momentum.     

Cooperative effects in the two atom resonance fluorescence spectrum

We consider the resonance fluorescence spectrum of two similar interacting atoms in the limit of high photon densities. The excitation spectrum of the symmetric modes contains two sidebands in addition to the usual three peaks which are analogous to those of the isolated atom. These two new sidebands are due entirely to the cooperative behaviour of the two atoms and vanish when the atoms are far apart. The energy shifts and spectral widths for these two sidebands are two and five times larger than those for the isolated atom respectively. The probability of occurrence of these sidebands depends on the parameters V_AB/Ω and γ²₀/Ω², where V_AB is the dipole-dipole interaction energy, γ₀ is the spontaneous emission probability and Ω is the Rabi frequency. The asymmetric broadening of both sidebands depends on the parameter γ₀/Ω. The possibility to measure the dipole-dipole energy through the observation of these sidebands is discussed.     

Electron-stimulated desorption of sodium atoms initiated by their reverse motion

This paper reports on the first measurement of the yield and energy distributions of sodium atoms in electron-stimulated desorption at T = 160 K from sodium layers adsorbed on tungsten with a gold film atop. The Na atom yield has a resonant pattern with an appearance threshold of 30 eV, which can be attributed to exciton excitation in the Na 2p level. The Na yield is associated with the formation of a semiconducting Na _x Au _y film at T ∼ 300 K and sodium and gold coverages in excess of one monolayer. Sodium atoms are desorbed through Auger neutralization of Na²⁺ ions in their reverse motion toward the surface and is limited by the resonant ionization of Na atoms as they pass through the adsorbed layer of Na⁺ ions. The energy distributions of Na atoms are bell shaped with a maximum at about 0.56 eV.     

ERD studies of D-ion depth distributions after implantation into some pure metals and alloys

This paper presents a report on experimental results of depth distributions of deuterium ions implanted with 25 keV energy at a fluence interval of (1.2–2.3) × 10²² m⁻² into samples of pure metals (Cu, Ti, Zr, V, Pd) and diluted Pd alloys (Pd-Ag, Pd-Pt, Pd-Ru, Pd-Rh). The post-treatment depth distributions of deuterium and hydrogen atoms were measured within a few hours after implantation with the use of elastic recoil detection (ERD) analysis. After three months the measurements were repeated. The comparison of the obtained results in both series of studies allowed us to make an important observation of the desorption rates of implanted deuterium atoms from pure metals and diluted Pd alloys. The maximum measured concentrations of deuterium atoms in pure Zr and Ti foils with relatively small desorption rate of deuterium atoms within three months after implantation were observed. Also a very high spreading of deuterium atom distributions was observed in all the measured pure metals and alloys. It can be explained by the large diffusion coefficients of deuterium and extremely fast kinetics.     

Ab Initio Study on Structures and Vibrational Spectra of M+(H2O)Ar2 (M = Cu,Au)

Previous investigations have shown that it is difficult to acquire the infrared (IR) spectra of M⁺(H₂O) (M?=?Cu, Au) using a single IR photon by attaching an Ar atom to M⁺(H₂O). To explore whether the IR spectra can be obtained using the two Ar atoms tagging method, the geometrical structures, IR spectra and interaction energies are investigated in detail by ab initio electronic structure calculations for M⁺(H₂O)Ar₂ (M?=?Cu, Au) complexes. Two conceivable isomeric structures are found, which result from different binding sites for two Ar atoms. CCSD(T) calculations predict that two Ar atoms are most likely to attach to Cu⁺ for the Cu⁺(H₂O)Ar₂ complex, while the Au⁺(H₂O)Ar₂ complex prefers the isomer in which one Ar atom attaches to an H atom of the H₂O molecule and the other one is bound to Au⁺. Moreover, the calculated binding energies of the second Ar atom are smaller than the IR photon energy, and so it is possible to obtain the IR spectra for both Cu and Au species. The changes in the spectra caused by the attachment of Ar atoms to M⁺(H₂O) are discussed.     

Two-color laser-induced incandescence and cavity ring-down spectroscopy for sensitive and quantitative imaging of soot and PAHs in flames

Laser-induced incandescence is a technique which enables the measurement of soot volume fractions. However, the laser-induced soot emission might be affected by a fluorescence background generally ascribed to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs) present at the soot location. In this paper, spatially resolved distributions of PAH absorbance and soot are obtained in sooting diffusion flames. The original method developed here consists in comparing the emission distributions induced by two different laser wavelengths: (1) at 1064 nm emission signals are exempt from PAH fluorescence and (2) at 532 nm both soot incandescence and PAH emission contribute to the total signal. In addition, the absolute absorption coefficient of the PAH mixture is determined by comparing absorption measurements obtained by cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) at 1064 nm and 532 nm. The proposed method can provide highly sensitive 2D imaging of PAHs and soot using the fundamental and the second-harmonic frequencies of a single YAG laser. Finally, 2D distributions of PAH absorbance and soot volume fraction calibrated by CRDS are obtained in two diffusion flames, particularly in a very low-sooting flame exhibiting a maximum PAH absorbance of 6×10^-4 cm^-1 and a maximum soot volume fraction of 3 ppb only. The respective spatial distributions of PAHs and soot are shown to vary with the initial C/O ratio. PACS 33.20.Lg; 42.62.Fi; 44.40.+a     

Intra- and intermolecular proton transfer in methyl-2-hydroxynicotinate

Spectral characteristics of methyl 2-hydroxynicotinate (MEHNA) have been studied using absorption, fluorescence excitation and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as, using single photon counting nanosecond spectrofluorimeter. MEHNA is present as enol in less polar solvents and keto in polar media. In non-polar solvents, large Stokes shifted fluorescence band is assigned to phototautomer, formed by excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), whereas fluorescence is only observed from keto form in polar solvents. In aqueous and polar solvents monocation (MC) is formed by protonating the exo carbonyl oxygen atom in the ground state (S₀) and in the first excited singlet state (S₁), MC is obtained by protonating carbonyl oxygen atom of the ester. It is formed by ESIPT from exo carbonyl proton to carbonyl oxygen atom of the ester. Dication is formed by protonating both the oxygen atoms. Two kinds of monoanions formed by deprotonating phenolic proton or >N-H proton of keto suggest the presence of enol and keto in aqueous solution. In cyclohexane MC is formed by protonating carbonyl oxygen in both S₀ and S₁ states. The electronic structure calculations were performed on each species using semi-empirical quantum mechanical AM1 method and density functional theory B3LYP with 6-31G^** basis set using Gaussian 98 program, along with potential energy mapping, to characterize the particular species.     

Superfluorescence from europium atom at 629.977 nm

Visible superfluorescence at 629.977 nm is observed in europium atom with very high optical conversion efficiency on the transition 5d6p ¹⁰F_7/2 → 5d6s ¹⁰D_7/2. The peak intensity of fluorescence varies as square of the number of atoms in the excited state (N), which shows the superfluorescence character of the transition. The ratio of average superfluorescence power to excitation laser power is observed to be ∼15% in the forward direction.