Search for permanent EDM using laser cooled Fr atoms

The existence of a non-zero electric dipole moment (EDM) implies the violation of time reversal symmetry. As the time-reversal symmetry violation predicted by the Standard Model (SM) for the electron EDM is too small to be observed with current experimental techniques and any a non-zero EDM would indicate new physics beyond the SM. The tiny signal from the electron EDM is enhanced in the heavy atoms such as francium (Fr). We are constructing the laser-cooled Fr factory to search for the electron EDM.     

Spectral polarization features of the macroscopic manifestation of parity violation in gaseous media

A formalism based on macroscopic Maxwell equations is developed for the case of media with violations of the space symmetry and time reversal. It is demonstrated that the parity violation in a medium is equivalent to the manifestation of spatial dispersion and natural optical activity. The proposed formalism makes it possible to uniquely calculate the macroscopic parameters of equations in terms of the microscopic theory. The parameters of gyrotropy and dichroism of a gaseous medium are determined within a model describing an interaction of resonance radiation with transitions to states that have different parities and are mixed by a weak interaction of an electron with the nucleus of the atom. It is established that, in the range of the resonance with a magnetic dipole transition, the effect of parity violation is enhanced as a result of the considerable difference between the natural broadenings of the electric and magnetic dipole transitions. This enhancement is suppressed when the dominant Doppler broadening of the atomic transitions is taken into account. It is shown that, owing to the unitarity of the weak interaction, the effects of parity violation are alternating functions of the radiation frequency and are integrally absent in the entire spectrum.     

Optical activity and time reversal

The rôle of time reversal symmetry in natural and magnetic optical activity is discussed. Natural optical rotation is shown to be generated by an anti-hermitian odd parity time-even operator and magnetic optical rotation by an anti-hermitian even parity time-odd operator. This shows that lack of time reversal invariance is not the source of natural optical rotation and that free atoms can show natural optical rotation without violating reversality, which leads to a fundamental distinction between the conditions necessary for natural optical rotation and a permanent space-fixed electric dipole moment. General transition optical activity and polarizability tensors between components of degenerate states are discussed with reference to possible new Raman experiments and new contributions to discriminating intermolecular forces between chiral molecules. Time reversal symmetry also leads to a new criterion for chiral objects and to the concept that natural optical activity provides an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking with respect to CP.     

Polarization and orientational effect in the x‐ray reflection and absorption spectra of sulfur in hexagonal CdS

The reflection spectra of hexagonal CdS in the vicinity of the SK and SL_{2, 3} absorption edges were studied using polarized synchrotron radiation. The absorption spectra were calculated using the Kramers–Kronig relationship. It was established that both polarization dependence of the SL_{2, 3} absorption spectra and orientational dependence of the SK absorption spectra are caused by the transitions into the p symmetry states split by the crystal field and by the photoelectron scattering from the atoms disposed in distant coordination shells. Because of the low probability of the transition of the electrons from the S 2p level into the p symmetry final states of the conduction band, the polarization dependence of the SL_{2, 3} absorption spectra is weak. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bell's inequality violation and symmetry

Bell's inequality violation is related to the breakdown of symmetry of photonic field states. The states allowing the violation are characterized by a parameter γ associated with the interaction of the nonlinear medium and radiation. The violation is shown for small values of γ, where the particle aspect of light dominates. The degrading of the entanglement of the beam with increasing γ is discussed. The essential local noncommutativity of the operators involved is obvious.     

Direct bound-free photodesorption of physisorbed molecules

Because light, weakly adsorbed atoms and molecules have very few bound states, the harmonic oscillator Δv = 1 optical selection rule is invalid for vibrational transitions of the physisorption bond. For such systems, we show that very low power (50 mW) infrared radiation should be sufficient to cause a direct one-photon optical transition from the ground state to continuum translational levels, resulting in photodesorption. Using a simple one-dimensional model, we present computations of the photodesorption rate as a function of photon energy for the Morse potential and several dipole moment functions. The threshold behavior at long wavelengths is analyzed.     

Bell's inequalities,multiphoton states and phase space distributions

The connection between quantum optical nonclassicality and the violation of Bell's inequalities is explored. Bell type inequalities for the electromagnetic field are formulated for general states (arbitrary number or photons, pure or mixed) of quantised radiation and their violation is connected to other nonclassical properties of the field. Classical states are shown to obey these inequalities and for the family of centered Gaussian states the direct connection between violation of Bell-type inequalities and squeezing is established.     

T Violation and the Unidirectionality of Time

An increasing number of experiments at the Belle, BNL, CERN, DAΦNE and SLAC accelerators are confirming the violation of time reversal invariance (T). The violation signifies a fundamental asymmetry between the past and future and calls for a major shift in the way we think about time. Here we show that processes which violate T symmetry induce destructive interference between different paths that the universe can take through time. The interference eliminates all paths except for two that represent continuously forwards and continuously backwards time evolution. Evidence from the accelerator experiments indicates which path the universe is effectively following. This work may provide fresh insight into the long-standing problem of modeling the dynamics of T violation processes. It suggests that T violation has previously unknown, large-scale physical effects and that these effects underlie the origin of the unidirectionality of time. It may have implications for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of canonical quantum gravity. Finally it provides a view of the quantum nature of time itself.     

Mesino-antimesino oscillations

The phenomenology of supersymmetric theories with low scale supersymmetry breaking and a squark as the lightest standard model superpartner are investigated. Such squarks hadronize with light quarks, forming sbaryons and mesinos before decaying. Production of these supersymmetric bound states at a high energy collider can lead to displaced jets with large negative impact parameters. Neutral mesino-antimesino oscillations are not forbidden by any symmetry and can occur at observable rates. Stop mesino-antimesino oscillations would give a sensitive probe of up-type sflavor violation, and can provide a discovery channel for supersymmetry through events with a same-sign top-top topology.     

Selective reflection of resonance radiation from excited media

According to quantum electrodynamics, the cross section for resonant scattering of radiation on an aggregate of excited atoms can be written as a sum of positive definite terms. This type of structure is not consistent with the Fresnel formulas for the reflection coefficient of radiation from thermally excited media. The difference shows up on a macroscopic level and indicates that semiclassical radiation theory cannot be used. A study of the correlation between elastic scattering and stimulated emission processes clarifies the reason for the discrepancies. The resulting singularities require summing of Feynman diagrams which appear beginning in the sixth order of perturbation theory. A lower bound estimate for the reflection coefficient from a plane layer is given, including processes which violate the statistics of radiation. The contribution of stimulated emission processes caused by the initially scattered photon are examined specifically. An experiment is proposed which would settle the choice of theories. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 521–538 (February 1998)     

Magnetoelectric-Field Electrodynamics: Search for Magnetoelectric Point Scatterers

Resonant scattering of electromagnetic (EM) waves by small particles is considered as one of the basic problems in metamaterial science. At present, special subwavelength resonators are considered as structural elements in chiral and bianisotropic metamaterials. There is a general consensus that these small scatterers behave like “artificial atoms” with strong electrical and magnetic responses and an interconnection between these responses. However, the observed effect of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in these meta-atoms is not associated with the near-field manipulation properties caused by intrinsic magnetoelectricity. This arises the question whether ME point scatterers of EM radiation really exist. In this paper, we show that there are mesoscopic structures with electric and magnetic dipole-carrying excitations that behave like point scatterers with their inherent magnetoelectricity. In such subwavelength resonators, coherent oscillations of the electric polarization and magnetization can be considered as quasistatic oscillations described by electrostatic (ES) and magnetostatic (MS) scalar wave functions. The ME resonance effect arises from the coupling of two, ES and MS, oscillations. The near fields of these resonators, called the ME near fields, are characterized by simultaneous violation of time reversal and inversion symmetry. In study of ME fields and EM problems associated with these fields, we put forward the concept of ME-field electrodynamics.     

Effect of heavy ion charge fluctuations on Cherenkov radiation

Correlation effects in the Cherenkov radiation due to ions charge fluctuations in the matter are considered. Stochastic process of charge exchange leads to the washout of a radiation wave front and to the transformation of spectral-angular density. The effect is determined by a root-mean-square deviation of an ion charge. The additional radiation yield gives the nonzero contribution at the violation of the Cherenkov threshold condition. The interference of an electromagnetic field generated in the matter by the different ion's charge states along the trajectory is the cause of the additional radiation.     

Circulating current states in bilayer fermionic and bosonic systems

It is shown that fermionic polar molecules or atoms in a bilayer optical lattice can undergo the transition to a state with circulating currents, which spontaneously breaks the time reversal symmetry. Estimates of relevant temperature scales are given, and experimental signatures of the circulating current phase are identified. Related phenomena in bosonic and spin systems with ring exchange are discussed.     

Consequences for nuclear physics of a NNγ and A NNγ time reversal violating vertex

This paper studies the effects in low energy nuclear physics of a possible time reversal invariance (TRI) violation in the electromagnetic interaction. It is shown that this effect appears as a two body short range TRI violating transition operator or as a two and three body TRI violating potential. Two cases are studied. Firstly a TRI violating NNγ vertex is considered and found to have very little effect. Secondly the TRI violation is assumed to occur in the NN^*γ vertex and it is shown that if the violation is “maximal” the contribution to the imaginary part of the “mixing ratio” δ is Im δ ≈ ¦δ¦ × 10⁻³. This should be measurable.     

Mixing of neutral atoms and lepton number oscillations

We discuss oscillations of two neutral atoms which proceed with the violation of lepton number. One of the neutral atoms is stable, the other one represents a quasistationary state subjected to electromagnetic deexcitation. The system of neutral atoms exhibits oscillations similar to those of the system of neutral kaons and neutron-antineutron oscillations in the nuclear medium. The underlying mechanism is a transition of two protons and two bound electrons to two neutrons p + p + e _b ⁻ + e _b ⁻ ↔ n + n. A signature of the oscillations might be an electromagnetic deexcitation of the involved unstable nucleus and atomic shell with the electron holes. A resonant enhancement of the neutrinoless double electron capture takes place when the atomic masses tend to be degenerate. Qualitative estimates show that in searches for lepton number violation oscillations of atoms might be a possible alternative to the conventional mechanism of the neutrinoless double β decay process with emission of two electrons. The article is published in the original.     

强光与自由电子的相互作用——半导体中载流子的多光子过程

本文讨论了半导体中载流子与laser光的相互作用。把电子运动分成带内运动与带间跃迁两部分后,我们证明了在强光下,电子在带内运动的状态仍可用准动量p来标志,但不再是通常的稳定态,波函数中包含一个描述强迫运动的因子。进一步以带间跃迁或其他带内过程作为微扰,由于在跃迁过程中强迫运动部分也改变,因此伴随着有多光子的吸收或发射。根据一般的讨论,我们计算了由电声子作用引起的自由载流子吸收及由价带到导带的直接多光子跃迁的吸收系数。粗略估计表明,在一些材料中,上述过程引起的双光子吸收是可以被观察到的,特别是Ge中的直接双光子吸收。我们还指出,利用一束laser光射到晶体上后,可以在红外区域看到激子吸收线,从而提高了分辨率,并具体地分析了CdSe中激子吸收的情况。     

Gauge-independent quantization of the schrödinger and radiation fields

The quantization of several Schrödinger fields interacting with the electromagnetic field is carried out without reference to a particular gauge. The canonical formalism requires a modification introduced by Dirac and Bergmann for constraints. The Coulomb interaction is separated from the radiation and it gives rise to bound states of atoms and molecules. Particle operators are represented in the usual manner in Fock space, while the radiation field can be described by state functionals. Constraints can be included in the canonical formalism by Lagrange multipliers, leading to results equivalent to those of Dirac and Bergmann.     

Theory of the resonant properties of electrons localized on the surface of liquid helium

The problem of the shape of the line of optical transition of an electron between bound states on the surface of liquid helium is solved within the independent boson model. Such bound states are realized, for example, in the potential of a positively charged impurity located on a substrate or in the field of a He⁺ ion located beneath the surface. Reference is made to the importance of the relaxation processes of the dimple on the helium surface under the electron. The adiabatic approximation, in the case of which the dimple does not change during the time of electron transition, is not always valid. At low temperatures, two maxima may appear on the absorption line. It is demonstrated that the far tails of the optical absorption line feature a universal (Urbach rule) exponential dependence on the electron transition energy.     

光与人体组织相互作用理论模型的探索

从物理的经典理论出发,假设一生物分子由若干类元素构成,其电磁辐射场应为各类元素中所有原子辐射场的叠加,据此给出了生物分子的电磁辐射表示.再进一步考虑组成人体组织的分子与激光场间相互作用,推导出光与人体组织间相互作用时,人体组织对光的吸收系数,及光在人体组织中传播时的折射率表示式.     

Nonreciprocal transition between two indirectly coupled energy levels

We propose a theoretical scheme to realize nonreciprocal transition between two energy levels that can not coupled directly. Suppose they are coupled indirectly by two auxiliary levels with a cyclic four-level configuration, and the four transitions in the cyclic configuration are controlled by external fields. The indirectly transition become nonreciprocal when the time reversal symmetry of the system is broken by the synthetic magnetic flux, i.e., the total phase of the external driving fields through the cyclic four-level configuration. The nonreciprocal transition can be identified by the elimination of a spectral line in the spontaneous emission spectrum. Our work introduces a feasible way to observe nonreciprocal transition in a wide range of multi-level systems, including natural atoms or ions with parity symmetry.