Formation of a vortex lattice in a rotating BCS Fermi gas

We investigate theoretically the formation of a vortex lattice in a superfluid two-spin component Fermi gas in a rotating harmonic trap, in a BCS-type regime of condensed non-bosonic pairs. Our analytical solution of the superfluid hydrodynamic equations, both for the 2D BCS equation of state and for the 3D unitary quantum gas, predicts that the vortex free gas is subject to a dynamic instability for fast enough rotation. With a numerical solution of the full time dependent BCS equations in a 2D model, we confirm the existence of this dynamic instability and we show that it leads to the formation of a regular pattern of quantum vortices in the gas.     

A general ultrasound-assisted access to room-temperature ionic liquids

The replacement of common organic solvents by room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is a topical subject in both academia and industry. In the last decades, the number of applications for RTILs has followed an exponential curve and spilled over the boundaries of chemistry. Still, one of the main drawbacks of these compounds is their difficult access. The present ultrasound-assisted method affords a general and easy access to a large variety of room-temperature ionic liquids.     

Proton–neutron structure of the N=52 nucleus Zr

Following the successful identification of mixed-symmetric one- and two-phonon states in the N=52 nuclei ⁹⁴Mo and ⁹⁶Ru, we have performed a photon scattering experiment on the N=52 isotone ⁹²Zr. Experimental data and shell model calculations show that both, single particle and collective degrees of freedom are present in the low-lying levels of ⁹²Zr. The second excited quadrupole state shows the signatures of the one-phonon mixed-symmetric 2⁺ state, while calculations and data indicate an almost pure neutron configuration for the 2⁺₁ state, in contradiction with the F-spin symmetric limit. Furthermore, two strong dipole excitations, which are candidates for the two-phonon quadrupole–octupole coupled E1 excitation and for the mixed-symmetric 1⁺ two-phonon state, were observed.     

Diode laser frequency stabilisation for water-vapour differential absorption sensing

We describe a low-power continuous-wave laser system for water-vapour sensing applications in the 935-nm region. The system is based on extended-cavity diode lasers and distributed-feedback lasers and delivers four single-mode frequency-stabilised optical signals. Three lasers are locked to three water-vapour absorption lines of different strengths, whereas the fourth lies outside any absorption line. On-line stabilisation is performed by wavelength-modulation spectroscopy using compact water-vapour reference cells. An offset-locking technique implemented around an electrical filter is applied for the stabilisation of the off-line slave laser to an on-line master laser at a frequency detuning of 18.8 GHz. Stabilities in the order of 15 MHz over one day were observed for the strongest lines, at the detection limit of the measurement instrumentation. The developed techniques and schemes can be applied to other wavelength ranges and molecular species. Differential absorption lidar instrumentation can in particular benefit from such a system when the stabilised lasers serve as injection seeders to pulsed power oscillators. PACS 42.62.Fi; 42.72.-g; 42.68.Wt     

Nonperturbative light cone quantum field theory beyond the tree level

We demonstrate the appearance of spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by nonperturbative quantum corrections for scalar light cone quantum field theory in 1+1 dimensions. We define a light cone effective potential and obtain a second order phase transition.     

Near-IR photoluminescence from Si/Ge nanowire-grown silicon wafers: effect of HF treatment

We present the room-temperature near-infrared (NIR) photoluminescence (PL) properties of Si/Ge nanowire (NW)-grown silicon wafers which were treated by vapor of HF:HNO₃ chemical mixture. This treatment activates or enhances the PL intensity in the NIR region ranging from 1000 nm to 1800 nm. The PL consists of a silicon band-edge emission and a broad composite band which is centered at around 1400–1600 nm. The treatment modifies the wafer surface particularly at defect sites especially pits around NWs and NW surfaces by etching and oxidation of Si and Ge. This process can induce spatial confinement of carriers where band-to-band (BB) emission is the dominant property in Si-capped strained Si/Ge NW-grown wafers. Strong signals were observed at sub-band-gap energies in Ge-capped Si/Ge NW-grown wafers. It was found that NIR PL is a competitive property between the Si BB transition and deep-level emission, which is mainly attributable to Si-related defects, Ge dots and strained Ge layers. The enhancement in BB and deep-level PL is discussed in terms of strain, oxygen-related defects, dot formation and carrier-confinement effects. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method in enhancing and tuning NIR PL properties for possible applications.     

MEI, SOI and mid-range correlations in the onset of El Niño–Southern Oscillation

Entropy analysis and wavelet transforms are used to study the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) and multivariate ENSO index (MEI) indexes for the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Trends to large decreasing symbolic chains responsible for La Niña and interrupted increasing chains for El Niño are found in the MEI persistence series. These are all located in regions where the wavelet transforms of both indexes reveal the existence of mid-range correlations. The SOI and MEI indexes are mutually correlated in a non-trivial manner in the time.