Covariant decomposition and polarizational selection rules for interaction among photons in a moving medium

Starting from the first principles we establish the symmetries under inversions and obtain relativistic tensorial decompositions for multiphoton amplitudes in moving isotropic homogeneous media. Basing on these decompositions we find universal selection rules with respect to polarizations for the processes of photon splitting and junction in a medium, as well as for photon-photon application to nonlinear wave processes.     

Excited-state absorption and 1064-nm end-pumped laser emission of Nd:YVO4 single-crystal fiber grown by laser-heated pedestal growth

We present an investigation of the excited-state absorption and laser emission of a 1.0-at. %-Nd3+-doped YVO4 single-crystal fiber grown by the low-cost and versatile laser-heated pedestal growth technique. Efficient laser emission at 1064 nm was achieved when the fiber was pumped, in an end-pump cavity, by a Ti:sapphire laser at 808 nm. A continuous-wave threshold of 10 mW was observed with an efficiency of 42% with respect to the absorbed pump power and the maximum output power of 200 mW. These results are excellent when compared with those of a commercial bulk crystal adapted to the same cavity (48% efficiency, 250-mW maximum output power). Thus the fibers are characterized as strong candidates for the construction of compact lasers that can also be pumped by low-cost diode lasers.     

Nonstochastic behavior of atomic surface diffusion on Cu(111) down to low temperatures

Atomic diffusion is usually understood as a succession of random, independent displacements of an adatom over the surface's potential energy landscape. Nevertheless, an analysis of molecular dynamics simulations of self-diffusion on Cu(111) demonstrates the existence of different types of correlations in the atomic jumps at all temperatures. Thus, the atomic displacements cannot be correctly described in terms of a random walk model. This fact has a profound impact on the determination and interpretation of diffusion coefficients and activation barriers.     

Enhanced self-diffusion on Cu(111) by trace amounts of s: chemical-reaction-limited kinetics

We find that less than 0.01 monolayer of S can enhance surface self-diffusion on Cu(111) by several orders of magnitude. The measured dependence of two-dimensional island decay rates on S coverage (theta(S)) is consistent with the proposal that Cu3S3 clusters are responsible for the enhancement. Unexpectedly, the decay and ripening are diffusion limited with very low and very high theta(S) but not for intermediate theta(S). To explain this result we propose that surface mass transport in the intermediate region is limited by the rate of reaction to form Cu3S3 clusters on the terraces.     

Direct measurement of decoherence for entanglement between a photon and stored atomic excitation

Violations of a Bell inequality are reported for an experiment where one of two entangled qubits is stored in a collective atomic memory for a user-defined time delay. The atomic qubit is found to preserve the violation of a Bell inequality for storage times up to 21 micros, 700 times longer than the duration of the excitation pulse that creates the entanglement. To address the question of the security of entanglement-based cryptography implemented with this system, an investigation of the Bell violation as a function of the cross correlation between the generated nonclassical fields is reported, with saturation of the violation close to the maximum value allowed by quantum mechanics.     

Direct observation of electron-to-hole energy transfer in CdSe quantum dots

We independently determine the subpicosecond cooling rates for holes and electrons in CdSe quantum dots. Time-resolved luminescence and terahertz spectroscopy reveal that the rate of hole cooling, following photoexcitation of the quantum dots, depends critically on the electron excess energy. This constitutes the first direct, quantitative measurement of electron-to-hole energy transfer, the hypothesis behind the Auger cooling mechanism proposed in quantum dots, which is found to occur on a 1 +/- 0.15 ps time scale.     

Evolution from BCS to BEC superfluidity in p-wave Fermi gases

We consider the evolution of superfluid properties of a three-dimensional p-wave Fermi gas from a weak coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to strong coupling Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limit as a function of scattering volume. At zero temperature, we show that a quantum phase transition occurs for p-wave systems, unlike the s-wave case where the BCS to BEC evolution is just a crossover. Near the critical temperature, we derive a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and show that the GL coherence length is generally anisotropic due to the p-wave nature of the order parameter, and becomes isotropic only in the BEC limit.     

Carbon monoxide dissociation on Rh nanopyramids

CO dissociation on rhomboidal faceted nanopyramids, produced on Rh(110) by fine-tuning of ion irradiation conditions, has been studied by high resolution core-level spectroscopy. We find that this morphology presents a large efficiency towards CO dissociation, a process which is inhibited on flat (110) terraces. We also measured the reactivity of nanostructures bound by different artificial step distributions identifying the sites responsible for the molecular bond disruption in the undercoordinated (n=6) edges running along the [11[over ]2] equivalent directions, with CO sitting in on-top configuration.