Forces between a single atom and its distant mirror image

An excited-state atom whose emitted light is backreflected by a distant mirror can experience trapping forces, because the presence of the mirror modifies both the electromagnetic vacuum field and the atom's own radiation reaction field. We demonstrate this mechanical action using a single trapped barium ion. We observe the trapping conditions to be notably altered when the distant mirror is translated across an optical wavelength. The well-localized barium ion enables the spatial dependence of the forces to be measured explicitly. The experiment has implications for quantum information processing and may be regarded as the most elementary optical tweezers.     

Self-sustained activity in a small-world network of excitable neurons

We study the dynamics of excitable integrate-and-fire neurons in a small-world network. At low densities p of directed random connections, a localized transient stimulus results either in self-sustained persistent activity or in a brief transient followed by failure. Averages over the quenched ensemble reveal that the probability of failure changes from 0 to 1 over a narrow range in p; this failure transition can be described analytically through an extension of an existing mean-field result. Exceedingly long transients emerge at higher densities p; their activity patterns are disordered, in contrast to the mostly periodic persistent patterns observed at low p. The times at which such patterns die out follow a stretched-exponential distribution, which depends sensitively on the propagation velocity of the excitation.     

Stability of films with nanoparticles

Numerous products (such as paints, inks, foods, and beverages) and processes (such as coating, coagulation, sedimentation, lubrication, and paper-making) depend on the stability of the liquid films separating the dispersed phase from the continuous phase in the presence of nanoparticles or surfactant micelles. Nanoparticles exhibit a tendency to form ordered layers (i.e., stratification) and particle in-layer structures in these thin films at a sufficiently high concentration, resulting in a structural force that stabilizes the dispersion. The dispersion stability depends on the film size and the nanoparticle concentration.     

Development of a laser photothermoacoustic frequency-swept system for subsurface imaging: theory and experiment

In conventional biomedical photoacoustic imaging systems, a pulsed laser is used to generate time-of-flight acoustic information of the subsurface features. This paper reports the theoretical and experimental development of a new frequency-domain (FD) photo-thermo-acoustic (PTA) principle featuring frequency sweep (chirp) and heterodyne modulation and lock-in detection of a continuous-wave laser source at 1064 nm wavelength. PTA imaging is a promising new technique which is being developed to detect tumor masses in turbid biological tissue. Owing to the linear relationship between the depth of acoustic signal generation and the delay time of signal arrival to the transducer, information specific to a particular depth can be associated with a particular frequency in the chirp signal. Scanning laser modulation with a linear frequency sweep method preserves the depth-to-delay time linearity and recovers FD-PTA signals from a range of depths. Preliminary results performed on rubber samples and solid tissue phantoms indicate that the FD-PTA technique has the potential to be a reliable tool for biomedical depth-profilometric imaging.     

Electron transport in granular metals

We consider thermodynamic and transport properties of a long granular array with strongly connected grains (intergrain conductance g>1). We find that the system's conductance and differential capacitance exhibits activated behavior, approximately exp([-T(*)/T]. The gap T(*) represents the energy needed to create a long single-electron charge soliton propagating through the array. This scale is parametrically larger than the energy at which conventional perturbation theory breaks down.     

Radiance-based monitoring of the extent of tissue coagulation during laser interstitial thermal therapy

Optical monitoring relates the dynamic changes in measured light intensity to the extent of treatment-induced coagulation that occurs during laser interstitial thermal therapy. We utilized a two-region Monte Carlo simulation to elucidate the nature of the changes in interstitial radiance and fluence that result from the formation of a volume of thermal coagulation surrounding a cylindrical emitter. Using simulation results, we demonstrate that radiance sensors are more sensitive than traditional fluence sensors to coagulation-induced scattering changes. Radiance measurements take advantage of directional detection angles that are more receptive to the onset and passing of the coagulation boundary. We performed experiments with albumen phantoms to demonstrate the practicality of the radiance method for monitoring interstitial laser thermal therapy.     

Micromachined array tip for multifocus fiber-based optical coherence tomography

High-resolution optical coherence tomography demands a large detector bandwidth and a high numerical aperture for real-time imaging, which is difficult to achieve over a large imaging depth. To resolve these conflicting requirements we propose a novel multifocus fiber-based optical coherence tomography system with a micromachined array tip. We demonstrate the fabrication of a prototype four-channel tip that maintains a 9-14-microm spot diameter with more than 500 microm of imaging depth. Images of a resolution target and a human tooth were obtained with this tip by use of a four-channel cascaded Michelson fiber-optic interferometer, scanned simultaneously at 8 kHz with geometric power distribution across the four channels.     

First principles determination of the bound levels of HeLi-

An analytical potential energy curve is developed from high quality ab initio calculations for the He+Li- interaction. The HeLi- electrostatic complex is found to have an Re of 18.5 bohrs and a De of 0.974 cm(-1). Numerical solution of the rovibrational Schr?dinger equation with this potential indicates two bound levels, (v,J)=(0,0) and (0,1), for all naturally occurring isotopologs (i.e., 4He7Li-, 4He6Li-, 3He7Li-, and 3He6Li-). For the common isotopolog, 4He7Li-, a D0 of 0.207 cm(-1) and an R0 of 26.5 bohrs is determined.     

Pseudopotential theory of Auger processes in CdSe quantum dots

Auger rates are calculated for CdSe colloidal quantum dots using atomistic empirical pseudopotential wave functions. We predict the dependence of Auger electron cooling on size, on correlation effects (included via configuration interaction), and on the presence of a spectator exciton. Auger multiexciton recombination rates are predicted for biexcitons as well as for triexcitons. The results agree quantitatively with recent measurements and offer new predictions.