Precision measurements of polyatomic molecules offer an unparalleled paradigm to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. The rich internal structure within these molecules makes them exquisite sensors for detecting fundamental symmetry violations, local position invariance, and dark matter. While trapping and control of diatomic and a few very simple polyatomic molecules have been experimentally demonstrated, leveraging the complex rovibrational structure of more general polyatomics demands the development of robust and efficient quantum control schemes. In this study, we present a general, reinforcement-learning-designed, quantum logic approach to prepare molecular ions in a single, pure quantum state. The reinforcement learning agent optimizes the pulse sequence, each followed by a projective measurement, and probabilistically manipulates the collapse of the quantum system to a single state. The performance of the control algorithm is numerically demonstrated in the case of a CaH$^+$ ion, with up to 96 thermally populated eigenstates and under the disturbance of environmental thermal radiation. We expect that the method developed, with physics-informed learning, will be directly implemented for quantum control of polyatomic molecular ions with densely populated structures, enabling new experimental tests of fundamental theories.
In this paper, we derive a general and exact closed-form expression of scintillation index (SI) for a Gaussian beam propagating through weak oceanic turbulence, based on the general oceanic turbulence optical power spectrum (OTOPS) and the Rytov theory. Our universal expression not only includes existing Rytov variances but also accounts for actual cases where the Kolmogorov microscale is non-zero. The correctness and accuracy of our derivation are verified through comparison with the published work under identical conditions. By utilizing our derived expressions, we analyze the impact of various beam, propagation and oceanic turbulence parameters on both SI and bit error rate (BER) performance of underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems. Numerical results demonstrate that the relationship between the Kolmogorov microscale and SI is nonlinear. Additionally, considering that certain oceanic turbulence parameters are related to depth, we use temperature and salinity data from Argo buoy deployed in real oceans to investigate the dependence of SI on depth. Our findings will contribute to the design and optimization of UWOC systems.
Yuxi Wang, Xingxing Zhang, Wujuan Yan, Nianjie Liang, Haiyu He, Xinwei Tao, Ang Li, Fuwei Yang, Buxuan Li, Te-Huan Liu, Jia Zhu, Wu Zhou, Wei Wang, Lin Zhou, Bai Song Two-dimensional (2D) crystals proved revolutionary soon after graphene was discovered in 2004. However, 2D amorphous materials only became accessible in 2020 and remain largely unexplored. In particular, the thermophysical properties of amorphous materials are of great interest upon transition from 3D to 2D. Here, we probe thermal transport in 2D amorphous carbon. A cross-plane thermal conductivity ($\kappa$) down to 0.079 $\rm{Wm}^{-1}K^{-1}$ is measured for van der Waals stacked multilayers at room temperature, which is among the lowest reported to date. Meanwhile, an unexpectedly high in-plane $\kappa$ is obtained for freestanding monolayers which is a few times larger than what is predicted by conventional wisdom for 3D amorphous carbon with similar $\rm{sp}^{2}$ fraction. Our molecular dynamics simulations reveal the role of disorder and highlight the impact of dimensionality. Amorphous materials at the 2D limit open up new avenues for understanding and manipulating heat at the atomic scale.
Photoacoustic (PA) technology can provide information on both the physical structure and chemical composition of bone, showing great potential in bone assessment. However, due to the complex composition and porous structure of cancellous bone, the PA signals generated and propagated in cancellous bone are complex and difficult to be directly used in cancellous bone analysis. In this paper, a photoacoustic differential attenuation spectrum (PA-DAS) method is proposed. By eliminating the PA spectrum of the optical absorption sources, the propagation attenuation characteristics of cancellous bone are studied theoretically and experimentally. An analytical solution for the propagation attenuation of broadband ultrasound waves in cancellous bone is given by applying high-frequency and viscous corrections to Biot's theory. An experimental system of PA-DAS with an eccentric excitation differential detection system is established to obtain the PA-DAS of cancellous bone and its acoustic propagation characteristic on the rabbit osteoporosis model. The PA-DAS quantization parameter slope is further extracted to quantify the attenuation of high and low frequency components. The results show that the PA-DAS can distinguish osteoporotic bone from normal bone, enabling quantitative assessment of bone mineral density and the diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Superradiance, in which the collective behavior of emitters can generate enhanced radiative decay, was first predicted by a model, now known as the Dicke model, that contains a collection of two-level systems (the emitters) all interacting with the same photonic mode. In this article, we extend the original Dicke model to elucidate the influence of nuclear motion on superradiant emission. Our dynamical simulations of the combined electronic, nuclear, and photonic system reveal a new time scale attributed to the population leakage of the dark, subradiant states. Furthermore, this dark state emission pathway can be controlled by tuning the nuclear potential energy landscape. These findings impact how superradiant states and molecular degrees of freedom can be leveraged and utilized in quantum optical systems.
The reliability of a vertical underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) network is seriously impacted by turbulence-induced fading due to fluctuations in the water temperature and salinity, which vary with depth. To better assess the vertical UWOC system performances, an accurate probability distribution function (PDF) model that can describe this fading is indispensable. In view of the limitations of theoretical and experimental studies, this paper is the first to establish a more accurate modeling scheme for wave optics simulation (WOS) by fully considering the constraints of sampling conditions on multi-phase screen parameters. On this basis, we complete the modeling of light propagation in a vertical oceanic turbulence channel and subsequently propose a unified statistical model named mixture Weibull-generalized Gamma (WGG) distribution model to characterize turbulence-induced fading in vertical links. Interestingly, the WGG model is shown to provide a perfect fit with the acquired data under all considered channel conditions. We further show that the application of the WGG model leads to closed-form and analytically tractable expressions for key UWOC system performance metrics such as the average bit-error rate (BER). The presented results give valuable insight into the practical aspects of development of UWOC networks.
We present an experimental study of Rayleigh-Bénard convection using liquid metal alloy gallium-indium-tin as the working fluid with a Prandtl number of $Pr=0.029$. The flow state and the heat transport were measured in a Rayleigh number range of $1.2\times10^{4} \le Ra \le 1.3\times10^{7}$. The temperature fluctuation at the cell centre is used as a proxy for the flow state. It is found that, as $Ra$ increases from the lower end of the parameter range, the flow evolves from a convection state to an oscillation state, a chaotic state, and finally a turbulent state for $Ra>10^5$. The study suggests that the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state is a residual of the cell structures near the onset of convection, which is in contrast with the case of $Pr\sim1$, where the cell structure is replaced by high-order flow modes transiently before the emergence of the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state. The evolution of the flow state is also reflected by the heat transport characterised by the Nusselt number $Nu$ and the probability density function (PDF) of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre. It is found that the effective local heat transport scaling exponent $\gamma$, i.e., $Nu\sim Ra^{\gamma}$, changes continuously from $\gamma=0.49$ at $Ra\sim 10^4$ to $\gamma=0.25$ for $Ra>10^6$. Meanwhile, the PDF at the cell centre gradually evolves from a Gaussian-like shape before the transition to turbulence to an exponential-like shape in the turbulent state. For $Ra>10^6$, the flow shows self-similar behaviour, which is revealed by the universal shape of the PDF of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre and a $Nu=0.19Ra^{0.25}$ scaling for the heat transport.
In order to suppress the background in rare event detection experiments such as 0\nue̱tae̱ta, this paper developed a set of single/multi-site event pulse shape discrimination methods suitable for strip multi-electrode high-purity germanium detectors. In the simulation of 228Th, this method achieves 7.92 times suppression of SEP events at 2103 keV with a 57.43 % survival rate of DEP events at 1592 keV. The experimental study of 57Co and 137Cs sources was carried out by using the self-developed strip multi-electrode high-purity germanium detector prototype measurement system and compared with the simulation results. The results show that the discrimination effect of the PSD method on the experimental waveform is relatively consistent with that of the simulated waveform. The PSD method was used to identify the 0\nue̱tae̱ta background events of 76Ge. The survival rate of 0\nue̱tae̱ta events was 49.16 %, while the main background events 68Ge and 60Co, were 36.23 times and 31.45 times, respectively. The background suppression effects of 232Th and 238U were 4.79 times and 5.06 times, respectively. The results show that the strip multi-electrode high-purity germanium detector can be used for single/multi-site event discrimination and background suppression research. This method is expected to be applied in the measurement of 0\nue̱tae̱ta and other rare events in China Jinping Underground Laboratory in the future.
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves are known to exhibit frequency chirping, contributing to the rapid scattering and acceleration of energetic particles. However, the physical mechanism of chirping remains elusive. Here, we propose a new model to explain the chirping and provide direct observational evidence for validation. Our results relate the frequency chirping of the wave to both the wave amplitude and magnetic field inhomogeneity for the first time. The general applicability of the model's underlying principle opens a new path toward understanding the frequency chirping of other waves.
Magnetic field line curvature (FLC) scattering is a collisionless scattering mechanism that arises when a particle's gyro-radius is comparable to the magnetic field line's curvature radius, resulting in the breaking of the conservation of the first adiabatic invariant. Studies in recent years have explored the implications of FLC scattering on the precipitation of both ring current ions and radiation belt electrons. In this work, we first compare two previous FLC scattering coefficients using test particle calculations. Then, we systematically calculate diffusion coefficients from FLC scattering in radial and MLT directions for particles of various energy levels, as well as its sensitivity to the $Kp$ index. We find that the timescale of FLC scattering is sufficient to account for the sudden loss of MeV electrons near the geostationary orbit during disturbed times. Additionally, the decay time of ring current protons is on the order of hours to minutes, providing an explanation for the ring current decay throughout the recovery phase of magnetic storms. Lastly, we compare the effects of wave-particle resonant scattering and FLC scattering in the vicinity of the midnight equator. Our findings suggest that the impacts of FLC scattering on MeV electrons or hundreds keV protons with smaller pitch angle is comparable to, or even more significant than, the effects of whistler mode or EMIC wave resonant scattering. Our quantitative results should be useful to evaluate the importance of the effects of FLC scattering while modeling the dynamics of radiation belt and ring current.
Recently developed electronic pre-resonance stimulated Raman scattering (epr-SRS) microscopy, in which the Raman signal of a dye is significantly boosted by setting the incident laser frequency near the electronic excitation energy, has pushed the sensitivity of SRS microscopy close to that offered by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Prominently, the maintained narrow line-width of epr-SRS also offers high multiplexity that breaks the "color barrier" in optical microscopy. However, detailed understandings of the fundamental mechanism in these epr-SRS dyes still remain elusive. Here, we combine experiments with theoretical modeling to investigate the structure-signal relationship, aiming to facilitate the design of new probes and expanding epr-SRS palettes. Our ab initio approach employing the displaced harmonic oscillator (DHO) model provides a consistent agreement between simulated and experimental SRS intensities of various triple-bond bearing epr-SRS probes with distinct scaffolds. We further review two popular approximate expressions for epr-SRS, namely the short-time and Albrecht A-term equations, and compare them to the DHO model. Overall, the theory allows us to illustrate how the observed intensity differences between molecular scaffolds stem from the coupling strength between the electronic excitation and the targeted vibrational mode, leading to a general design strategy for highly sensitive next-generation vibrational imaging probes.
Two-dimensional Raman and hybrid terahertz/Raman spectroscopic techniques provide invaluable insight into molecular structure and dynamics of condensed-phase systems. However, corroborating experimental results with theory is difficult due to the high computational cost of incorporating quantum-mechanical effects in the simulations. Here, we present the equilibrium-nonequilibrium ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD), a practical computational method that can account for nuclear quantum effects on the two-time response function of nonlinear optical spectroscopy. Unlike a recently developed approach based on the double Kubo transformed (DKT) correlation function, our method is exact in the classical limit, where it reduces to the established equilibrium-nonequilibrium classical molecular dynamics method. Using benchmark model calculations, we demonstrate the advantages of the equilibrium-nonequilibrium RPMD over classical and DKT-based approaches. Importantly, its derivation, which is based on the nonequilibrium RPMD, obviates the need for identifying an appropriate Kubo transformed correlation function and paves the way for applying real-time path-integral techniques to multidimensional spectroscopy.
We propose a self-consistent theoretical framework of chorus wave excitation, which describes the evolution of the whistler fluctuation spectrum as well as the supra-thermal electron distribution function. The renormalized hot electron response is cast in the form of a Dyson-like equation, which then leads to evolution equations for nonlinear fluctuation growth and frequency shift. This approach allows us to analytically derive for the first time exactly the same expression for the chorus chirping rate originally proposed by Vomvoridis et al.,1982. Chorus chirping is shown to correspond to maximization of wave particle power exchange, where each individual wave belonging to the whistler wave packet is characterized by small nonlinear frequency shift. We also show that different interpretations of chorus chirping proposed in published literature have a consistent reconciliation within the present theoretical framework, which further illuminates the analogy with similar phenomena in fusion plasmas and free electron laser physics.
Chorus emission in planetary magnetospheres is taken as working paradigm to motivate a short tutorial trip through theoretical plasma physics methods and their applications. Starting from basic linear theory, readers are first made comfortable with whistler wave packets and their propagation in slowly varying weakly nonuniform media, such as the Earth's magnetosphere, where they can be amplified by a population of supra-thermal electrons. The nonlinear dynamic description of energetic electrons in the phase space in the presence of self-consistently evolving whistler fluctuation spectrum is progressively introduced by addressing renormalization of the electron response and spectrum evolution equations. Analytical and numerical results on chorus frequency chirping are obtained and compared with existing observations and particle in cell simulations. Finally, the general theoretical framework constructed during this short trip through chorus physics is used to draw analogies with condensed matter and laser physics as well as magnetic confinement fusion research. Discussing these analogies ultimately presents plasma physics as an exciting cross-disciplinary field to study.
Whistler mode chorus waves are quasi-coherent electromagnetic emissions with frequency chirping. Various models have been proposed to understand the chirping mechanism, which is a long-standing problem in space plasmas. Based on analysis of effective wave growth rate and electron phase space dynamics in a self-consistent particle simulation, we propose here a phenomenological model called the "Trap-Release-Amplify" (TaRA) model for chorus. In this model, phase space structures of correlated electrons are formed by nonlinear wave particle interactions, which mainly occur in the downstream. When released from the wave packet in the upstream, these electrons selectively amplify new emissions which satisfy the phase-locking condition to maximize wave power transfer, leading to frequency chirping. The phase-locking condition at the release point gives a frequency chirping rate that is fully consistent with the one by Helliwell in case of a nonuniform background magnetic field. The nonlinear wave particle interaction part of the TaRA model results in a chirping rate that is proportional to wave amplitude, a conclusion originally reached by Vomvoridis et al. Therefore, the TaRA model unifies two different results from seemingly unrelated studies. Furthermore, the TaRA model naturally explains fine structures of chorus waves, including subpackets and bandwidth, and their evolution through dynamics of phase-trapped electrons. Finally, we suggest that this model could be applied to explain other related phenomena, including frequency chirping of chorus in a uniform background magnetic field and of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in the magnetosphere.
We present a detailed study of the nuclear quantum effects in H/D sticking to graphene, comparing classical, quantum and mixed quantum/classical simulations to results of scattering experiments. Agreement with experimentally derived sticking probabilities is improved when nuclear quantum effects are included using ring polymer molecular dynamics. Specifically, the quantum motion of the carbon atoms enhances sticking, showing that an accurate description of graphene phonons is important to capturing the adsorption dynamics. We also find an inverse H/D isotope effect arising from Newtonian mechanics.
David T. Nguyen, Thomas C. Larsen, Muyang Wang, Russel H. Knutsen, Zhihong Yang, Eric E. Bennett, Dumitru Mazilu, Zu-Xi Yu, Xi Tao, Danielle R. Donahue, Ahmed Gharib, Christopher K. E. Bleck, Joel Moss, Beth A. Kozel, Alan T. Remaley, Han Wen In pathology protocols, each tissue block can generate a large number of sections making it impractical to analyze every section. X-ray microscopy that provides a rapid survey of intact tissue blocks can help pinpoint the relevant structures in 3D space for subsequent analysis, and thus reduce workload and enable further automation downstream. Unlike dedicated virtual histology studies by traditional micro computed tomography (CT), routine scout imaging is constrained by a time window of minutes and minimal sample handling to avoid interfering with the pathology protocols. Traditional micro CT was not able to meet the requirements due to lengthy study times or sample alteration by the introduction of x-ray contrast agents. A form of x-ray tomosynthesis used in security screening was found to be efficient for rapid microscopy of unstained samples. When compared to a commercial micro CT scanner, it provided a 10-fold increase in imaging speed and a 4.8-fold increase in contrast-to-noise ratio. We report the results from a variety of human and animal tissue samples, where it served as an integral step of pathology protocols. In cases of vascular disease, it provided quantitative measurements of calcification in intact samples, which were difficult to obtain by standard pathology procedures. The prospect of continuous and automated screening of many samples in an assembly-line approach is discussed.
Most natural and artificial materials have crystalline structures from which abundant topological phases emerge [1-6]. The bulk-edge correspondence, widely-adopted in experiments to determine the band topology from edge properties, however, becomes inadequate in discerning various topological crystalline phases [7-17], leading to great challenges in the experimental classification of the large family of topological crystalline materials [4-6]. Theories predict that disclinations, ubiquitous crystallographic defects, provide an effective probe of crystalline topology beyond edges [18-21], which, however, has not yet been confirmed in experiments. Here, we report the experimental discovery of the bulk-disclination correspondence which is manifested as the fractional spectral charge and robust bound states at the disclinations. The fractional disclination charge originates from the symmetry-protected bulk charge patterns---a fundamental property of many topological crystalline insulators (TCIs). Meanwhile, the robust bound states at disclinations emerge as a secondary, but directly observable property of TCIs. Using reconfigurable photonic crystals as photonic TCIs with higher-order topology, we observe those hallmark features via pump-probe and near-field detection measurements. Both the fractional charge and the localized states are demonstrated to emerge at the disclination in the TCI phase but vanish in the trivial phase. The experimental discovery of bulk-disclination correspondence unveils a novel fundamental phenomenon and a new paradigm for exploring topological materials.
We address the calculation of microcanonical reaction rates for processes involving significant nuclear quantum effects using ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD), both with and without electronically non-adiabatic transitions. After illustrating the shortcomings of the naive free-particle direct-shooting method, in which the temperature of the internal ring-polymer modes is set to the translational energy scale, we investigate alternative strategies based on the expression for the microcanonical rate in terms of the inverse Laplace transform of the thermal reaction rate. It is shown that simple application of the stationary-phase approximation (SPA) dramatically improves the performance of the microcanonical rates using RPMD, particularly in the low-energy region where tunneling dominates. Using the SPA as a Bayesian prior, numerically exact RPMD microcanonical rates are then obtained using maximum entropy inversion of the thermal reaction rates, for both electronically adiabatic and non-adiabatic model systems. Finally, the direct-shooting method is revisited using the SPA-determined temperature for the internal ring-polymer modes, leading to a simple, direct-simulation method with improved accuracy in the tunneling regime.
The small correction volume for conventional wavefront shaping methods limits their applications in biological imaging through scattering media. We demonstrate large volume wavefront shaping through a scattering layer with a single correction by conjugate adaptive optics and remote focusing (CAORF). The remote focusing module can keep the conjugation between the AO and scattering layer during three-dimensional scanning. This new configuration provides a wider correction volume by the best utilization of the memory effect in a fast three-dimensional laser scanning microscope. Our results show that the proposed system can provide 10 times wider axial field of view compared with a conventional conjugate AO system when 16,384 segments are used on a spatial light modulator. We also demonstrated three-dimensional fluorescence imaging and multi-spot patterning through a scattering layer.
In this work, we propose a structured illumination (SI) method based on a two-photon excitation (TPE) scanning laser beam. Advantages of TPE methods include optical sectioning, low photo-toxicity, and robustness in the face of sample induced scattering. We designed a novel multi-spot point spread function (PSF) for a fast, two-photon scanning SIM microscope. Our multi-spot PSF is generated with a phase retrieval algorithm. We show how to obtain the phase distribution and then simulate the effect of this distribution on a spatial light modulator (SLM), which produces the multi-spot PSF in the object plane of the microscope. We produce simulations that show the viability of this method. The results are simulated and a multi-spot PSF scanning SIM microscope is proposed.
A complete investigation of the discharge behavior of dielectric barrier discharge device using ZnO-coated dielectric layer in atmospheric pressure is made. Highly conductive ZnO film was deposited on the dielectric surface. Discharge characteristic of the dielectric barrier discharge are examined in different aspects. Experimental result shows that discharge uniformity is improved definitely in the case of ZnO-coated dielectric barrier discharge. And relevant theoretical models and explanation are presented to describing its discharge physics.
Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of dialkyldithiophosphate (DDP) modified Cu nanoparticles were prepared. The structure, microfrictional behaviors and adhesion of the LB films were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic/friction force microscopy (AFM/FFM). Our results showed that the modified Cu nanoparticles have a typical core-shell structure and fine film-forming ability. The images of AFM/FFM showed that LB films of modified Cu nanoparticles were composed of many nanoparticles arranged closely and orderly and the nanoparticles had favorable behaviors of lower friction. The friction loop of the films indicated that the friction force was affected prominently by the surface slope of the Cu nanoparticles and the microfrictional behaviors showed obvious "ratchet effect". The adhesion experiment showed that the modified Cu nanoparticle had a very small adhesive force. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A general Hamiltonian theory for the adiabatic motion of relativistic charged particles confined by slowly-varying background electromagnetic fields is presented based on a unified Lie-transform perturbation analysis in extended phase space (which includes energy and time as independent coordinates) for all three adiabatic invariants. First, the guiding-center equations of motion for a relativistic particle are derived from the particle Lagrangian. Covariant aspects of the resulting relativistic guiding-center equations of motion are discussed and contrasted with previous works. Next, the second and third invariants for the bounce motion and drift motion, respectively, are obtained by successively removing the bounce phase and the drift phase from the guiding-center Lagrangian. First-order corrections to the second and third adiabatic invariants for a relativistic particle are derived. These results simplify and generalize previous works to all three adiabatic motions of relativistic magnetically-trapped particles.
The interactions of gravitational waves with interstellar matter, dealing with resonant wave-particle and wave-wave interactions, are considered on the basis of magnetic-type Maxwell-Vlasov equations. It is found that the behavior of the fields, involving the "gravitoelectromagnetic" or "GEM " fields, the perturbed density field and self-generated gravitomagnetic field with low frequency,can be described by the nonlinear coupling equations Eqs. (6.10)-(6.12). Numerical results show that they may collapse. In other words, due to self-condensing, a stronger GME fields could be produced; and they could appear as the gravitational waves with high energy reaching on Earth. In this case, Weber's results, perhaps, are acceptable.