Engineering long-range interactions between ultracold atoms with light

Ultracold temperatures in dilute quantum gases opened the way to an exquisite control of matter at the quantum level. Here we focus on the control of ultracold atomic collisions using a laser to engineer their interactions at large interatomic distances. We show that the entrance channel of two colliding ultracold atoms can be coupled to a repulsive collisional channel by the laser light so that the overall interaction between the two atoms becomes repulsive: this prevents them to come close together and to undergo inelastic processes, thus protecting the atomic gases from unwanted losses. We illustrate such an optical shielding mechanism with 39K and 133Cs atoms colliding at ultracold temperature (<1 microkelvin). The process is described in the framework of the dressed-state picture and we then solve the resulting stationary coupled Schrödinger equations. The role of spontaneous emission and photoinduced inelastic scattering is also investigated as possible limitations of the shielding efficiency. We predict an almost complete suppression of inelastic collisions over a broad range of Rabi frequencies and detunings from the 39K D2 line of the optical shielding laser, both within the [0, 200 MHz] interval. We found that the polarization of the shielding laser has a minor influence on this efficiency. This proposal could easily be formulated for other bialkali-metal pairs as their long-range interaction are all very similar to each other.

New Method for Calculation of Radiation Defect Dipole Tensor and Its Application to Di-Interstitials in Copper

The effect of external and internal elastic strain fields on the anisotropic diffusion of radiation defects (RDs) can be taken into account if one knows the dipole tensor of saddle-point configurations of the diffusing RDs. It is usually calculated by molecular statics, since the insufficient accuracy of the available experimental techniques makes determining it experimentally difficult. However, for an RD with multiple crystallographically non-equivalent metastable and saddle-point configurations (as in the case of di-interstitials), the problem becomes practically unsolvable due to its complexity. In this paper, we used a different approach to solving this problem. The molecular dynamics (MD) method was used to calculate the strain dependences of the RD diffusion tensor for various types of strain states. These dependences were used to determine the dipole tensor of the effective RD saddle-point configuration, which takes into account the contributions of all real saddle-point configurations. The proposed approach was used for studying the diffusion characteristics of RDs, such as di-interstitials in FCC copper (used in plasma-facing components of fusion reactors under development). The effect of the external elastic field on the MD-calculated normalized diffusion tensor (ratio of the diffusion tensor to a third of its trace) of di-interstitials was fully consistent with analytical predictions based on the kinetic theory, the parameters of which were the components of the dipole tensors, including the range of non-linear dependence of the diffusion tensor on strains. The results obtained allowed for one to simulate the anisotropic diffusion of di-interstitials in external and internal elastic fields, and to take into account the contribution of di-interstitials to the radiation deformation of crystals. This contribution can be significant, as MD data on the primary radiation damage in copper shows that ~20% of self-interstitial atoms produced by cascades of atomic collisions are combined into di-interstitials.

OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ELECTRON ACCELERATOR BASED ON THE PLASMA-FILLED DIODE

The paper is concerned with the plasma-filled diode performance in the intensive mode regulated by means of external gas puffing. The possibility to smoothly vary the plasma parameters in the discharge gap zone, and thus, to optimize the main diode characteristics (Ucutoff, Icutoff) by the external gas puffing method has been confirmed by experiment. The introduction of additional quantity of neutral gas into the discharge causes the change in the plasma density balance due to elementary processes in physics of electronic and atomic collisions, such as ionization, dissociation, recombination. The deviation of actual voltage/current values from their maximum values can be attributed to the mismatch in the generator-load feed circuit.

Probabilities of Atomic Departures from the Slit System

The theoretical description of experimental data on transport in open systems has been of interest for more than a hundred years. Boltzmann proposed a new view of the transfer of matter. Now it is possible to describe the transfer processes from a microscopic point of view. The solution of the Boltzmann equation and the equations derived from it is a complex problem related to the mathematical problems of solving such equations. On the other hand, the complexity of the solution is related to the geometry of the system in which the transfer process takes place. Fundamental physical calculations are made for systems: flat, slotted, cylindrical, rectangular, etc. In the free molecular mode of gas flow, collisions of molecules occur mainly with the walls of systems. In this connection, there was a direction related to the calculation of the probabilities of atomic transport in the system. In this paper, we propose an approach for determining the probabilities of atomic outcomes from slit systems depending on the relative height of the walls of H systems. Exact formulas are obtained for calculating the probabilities of atomic departures from systems without colliding with walls, the distribution of atomic collisions over the height of the system wall, the probabilities of atoms entering the condensed phase after a single collision with the system walls, and the probabilities of atomic departures from systems after a single collision with walls. The accuracy of the obtained formulas was compared with the data obtained from computer experiments using the Monte Carlo method.

100 lat optyki na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim (1921–2021)

This publication is related to the centenary of physics at the University of Warsaw. It describes the history of optics at the university since 1921, when Stefan Pieńkowski founded the Division of Physics at 69 Hoża Street in Warsaw. The author reports on the rapid development of research and significant discoveries in this field in the interwar period, when the Division of Physics earned a reputation as a world centre for molecular luminescence and atomic spectroscopy, attracting scientists from all over the world to Warsaw. Rebuilt after World War II, it got a new image when lasers were used for studies on the structure of atoms and molecules as well as atomic collisions. Today, it has become an internationally recognised modern centre for optical physics, including nonlinear optics, Fourier optics, plasmonics and quantum technologies.