EPJ D - Speedier Quantum Logic
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- Published on 16 May 2011

Quantum information processing requires logical operations with multiple quantum bits. One route to this goal is controlling each qubit with a time-dependent external magnetic field. In this recent paper published in EPJ D, Heule et al. describe ways to perform logical operations on an ENTIRE superconducting qubit chain by controlling just ONE of the end qubits of the chain.
EPJ D - 'Measurement of Quantum Mechanical Operators' Revisited
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- Published on 31 March 2011
Quantum mechanical measurements are often assumed to be accurate and repeatable. However, due to a fundamental result of Wigner (1952) and Araki and Yanase (1961), we now know that there are limitations to these properties in the presence of aconserved quantity that does not commute with the observable to be measured. Despite its importance and impact on quantum technologies, the full scope of this so-called WAY theorem has remained unclear.
EPJ D - Feshbach resonances in the 6Li-40K Fermi-Fermi mixture: Elastic versus inelastic interactions
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- Published on 30 March 2011

(Cold Quantum Matter - EuroQUAM special issue)
Ultracold mixtures of two fermionic species hold great promise for synthesizing novel types of few and many-body quantum states. Magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances are the key to controlling the interaction in such systems. In this article in EPJD, Naik et al. present a state-of-the-art characterization of Feshbach resonances in the Fermi-Fermi mixture of 6Li-40K atoms, in particular concerning the interplay of both elastic and inelastic scattering.
EPJ D – Nanodroplets make perfect hosts
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- Published on 28 March 2011

Helium nanodroplets provide a unique matrix for the spectroscopy of embedded atom species. In this recent paper in EPJD, Bünermann and Stienkemeier demonstrate a new model of how effects such as droplet shrinking, momentum transfer and cluster desorption affect the pick-up statistics of alkali atoms in helium nanodroplets.
EPJ D - Reshaping Quantum Light
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- Published on 03 January 2011

A photon is not a point: its wavepacket stretches out in space. In the classical limit, this spatial profile is governed by Maxwell's equations, and reshaping it has been a goal in optics since Galileo's invention of the telescope. In this paper, Morizur and his colleagues describe a new Unitary Programmable Mode Converter, a device capable of changing the spatial shape of quantum light at will without introducing loss in the beam.
EPJ D - Ions that love DNA to bits
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- Published on 22 October 2010

Low energy carbon ions have been directed to small DNA strand. The results provide new information of the mechanisms of DNA damage during ion beam therapy, also called hadron therapy.
EPJ D – Measurements in the hot spot of a plasma
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- Published on 12 October 2010

A group of researchers in Greifswald, Germany, measured the electron concentration and electron temperature in the active discharge zone of a self-organized plasma jet. Self-organized discharge patterns are shown as time averaged top view in the picture.
Miniaturized non-thermal plasma jets are an emerging technique for surface treatments at ambient pressure, such as cleaning, activation, etching, films deposition and more.
The authors of this EPJ D paper used two independent approaches: spectroscopy and a two-dimensional fluid model calculation of a discharge filament. The results from the two methods are consistent and indicate electron concentrations between 2.2 and 3.3×1014 cm-3. This work represents a first step towards a thorough physical description of the discharge dynamics and energy transport to gain a better understanding of self-organization effects in non thermal plasma jets.
EPJ D – Phase equations describe birdsongs
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- Published on 20 September 2010

The air sac pressure patterns used by domestic canaries during song were analyzed by a group of Argentinean statistical physicists in terms of phase equations.
EPJ D - New call for papers on cold quantum matter
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- Published on 01 September 2010
The topics of this special issue will include: Quantum simulation using cold atoms in optical lattices; fermionic mixtures of ultracold atoms; collisions of cold polar molecules; controlled interactions in quantum gases of metastable atoms; cavity-mediated molecular cooling; quantum-degenerate dipolar gases of bialkali molecules.
EPJ D - Gaetana Laricchia wins Thomson Medal
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- Published on 19 July 2010

Professor Gaetana Laricchia of UCL, London, has been awarded the Thomson medal and prize for her contributions to the development of the world's only positronium beam and its use to probe the properties of atoms and molecules. This follows closely the Occhialini prize which she received in 2009.