arXiv subjects

Ronnie Kosloff

Publications and source records attributed to Ronnie Kosloff.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Femtosecond two-photon photoassociation of hot magnesium atoms: A quantum dynamical study using thermal random phase wavefunctions

Two-photon photoassociation of hot magnesium atoms by femtosecond laser pulses, creating electronically excited magnesium dimer molecules, is studied from first principles, combining \textit{ab initio} quantum chemistry and molecular quantum dynamics. This theoretical framework allows for rationalizing the generation of molecular rovibrational coherence from thermally hot atoms [L. Rybak \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 107}, 273001 (2011)]. Random phase thermal wave functions are employed to model the thermal ensemble of hot colliding atoms. Comparing two different choices of basis functions, random phase wavefunctions built from eigenstates are found to have the fastest convergence for the photoassociation yield. The interaction of the colliding atoms with a femtosecond laser pulse is modeled non-perturbatively to account for strong-field effects.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum heat engines and refrigerators: Continuous devices

Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and refrigerators up to the level of a single few level system coupled to the environment. Once the environment is split into three;a hot, cold and work reservoirs a heat engine can operate. The device converts the positive gain into power;where the gain is obtained from population inversion between the components of the device. Reversing the operation transforms the device into a quantum refrigerator. The quantum tricycle, a device connected by three external leads to three heat reservoirs is used as a template for engines and refrigerators. The equation of motion for the heat currents and power can be derived from first principle. Only a global description of the coupling of the device to the reservoirs is consistent with the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Optimisation of the devices leads to a balanced set of parameters where the couplings to the three reservoirs are of the same order and the external driving field is in resonance. When analysing refrigerators special attention is devoted to a dynamical version of the third law of thermodynamics. Bounds on the rate of cooling when approaching the absolute zero are obtained by optimising the cooling current. At low temperature all refrigerators show universal behavior. Restrictions on the system imposed by the dynamical version of the third law are studied.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Thermodynamics

Quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamical laws from quantum mechanics. The link is based on the intimate connection of quantum thermodynamics with the theory of open quantum systems. Quantum mechanics inserts dynamics into thermodynamics giving a sound foundation to finite-time-thermodynamics. The emergence of the 0-law I-law II-law and III-law of thermodynamics from quantum considerations is presented. The emphasis is on consistence between the two theories which address the same subject from different foundations. We claim that inconsistency is the result of faulty analysis pointing to flaws in approximations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Optimal control theory of harmonic generation

Coherent control of harmonic generation was studied theoretically. A specific harmonic order was targeted. An optimal control theory was employed to find the driving field where restrictions were imposed on the frequency band. Additional restrictions were added to suppress undesired outcomes such as ionization and dissociation. The method was formulated in the frequency domain. An update procedure for the field based on relaxation was employed. The method was tested on several examples demonstrating generation of high frequencies from a driving field with a restricted frequency band.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

A third-order exceptional point effect on the dynamics of a single particle in a time-dependent harmonic trap

The time evolution of a single particle in a harmonic trap with time dependent frequency omega(t) is well studied. Nevertheless here we show that, when the harmonic trap is opened (or closed) as function of time while keeping the adiabatic parameter mu = [d omega(t)/dt]/omega(t)^2 fixed, a sharp transition from an oscillatory to a monotonic exponential dynamics occurs at mu = 2. At this transition point the time evolution has a third-order exceptional point (EP) at all instants. This situation, where an EP of a time-dependent Hermitian Hamiltonian is obtained at any given time, is very different from other known cases. Our finding is relevant to the dynamics of a single ion in a magnetic, optical, or rf trap, and of diluted gases of ultracold atoms in optical traps.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Comments on "Cooling by Heating: Refrigerator Powered by Photons"

We comment that the model proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 120603 (2012) violates the dynamical version of the third law of thermodynamics. We discuses the different formulations of the third law of thermodynamics and suggest a possible reason for the violation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Quantum Refrigerator and the III-law of Thermodynamics

The rate of temperature decrease of a cooled quantum bath is studied as its temperature is reduced to the absolute zero. The III-law of thermodynamics is then quantified dynamically by evaluating the characteristic exponent ζ of the cooling process dT(t)/dt \sim -T^ζ when approaching the absolute zero, T \rightarrow 0. A continuous model of a quantum refrigerator is employed consisting of a working medium composed either by two coupled harmonic oscillators or two coupled 2-level systems. The refrigerator is a nonlinear device merging three currents from three heat baths: a cold bath to be cooled, a hot bath as an entropy sink, and a driving bath which is the source of cooling power. A heat driven refrigerator (absorption refrigerator) is compared to a power driven refrigerator. When optimized both cases lead to the same exponent ζ, showing a lack of dependence on the form of the working medium and the characteristics of the drivers. The characteristic exponent is therefore determined by the properties of the cold reservoir and its interaction with the system. Two generic heat baths models are considered, a bath composed of harmonic oscillators and a bath composed from ideal Bose/Fermi gas. The restrictions on the interaction Hamiltonian imposed by the III-law are discussed. In the appendix the theory of periodicaly driven open systems and its implication to thermodynamics is outlined.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Short Time Cycles of Purely Quantum Refrigerators

Four stroke Otto refrigerator cycles with no classical analogue are studied. Extremely short cycle times with respect to the internal time scale of the working medium characterize these refrigerators. Therefore these cycles are termed sudden. The sudden cycles are characterized by the stable limit cycle which is the invariant of the global cycle propagator. During their operation the state of the working medium possesses significant coherence which is not erased in the equilibration segments due to the very short time allocated. This characteristic is reflected in a difference between the energy entropy and the Von Neumann entropy of the working medium. A classification scheme for sudden refrigerators is developed allowing simple approximations for the cooling power and coefficient of performance.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

New, Highly Accurate Propagator for the Linear and Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

A propagation method for the time dependent Schrödinger equation was studied leading to a general scheme of solving ode type equations. Standard space discretization of time-dependent pde's usually results in system of ode's of the form u_t -Gu = s where G is a operator (matrix) and u is a time-dependent solution vector. Highly accurate methods, based on polynomial approximation of a modified exponential evolution operator, had been developed already for this type of problems where G is a linear, time independent matrix and s is a constant vector. In this paper we will describe a new algorithm for the more general case where s is a time-dependent r.h.s vector. An iterative version of the new algorithm can be applied to the general case where G depends on t or u. Numerical results for Schrödinger equation with time-dependent potential and to non-linear Schrödinger equation will be presented.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Generating Molecular Rovibrational Coherence by Two-Photon Femtosecond Photoassociation of Thermally Hot Atoms

The formation of diatomic molecules with rotational and vibrational coherence is demonstrated experimentally in free-to-bound two-photon femtosecond photoassociation of hot atoms. In a thermal gas at a temperature of 1000 K, pairs of magnesium atoms, colliding in their electronic ground state, are excited into coherent superpositions of bound rovibrational levels in an electronically excited state. The rovibrational coherence is probed by a time-delayed third photon, resulting in quantum beats in the UV fluorescence. A comprehensive theoretical model based on ab initio calculations rationalizes the generation of coherence by Franck-Condon filtering of collision energies and partial waves, quantifying it in terms of an increase in quantum purity of the thermal ensemble. Our results open the way to coherent control of a binary reaction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

The Quantum Absorption Refrigerator

A quantum absorption refrigerator driven by noise is studied with the purpose of determining the limitations of cooling to absolute zero. The model consists of a working medium coupled simultaneously to hot, cold and noise baths. Explicit expressions for the cooling power are obtained for Gaussian and Poisson white noise. The quantum model is consistent with the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The third law is quantified, the cooling power J_c vanishes as J_c proportional to T_c^{alpha}, when T_c approach 0, where alpha =d+1 for dissipation by emission and absorption of quanta described by a linear coupling to a thermal bosonic field, where d is the dimension of the bath.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Weak Detonations

Detonation of a three-dimensional reactive non-isotropic molecular crystal is modeled using molecular dynamics simulations. The detonation process is initiated by an impulse, followed by the creation of a stable fast reactive shock wave. The terminal shock velocity is independent of the initiation conditions. Further analysis shows supersonic propagation decoupled from the dynamics of the decomposed material left behind the shock front. The dependence of the shock velocity on crystal nonlinear compressibility resembles solitary behavior. These properties categorize the phenomena as a weak detonation. The dependence of the detonation wave on microscopic potential parameters was investigated. An increase in detonation velocity with the reaction exothermicity reaching a saturation value is observed. In all other respects the model crystal exhibits typical properties of a molecular crystal.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2011

Noise and Controllability: suppression of controllability in large quantum systems

A closed quantum system is defined as completely controllable if an arbitrary unitary transformation can be executed using the available controls. In practice, control fields are a source of unavoidable noise. Can one design control fields such that the effect of noise is negligible on the time-scale of the transformation? Complete controllability in practice requires that the effect of noise can be suppressed for an arbitrary transformation. The present study considers a paradigm of control, where the Lie-algebraic structure of the control Hamiltonian is fixed, while the size of the system increases, determined by the dimension of the Hilbert space representation of the algebra. We show that for large quantum systems, generic noise in the controls dominates for a typical class of target transformations i.e., complete controllability is destroyed by the noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Correlation dynamics after short-pulse photoassociation

Two atoms in an ultracold gas are correlated at short inter-atomic distances due to threshold effects where the potential energy of their interaction dominates the kinetic energy. The correlations manifest themselves in a distinct nodal structure of the density matrix at short inter-atomic distances. Pump-probe spectroscopy has recently been suggested [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 260401 (2009)] to probe these pair correlations: A suitably chosen, short photoassociation laser pulse depletes the ground state pair density within the photoassociation window, creating a non-stationary wave packet in the electronic ground state. The dynamics of this non-stationary wave packet is monitored by time-delayed probe and ionization pulses. Here, we discuss how the choice of the pulse parameters affects experimental feasibility of this pump-probe spectroscopy of two-body correlations.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

A Chebychev propagator with iterative time ordering for explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonians

A propagation method for time-dependent Schrödinger equations with an explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonian is developed where time ordering is achieved iteratively. The explicit time-dependence of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is rewritten as an inhomogeneous term. At each step of the iteration, the resulting inhomogeneous Schrödinger equation is solved with the Chebychev propagation scheme presented in J. Chem. Phys. 130, 124108 (2009). The iteratively time-ordering Chebychev propagator is shown to be robust, efficient and accurate and compares very favorably to all other available propagation schemes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Pump-probe spectroscopy of two-body correlations in ultracold gases

We suggest pump-probe spectroscopy to study pair correlations that determine the many-body dynamics in weakly interacting, dilute ultracold gases. A suitably chosen, short laser pulse depletes the pair density locally, creating a 'hole' in the electronic ground state. The dynamics of this non-stationary pair density is monitored by a time-delayed probe pulse. The resulting transient signal allows to spectrally decompose the 'hole' and to map out the pair correlation functions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

The minimal temperature of Quantum Refrigerators

A first principle reciprocating quantum refrigerator is investigated with the purpose of determining the limitations of cooling to absolute zero. We find that if the energy spectrum of the working medium possesses an uncontrollable gap, then there is a minimum achievable temperature above zero. The reason is that such a gap, combined with a negligible amount of noise, prevents adiabatic following during the expansion stage which is necessary condition for reaching T_c --> 0.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2009

Optimal Performance of Quantum Refrigerators

A reciprocating quantum refrigerator is studied with the purpose of determining the limitations of cooling to absolute zero. We find that if the energy spectrum of the working medium possesses an uncontrollable gap, then there is a minimum achievable temperature above zero. Such a gap, combined with a negligible amount of noise, prevents adiabatic following during the demagnetization stage which is the necessary condition for reaching $T_c \to 0$. The refrigerator is based on an Otto cycle where the working medium is an interacting spin system with an energy gap. For this system the external control Hamiltonian does not commute with the internal interaction. As a result during the demagnetization and magnetization segments of the operating cycle the system cannot follow adiabatically the temporal change in the energy levels. We connect the nonadiabatic dynamics to quantum friction. An adiabatic measure is defined characterizing the rate of change of the Hamiltonian. Closed form solutions are found for a constant adiabatic measure for all the cycle segments. We have identified a family of quantized frictionless cycles with increasing cycle times. These cycles minimize the entropy production. Such frictionless cycles are able to cool to $T_c=0$. External noise on the controls eliminates these frictionless cycles. The influence of phase and amplitude noise on the demagnetization and magnetization segments is explicitly derived. An extensive numerical study of optimal cooling cycles was carried out which showed that at sufficiently low temperature the noise always dominates restricting the minimum temperature.

quant-ph↗