arXiv subjects

X. Su

Publications and source records attributed to X. Su.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

AION-10: Technical Design Report for a 10m Atom Interferometer in Oxford

This Technical Design Report presents AION-10, a 10-meter atom interferometer to be located at Oxford University using ultracold strontium atoms to make precision measurements of fundamental physics. AION-10 serves as both a prototype for future larger-scale experiments and a versatile scientific instrument capable of conducting its own diverse physics programme. The design features a 10-meter vertical tower housing two atom interferometer sources in an ultra-high vacuum environment. Key engineering challenges include achieving nanometer-level vibrational stability and precise magnetic field control. Solutions include active vibration isolation, specialized magnetic shielding, and a modular assembly approach using professional lifting equipment. Detailed analysis confirms the design meets all performance requirements, with critical optical components remaining within our specifications 97% of the time under realistic operating conditions. Vacuum and vibration measurements in the host building validate that the instrument will achieve the precision needed for quantum sensing applications. This work establishes the technical foundation for scaling atom interferometry to longer baselines while creating a cutting-edge facility for precision measurements that could advance our understanding of fundamental physics.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

A prototype differential atom interferometer for fundamental physics

Gravitational waves and ultralight dark matter are among the most compelling frontiers in fundamental physics, motivating proposals for Very Long-Baseline Atom Interferometers (VLBAIs) such as AION, MAGIS, AICE and AEDGE that aim to detect frequencies at which ground-based and space-borne laser interferometers lose sensitivity. VLBAIs look for signals by comparing the quantum phase evolution of widely separated atomic ensembles interrogated by a common laser. However, their performance depends critically on suppressing noise sources, particularly laser phase noise. Experimental validation of such noise rejection remains an important challenge. Here we demonstrate a prototype differential atom interferometer based on the single-photon clock transition of fermionic 87Sr, realising for the first time a gradiometer configuration with a species intrinsically suited to kilometre-scale and space-baseline operation. The instrument operates at the Standard Quantum Limit with no excess noise beyond atom shot noise, and the differential configuration maintains quantum-limited sensitivity in the presence of several radians of artificially injected laser phase noise per shot, emulating the conditions expected in a VLBAI. We further demonstrate recovery of coherent oscillatory signals across a broad frequency range under fully phase-randomised conditions, a capability that is inaccessible to a single interferometer operating in the same regime. These results provide an experimental validation of the noise-immune measurement principle underlying VLBAIs and mark an important step towards next-generation quantum sensors for gravitational-wave detection and searches for ultralight dark matter.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Phonon Fingerprints of CsPb2Br5 Single Crystals

CsPb2Br5 is a stable, water-resistant, material derived from CsPbBr3 perovskite and featuring two-dimensional Pb-Br framework separated by Cs layers. Both compounds can coexist at nano- length scale, which often produces conflicting optical spectroscopy results. We present a complete set of polarized Raman spectra of nonluminescent CsPb2Br5 single crystals that reveals the symmetry and frequency of nondegenerate Raman active phonons accessible from the basal (001) plane. The experimental results are in good agreement with density functional perturbation theory simulations, which suggests that the calculated frequencies of yet unobserved double degenerate Raman and infrared phonons are also reliable. Unlike CsPbBr3, the lattice dynamics of CsPb2Br5 is stable as evidenced by the calculated phonon dispersion. The sharp Raman lines and lack of a dynamic- disorder-induced central peak in the spectra at room temperature indicate that the coupling of Cs anharmonic motion to Br atoms, known to cause the dynamic disorder in CsPbBr3, is absent in CsPb2Br5.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Capacitive Deionization -- defining a class of desalination technologies

Over the past decade, capacitive deionization (CDI) has realized a surge in attention in the field of water desalination and can now be considered as an important technology class, along with reverse osmosis and electrodialysis. While many of the recently developed technologies no longer use a mechanism that follows the strict definition of the term "capacitive", these methods nevertheless share many common elements that encourage treating them with similar metrics and analyses. Specifically, they all involve electrically driven removal of ions from a feed stream, storage in an electrode (i.e., ion electrosorption) and release, in charge/discharge cycles. Grouping all these methods in the technology class of CDI makes it possible to treat evolving new technologies in standardized terms and compare them to other technologies in the same class.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2017

Wave propagation and homogenization in 2D and 3D lattices: a semi-analytical approach

Wave motion in two- and three-dimensional periodic lattices of beam members supporting longitudinal and flexural waves is considered. An analytic method for solving the Bloch wave spectrum is developed, characterized by a generalized eigenvalue equation obtained by enforcing the Floquet condition. The dynamic stiffness matrix is shown to be explicitly Hermitian and to admit positive eigenvalues. Lattices with hexagonal, rectangular, tetrahedral and cubic unit cells are analyzed. The semi-analytical method can be asymptotically expanded for low frequency yielding explicit forms for the Christoffel matrix describing wave motion in the quasistatic limit.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2000

Orbital character of O 2p unoccupied states near the Fermi level in CrO2

The orbital character, orientation, and magnetic polarization of the O 2$p$ unoccupied states near the Fermi level ($E_F$) in CrO$_2$ was determined using polarization-dependent X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) from high-quality, single-crystal films. A sharp peak observed just above $E_F$ is excited only by the electric field vector ($\bf E$) normal to the tetragonal $c$-axis, characteristic of a narrow band ($\approx$ 0.7 eV bandwidth) constituted from O 2$p$ orbitals perpendicular to $c$ (O 2$p_y$) hybridized with Cr 3$d_{xz-yz}$ $t_{2g}$ states. By comparison with band-structure and configuration-interaction (CI) cluster calculations our results support a model of CrO$_2$ as a half-metallic ferromagnet with large exchange-splitting energy ($Δ_{exch-split}$ $\approx$ 3.0 eV) and substantial correlation effects.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗