arXiv subjects

Z. H. Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Z. H. Lu.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

A large scale passive laser gyroscope for Earth rotation sensing

Earth rotation sensing has many applications in different disciplines, such as for the monitoring of ground motions, the establishment of UT1 and the test of the relativistic Lense-Thirring effect on the ground. We report the development of a 1 m*1 m heterolithic passive resonant gyroscope (PRG). By locking a pair of laser beams to adjacent modes of the square ring cavity in the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, we achieve a rotation resolution of about 2E-9 rad/s at an integration time of 1000 s. The sensitivity of the PRG for rotations reaches a level of 2E-9 rad/s/rtHz in the 5-100~Hz region, currently limited by the detection noise, residual amplitude modulation and the mechanical instability of the cavity. Our initial results improve the reported rotation sensitivity of the PRGs and indicate that PRGs have a great potential for high-resolution Earth rotation sensing.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Thermal noise limited higher-order mode locking of a reference cavity

Higher-order mode locking has been proposed to reduce the thermal noise limit of reference cavities. By locking a laser to the HG02 mode of a 10-cm long all ULE cavity, and measure its performance with the three-cornered-hat method among three independently stabilized lasers, we demonstrate a thermal noise limited performance of a fractional frequency instability of 4.9E-16. The results match the theoretical models with higher-order optical modes. The achieved laser instability improves the all ULE short cavity results to a new low level.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Direct laser cooling Al+ ions optical clocks

Al$^+$ ions optical clock is a very promising optical frequency standard candidate due to its extremely small blackbody radiation shift. It has been successfully demonstrated with indirect cooled, quantum-logic-based spectroscopy technique. Its accuracy is limited by second-order Doppler shift, and its stability is limited by the number of ions that can be probed in quantum logic processing. We propose a direct laser cooling scheme of Al$^+$ ions optical clocks where both the stability and accuracy of the clocks are greatly improved. In the proposed scheme, two Al$^+$ ions traps are utilized. The first trap is used to trap a large number of Al$^+$ ions to improve the stability of the clock laser, while the second trap is used to trap a single Al$^+$ ions to provide the ultimate accuracy. Both traps are cooled with a continuous wave 167 nm laser. The expected clock laser stability can reach $9.0\times10^{-17}/\sqrtτ$. For the second trap, in addition to 167 nm laser Doppler cooling, a second stage pulsed 234 nm two-photon cooling laser is utilized to further improve the accuracy of the clock laser. The total systematic uncertainty can be reduced to about $1\times10^{-18}$. The proposed Al$^+$ ions optical clock has the potential to become the most accurate and stable optical clock.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

CaF2 Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonator Stabilized Narrow Linewidth Laser

A fiber laser is stabilized using a Calcium Fluoride (CaF2) whispering-gallery-mode resonator. It is set up using a semiconductor optical amplifier as a gain medium. The resonator is critically coupled through prisms, and used as a filtering element to suppress the laser linewidth. Using the self-heterodyne beat technique the linewidth is determined to be 13 kHz. This implies an enhancement factor of 10^3 with respect to the passive cavity linewidth. The three-cornered hat method shows a stability of 10^(-11) after 10 μs.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2012

Design of an optical reference cavity with low thermal noise and flexible thermal expansion properties

An ultrastable optical reference cavity with re-entrant fused silica mirrors and a ULE spacer structure is designed through finite element analysis. The designed cavity has a low thermal noise limit of $1\times10^{-16}$ and a flexible zero crossing temperature of the effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The CTE zero crossing temperature difference between a composite cavity and a pure ULE cavity can be tuned from $-10\ ^{\circ}$C to $23\ ^{\circ}$C, which enables operation of the designed reference cavity near room temperature without worrying about the CTE zero crossing temperature of the ULE spacer. The design can be applied to cavities with different lengths. Vibration immunity of the cavity is also achieved through structure optimization.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

Sub-hertz frequency stabilization of a commercial diode laser

We report ultra-stable locking of a commercially available extended cavity diode laser to a vibration-insensitive high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. A servo bandwidth of 2 MHz is demonstrated. The absolute stability of the diode laser after locking is measured with a three-cornered-hat method. The resulting Allan deviation reaches a level of $2.95\times10^{-15}$ at 1 s, corresponding to only 0.93 Hz linewidth, even without vibration isolation of the reference cavity.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

A vibration-insensitive optical cavity and absolute determination of its ultrahigh stability

We use the three-cornered-hat method to evaluate the absolute frequency stabilities of three different ultrastable reference cavities, one of which has a vibration-insensitive design that does not even require vibration isolation. An Nd:YAG laser and a diode laser are implemented as light sources. We observe $\sim1$ Hz beat note linewidths between all three cavities. The measurement demonstrates that the vibration-insensitive cavity has a good frequency stability over the entire measurement time from 100 $μ$s to 200 s. An absolute, correlation-removed Allan deviation of $1.4\times10^{-15}$ at 1 s of this cavity is obtained, giving a frequency uncertainty of only 0.44 Hz.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

An Optical Clock Based on Coherent Population Trapping of Alkaline-earth Ions

An ultra-stable optical clock based on coherent population trapping effect of alkaline-earth ions, such as Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, Ba$^+$, is analyzed here. The proposed transitions use the odd isotopes, so that the frequency shift is insensitive to the applied magnetic field. To enhance the signal, a large number of ions are trapped in a linear Paul trap, and laser cooled to crystallize such that the ions are in the Lamb-Dicke regime to avoid first order Doppler shift. Other relevant frequency shifts are also analyzed. Further techniques to improve the stability of the clock signal are discussed.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Physics Exploring Gravity in the Outer Solar System: The Sagas Project

We summarise the scientific and technological aspects of the SAGAS (Search for Anomalous Gravitation using Atomic Sensors) project, submitted to ESA in June 2007 in response to the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 call for proposals. The proposed mission aims at flying highly sensitive atomic sensors (optical clock, cold atom accelerometer, optical link) on a Solar System escape trajectory in the 2020 to 2030 time-frame. SAGAS has numerous science objectives in fundamental physics and Solar System science, for example numerous tests of general relativity and the exploration of the Kuiper belt. The combination of highly sensitive atomic sensors and of the laser link well adapted for large distances will allow measurements with unprecedented accuracy and on scales never reached before. We present the proposed mission in some detail, with particular emphasis on the science goals and associated measurements.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Charge carrier induced barrier height reduction at organic heterojunctions

In order to provide an accurate theoretical description of current density voltage (J-V) characteristics of an organic heterojunction device over a wide range of electric fields at various temperatures, it is proposed that an accumulation of charge carriers at the heterojunction will lead to a reduction in the barrier height across the heterojunction. Two well-known hole transporting materials, 4,4,4-Tris(N-3-methylphenyl-N-phenyl-amino) triphenylamine (MTDATA) and N,N-diphenyl-N,N-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1-biphenyl)-4,4diamine (NPB) were used to fabricate unipolar heterojunction devices. It is found that the J-V characteristics depends strongly on applied bias. The simulated J-V characteristics of the heterojunction device, with the modified injection model, are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Metallic behaviour of carrier-polarized C$_{60}$ molecular layers: Experiment and Theory

Although C$_{60}$ is a molecular crystal with a bandgap E$_g$ of ~2.5 eV, we show that E$_g$ is strongly affected by injected charge. In sharp contrast to the Coulomb blockade typical of quantum dots, E$_g$ is {\it reduced} by the Coulomb effects. The conductance of a thin C$_{60}$ layer sandwiched between metal (Al, Ag, Au, Mg and Pt) contacts is investigated. Excellent Ohmic conductance is observed for Al electrodes protected with ultra-thin LiF layers. First-principles calculations, Hubbard models etc., show that the energy gap of C$_{60}$ is dramatically reduced when electrons hop from C$_{60}^-$ to C$_{60}$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Molecular electronics exploiting sharp structure in the electrode density-of-states. Negative differential resistance and Resonant Tunneling in a poled molecular layer on Al/LiF electrodes

Density-functional calculations are used to clarify the role of an ultrathin LiF layer on Al electrodes used in molecular electronics. The LiF layer creates a sharp density of states (DOS), as in a scanning-tunneling microscope (STM) tip. The sharp DOS, coupled with the DOS of the molecule leads to negative differential resistance (NDR). Electron transfer between oriented molecules occurs via resonant tunneling. The I-V characteristic for a thin-film of tris (8-hydroxyquinoline)- aluminum (AlQ) molecules, oriented using electric-field poling, and sandwiched between two Al/LiF electrodes is in excellent agreement with theory. This molecular device presents a new paradigm for a convenient, robust, inexpensive alternative to STM or mechanical break-junction structures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

$Δ$-scaling and Information Entropy in Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

The $Δ$-scaling method has been applied to ultra-relativistic p+p, C+C and Pb+Pb collision data simulated using a high energy Monte Carlo package, LUCIAE 3.0. The $Δ$-scaling is found to be valid for some physical variables, such as charged particle multiplicity, strange particle multiplicity and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions from these simulated nucleus-nucleus collisions over an extended energy ranging from $E_{lab}$ = 20 to 200 A GeV. In addition we derived information entropy from the multiplicity distribution as a function of beam energy for these collisions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv1997

An analysis of photoemission and inverse photoemission spectra of Si(111) and sulphur-passivated InP(001) surfaces

Photoemission (PES) and inverse-photoemission spectra (IPES) for the sulphur-passivated InP(001) surface are compared with theoretical predictions based on density-functional calculations. As a test case for our methods, we also present a corresponding study of the better known Si(111) surface. The reported spectra for InP(001)-S agree well with the calculated ones if the surface is assumed to consist of a mixture of two phases, namely, the fully S-covered $(2\times2)$-reconstructed structure, which contains four S atoms in the surface unit-cell, and a $(2\times2)$ structure containing two S and two P atoms per unit cell. The latter has recently been identified in total-energy calculations as well as in core-level spectra of S-passivated Si(111)-$(2\times1)$ is in excellent agreement with the calculations. The comparison of the experimental-PES with our calculations provides additional considerations regarding the nature of the sample surface. It is also found that the commonly-used density-of-states approximation to the photo- and inverse- photoemission spectra is not valid for these systems.

cond-mat↗