We employ periodic density functional theory to explore the effect of cyclic tensile loading on the behavior of alumina in the threshold region of crack formation. We find evidence for nanoscale fatigue when the alumina lattice is subjected to uniaxial tensile loading and unloading and tensile stresses normal to the applied load. It is possible that such atomic-scale fatigue impacts the durabil...

We localize Cs atoms in wavelength-sized potential wells of an optical lattice, and cool them to a three-dimensional temperature of 700 nK by adiabatic expansion. In the optical lattice we precool the atoms to ø1 mK. We then reduce the trapping potential in a few hundred ms, causing the atomic center-of-mass distribution to expand and the temperature to decrease by an amount which agrees with a...

We propose a precision measurement of time variations of the proton-electron mass ratio using ultracold molecules in an optical lattice. Vibrational energy intervals are sensitive to changes of the mass ratio. In contrast to measurements that use hyperfine-interval-based atomic clocks, the scheme discussed here is model independent and does not require separation of time variations of different...

A new intermetallic tetrahedrally close-packed phase, called the C phase, was found coexisting with the C14 Laves phase by means of high-resolution electron microscopy and selected-area electron diffraction. Its space group and lattice parameters are: B2/m, a = 17.8, b =7.7 , c =4 .7 ~ , ~/= 99° and Z =50 (e.s.d.'s of lattice parameters ca 0.05 A). Its atomic coordinates and orientation relatio...

We present a new technique for stabilizing and monitoring Bloch oscillations of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice under the action of a constant external force. In the proposed scheme, the atoms also interact with a unidirectionally pumped optical ring cavity whose one arm is collinear with the optical lattice. For weak collective coupling, Bloch oscillations dominate over the collective at...

We study vibrational energy transport in a quasi 1-D harmonic chain with both longitudinal and transverse vibrations. We demonstrate via both numerical simulation and theoretic analysis that for 1-D atomic chain connected by 3D harmonic springs, the coefficient of heat conduction changes continuously with its lattice constant, indicating the qualitative difference from the corresponding 1-D cas...

We study the dynamics of a narrow bright soliton in a one-dimensional lattice of condensed attractive atoms when the soliton width is comparable to the lattice spacing. If a momentum is imprinted to a stationary state, the soliton can have oscillations around a site or it can undergo a random motion along the array. The motion is very sensitive to the atomic background distribution, and a therm...

We study squeezed quantum states of phonons, which allow the possibility of modulating the quantum fluctuations of atomic displacements below the zero-point quantum noise level of coherent phonon states. We calculate the corresponding expectation values and fluctuations of both the atomic displacement and lattice amplitude operators, and also investigate the possibility of generating squeezed p...

We present the design of a ring exchange interaction in cold atomic gases subjected to an optical lattice using well-understood tools for manipulating and controlling such gases. The strength of this interaction can be tuned independently and describes the correlated hopping of two bosons. We discuss a setup where this coupling term may allow for the realization and observation of exotic quantu...

We numerically calculate the reliability with which one can optically determine the presence or absence of an individual scatterer in a randomly occupied three-dimensional array of well-localized, coherently radiating scatterers. The reliability depends on the ratio of lattice spacing to wavelength and on the numerical aperture of the imaging system. The behavior can be qualitatively understood...