### Abstract

We find that laser-induced local melting attracts and deforms grain boundaries in 2D colloidal crystals. When a melted region in contact with the edge of a crystal grain recrystallizes, it deforms the grain boundarythis attraction is driven by the multiplicity of deformed grain boundary configurations. Furthermore, the attraction provides a method to fabricate artificial colloidal crystal grains of arbitrary shape, enabling new experimental studies of grain boundary dynamics and ultimately hinting at a novel approach for fabricating materials with designer microstructures.

### Abstract

Two methods of quantifying the spatial resolution of a camera are described, performed, and compared, with the objective of designing an imaging-system experiment for students in an undergraduate optics laboratory. With the goal of characterizing the resolution of a typical digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, we motivate, introduce, and show agreement between traditional test-target contrast measurements and the technique of using Fourier analysis to obtain the modulation transfer function (MTF). The advantages and drawbacks of each method are compared. Finally, we explore the rich optical physics at work in the camera system by calculating the MTF as a function of wavelength and f-number. For example, we find that the Canon 40D demonstrates better spatial resolution at short wavelengths, in accordance with scalar diffraction theory, but is not diffraction-limited, being significantly affected by spherical aberration. The experiment and data analysis routines described here can be built and written in an undergraduate optics lab setting.

### Abstract

We report on the design, construction, and characterisation of a new class of in-vacuo optical levitation trap optimised for use in high-intensity, high-energy laser interaction experiments. The system uses a focused, vertically propagating continuous wave laser beam to capture and manipulate micro-targets by photon momentum transfer at much longer working distances than commonly used by optical tweezer systems. A high speed (10 kHz) optical imaging and signal acquisition system was implemented for tracking the levitated droplets position and dynamic behaviour under atmospheric and vacuum conditions, with ±5 μm spatial resolution. Optical trapping of 10 ± 4 μm oil droplets in vacuum was demonstrated, over timescales of >1 h at extended distances of ~40 mm from the final focusing optic. The stability of the levitated droplet was such that it would stay in alignment with a ~7 μm irradiating beam focal spot for up to 5 min without the need for re-adjustment. The performance of the trap was assessed in a series of high-intensity ($$10^{17}$$ W cm) laser experiments that measured the X-ray source size and inferred free-electron temperature of a single isolated droplet target, along with a measurement of the emitted radio-frequency pulse. These initial tests demonstrated the use of optically levitated microdroplets as a robust target platform for further high-intensity laser interaction and pointsourcestudies.

### Abstract

We present a simple cryostat purpose built for use with surface-electrode ion traps, designed around an affordable, large cooling power commercial pulse tube refrigerator. A modular vacuum enclosure with a single vacuum space facilitates interior access and enables rapid turnaround and flexibility for future modifications. Long rectangular windows provide nearly 360 degrees of optical access in the plane of the ion trap, while a circular bottom window near the trap enables NA 0.4 light collection without the need for in-vacuum optics. We evaluate the system's mechanical and thermal characteristics and we quantify ion trapping performance by trapping 40Ca+, finding small stray electric fields, long ion lifetimes, and low ion heating rates.

### Abstract

In heteroepitaxy, lattice mismatch between the deposited material and the underlying surface strongly affects nucleation and growth processes. The effect of mismatch is well studied in atoms with growth kinetics typically dominated by bond formation with interaction lengths on the order of one lattice spacing. In contrast, less is understood about how mismatch affects crystallization of larger particles, such as globular proteins and nanoparticles, where interparticle interaction energies are often comparable to thermal fluctuations and are short ranged, extending only a fraction of the particle size. Here, using colloidal experiments and simulations, we find particles with short-range attractive interactions form crystals on isotropically strained lattices with spacings significantly larger than the interaction length scale. By measuring the free-energy cost of dimer formation on monolayers of increasing uniaxial strain, we show the underlying mismatched substrate mediates an entropy-driven attractive interaction extending well beyond the interaction length scale. Remarkably, because this interaction arises from thermal fluctuations, lowering temperature causes such substrate- mediated attractive crystals to dissolve. Such counterintuitive results underscore the crucial role of entropy in heteroepitaxy in this technologically important regime. Ultimately, this entropic component of lattice mismatched crystal growth could be used to develop unique methods for heterogeneous nucleation and growth of single crystals for applications ranging from protein crystallization to controlling the assembly of nanoparticles into ordered, functional superstructures. In particular, the construction of substrates with spatially modulated strain profiles would exploit this effect to direct self-assembly, whereby nucleation sites and resulting crystal morphology can be controlled directly through modifications of the substrate.

### Abstract

We present a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap with a pair of integrated waveguides that generate a standing microwave field resonant with the 171Yb+ hyperfine qubit. The waveguides are engineered to position the wave antinode near the center of the trap, resulting in maximum field amplitude and uniformity along the trap axis. By calibrating the relative amplitudes and phases of the waveguide currents, we can control the polarization of the microwave field to reduce off-resonant coupling to undesired Zeeman sublevels. We demonstrate single-qubit π-rotations as fast as 1 μs with less than 6% variation in Rabi frequency over an 800 μm microwave interaction region. Fully compensating pulse sequences further improve the uniformity of X-gates across this interaction region.

### Abstract

A definition of quantum singularity for the case of static spacetimes has has recently been extended to conformally static spacetimes. Here the theory behind quantum singularities in conformally static spacetimes is reviewed and then applied to a class of spherically symmetric, conformally static spacetimes, including as special cases those studied by Roberts, by Fonarev, and by Husain et al. We use solutions of the generally coupled, massless Klein-Gordon equation as test fields. In this way we find the ranges of metric parameters and coupling coefficients for which classical timelike singularities in these spacetimes are healed quantum mechanically.

### Abstract

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap that supports controlled transport through the two-dimensional intersection of linear trapping zones arranged in a 90° cross. The trap is fabricated with very large scalable integration techniques which are compatible with scaling to a large quantum information processor. The shape of the radio-frequency electrodes is optimized with a genetic algorithm to reduce axial pseudopotential barriers and minimize ion heating during transport. Seventy-eight independent dc control electrodes enable fine control of the trapping potentials. We demonstrate reliable ion transport between junction legs and determine the rate of ion loss due to transport. Doppler-cooled ions survive more than $$10^5$$ round-trip transits between junction legs without loss and more than 65 consecutive round trips without laser cooling.

# Recent Publications

Student authorFaculty author

1. Caitlin Ellen Cash, Jeremy Wang, Maya Maria Martirossyan, Brianna Kemper Ludlow, Alejandro E. Baptista, Nina M. Brown, Eli Joseph Weissler, Jatin Abacousnac, and Sharon Gerbode, “Local Melting Attracts Grain Boundaries in Colloidal Polycrystals”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 (2018) 018002. Calvin Leung and Thomas D. Donnelly, “Measuring the spatial resolution of an optical system in an undergraduate optics laboratory”, Am. J. Phys. 85 (2017) 429-438. C. J. Price, Thomas D. Donnelly, S. Giltrap, N. H. Stuart, S. Parker, S. Patankar, H. F. Lowe, D. Drew, E. T. Gumbrell, and R. A. Smith, “An in-vacuo optical levitation trap for high-intensity laser interaction experiments with isolated microtargets”, Rev. Sci. Inst. 86 (2015) 033502. Luke St. Marie, Fangzhao Alex An, Anthony L. Corso, John T. Grasel, and Richard C. Haskell, “Robust, Real-time, Digital Focusing for FD-OCM using ISAM on a GPU”, Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XVIII 8934 (2014) 89342V. Alanna L. Weisberg, Nathaniel J. Bean, Theodore B. DuBose, Elizabeth Orwin, and Richard C. Haskell, “Physical Attributes and Assembly of PEG-linked Immuno-labeled Gold Nanoparticles for OCM Image Contrast in Tissue Engineering and Developmental Biology”, Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XVIII 8934 (2014) 89342V. G. Vittorini, K. Wright, K. R. Brown, A. W. Harter, and Charlie Doret, “Modular cryostat for ion trapping with surface-electrode ion traps”, Rev. Sci. Inst. 84 (2013) 043112. John R. Savage, Stefan F. Hopp, Rajesh Ganapathy, Sharon Gerbode, Andreas Heuer, and I. Cohen, “Entropy-Driven Crystal Formation on Highly Strained Substrates”, PNAS 110 (2013) 9301-9304. C. M. Shappert, J. T. Merrill, K. R. Brown, J. M. Amini, C. Volin, Charlie Doret, H. Hayden, C. -S. Pai, K. R. Brown, and A. W. Harter, “Spatially uniform single-qubit gate operations with near-field microwaves and composite pulse compensation”, New J. Phys. 15 (2013) 083503. Thomas Helliwell and D. A. Konkowski, “Quantum singularities in spherically symmetric, conformally static spacetimes”, Phys. Rev. D 87 (2013) 104041. K. Wright, J. M. Amini, D. L. Faircloth, C. Volin, Charlie Doret, H. Hayden, C. -S. Pai, D. W. Landgren, D. Denison, T. Killian, R. E. Slusher, and A. W. Harter, “Reliable transport through a microfabricated X-junction surface-electrode ion trap”, New J. Phys. 15 (2013) 033004.