We report on the observation of Bragg scattering at 1D atomic lattices. Cold atoms are confined by optical dipole forces at the antinodes of a standing wave generated by the two counterpropagating modes of a laser-driven high-finesse ring cavity. By heterodyning the Bragg-scattered light with a reference beam, we obtain detailed information on phase shifts imparted by the Bragg scattering process. Being deep in the Lamb-Dicke regime, the scattered light is not broadened by the motion of individual atoms.

The resonant transmission of a small annular aperture, with a diameter much smaller than the radiation wavelength, in a thin metal plate is studied at microwave frequencies. It transpires that such an annular aperture supports several resonant guided modes, including those that are not quantized in the azimuthal direction. Such modes have resonant frequencies that are largely independent of the diameter of the annular aperture, thus being supported by annular apertures that tend to zero radius. The transmittance of such a structure at microwave frequencies is detailed and compared with the predictions of a finite element method model.

The evaluation of the valvular opening due to a pulse flow, as is the case of cardiac valves, requires the knowledge of the leaflets material properties and the coupled solution of the fluid and solid equations. This approach is not commonly feasible. A different approach is introduced here to describe the opening behavior of valvular leaflets by a functional kinematic relationship. The asymptotic analysis, in the limit of leaflet opening without vortex shedding, is presented for a two-dimensional rigid leaflet model under the irrotational scheme. The approach is then verified by numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation in asymptotic and nonasymptotic conditions.

We describe a model of cluster aggregation with a source which provides a rare example of an analytically tractable turbulent system. The steady state is characterized by a constant mass flux from small masses to large. Thus it can be studied using a phenomenological theory, inspired by Kolmogorov’s 1941 theory, which assumes constant flux and self-similarity. We prove that such self-similarity is violated in dimensions less than or equal to two. We then use dynamical renormalization group techniques to show that the scaling of multipoint correlation functions implies nontrivial multifractality. The analytical results are supported by Monte Carlo simulations.

We study turbulence in the one-dimensional Burgers equation with a white-in-time, Gaussian random force that has a Fourier-space spectrum $\sim 1/k$, where $k$ is the wave number. From very high-resolution numerical simulations, in the limit of vanishing viscosity, we find evidence for multiscaling of velocity structure functions which cannot be falsified by standard tests. We find a new artifact in which logarithmic corrections can appear disguised as anomalous scaling and conclude that bifractal scaling is likely.

We provide a rigorous theoretical basis for the artificial magnetic activity of metamaterials near resonances. Our approach is a renormalization-based scheme that authorizes a completely general theory. The major result is an explicit expression of the effective permeability, in terms of resonant frequencies. The theoretical results are checked numerically, and we give applications of our theory to left-handed media and to the solution of the Pokrovski-Efros paradox.

This Letter presents a study of the local density of states (LDOS) in photonic quasicrystals. We show that the LDOS of a Penrose-type quasicrystal exhibits small additional band gaps. Among the band gaps, some exhibit a behavior similar to that typical of photonic crystals, while others do not. The development of certain band gaps requires large-size quasicrystals. It is explained by the long-range interactions involved in their formation. Moreover, the frequencies where the band gaps occur are not necessarily explained using single scattering and should therefore involve multiple scattering.

Using a mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric helical turbulence parameter $\alpha$ which is algebraically quenched and disturbed by additional noise, the basic features of geomagnetic polarity reversals are shown to be generic consequences of the dynamo action in the vicinity of exceptional points of the spectrum. This simple paradigmatic model yields long periods of constant polarity which are interrupted by self-accelerating field decays leading to asymmetric polarity reversals. It shows the recently discovered bimodal field distribution, and it gives a natural explanation of the correlation between polarity persistence time and field strength. The dependence of the persistence time on the noise shows typical features of coherence resonance.

A free-falling, spherical, soap-film bubble filled with argon is subjected to a planar $M=2.88$ shock in atmospheric nitrogen; vorticity is deposited on the surface of the bubble during shock interaction, and the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability ensues. The geometrical development of the shocked bubble is diagnosed with laser sheet imaging and a planar slice showing two cross sections of both the major vortex ring and a secondary vortex ring is revealed experimentally for the first time. Quantitative measurements of the experimental data include the vortex velocity defect, and subsequent circulation calculations, along with a new set of relevant length scales. The shock wave strength, leading to a post-shock compressible regime, allows the study of the instability development in a regime between low Mach number shock tube experiments and high Mach number laser driven experiments that has not been investigated previously.

We have used a 100 000 frame-per-second video to analyze the pinch-off of nitrogen gas bubbles in fluids with a wide range of viscosity. If the external fluid is highly viscous (${\eta }_{\mathrm{ext}}>100\mathrm{cP}$), the bubble neck radius is proportional to the time before break, $\tau$, and decreases smoothly to zero. If the external fluid has low viscosity (${\eta }_{\mathrm{ext}}<10\mathrm{cP}$), the radius scales as ${\tau }^{1/2}$ until an instability develops in the gas bubble, which causes the neck to rupture and tear apart. Finally, if the viscosity of the external fluid is in an intermediate range, an elongated thread is formed, which breaks apart into micron-sized bubbles.

We report an observation of a stable solitonlike structure on the surface of a ferrofluid, generated by a local perturbation in the hysteretic regime of the Rosensweig instability. Unlike other pattern-forming systems with localized 2D structures, magnetic fluids are characterized by energy conservation; hence their mechanism of soliton stabilization is different from the previously discussed gain-loss balance mechanism. The radioscopic measurements of the soliton’s surface profile suggest that locking on the wavelength defined by the nonmonotonic dispersion curve is instrumental in its stabilization.

Faraday surface instability measurements of the critical acceleration, $a_{\mathrm{c}}$, and wave number, $k_{\mathrm{c}}$, for standing surface waves on a tetracosanol (${\mathrm{C}}_{24}{\mathrm{H}}_{50}$) melt exhibit abrupt changes at $T_s=54°\mathrm{C}$, $\sim 4°\mathrm{C}$ above the bulk freezing temperature. The measured variations of $a_{\mathrm{c}}$ and $k_{\mathrm{c}}$ vs temperature and driving frequency are accounted for quantitatively by a hydrodynamic model, revealing a change from a free-slip surface flow, generic for a free liquid surface ($T>T_s$), to a surface-pinned, no-slip flow, characteristic of a flow near a wetted solid wall ($T<T_s$). The change at $T_s$ is traced to the onset of surface freezing, where the steep velocity gradient in the surface-pinned flow significantly increases the viscous dissipation near the surface.

The corona splash due to the impact of a liquid drop on a smooth dry substrate is investigated with high-speed photography. A striking phenomenon is observed: splashing can be completely suppressed by decreasing the pressure of the surrounding gas. The threshold pressure where a splash first occurs is measured as a function of the impact velocity and found to scale with the molecular weight of the gas and the viscosity of the liquid. Both experimental scaling relations support a model in which compressible effects in the gas are responsible for splashing in liquid solid impacts.

We report the observation of weak localization of light in a semiconductor microcavity. The intrinsic disorder in a microcavity leads to multiple scattering and hence to static speckle. We show that averaging over realizations of the disorder reveals a coherent backscattering cone that has a coherent enhancement factor $\ge 2$, as required by reciprocity. The coherent backscattering cone is observed along a ring-shaped pattern due to confinement by the microcavity.

We discuss a free boundary problem for two moving solid-liquid interfaces that strongly interact via the diffusion field in the liquid layer between them. This problem arises in the context of liquid film migration (LFM) during the partial melting of solid alloys. In the LFM mechanism the system chooses a more efficient kinetic path which is controlled by diffusion in the liquid film, whereas the process with only one melting front would be controlled by the very slow diffusion in the mother solid phase. The relatively weak coherency strain energy is the effective driving force for LFM. As in the classical dendritic growth problems, also in this case an exact family of steady-state solutions with two parabolic fronts and an arbitrary velocity exists if capillary effects are neglected [D. E. Temkin, Acta Mater. 53, 2733 (2005)]. We develop a velocity-selection theory for this problem, including anisotropic surface tension effects.

Drag reduction by microbubbles is a promising engineering method for improving ship performance. A fundamental theory of the phenomenon is lacking, however, making actual design quite haphazard. We offer here a theory of drag reduction by microbubbles in the limit of very small bubbles, when the effect of the bubbles is mainly to normalize the density and the viscosity of the carrier fluid. The theory culminates with a prediction of the degree of drag reduction given the concentration profile of the bubbles. Comparisons with experiments are discussed and the road ahead is sketched.

We demonstrate the first experimental complete temporal characterization of high-harmonic XUV pulses by spectral phase interferometry, with an all-optical setup. This method allows us to perform single-shot measurements of the harmonic temporal profile and phase, revealing a remarkable shot-to-shot stability. We characterize harmonics generated in argon by a 50 fs 800 nm laser pulse. The 11th harmonic is found to be 22 fs long with a negative chirp rate of $-4.8\times {10}^{27}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$. This duration can be reduced to 13 fs by modulating the polarization of the generating laser. The technique is easy to implement and could be routinely used in femtosecond XUV pump-probe experiments with harmonics.

We experimentally show coherent, enhanced terahertz transmission through dense 3D random metallic media having subwavelength heterogeneity. Preservation of the incident polarization state and strong dispersion of the transmitted radiation indicate that the enhanced transmission is due to delocalized plasmonic propagation over distances 5 orders of magnitude greater than the skin depth. The experimental observations are supported by numerical finite difference time-domain simulations.

The emission frequency of a diode laser submitted to a frequency-dependent optoelectronic feedback is observed to have more than one stable operation point together with a stable power emission. This is, to our knowledge, the first observation of bistability exclusively in the frequency of an optical system. The experiment was carried out with a semiconductor laser coupled to the cesium $D_2$ line by an orthogonally polarized frequency-sensitive optical feedback.

We present mean energy measurements for the atom optics kicked rotor as the kicking period tends to zero. A narrow resonance is observed marked by quadratic energy growth, in parallel with a complete freezing of the energy absorption away from the resonance peak. Both phenomena are explained by classical means, taking proper account of the atoms’ initial momentum distribution.