Slave atoms

In Florence, we have chosen an approach that combines laser spectroscopy with the direct frequency measures of the microwave experiments [4]. We take advantage of the obvious consideration that to obtain the FS separations there s no need to precisely know the optical transitions frequencies but just their differences. Thus, if we have two laser frequencies whose difference can be accurately controlled, we may use one as a fixed reference and tune the second across the atomic resonances, as illustrated by Fig. 1. In fact, our approach reverts to an heterodyne technique, where all the transitions are measured with respect to the same reference frequency, that can take any arbitrary but stable value. In the experimental realisation we obtain the two frequencies by phase-locking two diode lasers (master and slave), i.e. phase-locking their beat note to a microwave oscillator [14]. We show in Fig 2 a full-view of the experimental set-up. 

We detected the saturated fluorescence emitted by a beam of 23S metastable atoms as they cross at right angle the slave laser light. A 1015 atoms/s.sterad flux of metastable helium atoms was produced by electronic collisions in a DC discharge of a helium atomic beam, similar to that described in [15]. To improve the precision of the linecenter determination, we increased the signal-to-noise ratio S/N by means of standard frequency modulation the third harmonic demodulated lineshape is shown in Fig. 4. The function expected for a Lorentzian spectrum was fit and linecenters were calculated with an uncertainty ranging between 10 kHz and 20 kHz, that is consistent with the observed S/N, mainly limited by the stability of the reference frequency and of the metastable helium beam. The reproducibility was two or three times worse than the uncertainty,... 

Now comes the interesting question How do we make such a tiny mechanism I leave that to you. However, let me suggest one weird possibility. You know, in the atomic energy plants they have materials and machines that they can t handle directly because they have become radioactive. To unscrew nuts and put on bolts and so on, they have a set of master and slave hands, so that by operating a set of levers here. 

See Wiater and Bissette, Comic Book Rebels. It s Science... with Dr. Radium 2 (January 1987) (Slave Labor Graphics). Dr. Schnuke s Atomic Water Story (n.d.) (Waffle Comics). Corporate Crime Comics 1 (1977) (Kitchen Sink). 

Under external stimulus, one part of the 0 H-0 bond serves as the muster and the other as a slave. Coulomb repulsion between electron pairs on oxygen dislocates the O atoms in the same direction under excitation along the 0 H—0 bond but by different amounts. The softer 0 H bond relaxes always more than the stiffer H-0 bond does. 

Fig. 33.3 Forces and relaxation dynamics of the segmented 0 H-0 bond. Asymmetric and coupling relaxation dynamics of the master-slave-segmented 0 H-0 bond in water ice under applied stimulus. Short-range interactions of intramolecular H-O bond exchange interaction, intermolecular 0 H non-bond vdW interaction (broken red lines), interelectron-pair Coulomb repulsion (broken white lines), forces of Coulomb repulsion /q, deformation recoveryand the force driving relaxation acting on the electron pairs (small dots). H atom is the coordinate origin. Because of the strength disparity, Mi] > lAdnl the Coulomb repulsion makes the Adg and the A l shift in the same direction by different amounts (Reprinted with permission from [14])...

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