Characterizing atom clouds using a charge-coupled device for atom-interferometry-based G measurements.

Precise information of positions and sizes of atom clouds is required for atom-interferometry-based G measurements. In this work, characterizing atom clouds using a charge-coupled device (CCD) is presented. The parameters of atom clouds are extracted from fluorescence images captured by the CCD. For characterization, in-situ calibration of the magnification of the imaging system is implemented using the free-fall distance of atom clouds as the dimension reference. Moreover, influence of the probe beam on measuring the positions of atom clouds is investigated, and a differential measurement by reversing the direction of the probe beam is proposed to suppress the influence. Finally, precision at sub-mm level for characterizing atom clouds is achieved.

Influence of magnetic field on the seismometer in vibration correction for atom gravimeters.

Vibration correction provides a simple and flexible method of suppressing ambient vibration noise in transportable atom gravimeters. However, in the seismometers used for vibration correction, a spurious output may be induced by the magnetic field of the magnetic-optical trap, introducing errors to the gravity measurements. This paper evaluates the influence of the magnetic field on the seismometer and the corresponding errors in the gravity measurements. It is found that an error level of order 10 µGal may be present if the seismometer is not configured carefully. The dependence of the influence on the orientation of the seismometer and the lasting time of the magnetic field are investigated. The effective suppression of the influence by shielding the seismometer is also demonstrated. Our results focus attention on the possible errors related to seismometers in high-precision gravity measurements by using atom gravimeters.

A dual-magneto-optical-trap atom gravity gradiometer for determining the Newtonian gravitational constant.

As part of a program to determine the gravitational constant G using multiple independent methods in the same laboratory, an atom gravity gradiometer is being developed. The gradiometer is designed with two magneto-optical traps to ensure both the fast simultaneous launch of two atomic clouds and an optimized configuration of source masses. Here, the design of the G measurement by atom interferometry is detailed, and the experimental setup of the atom gravity gradiometer is reported. A preliminary sensitivity of 3 × 10-9 g/Hz to differential gravity acceleration is obtained, which corresponds to 99 E/Hz (1 E = 10-9 s-2) for the gradiometer with a baseline of 0.3 m. This provides access to measuring G at the level of less than 200 parts per million in the first experimental stage.

Measuring the effective height for atom gravimeters by applying a frequency jump to Raman lasers.

As the existence of the gravity gradient, the output of gravimeters is actually the gravitational acceleration at the reference instrumental height. Precise knowledge of the reference height is indispensable in the utilization of gravity measurements, especially for absolute gravimeters. Here, we present an interferometric method to measure the distance between the atomic cloud and a reflecting mirror directly, which consequently determines the reference height of our atom gravimeter. This interferometric method is based on a frequency jump of Raman lasers applied at the π pulse of the atom interferometer, which induces an additional phase shift proportional to the interested distance. An uncertainty of 2 mm is achieved here for the distance measurement, and the effect of the gravity gradient on absolute gravity measurements can thus be constrained within 1 µGal. This work provides a concrete-object-based measurement of the reference height for atom gravimeters.

Effects of wave-front tilt and air density fluctuations in a sensitive atom interferometry gyroscope.

We present a matter wave gyroscope with a Sagnac area of 5.92 cm2, achieving a short-term sensitivity of 167 nrad/s/Hz1/2. The atom interferometry gyroscope is driven by a π/2 - π - π - π/2 Raman pulse sequence based on an atom fountain with a parabolic trajectory. The phase-locked laser beams for Raman transitions partly propagate outside of the vacuum chamber and expose to the air when passing through the two arms of the vacuum chamber. This configuration leads to the tilt of the laser's wave-front and suffers the fluctuation of air density. The impacts on both the fringe contrast and long-term stability are experimentally investigated in detail, and effective schemes are developed to improve the performance of our atom gyroscope. The method presented here could be useful for developing large atom interferometry facilities with separated vacuum chambers.

A compact laser system for a portable atom interferometry gravimeter.

A compact laser system for a portable 87Rb atom interferometry gravimeter has been demonstrated in this work. This laser system is based on frequency doubling of a single seed laser at the wavelength of 1560 nm. The frequency of the seed laser is controlled by a digital unit with an analog feedback circuit. By using this frequency control method, the frequency of the laser system can be shifted over 1 GHz. Based on this method, the Raman frequency can be locked on the F = 3 → F' = 4 transition of 85Rb atoms. Moreover, the Raman sideband and the repumping laser are generated by a phase modulator, and it can generate different laser frequencies to meet the requirements of a typical atom interferometer. Additional sidebands in the Raman beam produced from the phase modulator are optimized and reduced, allowing us to observe atom interference with a free evolution time of 320 ms. The control unit including the laser system has been integrated into a box with a volume of 1.5 m × 0.6 m × 0.6 m, and the weight of which is only 150 kg. Using this compact optical scheme, our atomic gravimeter has achieved a sensitivity of 53 µGal/Hz1/2 and a resolution of better than 1 µGal (1 µGal = 1 × 10-8 m/s2) in an integration time of 3000 s.

Note: Effect of the parasitic forced vibration in an atom gravimeter.

The vibration isolator usually plays an important role in atom interferometry gravimeters to improve their sensitivity. We show that the parasitic forced vibration of the Raman mirror, which is induced by external forces acting on the vibration isolator, can cause a bias in atom gravimeters. The mechanism of how this effect induces an additional phase shift in our interferometer is analyzed. Moreover, modulation experiments are performed to measure the dominant part of this effect, which is caused by the magnetic force between the passive vibration isolator and the coil of the magneto-optic trap. In our current apparatus, this forced vibration contributes a systematic error of -2.3(2) × 10-7 m/s2 when the vibration isolator works in the passive isolation mode. Even suppressed with an active vibration isolator, this effect can still contribute -6(1) × 10-8 m/s2; thus, it should be carefully considered in precision atom gravimeters.

Roles of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress in intracerebral hemorrhage-induced secondary brain injury in rats.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the roles of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)-induced secondary brain injury (SBI) in rats. METHODS: Autophagy inducer (rapamycin) and inhibitor (3-methyladenine), as well as ER stress activator (tunicamycin, TM) and inhibitor (tauroursodeoxycholic acid, TUDCA), were used. Bafilomycin A1, an inhibitor of autophagosome-lysosome fusion, was used to assess autophagic flux. RESULTS: Autophagy and ER stress were enhanced in the week after ICH. At 6 hours after ICH, autophagy was excessive, while the autophagic flux was damaged at 72 hours and return to be intact at 7 days after ICH. At 6 hours after ICH, ER stress induction by TM could enhance autophagy and lead to caspase 12-mediated apoptosis and neuronal degeneration, which was further aggravated by autophagy induction. At 7 days after ICH, ER stress inhibition by TUDCA still could suppress ICH-induced SBI. And, the effects of TUDCA were enhanced by autophagy induction. CONCLUSIONS: At 6 hours after ICH, excessive autophagy may participate in ER stress-induced brain injury; at 7 days after ICH, autophagy could enhance the protection of ER stress inhibitor possibly via clearing up the cell rubbish generated due to the early-stage damaged autophagic flux.

Test of the Universality of Free Fall with Atoms in Different Spin Orientations.

We report a test of the universality of free fall by comparing the gravity acceleration of the ^{87}Rb atoms in m_{F}=+1 versus those in m_{F}=-1, of which the corresponding spin orientations are opposite. A Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometer is exploited to alternately measure the free fall acceleration of the atoms in these two magnetic sublevels, and the resultant Eötvös ratio is η_{S}=(0.2±1.2)×10^{-7}. This also gives an upper limit of 5.4×10^{-6} m^{-2} for a possible gradient field of the spacetime torsion. The interferometer using atoms in m_{F}=±1 is highly sensitive to the magnetic field inhomogeneity. A double differential measurement method is developed to alleviate the inhomogeneity influence, of which the effectiveness is validated by a magnetic field modulating experiment.

Note: Directly measuring the direct digital synthesizer frequency chirp-rate for an atom interferometer.

During gravity measurements with Raman type atom interferometry, the frequency of the laser used to drive Raman transition is scanned by chirping the frequency of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS), and the local gravity is determined by precisely measuring the chip rate α of DDS. We present an effective method that can directly evaluate the frequency chirp rate stability of our DDS. By mixing a pair of synchronous linear sweeping signals, the chirp rate fluctuation is precisely measured with a frequency counter. The measurement result shows that the relative α instability can reach 5.7 × 10(-11) in 1 s, which is neglectable in a 10(-9) g level atom interferometry gravimeter.

Note: A three-dimension active vibration isolator for precision atom gravimeters.

An ultra-low frequency active vibration isolator, simultaneously suppressing three-dimensional vibration noise, is demonstrated experimentally. The equivalent natural period of the isolator is 100 s and 12 s for the vertical and horizontal direction, respectively. The vibration noise in the vertical direction is about 50 times reduced during 0.2 and 2 Hz, and 5 times reduced in the other two orthogonal directions in the same frequency range. This isolator is designed for atom gravimeters, especially suitable for the gravimeter whose sensitivity is limited by vibration couplings.

Suppression of wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 1 expression by small interfering RNA inhibits U251 glioma cell growth in vitro.

A Wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 1 (Wnt-1) RNA interference expression vector was constructed during the present study, which was used to transfect the glioma U251 cell line and investigate its effect on glioma. Two 21-base oligonucleotides complementary to the coding sequence that was flanking the loop sequence were designed to form a DNA hairpin template for the target small interfering RNA (siRNA). The siRNA templates were cloned into the siRNA expression vector, pGPU6/green fluorescent protein (GFP)/Neo and the sequence was confirmed by DNA sequencing. The pGPU6/GFP/Neo-short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-Wnt-1 vector was subsequently transfected into U251 cells, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were used to evaluate the Wnt-1 gene silencing effect on U251 cell growth by MTT assay and flow cytometry. The Wnt-1 protein expression was significantly reduced following transfection with the recombinant plasmid, as determined by western blot analysis of the transfected U251 cells. This transfection exhibited a significantly higher death rate, as shown by MTT. Thus, the present study demonstrated that the pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-Wnt-1 vector inhibited Wnt-1 protein expression. However, further investigations regarding the Wnt signaling pathway in glioma pathogenesis are required.

Investigating the frequency-dependent amplification of a tapered amplifier in atom interferometers.

We present the investigation on the frequency-dependent amplification (FDA) of a tapered amplifier (TA) and the corresponding influence on Raman-type atom interferometers. In our interferometer, the output of two phase-locked diode lasers is injected into a TA to generate Raman beams. The frequency of one laser is chirped during the interfering process, which induces a variance of the Raman lasers power as a result of the FDA of the TA. The corresponding power ratio variation of the Raman lasers is measured by beat note method, which shows a linear dependence with a slope of -0.087(4)/GHz when the laser frequency changes over 2 GHz at 780 nm. The corresponding error related to AC Stark effect due to this frequency-dependent variation is estimated for our atom interferometer. The investigation presented here may provide hints for other experiments involving TAs.