Underdamped Regime Research Articles

Dynamics of microscopic objects in optical tweezers: experimental determination of underdamped regime and numerical simulation using multiscale analysis

This article presents new experimental observations and numerical simulations to investigate the dynamic behavior of micro–nano-sized objects under the influence of optical tweezers (OTs). OTs are scientific tools that can apply forces and moments to small particles using a focused laser beam. The motions of three polystyrene microspheres of different diameters, 1,950, 990, and 500 nm, are examined. The results show a transition from the overdamped motion of the largest bead to the underdamped motion of the smallest bead. The experiments are verified using a dynamic model of a microbead under the influence of Gaussian beam OTs that is modeled using ray-optics. The time required to numerically integrate the classic Newton–Euler model is quite long because a picosecond step size must be used. This run time can be reduced using a first-order model, and greatly reduced using a new multiscale model. The difference between these two models is the underdamped behavior predicted by the multiscale model. The experimentally observed underdamped behavior proves that the multiscale model predicts the actual physics of a nano-sized particle moving in a fluid environment characterized by a low Reynolds number.

LANDAU–ZENER TRANSITIONS IN THE PRESENCE OF HARMONIC NOISE

We study the influence of off-diagonal harmonic noise on transitions in a Landau–Zener model. We demonstrate that the harmonic noise can change the transition probabilities substantially and that its impact depends strongly on the characteristic frequency of the noise. In the underdamped regime of the noise process, its effect is compared with the one of a deterministic sinusoidally oscillating function. While altering the properties of the noise process allows one to engineer the transitions probabilities, driving the system with a deterministic sinusoidal function can result in larger and more controlled changes of the transition probability. This may be relevant for realistic implementations of our model with Bose–Einstein condensates in noise-driven optical lattices.

Spontaneous nucleation and dynamics of kink defects in zigzag arrays of trapped ions

The spontaneous nucleation and dynamics of topological kink defects have been studied in trapped arrays of 41--43 Yb ions. The number of kinks formed as a function of quench rate across the linear-zigzag transition is measured in the underdamped regime of the inhomogeneous Kibble-Zurek theory. The experimental results agree well with molecular dynamics simulations, which show how losses mask the intrinsic nucleation rate. Simulations indicate that doubling the ion number and optimization of laser cooling can help reduce the effect of losses. A range of kink dynamics is observed including configural change, motion and lifetime, and behavioral sensitivity to ion number.

Singular probability distribution of shot-noise driven systems

We study the stationary probability distribution of a system driven by shot noise. We find that both in the overdamped and underdamped regime, the coordinate distribution displays power-law singularities in its central part. For sufficiently low rate of noise pulses they correspond to distribution peaks. We find the positions of the peaks and the corresponding exponents. In the underdamped regime the peak positions are given by a geometric progression. The energy distribution in this case also displays multiple peaks with positions given by a geometric progression. Such structure is a signature of the shot-noise induced fluctuations. The analytical results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations.

Fluctuating noise drives Brownian transport.

The transport properties of Brownian ratchet were studied in the presence of stochastic intensity noise in both overdamped and underdamped regimes. In the overdamped case, an analytical solution using the matrix-continued fraction method revealed the existence of a maximum current when the noise intensity fluctuates on intermediate timescale regions. Similar effects were observed for the underdamped case by Monte Carlo simulations. The optimal time-correlation for Brownian transport coincided with the experimentally observed time-correlation of the extrinsic noise in Escherichia coli gene expression and implied the importance of environmental noise for molecular mechanisms.

Radiation and near field in resistance-inductor circuit transients

A full wave solution to the classical problem of a transient response in an RL circuit is analyzed. We show that when radiation effects are rigorously taken into account, the response differs from a familiar exponential decay. The circuit behaves more like an RLC circuit and can exhibit an underdamped response. As a result of a two way energy transfer between the circuit and the near field in the underdamped regime, despite the radiation losses, current decay may be slower than predicted by the standard RL circuit model. During a transient, when retardation effects become important, inductance can no longer be defined as a coefficient of proportionality between the magnetic flux through the circuit and the current in the circuit. If rate of current decay is nearly constant, one can define a time-dependent generalized inductance which turns into conventional inductance after time D/c, where D is the diameter of the current loop. Connection of this generalized inductance with the radiation damping problem is discussed. The theory developed in this paper has been used to analyze ultra wide band radiation observed during a fast laser triggered superconducting to normal transition of a superconducting switch.

Kondo resonance of a microwave photon

We emulate renormalization group models, such as the Spin-Boson Hamiltonian or the anisotropic Kondo model, from a quantum optics perspective by considering a superconducting device. The infra-red confinement involves photon excitations of two tunable transmission lines entangled to an artificial spin-1/2 particle or double-island charge qubit. Focusing on the propagation of microwave light, in the underdamped regime of the Spin-Boson model, we identify a many-body resonance where a photon is absorbed at the renormalized qubit frequency and reemitted forward in an elastic manner. We also show that asymptotic freedom of microwave light is reached by increasing the input signal amplitude at low temperatures which allows the disappearance of the transmission peak.

Friction in Carborane-Based Molecular Rotors Driven by Gas Flow or Electric Field: Classical Molecular Dynamics

Friction in molecular rotors is examined by classical molecular dynamics simulations for grid-mounted azimuthal dipolar molecular rotors, whose rotation is either allowed to decay freely or is driven at GHz frequencies by a flow of rare gas or by a rotating electric field. The rotating parts (rotators) are propeller-shaped. Their two to six blades consist of condensed aromatic rings and are attached to a deltahedral carborane hub, whose antipodal carbons carry [n]staffane axles mounted on a square molecular grid. The dynamic friction constant η has been derived in several independent ways with similar results. Analysis of free rotation decay yields η as a continuous exponentially decreasing function of rotor frequency. The calculated dependence of friction torque on frequency resembles the classical macroscopic Stribeck curve. Its relation to rotational potential energy barriers and the key role of the rate of intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) of energy and angular momentum from rotator rotation to other modes are considered in two limiting regimes. (i) In the strongly overdamped regime, rotation is much slower than IVR, and effective friction can be expressed through potential barriers to rotation. (ii) In the strongly underdamped regime, rotation is much faster than IVR, whose rate then determines friction.

Atomic Spin-Sensitive Dissipation on Magnetic Surfaces

We identify the mechanism of energy dissipation relevant to spin-sensitive nanomechanics including the recently introduced magnetic exchange force microscopy, where oscillating magnetic tips approach surface atomic spins. The tip-surface exchange couples spin and atom coordinates, leading to a spin-phonon problem with Caldeira-Leggett-type dissipation. In the overdamped regime, that can lead to a hysteretic flip of the local spin with a large spin-dependent dissipation, even down to the very low experimental tip oscillation frequencies, describing recent observations for Fe tips on NiO. A phase transition to an underdamped regime with dramatic drop of magnetic tip dissipation should in principle be possible by tuning tip-surface distance.

Inertial effects in diffusion-limited reactions

Diffusion-limited reactions are commonly found in biochemical processes such as enzymecatalysis, colloid and protein aggregation and binding between different macromolecules incells. Usually, such reactions are modeled within the Smoluchowski frameworkby considering purely diffusive boundary problems. However, inertial effects arenot always negligible in real biological or physical media on typical observationtime frames. This is all the more so for non-bulk phenomena involving physicalboundaries, that introduce additional time and space constraints. In this paper,we present and test a novel numerical scheme, based on event-driven Browniandynamics, that allows us to explore a wide range of velocity relaxation times,from the purely diffusive case to the underdamped regime. We show that ouralgorithm perfectly reproduces the solution of the Fokker–Planck problem withabsorbing boundary conditions in all the regimes considered and is thus a goodtool for studying diffusion-guided reactions in complex biological environments.

Empirical relaxation function and spectral density for underdamped vibrations at low temperatures

A new relaxation function which accounts for electronic dephasing (electronic phase loss and excited state lifetime) is presented, whose applicability for underdamped motion at low temperatures is examined in detail. This new empirical relaxation function phi(t) yields linear and nonlinear spectral/temporal profiles that render accurate dephasing time in the underdamped regime. The relaxation function phi(t) is normally expressed in terms of the coupling functions M(j) (') and M(j) (") on which the time evolution of the vibrational modes in question depends. The corresponding spectral density, which is a central quantity in probing dynamics, is derived and compared to that of the multimode Brownian oscillator model. Derivation and discussion of the new position and momentum autocorrelation functions in terms of our new spectral density are presented. While the position autocorrelation function plays a key role in representing solvation structure in polar or nonpolar medium, the momentum correlation function projects out the molecular vibrational motion. The Liouville space generating function (LGF) for harmonic and anharmonic systems is expressed in terms of our new empirical phi(t) and spectral density, leading to more physical observation. Several statistical quantities are derived from the position and momentum correlation function, which in turn contribute to LGF. Model calculations reflecting the infinite population decay in the low temperature limit in linear and nonlinear spectroscopic signals are presented. The herein quantum dipole moment correlation function is compared to that derived in [M. Toutounji, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 5319 (2003)] using mixed quantum-classical dynamics framework, yielding reasonable results, in fact identical at higher temperatures. The results herein are found to be informative, useful, and consistent with experiments.

Chaotic transport in deterministic sine-Gordon soliton ratchets

We investigate homogeneous and inhomogeneous sine-Gordon ratchet systems in which a temporal symmetry and the spatial symmetry, respectively, are broken. We demonstrate that in the inhomogeneous systems with ac driving the soliton dynamics is chaotic in certain parameter regions, although the soliton motion is unidirectional. This is qualitatively explained by a one-collective-coordinate theory which yields an equation of motion for the soliton that is identical to the equation of motion for a single particle ratchet which is known to exhibit chaotic transport in its underdamped regime. For a quantitative comparison with our simulations we use a two-collective-coordinate (2CC) theory. In contrast to this, homogeneous sine-Gordon ratchets with biharmonic driving, which breaks a temporal shift symmetry, do not exhibit chaos. This is explained by a 2CC theory which yields two ODEs: one is linear, the other one describes a parametrically driven oscillator which does not exhibit chaos. The latter ODE can be solved by a perturbation theory which yields a hierarchy of linear equations that can be solved exactly order by order. The results agree very well with the simulations.

Fractional Langevin equation: Overdamped, underdamped, and critical behaviors

The dynamical phase diagram of the fractional Langevin equation is investigated for a harmonically bound particle. It is shown that critical exponents mark dynamical transitions in the behavior of the system. Four different critical exponents are found. (i) alpha_{c}=0.402+/-0.002 marks a transition to a nonmonotonic underdamped phase, (ii) alpha_{R}=0.441... marks a transition to a resonance phase when an external oscillating field drives the system, and (iii) alpha_{chi_{1}}=0.527... and (iv) alpha_{chi_{2}}=0.707... mark transitions to a double-peak phase of the "loss" when such an oscillating field present. As a physical explanation we present a cage effect, where the medium induces an elastic type of friction. Phase diagrams describing over and underdamped regimes, with or without resonances, show behaviors different from normal.

Evolution of Kink Network in Inhomogenous Systems

The purpose of this report is to show the influence of imperfections on creation and evolution of a kink network. Our main finding is a mechanism for reduction of the kinetic energy of kinks which works in both the overdamped and underdamped regimes. This mechanism reduces mobility of kinks and therefore prevents the kink-antikink network from annihilation.

Information entropic superconducting microcooler

We consider a design for a cyclic microrefrigerator using a superconducting flux qubit. Adiabatic modulation of the flux combined with thermalization can be used to transfer energy from a lower temperature normal metal thin film resistor to another one at higher temperature. The frequency selectivity of photonic heat conduction is achieved by including the hot resistor as part of a high frequency $LC$ resonator and the cold one as part of a low-frequency oscillator while keeping both circuits in the underdamped regime. We discuss the performance of the device in an experimentally realistic setting. This device illustrates the complementarity of information and thermodynamic entropy as the erasure of the quantum bit directly relates to the cooling of the resistor.

Resonance phenomena in macroscopic quantum tunneling: The small viscosity limit

We present a theoretical study of the resonant quantum behavior for a macroscopic superconducting system interacting with an external microwave at proper frequency. Here we consider a system described by a double well potential, an rf-SQUID, in the extremely underdamped regime. Numerical simulations for resonant phenomena have been performed for this system, whose parameters belong to the range typically used in the experiments. The dependence of the transition probability W on the external drive of the system, φ x , can show three resonance peaks, in a small microwave frequency range. One peak is connected with the anticrossing and the other two with the external microwave frequency ν. The relative position and the height of the two lateral peaks depend on the microwave frequency. This behavior is studied here for the first time.

Hysteresis from dynamically pinned sliding states

We report a surprising hysteretic behavior in the dynamics of a simple one-dimensional nonlinear model inspired by the tribological problem of two sliding surfaces with a thin solid lubricant layer in between. In particular, we consider the frictional dynamics of a harmonic chain confined between two rigid incommensurate substrates which slide with a fixed relative velocity. This system was previously found, by explicit solution of the equations of motion, to possess plateaus in parameter space exhibiting a remarkable quantization of the chain center-of-mass velocity ( dynamic pinning) solely determined by the interface incommensurability. Starting now from this quantized sliding state, in the underdamped regime of motion and in analogy to what ordinarily happens for static friction, the dynamics exhibits a large hysteresis under the action of an additional external driving force F ext. A critical threshold value F c of the adiabatically applied force F ext is required in order to alter the robust dynamics of the plateau attractor. When the applied force is decreased and removed, the system can jump to intermediate sliding regimes (a sort of “dynamic” stick-slip motion) and eventually returns to the quantized sliding state at a much lower value of F ext. Hysteretic behavior is also observed as a function of the external driving velocity.

Parametric Resonance of Optically Trapped Aerosols

The Brownian dynamics of an optically trapped water droplet are investigated across the transition from over- to underdamped oscillations. The spectrum of position fluctuations evolves from a Lorentzian shape typical of overdamped systems (beads in liquid solvents) to a damped harmonic oscillator spectrum showing a resonance peak. In this later underdamped regime, we excite parametric resonance by periodically modulating the trapping power at twice the resonant frequency. The power spectra of position fluctuations are in excellent agreement with the obtained analytical solutions of a parametrically modulated Langevin equation.

Resonant Quantum Phenomena for an rf-SQUID: Moderate Underdamped and Extreme Underdamped Limit

We study the resonant quantum behaviour of a macroscopic superconducting system interacting with an external field. First we consider the resonant tunneling assisted by microwave frequency in the moderate underdamped quantum regime. Then we consider the resonant process in the extreme underdamped limit. In both regimes we have investigated a small frequency range, where resonant phenomena take place. The transition probability W from the left to the right potential well has been numerically calculated for an rf-SQUID as function of the external flux φx for both regimes. Results indicate that, in a proper frequency and φx range, the transition probability W can present two or three resonant peaks, depending on the damping regime.

Transport of a heated granular gas in a washboard potential

We study numerically the motion of a one dimensional array of Brownian particles in a washboard potential, driven by an external stochastic force and interacting via short range repulsive forces. In particular, we investigate the role of instantaneous elastic and inelastic collisions on the system dynamics and transport. The system displays a locked regime, where particles may move only via activated processes and a running regime where particles drift along the direction of the applied field. By tuning the value of the friction parameter controlling the Brownian motion we explore both the overdamped dynamics and the underdamped dynamics. In the two regimes we considered the mobility and the diffusivity of the system as functions of the tilt and other relevant control parameters such as coefficient of restitution, particle size, and total number of particles. We find that while in the overdamped regime the results for the interacting systems present similarities with the known noninteracting case, in the underdamped regime the inelastic collisions determine a rich variety of behaviors among which is an unexpected enhancement of the inelastic diffusion.