The Standard Model of particle physics is wonderfully successful in its predictions but known to be incomplete. It fails to explain the existence of dark matter, and the fact that a universe made of matter survived annihilation with antimatter following the big bang. Extensions to the Standard Model, such as weak-scale Supersymmetry, provide explanations for some of these phenomena by asserting the existence of new particles and new interactions that break symmetry under time-reversal. These theories predict a small, yet potentially measurable electron electric dipole moment (EDM), $d_e$, that also violates time-reversal symmetry. Here, we report a new measurement of the electron EDM in the polar molecule thorium monoxide (ThO): $d_e = -2.1 \pm 3.7stat \pm 2.5syst x 10-29$ e cm, which corresponds to an upper limit of $|d_e| <8.7 x 10-29$ e cm with 90 \% confidence. This is more than an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to the previous limit. This result sets strong constraints on new physics at an energy scale (TeV) at least as high as that directly probed by the Large Hadron Collider. The unprecedented precision of this EDM measurement was achieved by using the high effective electric field within ThO to greatly magnify the EDM signal. Valence electrons travel relativistically near the heavy thorium nucleus and experience an effective electric field of about 100 GV/cm, millions of times larger than any static laboratory field. The reported measurement is a combination of millions of separate EDM measurements performed with billions of ThO molecules in a cold, slow buffer gas beam. Other features of ThO, such as a near-zero magnetic moment and high electric polarizability, allow potential systematic errors to be drastically suppressed and ensure the accuracy of our measurement. / Physics

<p> This thesis describes a new method to measure high direct voltage of the range of 100 KV to 200 KV with very high accuracy. The principle, based on the capacitive divider method, is presented in the first part. </p> <p>This thesis is, however, principally concerned with the design of the low voltage capacitor of the divider and its accuracy. The investigations made lead to an instrument having the accuracy required, which is 0.1 parts per million. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

No description available.

Photons have proven to be an effective test-bed for the fundamental concepts and elements of quantum-enhanced technologies. As systems become increasingly complex, however, practical considerations make the traditional approach of bulk optics and free-space propagation progressively more difficult. The major obstacles are the physical space necessary to realise and operate such a complex system, its stability, and maintaining low losses. In order to address these issues, quantum optical technologies can take a cue from their classical counterparts and look towards an integrated architecture to provide miniaturisation, greatly enhanced stability, less alignment, and low loss interfaces between different system components. In this thesis the feasibility of chip-based waveguides as a platform for metrology and information processing will be explored. In Part I, the necessary criteria for a metrology system to out-perform its classical counterpart will be investigated. It will be found that loss is a major barrier to this aim and, critically, that it is unlikely to have been achieved to date by any experiment which consumes resources of a fixed photon number. The issue of loss will be addressed by developing a scalable heralded source of a class of entangled photonic states which are both robust to losses and practically feasible to prepare. A novel tomographic technique will be developed to characterize these states and it will be explicitly demonstrated how it is possible to beat some bounds on classical performance without being able to out-perform a comparable classical system. Finally, a proof of principle demonstration of a waveguide-based interferometer with an integrated phase-shifter will be undertaken. It will be shown that the device preserves quantum interference, making it suitable for use in quantum-enhanced metrology applications. In Part II, integrated optics in the context of information processing will be discussed. First, a novel characterization technique will be developed which enables the behaviour of complex circuits to be predicted. The technique is independent of loss in the device being characterized. A method of simulating these circuits will be outlined that takes advantage of the computational speed-up available from parallelisation and sparse matrix operations. A key increase in complexity for integrated photonic systems will be demonstrated by showing quantum interference of three photons from two separate sources in eight spatial modes. The resulting interference has a visibility which beats all possible classical interference visibilities for similar circuits. Finally, a fully integrated waveguide-coupled photon-number-resolving detector will be developed and demonstrated. This proof of concept demonstration will show good resolution of different photon number events. The device will be modelled and routes to high efficiency operation will be explored.

Gyromagnetic Faraday rotation offers a new method to probe limits on properties of simple spin systems such as the possible magnetic moment of asymmetric dark matter or as a polarization monitor for polarized targets. Theoretical calculations predict the expected rotations of linearly polarized light due to the magnetization of spin-1/2 particles are close to or beyond the limit of what can currently be measured experimentally (10−9 rad). So far, this effect has not been verified. Nuclear spin polarized 3He provides an ideal test system due to its simple structure and ability to achieve high nuclear spin polarization via spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP). To maximize the expected signal from 3He, a SEOP system is built with a modern narrowband pumping laser and a 3He target designed to use with a multipass cavity. Additionally, a sensitive triple modulation apparatus for polarimetry is utilized and further developed to detect Faraday rotations on the order of nanoradians. This works presents the results of the measurement of the magnetic Faraday effect.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:19:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Teruo Matos.pdf: 2738201 bytes, checksum: 54ed354d6ee1a18f2c735e38746cafc8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The study of roots is used to monitor and optimize the uptake of water and nutrients. The evaluation of the plant root system by traditional methods is slow, exhaustive, complex and in many cases does not provide the required accuracy. This research aimed to develop a computational method to assist in the assessing of the average diameter and length of root maize. It was developed using Java programming language, JavaCV interface, and OpenCV library, subsequently its accuracy was compared to the traditional methods and the macro IJ_Rhizo accuracy, for measuring the average diameter and length of roots. The tests were performed using images of maize roots with 300 dpi and using images of nylon threads with resolutions of 300 dpi and 600 dpi. The method validation was performed using nylon thread samples with known lengths and diameters. For length measurements, the proposed method obtained coefficients of variation from 0.05% to 3.80% and 0.06% to 9,27%, with 300 dpi and 600 dpi images, respectively. For diameter measurements, the proposed method obtained coefficients of variation from 0.23% to 77.49% and 0.54% to 96,61%, with 300 dpi and 600 dpi images, respectively. The proposed method obtained coefficients of variation lower than traditional methods for length and diameter measurements, and the macro IJ_Rhizo in more than 95% of test cases. Thus, the presented method is shown to be the most appropriate, and with greater accuracy for measurement of average diameter and length of root, among the assessed methods. / O estudo de raízes é usado para monitorar e otimizar a utilização de água e nutrientes pelas plantas. A avaliação do sistema radicular de plantas por meio dos métodos tradicionais é demorada, exaustiva, complexa e, em muitos casos, não fornece a acurácia necessária. Este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um método computacional que auxiliasse na avaliação do diâmetro médio e comprimento radicular da cultura de milho. Ele foi desenvolvido utilizando a linguagem de programação Java, a interface JavaCV, e a biblioteca OpenCV, posteriormente a acurácia dele foi comparado a dos métodos tradicionais e a da macro IJ_Rhizo, para medição do comprimento e do diâmetro médio de raízes. Os testes foram realizados utilizando imagens de raízes de milho com 300 dpi e imagens de fios de náilon com 300 dpi e 600 dpi. A validação do método foi realizada utilizando amostras de fios de náilon com comprimento e diâmetros conhecidos. Para as medidas de comprimento, o método proposto obteve coeficientes de variação de 0,05% a 3,80% e de 0,06% a 9,27%, com imagens de 300 dpi e 600 dpi, respectivamente. Para as medidas de diâmetro, o método proposto obteve coeficientes de variação de 0,23% a 77,49% e de 0,54% a 96,61% , com imagens de 300 e 600 dpi, respectivamente. O método proposto obteve coeficientes de variação inferiores aos métodos tradicionais para a medição do comprimento e do diâmetro, e a macro IJ_Rhizo em mais de 95% dos casos de teste. Assim, o método apresentado mostra-se o mais adequado e o com maior acurácia para a medição do comprimento e diâmetro radicular médio dentre os métodos avaliados.

This thesis describes the design of methodology for measuring the accuracy of robot machining. It describes the theoretical properties and classification of commercially available methods for precision measurement. In the practical part, a test workpiece is manufactured and positions and toolpaths are measured by the Pontos system. The proposals are based on the MCAE Systems company's equipment.

I describe the construction of a calcium matter-wave interferometer. The interferometer is based on a Ramsey-Borde scheme, and uses a thermal beam of atoms excited by an optical-frequency transition in calcium. In our experiment four pi/2 pulses of light are delivered to the atoms, which split and recombine the wave functions of the atoms. Our experimental design minimizes first-order Doppler shifts, and allows for the cancellation of systematic errors including phase shifts due to rotation and acceleration. I describe the individual components of the interferometer and its assembly. The requirements for the electronics used in the experiment as well as their design and performance are described in great detail. I also give an overview of the techniques used to passively stabilize the laser and optical components. Finally, I report on the current status of the experiment as well as detail future work to be done on the apparatus.

LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) ist ein geplanter Gravitationswellendetektor, der aus drei Satelliten bestehen soll, deren Abstand mit Hilfe von Laserinterferometrie überwacht wird. Die hohe Frequenzstabilität der Laser, die dafür benötigt wird, soll mit einem dreistufigen Verfahren erreicht werden. Dieses beinhaltet eine Vorstabilisierung, die nicht nur hohe Stabilität sondern auch Durchstimmbarkeit aufweisen muss. Eine Möglichkeit so eine durchstimmbare Vorstabilisierung zu realisieren ist die Verwendung eines optischen Resonators mit eingebautem Piezoaktuator. Dies ist an sich kein neuer Ansatz, wurde bisher allerdings noch nicht mit der geforderten Stabilität realisiert. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden verschiedene piezoelektrisch durchstimmbaren Resonatoren aufgebaut und hinsichtlich ihres Rauschverhaltens und Durchstimmbereichs untersucht. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Resonatoren alle Anforderungen an eine durchstimmbare Vorstabilisierung für LISA erfüllen. Darüber hinaus gibt die hier präsentierte Arbeit einen neuen Einblick in das Potential von piezoelektrisch durchstimmbaren Resonatoren. Ihre Stabilität ist nur eine Größenordnung geringer als die der besten nicht durchstimmbaren Resonatoren der gleichen Länge und das gemessene Rauschen kann dabei nicht nicht den Piezoaktuatoren zugeordnet werden. Es sollte also prinzipiell möglich sein noch bessere Stabilitäten mit piezoelektrisch durchstimmbaren Resonatoren zu erzielen. In der Tat zeigen theoretische Untersuchungen, die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit durchgeführt wurden, dass die intrinsische Stabilität eines Resonators durch den Einbau eines Piezoaktuators nur geringfügig herab gesetzt wird. Hoch-stabile piezoelektrisch durchstimmbare Resonatoren können über eine Verwendung in LISA hinaus auch bei zahlreichen anderen Anwendungen zum Einsatz kommen, wie z.B. in der Cavity Enhanced Spektroskopie als Transfer Resonatoren oder als optische Lokaloszillatoren in der Atom- und Molekülspektroskopie. / The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a proposed space-based gravitational wave detector that aims to detect gravitational waves in the low frequency range from 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz, which is not accessible by ground-based detectors. It consists of three satellites whose distance is monitored by laser interferometry. The high frequency stability of the lasers required for this purpose is to be achieved with a three level noise reduction scheme. This includes a pre-stabilization stage that has to feature not only high stability but also tunability. One approach for such a tunable pre-stabilization is stabilizing a laser to an optical cavity with incorporated piezoelectric actuator. While this is not a new concept per se, it has never been realized with the required stability until now. Within this thesis, different types of piezo-tunable cavities have been built and thoroughly analyzed. It could be shown that the cavities fulfill all requirements for a tunable laser pre-stabilization for LISA. Furthermore, the work presented here gives a new insight into the potential of piezo-tunable cavities. Their performance is only one order of magnitude below that of the best non-tunable cavities of the same length and the measured noise can not be attributed to the integration of the piezo actuators. So, in principal, an even better performance should be achievable with piezo-tunable cavities. Indeed, theoretical considerations performed within this thesis reveal that the intrinsic stability of piezo-tunable cavities is only slightly inferior to that of rigid cavities. Beyond an application in LISA, highly stable piezo-tunable cavities are also valuable devices for numerous other applications. They can be used in cavity enhanced spectroscopy, as transfer cavities or as optical local oscillators in atomic and molecular spectroscopy.

No description available.