Sean Lourette

Coherent magnon optics in a ferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate.

We measure the dispersion relation, gap, and magnetic moment of a magnon in the ferromagnetic F = 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate of (87)Rb. From the dispersion relation we measure an average effective mass 1.033(2)(stat)(10)(sys) times the atomic mass, as determined by interfering standing and running coherent magnon waves within the dense and trapped condensed gas. The measured mass is higher than theoretical predictions of mean-field and beyond-mean-field Beliaev theory for a bulk spinor Bose gas with s-wave contact interactions. We observe a magnon energy gap of h × 2.5(1)(stat)(2)(sys) Hz, which is consistent with the predicted effect of magnetic dipole-dipole interactions. These dipolar interactions may also account for the high magnon mass. The effective magnetic moment of -1.04(2)(stat)(8)(sys) times the atomic magnetic moment is consistent with mean-field theory.

Optical quenching and recovery of photoconductivity in single-crystal diamond

We study the photocurrent induced by pulsed-light illumination (pulse duration is several nanoseconds) of single-crystal diamond containing nitrogen impurities. Application of additional continuous-wave light of the same wavelength quenches pulsed photocurrent. Characterization of the optically quenched photocurrent and its recovery is important for the development of diamond based electronics and sensing.

Quantitative measurements of non-covalent interactions with diamond based magnetic imaging

We present a technique employing dielectrophoretic (DEP) manipulation of surface immobilized complexes integrated with a magnetic imaging platform based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond for the quantitative measurements of non-covalent interactions. The interdigitated microelectrodes closely spaced to the functionalized surface of the diamond plate provide a wide range of applied DEP forces for noninvasive manipulation of various molecular interactions, while the NV layer under the surface reports the unbinding dynamics. Given that biological samples do not present significant magnetic background and do not screen magnetic fields, our approach has many advantages over the fluorescent tagging where the optical signal is subject to photo-bleaching, auto-fluorescence, and instabilities. The high sensitivity and spatial resolution provided by NV-based magnetic imaging make this technique a useful tool for biophysical applications.