There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

This book presents the conceptual framework underlying the atomistic theory of matter, emphasizing those aspects that relate to current flow. This includes some of the most advanced concepts of non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. No prior acquaintance with quantum mechanics is assumed. Chapter 1 provides a description of quantum transport in elementary terms accessible to a beginner. The book then works its way from hydrogen to nanostructures, with extensive coverage of current flow. The final chapter summarizes the equations for quantum transport with illustrative examples showing how conductors evolve from the atomic to the ohmic regime as they get larger. Many numerical examples are used to provide concrete illustrations and the corresponding Matlab codes can be downloaded from the web. Videostreamed lectures, keyed to specific sections of the book, are also available through the web. This book is primarily aimed at senior and graduate students.

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Quantum Transport: Atom to Transistor

Advanced gravitational wave interferometers, currently under realization, will soon permit the detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources. To open the era of precision gravitational wave astronomy, a further substantial improvement in sensitivity is required. The future space-based Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and the third-generation ground-based observatory Einstein Telescope (ET) promise to achieve the required sensitivity improvements in frequency ranges. The vastly improved sensitivity of the third generation of gravitational wave observatories could permit detailed measurements of the sources' physical parameters and could complement, in a multi-messenger approach, the observation of signals emitted by cosmological sources obtained through other kinds of telescopes. This paper describes the progress of the ET project which is currently in its design study phase.

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The Einstein Telescope: a third-generation gravitational wave observatory

The Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors are next generation instruments which will replace the existing initial LIGO detectors. They are currently being constructed and installed. Advanced LIGO strain sensitivity is designed to be about a factor 10 better than initial LIGO over a broad band and usable to 10 Hz, in contrast to 40 Hz for initial LIGO. This is expected to allow for detections and significant astrophysics in most categories of gravitational waves. To achieve this sensitivity, all hardware subsystems are being replaced with improvements. Designs and expected performance are presented for the seismic isolation, suspensions, optics and laser subsystems. Possible enhancements to Advanced LIGO, either to resolve problems that may arise and/or to allow for improved performance, are now being researched. Some of these enhancements are discussed along with some potential technology being considered for detectors beyond Advanced LIGO.

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Advanced LIGO: the next generation of gravitational wave detectors

This review provides a theoretical basis for understanding the current-phase relation (CPhiR) for the stationary (dc) Josephson effect in various types of superconducting junctions The authors summarize recent theoretical developments with an emphasis on the fundamental physical mechanisms of the deviations of the CPhiR from the standard sinusoidal form A new experimental tool for measuring the CPhiR is described and its practical applications are discussed The method allows one to measure the electrical currents in Josephson junctions with a small coupling energy as compared to the thermal energy A number of examples illustrate the importance of the CPhiR measurements for both fundamental physics and applications

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The current-phase relation in Josephson junctions

Superconducting Quantum Interference (SQUIDs)

The paper summarises systematic studies of the mechanical loss of crystalline silicon at low temperatures from 300 to 5 K. Thermo-elastic loss is discussed as a main contribution in thin samples. A numerical method based on a finite element analysis is presented to determine the thermo-elastic loss of arbitrarily shaped samples. Additionally, mechanical loss associated with oxygen is investigated in Czochralski grown silicon bulk samples. The process has the activation energy of about 168 meV. An orientation dependency of the loss is observed. The lowest loss reported in this paper was achieved with a cylindrical bulk sample having a diameter of 110 mm and a length of 200 mm at around 5 K and a resonant frequency of about 22.3 kHz.

Mechanical Spectroscopy of Silicon as a Low Loss Material for High Precision Mechanical and Optical Experiments

A Cryogenic Current Comparator (CCC) was developed for a non-destructive, highly sensitive monitoring of nA beams at the planned FAIR accelerator facility at GSI. The sensor part of the CCC was optimized for lowest possible noise-limited current resolution in combination with a high system bandwidth of about 200 kHz. It is foreseen to install the CCC inside the CRYRING, which will act as a well-suited test bench for further optimization of the CCC performance and the cryostat. In the meantime until the completion of CRYRING a CCC has been installed and will be tested in the antiproton storage ring (Antiproton Decelerator AD) at CERN. The pulse shape in the AD requires dedicated optimization of the sensor time response. The beam current will increase rapidly during injection from 0 to 12 μA. Since the slew rate of the overall system is limited by the CCC pickup coil, the input signal has to be low-pass filtered to not exceed the slew rate of the CCC system and to ensure a stable operation. For this purpose different low-pass configurations had been tested. In this contribution we present results of the CCC sensor for AD, CRYRING and FAIR, respectively.

https://cds.cern.ch/record/2266029/files/mopb013.pdf

Paul Seidel

Papers

Superconducting Quantum Interference (SQUIDs)

Mechanical Spectroscopy of Silicon as a Low Loss Material for High Precision Mechanical and Optical Experiments

Cryogenic Current Comparator for Storage Rings and Accelerators

Magnetocardiography with high-TC Gradiometers Working in Unshielded Environments

Temperature Dependence of the Effective Niobium Energy Gap in Nb‐NbOx ‐Pb Tunnel Junctions