Phase-Space Dynamics of Particles

Elimination of fast variables

Inspired by the spectacular successes in the field of cold atoms, there is currently great interest in cold molecules. Cooling molecules is useful for various fundamental physics studies and gives access to an exotic regime in chemistry where the wave property of the molecules becomes important. Although cooling molecules has turned out to be considerably more difficult than cooling atoms, a number of methods to produce samples of cold molecules have been demonstrated over the last few years. This paper aims to review the application of cold molecules and the methods to produce them. Emphasis is put on the deceleration of polar molecules using time-varying electric fields. The operation principle of the array of electrodes that is used to decelerate polar molecules is described in analogy with, and using terminology from, charged-particle accelerators. It is shown that, by applying an appropriately timed high voltage burst, molecules can be decelerated while the phase-space density, i.e. the number of mol...

Production and application of translationally cold molecules

The paper examines the prospects of using laser plasma as a source of high-energy ions for the purpose of hadron beam therapy — an approach which is based on both theory and experimental results (ions are routinely observed to be accelerated in the interaction of high-power laser radiation with matter). Compared to therapy accelerators like synchrotrons and cyclotrons, laser technology is advantageous in that it is more compact and is simpler in delivering ions from the accelerator to the treatment room. Special target designs allow radiation therapy requirements for ion beam quality to be satisfied. (reviews of topical problems)

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Laser ion acceleration for hadron therapy

Publisher Summary The Wigner distribution function (WDF) in quantum mechanics is a mathematical tool that correctly yields the expectation values of any function of the coordinates or the momenta. The chapter discusses WDF applications to the characterization of light fields and optical systems and to the problem of coupling optimization between sources and waveguides. Phenomena such as diffraction, interference, coherence, or polarization cannot be managed in the framework of geometrical optics but only within wave optics, where the light field is characterized by a vectorial distribution that satisfies the Helmholtz equation. The applications of the WDF support the assertion that the WDF is a valuable theoretical and experimental tool in optics and optoelectronics. Further expansion of WDF applications will probably result from the recent extension of the WDF definition as a quantum quasiprobability distribution of number and phase and as a wide-band distribution function in signal processing.

I: The Wigner Distribution Function in Optics and Optoelectronics

Experimental studies of antiprotonic-hydrogen atoms have recently made great progress following the commissioning of the low-energy antiproton facility LEAR at CERN in 1983. At the same time the understanding of the atomic cascade has increased considerably through measurements of the X-ray spectra. The life history of the p-p atom is considered in some detail, from the initial capture of the antiproton when stopping in hydrogen, through the atomic cascade with the emission of X-rays, to the final antiproton annihilation and production of mesons. The experiments carried out at LEAR are described and the results compared with atomic cascade calculations and predictions of strong interaction effects.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/52/10/001/pdf

Phase-Space Dynamics of Particles

Citations

Elimination of fast variables

Production and application of translationally cold molecules

Laser ion acceleration for hadron therapy

I: The Wigner Distribution Function in Optics and Optoelectronics

Antiprotonic-hydrogen atoms

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