PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Modugno

Publications and source records attributed to G Modugno.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Sensitive measurement of forces at the micron scale using Bloch oscillations of ultracold atoms.

We show that Bloch oscillations of ultracold fermionic atoms in the periodic potential of an optical lattice can be used for a sensitive measurement of forces at the micrometer length scale, e.g., in the vicinity of a dielectric surface. In particular, the proposed approach allows us to perform a local and direct measurement of the Casimir-Polder force which is, for realistic experimental parameters, as large as 10(-4) gravity.

Journal Article↗

Radio frequency selective addressing of localized atoms in a periodic potential.

We study the localization and addressability of ultracold atoms in a combined parabolic and periodic potential. Such a potential supports the existence of localized stationary states and we show that applying a radio frequency field allows us to selectively address atoms in these states. This method is used to measure the energy and momentum distribution of the atoms in the localized states. We also discuss possible extensions of this scheme to address and manipulate atoms in single lattice sites.

Journal Article↗

Insulating behavior of a trapped ideal Fermi gas.

We investigate theoretically and experimentally the center-of-mass motion of an ideal Fermi gas in a combined periodic and harmonic potential. We find a crossover from a conducting to an insulating regime as the Fermi energy moves from the first Bloch band into the band gap of the lattice. The conducting regime is characterized by an oscillation of the cloud about the potential minimum, while in the insulating case the center of mass remains on one side of the potential.

Journal Article↗

Atom interferometry with trapped fermi gases.

We realize an interferometer with an atomic Fermi gas trapped in an optical lattice under the influence of gravity. The single-particle interference between the eigenstates of the lattice results in macroscopic Bloch oscillations of the sample. The absence of interactions between fermions allows a time-resolved study of many periods of the oscillations, leading to a sensitive determination of the acceleration of gravity. The experiment proves the superiority of noninteracting fermions with respect to bosons for precision interferometry and offers a way for the measurement of forces with microscopic spatial resolution.

Journal Article↗

Collisionally induced transport in periodic potentials.

We study the transport of ultracold atoms in a tight optical lattice. For identical fermions the system is insulating under an external force while for bosonic atoms it is conducting. This reflects the different collisional properties of the particles and reveals the role of interparticle collisions in establishing a macroscopic transport in a perfectly periodic potential. Also in the case of fermions we can induce a transport by creating a collisional regime through the addition of bosons. We investigate the transport as a function of the collisional rate and observe a transition from a regime in which the mobility increases with increasing collisional rate to one in which it decreases. We compare our data with a theoretical model for electron transport in solids introduced by Esaki and Tsu.

Journal Article↗

Expansion of a Fermi gas interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate.

We study the expansion of an atomic Fermi gas interacting attractively with a Bose-Einstein condensate. We observe a slower evolution of the radial-to-axial aspect ratio which reveals the importance of the mutual attraction between the two samples during the first phase of the expansion. For large atom numbers, we also observe a bimodal momentum distribution of the Fermi gas, which reflects the spatial distribution of the mixture in trap. This effect allows us to extract important information on the overlap of the two species across the collapse.

Journal Article↗

Magnetic control of the interaction in ultracold K-Rb mixtures.

We predict the presence of several magnetic Feshbach resonances in selected Zeeman sublevels of the isotopic pairs 40K-87Rb and 41K-87Rb at magnetic fields up to 10(3) G. Positions and widths are determined combining a new measurement of the 40K-87Rb inelastic cross section with recent experimental results on both isotopes. The possibility of driving a K-Rb mixture from the weak to the strong interacting regime tuning the applied field should allow one to achieve the optimal conditions for boson-induced Cooper pairing in a multicomponent 40K-87Rb atomic gas and for the production of ultracold polar molecules.

Journal Article↗

Two atomic species superfluid.

We produce a quantum degenerate mixture composed by two Bose-Einstein condensates of different atomic species, 41K and 87Rb. We study the dynamics of the superfluid system in an elongated magnetic trap, where off-axis collisions between the two interacting condensates induce scissorlike oscillations.

Journal Article↗

Fermi-Bose quantum degenerate 40K-87Rb mixture with attractive interaction.

We report on the achievement of simultaneous quantum degeneracy in a mixed gas of fermionic 40K and bosonic 87Rb. Potassium is cooled to 0.3 times the Fermi temperature by means of an efficient thermalization with evaporatively cooled rubidium. Direct measurement of the collisional cross-section confirms a large interspecies attraction. This interaction is shown to affect the expansion of the Bose-Einstein condensate released from the magnetic trap, where it is immersed in the Fermi sea.

Journal Article↗

Collisional properties of ultracold K-Rb mixtures.

We determine the interspecies s-wave triplet scattering length a(3) for all K-Rb isotopic mixtures by measuring the elastic cross section for collisions between 41K and 87Rb in different temperature regimes. The positive value a(3)=+163(+57)(-12)a(0) ensures the stability against collapse of binary (41)K- (87)Rb Bose-Einstein condensates. For the fermion-boson mixture (40)K- (87)Rb, we obtain a large and negative scattering length which implies an efficient sympathetic cooling of the fermionic species down to the degenerate regime.

Journal Article↗

Bose-Einstein condensation of potassium atoms by sympathetic cooling.

We report on the Bose-Einstein condensation of potassium atoms, whereby quantum degeneracy is achieved by sympathetic cooling with evaporatively cooled rubidium. Because of the rapid thermalization of the two different atoms, the efficiency of the cooling process is high. The ability to achieve condensation by sympathetic cooling with a different species may provide a route to the production of degenerate systems with a larger choice of components.

Journal Article↗

Gemcitabine treatment in pretreated cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: experience in 44 patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine, a novel pyrimidine antimetabolite with a low-toxicity profile and activity in several solid tumors, in patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between May 1997 and February 1999, 44 previously treated patients with mycosis fungoides (MF; n = 30) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma unspecified (PTCLU) with exclusive skin involvement (n = 14) were enrolled onto a two-institution, phase II trial and treated with gemcitabine. This drug was given on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day schedule at a dose of 1,200 mg/m(2) intravenously over 30 minutes for a total of three courses. RESULTS: Of the 44 patients, five (11. 5%) achieved complete responses (CRs), 26 (59%) partial responses (PRs), and the remaining 13 showed no benefit from the treatment. Two of the CRs were histologically confirmed. The CR and PR rates were the same for patients with MF and those with PTCLU, respectively. No difference in terms of overall response rate was observed between relapsed and refractory patients. The median durations of CR and PR were 15 months (range, 6 to 22 months) and 10 months (range, 2 to 15 months), respectively. Treatment was well tolerated; hematologic toxicity was mild, and no nausea/vomiting or organ toxicity was recorded. CONCLUSION: The results of the present phase II study show activity of gemcitabine as a single agent in patients with pretreated cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Further studies that use gemcitabine alone or in combination with other drugs in earlier stages of the disease are needed.

Adult↗

[Evaluation of the effects of pneumogenic hypoxemia on the nervous tissue by the determination of the critical flicker fusion frequency of the central retina].

Considering the eye an extroflection of the brain it is possible to detect a decrease of nervous tissues efficiency during hypoxia through a deficit of eye function. The authors studied a highly specialized retinal function that is extremely sensitive to low values of PaO2: the so called "critical flicker fusion frequency". The authors tested 14 patients with respiratory disorders and PaO2 levels between 36.5 and 67.1 mmHg. All patients showed impairment of this function.

Adult↗

Chemoprophylaxis of bacterial infections in granulocytopenic cancer patients using norfloxacin.

Sixty-five cancer patients pretreated with chemo or radiotherapy, with granulocytopenia less than 1000/mm3 and without fever, were entered into this study: 30 of them were submitted to prophylaxis with norfloxacin while the remaining 35 patients were used as a control group. 20% of the treated subjects versus 68.6% of the controls presented a subsequent infection (P less than 0.001), the lung representing the most frequent site of the infectious disease in both groups (3/6 and 14/24 respectively). These data strongly suggest the use of norfloxacin as an effective prophylactic drug in nonfebrile, granulocytopenic cancer patients, especially as far as gram-negative infections are concerned. Because of the high prevalence of lung cancer in the patients of our study, and a related prevalence of lung infections, at the present time, a wider use of this antibiotic in every kind of solid tumor cannot be generalized.

Agranulocytosis↗