Description: This is a Publisher's Note for the article 'Beyond the Death of Linear Response: 1/f Optimal Information Transport' [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 040601 (2010)].

Description: In this article, the authors study the superfluorescence (SF) from a gas of rubidium atoms. The atoms of a dense vapor are excited to the 5D state from the 5S state by a two-photon process driven by 100-fx laser pulses. The atoms decay to the 6P state and then to the 5S state. The SF emission at 420 nm on the 6P-5S transition is recorded by a streak camera with picosecond time resolution. The time duration of the generated SF is tens of picoseconds, which is much shorter than the time scale of the usual relaxation processes, including spontaneous emission and atomic coherence dephasing. The dependence of the time delay between the reference input pulse and SF is measured as a function of laser power. THe experimental data are described quantitatively by a simulation based on the semiclassical atom-field interaction theory. The observed change in scaling laws for the peak intensity and delay time can be elucidated by an SF theory in which the sample length is larger than the cooperation length.

Description: This article discusses complex materials for molecular spintronics applications. Abstract: Using first principles calculations, the authors predict a complex multifunctional behavior in cobalt bis(dioxolene) valence tautomeric compounds. Molecular spin-state switching is shown to dramatically alter electronic properties and corresponding transport properties. This spin state dependence has been demonstrated for technologically relevant coordination polymers of valence tautomers as well as for novel conjugated polymers with valence tautomeric functionalization. As a result, these materials are proposed as promising candidates for spintronic devices that can couple magnetic bistability with novel electrical and spin conduction properties. The authors' findings pave the way to the fundamental understanding and future design of active multifunctional organic materials for spintronics applications.

Description: This article discusses dynamics of electroencephalogram entropy and pitfalls of scaling detection. Abstract: In recent studies a number of research groups have determined that human electroencephalograms (EEG) have scaling properties. In particular, a crossover between two regions with different scaling exponents has been reported. Herein the authors study the time evolution of diffusion entropy to elucidate the scaling of EGG time series. For a cohort of 20 awake healthy volunteers with closed eyes, the authors find that the diffusion entropy of EEG increments (obtained from EEG waveforms by differencing) exhibits three features: short-time growth, an alpha wave related oscillation whose amplitude gradually decays in time, and asymptotic saturation which is achieved after approximately 1 s. This analysis suggests a linear, stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Langevin equation with a quasiperiodic forcing (whose frequency and/or amplitude may vary in time) as the model for the underlying dynamics. This model captures the salient properties of EEG dynamics. In particular, both the experimental and simulated EEG time series exhibit short-time scaling which is broken by a strong periodic component, such as alpha waves. The saturation of EEG diffusion entropy precludes the existence of asymptotic scaling. We find that the crossover between two scaling regions seen in ...

Description: In this article, the authors present analytical solutions for the problem of a two-level atom driven by a class of chirped pulses. The solutions are given in terms of Heun functions. By use of the appropriate chirping parameters, an enhancement of four orders of magnitude in the population transfer is obtained.