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# Single-Shot Readout with the Radio Frequency Single Electron Transistor in the Presence of Charge Noise

## Abstract

The radio frequency single electron transistor (rf-SET) possesses key requirements necessary for reading out a solid state quantum computer. This work explores the use of the rf-SET as a single-shot readout device in the presence of $`1/f`$ and telegraph charge noise. For a typical spectrum of $`1/f`$ noise we find that high fidelity, single-shot measurements are possible for signals $`\mathrm{\Delta }q>0.01e`$. For the case of telegraph noise, we present a cross-correlation measurement technique that uses two rf-SETs to suppress the effect of random switching events on readout. We demonstrate this technique by monitoring the charge state of a metal double dot system on microsecond time-scales. Such a scheme will be advantageous in achieving high readout fidelity in a solid state quantum computer.

Electrical circuits that exploit entangled quantum states have the potential to revolutionize information processing. One of the key requirements for the realization of such technology is the ability to perform reliable initial state preparation and readout of quantum bits (qubits) with both high fidelity and efficiency Nielsen and Chuang (2000). This formidable challenge amounts to the detection of single charge, flux Makhlin et al. (2001) or spinKane (1998); Vrijen et al. (2000) states on time-scales shorter than the qubit mixing time using detectors that operate with sensitivities near the quantum limit Caves et al. (1980); Devoret and Schoelkopf (2000). The radio frequency single electron transistor (rf-SET) is a readout device that possesses such requirements, exhibiting high sensitivity, switchable back-action Johansson et al. (2002) and a quantum measurement efficiency that approaches unity Clerk et al. (2002).

As pioneered by Schoelkopf et al., Schoelkopf et al. (1998), the rf-SET consists of an SET electrometer Grabert and Devoret (1992) embedded in an impedance matching network to enable fast operation. SETs are sensitive to charge since current flow through the device depends critically on the electrostatic potential of the center ‘island’. Here we discuss ‘single-shot’ measurements in which the rf-SET is used to detect a charge state in a single pass, without repeating the preparation of that state. Although single-shot measurements are the most efficient mode of readout (and desirable for quantum error correction), they are challenging in the case of fast operation since bandwidth-narrowing techniques commonly used to reduce noise also limit the response time.

The purpose of the present work is to address how single-shot measurements are affected by charge noise. In our setup we distinguish between two types of charge noise: $`1/f`$ noise arising from many fluctuating charge traps that are weakly coupled to the SET and telegraph noise due to single traps that are strongly coupled to the SET Weissman (1988). We find that the effect of $`1/f`$ noise on read-out fidelity is negligible in our set-up for measurement times shorter than $`\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{meas}}10\mu \mathrm{s}`$. However telegraph noise, characterized by discontinuous switching of charge between metastable trap configurations can affect readout fidelity since switching may occur on timescales commensurate with the measurement time.

To investigate the effects of telegraph noise on readout fidelity we have built an $`\mathrm{Al}/\mathrm{Al}_2\mathrm{O}_3`$ readout simulation device, where the charge state of two coupled metal dots is measured with a twin rf-SET detector. We present single-shot measurements of this nano-scale device taken simultaneously with two rf-SETs. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using rf-SETs to perform readout in a single-shot, via the use of a cross-correlation technique to greatly suppress the effect of charge noise. Such measurement schemes maybe important if rf-SETs are to achieve high fidelity readout, in the presence of charge noise.

Turning now to the details of our experiment, Figure 1 shows an electron micrograph (a) and schematic (b) of our device, including gates A1,A2,G1,G2 and the double-dot structure (single tunnel barrier) capacitively coupled to the two rf-SETs either side. Simultaneous independent operation of two rf-SETs is made possible using the technique of wavelength division multiplexing in conjunction with a single cryogenic amplifier. Details of our setup can be found in Ref. Buehler et al. (2003a). Figure 2a) shows the simultaneous response of both rf-SETs in the time-domain to a 100kHz square wave signal of amplitude $`0.1\mathrm{e}`$ applied to gate A2. The capacitances between the gates and the SET islands were in the range of $`110\mathrm{a}\mathrm{F}`$ and the device resistances were 43.4k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ (SET1) and 30.4k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ (SET2). Independent control of the dc source-drain bias across each SET permits both devices to be simultaneously operated in the superconducting state at the double Josephson quasi-particle resonance, where near quantum-limited readout efficiency is approached Fulton et al. (1989); Clerk et al. (2002). Figure 2b) shows the frequency spectrum of both rf-SETs in response to an amplitude modulation (AM) gate signal ($`0.1e`$) at 2.5MHz. The frequency-domain sensitivity ($`\delta \mathrm{q}`$) of both devices was characterized by measuring the signal to noise ratio of an AM side-band in a given resolution bandwidth ($`B`$) Aassime et al. (2001). For the case of simultaneous operation, the minimum detectable signal was $`\delta \mathrm{q}=7.5\mu \mathrm{e}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}`$ for SET1 and $`\delta \mathrm{q}=4.4\mu \mathrm{e}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}`$ for SET2. We note that determining the minimum detectable charge $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{q}=\delta \mathrm{q}\times \sqrt{\mathrm{B}}`$ from these sensitivity measurements assumes that the noise is white throughout the measurement time. While this is true at higher frequencies (where thermal noise from the rf amplifier and shot noise associated with the SET current dominate), longer measurement times will include unequally weighted or “colored” noise sources, typical of a $`1/f`$ spectrum.

In our setup the $`1/f`$ noise spectrum meets the white noise floor at 100kHz as shown in the inset to Fig 2 b). Consequently, measurements made on time-scales shorter than $`10\mu s`$ are not affected by $`1/f`$ noise. However, in the case of very small signals ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{q}<0.01\mathrm{e}`$) the measurement time required for high fidelity readout increases drastically due to $`1/f`$ noise since the noise increases with $`t_{meas}`$ but signal only with $`\sqrt{t_{meas}}`$. This limitation defines a lower limit (of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{q}0.01\mathrm{e}`$) on the size of the charge signal that can be read out efficiently in a single shot measurement.

In order to explore the interplay between charge noise and readout fidelity experimentally, we have performed single-shot time-domain measurements of various signal amplitudes. The data in Figure 3 was obtained by applying a square wave signal to gate G2 (see Figure 1). The trace in Figure 3a) shows the result of 256 averages of a $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{q}=0.01\mathrm{e}`$ step. Figure 3b) shows single-shot traces of a $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{q}=0.05\mathrm{e}`$ and $`0.2\mathrm{e}`$ gate signal in a measurement window of $`\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{meas}}=0.6\mu \mathrm{s}`$. The slope of the transition between the two levels is finite since the bandwidth of the resonant circuit ($`100\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}`$) acts as a low pass filter. Figures 3(c-e) show the corresponding signal histograms and fitted Gaussian probability distribution functions (PDFs) for the time-domain data. The overlap of the PDFs corresponds to the probability of mistaking one readout signal level for the other.

Although $`1/f`$ noise is negligible in the time considered here, we find additional noise sources that reduce the measured time-domain sensitivity (which is equal to the full width at half maximum of the PDF for a SNR of 1), in comparison to measurements made in the frequency-domain, where signals are strongly averaged (as in Fig. 2b) Dicke (1946). This difference in sensitivity can be explained by taking into account the additional noise introduced by the oscilloscope, demodulation circuitry and the effect of the finite rf-SET bandwidth ($``$10MHz) in comparison to the measurement time $`\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{meas}}=0.6\mu s`$. Our single-shot time-domain sensitivity ($`\delta q=5.3\times 10^5e/\sqrt{Hz}`$) differs by close to a factor of 10 in comparison to our frequency-domain measurements ($`\delta q=4.4\times 10^6e/\sqrt{Hz}`$ which are averaged) and highlights the need for a low-noise measurement set-up in addition to a near quantum-limited detector. In this regard we note that the time-domain sensitivity is a more appropriate parameter characterizing the time required to perform a single-shot measurement.

In the above treatment we have neglected the effects associated with telegraph noise originating from charge traps that are strongly coupled to the SET. These large discontinuous jumps have the potential to compromise readout in two ways: (1) high frequency switching events that occur during the measurement time greatly increase the time required to achieve high readout fidelity and (2) slower fluctuations can produce readout errors if they occur in the time interval between calibration and readout. In this context calibration is the process of mapping the basis states of the qubit to characteristic output signal levels of the SET. This calibration process is essential and places additional constraints on the requirement for detector stability.

In an effort to study the effect of telegraph noise on readout we have used the twin rf-SET to measure the charge state of a double dot system. In this experiment, electrons are adiabatically transferred between two aluminum metal dots using an electric field established by the adjacent electrodes (A1 and A2) shown in Figure 1. This charge motion is simultaneously detected by two rf-SETs located either side of the double dot. Gates G1 and G2 (see Fig.1) are used to keep the rf-SETs biased to charge sensitive regions by nulling the direct effect of the A-gates on the SETs. For the architecture used here the induced charge signals on the SET islands due to charge transfer in the double dot is of order $`0.1\mathrm{e}`$ Buehler et al. (2003b). Cross-correlation of signals from the two rf-SET permits suppression of spurious charge noise that originates from fluctuating charge traps in the surrounding material system. Although we have previously applied correlated measurements to suppress the effect of telegraph noise in dc-SETs Buehler et al. (2003b), the present work demonstrates our ability to detect the motion of single electrons on microsecond time-scales and distinguish, in real-time, transfer signals from background charge noise.

Figure 4a) shows the simultaneous response of both rf-SETs to electron motion between the two dots. The characteristic sawtooth behavior arises from the polarization of the metal dots by the electric field (from gates A1 and A2, see Fig.4c)), followed by a tunnel event when the field overcomes the charging energy of the double dot system. The signals are in anti-phase as one SET senses the departure of an electron and the other its arrival. Using a multichannel digital oscilloscope it is possible to multiply the derivatives of the signals and thereby perform a real-time cross-correlation. Sharp peaks are produced in the correlation whenever a tunnel event occurs, as shown in Figure 4b).

Figure 4d) shows the result of a single-shot measurement of the charge state of the double dot system. In this instance telegraph noise affected the output of SET2 but not SET1 as indicated by the shaded region of the Figure. By comparing the signals from both SETs we are able to register that an effective readout error has occurred. We believe that such detection schemes maybe of importance in maintaining high readout fidelity, in the presence of charge noise.

Charge noise is unavoidable in the solid state. In systems where the rf-SET is used to perform readout, charge noise serves to reduce readout fidelity and limits the minimum charge signal detectable in a single-shot measurement. We note that these constraints are an important consideration for the feasibility and design of readout architectures for both quantum computers and classical nano-scale devices. For architectures that have capacitive coupling to the readout detector similar to our nano-scale device, (such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }q>>0.01`$ see Fig.1b)) the influence of $`1/f`$ noise is negligible, provided readout can be performed on time-scales $`<10\mu s`$. Note that even for this case however, the presence of telegraph noise presents a challenge to high-fidelity readout. The cross-correlated single-shot measurements of a nano-scale device presented here, serve to illustrate that this challenge can be overcome by correlating signals from two rf-SETs. In conclusion we have investigated the rf-SET as an efficient and sensitive readout device capable of detecting the motion of single electrons on sub-microsecond time-scales, even in the presence of both $`1/f`$ and telegraph charge noise.

We thank D. Barber for technical support. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Government and by the US National Security Agency (NSA), Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) and the Army Research Office (ARO) under contract number DAAD19-01-1-0653. DJR acknowledges a Hewlett-Packard Fellowship.


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# Test of the Wiedemann-Franz law in an optimally-doped cuprate

(February 17, 2004)

## Abstract

We present a study of heat and charge transport in Bi2+xSr2-xCuO6+δ focused on the size of the low-temperature linear term of the thermal conductivity at optimal doping level. In the superconducting state, the magnitude of this term implies a d-wave gap with an amplitude close to what has been reported. In the normal state, recovered by the application of a magnetic field, measurement of this term and residual resistivity yields a Lorenz number $`L=\kappa _N\rho _0/T=1.3\pm 0.2L_0`$. The departure from the value expected by the Wiedemann-Franz law is thus slightly larger than our estimated experimental resolution.

In spite of many years of intense research by a sizeable fraction of the condensed-matter physics community, high Tc superconductivity remains a mystery. A central question is the extent of the validity of Landau’s Fermi liquid picture to describe the elementary excitations of the ground state. High-Tc cuprates are doped Mott insulators and are host to a particularly strong Coulomb repulsion neglected in the Fermi liquid picture. It remains to be established, however, to what extent this becomes an obstacle for the formation of Landau quasi-particles in the T=0 limit. A recent attempt to answer this question has been made by measuring the subkelvin thermal conductivity of the normal state in order to check for the validity of the Wiedemann-Franz law which is a robust signature of a Fermi liquidhill ; proust ; nakamae . The validity of this universal law relating the magnitude of thermal and electrical conductivities is expected in the T=0 limit, disregarding the fine details of electronic scattering and Fermi surface. On the other hand, various scenarios based on electron fractionalization lead to its violation.

In this paper, we present a first experimental study to check the validity of the Wiedemann-Franz(WF) law in a hole-doped cuprate at optimal-doping concentration. Recovering the normal state of Bi2+xSr2-xCuO6+δ (Bi-2201) by the application of a strong magnetic field, we found a thermal conductivity slightly larger than what is expected by the WF law. The departure appears to be genuine as it is significantly larger than the experimental precision obtained in the verification of the WF law in a simple metal.

In-plane thermal conductivity ($`\kappa `$) in presence of a magnetic field applied along the c-axis was measured with a standard two-thermometers-one-heater set-up which permitted to measure the in-plane electric resistivity in the same conditions. Bi-2201 single crystals, with typical dimensions of (2-8) $`\times `$ (400-800) $`\times `$ (600-900)$`\mu m^3`$, were grown in a gaseous phase in closed cavities of a KCl solution melt as detailed elsewherevedeneev . Doping level in stoichiometric Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ can be modified by replacing Sr2+ either with Bi3+ or with La3+maeda ; harris . We succeeded to make single-phase high quality crystals of Bi2+xSr2-xCuO6+δ in the range of 0.17$`<`$x$`<`$0.7. The maximum \[resistive\] $`T_c`$ found in this system was $``$ 10.5 K in agreement with previous studiesvedeneev ; harris . In Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ, on the other hand, the maximum $`T_c`$ is 38K ono . Thus, the disorder associated with (Sr,Bi) substitution is apparently stronger than the one due to (Sr,La) doping and leads to a lower $`T_c`$ and a higher residual resistivity in Bi2+xSr2-xCuO6+δ compared to Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δono2 .

An unambiguous determination of carrier concentration,*p*, in high-Tc cuprates other than La2-xSrxCu2O4(La-214) is not straightforward. However, by comparing Hall coefficients of various families of cuprates, Ando *et al.*ando  have shown that the magnitude of renormalised Hall coefficient($`R_He/V_0`$, where $`V_0`$ is the volume associated with each Cu atom) is an appropriate measure of carrier concentration. In order to check the doping level of our samples we measured the Hall coefficient in a number of them and found that the magnitude of $`R_He/V_0`$ is close to what is expected for an optimal doping cuprate. As seen in Fig. 1 which presents a typical curve, the magnitude of renormalised Hall coefficient is somewhere between the values obtained for La-214 at *p*=0.15 and *p*=0.18. A similar result has been recently reported by Ono and Andoono2 . Together with the linear resistivity observed from room temperature down to $`T_c`$ (see the inset of Fig.1), this provides compelling evidence that the physics of cuprates at optimal doping level can be explored in Bi-2201, which contrary to other hole-doped cuprates, presents a resistive upper critical field within the range of available DC magnetic fieldsvedeneev .

As the required field ($``$ 25 T), however, still exceeds the range provided by available commercial magnets, the experiment was performed in a resistive magnet at Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Measuring subkelvin thermal conductivity in this context faced two major technical challenges. The first was to cool down the sample and thermometers held in vacuum to low temperatures in spite of strong mechanical vibrations associated with the circulation of cooling water. This problem was partially solved by designing a new insert with a vacuum chamber containing the entire thermal conductivity set-up which was placed inside the mixing chamber of a Kelvinox top-loading dilution fridgevan der linden . The second was to measure accurately the temperature at high magnetic fields given the non-negligible magneto-resistance of the RuO2 thermometers used in the set-up and the absence of any zero-field zone. This second problem was resolved by using Coulomb Blockade Thermometry(CBT)pekola . An array of 100 tunnel junctions provided by Nanoway (Finland) was attached to the cold finger and used as a field-independent thermometerkauppinen  for calibrating the shift in the resistance of RuO2 thermometers with the application of magnetic field.

*Zero magnetic field:* Fig. 2(a) displays the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for three crystals of Bi-2201 at zero magnetic field. Since the lattice thermal conductivity is expected to display a cubic temperature dependence at very low temperatures, ($`\kappa /T`$) is plotted as a function of $`T^2`$ in order to extract a linear term, $`\kappa _0/T`$, associated with the electronic contribution. The magnitude of this linear term varies from 0.19 in the most underdoped sample (*p*=0.14) to 0.40 mW/K2cm in the most overdoped sample (*p*=0.19) (See fig. 2(c)). Doping level in these samples was estimated using the reported empirical relationship between $`T_c`$ and carrier concentration in Bi-2201ando . Fig. 2(b) presents the temperature dependence of resistivity in the same samples.

A finite $`\kappa _0/T`$ is a consequence of heat transport by nodal quasi-particles of the d-wave superconducting gap. It has been already reported in a variety of hole-doped cupratestaillefer ; nakamae2 ; chiao ; takeya ; sutherland . According to the theory of transport in a d-wave BCS superconductorgraf ; durst , the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ is intimately related to the fine structure of the superconducting gap. Quantitatively, the theory states that $`\kappa _0/T=\frac{k_{B}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{3\mathrm{}}\frac{v_F}{v_2}\frac{n}{d}`$durst . Here, $`v_F`$ and $`v_2`$ are velocities of nodal quasi-particles normal and parallel to the Fermi surface and $`\frac{n}{d}`$ is the stack density of CuO2 planes. According to the theory, the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ is universal in the sense that it does not depend on the scattering rategraf . This prediction is valid in the clean limit, that is, when $`\gamma k_BT_c`$, with $`\gamma `$ being the impurity bandwidth. Experimentally, both in YBa2Cu3O6.9(Y-123)taillefer  and in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ(Bi-2212)nakamae2 , the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ has been found to be independent of impurity concentration up to the highest scattering rates investigated for optimally-doped samples. On the other hand, according to recent studies on La-214takeya ; sutherland  and on Y-123sutherland , $`\kappa _0/T`$ is a monotonously increasing function of doping concentrationtakeya ; sutherland .

Fig.2(c) confirms the latter behavior in the case of Bi-2201. In the limited range of our exploration, the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ increases with the increase in doping level. This allows us to determine the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ in Bi-2201 at optimal doping level(*p*=0.17) to be 0.33 mW/K2cm. This value is more than twice the magnitude reported for Bi-2212nakamae2 ; chiao , which has a substantially higher $`T_c`$. This is not surprising, since $`\kappa _0/T`$ is a zero-energy probe inversely proportional to the superconducting gapsutherland . Now, it is tempting to forget that Bi-2201 is *not* in the clean limit (as defined above) and compute $`v_F/v_2`$=35, using the procedure already used for other cuprateschiao ; nakamae2 ; sutherland . Since $`v_2`$ is proportional to the angular slope of the gap at a nodal position, this number can be related to the magnitude of the superconducting gap assuming a regular d-wave angular dependence($`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_0\mathrm{cos}`$2$`\varphi `$). This yields $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=\mathrm{}k_Fv_2/2`$ = 16 meV comparable with the magnitude reported by tunnelling studieskugler ; vedeneev2  (See table I). Note that while $`T_c`$ is suppressed by a factor of 8 in Bi-2201, the associated reduction in the magnitude of the superconducting gap is considerably smaller and the magnitude of $`\kappa _0/T`$ appears to reflect this latter trend. This leads to an exceptionally high $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$/kBTc ratio in Bi-2201 ($``$15)kugler , 7 times larger than the value expected for a d-wave BCS superconductor.

*Normal state:* Now, we turn our attention to the issue of the validity or violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law, which states that the Lorenz number, $`L=\kappa _N\rho _0/T`$, should be equal to Sommerfeld’s value:

$$L_0=\frac{\pi ^2}{3}\frac{k_B^2}{e^2}=24.4\times 10^9V^2/K^2$$
(1)
Here $`\kappa _N/T`$ and $`\rho _0`$ are thermal conductivity and electric resistivity of the normal state in the T=0 limit. Before presenting the data on heat conductivity in the normal state, let us note that in our samples the residual thermal conductivity in the *superconducting* state exceeds the magnitude of the thermal conductivity in the *normal* state expected by the magnitude of the resistivity (either $`\rho (T_c)`$ or $`\rho _0`$) and according to the WF law. In other words, $`\kappa _0/T>`$ $`L_0/\rho _0`$. This surprising inequality was first reported in the case of underdoped La-214takeya . In Bi-2201, as seen in Fig. 2(c), it persists at optimal doping, but gradually disappears with increasing p. In this context, a field-induced enhancement of $`\kappa _0/T`$, like the one observed in optimally-doped Bi-2212aubin , would lead to a strong violation of the WF law. In the underdoped La-214, on the other hand $`\kappa _0/T`$ decreases with the application of a magnetic fieldsun ; hawthorn .

As seen in Fig. 3, however, the application of a magnetic field, strong enough to destroy any trace of superconductivity in charge transport, has little effect on low-temperature thermal conductivity of Bi-2201. In the slightly overdoped sample (*p*=0.19), the magnetic field leads to a slight increase in the residual linear term. No change in $`\kappa /T`$ is observed for H=15 T and H=20 T. The few available data points for H=25 T confirms that a reliable linear term for this field can be extracted from the data obtained at lower fields. Assuming that the magnetic field does not affect the slope of $`\kappa /T`$ in the ballistic regime, we estimate $`\kappa _N/T`$ =0.46$`\pm `$0.04 mW/K2cm by extrapolating the H=20 T data to T=0 along a line parallel to the H=0 slope. In the case of the optimally-doped sample (p=0.17), a magnetic field of 25 T leaves the thermal conductivity virtually unchanged in the explored temperature range. Thus, the zero-field extrapolation for this sample ($`\kappa _0/T`$ =0.32$`\pm `$0.03 mW/K2cm) may be considered as the magnitude of $`\kappa _N/T`$. As seen in the figure, for both samples, $`\kappa _N`$/T exceeds $`L_0`$/$`\rho _0`$. The excess is about 20(30) percent for the *p*=0.19(0.17) sample.

In order to estimate our resolution in the verification of the WF law in a simple metal, we used the same set-up to measure the low-temperature thermal and electric conductivities of a 17 $`\mu `$m-diameter gold wire at H=0 and H=25 Tvan der linden . The application of the magnetic field led to a three-fold increase in $`\rho _0`$ and a concomitant decrease in $`\kappa /T`$ of the gold wire. Using Coulomb blockade thermometry, we succeeded in verifying the WF law with a precision of 1(3) percent at H=0 (25 T)van der linden . Thus, the deviation observed in Bi-2201 is much larger than our experimental precision on the absolute magnitude of $`\kappa /T`$.

Besides absolute thermometry, other sources of error may arise in the case of sub-millimetric and anisotropic samples. The geometric factor, assumed identical for $`\kappa `$ and $`\rho `$ in our analysis, may be different for electric and thermal transport. Since we did not observe any correlation between the magnitude of thermal conductivity and the width of gold electrodes, we can exclude the finite width of the contacts as a significant source of discrepancy. An eventual c-axis contamination of the presumably in-plane conductivity would lead to an overestimation of $`\rho _0`$. Moreover, as the electric transport is much more anisotropic than heat transport, the measured $`\kappa `$/T would be less affected by such a contamination. We estimate that in the case of *p*=0.17 sample (with a thickness of $`2.5\mu m`$), this can lead to an error of 6 percent in the absolute magnitude of residual resistivity.

The sum of the three identified sources of experimental error (extrapolation to zero temperature, absolute thermometry and overestimation of residual resistivity due to a c-axis contamination) yield an uncertainty of 17 percent. We can therefore conclude that for the p=0.17 sample, the Lorenz number exceeds Sommerfeld’s value by a slight yet significant margin, that is $`L=1.3\pm 0.2L_0`$.

Prior to this work, compelling evidence for the validity of the WF law in the overdoped regime was reported for overdoped Tl-2201(*p*=0.26)proust  and for heavily overdoped La-214(*p*=0.30)nakamae . Together with the detection of a purely $`T^2`$ temperature-dependence of the resistivity in the latter compound, this seems to establish that the ground state in the overdoped limit is indeed a Fermi liquid. A previous study performed on an electron-doped cuprate at optimal doping level, pointed to a different conclusionhill . Note, however, that in the latter experiment the extraction of $`\kappa _N/T`$ was complicated by the presence of an intriguing downturn in thermal conductivity below 0.3 K. For temperatures above 0.3 K, Hill *et al.*, extracted a $`\kappa _N/T`$ which exceeded the expected WF value by a factor of 1.7hill . Our results do not suffer from the presence of this downturn which was also observed in overdoped La-214nakamae ; sutherland . They yield a $`\kappa _N/T`$, still larger than, but closer to, the WF value. Very recently, we have found that the slight deviation observed here is considerably enhanced with underdoping and/or disorderproust2 . This indicates that the slight departure from the WF law at optimal doping level is not due to an experimental imperfection.

The outcome of this study has interesting implications for the debate on the origin of the anomalous transport properties of cuprates. In theories invoking electron fractionalization in cupratessenthil , the zero-temperature excitations of the normal state are not Landau quasi-particles and the WF law is not expected to be valid. In the case of a Luttinger liquid, for example, a strong violation of the WF law has been theoretically predictedkane . On the other hand, if the anomalous properties of the normal state is due to the existence of a competing hidden order, then the validity of the WF law at T=0 is still expectedkim .

In summary, we have measured heat transport in the normal and superconducting state of Bi-2201. In the normal state, we have found a Lorenz number slightly but significantly larger than Sommerfeld’s value.

We thank L. Taillefer for fruitful discussions and C. Gianese for technical assistance.


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# Accelerating Universe in a Big Bounce Model

## I Introduction

Recently, more and more observations of Type Ia supernovae suggest that the observable universe is presently undergoing an accelerating expansion,1,2 which is contrary to what has always been assumed that the expansion is slowing down due to gravity with a positive decelerating parameter $`q`$. This, together with the recent high precision measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations,3,4 indicates the existence of dark energy characterized by a negative pressure, contributing with about $`70\%^{1,2,5,6}`$ of the totel energy density of the universe (the others being essentially dark matter and baryons). The simplest model for dark energy is the cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. However, because of the so-called cosmological constant problem,7,8 one wishes to have a dynamically decaying $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ or an evolving large-scale scalar field known as quintessence8,9 to explain the acceleration of our universe.

It is of great interest that our conventional universe is embedded in a higher-dimensional world as required in the Kaluza-Klein theories and the brane world theories. In this paper, we consider a five-dimensional cosmological model presented by Liu and Wesson.10 Rather than the “big bang” singularity of the standard cosmology, this 5D model is characterized by a “big bounce”, at which the “size” of the universe is finite. Before the bounce the universe contracts and after the bounce the universe expands. This model is 5D Ricci-flat, implying that it is empty viewed from 5D. However, as is known from the induced matter theory,11,12 4D Einstein equations with matter could be recovered from 5D Kaluza-Klein equations in apparent vacuum. This approach is guaranteed by Campbell’s theorem that any solution of the Einstein equations in N- dimensions can be locally embedded in a Ricci-flat manifold of (N+1)- dimensions.13 An important result of the 5D bounce model is that a time variable cosmological “constant” can be isolated out, in a natural way, from the induced 4D energy-momentum tensor.

The 5D bounce solution contains two arbitrary functions $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$. It was shown in Ref.  that by properly choosing $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$, one can obtain exact solutions suitable to describe both the radiation-dominated universe and the matter-dominated universe as in the standard FRW models. In this paper we will show that by properly choosing $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$, we can also obtain exact solutions suitable to describe our present accelerating universe which is dominated by dark energy.

## II An accelerating universe model

The 5D cosmological solution reads10

$`dS^2`$ $`=`$ $`B^2dt^2A^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{dr^2}{1kr^2}}+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2\right)dy^2,`$
$`A^2`$ $`=`$ $`(\mu ^2+k)y^2+2\nu y+{\displaystyle \frac{\nu ^2+K}{\mu ^2+k}},`$
$`B`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mu }}{\displaystyle \frac{A}{t}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{A}}{\mu }}.`$ (1)
Here $`\mu =\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu =\nu (t)`$ are arbitrary functions, $`k`$ is the three-dimensional curvature index $`(k=\pm 1,0)`$, and $`K`$ is a constant. This solution satisfies the 5D equations $`R_{AB}=0`$ $`(A,B=0123;5)`$. So one has $`R=0`$ and $`R^{AB}R_{AB}=0`$. The 5D Kretschmann invariant is found to be

$$I=R_{ABCD}R^{ABCD}=\frac{72K^2}{A^8}.$$
(2)
which shows that K determines the curvature of the five-dimensional manifold. This solution was firstly derived by Liu and Mashhoon in a different notation in Ref. . The bounce property was firstly discussed by Liu and Wesson.10 Further studies concerning the bounce singularity and other properties can be found in Ref. \[15-20\]. This solution can also be used to construct exact brane cosmological models.21

The 4D part of the empty 5D metric (1) gives an exact solution of the 4D Einstein equations with an effective or induced energy-momentum tensor. It was shown in Ref.  that this energy-momentum tensor could be modeled by a perfect fluid with density $`\rho `$ and pressure $`p`$, plus a cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$:

$${}_{}{}^{(4)}T_{\alpha \beta }^{}=(\rho +p)u_\alpha u_\beta +(\mathrm{\Lambda }p)g_{\alpha \beta }.$$
(3)
where $`u^\alpha dx^\alpha /ds`$ is the 4-velocity. Furthermore, suppose the equation of state being of the form $`p=\gamma \rho `$, then the solution gives

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1+\gamma }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mu ^2+k}{A^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu \dot{\mu }}{A\dot{A}}}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1+\gamma }}\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{1+3\gamma }{2}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mu ^2+k}{A^2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\mu \dot{\mu }}{A\dot{A}}}\right].`$ (4)
We can see that if the two functions $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$ are given, then the two scale factors $`A(t,y)`$ and $`B(t,y)`$ are fixed by (1) and the mass density $`\rho (t,y)`$ and the cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t,y)`$ are also fixed by (4). Generally speaking, on a given $`y=const`$ hypersurface, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ is a time-variable cosmological term.

From the metric (1) we see that the form $`Bdt=\left(\dot{A}/\mu \right)dt`$ is invariant under an arbitrary coordinate transformation $`t\stackrel{~}{t}(t)`$. This would enable us to fix one of the two arbitrary functions $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$, leaving another to account for the various content of the cosmic matter. Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a variable function, one can not simply set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=`$ constant without losing the generality of the solution. Therefore, to compare the 5D solution with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ FRW models, a constraint was used in Ref.  that the cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$  shown in (4)  should decay faster than the density $`\rho `$ decreases at late-times of the universe. Under this constraint, it was found that the choice $`\mu (t)t^{1/3}`$ and $`\nu (t)t^{1/3}`$ with $`k=0`$ and $`K=1`$ gives a matter-dominated model, and the choice $`\mu (t)t^{1/2}`$ and $`\nu =const`$ with $`k=0`$ and $`K=1`$ gives a radiation-dominated model. For these two cases, the universe evolves, at late-times, with the same rate as in the FRW models.

Here we are going to compare the 5D solution with the present accelerating universe. We are aware that neither one of the two terms $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\rho `$ in (4) is negligible presently. Therefore we require that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ should decay not faster than $`\rho `$ does in the late-times. In what follows we will show how this is achieved.

Astrophysical data are compatible with a $`k=0`$ flat 3D space. Meanwhile, we assume the density $`\rho `$ being composed mainly of cold dark matter and baryons. So we choose $`k=0`$, $`K=1`$ and $`\gamma =0`$. Then (1) and (4) become

$`A^2`$ $`=`$ $`(\mu y+{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\mu }})^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mu ^2}},B={\displaystyle \frac{\dot{A}}{\mu }},`$
$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mu ^2}{A^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu \dot{\mu }}{A\dot{A}}}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu ^2}{A^2}}+2{\displaystyle \frac{\mu \dot{\mu }}{A\dot{A}}}.`$ (5)
Here we explain $`\rho `$ as the sum of the density parameters of cold dark matter and baryons, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ as the dark energy density. We can designate the corresponding dimensionless densities as $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, respectively, with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho +\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$. Then, from (5), we obtain

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{\rho +\mathrm{\Lambda }}}={\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\mu }A}{\mu \dot{A}}}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{\rho +\mathrm{\Lambda }}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{2\dot{\mu }A}{\mu \dot{A}}}\right).`$ (6)
Because the 3D space is flat ($`k=0`$), we assume that both $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$ can be expressed as power series of $`t`$. Using the constraint that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ does not decay faster than $`\rho `$ does, we consider the following choice for $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$:

$$\mu (t)=t+\frac{a}{t},\nu (t)=t^n,$$
(7)
where $`n`$ is a parameter to be determined latter. The corresponding form of $`A(t,y)`$ is then given by

$$A^2=\left[\left(t+\frac{a}{t}\right)y+\frac{t^n}{t+a/t}\right]^2+\frac{1}{\left(t+a/t\right)^2},$$
(8)
If we only consider the condition $`n>2`$ and the late time of the universe $`t1`$, then (8) gives

$`A^2`$ $`=`$ $`t^{2n2}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$
$`B`$ $`=`$ $`\left(n1\right)t^{n3}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right].`$ (9)
Substituting (7) and (9) into (5) and (6), we get

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`2\left({\displaystyle \frac{n2}{n1}}\right)t^{42n}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{n+1}{n1}}\right)t^{42n}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$ (10)
and

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho =\frac{2(n2)}{3(n1)}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{n+1}{3(n1)}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right].$$
(11)
Thus we see that at the late time of the universe $`t1`$, $`\rho `$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ decay with the same rate. This is a very useful result in the simulation to the present accelerating universe. Remember that we have used the constraint $`n>2`$ in (9), (10) and (11). So if $`n=2.5`$, we have $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho 2/90.22`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }7/90.78`$. If $`n=3`$, we have $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho 1/30.33`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }2/30.67`$. Current observation is about $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho 0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.7`$. So the parameter $`n`$ lies between $`2.5`$ and $`3`$. For an illustration we let $`n=3`$. Then (8) gives an exact solution being

$$A^2=\left[\left(t+\frac{a}{t}\right)y+\frac{t^3}{t+a/t}\right]^2+\frac{1}{\left(t+a/t\right)^2},B=\frac{\dot{A}}{\mu }.$$
(12)
For $`t1`$, this exact solution gives

$`A`$ $`=`$ $`t^2\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],B={\displaystyle \frac{\dot{A}}{\mu }}=2\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$
$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`t^2\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],\mathrm{\Lambda }=2t^2\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }={\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right].`$ (13)
Figure 1 is a plot of the scale factor $`A(t,y)`$ of the exact solution (12) on the $`y=1`$ hypersurface (with $`a=1`$). From this figure we can see that there is a finite minimum for the scale factor $`A\left(t\right)`$ at $`t=t_b`$ which represents a “big bounce”. Before it the universe contracts, and after it the universe expands.

To see clearly how the universe evolves, we need an appropriate definition for the Hubble and the deceleration parameters. Consider the metric (1). On a given $`y=const`$ hypersurface the proper time can be defined as $`d\tau =Bdt`$. So the invariant definitions for the Hubble and deceleration parameters should be given as21

$`H(t,y)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}{\displaystyle \frac{dA}{d\tau }}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{B}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{A}}{A}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{A}},`$
$`q(t,y)`$ $``$ $`A{\displaystyle \frac{d^2A}{d\tau ^2}}/\left({\displaystyle \frac{dA}{d\tau }}\right)^2={\displaystyle \frac{A\dot{\mu }}{\mu \dot{A}}}.`$ (14)
Then, with use of (7) and (13), equation (14) yields, for $`t1`$,

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{t}}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right],`$
$`q`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[1+O\left(t^2\right)\right].`$ (15)
Thus we find that at the late time of the universe $`t1`$, the universe (12) is accelerating with $`q1/2.`$

Using (13) in the definition of the proper time $`d\tau =Bdt`$, we find

$$\tau \tau _b2t$$
(16)
for $`t1`$ and $`\tau \tau _b`$, where $`\tau _b`$ represents the initial bounce time. So the five-dimensional line element (1) gives

$$dS^2d\tau ^2\frac{1}{16}\left(\tau \tau _b\right)^4\left(dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2\right)dy^2$$
(17)
for $`\tau \tau _b`$. This is an approximate metric to describe our present accelerating universe.

For the special exact solution (12), we can obtain an exact expression for the deceleration parameter $`q(t,y)`$ on a given $`y=const`$ hypersurface by substituting (7) and (12) in the second equation of (14). This is a long expression and we plot it in Figure 2 with $`a=1`$ and $`y=1`$.

Similarly, we can use the exact solutions (12) and (7) in the definition (6) to obtain exact expressions for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The global evolutions of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are ploted in Figure 3 with $`a=1`$ and $`y=1`$.

From Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 we can see clearly that the global evolution of the universe is divided into four stages separated by the “big bounce” point $`t_b`$ and two critical points $`t_{c1}`$ and $`t_{c2}`$. The first stage is at $`0<t<t_b`$ in which the universe contracts from a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ -dominated vacuum. The bounce point $`t_b`$ is a matter singularity (see also Refs. ), across which $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ jumps from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ jumps from $`+\mathrm{}`$ to $`\mathrm{}`$. The second stage is at $`t_b<t<t_{c1}`$ in which $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ decreases and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ increases with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho >\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`q>0`$, and the universe is decelerating. The third stage is at $`t_{c1}<t<t_{c2}`$ in which the deceleration parameter $`q`$ becomes negative, implying that the expansion of the universe turns to speed up. The fourth stage is at $`t_{c2}<t`$ in which $`q<0`$, so the universe is accelerating. In this stage, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ overtakes $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho `$ and the universe is dominated by dark energy. For $`t1`$ we have $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }/\mathrm{\Omega }_\rho 2,`$ in agreement approximately with observations of the present stage of our universe.

## III Discussion

The “big bounce” solution (1) is characterized by having a “bounce”, rather than a “bang”, as the “beginning” of our expanding universe, and by having a evolving cosmological “constant”. Mathematically, the general solution (1) contains two arbitrary functions $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$. Different choices of these two functions may give different models to describe different stages of our universe. In this paper we find that a simple choice of them yields a simple exact solution (12) which can describe the present accelerating universe in a satisfactory manner.

We should emphasize that although this simple exact solution exhibits many interesting features of the bounce model, it has to be generalized to meet more observations and to explain the bouncing from a physical point of view. For instance, the two arbitrary functions $`\mu (t)`$ and $`\nu (t)`$ might be not as simple as given in (7) for a real cosmological model. Meanwhile, a variable cosmological “constant” might be also too simple to describe dark energy. It is known from literatures8,9,22-24 that a properly chosen scalar field might be more suitable to describe dark energy. Be aware that our model (1) is 5D empty and 4D sourceful with an induced 4D energy-momentum tensor which has been supposed to contain a cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ as shown in (3). Thus, instead of a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ term, we probably should consider the case where the induced matter contains a scalar field as a component. We wish this scalar field may provide us with a mechanics to explain the acceleration as well as the bouncing of the universe. We are going to do this in future studies.

We thank Baorong Chang, Huanying Liu and Feng Luo for discussion. This work was supported by NSF of P. R. China under Grant 10273004.


text:
# A compact, multi-pixel parametric light source

## 1 Introduction

Microlens arrays have found host of applications in linear optics, mainly related to the wavefront profile reconstruction problem Hartman . However, the potential in nonlinear optics of microlens arrays has not been fully exploited yet. To date, microlens arrays were employed to obtain three-dimensional images of biological samples in a multiphoton excitation microscopeBewer98 ; Fujita00 . More recently, a nonlinear all-optical switch based on the Talbot effect and the spatial solitonsolitons  excitation process was implemented with a lenslet array Talbot .

Here we show how a microlens array can be employed successfully in combination with a quadratic nonlinear crystal to get a compact, high-quality, ultrashort, parametric light source. In the design of pulsed optical parametric generators (OPG), one of the problems to solve is that of achieving simultaneously good energy stability and high beam-quality. Actually, while the first feature is achieved in the regime of gain saturation, the latter is obtained in the conditions of linear amplification. To avoid the problem, the usual approach is that of implementing several stages of spatial filtering and amplification in the OPG, which makes the device rather complex. A possible way to overcome these limitations and improve spatial quality while preserving the energy stability in OPGs is to exploit the features of the parametric spatial soliton DiT98a , for which the beam quality is ensured thanks to the occurence of a suitbale spatial mode-loking effect DiT98a ; DiT98c . In fact, spatial solitons exhibit excellent beam quality (diffraction limit DiT98a ) in all the trapped wavelengths while their energy content is directly proportional to that of the input pumpTorner99 . However, due to the finite damage threshold of nonlinear materials, the energy that can be converted into solitons is quite small, of the order of few hundreds of nJ/ps. To increase the overall energy conversion, a multi-pump (multi-pixel) scheme has been tested Min00  in conditions where the single pump beam is able to excite a spatial soliton. The conversion efficiency of the device was however limited to a few percent, mainly because of the losses caused by amplitude-modulation mask that we used for the multi-pump beam generation.

In the present work, we show that a dramatic improvement of the conversion efficiency in the multi-pixel OPG (MPOPG) is possible by using a phase mask (i.e. a microlens array), instead of an amplitude one, to multiplex the input pump beam. We show that our MPOPG is able to achieve high level and stable energy conversion while preserving locally high spatial quality all over the tuning range. We mention that the tunability and the spectral features of the parametrically generated spatial solitons, of paramount importance for the application, have never been presented before.

The paper is structured as follows. In the first section, we describe the experimental set-up and report on the spatial features of the output radiation, providing evidence of the formation of parametric spatial solitons. In the next section, we discuss how the tuning conditions affect the soliton pattern and explain why the localization of the pump beam seems to disappear, while the signal field retains the soliton-like features. Another section is devoted to the features of the entire source as a whole. Issues like the net conversion efficiency, energy fluctuation and the spectral features are addressed. Finally, conclusions are drawn together with a proposal for a possible exploitation of the multipixel source as a practical device.

## 2 Spatial features of an array of solitons

The experimental setup, depicted in Fig. 1, is based on a microlens array that devides an intense high-frequency pump beam into a matrix of focused beams impinging on a quadratic nonlinear crystal. The pump is a collimated gaussian beam of 3 mm $`1/e^2`$ radius from a frequency doubled Nd:glass pulsed laser source (TWINKLE, Light Conversion Ldt., delivering 1 ps pulses at the wavelength of 527.5 nm). The central part of the beam was selected by means of a 2.5 mm round aperture placed short before the microlens array. Such cut beam contains about 20% of the total energy and provides a quasi flattop beam profile. The fused silica microlens array (WaveFrontSciences Inc., see inlet in Fig.1) is composed by a square-lattice matrix of 83x102 microlenses. The focal length of each lens is 4.6 mm. The pitch of the array is of 108 $`\mu `$m while the measured spot diameter in the focal plane is of about 15$`\mu `$m FWHM.

The focal plane of the microlens array is imaged on the input face of a 15-mm-long lithium triborate crystal (LBO) by means of a 2-lens telescope of magnification 1. This has been necessary since the oven containing the crystal has rather long edges that forbid to mount the array directly in front of the crystal. A single-lens imaging-system placed behind the nonlinear crystal is used to reconstruct on a CCD camera the beam profile at the exit face of the crystal.

In the experiments, the crystal temperature was tuned from 108C (a condition that has already been proven to be the best for the excitation of parametric spatial solitons from quantum noise fluctuations DiT98b ) up to 164C, which corresponds to the degenerate case. In this interval, the generated signal central wavelength ranged continuously from $`\lambda _s=730`$ nm to $`\lambda _s=1055`$ nm. In the temperture region close to the edge of the tuning (from 108C to 125C), narrow, mutually-trapped beams of high spatial-quality appear in both the pump and signal fields (Fig. 2.b, for the pump beam, see also Min00 ), as the input pump intensity is raised above the level of 0.8 GW/cm2 (measured before the microlens array). The same high quality of the signal is maintained up to the degeneracy point (see Fig. 2.c).The position of each beam corresponds to that of the input pump pixels (Fig. 2.a), projected on the output face along the propagation direction of the pump radiation, this being a typical signature of the achievement of the spatial soliton regime Min00 ; Bra01 . As expected, the contrast of the pattern is much higher in the signal than in the pump field, an effect related to the exponential trend of the parametric amplification. Saturared images of the signal beam show that the background level is in fact negligible (Fig. 2.d).

The main advantage of using a microlens array is that they allows for an efficient multiplexing of the pump beam, therefore arrays made-up of several hundreds of spatial solitons could be easily excited with a single laser pulse (see Fig. 3). Each soliton of the array has been already proved to be independent from its neighbours Min00 ; Bra01 , therefore arbitary patterns of solitons might be easily excited by allowing only selected microlenses to shine on the nonlinear crystal.

The overall conversion efficiency of the system (energy of the parametric radiation/input pump energy) has been greatly improved respect to the scheme employing an amplitude-transmission mask Min00 . Conversion efficiencies up to 32% have been measured. This is actually a high figure, if one considers that it was achieved with a single-pass scheme. Notice that our scheme, besides being extremely compact, does not introduce any relevant loss into the system. More details on the conversion efficiency issue are given in section 4.

As for the uniformity of the array pattern, Fig. 3 shows that it is quite satisfactory. The statistic carried out over 221 pixels shows that the rms fluctuation of the peak intensity over the frame is $`\pm `$ 24% around the mean value. The observed inhomogeneities could be easily related to defects on the lenslet array, defects of the crystal and to spatial inhomogeneity of the pump beam before the lenslet array. The last one is the most detrimental for the homogeneity, if no flat-top beams were available to shine on the microlens array. However, special schemes as that described in arrays  might be exploited to enhance the pixel-to-pixel uniformity of the input pump.

For what concerns the single pixel energy content, from the peak intensity of the incoming pump it can be estimated that each lenslet collects at its maximum about 0.6$`\mu `$J in case of pump well within the saturation range. Allowing a 30% conversion efficiency, each pixel carries about 0.2$`\mu `$J of signal and idler radiation.

## 3 Parametric spatial solitons and wavelength tuning

An essential feature of a parametric light source is the tunability, therefore the further step of our investigation has been a careful characterization of the parametric emission over the same tuning range of the LBO crystal.

As mentioned, well contrasted arrays of beams like in Fig. 2.c were observed to be the typical output of the source in all the tuning range, although the single beam diameter was observed to increase as the degeneracy condition was approached (from 20 to 30 $`\mu `$m FWHM). Interestingly, this feature is not apparently preserved for the high-frequency pump field. In fact, while for temperatures below 125C (corresponding to $`\lambda _s=805`$ nm) a nice array of self-trapped beams is still observed, no clear signature of spatial trapping of the pump field could be detected in conditions closer to degeneracy.

This puzzling observation has been recently explained in the frame of a space-time model of the parametric interaction Paolo03 . With pulsed light, only the central part of the exciting pulse can form a self-trapped, almost non-diffracting beam Simos02 . The tails of the pulse are too weak to initiate the self-focusing process and therefore contribute to the linerly diffracting background. However, the mean intensity of the self trapped part of the pump pulse becomes smaller and smaller as the degeneracy tuning condition is approached. Therefore, on time integrated pictures of the pulse, the self-trapped component of the pump pulse seems to vanish into the linearly diffracting background. On the contrary, the intensity of the self-trapped signal (idler) beam increases, so that apparently the soliton survives only in the signal and idler fields. The reason of this behaviour is linked to the parametric amplification bandwidth of the nonlinear crystal and on the dynamics of the amplification of noisy fields. This carries some analogy with recent studies on the 3D space-time modulational instability and focus wave modes generation in parametric systems Trillo02 ; Orlovas02 .

Let us point out that this effect has however no relevant impact on the operation of the soliton array as a parametric light source. In fact, the most important feature is that the signal field output is still structured as a regular and well contrasted array of beams of high spatial quality. Moreover, the observed color unbalance actually contributes to achieve high conversion efficiencies figures.

## 4 Global features of the source

Having described the local features of the parametric light source, we turn now our attention to the global features of the generator, such as the total conversion efficiency, the average energy fluctuation, and the spectral features.

In figures 4 and 5 the conversion efficiency and the energy rms fluctuation of the overall generated radiation at degeneracy (T = 164C) are plotted as a function of the input peak intensity. These parameters are to be considered an average value over the whole output, since they were measured by simply collecting the output down-converted radiation (the pump was rejected by means of a dielectric mirror) on a large area pyroelectric energy meter. The graph shows that raising the pump intensity above 0.8 GW/cm2 (measured before the microlens array), the conversion efficiency shows a tendency to saturate towards a limit of 35%. Notice that we could not fully enter the saturation regime with the available power. The maximum achieved conversion efficiency is slightly above 30%. In the same saturation regime, the shot-to-shot energy fluctuations were observed to drop down to an asimptotic limit of about 3%, which is less than two times that of the input pump energy (measured to be 1.7%, as illustrated in Figure 5). Similar trends and figures for the energy conversion and the energy fluctation were observed over the whole tuning range of the crystal, therefore confirming our scheme as a promising prototype of a novel parametric light source.

A spectrograph was employed to analyze the output signal radiation spectra. Fig. 6 shows a selection of spectra averaged over 15 shots and taken at different tuning conditions. As expected from the dispersive properties of our type I LBO crystal, the spectra get very broad on approaching degeneracy, their FWHM bandwitdh ranging from 20 nm, at the very edge of the tuning (see Fig. 6.a, left spike) to about one hundred nm close to degeneracy (Fig. 6.c). Single-shot measurements reveal that the spectra are deeply modulated, their actual pattern changing form laser-shot to laser-shot. These data suggest that the coherence time of the output parametric radiation could be quite low. Consistently, space-time simulation of the system revealed that the signal (pump, idler) pulse should exhibit a rugged temporal profile, with details in the few fs scale Paolo03 . This low temporal coherence, that might be considered detrimental in some application, can turn into an advantage for such applications where intense, incoherent light is needed (see also next section). We point out that extremely high intensities could be achieved instantaneously inside the signal pulse (in the order of several hundreds of GW/cm2), a non common feature among the incoherent light sources. Moreover, the excellent spatial quality of the signal beams let us forsee a high focusability of such beams, that might provide even higher peak intensities.

In case narrow-band, long coherence-time parametric radiation is needed, the scheme has to be implemented with a narrow bandwidth seed injection at the signal (idler) wavelength. Measurements (data not shown) prove that close to degeneracy the bandwidth of the signal can be as narrow as 4-6 nm, in case a weak, seed is injected (of energy about 1000 times smaller than that of the pump) in the crystal with the intense pump beam.

## 5 Conclusions and perspectives

In conclusion, we have shown that a microlens array can be succesfully employed to multiplex an intense pump beam and excite a large array of parametric spatial solitons in a quadratic nonlinear material. We investigated the spatial and the temporal properties of the emitted signal radiation and showed that the radiation can be tuned easily without affecting significantly its spatial quality.

From the data reported above, it is evident that the multi-beam pumping couples stability and high conversion efficiency figures with high spatial quality of the output radiation. These characteristics are not easily obtained in conventional OPGs, which need several passes and spatial filtering to obtain high spatial-quality output. The main advantage of the proposed scheme is its intrinsic compactness, which opens new persectives in the development of OPGs whose dimensions are in the order of few cubic centimeters.

For what concerns the spectral quality of the output radiation, the amplification bandwidth of the parametric process in the single pass scheme is quite large (several tens of nm), therefore the output radiation is expected to feature coherence times in the few fs range. This quality makes the MPOPG a unique source of intense temporally (quasi) incoherent but spatially highly coherent, with an average power-per-pixel (about MW) orders of magnitude higher than any currently available broadband tabletop source superLED ; holyfiber . Notice that the high spatial quality of each beamlet composing the array can be exploited to obtain even more focused beams and therefore extremely high peak intensities (tens of TW/cm2).

On the contrary, higly temporal coherent radiation could be easily produced by the source by merely adding a single seeding pass to the amplification schemeDiT98b . Moreover, the intrinsic multicannel structure of the MPOPG could be exploited to build-up an extremely flexible all-optically reconfigurable light source. For instance, patterns of parametric solitons might be excited by letting the pump mix with a spatially modulated seeding beam CLEO99 ; Talbot , while a frequency dispersed seeding might be useful to excite an array in which each pixel has a different central wavelength. This last scheme could be useful, for instance, in spectroscopic measurements (linear and nonlinear) of spatially extended or patterned chemical/biological samples.

All authors aknowledge Instituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, MIUR (COFIN01 and FIRB01), the Department of Sciences of the University of Insubria (“Young reserchers project”) and the European Commission (CEBIOLA contract ICA1-CT-2000-70027) for financial support. All the authors are thankful to G. Arrighi and G. Blasi for helping in the arrangement of the experiments.


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# Comparison of Microcanonical and Canonical Hadronization

## 1 Introduction

The statistical description of proton-proton and heavy-ion reactions has already a long tradition. It was Hagedorn , who showed in a sequence of papers that many aspects of these reactions are close to that one expects assuming that the transition matrix element is constant and therefore the distribution of final state particles is completely determined by phase space.

More recently the statistical interpretation of nuclear reactions regained interest, after it had been demonstrated that in heavy ion reactions at CERN–SPS amd RHIC energies the multiplicities of a multitude of non strange hadrons is in remarkable agreement with the assumption that all particles are created in thermal equilibrium at a temperature which is close to that expected from lattice calculations for the transition of a hadron gaz towards a quark-gluon plasma \[3-5\]. Also strange hadrons fit into this picture if one includes a penalty factor for each strange quark which is contained in a hadron.

Later this approach has been successfully extended towards AGS and SIS energies , as well as towards pp and $`e^+e^{}`$ reactions . Whereas the former are large systems with a large reaction volume, the latter ones yield only a small hadron multiplicity and require volumes of the order of 25 $`fm^3`$. For such small systems, it is not evident that a canonical or a grand canonical description is justified.

Therefore it is worthwhile to check whether for these small volumes and particle multiplicities a microcanonical description still coincides with the canonical one. It is the purpose of this article to investigate this question employing for the first time a numerical realization of the algorithm to calculate the microcanonical phase space which has been presented by us in ref. . For the present investigation, we limit the number of hadrons to 54, which include pseudoscalar and vector mesons (octet and singlet) as well as the octet and decouplet of baryons and antibaryons. Strange particles are produced according to phase space, i.e. without applying any suppression factor. The results are compared to that of two canonical calculations using the approach of Becattini et al. , but without strangeness suppression: in the first calculation the number of hadrons which can be produced is limited to the same 54 species allowed in our microcanonical treatment, in the second calculation the standard set of hadrons  is included. In principle we can include more hadrons in the microcanonical ensemble. This makes a detailed comparison more difficult, because the less known decay channels of the additional hadrons have to agree.

## 2 Microcanonical Calculation

Following the general philosophy of statistical approaches to hadron production, we suppose that the result of a high energy collision can be considered as a distribution of “clusters”, “droplets”, or “fireballs”, which move relative to each other. Here, we are only interested in $`4\pi `$ particle yields and average transverse momenta, and therefore collective longitudinal motion needs not to be considered, and the distribution of clusters may be identified with one single “equivalent cluster”, being characterized by its volume $`V`$ (the sum of individual proper volumes), its energy $`E`$ (the sum of all the cluster masses) , and the net flavor content $`Q=(N_uN_{\overline{u}},N_dN_{\overline{d}},N_sN_{\overline{s}})`$.

The basic assumption is that a cluster, characterized by $`V`$, $`E`$, and $`Q`$, decays “statistically” according to phase space. More precisely, the probability of a cluster to hadronize into a configuration $`K=\{h_1,\mathrm{},h_n\}`$ of hadrons $`h_i`$ is given by the microcanonical partition function $`\mathrm{\Omega }(K)`$ of an ideal, relativistic gas of the $`n`$ hadrons $`h_i`$ ,

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(K)=\frac{V^n}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^{3n}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}g_i\underset{\alpha 𝒮}{}\frac{1}{n_\alpha !}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}d^3p_i\delta (E\mathrm{\Sigma }\epsilon _i)\delta (\mathrm{\Sigma }\stackrel{}{p}_i)\delta _{Q,\mathrm{\Sigma }q_i},$$

with $`\epsilon _i=\sqrt{m_i^2+p_i^2}`$ being the energy, and $`\stackrel{}{p}_i`$ the 3-momentum of particle $`i`$. The term $`\delta _{Q,\mathrm{\Sigma }q_i}`$ ensures flavour conservation; $`q_i`$ is the flavour vector of hadron $`i`$. The symbol $`𝒮`$ represents the set of hadron species considered: we take $`𝒮`$ to contain the pseudoscalar and vector mesons $`(\pi ,K,\eta ,\eta ^{},\rho ,K^{},\omega ,\varphi )`$ and the lowest spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ and spin-$`\frac{3}{2}`$ baryons $`(N,\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Xi },\mathrm{\Delta },\mathrm{\Sigma }^{},\mathrm{\Xi }^{},\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and the corresponding antibaryons. $`n_\alpha `$ is the number of hadrons of species $`\alpha `$, and $`g_i`$ is the degeneracy of particle $`i`$.

We are going to employ Monte Carlo techniques, so we have to generate randomly configurations $`K`$ according to the probability distribution $`\mathrm{\Omega }(K)`$. We need a method in particular for intermediate size droplets, covering droplet masses from few GeV up to 100 or 1000 GeV. So the method should work for particle numbers $`n=|K|`$ between 2 and $`10^3`$, which means, we have to deal with a huge configuration space. Such problems are well known in statistical physics, and the method at hand is to construct a Markov process. So for a given cluster with mass $`E`$, volume $`V`$, and flavor $`Q`$, we start from some arbitrary initial configuration $`K_0`$, and generate a sequence $`K_0,K_1,\mathrm{},K_{I_{\text{eq}}}`$, with $`I_{\text{eq}}`$ being sufficiently large to have reached equilibrium (which is defined to be the steady state of the Markov process). If we repeat this procedure many times, getting configurations $`K_{I_{\text{eq}}}^{(1)},K_{I_{\text{eq}}}^{(2)},\mathrm{},`$ these configurations are distributed as $`\mathrm{\Omega }(K)`$. We need a transition probability $`p`$ such that it leads to an equilibrium distribution $`\mathrm{\Omega }(K)`$, with the initial transient $`I_{\text{eq}}`$ being as small as possible. Such an algorithm has been realized for the first time in .

The problem is solved in several steps. One first writes the phase space integral as

$`\varphi (E,m_1,\mathrm{},m_n)={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}d^3p_i\delta (E\mathrm{\Sigma }\epsilon _i)\delta (\mathrm{\Sigma }\stackrel{}{p}_i)}`$ (1)
$`=(4\pi )^n{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}dp_i\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}p_i^2\delta (E\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\epsilon _i)W(p_1,\mathrm{},p_n)},`$
with $`p_i=|\stackrel{}{p}_i|`$, and with the “random walk function” $`W`$ given as

$$W(p_1,\mathrm{},p_n):=\frac{1}{(4\pi )^n}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}d\mathrm{\Omega }_i\delta \left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}p_i\widehat{e}_i\right),$$
(2)
with $`\widehat{e}_i=\stackrel{}{p}_i/|\stackrel{}{p}_i|`$. The name “random walk function” is due to the fact that $`W`$ represents the probability to return back to the origin after $`n`$ “random walks” $`p_i\widehat{e}_i`$ with given step sizes $`p_i`$. In , many details can be found about an efficient calculation of $`W`$ for any $`n`$ (big or small).

The next step amounts to getting rid of the energy delta function. A variable transformation gives

$`\varphi (E,m_1,\mathrm{},m_n)`$ (3)
$`={\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑r_1\mathrm{}{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑r_{n1}\psi (E,m_1,\mathrm{},m_n;r_1,\mathrm{},r_{n1}),`$
with

$`\psi (E,m_1,\mathrm{},m_n;r_1,\mathrm{},r_{n1})`$ (4)
$`={\displaystyle \frac{(4\pi )^nT^{n1}}{(n1)!}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}p_i\epsilon _iW(p_1,\mathrm{},p_n).`$
The symbol $`T`$ denotes the total kinetic energy $`E\mathrm{\Sigma }m_i`$, and the absolute values of the momenta are expressed in terms of the $`r_i`$ as

$`p_i`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{t_i(t_i+2m_i)}`$
$`t_i`$ $`=`$ $`T(x_ix_{i1}),x_0=0`$
$`x_i`$ $`=`$ $`x_{i+1}\sqrt[i]{r_i},x_n=1.`$ (5)
In principle one may use Monte Carlo techniques to calculate the integral, but this is very time consuming. A more elegant method amounts to generalizing the hadronic final state by considering not only hadron species, but also their momenta. So we use the generalized configurations

$$G=\{h_1,\mathrm{},h_n;r_1,\mathrm{},r_{n1}\},$$
(6)
where the $`r_i`$ are related to the momenta $`p_i`$ via eq. (5). The weight of such a configuration is

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(G)=\frac{V^n}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^{3n}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}g_i\underset{\alpha 𝒮}{}\frac{1}{n_\alpha !}\psi (E,m_1,\mathrm{},m_n;r_1,\mathrm{},r_{n1}).$$

This expression is well suited to generate configurations $`G`$ according to $`\mathrm{\Omega }(G)`$, by constructing Markov chains, for details see .

Flavor conservation is trivial to take into account, by considering only propositions in the Markov chain construction which conserve the total flavor $`Q.`$

Our algorithm provides a fast method to generate hadron configurations, characterized by the number of hadrons, their type, and their momenta. In this sense we have a real “event generator” of statistically generated hadrons.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Multiplicities

In order to see best how the results of a microcanonical calculation approach those of a canonical one, we investigate the average particle density $`\rho _\alpha =n_\alpha /V`$, where $`n_\alpha `$ is the average particle multiplicity $`n_\alpha `$ of hadron species $`\alpha `$, and $`V`$ is the volume. In the microcanoncial approach, the average particle density is in general a function of the two variables $`E`$ and $`V`$. For large volumes, however, $`\rho `$ should only depend on the ratio $`\epsilon =E/V`$, and this represents the limit where microcanonical and canonical description should coincide.

We therefore calculate the density $`\rho _\alpha `$ as a function of the energy density $`\epsilon `$, for different volumes. We expect these curves to converge for large volumes.

Figs. 1-3 show the average particle density $`\rho _\alpha `$ as a function of the energy density $`\epsilon `$ for three different volumes V= 12.5 (line), 25 (dashed line) and 50 (dotted) $`fm^3`$ The baryon density is fixed at 0.08 $`baryons/fm^3`$ and the total charge is 2 for reasons which will be explained later. The particle densities for V = 12.5 $`fm^3`$ and V = 25 $`fm^3`$ differ at low energy densities for heavy mesons as well as for many of the baryons. The deviation increases - as expected - either with increasing particle mass or with increasing strange quark content, because the strange quarks have to be compensated by other particles in order to obtain the quantum numbers of the two incoming protons.

We see as well that all mesons and almost all of the baryons have already arrived at the canonical limit for a volume as small as V= 25 $`fm^3`$. The only exceptions are the heavy triple strange barons $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ at low energy densities, where the total energy of the disintegrating system is (at V= 25$`fm^3`$) only a couple of times larger than the mass of the $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ ,$`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ pair.

From this observation we can conclude that the canonical limit is obtained if the total energy of the system is about 10 times the energy of the sum of the particles under consideration and of that particles necessary to compensate the deviation of the quantum numbers of the considered particle from that of the total cluster.

With the exception of the proton the density of all particles increases with increasing energy density. For the proton this is not the case because at very low energy densities the baryon cannot get rid of its charge, whereas at higher energies a produced meson can carry this charge leaving behind a neutral baryon.

In Figs. 1-3 we have marked as a dot the results of a canonical calculation with the parameters fitted to describe the particle yields observed in pp collisions at 27.4 GeV . The parameters used in this calculations are $`V=25.5`$ $`fm^3`$ and $`T=162`$ $`MeV`$. In contradistinction to the calculation with these parameters which is presented in ref. , here the strange particles are not suppressed by a $`\gamma _s`$ factor and only the 54 hadron species mentioned above are produced. Therefore this canonical calculation can directly be compared with our microcanonical approach. The average energy of the clusters obtained in this calculation is 8.74 GeV, resulting in an average energy density of $`ϵ=0.342`$ $`GeV/fm^3`$. We observe that for all light hadrons the agreement is very nice, verifying that indeed at a volume of $`V=25fm^3`$ the multiplicity has arrived at its canonical limit. For the heavy particles, such as $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$, volumes above $`50fm^3`$ are needed.

Another interesting question is how the observed particle yield is influenced by feeding. It is addressed in figs. 4-6 which show for the 54 hadrons two densities: that of those particles which are produced directly and that present after electromagnetic and strong decays. Both microcanonical calculations are compared with the corresponding canonical results. We see that feeding is unimportant for the vector mesons, whereas for the pseudoscalar mesons feeding increases the yield by more than a factor of 2 for the $`\pi `$’s and by more than 50% for the K’s. With the exceptions of protons, neutrons and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$’s feeding is much less important in the baryonic sector. The strange (anti)baryons in the electromagnetic decay chain of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ show some feeding whereas for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$’s, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$’s, $`\chi ^{}`$’s and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$’s feeding is absent. We display in figs. 3-6 as well the results of the canonical calculation with the same parameters in which the standard set of hadrons is included. For the heavy hadrons both canonical results differ little, whereas the standard set yields more pions and kaons, the decay products of the hadrons not included in 54 particle set. For the pions both canonical results differ by less than 50\\% for all the other hadrons the differences are much less important.

### 3.2 Transverse momentum

In fig. 7,

we plot the average transverse momentum $`<p_T>`$ as a function of the hadron mass $`m`$. We compare our microcanonical results (points) with an energy density of $`ϵ=0.342GeV/fm^3`$ to the canonical result, using

$$<p_T(m,T)>=\frac{(\pi mT/2)^{(1/2)}K_{5/2}(m/T)}{K_2(m/T)}$$

, with a temperature of T = 162 MeV (solid lines). The $`<p_T>`$values obtained in the canonical calculation of Becattini agree with that analytical formula.

On the left hand side, we display $`<p_T>`$ of hadrons before decay as a function of their mass, for a volume of $`V=25fm^3`$, and a total baryon number $`B=0`$ (stars) and $`B=2`$ (squares). Whereas the $`<p_T>`$ of $`\pi `$’s and K’s are close to the value one expects for an equivalent canonical system, for the heavier particles the deviation from the canonical value increases with increasing mass. The reason is easy to understand: If such a heavy particle is produced, the available energy is not sufficient to fill phase space up to the high momenta. We see as well that the $`<p_T>`$ of the $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is 1.5 time the value of a $`\pi `$ . Please note that relativity moderates the increase. In a nonrelativistic calculations we expect that $`<p_T>`$ increases as $`\sqrt{m}`$. We display on the left hand side as well the average transverse momenta after the strong electromagnetic interaction decay for the case of $`B=2`$ (cycles). The decay modifies considerably the $`<p_T>`$of the light mesons and baryons.

On the right hand side, we study the critical volume for a droplet with total baryon number 0 (in order to keep the baryon density constant when changing the volume). We see that with increasing volume the $`<p_T>`$ of the heavy baryons approaches only very slowly the canonical value. However, even at volumes of 100$`fm^3`$ the asymptotic value is not reached. Thus kinematical observables are much more suited to observe the deviations between canonical and microcanonical systems.

## 4 Conclusions

We have presented the first numerical calculations of the multiplicity distribution of hadrons assuming that they are distributed according to microcanonical phase space. In this study we have limited ourselves to a set of 54 hadrons. The results have been compared with the results of a canonical system which has the same size and the same average energy, and agreement has been found. We observe that for the multiplicity the canonical limit is obtained, if the energy of the system is around ten times the mass of the observed particle plus that of those particles which are necessary to compensate its deviation from the quantum numbers of the cluster. These results raise doubts whether heavy hadrons in small systems like pp, Kp and $`e^+e^{}`$ can be described in a canonical approach but shows as well that for a heavy collision a canonical treatment is valid. Both, canonical and microcanonical calculations, show that feeding is very important for the pseudoscalar mesons as well as for p,n and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ but that is of minor or no importance for the other particles. We observe, as predicted analytically, an increase of the average transverse momentum $`<p_T>`$ with the mass of the hadron. However, we also find that a very big volume is required to obtain the value of the equivalent canonical system.

Acknowledgment We would like to thank F. Becattini for many discussions and for providing us with the calculation with a restricted set of hadrons and without strangeness suppression.