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Hartogh P, Jarchow C, Lellouch E, de Val-Borro M, Rengel M, Moreno R, et al. Herschel/HIFI observations of Mars: First detection of O2 at submillimetre wavelengths and upper limits on HCl and H2O2. Astron. Astrophys.. 2010;521:L49.
Abstract: We report on an initial analysis of Herschel/HIFI observations of hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and molecular oxygen (O2) in the Martian atmosphere performed on 13 and 16 April 2010 (Ls ~ 77°). We derived a constant volume mixing ratio of 1400 ± 120 ppm for O2 and determined upper limits of 200 ppt for HCl and 2 ppb for H2O2. Radiative transfer model calculations indicate that the vertical profile of O2 may not be constant. Photochemical models determine the lowest values of H2O2 to be around Ls ~ 75° but overestimate the volume mixing ratio compared to our measurements.
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Hartogh P, Crovisier J, de Val-Borro M, Bockelée-Morvan D, Biver N, Lis DC, et al. HIFI observations of water in the atmosphere of comet C/2008 Q3 (Garradd). Astron. Astrophys.. 2010;518:L150 (1 to 5).
Abstract: High-resolution far-infrared and sub-millimetre spectroscopy of water lines is an important tool to understand the physical and chemical properties of cometary atmospheres. We present observations of several rotational ortho- and para-water transitions in comet C/2008 Q3 (Garradd) performed with HIFI on Herschel. These observations have provided the first detection of the 212–101 (1669 GHz) ortho and 111–000 (1113 GHz) para transitions of water in a cometary spectrum. In addition, the ground-state transition 110–101 at 557 GHz is detected and mapped. By detecting several water lines quasi-simultaneously and mapping their emission we can constrain the excitation parameters in the coma. Synthetic line profiles are computed using excitation models which include excitation by collisions, solar infrared radiation, and radiation trapping. We obtain the gas kinetic temperature, constrain the electron density profile, and estimate the coma expansion velocity by analyzing the map and line shapes. We derive water production rates of 1.7–2.8 × 1028 s-1 over the range rh = 1.83–1.85 AU.
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Hoeffgen SK, Kuhnhenn J, Weinand U. High radiation sensitivity of chiral long period gratings. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.. 2010;57(5):2915–22.
Abstract: The radiation sensitivity of chiral long period gratings was investigated for the first time. After a Co-60 gamma dose of 100 kGy they show radiation-induced changes of their transmission dip wavelength of up to 10 nm, which is 100 to 1000 times higher than the radiation-induced wavelength shift of different fiber Bragg grating types. They can therefore be used as radiation sensors down to doses of 10 Gy or even below, but not for accurate dose measurements since the size of the wavelength shift after a certain dose still depends on the radiation dose rate. Chiral gratings made of eight single mode fiber types with differences of their radiation-induced attenuation of several orders of magnitude were investigated in order to look for a correlation between dip wavelength shift and fiber attenuation. However, the dip wavelength curves do not show exactly the same order as the fiber attenuation curves. A theory that can exactly predict all properties of the chiral gratings might enable us to specify from our results an optimized fiber for the production of gratings that can also be used for radiation dosimetry.
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Stevens MJ, Baek B, Dauler EA, Kerman AJ, Molnar RJ, Hamilton SA, et al. High-order temporal coherences of
chaotic and laser light. Opt Express. 2010;18(2):1430–7.
Abstract: We demonstrate a new approach to measuring high-order temporal coherences that uses a four-element superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. The four independent, interleaved single-photon-sensitive elements parse a single spatial mode of an optical beam over dimensions smaller than the minimum diffraction-limited spot size. Integrating this device with four-channel time-tagging electronics to generate multi-start, multi-stop histograms enables measurement of temporal coherences up to fourth order for a continuous range of all associated time delays. We observe high-order photon bunching from a chaotic, pseudo-thermal light source, measuring maximum third- and fourth-order coherence values of 5.87 ± 0.17 and 23.1 ± 1.8, respectively, in agreement with the theoretically predicted values of 3! = 6 and 4! = 24. Laser light, by contrast, is confirmed to have coherence values of approximately 1 for second, third and fourth orders at all time delays.
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Zhong T, Hu X, Wong FNC, Berggren KK, Roberts TD, Battle P. High-quality fiber-optic polarization entanglement distribution at 1.3 μm telecom wavelength. Opt Lett. 2010;35(9):1392–4.
Abstract: We demonstrate high-quality distribution of 1.3 μm polarization-entangled photons generated from a fiber-coupled periodically poled KTiOPO4 waveguide over 200 m fiber-optic cables. Time-multiplexed measurements with a 19% efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detector at the remote location show a detected flux of 5.8 pairs / s at a pump power of 25 μW and an average two-photon quantum-interference visibility of 97.7% without subtraction of accidentals.
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Freer EM, Grachev O, Duan X, Martin S, Stumbo DP. High-yield self-limiting single-nanowire assembly with dielectrophoresis. Nat Nanotech. 2010;5(7):525–530.
Abstract: Single-crystal nanowire transistors and other nanowire-based devices could have applications in large-area and flexible electronics if conventional top-down fabrication techniques can be integrated with high-precision bottom-up nanowire assembly. Here, we extend dielectrophoretic nanowire assembly to achieve a 98.5% yield of single nanowires assembled over 16,000 patterned electrode sites with submicrometre alignment precision. The balancing of surface, hydrodynamic and dielectrophoretic forces makes the self-assembly process controllable, and a hydrodynamic force component makes it self-limiting. Our approach represents a methodology to quantify nanowire assembly, and makes single nanowire assembly possible over an area limited only by the ability to reproduce process conditions uniformly.
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Benz AO, Bruderer S, van Dishoeck EF, Stäuber P, Wampfler SF, Melchior M, et al. Hydrides in young stellar objects: Radiation tracers in a protostar-disk-outflow system. Astron. Astrophys.. 2010;521:L35 (1 to 5).
Abstract: Context. Hydrides of the most abundant heavier elements are fundamental molecules in cosmic chemistry. Some of them trace gas irradiated by UV or X-rays.
Aims. We explore the abundances of major hydrides in W3 IRS5, a prototypical region of high-mass star formation.
Methods. W3 IRS5 was observed by HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory with deep integration (2500 s) in 8 spectral regions.
Results. The target lines including CH, NH, H3O+, and the new molecules SH+, H2O+, and OH+ are detected. The H2O+ and OH+ J = 1–0 lines are found mostly in absorption, but also appear to exhibit weak emission (P-Cyg-like). Emission requires high density, thus originates most likely near the protostar. This is corroborated by the absence of line shifts relative to the young stellar object (YSO). In addition, H2O+ and OH+ also contain strong absorption components at a velocity shifted relative to W3 IRS5, which are attributed to foreground clouds.
Conclusions. The molecular column densities derived from observations correlate well with the predictions of a model that assumes the main emission region is in outflow walls, heated and irradiated by protostellar UV radiation.
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Feofanov AK, Oboznov VA, Bol'Ginov VV, Lisenfeld J, Poletto S, Ryazanov VV, et al. Implementation of superconductor/ferromagnet/ superconductor. Nat Phys. 2010;6(8):593–7.
Abstract: High operation speed and low energy consumption may allow the superconducting digital single-flux-quantum circuits to outperform traditional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor logic. The remaining major obstacle towards high element densities on-chip is a relatively large cell size necessary to hold a magnetic flux quantum Φ0. Inserting a π-type Josephson junction in the cell is equivalent to applying flux Φ0/2 and thus makes it possible to solve this problem. Moreover, using π-junctions in superconducting qubits may help to protect them from noise. Here we demonstrate the operation of three superconducting circuits-two of them are classical and one quantum-that all utilize such π-phase shifters realized using superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor sandwich technology. The classical circuits are based on single-flux-quantum cells, which are shown to be scalable and compatible with conventional niobium-based superconducting electronics. The quantum circuit is a π-biased phase qubit, for which we observe coherent Rabi oscillations. We find no degradation of the measured coherence time compared to that of a reference qubit without a π-junction.
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Kataoka T, Kajikawa K, Kitagawa J, Kadoya Y, Takemura Y. Improved sensitivity of terahertz detection by GaAs photoconductive antennas excited at 1560 nm. Appl Phys Lett. 2010;97:201110 (1–3).
Abstract: The terahertz detection by photoconductive antennas (PCAs) based on low-temperature grown (LTG) GaAs with 1.5 μm pulse excitation was revisited. We found that the detection efficiency can be improved by a factor of 10 (20 dB) by reducing the excitation spot size and the gap length of the PCA, maintaining the low noise feature of the PCA on LTG GaAs. As a result, the signal-to-noise ratio higher than 50 dB was obtained at a reasonable incident power of 9.5 mW, suggesting that the scheme is promising for the detection of terahertz waves in practical time domain systems.
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Smirnov KV, Vakhtomin YB, Divochiy AV, Ozhegov RV, Pentin IV, Gol'tsman GN. Infrared and terahertz detectors on basis of superconducting nanostructures. In: IEEE, editor. Microwave and Telecom. Technol. (CriMiCo), 20th Int. Crimean Conf.; 2010. p. 823–4.
Abstract: Results of development of single-photon receiving systems of visible, infrared and terahertz range based on thin-film superconducting nanostructures are presented. The receiving systems are produced on the basis of superconducting nanostructures, which function by means of hot-electron phenomena.
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