46,101 research outputs found
Three years of harvest with the vector vortex coronagraph in the thermal infrared
For several years, we have been developing vortex phase masks based on
sub-wavelength gratings, known as Annular Groove Phase Masks. Etched onto
diamond substrates, these AGPMs are currently designed to be used in the
thermal infrared (ranging from 3 to 13 {\mu}m). Our AGPMs were first installed
on VLT/NACO and VLT/VISIR in 2012, followed by LBT/LMIRCam in 2013 and
Keck/NIRC2 in 2015. In this paper, we review the development, commissioning,
on-sky performance, and early scientific results of these new coronagraphic
modes and report on the lessons learned. We conclude with perspectives for
future developments and applications.Comment: To appear in SPIE proceedings vol. 990
Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) for the Subaru Telescope: Overview, recent progress, and future perspectives
PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the
8.2-meter Subaru Telescope, is a very wide-field, massively multiplexed,
optical and near-infrared spectrograph. Exploiting the Subaru prime focus, 2394
reconfigurable fibers will be distributed over the 1.3 deg field of view. The
spectrograph has been designed with 3 arms of blue, red, and near-infrared
cameras to simultaneously observe spectra from 380nm to 1260nm in one exposure
at a resolution of ~1.6-2.7A. An international collaboration is developing this
instrument under the initiative of Kavli IPMU. The project is now going into
the construction phase aiming at undertaking system integration in 2017-2018
and subsequently carrying out engineering operations in 2018-2019. This article
gives an overview of the instrument, current project status and future paths
forward.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Proceeding of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 201
Ferroelectric Rashba Semiconductors as a novel class of multifunctional materials
The discovery of novel properties, effects or microscopic mechanisms in
modern materials science is often driven by the quest for combining, into a
single compound, several functionalities: not only the juxtaposition of the
latter functionalities, but especially their coupling, can open new horizons in
basic condensed matter physics as well as in technology. Semiconductor
spintronics makes no exception. In this context, we have discovered by means of
density-functional simulations that, when a sizeable spin-orbit coupling is
combined with ferroelectricity, such as in GeTe, one obtains novel
multifunctional materials - called Ferro-Electric Rashba Semi-Conductors
(FERSC) - where, thanks to a giant Rashba spin-splitting, the spin texture is
controllable and switchable via an electric field. This peculiar spin-electric
coupling can find a natural playground in small-gap insulators, such as
chalcogenides, and can bring brand new assets into the field of
electrically-controlled semiconductor spintronicsComment: 9 pages, 2 figures, in press on "Frontiers in Condensed Matter
Physics
SLM-based Digital Adaptive Coronagraphy: Current Status and Capabilities
Active coronagraphy is deemed to play a key role for the next generation of
high-contrast instruments, notably in order to deal with large segmented
mirrors that might exhibit time-dependent pupil merit function, caused by
missing or defective segments. To this purpose, we recently introduced a new
technological framework called digital adaptive coronagraphy (DAC), making use
of liquid-crystal spatial light modulators (SLMs) display panels operating as
active focal-plane phase mask coronagraphs. Here, we first review the latest
contrast performance, measured in laboratory conditions with monochromatic
visible light, and describe a few potential pathways to improve SLM
coronagraphic nulling in the future. We then unveil a few unique capabilities
of SLM-based DAC that were recently, or are currently in the process of being,
demonstrated in our laboratory, including NCPA wavefront sensing,
aperture-matched adaptive phase masks, coronagraphic nulling of multiple star
systems, and coherent differential imaging (CDI).Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Proceedings of the SPIE, paper
10706-9
Optical Yagi-Uda nanoantennas
Conventional antennas, which are widely employed to transmit radio and TV
signals, can be used at optical frequencies as long as they are shrunk to
nanometer-size dimensions. Optical nanoantennas made of metallic or
high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticles allow for enhancing and manipulating
light on the scale much smaller than wavelength of light. Based on this
ability, optical nanoantennas offer unique opportunities regarding key
applications such as optical communications, photovoltaics, non-classical light
emission, and sensing. From a multitude of suggested nanoantenna concepts the
Yagi-Uda nanoantenna, an optical analogue of the well-established
radio-frequency Yagi-Uda antenna, stands out by its efficient unidirectional
light emission and enhancement. Following a brief introduction to the emerging
field of optical nanoantennas, here we review recent theoretical and
experimental activities on optical Yagi-Uda nanoantennas, including their
design, fabrication, and applications. We also discuss several extensions of
the conventional Yagi-Uda antenna design for broadband and tunable operation,
for applications in nanophotonic circuits and photovoltaic devices
Software Defined Networks based Smart Grid Communication: A Comprehensive Survey
The current power grid is no longer a feasible solution due to
ever-increasing user demand of electricity, old infrastructure, and reliability
issues and thus require transformation to a better grid a.k.a., smart grid
(SG). The key features that distinguish SG from the conventional electrical
power grid are its capability to perform two-way communication, demand side
management, and real time pricing. Despite all these advantages that SG will
bring, there are certain issues which are specific to SG communication system.
For instance, network management of current SG systems is complex, time
consuming, and done manually. Moreover, SG communication (SGC) system is built
on different vendor specific devices and protocols. Therefore, the current SG
systems are not protocol independent, thus leading to interoperability issue.
Software defined network (SDN) has been proposed to monitor and manage the
communication networks globally. This article serves as a comprehensive survey
on SDN-based SGC. In this article, we first discuss taxonomy of advantages of
SDNbased SGC.We then discuss SDN-based SGC architectures, along with case
studies. Our article provides an in-depth discussion on routing schemes for
SDN-based SGC. We also provide detailed survey of security and privacy schemes
applied to SDN-based SGC. We furthermore present challenges, open issues, and
future research directions related to SDN-based SGC.Comment: Accepte
- …