Family policies, women's earnings, and between-household inequality: Trends in 18 OECD countries from 1981 to 2005

This paper examines to what extent family policies have affected earnings inequality within and between coupled households. Previous studies had found cross-country variation in the degree to which women's earnings attenuate earnings inequality between households. In this paper we explain this variation with reconciliation policies and financial support policies. We used person-level data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS, 2013) on 572,222 coupled households, covering the period from 1981 to 2005 in 18 OECD countries. These data were combined with country-level data from the Comparative Maternity, Parental, and Childcare Database (Gauthier, 2010). In countries with extensive reconciliation policies women contributed a larger share of total household earnings, and earnings inequality among women was relatively low. In societies with extensive financial support policies, women contributed a smaller share to total household earnings, and inequality among the earnings of women was relatively high. Women's earnings were found to attenuate inequality between households to a larger extent in countries with extensive reconciliation policies and limited financial support policies. Countries with family policy arrangements that facilitate women's employment and consequently smaller earnings inequalities within households also contribute to smaller inequalities between households

Compact Yb+^+ optical atomic clock project: design principle and current status

We present the design of a compact optical clock based on the $^2S_{1/2} \rightarrow ^2D_{3/2}$ 435.5 nm transition in $^{171}$Yb$^+$. The ion trap will be based on a micro-fabricated circuit, with surface electrodes generating a trapping potential to localize a single Yb ion a few hundred $\mu$m from the electrodes. We present our trap design as well as simulations of the resulting trapping pseudo-potential. We also present a compact, multi-channel wavelength meter that will permit the frequency stabilization of the cooling, repumping and clear-out lasers at 369.5 nm, 935.2 nm and 638.6 nm needed to cool the ion. We use this wavelength meter to characterize and stabilize the frequency of extended cavity diode lasers at 369.5 nm and 638.6 nm.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Proc. of the 8th FSM 2015, Potsdam, Germany. To be published in IOP Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Continuous Cold-atom Inertial Sensor with 1 nrad.s−11\ \text{nrad.s}^{-1} Rotation Stability

We report the operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor which continuously captures the rotation signal. Using a joint interrogation scheme, where we simultaneously prepare a cold-atom source and operate an atom interferometer (AI) enables us to eliminate the dead times. We show that such continuous operation improves the short-term sensitivity of AIs, and demonstrate a rotation sensitivity of $100\ \text{nrad.s}^{-1}.\text{Hz}^{-1/2}$ in a cold-atom gyroscope of $11 \ \text{cm}^2$ Sagnac area. We also demonstrate a rotation stability of $1 \ \text{nrad.s}^{-1}$ at $10^4$ s of integration time, which establishes the record for atomic gyroscopes. The continuous operation of cold-atom inertial sensors will enable to benefit from the full sensitivity potential of large area AIs, determined by the quantum noise limit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Photodégradation de composites constitués de polyéthylène haute densité et de bagasse délignifiée

Les composites bois/polymère sont généralement constitués d'un mélange de bois et de résines plastiques. D'autres matériaux lignocellulosiques peuvent également être utilisés tels que des coproduits agricoles comme la balle du riz, le lin, la bagasse, etc. Au cours des dernières décennies le bois composite a trouvé sa propre place dans les marchés des produits à base de bois grâce à sa facilité d'entretien et à sa grande longévité. La lignocellulose rajoutée à la résine plastique améliore le module d'Young et la résistance à l'étirement comparé au plastique seul [1]. Le bois composite est aussi connu comme un produit recyclable et respectueux de l'environnement. Le bois composite subit la photodégradation quand il est exposé à l'extérieur ce qui provoque la décoloration et la perte de propriétés mécaniques

High-bandwidth transfer of phase stability through a fiber frequency comb

We demonstrate phase locking of a 729 nm diode laser to a 1542 nm master laser via an erbium-doped-fiber frequency comb, using a transfer-oscillator feedforward scheme which suppresses the effect of comb noise in an unprecedented 1.8 MHz bandwidth. We illustrate its performance by carrying out coherent manipulations of a trapped calcium ion with 99 % fidelity even at few-microsecond timescales. We thus demonstrate that transfer-oscillator locking can provide sufficient phase stability for high-fidelity quantum logic manipulation even without pre-stabilization of the slave diode laser.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Optics Express. Clarified method for measuring laser noise spectra. Improved spectroscopic data in Fig. 3, with motional decoherence now suppresse

Ultra-stable long distance optical frequency distribution using the Internet fiber network

We report an optical link of 540 km for ultrastable frequency distribution over the Internet fiber network. The stable frequency optical signal is processed enabling uninterrupted propagation on both directions. The robustness and the performance of the link are enhanced by a cost effective fully automated optoelectronic station. This device is able to coherently regenerate the return optical signal with a heterodyne optical phase locking of a low noise laser diode. Moreover the incoming signal polarization variation are tracked and processed in order to maintain beat note amplitudes within the operation range. Stable fibered optical interferometer enables optical detection of the link round trip phase signal. The phase-noise compensated link shows a fractional frequency instability in 10 Hz bandwidth of 5x10-15 at one second measurement time and 2x10-19 at 30 000 s. This work is a significant step towards a sustainable wide area ultrastable optical frequency distribution and comparison network