Intensity fluctuations signature of 3D Anderson localization of light

Apart from the difficulty of producing highly scattering samples, a major challenge in the observation of Anderson localization of 3D light is identifying an unambiguous signature of the phase transition in experimentally feasible situations. In this letter we establish a clear correspondence between the collapse of the conductance, the increase in intensity fluctuations at the localization transition and the scaling analysis results based on the Thouless number, thus connecting the macroscopic and microscopic approaches of localization. Furthermore, the transition thus inferred is fully compatible both with the results based on the eigenvalue analysis of the microscopic description and with the effective-medium Ioffe-Regel criterion

Single beam grating coupled interferometry: high resolution miniaturized label-free sensor for plate based parallel screening

Grating Coupled Interferometry (GCI) using high quality waveguides with two incoupling and one outcoupling grating areas is introduced to increase and precisely control the sensing length of the device; and to make the sensor design suitable for plate-based multiplexing. In contrast to other interferometric arrangements, the sensor chips are interrogated with a single expanded laser beam illuminating both incoupling gratings simultaneously. In order to obtain the interference signal, only half of the beam is phase modulated using a laterally divided two-cell liquid crystal modulator. The developed highly symmetrical arrangement of the interferometric arms increases the stability and at the same time offers straightforward integration of parallel sensing channels. The device characteristics are demonstrated for both TE and TM polarized modes. (C)2012 Optical Society of Americ

Érasme et l'Antiquité: de l'usage des Adages dans sa Paraphrase sur Matthieu

This paper discusses one feature of Erasmus’ use of the Latin language by demonstrating how the humanist relied upon his own Adagia, a nearly endless sum of classical sayings that mirrored their author’s “farsighted” approach to Antiquity when composing the Paraphrases. Evidence drawn from the Paraphrase of the Gospel of Matthew sheds light on this particular approach. Having illustrated (I) the relation between Erasmus’ Paraphrases and those of his classical and avowed forerunners (Themistius and Juvencus), and having discussed (II) their author's poiesis in rewriting and glossing the Gospel, this paper provides (III) an in-depth analysis of nine Adagia quoted in the Par. in Mt. According to my reading, those would have been put to four different uses: (A) simple direct use; (B) amplified direct use;(C) indirect use; and (D) amplified indirect use. Thus, this analysis – that should be applied to the whole of the Paraphrases – allows us to see that Erasmus did not treat the Adagia as fixed locutiones that would impede further Latin composition, but as a treasure of sentences and literary images readily available to all writers in order to lift their spirits and their works. Additionally the analysis shows the tight bound rhetoric that links the Adagia and the Paraphrases, sharing the same educational goal: translating (following the Latin meaning of transducere) the pagan and Christian classical culture for the benefit of the humanist dream of a universal, evangelical and Latin Christendom

Écrits latins en Nouvelle-France (1608-1763) : premier état de la question

Le latin et sa tradition culturelle et pédagogique représentent un point aveuglede l’histoire littéraire et culturelle québécoise. Pourtant, les textes rédigés danscette langue sont nombreux et offrent un témoignage littéraire et humain qu’on nepeut plus ignorer. Cet article tente d’établir un premier état de la question pourles écrits de la Nouvelle-France, en distinguant les textes spirituels ethistoriques, caractéristiques du xviie siècle, et ceux plus scientifiques, davantage représentatifsdu xviiie siècle, tout en posant la question du choix de cette langueet de ce que celui-ci nous dit de la société qui les a produits.Latin and its cultural and pedagogical tradition represent a blind spot in theliterary and cultural history of Québec. Nevertheless, many texts were written inthat language and offer a literary and human testimony that can no longer beignored. This article attempts to establish an initial state of the issue for thewritings of New France by distinguishing the spiritual and historic textscharacteristic of the seventeenth century from the scientific texts morerepresentative of the eighteenth. At the same time, it poses the question of thechoice of this language and what it tells us about the society that producedthem

Moonlight drives ocean-scale mass vertical migration of zooplankton during the Arctic winter

The creation of the pan-Arctic archive of ADCP data was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (Panarchive: NE/H012524/1 and SOFI: NE/F012381/1) as was mooring work in Svalbard (Oceans 2025 and Northern Sea Program). Moorings were also supported by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) projects: Circa (214271), Cleopatra (178766), Cleopatra II (216537), and Marine Night (226471).In extreme high-latitude marine environments that are without solar illumination in winter, light-mediated patterns of biological migration have historically been considered non-existent [1]. However, diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton has been shown to occur even during the darkest part of the polar night, when illumination levels are exceptionally low [2 and 3]. This paradox is, as yet, unexplained. Here, we present evidence of an unexpected uniform behavior across the entire Arctic, in fjord, shelf, slope and open sea, where vertical migrations of zooplankton are driven by lunar illumination. A shift from solar-day (24-hr period) to lunar-day (24.8-hr period) vertical migration takes place in winter when the moon rises above the horizon. Further, mass sinking of zooplankton from the surface waters and accumulation at a depth of ∼50 m occurs every 29.5 days in winter, coincident with the periods of full moon. Moonlight may enable predation of zooplankton by carnivorous zooplankters, fish, and birds now known to feed during the polar night [4]. Although primary production is almost nil at this time, lunar vertical migration (LVM) may facilitate monthly pulses of carbon remineralization, as they occur continuously in illuminated mesopelagic systems [5], due to community respiration of carnivorous and detritivorous zooplankton. The extent of LVM during the winter suggests that the behavior is highly conserved and adaptive and therefore needs to be considered as “baseline” zooplankton activity in a changing Arctic ocean [6, 7, 8 and 9].Publisher PDFPeer reviewe