Statistical Uncertainty in Quantitative Neutron Radiography

We demonstrate a novel procedure to calibrate neutron detection systems commonly used in standard neutron radiography. This calibration allows determining the uncertainties due to Poisson-like neutron counting statistics for each individual pixel of a radiographic image. The obtained statistical errors are necessary in order to perform a correct quantitative analysis. This fast and convenient method is applied to data measured at the cold neutron radiography facility ICON at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Moreover, from the results the effective neutron flux at the beam line is determined

Silicon-Integrated Hybrid-Cavity 850-nm VCSELs by Adhesive Bonding: Impact of Bonding Interface Thickness on Laser Performance

The impact of bonding interface thickness on the performance of 850-nm silicon-integrated hybrid-cavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (HC-VCSELs) is investigated. The HC-VCSEL is constructed by attaching a III–V “half-VCSEL” to a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector on a Si substrate using ultrathin divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene (DVS-BCB) adhesive bonding. The thickness of the bonding interface, defined by the DVS-BCB layer together with a thin SiO2 layer on the “half-VCSEL,” can be used to tailor the performance, for e.g., maximum output power or modulation speed at a certain temperature, or temperature-stable performance. Here, we demonstrate an optical output power of 2.3 and 0.9 mW, a modulation bandwidth of 10.0 and 6.4 GHz, and error-free data transmission up to 25 and 10 Gb/s at an ambient temperature of 25 and 85 °C, respectively. The thermal impedance is found to be unaffected by the bonding interface thickness

Enabling VCSEL-on-silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits with micro-transfer-printing

New wavelength domains have become accessible for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with the development of silicon nitride PICs. In particular, the visible and near-infrared wavelength range is of interest for a range of sensing and communication applications. The integration of energy-efficient III-V lasers, such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), is important for expanding the application portfolio of such PICs. However, most of the demonstrated integration approaches are not easily scalable towards low-cost and large-volume production. In this work, we demonstrate the micro-transfer-printing of bottom-emitting VCSELs on silicon nitride PICs as a path to achieve this. The demonstrated 850 nm lasers show waveguide-coupled powers exceeding 100 mu W, with sub-mA lasing thresholds and mW-level power consumption. A single-mode laser with a side-mode suppression ratio over 45 dB and a tuning range of 5 nm is demonstrated. Combining micro-transfer-printing integration with the extended-cavity VCSEL design developed in this work provides the silicon nitride PIC industry with a great tool to integrate energy-efficient VCSELs onto silicon nitride PICs

20-Gb/s Modulation of Silicon-Integrated Short-Wavelength Hybrid-Cavity VCSELs

We investigate the dynamics of silicon-integrated 850-nm-wavelength hybrid-cavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The VCSELs consist of a GaAs-based half-VCSEL attached to a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector on a silicon substrate using ultra-thin divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene adhesive bonding. A 5-µm oxide aperture diameter VCSEL, with a small signal modulation bandwidth of 11 GHz, supports data transmission at bit rates up to 20 Gb/s. The modulation bandwidth and the large signal modulation characteristics are found to be impaired by the high thermal impedance

High-power single transverse and polarization mode VCSEL for silicon photonics integration

\ua9 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement. We demonstrate a 6.5 mW single transverse and polarization mode GaAs-based oxide-confined VCSEL at 850 nm. High power is enabled by a relatively large oxide aperture and an epitaxial design for low resistance, low optical loss, and high slope efficiency VCSELs. With the oxide aperture supporting multiple polarization unrestrained transverse modes, single transverse and polarization mode operation is achieved by a transverse and polarization mode filter etched into the surface of the VCSEL. While the VCSEL is specifically designed for light source integration on a silicon photonic integrated circuit, its performance in terms of power, spectral purity, polarization, and beam properties are of great interest for a large range of applications

Analysis of defect-related optical degradation of VCSILs for photonic integrated circuits

Laser diodes are of paramount importance for on-chip telecommunications applications, and a wide range of sensing devices that require near-infrared sources. In this work, the devices under test are vertical-cavity silicon-integrated lasers (VCSILs) designed for operation at 845 nm in photonic integrated circuits (PICs). We focus on the analysis of the degradation of the optical performance during aging. To investigate the reliability of the devices, we carried out several stress tests at constant current, ranging from 3.5 mA to 4.5 mA representing a highly accelerated stress condition. We observed two different degradation modes. In the first part of the experiments, the samples exhibited a worsening of the threshold current, but the sub-threshold emission was unaffected by degradation. We associated this behavior to the diffusion of impurities that, from the p-contact, were crossing the upper mirror implying a worsening of the DBR optical absorption. In the second stage of the stress test, the devices showed a higher degradation rate of the threshold current, whose variation was found to be linearly correlated to the worsening of the sub-threshold emission. We related this second degradation mode to the migration of the same impurities degrading the top DBR that, when reaching the active region of the laser, induced an increase in the non-radiative recombination rate. In addition to that, we related the two degradation modes to the change in series resistance, which was ascribed to the resistivity increment of the top DBR first and of oxide aperture afterwards

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration