55 research outputs found

    Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between independent III-V on silicon waveguide integrated lasers

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    The versatility of silicon photonic integrated circuits has led to a widespread usage of this platform for quantum information based applications, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). However, the integration of simple high repetition rate photon sources is yet to be achieved. The use of weak-coherent pulses (WCPs) could represent a viable solution. For example, Measurement Device Independent QKD (MDI-QKD) envisions the use of WCPs to distill a secret key immune to detector side channel attacks at large distances. Thus, the integration of III-V lasers on silicon waveguides is an interesting prospect for quantum photonics. Here, we report the experimental observation of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with 46\pm 2% visibility between WCPs generated by two independent III-V on silicon waveguide integrated lasers. This quantum interference effect is at the heart of many applications, including MDI-QKD. Our work represents a substantial first step towards an implementation of MDI-QKD fully integrated in silicon, and could be beneficial for other applications such as standard QKD and novel quantum communication protocols.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

    Room-temperature InAs/InP Quantum Dots laser operation based on heterogeneous “2.5 D” Photonic Crystal

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    International audienceThe authors report on the design, fabrication and operation of heterogeneous and compact "2.5 D" Photonic Crystal microlaser with a single plane of InAs quantum dots as gain medium. The high quality factor photonic structures are tailored for vertical emission. The devices consist of a top two-dimensional InP Photonic Crystal Slab, a SiO 2 bonding layer, and a bottom high index contrast Si/SiO 2 Bragg mirror deposited on a Si wafer. Despite the fact that no more than about 5% of the quantum dots distribution effectively contribute to the modal gain, room-temperature lasing operation, around 1.5µm, was achieved by photopumping. A low effective threshold, on the order of 350µW, and a spontaneous emission factor, over 0.13, could be deduced from experiments

    The Impact of HIV Infection and CD4 Cell Count on the Performance of an Interferon Gamma Release Assay in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

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    BACKGROUND:The performance of the tuberculosis specific Interferon Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) has not been sufficiently documented in tuberculosis- and HIV-endemic settings. This study evaluated the sensitivity of the QuantiFERON TB-Gold In-Tube (QFT-IT) in patients with culture confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in a TB- and HIV-endemic population and the effect of HIV-infection and CD4 cell count on test performance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:161 patients with sputum culture confirmed PTB were subjected to HIV- and QFT-IT testing and measurement of CD4 cell count. The QFT-IT was positive in 74% (119/161; 95% CI: 67-81%). Sensitivity was higher in HIV-negative (75/93) than in HIV-positive (44/68) patients (81% vs. 65%, p = 0.02) and increased with CD4 cell count in HIV-positive patients (test for trend p = 0.03). 23 patients (14%) had an indeterminate result and this proportion decreased with increasing CD4 cell count in HIV-positive patients (test for trend p = 0.03). Low CD4 cell count (<300 cells/microl) did not account for all QFT-IT indeterminate nor all negative results. Sensitivity when excluding indeterminate results was 86% (95% CI: 81-92%) and did not differ between HIV-negative and HIV-positive patients (88 vs. 83%, p = 0.39). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Sensitivity of the QFT-IT for diagnosing active PTB infection was reasonable when excluding indeterminate results and in HIV-negative patients. However, since the test missed more than 10% of patients, its potential as a rule-out test for active TB disease is limited. Furthermore, test performance is impaired by low CD4 cell count in HIV-positive patients and possibly by other factors as well in both HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients. This might limit the potential of the test in populations where HIV-infection is prevalent

    The T cell differentiation landscape is shaped by tumour mutations in lung cancer

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    Tumour mutational burden (TMB) predicts immunotherapy outcome in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), consistent with immune recognition of tumour neoantigens. However, persistent antigen exposure is detrimental for T cell function. How TMB affects CD4 and CD8 T cell differentiation in untreated tumours and whether this affects patient outcomes is unknown. Here, we paired high-dimensional flow cytometry, exome, single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing from patients with resected, untreated NSCLC to examine these relationships. TMB was associated with compartment-wide T cell differentiation skewing, characterized by loss of TCF7-expressing progenitor-like CD4 T cells, and an increased abundance of dysfunctional CD8 and CD4 T cell subsets with strong phenotypic and transcriptional similarity to neoantigen-reactive CD8 T cells. A gene signature of redistribution from progenitor-like to dysfunctional states was associated with poor survival in lung and other cancer cohorts. Single-cell characterization of these populations informs potential strategies for therapeutic manipulation in NSCLC

    Phylogenetic ctDNA analysis depicts early-stage lung cancer evolution.

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    The early detection of relapse following primary surgery for non-small-cell lung cancer and the characterization of emerging subclones, which seed metastatic sites, might offer new therapeutic approaches for limiting tumour recurrence. The ability to track the evolutionary dynamics of early-stage lung cancer non-invasively in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) has not yet been demonstrated. Here we use a tumour-specific phylogenetic approach to profile the ctDNA of the first 100 TRACERx (Tracking Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Evolution Through Therapy (Rx)) study participants, including one patient who was also recruited to the PEACE (Posthumous Evaluation of Advanced Cancer Environment) post-mortem study. We identify independent predictors of ctDNA release and analyse the tumour-volume detection limit. Through blinded profiling of postoperative plasma, we observe evidence of adjuvant chemotherapy resistance and identify patients who are very likely to experience recurrence of their lung cancer. Finally, we show that phylogenetic ctDNA profiling tracks the subclonal nature of lung cancer relapse and metastasis, providing a new approach for ctDNA-driven therapeutic studies

    Group A Streptococcus, Acute Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease: Epidemiology and Clinical Considerations

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    Highly tunable heterogeneously integrated III-V on silicon sampled-grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers operating in the O-band

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    International audienceWe report on the design, fabrication and performance of the first hetero-integrated III-V on silicon sampled-grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers (SGDBR) operating in the O-band and based on direct bonding and adiabatic coupling. Two devices with different geometric parameters are presented both showing an output power in the Si waveguide as high as 7.5 mW and a continuous tuning range of 27 and 35 nm respectively with a side mode suppression ration higher than 35 dB
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