Ultrahigh Transmission Optical Nanofibers

We present a procedure for reproducibly fabricating ultrahigh transmission optical nanofibers (530 nm diameter and 84 mm stretch) with single-mode transmissions of 99.95 $\pm$ 0.02%, which represents a loss from tapering of 2.6 $\,\times \,$ 10$^{-5}$ dB/mm when normalized to the entire stretch. When controllably launching the next family of higher-order modes on a fiber with 195 mm stretch, we achieve a transmission of 97.8 $\pm$ 2.8%, which has a loss from tapering of 5.0 $\,\times \,$ 10$^{-4}$ dB/mm when normalized to the entire stretch. Our pulling and transfer procedures allow us to fabricate optical nanofibers that transmit more than 400 mW in high vacuum conditions. These results, published as parameters in our previous work, present an improvement of two orders of magnitude less loss for the fundamental mode and an increase in transmission of more than 300% for higher-order modes, when following the protocols detailed in this paper. We extract from the transmission during the pull, the only reported spectrogram of a fundamental mode launch that does not include excitation to asymmetric modes; in stark contrast to a pull in which our cleaning protocol is not followed. These results depend critically on the pre-pull cleanliness and when properly following our pulling protocols are in excellent agreement with simulations.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures, accepted to AIP Advance

Stabilization of Extra Dimensions and The Dimensionality of the Observed Space

We present a simple model for the late time stabilization of extra dimensions. The basic idea is that brane solutions wrapped around extra dimensions, which is allowed by string theory, will resist expansion due to their winding mode. The momentum modes in principle work in the opposite way. It is this interplay that leads to dynamical stabilization. We use the idea of democratic wrapping \cite{art5}-\cite{art6}, where in a given decimation of extra dimensions, all possible winding cases are considered. To simplify the study further we assumed a symmetric decimation in which the total number of extra dimensions is taken to be $Np$ where N can be called the order of the decimation. We also assumed that extra dimensions all have the topology of tori. We show that with these rather conservative assumptions, there exists solutions to the field equations in which the extra dimensions are stabilized and that the conditions do not depend on $p$. This fact means that there exists at least one solution to the asymmetric decimation case. If we denote the number of observed space dimensions (excluding time) by $m$, the condition for stabilization is $m\geq 3$ for pure Einstein gravity and $m\leq 3$ for dilaton gravity massaged by string theory parameters.Comment: Final versio

Intermodal Energy Transfer in a Tapered Optical Fiber: Optimizing Transmission

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the energy transfer between modes during the tapering process of an optical nanofiber through spectrogram analysis. The results allow optimization of the tapering process, and we measure transmission in excess of 99.95% for the fundamental mode. We quantify the adiabaticity condition through calculations and place an upper bound on the amount of energy transferred to other modes at each step of the tapering, giving practical limits to the tapering angle.Comment: 29 pages, 17 figure

Dynamics of active membranes with internal noise

We study the time-dependent height fluctuations of an active membrane containing energy-dissipating pumps that drive the membrane out of equilibrium. Unlike previous investigations based on models that neglect either curvature couplings or random fluctuations in pump activities, our formulation explores two new models that take both of these effects into account. In the first model, the magnitude of the nonequilibrium forces generated by the pumps is allowed to fluctuate temporally. In the second model, the pumps are allowed to switch between "on" and "off" states. We compute the mean squared displacement of a membrane point for both models, and show that they exhibit distinct dynamical behaviors from previous models, and in particular, a superdiffusive regime specifically arising from the shot noise.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Effective Field Theory Approach to String Gas Cosmology

We derive the 4D low energy effective field theory for a closed string gas on a time dependent FRW background. We examine the solutions and find that although the Brandenberger-Vafa mechanism at late times no longer leads to radion stabilization, the radion rolls slowly enough that the scenario is still of interest. In particular, we find a simple example of the string inspired dark matter recently proposed by Gubser and Peebles.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, comments adde

HELLP Syndrome a Severe Form of Preeclampsia: a Comparative Study of Clinical and Laboratorial Parameters

The objective of this study was to compare clinical, laboratorial, maternal and perinatal results between HELLP Syndrome and severe Preeclampsia. An observational study comparing women with HELLP Syndrome (n=71) to women with severe preeclampsia (n=253) was done. The authors analyzed the early course of the pathologies and the outcomes in both groups. HELLP syndrome occurred in 28% of all the cases and was more frequent at gestational age before 32 weeks (n=39 – 55%) than severe preeclampsia (n=108 - 42%), with more newborns weighting less than 1500g (27 – 38.6% vs 65 – 25.6%; p=0.036). Thrombocytopenia below 100 000/μL (aOR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.49 – 3.06) and LDH>1 000 UI/L (aOR: 5.17; 95% CI 2.19 – 12.16) were risk factors for HELLP. Maternal morbidity (eclampsia, abruptio placentae, and acute renal failure) was similar in both cohorts; eight stillbirths (6 in severe preeclampsia and 2 in HELLP Syndrome) occurred. There were no maternal deaths. In conclusion, in this study the authors confirmed that HELLP Syndrome is a severe form of preeclampsia with an earlier presentation in pregnancy, worst laboratorial findings and more prematurity rates

The spin glass transition of the three dimensional Heisenberg spin glass

It is shown, by means of Monte Carlo simulation and Finite Size Scaling analysis, that the Heisenberg spin glass undergoes a finite-temperature phase transition in three dimensions. There is a single critical temperature, at which both a spin glass and a chiral glass orderings develop. The Monte Carlo algorithm, adapted from lattice gauge theory simulations, makes possible to thermalize lattices of size L=32, larger than in any previous spin glass simulation in three dimensions. High accuracy is reached thanks to the use of the Marenostrum supercomputer. The large range of system sizes studied allow us to consider scaling corrections.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures, version to be published in Physical Review Letter

Sorption of Metaldehyde using granular activated carbon

In this work the ability of granular activated carbon (GAC) to sorb metaldehyde was evaluated. The kinetic data could be described by an intra-particle diffusion model which indicated that the porosity of the sorbent strongly influenced the rate of sorption. The analysis of the equilibrium sorption data revealed that ionic strength and temperature did not play any significant role in the metaldehyde uptake. The sorption isotherms were successfully predicted by the Freundlich model. The GAC used in this paper exhibited a higher affinity and sorption capacity for metaldehyde with respect to other GACs studied in previous works, probably as a result of its higher specific surface area