Hybrid soliton dynamics in liquid-core fibres

The discovery of optical solitons being understood as temporally and spectrally stationary optical states has enabled numerous innovations among which, most notably, supercontinuum light sources have become widely used in both fundamental and applied sciences. Here, we report on experimental evidence for dynamics of hybrid solitons—a new type of solitary wave, which emerges as a result of a strong non-instantaneous nonlinear response in CS2-filled liquid-core optical fibres. Octave-spanning supercontinua in the mid-infrared region are observed when pumping the hybrid waveguide with a 460 fs laser (1.95 μm) in the anomalous dispersion regime at nanojoule-level pulse energies. A detailed numerical analysis well correlated with the experiment uncovers clear indicators of emerging hybrid solitons, revealing their impact on the bandwidth, onset energy and noise characteristics of the supercontinua. Our study highlights liquid-core fibres as a promising platform for fundamental optics and applications towards novel coherent and reconfigurable light sources

Carbon chloride-core fibers for soliton mediated supercontinuum generation

We report on soliton-fission mediated infrared supercontinuum generation in liquid-core step-index fibers using highly transparent carbon chlorides (CCl4, C2Cl4). By developing models for the refractive index dispersions and nonlinear response functions, dispersion engineering and pumping with an ultrafast thulium fiber laser (300 fs) at 1.92 μm, distinct soliton fission and dispersive wave generation was observed, particularly in the case of tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4). The measured results match simulations of both the generalized and a hybrid nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with the latter resembling the characteristics of non-instantaneous medium via a static potential term and representing a simulation tool with substantially reduced complexity. We show that C2Cl4 has the potential for observing non-instantaneous soliton dynamics along meters of liquid-core fiber opening a feasible route for directly observing hybrid soliton dynamics

Long-term follow-up of idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura treated with rituximab

Rituximab may be used to treat patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) refractory to plasma exchange or recurrent disease. While initial response rates are reported to be high, long-term follow-up data of patients treated with rituximab are not available to date, however important to estimate the safety and benefit of this treatment. Twelve patients with non-familial idiopathic TTP refractory to plasma exchange or with recurrent disease treated with rituximab between 2000 and 2008 were reexamined. The median follow-up was 49.6 months, ranging from 11 to 97 months. All patients achieved initial complete remission after application of rituximab. During follow-up, nine patients remained disease-free and three patients suffered from recurrent disease. All patients with recurrent disease responded to subsequent rituximab therapy. No long-term side effects were noted during the follow-up period. In conclusion, rituximab represents an effective second-line treatment option in relapsing or refractory TTP. Still, patients need to be closely monitored for relapses with extended follow-up

4G/5G-Campusnetze und FTS-Einsatz: Fabriksteuerung in Echtzeit mit Edge-Cloud und mobilen Robotern

Für die Einbindung eines fahrerlosen Transportfahrzeugs (FTS) hat die Deutsche Telekom erstmals ein LTE-Campusnetz auf dem Betriebsgelände von Osram in Schwabmünchen installiert. Es stellt exklusive Netzwerkressourcen bereit und gewährleistet, dass die übermittelten Daten nie das Unternehmensnetz verlassen. Darauf aufbauend, wurde ein robotergestützter Materialtransport innerhalb der Fabrik umgesetzt. Die von der Gestalt Robotics GmbH realisierten Softwaredienste zur Lokalisierung und Navigation können so auf einer Edge-Cloud berechnet werden. Als Bindeglied zwischen manuellen und automatischen Prozessen kommen vom Fraunhofer-IPK neu entwickelte Materialübergabestationen mit LTE-Gateways zum Einsatz. Die Edge-Cloud-basierte Steuerung kann nun auch komplexeste Planungsaufgaben vom Flottenmanagement bis zum KI-gestützten Materialfluss für die gesamte Fabrik übernehmen. Die Anbindung von weiteren LTE-Endgeräten ermöglicht eine Vielzahl neuer Anwendungen. Diese sind dabei nicht auf die Steuerung von Transportfahrzeugen beschränkt. Die große Bandbreite des Netzes erlaubt u. a. auch die funkbasierte Anbindung von Kameras, so dass automatisierte Vollständigkeits- und Qualitätsprüfungen durch cloudbasierte Bildverarbeitungsdienste umsetzbar werden

Monolithic optofluidic mode coupler for broadband thermo- and piezo-optical characterization of liquids

We present a monolithic fiber device that enables investigation of the thermo- and piezo-optical properties of liquids using straightforward broadband transmission measurements. The device is a directional mode coupler consisting of a multi-mode liquid core and a single-mode glass core with pronounced coupling resonances whose wavelength strongly depend on the operation temperature. We demonstrated the functionality and flexibility of our device for carbon disulfide, extending the current knowledge of the thermo-optic coefficient by 200 nm at 20 °C and uniquely for high temperatures. Moreover, our device allows measuring the piezo-optic coefficient of carbon disulfide, confirming results first obtained by Röntgen in 1891. Finally, we applied our approach to obtain the dispersion of the thermo-optic coefficients of benzene and tetrachloroethylene between 450 and 800 nm, whereas no data was available for the latter so far