How can ski resorts get smart? Transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable winter tourism in the European Alps

Climate change and the call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the efficient use of (renewable) energy, and more resilient winter tourism regions, forces ski resorts across the European Alps to look for \u201csmart\u201d approaches to transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Drawing on the smart-city concept and considering the different historical developments of Alpine resorts, the Smart Altitude Decision-Making Toolkit was developed using a combination of an energy audit tool, a WebGIS, and collaborative and innovative living labs installed in Les Orres (France), Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), Krvavec (Slovenia), and Verbier (Switzerland). This step-by-step Decision-Making Toolkit enables ski resorts to get feedback on their energy demand, an overview of the locally available sources of renewable energy, and insights regarding their potential for improving their energy efficiency by low-carbon interventions. The Decision-Making Toolkit is suitable for knowledge transfer between stakeholders within living labs and moreover provides the flexibility for tailor-made low-carbon strategies adapting to the unique assets and situatedness of ski resorts

Improvement of infrared single-photon detectors absorptance by integrated plasmonic structures

Plasmonic structures open novel avenues in photodetector development. Optimized illumination configurations are reported to improve p-polarized light absorptance in superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) comprising short- and long-periodic niobium-nitride (NbN) stripe-patterns. In OC-SNSPDs consisting of ~quarter-wavelength dielectric layer closed by a gold reflector the highest absorptance is attainable at perpendicular incidence onto NbN patterns in P-orientation due to E-field concentration at the bottom of nano-cavities. In NCAI-SNSPDs integrated with nano-cavity-arrays consisting of vertical and horizontal gold segments off-axis illumination in S-orientation results in polar-angle-independent perfect absorptance via collective resonances in short-periodic design, while in long-periodic NCAI-SNSPDs grating-coupled surface waves promote EM-field transportation to the NbN stripes and result in local absorptance maxima. In NCDAI-SNSPDs integrated with nano-cavity-deflector-array consisting of longer vertical gold segments large absorptance maxima appear in 3p-periodic designs due to E-field enhancement via grating-coupled surface waves synchronized with the NbN stripes in S-orientation, which enable to compensate fill-factor-related retrogression.United States. Dept. of Energy (Frontier Research Centers