Anharmonic Self-Energy of Phonons: Ab Initio Calculations and Neutron Spin Echo Measurements

We have calculated (ab initio) and measured (by spin-echo techniques) the anharmonic self-energy of phonons at the X-point of the Brillouin zone for isotopically pure germanium. The real part agrees with former, less accurate, high temperature data obtained by inelastic neutron scattering on natural germanium. For the imaginary part our results provide evidence that transverse acoustic phonons at the X-point are very long lived at low temperatures, i.e. their probability of decay approaches zero, as a consequence of an unusual decay mechanism allowed by energy conservation.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, pdf fil

A purely geometric distance to the binary star Atlas, a member of the Pleiades

We present radial velocity and new interferometric measurements of the double star Atlas, which permit, with the addition of published interferometric data, to precisely derive the orbital parameters of the binary system and the masses of the components. The derived semi-major axis, compared with its measured angular size, allows to determine a distance to Atlas of 132+-4 pc in a purely geometrical way. Under the assumption that the location of Atlas is representative of the average distance of the cluster, we confirm the distance value generally obtained through main sequence fitting, in contradiction with the early Hipparcos result (118.3+-3.5 pc).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Reduced dimensionality multiphysics model for efficient VCSEL optimization

The ICT scene is dominated by short-range intra-datacenter interconnects and networking, requiring high speed and stable operations at high temperatures. GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting at 850–980 nm have arisen as the main actors in this framework. Starting from our in-house 3D fully comprehensive VCSEL solver VENUS, in this work we present the possibility of downscaling the dimensionality of the simulation, ending up with a multiphysics 1D solver (D1ANA), which is shown to be capable of reproducing the experimental data very well. D1ANA is then extensively applied to optimize high-temperature operation, by modifying cavity detuning and distributed Bragg’s reflector lengths

A search for solar-like oscillations in the Am star HD 209625

The goal is to test the structure of hot metallic stars, and in particular the structure of a near-surface convection zone using asteroseismic measurements. Indeed, stellar models including a detailed treatement of the radiative diffusion predict the existence of a near-surface convection zone in order to correctly reproduce the anomalies in surface abundances that are observed in Am stars. The Am star HD 209625 was observed with the Harps spectrograph mounted on the 3.6-m telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile) during 9 nights in August 2005. This observing run allowed us to collect 1243 radial velocity (RV) measurements, with a standard deviation of 1.35 m/s. The power spectrum associated with these RV measurements does not present any excess. Therefore, either the structure of the external layers of this star does not allow excitation of solar-like oscillations, or the amplitudes of the oscillations remain below 20-30 cm/s (depending on their frequency range).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, A&A accepte

Non-linear optical susceptibilities, Raman efficiencies and electrooptic tensors from first-principles density functional perturbation theory

The non-linear response of infinite periodic solids to homogenous electric fields and collective atomic displacements is discussed in the framework of density functional perturbation theory. The approach is based on the 2n + 1 theorem applied to an electric-field-dependent energy functional. We report the expressions for the calculation of the non-linear optical susceptibilities, Raman scattering efficiencies and electrooptic coefficients. Different formulations of third-order energy derivatives are examined and their convergence with respect to the k-point sampling is discussed. We apply our method to a few simple cases and compare our results to those obtained with distinct techniques. Finally, we discuss the effect of a scissors correction on the EO coefficients and non-linear optical susceptibilities

Robust design of Si/Si3N4 high contrast grating mirror for mid-infrared VCSEL application

A Si/Si3N4 high contrast grating mirror has been designed for a VCSEL integration in mid-infrared ({\lambda} = 2.65 $\mu$m). The use of an optimization algorithm which maximizes a VCSEL mirror quality factor allowed the adjustment of the grating parameters while keeping large and shallow grating pattern. The robustness with respect to fabrication error has been enhanced thanks to a precise study of the grating dimension tolerances. The final mirror exhibits large high reflectivity bandwidth with a polarization selectivity and several percent of tolerance on the grating dimensions.Comment: The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com, Optical and Quantum Electronics (2012) Online Firs

Anharmonic Decay of Vibrational States in Amorphous Silicon

Anharmonic decay rates are calculated for a realistic atomic model of amorphous silicon. The results show that the vibrational states decay on picosecond timescales and follow the two-mode density of states, similar to crystalline silicon, but somewhat faster. Surprisingly little change occurs for localized states. These results disagree with a recent experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Postscript figure