Design and investigation of surface addressable Photonic Crystal cavity confined band edge modes for quantum photonic devices

We propose to use a localized G-point slow Bloch mode in a 2D-Photonic Crystal (PC) membrane to realize an efficient surface emitting source. This device can be used as a quantum photonic device, e.g. a single photon source. The physical mechanisms to increase the Q/V factor and to improve the directivity of the PC microcavity rely on a fine tuning of the geometry in the three directions of space. The PC lateral mirrors are first engineered in order to optimize photons confinement. Then, the effect of a Bragg mirror below the 2DPC membrane is investigated in terms of out-of-plane leakages and far field emission pattern. This photonic heterostructure allows for a strong lateral confinement of photons, with a modal volume of a few (λ/n)3 and a Purcell factor up to 80, as calculated by two different numerical methods. We finally discuss the efficiency of the single photon source for different collection set-up. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Micrometer-Thin Crystalline-Silicon Solar Cells Integrating Numerically Optimized 2-D Photonic Crystals

A 2-D photonic crystal was integrated experimentally into a thin-film crystalline-silicon solar cell of 1-{\mu}m thickness, after numerical optimization maximizing light absorption in the active material. The photonic crystal boosted the short-circuit current of the cell, but it also damaged its open-circuit voltage and fill factor, which led to an overall decrease in performances. Comparisons between modeled and actual optical behaviors of the cell, and between ideal and actual morphologies, show the global robustness of the nanostructure to experimental deviations, but its particular sensitivity to the conformality of the top coatings and the spread in pattern dimensions, which should not be neglected in the optical model. As for the electrical behavior, the measured internal quantum efficiency shows the strong parasitic absorptions from the transparent conductive oxide and from the back-reflector, as well as the negative impact of the nanopattern on surface passivation. Our exemplifying case, thus, illustrates and experimentally confirms two recommendations for future integration of surface nanostructures for light trapping purposes: 1) the necessity to optimize absorption not for the total stack but for the single active material, and 2) the necessity to avoid damage to the active material by pattern etching.Comment: Authors' postprint version - Editor's pdf published online on Nov.

Collapse of the N=28 shell closure in 42^{42}Si

The energies of the excited states in very neutron-rich $^{42}$Si and $^{41,43}$P have been measured using in-beam $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy from the fragmentation of secondary beams of $^{42,44}$S at 39 A.MeV. The low 2$^+$ energy of $^{42}$Si, 770(19) keV, together with the level schemes of $^{41,43}$P provide evidence for the disappearance of the Z=14 and N=28 spherical shell closures, which is ascribed mainly to the action of proton-neutron tensor forces. New shell model calculations indicate that $^{42}$Si is best described as a well deformed oblate rotor.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. let

Absorbing photonic crystals for thin film photovoltaics

The absorption of thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers can be efficiently enhanced through a controlled periodic patterning. Light is trapped through coupling with photonic Bloch modes of the periodic structures, which act as an absorbing planar photonic crystal. We theoretically demonstrate this absorption enhancement through one or two dimensional patterning, and show the experimental feasibility through large area holographic patterning. Numerical simulations show over 50% absorption enhancement over the part of the solar spectrum comprised between 380 and 750nm. It is experimentally confirmed by optical measurements performed on planar photonic crystals fabricated by laser holography and reactive ion etching.Comment: 6 pages. SPIE Photonics Europe pape

(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?

Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density. Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog. We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived a bulk density of 3.99\,$\pm$\,0.26\,g$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$ for Psyche. While such density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites ($\sim$7.8\,g$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$), it appears fully consistent with that of stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density $\sim$4.25\,$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$). In addition, we found no satellite in our images and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of 1460\,$\pm$\,200}\,m at 150\,km from Psyche (0.2\%\,$\times$\,R$_{Hill}$, the Hill radius) and 800\,$\pm$\,200\,m at 2,000\,km (3\%\,$\times$\,$R_{Hill}$). Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate parent body for mesosiderites.Comment: 16 page

High-speed optical mapping of heart and brain voltage activities in zebrafish larvae exposed to environmental contaminants

Data availability: Data will be made available on request.Supplementary data are available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235218642300192X?via%3Dihub#appSB .Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Environmental contaminants represent a poorly understood ecotoxicological and health risk. Here, we advanced a high-speed optical mapping (OM) technique to non-invasively track voltage dynamics in living zebrafish larvae’s heart and brain and investigate the effects of selected pesticides. OM allowed high resolution ( 17x) and fast acquisition (100 to 200 frames/s) of the voltage signal generated in the heart and brain after immersion of the zebrafish larvae in a voltage-sensitive dye. First, we used varying temperatures (20 °C to 25 °C) to test the adequacy of OM in capturing cardiac and brain voltage changes. Then, we tested the effects of glyphosate or a selected pesticide cocktail (2 to 120 h post-fertilization), accounting for their environmental thresholds and mimicking high-level exposure. Glyphosate (0.1 and 1000 g/L) and the pesticide cocktail (0.1 and 10 g/L) did not alter cardiac activity, except for a trend increase in heart rate variability at high glyphosate dose. Fourier transform (FT) analyses indicated that glyphosate reduced the abundance of low-amplitude voltage activities in the brain at the target low-frequency range of 0.2–15 Hz. The anatomical fragmentation of the brain into four regions, right and left diencephalon (RD and LD) and right and left optic tectum (ROT and LOT), confirmed the impact of glyphosate on the larvae brain and revealed a specific adaptation to the pesticide cocktail in the RD and ROT regions. In summary, OM captured heart and brain voltage changes in zebrafish larvae, with discrete patterns of brain depolarization in the presence of specific water contaminants. Here we discuss the relevance of these findings to ecotoxicology and exposome research.This work was supported by ANR-Hepatobrain and Epidimicmac ANSES to NM, and “Soutien à la Recherche 2021” of the University of Montpellier and Fondation pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau, France: Espoir en tête 2022/23 to AGT. Partially funded by OptoFish ANSES, ANR-EpiCatcher, ANR/Era-Net Neu-Vasc to NM and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, France (FRM, grant DPC2017 to M.E.M)

Nucleic Acids Res

In plants, the voltage-dependent anion-selective channel (VDAC) is a major component of a pathway involved in transfer RNA (tRNA) translocation through the mitochondrial outer membrane. However, the way in which VDAC proteins interact with tRNAs is still unknown. Potato mitochondria contain two major mitochondrial VDAC proteins, VDAC34 and VDAC36. These two proteins, composed of a N-terminal α-helix and of 19 β-strands forming a β-barrel structure, share 75% sequence identity. Here, using both northwestern and gel shift experiments, we report that these two proteins interact differentially with nucleic acids. VDAC34 binds more efficiently with tRNAs or other nucleic acids than VDAC36. To further identify specific features and critical amino acids required for tRNA binding, 21 VDAC34 mutants were constructed and analyzed by northwestern. This allowed us to show that the β-barrel structure of VDAC34 and the first 50 amino acids that contain the α-helix are essential for RNA binding. Altogether the work shows that during evolution, plant mitochondrial VDAC proteins have diverged so as to interact differentially with nucleic acids, and this may reflect their involvement in various specialized biological functions

The \u3cem\u3eChlamydomonas\u3c/em\u3e Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular green alga whose lineage diverged from land plants over 1 billion years ago. It is a model system for studying chloroplast-based photosynthesis, as well as the structure, assembly, and function of eukaryotic flagella (cilia), which were inherited from the common ancestor of plants and animals, but lost in land plants. We sequenced the ∼120-megabase nuclear genome of Chlamydomonas and performed comparative phylogenomic analyses, identifying genes encoding uncharacterized proteins that are likely associated with the function and biogenesis of chloroplasts or eukaryotic flagella. Analyses of the Chlamydomonas genome advance our understanding of the ancestral eukaryotic cell, reveal previously unknown genes associated with photosynthetic and flagellar functions, and establish links between ciliopathy and the composition and function of flagella

Intron RNA editing is essential for splicing in plant mitochondria

Most plant mitochondria messenger RNAs (mRNAs) undergo editing through C-to-U conversions located mainly in exon sequences. However, some RNA editing events are found in non-coding regions at critical positions in the predicted secondary and tertiary structures of introns, suggesting that RNA editing could be important for splicing. Here, we studied the relationships between editing and splicing of the mRNA encoding the ribosomal protein S10 (rps10), which has a group II intron and five editing sites. Two of them, C2 and C3, predicted to stabilize the folded structure of the intron necessary for splicing, were studied by using rps10 mutants introduced into isolated potato mitochondria by electroporation. While mutations of C2 involved in EBS2/IBS2 interactions did not affect splicing, probably by the presence of an alternative EBS2′ region in domain I of the intron, the edition of site C3 turned out to be critical for rps10 mRNA splicing; only the edited (U) form of the transcript was processed. Interestingly, RNA editing was strongly reduced in transcripts from two different intronless genes, rps10 from potato and cox2 from wheat, suggesting that efficient RNA processing may require a close interaction of factors engaged in different maturation processes. This is the first report linking editing and splicing in conditions close to the in vivo situation

In-beam spectroscopic studies of 44^{44}S nucleus

The structure of the $^{44}$S nucleus has been studied at GANIL through the one proton knock-out reaction from a $^{45}$Cl secondary beam at 42 A$\cdot$MeV. The $\gamma$ rays following the de-excitation of $^{44}$S were detected in flight using the 70 BaF${_2}$ detectors of the Ch\^{a}teau de Cristal array. An exhaustive $\gamma\gamma$-coincidence analysis allowed an unambiguous construction of the level scheme up to an excitation energy of 3301 keV. The existence of the spherical 2$^+_2$ state is confirmed and three new $\gamma$-ray transitions connecting the prolate deformed 2$^+_1$ level were observed. Comparison of the experimental results to shell model calculations further supports a prolate and spherical shape coexistence with a large mixing of states built on the ground state band in $^{44}$S.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review