Impact of Si nanocrystals in a-SiOx<Er> in C-Band emission for applications in resonators structures

Si nanocrystals (Si-NC) in a-SiOx were created by high temperature annealing. Si-NC samples have large emission in a broadband region, 700nm to 1000nm. Annealing temperature, annealing time, substrate type, and erbium concentration is studied to allow emission at 1550 nm forsamples with erbium. Emission in the C-Band region is largely reduced by the presence of Si-NC. This reduction may be due to less efficient energy transfer processes from the nanocrystals than from the amorphous matrix to the Er3+ ions, perhaps due to the formation of more centro-symmetric Er3+ sites at the nanocrystal surfaces or to very different optimal erbium concentrations between amorphous and crystallized samples.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Spin-dependent beating patterns in thermoelectric properties: Filtering the carriers of the heat flux in a Kondo adatom system

We theoretically investigate the thermoelectric properties of a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas hosting a Kondo adatom hybridized with an STM tip. Such a setup is treated within the single-impurity Anderson model in combination with the atomic approach for the Green's functions. Due to the spin dependence of the Fermi wavenumbers the electrical and thermal conductances, together with thermopower and Lorenz number reveal beating patterns as function of the STM tip position in the Kondo regime. In particular, by tuning the lateral displacement of the tip with respect to the adatom vicinity, the temperature and the position of the adatom level, one can change the sign of the Seebeck coefficient through charge and spin. This opens a possibility of the microscopic control of the heat flux analogously to that established for the electrical current

Further constraints on the optical transmission spectrum of HAT-P-1b

We report on novel observations of HAT-P-1 aimed at constraining the optical transmission spectrum of the atmosphere of its transiting Hot-Jupiter exoplanet. Ground-based differential spectrophotometry was performed over two transit windows using the DOLORES spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). Our measurements imply an average planet to star radius ratio equal to $\rm R_p/R_{\star}$=(0.1159$\pm$0.0005). This result is consistent with the value obtained from recent near infrared measurements of this object but differs from previously reported optical measurements being lower by around 4.4 exoplanet scale heights. Analyzing the data over 5 different spectral bins 600\AA$\,$ wide we observed a single peaked spectrum (3.7 $\rm\sigma$ level) with a blue cut-off corresponding to the blue edge of the broad absorption wing of sodium and an increased absorption in the region in between 6180-7400\AA. We also infer that the width of the broad absorption wings due to alkali metals is likely narrower than the one implied by solar abundance clear atmospheric models. We interpret the result as evidence that HAT-P-1b has a partially clear atmosphere at optical wavelengths with a more modest contribution from an optical absorber than previously reported.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Existence criteria for stabilization from the scaling behaviour of ionization probabilities

We provide a systematic derivation of the scaling behaviour of various quantities and establish in particular the scale invariance of the ionization probability. We discuss the gauge invariance of the scaling properties and the manner in which they can be exploited as consistency check in explicit analytical expressions, in perturbation theory, in the Kramers-Henneberger and Floquet approximation, in upper and lower bound estimates and fully numerical solutions of the time dependent Schroedinger equation. The scaling invariance leads to a differential equation which has to be satisfied by the ionization probability and which yields an alternative criterium for the existence of atomic bound state stabilization.Comment: 12 pages of Latex, one figur

PASTIS: Bayesian extrasolar planet validation II. Constraining exoplanet blend scenarios using spectroscopic diagnoses

The statistical validation of transiting exoplanets proved to be an efficient technique to secure the nature of small exoplanet signals which cannot be established by purely spectroscopic means. However, the spectroscopic diagnoses are providing us with useful constraints on the presence of blended stellar contaminants. In this paper, we present how a contaminating star affects the measurements of the various spectroscopic diagnoses as function of the parameters of the target and contaminating stars using the model implemented into the PASTIS planet-validation software. We find particular cases for which a blend might produce a large radial velocity signal but no bisector variation. It might also produce a bisector variation anti-correlated with the radial velocity one, as in the case of stellar spots. In those cases, the full width half maximum variation provides complementary constraints. These results can be used to constrain blend scenarios for transiting planet candidates or radial velocity planets. We review all the spectroscopic diagnoses reported in the literature so far, especially the ones to monitor the line asymmetry. We estimate their uncertainty and compare their sensitivity to blends. Based on that, we recommend the use of BiGauss which is the most sensitive diagnosis to monitor line-profile asymmetry. In this paper, we also investigate the sensitivity of the radial velocities to constrain blend scenarios and develop a formalism to estimate the level of dilution of a blended signal. Finally, we apply our blend model to re-analyse the spectroscopic diagnoses of HD16702, an unresolved face-on binary which exhibits bisector variations.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Quantum phase transition triggering magnetic BICs in graphene

Graphene hosting a pair of collinear adatoms in the phantom atom configuration has pseudogap with cubic scaling on energy, $\Delta\propto|\varepsilon|^{3}$ which leads to the appearance of spin-degenerate bound states in the continuum (BICs) [Phys. Rev. B 92, 045409 (2015)]. In the case when adatoms are locally coupled to a single carbon atom the pseudogap scales linearly with energy, which prevents the formation of BICs. In this Letter, we explore the effects of non-local coupling characterized by the Fano factor of interference $q_{0},$ tunable by changing the slope of the Dirac cones in the graphene band-structure. We demonstrate that three distinct regimes can be identified: i) for $q_{0}<q_{c1}$ (critical point) a mixed pseudogap $\Delta\propto|\varepsilon|,|\varepsilon|^{2}$ appears yielding a phase with spin-degenerate BICs; ii) near $q_{0}=q_{c1}$ when $\Delta\propto|\varepsilon|^{2}$ the system undergoes a quantum phase transition in which the new phase is characterized by magnetic BICs and iii) at a second critical value $q_{0}>q_{c2}$ the cubic scaling of the pseudogap with energy $\Delta\propto|\varepsilon|^{3}$ characteristic to the phantom atom configuration is restored and the phase with non-magnetic BICs is recovered. The phase with magnetic BICs can be described in terms of an effective intrinsic exchange field of ferromagnetic nature between the adatoms mediated by graphene monolayer. We thus propose a new type of quantum phase transition resulting from the competition between the states characterized by spin-degenerate and magnetic BICs

Patient-controlled analgesia com morfina endovenosa no tratamento da dor aguda

INTRODUÇÃO: O manuseio da dor aguda (DA) é um desafio na Anestesiologia. PCA (patient-controlled analgesia) com opióide endovenoso (ev) permite administração de opióide on-demand, de forma intermitente, controlada pelo doente. No nosso serviço é usada PCA de morfina ev (protocolo mais usado: bólus 1mg, lockout 7 minutos, sem perfusão contínua). O conhecimento da forma como é utilizada permite-nos melhorar protocolos. OBJETIVOS: Avaliar o uso de PCA com morfina ev no nosso hospital e caraterizar a população de doentes considerando três grupos no que respeita ao consumo total de morfina. MATERIAL E MÉTODOS: Avaliação retrospetiva do processo clínico eletrónico dos doentes referenciados à Unidade de Dor Aguda (UDA) do nosso hospital nos últimos 2 anos. Consulta dos registos da UDA e fichas anestésicas de todos os doentes com analgesia com morfina ev por PCA. Registo de sexo, idade, estado físico ASA, tipo de dor, intervenção cirúrgica, perfusão contínua e total de morfina considerando grupos: 1 (40mg). Excluídos doentes com registos incompletos. Aplicados teste Qui quadrado e índice de correlação de Pearson. Resultados apresentados em percentagem (%) e média ± desvio padrão. Significância estatística P<0.05. RESULTADOS E DISCUSSÃO: Excluídos 3 doentes por registos incompletos. Analisados 930. Masculino (M) 51.1%, Idade - 50.7± 19.6 anos, maioritariamente ASA II - 46.1%. Tempo com PCA 2.7 ± 2.5 dias. Dor pós-operatória (DPO) - 95.5%, dor isquémica (DI) - 1.8%, dor traumática (DT) - 1.2%, outra (O) - 1.6%. Ratio bólus pedidos/administrados (P/A) 2.08 ± 3 (50%), encontrando-se relação com a idade: R=0.128 (P<0.01). Perfusão contínua - 4.2% dos casos sendo GRUPO 1- 2.7%; GRUPO 2 - 5.4% e GRUPO 3 - 91.9%. Consumo de morfina - GRUPO 1: DPO - 31.2%, mais frequente cirurgia membro superior - 67.4%; DI - 6.3%; DT - 9.1%; O - 8.3%. GRUPO 2: DPO - 25.4%, mais frequente cirurgia cabeça e pescoço - 40.0%; DI - 6.3%; DT - 18.2%; O - 16.7%. GRUPO 3: DPO - 43.4%, mais frequente cirurgia vascular membro inferior - 82.1% e cirurgia de escoliose - 74.2%; DI - 87.5%; DT - 72.7%; O - 75%. As diferenças de consumos são estatisticamente significativas entre o tipo de dor, intervenção cirúrgica, presença ou não perfusão contínua e classificação ASA (P<0.001). Não existe diferença entre sexo. Dias com PCA, perfusão contínua e intervenção cirúrgica têm importância preditiva no consumo total de morfina (aplicação do modelo linear). CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados mostram maior utilização da PCA na DPO. DI e DT surgem associadas a maior consumo total de morfina. Na DPO, o maior consumo de morfina verifica-se na cirurgia vascular do membro inferior e cirurgia de escoliose; cirurgias de cabeça e pescoço e membro superior estão associadas a menor consumo. O aumento do ratio P/A com a idad

The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics Policy Statement No. 10.1: Recommended Guidelines on National Schemes for Continuing Professional Development of Medical Physicists

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is vital to the medical physics profession if it is to embrace the pace of change occurring in medical practice. As CPD is the planned acquisition of knowledge, experience and skills required for professional practice throughout one's working life it promotes excellence and protects the profession and public against incompetence. Furthermore, CPD is a recommended prerequisite of registration schemes (Caruana et al. 2014 [1]; [2]) and is implied in the Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM (EU BSS) [3] and the International Basic Safety Standards (BSS) [4]. It is to be noted that currently not all national registration schemes require CPD to maintain the registration status necessary to practise medical physics. Such schemes should consider adopting CPD as a prerequisite for renewing registration after a set period of time. This EFOMP Policy Statement, which is an amalgamation and an update of the EFOMP Policy Statements No. 8 and No. 10, presents guidelines for the establishment of national schemes for CPD and activities that should be considered for CPD

Classical and quantum-mechanical treatments of nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses

We address nonsequential double ionization induced by strong, linearly polarized laser fields of only a few cycles, considering a physical mechanism in which the second electron is dislodged by the inelastic collision of the first electron with its parent ion. The problem is treated classically, using an ensemble model, and quantum-mechanically, within the strong-field and uniform saddle-point approximations. In the latter case, the results are interpreted in terms of "quantum orbits", which can be related to the trajectories of a classical electron in an electric field. We obtain highly asymmetric electron momentum distributions, which strongly depend on the absolute phase, i.e., on the phase difference between the pulse envelope and its carrier frequency. Around a particular value of this parameter, the distributions shift from the region of positive to that of negative momenta, or vice-versa, in a radical fashion. This behavior is investigated in detail for several driving-field parameters, and provides a very efficient method for measuring the absolute phase. Both models yield very similar distributions, which share the same physical explanation. There exist, however, minor discrepancies due to the fact that, beyond the region for which electron-impact ionization is classically allowed, the yields from the quantum mechanical computation decay exponentially, whereas their classical counterparts vanish.Comment: 12 pages revtex, 12 figures (eps files