8 research outputs found
Non-classical mechanical states guided in a phononic waveguide
The ability to create, manipulate and detect non-classical states of light
has been key for many recent achievements in quantum physics and for developing
quantum technologies. Achieving the same level of control over phonons, the
quanta of vibrations, could have a similar impact, in particular on the fields
of quantum sensing and quantum information processing. Here we present a
crucial step towards this level of control and realize a single-mode waveguide
for individual phonons in a suspended silicon micro-structure. We use a
cavity-waveguide architecture, where the cavity is used as a source and
detector for the mechanical excitations, while the waveguide has a free
standing end in order to reflect the phonons. This enables us to observe
multiple round-trips of the phonons between the source and the reflector. The
long mechanical lifetime of almost 100 demonstrates the possibility of
nearly lossless transmission of single phonons over, in principle, tens of
centimeters. Our experiment demonstrates full on-chip control over traveling
single phonons strongly confined in the directions transverse to the
propagation axis, potentially enabling a time-encoded multimode quantum memory
at telecom wavelength and advanced quantum acoustics experiments
Optomechanical quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation, the faithful transfer of an unknown input state onto a
remote quantum system, is a key component in long distance quantum
communication protocols and distributed quantum computing. At the same time,
high frequency nano-optomechanical systems hold great promise as nodes in a
future quantum network, operating on-chip at low-loss optical telecom
wavelengths with long mechanical lifetimes. Recent demonstrations include
entanglement between two resonators, a quantum memory and microwave to optics
transduction. Despite these successes, quantum teleportation of an optical
input state onto a long-lived optomechanical memory is an outstanding
challenge. Here we demonstrate quantum teleportation of a polarization-encoded
optical input state onto the joint state of a pair of nanomechanical
resonators. Our protocol also allows for the first time to store and retrieve
an arbitrary qubit state onto a dual-rail encoded optomechanical quantum
memory. This work demonstrates the full functionality of a single quantum
repeater node, and presents a key milestone towards applications of
optomechanical systems as quantum network nodes
In Vitro Combinatorial Activity of Direct Acting Antivirals and Monoclonal Antibodies against the Ancestral B.1 and BQ.1.1 SARS-CoV-2 Viral Variants
Combination antiviral therapy may be helpful in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, no clinical trial data are available, and combined use of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) and monoclonal antibodies (mAb) has been reported only anecdotally. To assess the cooperative effects of dual drug combinations in vitro, we used a VERO E6 cell-based in vitro system with the ancestral B.1 or the highly divergent BQ.1.1 virus to test pairwise combinations of the licensed DAA, including nirmatrelvir (NRM), remdesivir (RDV) and the active metabolite of molnupiravir (EIDD-1931) as well the combination of RDV with four licensed mAbs (sotrovimab, bebtelovimab, cilgavimab, tixagevimab; tested only with the susceptible B.1 virus). According to SynergyFinder 3.0 summary and weighted scores, all the combinations had an additive effect. Within DAA/DAA combinations, paired scores with the B.1 and BQ.1.1 variants were comparable. In the post hoc analysis weighting synergy by concentrations, several cases of highly synergistic scores were detected at specific drug concentrations, both for DAA/DAA and for RDV/mAb combinations. This was supported by in vitro confirmation experiments showing a more than a linear shift of a drug-effective concentration (IC50) at increasing concentrations of the companion drug, although the effect was prominent with DAA/DAA combinations and minimal or null with RDV/mAb combinations. These results support the cooperative effects of dual drug combinations in vitro, which should be further investigated in animal models before introduction into the clinic
Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 15
In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1