Tailor-made directional emission in nanoimprinted plasmonic-based light-emitting devices

We demonstrate an enhanced and tailor-made directional emission of light-emitting devices using nanoimprinted hexagonal arrays of aluminum nanoparticles. Fourier microscopy reveals that the luminescence of the device is not only determined by the material properties of the organic dye molecules but is also strongly influenced by the coherent scattering resulting from periodically arranged metal nanoparticles. Emitters can couple to lattice-induced hybrid plasmonic–photonic modes sustained by plasmonic arrays. Such modes enhance the spatial coherence of an emitting layer, allowing the efficient beaming of the emission along narrow angular and spectral ranges. We show that tailoring the separation of the nanoparticles in the array yields an accurate angular distribution of the emission. This combination of large-area metal nanostructures fabricated by nanoimprint lithography and light-emitting devices is beneficial for the design and optimization of solid-state lighting systems

Polarization-dependent light extinction in ensembles of polydisperse, vertical semiconductor nanowires : a Mie scattering effective medium

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angle- and polarization-dependent light extinction in random arrays of polydisperse semiconductor nanowires epitaxially grown on substrates. The specular reflectance is described by averaging the scattering properties of individual nanowires obtained from Mie theory over the diameter distribution. The complex effective refractive index describing the propagation and attenuation of the coherent beam scattered in a forward direction is determined in the independent scattering approximation and used to calculate the angle- and polarization-dependent reflectance. Our measurements demonstrate the highly anisotropic scattering in ensembles of aligned nanowires

HMGXB4 targets Sleeping Beauty transposition to vertebrate germinal stem sells

Transposons are parasitic genetic elements that frequently hijack key cellular processes of the host. HMGXB4 is a Wnt signalling-associated HMG-box protein, previously identified as a transcriptional regulating host factor of Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposition. Here, we establish that HMGXB4 is highly expressed from the zygote stage, and declines after transcriptional genome activation. Nevertheless, HMGXB4 is activated by its own promoter at 4-cell stage, responding to the parental-to-zygotic transition, marks stemness, and maintains its expression during germ cell specification. The HMGXB4 promoter is located at an active chromatin domain boundary. As a vertebrate-specific modulator of SETD1A and NuRF complexes, HMGXB4 links histone H3K4 methyltransferase- and ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelling activities. The expression of HMGXB4 is regulated by the KRAB-ZNF/TRIM28 epigenetic repression machinery. A post-transcriptional modification by SUMOylation diminishes its transcriptional activator function and regulates its nucleolar trafficking. Collectively, HMGXB4 positions SB transposition into an elaborate stem cell-specific transcriptional regulatory mechanism that is active during early embryogenesis and germline development, thereby potentiating heritable transposon insertions in the germline

Silicon Mie Resonators for Highly Directional Light Emission from monolayer MoS2

Controlling light emission from quantum emitters has important applications ranging from solid-state lighting and displays to nanoscale single-photon sources. Optical antennas have emerged as promising tools to achieve such control right at the location of the emitter, without the need for bulky, external optics. Semiconductor nanoantennas are particularly practical for this purpose because simple geometries, such as wires and spheres, support multiple, degenerate optical resonances. Here, we start by modifying Mie scattering theory developed for plane wave illumination to describe scattering of dipole emission. We then use this theory and experiments to demonstrate several pathways to achieve control over the directionality, polarization state, and spectral emission that rely on a coherent coupling of an emitting dipole to optical resonances of a Si nanowire. A forward-to-backward ratio of 20 was demonstrated for the electric dipole emission at 680 nm from a monolayer MoS2 by optically coupling it to a Si nanowire

Social times, reproduction and social inequality at work : contrasts and comparative perspectives between countries

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004If the focus is placed specifically on the problem of work and family, the daily life of people and their use of time are a main problem. This time is expressed in both freely available time, which is related to activities, and time of the productive and reproductive sphere. This chapter considers work in a broad sense and takes into account the sexual division of labour. Specifically, this chapter will explore transformations in time use and social inequality in unpaid work. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of time-use surveys will be used, analysing the time spent, and the time dedicated to household chores in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. From an analytical viewpoint, the analysis will place social reproduction at the centre of the socio-economic system, showing that the economic crisis has affected women and men differently, and that in both Europe and Latin America the family pattern is being replaced by a dominant family model of a male provider and a double presence of women. The large-scale incorporation of women into the labour market has emphasised the role that women assume in the domestic sphere perpetuating gender segregation in employment and in domestic and care work

Enhancing and directing light emission in semiconductor nanowires through leaky/guided modes

Santander (Spain), May 14-16 (2014); http://www.phantomsnet.net/cen2014/index.php?p=1Peer Reviewe

Directional absorption by phased arrays of plasmonic nanoantennae probed with time-reversed Fourier microscopy

We demonstrate that an ordered array of aluminum nanopyramids, behaving as a phased array of optical antennae, strongly modifies light absorption in thin layers of dye molecules. Photoluminescence measurements as a function of the illumination angle are performed using a time-reversed Fourier microscope. This technique enables a variable-angle plane-wave illumination of nanostructures in a microscope-based setup. Our measurements reveal an enhancement of the light conversion in certain directions of illumination, which indicate the efficient diffractive coupling between the free space radiation and the surface plasmons. Numerical simulations confirm that surface modes supported by the periodic array enhance the intensity of the pump field in the space between particles, where the dye molecules are located, yielding a directional plasmonicmediated enhancement of the optical absorption. This combined experimental and numerical characterization of the angular dependence of light absorption in nanostructures can be beneficial for the design and optimization of devices in which the harvesting of light plays a major role