The Topological Relation Between Bulk Gap Nodes and Surface Bound States : Application to Iron-based Superconductors

In the past few years materials with protected gapless surface (edge) states have risen to the central stage of condensed matter physics. Almost all discussions centered around topological insulators and superconductors, which possess full quasiparticle gaps in the bulk. In this paper we argue systems with topological stable bulk nodes offer another class of materials with robust gapless surface states. Moreover the location of the bulk nodes determines the Miller index of the surfaces that show (or not show) such states. Measuring the spectroscopic signature of these zero modes allows a phase-sensitive determination of the nodal structures of unconventional superconductors when other phase-sensitive techniques are not applicable. We apply this idea to gapless iron based superconductors and show how to distinguish accidental from symmetry dictated nodes. We shall argue the same idea leads to a method for detecting a class of the elusive spin liquids.Comment: updated references, 6 pages, 4 figures, RevTex

Measurement of Refractive Index Change of Optical Fiber Core Induced by Femtosecond Laser Scanning

We report a new method to measure the refractive index change in optical fiber core induced by femtosecond (fs) laser exposure. An in-line Fabry-Perot interferometer, serving as the measurement platform, is constructed on a commercial single-mode optical fiber by onestep femtosecond (fs) laser fabrication. A positive refractive index change is observed and measured accurately as the laser pulse energy surpasses the ablation threshold

Innovative in silico approaches to address avian flu using grid technology

The recent years have seen the emergence of diseases which have spread very quickly all around the world either through human travels like SARS or animal migration like avian flu. Among the biggest challenges raised by infectious emerging diseases, one is related to the constant mutation of the viruses which turns them into continuously moving targets for drug and vaccine discovery. Another challenge is related to the early detection and surveillance of the diseases as new cases can appear just anywhere due to the globalization of exchanges and the circulation of people and animals around the earth, as recently demonstrated by the avian flu epidemics. For 3 years now, a collaboration of teams in Europe and Asia has been exploring some innovative in silico approaches to better tackle avian flu taking advantage of the very large computing resources available on international grid infrastructures. Grids were used to study the impact of mutations on the effectiveness of existing drugs against H5N1 and to find potentially new leads active on mutated strains. Grids allow also the integration of distributed data in a completely secured way. The paper presents how we are currently exploring how to integrate the existing data sources towards a global surveillance network for molecular epidemiology.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Infectious Disorders - Drug Target

Scalar and Pseudoscalar Glueballs

We employ two simple and robust results to constrain the mixing matrix of the isosinglet scalar mesons $f_0(1710)$, $f_0(1500)$, $f_0(1370)$: one is the approximate SU(3) symmetry empirically observed in the scalar sector above 1 GeV and confirmed by lattice QCD, and the other is the scalar glueball mass at 1710 MeV in the quenched approximation. In the SU(3) symmetry limit, $f_0(1500)$ becomes a pure SU(3) octet and is degenerate with $a_0(1450)$, while $f_0(1370)$ is mainly an SU(3) singlet with a slight mixing with the scalar glueball which is the primary component of $f_0(1710)$. These features remain essentially unchanged even when SU(3) breaking is taken into account. The observed enhancement of $\omega f_0(1710)$ production over $\phi f_0(1710)$ in hadronic $J/\psi$ decays and the copious $f_0(1710)$ production in radiative $J/\psi$ decays lend further support to the prominent glueball nature of $f_0(1710)$. We deduce the mass of the pseudoscalar glueball $G$ from an $\eta$-$\eta'$-$G$ mixing formalism based on the anomalous Ward identity for transition matrix elements. With the inputs from the recent KLOE experiment, we find a solution for the pseudoscalar glueball mass around $(1.4\pm 0.1)$ GeV, which is fairly insensitive to a range of inputs with or without Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka-rule violating effects. This affirms that $\eta(1405)$, having a large production rate in the radiative $J/\psi$ decay and not seen in $\gamma\gamma$ reactions, is indeed a leading candidate for the pseudoscalar glueball. It is much lower than the results from quenched lattice QCD ($>2.0$ GeV) due to the dynamic fermion effect. It is thus urgent to have a full QCD lattice calculation of pseudoscalar glueball masses.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure; talk presented at "Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Quantum Field Theory: 75 Years since Solvay", November 27-29, 2008, Singapor

Broadband energy-efficient optical modulation by hybrid integration of silicon nanophotonics and organic electro-optic polymer

Silicon-organic hybrid integrated devices have emerging applications ranging from high-speed optical interconnects to photonic electromagnetic-field sensors. Silicon slot photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) filled with electro-optic (EO) polymers combine the slow-light effect in PCWs with the high polarizability of EO polymers, which promises the realization of high-performance optical modulators. In this paper, a broadband, power-efficient, low-dispersion, and compact optical modulator based on an EO polymer filled silicon slot PCW is presented. A small voltage-length product of V{\pi}*L=0.282Vmm is achieved, corresponding to an unprecedented record-high effective in-device EO coefficient (r33) of 1230pm/V. Assisted by a backside gate voltage, the modulation response up to 50GHz is observed, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 15GHz, and the estimated energy consumption is 94.4fJ/bit at 10Gbit/s. Furthermore, lattice-shifted PCWs are utilized to enhance the optical bandwidth by a factor of ~10X over other modulators based on non-band-engineered PCWs and ring-resonators.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, SPIE Photonics West Conference 201

A SOCIAL SURVEY ON COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE IN HANOI

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Nature of magnetic coupling between Mn ions in as-grown Ga1−x_{1-x}Mnx_{x}As studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

The magnetic properties of as-grown Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$As have been investigated by the systematic measurements of temperature and magnetic field dependent soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The {\it intrinsic} XMCD intensity at high temperatures obeys the Curie-Weiss law, but residual spin magnetic moment appears already around 100 K, significantly above Curie temperature ($T_C$), suggesting that short-range ferromagnetic correlations are developed above $T_C$. The present results also suggest that antiferromagnetic interaction between the substitutional and interstitial Mn (Mn$_{int}$) ions exists and that the amount of the Mn$_{int}$ affects $T_C$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure