47 research outputs found
Microwave Spectroscopy of a Cooper-Pair Transistor Coupled to a Lumped-Element Resonator
We have studied the microwave response of a single Cooper-pair transistor
(CPT) coupled to a lumped-element microwave resonator. The resonance frequency
of this circuit, , was measured as a function of the charge
induced on the CPT island by the gate electrode, and the phase difference
across the CPT, , which was controlled by the magnetic flux in the
superconducting loop containing the CPT. The observed
dependences reflect the variations of the CPT Josephson inductance with
and as well as the CPT excitation when the microwaves induce
transitions between different quantum states of the CPT. The results are in
excellent agreement with our simulations based on the numerical diagonalization
of the circuit Hamiltonian. This agreement over the whole range of and
is unexpected, because the relevant energies vary widely, from 0.1K
to 3K. The observed strong dependence near the
resonance excitation of the CPT provides a tool for sensitive charge
measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Ultra-Sensitive Hot-Electron Nanobolometers for Terahertz Astrophysics
The background-limited spectral imaging of the early Universe requires
spaceborne terahertz (THz) detectors with the sensitivity 2-3 orders of
magnitude better than that of the state-of-the-art bolometers. To realize this
sensitivity without sacrificing operating speed, novel detector designs should
combine an ultrasmall heat capacity of a sensor with its unique thermal
isolation. Quantum effects in thermal transport at nanoscale put strong
limitations on the further improvement of traditional membrane-supported
bolometers. Here we demonstrate an innovative approach by developing
superconducting hot-electron nanobolometers in which the electrons are cooled
only due to a weak electron-phonon interaction. At T<0.1K, the electron-phonon
thermal conductance in these nanodevices becomes less than one percent of the
quantum of thermal conductance. The hot-electron nanobolometers, sufficiently
sensitive for registering single THz photons, are very promising for
submillimeter astronomy and other applications based on quantum calorimetry and
photon counting.Comment: 19 pages, 3 color figure
A liquid crystalline copper phthalocyanine derivative for high performance organic thin film transistors
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012Bottom-gate, bottom-contact organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) were fabricated using solvent soluble copper 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octakis(hexyl)phthalocyanine as the active semiconductor layer.
The compound was deposited as 70 nm thick spin-coated films onto gold source–drain electrodes supported on octadecyltrichlorosilane treated 250 nm thick SiO2 gate insulators. The performance of the OTFTs was optimised by investigating the effects of vacuum annealing of the films at temperatures between 50 0C and 200 0C, a range that included the thermotropic mesophase of the bulk material. These effects were monitored by ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and XRD measurements. Device performance was shown to be dependent upon the annealing temperature due to structural changes of the film. Devices heat treated at 100 0C under vacuum (≥10-7 mbar) were found to exhibit the highest field-effect mobility, 0.7 cm2 V^-1 s^-1, with an on–off current modulation ratio of~107, a reduced threshold voltage of 2.0 V and a sub-threshold swing of 1.11 V per decade.UK Technology Strategy Board (Project no: TP/6/EPH/6/S/K2536J) and UK National Measurement System (Project IRD C02 ‘‘Plastic
Electronics’’, 2008–2011)
Trametinib versus standard of care in patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer (GOG 281/LOGS): a randomised, open-label phase 2/3 trial
BACKGROUND: Low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary or peritoneum is characterised by MAPK pathway aberrations and its reduced sensitivity to chemotherapy relative to high-grade serous carcinoma. We compared the MEK inhibitor trametinib to physician's choice standard of care in patients with recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma. METHODS: This international, randomised, open-label, multicentre, phase 2/3 trial was done at 84 hospitals in the USA and UK. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma and measurable disease, as defined by Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors version 1.1, had received at least one platinum-based regimen, but not all five standard-of-care drugs, and had received an unlimited number of previous regimens. Patients with serous borderline tumours or tumours containing low-grade serous and high-grade serous carcinoma were excluded. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either oral trametinib 2 mg once daily (trametinib group) or one of five standard-of-care treatment options (standard-of-care group): intravenous paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) by body surface area on days 1, 8, and 15 of every 28-day cycle; intravenous pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 40–50 mg/m(2) by body surface area once every 4 weeks; intravenous topotecan 4 mg/m(2) by body surface area on days 1, 8, and 15 of every 28-day cycle; oral letrozole 2·5 mg once daily; or oral tamoxifen 20 mg twice daily. Randomisation was stratified by geographical region (USA or UK), number of previous regimens (1, 2, or ≥3), performance status (0 or 1), and planned standard-of-care regimen. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival while receiving randomised therapy, as assessed by imaging at baseline, once every 8 weeks for 15 months, and then once every 3 months thereafter, in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was assessed in patients who received at least one dose of study therapy. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02101788, and is active but not recruiting. FINDINGS: Between Feb 27, 2014, and April 10, 2018, 260 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the trametinib group (n=130) or the standard-of-care group (n=130). At the primary analysis, there were 217 progression-free survival events (101 [78%] in the trametinib group and 116 [89%] in the standard-of-care group). Median progression-free survival in the trametinib group was 13·0 months (95% CI 9·9–15·0) compared with 7·2 months (5·6–9·9) in the standard-of-care group (hazard ratio 0·48 [95% CI 0·36–0·64]; p<0·0001). The most frequent grade 3 or 4 adverse events in the trametinib group were skin rash (17 [13%] of 128), anaemia (16 [13%]), hypertension (15 [12%]), diarrhoea (13 [10%]), nausea (12 [9%]), and fatigue (ten [8%]). The most frequent grade 3 or 4 adverse events in the standard-of-care group were abdominal pain (22 [17%]), nausea (14 [11%]), anaemia (12 [10%]), and vomiting (ten [8%]). There were no treatment-related deaths. INTERPRETATION: Trametinib represents a new standard-of-care option for patients with recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma. FUNDING: NRG Oncology, Cancer Research UK, Target Ovarian Cancer, and Novartis
Superconducting Nanocircuits for Topologically Protected Qubits
For successful realization of a quantum computer, its building blocks
(qubits) should be simultaneously scalable and sufficiently protected from
environmental noise. Recently, a novel approach to the protection of
superconducting qubits has been proposed. The idea is to prevent errors at the
"hardware" level, by building a fault-free (topologically protected) logical
qubit from "faulty" physical qubits with properly engineered interactions
between them. It has been predicted that the decoupling of a protected logical
qubit from local noises would grow exponentially with the number of physical
qubits. Here we report on the proof-of-concept experiments with a prototype
device which consists of twelve physical qubits made of nanoscale Josephson
junctions. We observed that due to properly tuned quantum fluctuations, this
qubit is protected against magnetic flux variations well beyond linear order,
in agreement with theoretical predictions. These results demonstrate the
feasibility of topologically protected superconducting qubits.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Genome Wide DNA Copy Number Analysis of Serous Type Ovarian Carcinomas Identifies Genetic Markers Predictive of Clinical Outcome
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. Ovarian cancers display a high degree of complex genetic alterations involving many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Analysis of the association between genetic alterations and clinical endpoints such as survival will lead to improved patient management via genetic stratification of patients into clinically relevant subgroups. In this study, we aim to define subgroups of high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas that differ with respect to prognosis and overall survival. Genome-wide DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) were measured in 72 clinically annotated, high-grade serous tumors using high-resolution oligonucleotide arrays. Two clinically annotated, independent cohorts were used for validation. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of copy number data derived from the 72 patient cohort resulted in two clusters with significant difference in progression free survival (PFS) and a marginal difference in overall survival (OS). GISTIC analysis of the two clusters identified altered regions unique to each cluster. Supervised clustering of two independent large cohorts of high-grade serous tumors using the classification scheme derived from the two initial clusters validated our results and identified 8 genomic regions that are distinctly different among the subgroups. These 8 regions map to 8p21.3, 8p23.2, 12p12.1, 17p11.2, 17p12, 19q12, 20q11.21 and 20q13.12; and harbor potential oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian carcinoma. We have identified a set of genetic alterations that could be used for stratification of high-grade serous tumors into clinically relevant treatment subgroups