Polarization entangled state measurement on a chip

The emerging strategy to overcome the limitations of bulk quantum optics consists of taking advantage of the robustness and compactness achievable by the integrated waveguide technology. Here we report the realization of a directional coupler, fabricated by femtosecond laser waveguide writing, acting as an integrated beam splitter able to support polarization encoded qubits. This maskless and single step technique allows to realize circular transverse waveguide profiles able to support the propagation of Gaussian modes with any polarization state. Using this device, we demonstrate the quantum interference with polarization entangled states and singlet state projection.Comment: Revtex, 5+2 pages (with supplementary information), 4+1 figure

Strategy and criteria to optically design a solar concentration plant

AbstractThe objective of this work is to individuate the best strategy to determine the layout of a thermodynamic plant based on the concentration of solar flux by means of a large number of mirrors. Many software tools exist, both dedicated software and more general optical software. This analysis shows the advantages derived from the use of a general non-sequential optical software, proposing criteria and procedures in order to establish dedicated optical merit figures, which are suggested and evaluated from the point of view of their effectiveness to achieve a favorable layout design. Particular attention is devoted to merit figures that estimate the optical efficiency, a key quantity for all the CSP plants that can be defined in different ways. The description includes examples of application, discussion of results and various proposed alternatives for the merit figure

Shape Optimization For Parabolic Troughs Working In Non-Ideal Conditions

AbstractThe aim to realize more efficient solar concentrators, improves the research on the best configuration for the mirror surfaces. The optical behavior of a parabolic trough collector is investigated depending on its particular shape outside the ideal conditions. A 2D ray-tracing model of the real systems was realised taking into account a reference value for the solar radiation and different misalignment errors between the light beams and the mirrors axis.The computational analysis shows the relationship among the collection performance and the main geometrical parameters; different boundary conditions bring to consider different optimal configurations for the concentrator shape. Generally for medium concentration levels (50-150x) and non-ideal settings the more efficient parabolas are not characterized by a rim angle equal to 90°, which is the theoretical best value.Among the studied cases, it is interesting to note that a possible working condition for the PT system corresponds to a light beam scattering of 0.5° and a tracking misalignment of 0.2°.With these constrains, imposing high optical performance requirements, a maximum concentration ratio near to 60 can be reached with rim angle values of about 114°

Barley’s Second Spring as a Model Organism for Chloroplast Research

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) has been widely used as a model crop for studying molecular and physiological processes such as chloroplast development and photosynthesis. During the second half of the 20th century, mutants such as albostrians led to the discovery of the nuclear-encoded, plastid-localized RNA polymerase and the retrograde (chloroplast-to-nucleus) signalling communication pathway, while chlorina-f2 and xantha mutants helped to shed light on the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway, on the light-harvesting proteins and on the organization of the photosynthetic apparatus. However, during the last 30 years, a large fraction of chloroplast research has switched to the more \u201cuser-friendly\u201d model species Arabidopsis thaliana, the first plant species whose genome was sequenced and published at the end of 2000. Despite its many advantages, Arabidopsis has some important limitations compared to barley, including the lack of a real canopy and the absence of the proplastid-to-chloroplast developmental gradient across the leaf blade. These features, together with the availability of large collections of natural genetic diversity and mutant populations for barley, a complete genome assembly and protocols for genetic transformation and gene editing, have relaunched barley as an ideal model species for chloroplast research. In this review, we provide an update on the genomics tools now available for barley, and review the biotechnological strategies reported to increase photosynthesis efficiency in model species, which deserve to be validated in barley

General rules for bosonic bunching in multimode interferometers

We perform a comprehensive set of experiments that characterize bosonic bunching of up to 3 photons in interferometers of up to 16 modes. Our experiments verify two rules that govern bosonic bunching. The first rule, obtained recently in [1,2], predicts the average behavior of the bunching probability and is known as the bosonic birthday paradox. The second rule is new, and establishes a n!-factor quantum enhancement for the probability that all n bosons bunch in a single output mode, with respect to the case of distinguishable bosons. Besides its fundamental importance in phenomena such as Bose-Einstein condensation, bosonic bunching can be exploited in applications such as linear optical quantum computing and quantum-enhanced metrology.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, and supplementary material (4 pages, 1 figure

SLaMA-URM method for the seismic vulnerability assessment of UnReinforced Masonry structures: Formulation and validation for a substructure

An analytical procedure based on the SLaMA (Simplified Lateral Mechanism Analysis) method is proposed for the seismic vulnerability assessment of UnReinforced Masonry (URM) structures. The procedure considers an equivalent frame discretization for the structure (pier, spandrel, and joint elements) and includes: (i) the evaluation of moment‒rotation capacity curves at each pier-spandrel subassembly; (ii) the assessment of the hierarchy of strength in each subassembly; and (iii) the calculation of the structure capacity curve according to the expected failure mechanism. Validation of the proposed SLaMA-URM procedure is achieved in a one-story URM substructure tested under lateral cyclic loading. The analytical predictions are compared with numerical ones from a 2D continuous finite element (FE) model based on a macro-modelling strategy. The flexural capacity of the components is estimated using a monolithic beam analogy, and the results compared with those from traditional sectional analysis. The influence of the substructure geometry on the hierarchy of strength at the subassembly and global levels is investigated. An analytical formulation of the pier-spandrel joint strength is also proposed to be considered in the assessment of the hierarchy of strength. The method is validated for a one-story substructure subjected to lateral in-plane loading. Results, in terms of crack patterns and capacity curves, are in relatively good agreement with the experimental and FE results, even when a bilinear curve approximation is used. The potential of the SLaMA-URM method for the seismic assessment of URM buildings is demonstrated, whose application to a larger URM structure is planned as a subsequent study

Photoproduction of h_c

Using the NRQCD factorization formalism, we calculate the total cross section for the photoproduction of h_c mesons. We include color-octet and color-singlet mechanisms as well as next-to-leading order perturbative QCD corrections. The theoretical prediction depends on two nonperturbative matrix elements that are not well determined from existing data on charmonium production. For reasonable values of these matrix elements, the cross section is large enough that the h_c may be observable at the E831 experiment and at the HERA experiments.Comment: Revtex file 8 pages, 1 figure. Macros needed: epsf,floats,rotate Minor typos changed, and reference added. Version to be published in Phys.Rev.

Engineering a C-Phase quantum gate: optical design and experimental realization

A two qubit quantum gate, namely the C-Phase, has been realized by exploiting the longitudinal momentum (i.e. the optical path) degree of freedom of a single photon. The experimental setup used to engineer this quantum gate represents an advanced version of the high stability closed-loop interferometric setup adopted to generate and characterize 2-photon 4-qubit Phased Dicke states. Some experimental results, dealing with the characterization of multipartite entanglement of the Phased Dicke states are also discussed in detail.Comment: accepted for publication on EPJ

Optical simulation of a central receiver system : comparison of different software tools

ABSTRACT: Heliostat field layout design is a critical task in solar tower power plant construction due to its impact in the final plant efficiency and cost. The complexity of these systems and the high number of parameters to define during the field design stage demand the use of suitable simulation tools to compare different design options and evaluate the final performance of the heliostat field. This work concerns a comparison of some of the most common tools used for the heliostat field layout design and analysis, aiming to help Concentrating Solar Power researchers and industry by providing more information regarding the tools comparative results and features. A brief review of available tools is presented, including an extended description of some of them - Tonatiuh, SolTrace, TracePro and CRS4-2. A qualitative comparison of these four tools is performed focusing on functionality and usability. A quantitative comparison is done providing simulation results for a test-case, the SPSS-CRS facility located at Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain. In general, the results for total power and maximum irradiance are in good agreement across most tools. The total power values are very close for Tonatiuh, SolTrace and CRS4-2. Apart from the designer preferences, the choice of the most suitable tool depends on the specific application and requirements.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio