1,068 research outputs found
Navigation/traffic control satellite mission study. Volume 3 - System concepts
Satellite network for air traffic control, solar flare warning, and collision avoidanc
A planar dielectric antenna for directional single-photon emission and near-unity collection efficiency
Single emitters have been considered as sources of single photons in various
contexts such as cryptography, quantum computation, spectroscopy, and
metrology. The success of these applications will crucially rely on the
efficient directional emission of photons into well-defined modes. To
accomplish a high efficiency, researchers have investigated microcavities at
cryogenic temperatures, photonic nanowires, and near-field coupling to metallic
nano-antennas. However, despite an impressive progress, the existing
realizations substantially fall short of unity collection efficiency. Here we
report on a theoretical and experimental study of a dielectric planar antenna,
which uses a layered structure for tailoring the angular emission of a single
oriented molecule. We demonstrate a collection efficiency of 96% using a
microscope objective at room temperature and obtain record detection rates of
about 50 MHz. Our scheme is wavelength-insensitive and can be readily extended
to other solid-state emitters such as color centers and semiconductor quantum
dots
Phase Transition between the Cholesteric and Twist Grain Boundary C Phases
The upper critical temperature Tc2 for the phase transition between the
Cholesteric phase (N*) and the Twist Grain Boundary C phase with the layer
inclination tilted to the pitch axis (TGBct) in thermotropic liquid crystals is
determined by the mean field Chen-Lubensky approach. We show that the N*-TGBct
phase transition is split in two with the appearance of either the TGBA or the
TGB2q phase in a narrow temperature interval below Tc2. The latter phase is
novel in being superposed from two degenerate
TGBct phases with different (left and right) layers inclinations to the pitch
axis.Comment: Phys. Rev. E, to be publ; 24 pages, RevTeX + 3 ps figure
Single-mode approximation and effective Chern-Simons theories for quantum Hall systems
A unified description of elementary and collective excitations in quantum
Hall systems is presented within the single-mode approximation (SMA) framework,
with emphasis on revealing an intimate link with Chern-Simons theories. It is
shown that for a wide class of quantum Hall systems the SMA in general yields,
as an effective theory, a variant of the bosonic Chern-Simons theory. For
single-layer systems the effective theory agrees with the standard Chern-Simons
theory at long wavelengths whereas substantial deviations arise for collective
excitations in bilayer systems. It is suggested, in particular, that Hall-drag
experiments would be a good place to detect out-of-phase collective excitations
inherent to bilayer systems. It is also shown that the intra-Landau-level modes
bear a similarity in structure (though not in scale) to the inter-Landau-level
modes, and its implications on the composite-fermion and composite-boson
theories are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex
Electromagnetic characteristics of bilayer quantum Hall systems in the presence of interlayer coherence and tunneling
The electromagnetic characteristics of bilayer quantum Hall systems in the
presence of interlayer coherence and tunneling are studied by means of a
pseudospin-texture effective theory and an algebraic framework of the
single-mode approximation, with emphasis on clarifying the nature of the
low-lying neutral collective mode responsible for interlayer tunneling
phenomena. A long-wavelength effective theory, consisting of the collective
mode as well as the cyclotron modes, is constructed. It is seen explicitly from
the electromagnetic response that gauge invariance is kept exact, this
implying, in particular, the absence of the Meissner effect in bilayer systems.
Special emphasis is placed on exploring the advantage of looking into quantum
Hall systems through their response; in particular, subtleties inherent to the
standard Chern-Simons theories are critically examined.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Spontaneous emission enhancement of a single molecule by a double-sphere nanoantenna across an interface
We report on two orders of magnitude reduction in the fluorescence lifetime
when a single molecule placed in a thin film is surrounded by two gold
nanospheres across the film interface. By attaching one of the gold particles
to the end of a glass fiber tip, we could control the modification of the
molecular fluorescence at will. We find a good agreement between our
experimental data and the outcome of numerical calculations
Development of strategies for effective communication of food risks and benefits across Europe: Design and conceptual framework of the FoodRisC project
The FoodRisC project is funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (CORDIS FP7) of the European Commission; Grant agreement no.: 245124. Copyright @ 2011 Barnett et al.BACKGROUND: European consumers are faced with a myriad of food related risk and benefit information and it is regularly left up to the consumer to interpret these, often conflicting, pieces of information as a coherent message. This conflict is especially apparent in times of food crises and can have major public health implications. Scientific results and risk assessments cannot always be easily communicated into simple guidelines and advice that non-scientists like the public or the media can easily understand especially when there is conflicting, uncertain or complex information about a particular food or aspects thereof. The need for improved strategies and tools for communication about food risks and benefits is therefore paramount. The FoodRisC project ("Food Risk Communication - Perceptions and communication of food risks/benefits across Europe: development of effective communication strategies") aims to address this issue. The FoodRisC project will examine consumer perceptions and investigate how people acquire and use information in food domains in order to develop targeted strategies for food communication across Europe.METHODS/DESIGN: This project consists of 6 research work packages which, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, are focused on development of a framework for investigating food risk/benefit issues across Europe, exploration of the role of new and traditional media in food communication and testing of the framework in order to develop evidence based communication strategies and tools. The main outcome of the FoodRisC project will be a toolkit to enable coherent communication of food risk/benefit messages in Europe. The toolkit will integrate theoretical models and new measurement paradigms as well as building on social marketing approaches around consumer segmentation. Use of the toolkit and guides will assist policy makers, food authorities and other end users in developing common approaches to communicating coherent messages to consumers in Europe.DISCUSSION: The FoodRisC project offers a unique approach to the investigation of food risk/benefit communication. The effective spread of food risk/benefit information will assist initiatives aimed at reducing the burden of food-related illness and disease, reducing the economic impact of food crises and ensuring that confidence in safe and nutritious food is fostered and maintained in Europe.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund
Deliberating stratospheric aerosols for climate geoengineering and the SPICE project
Increasing concerns about the narrowing window for averting dangerous climate change have prompted calls for research into geoengineering, alongside dialogue with the public regarding this as a possible response. We report results of the first public engagement study to explore the ethics and acceptability of stratospheric aerosol technology and a proposed field trial (the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) âpipe and balloonâ test bed) of components for an aerosol deployment mechanism. Although almost all of our participants were willing to allow the field trial to proceed, very few were comfortable with using stratospheric aerosols. This Perspective also discusses how these findings were used in a responsible innovation process for the SPICE project initiated by the UKâs research councils
Nondissipative Drag Conductance as a Topological Quantum Number
We show in this paper that the boundary condition averaged nondissipative
drag conductance of two coupled mesoscopic rings with no tunneling, evaluated
in a particular many-particle eigenstate, is a topological invariant
characterized by a Chern integer. Physical implications of this observation are
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, no figure. Title modified and significant revision made to
the text. Final version appeared in PR
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