Design and performance of an erbium-doped silicon waveguide detector operating at 1.5 µm

A new concept for an infrared waveguide detector based on silicon is introduced. It is fabricated using silicon-on-insulator material, and consists of an erbium-doped p-n junction located in the core of a silicon ridge waveguide. The detection scheme relies on the optical absorption of 1.5-µm light by Er3+ ions in the waveguide core, followed by electron-hole pair generation by the excited Er and subsequent carrier separation by the electric field of the p-n junction. By performing optical mode calculations and including realistic doping profiles, we show that an external quantum efficiency of 10^-3 can be achieved in a 4-cm-long waveguide detector fabricated using standard silicon processing. It is found that the quantum efficiency of the detector is mainly limited by free carrier absorption in the waveguide core, and may be further enhanced by optimizing the electrical doping profiles. Preliminary photocurrent measurements on an erbium-doped Si waveguide detector at room temperature show a clear erbium related photocurrent at 1.5 µm

Temperature dependence and quenching processes of the intra-4f luminescence of Er in crystalline Si

8 págs.; 7 figs.The luminescence quenching of Er in crystalline Si at temperatures between 77 and 300 K is investigated. Samples were prepared by solid-phase epitaxy of Er-implanted amorphous Si layers with or without O codoping. After epitaxial regrowth at 620°C, thermal annealing at 900°C for 30 sec was performed in order to eliminate residual defects in the regrown layer and electrically and optically activate the Er ions. Measurements of photoluminescence intensity and time decay were performed as a function of temperature and pump power. By increasing the temperature from 77 K to room temperature the luminescence intensity decreases by ~ three orders of magnitude in the Er-doped sample without O codoping, but only by a factor of 30 in the O-doped sample. In this sample room-temperature photo-luminescence and electroluminescence have been observed. Time-decay curves show a fast initial decay (~100 ¿sec) followed by a slow decay (~1 msec), with the relative intensity of these two components depending on temperature, pump power, and O codoping. The decay curves can be fitted by a sum of two exponential functions revealing the existence, in both samples, of two different classes of optically active Er sites. The concentration of excitable sites belonging to the slow-decaying class is similar for the samples with or without O codoping and rapidly decreases when temperature is increased. At temperatures above 150 K the Er luminescence is dominated by the fast-decaying centers the concentration of which is greatly increased by the presence of O. It is found that in the absence of oxygen room-temperature luminescence is hampered by the limited amount of excitable Er ions. In contrast, in O-doped samples the nonradiative decay of excited Er is the main quenching mechanism. The main factors determining the temperature quenching of Er luminescence and the crucial role of oxygen are discussed. © 1994 The American Physical Society.This work has been partially supported by GNSM-CNR. Work at the FOM Institute is part of the research program of the foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), and was made possible by financial support from the Dutch organization for the Advancement of Research (NWO}, the Foundation for Technical Research (STW}, and the IC Technology Program (IOP Electro-optics) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.Peer Reviewe

Optical and electrical doping of silicon with holmium

2 MeV holmium ions were implanted into Czochralski grown Si at a fluence of 5.5*10^14 Ho/cm^2. Some samples were co-implanted with oxygen to a concentration of (7±1)*10^19 cm^(-3). After recrystallization, strong Ho segregation to the surface is observed, which is fully suppressed by co-doping with O. After recrystallization, photoluminescence peaks are observed at 1.197, 1.96 and 2.06 lm, characteristic for the 5-I-6 --> 5-I-8 and 5-I-7 --> 5-I-8 transitions of Ho^(3+). The Ho^(3+) luminescence lifetime at 1.197 lm is 14 ms at 12 K. The luminescence intensity shows temperature quenching with an activation energy of 11 meV, both with and without O co-doping. The observed PL quenching cannot be explained by free carrier Auger quenching, but instead must be due to energy backtransfer or electron hole pair dissociation. Spreading resistance measurements indicate that Ho exhibits donor behavior, and that in the presence of O the free carrier concentration is enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude. In the O co-doped sample 20% of the Ho^(3+) was electrically active at room temperature

Poincaré on the Foundation of Geometry in the Understanding

This paper is about Poincaré’s view of the foundations of geometry. According to the established view, which has been inherited from the logical positivists, Poincaré, like Hilbert, held that axioms in geometry are schemata that provide implicit definitions of geometric terms, a view he expresses by stating that the axioms of geometry are “definitions in disguise.” I argue that this view does not accord well with Poincaré’s core commitment in the philosophy of geometry: the view that geometry is the study of groups of operations. In place of the established view I offer a revised view, according to which Poincaré held that axioms in geometry are in fact assertions about invariants of groups. Groups, as forms of the understanding, are prior in conception to the objects of geometry and afford the proper definition of those objects, according to Poincaré. Poincaré’s view therefore contrasts sharply with Kant’s foundation of geometry in a unique form of sensibility. According to my interpretation, axioms are not definitions in disguise because they themselves implicitly define their terms, but rather because they disguise the definitions which imply them

ESR1 amplification is rare in breast cancer and is associated with high grade and high proliferation: a multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification study

Background: Expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is predictive for endocrine therapy response and an important prognostic factor in breast cancer. Overexpression of ERα can be caused by estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene amplification and was originally reported to be a frequent event associated with a significantly longer survival for ER-positive women treated with adjuvant tamoxifen monotherapy, which was however questioned by subsequent studies

The good, the bad and the ugly

This paper discusses the neo-logicist approach to the foundations of mathematics by highlighting an issue that arises from looking at the Bad Company objection from an epistemological perspective. For the most part, our issue is independent of the details of any resolution of the Bad Company objection and, as we will show, it concerns other foundational approaches in the philosophy of mathematics. In the first two sections, we give a brief overview of the "Scottish" neo-logicist school, present a generic form of the Bad Company objection and introduce an epistemic issue connected to this general problem that will be the focus of the rest of the paper. In the third section, we present an alternative approach within philosophy of mathematics, a view that emerges from Hilbert's Grundlagen der Geometrie (1899, Leipzig: Teubner; Foundations of geometry (trans.: Townsend, E.). La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1959.). We will argue that Bad Company-style worries, and our concomitant epistemic issue, also affects this conception and other foundationalist approaches. In the following sections, we then offer various ways to address our epistemic concern, arguing, in the end, that none resolves the issue. The final section offers our own resolution which, however, runs against the foundationalist spirit of the Scottish neo-logicist program

High resolution analysis of DNA copy-number aberrations of chromosomes 8, 13, and 20 in gastric cancers

DNA copy-number gains of chromosomes 8q, 13q, and 20q are frequently observed in gastric cancers. Moreover gain of chromosome 20q has been associated with lymph node metastasis. The aim of this study was to correlate DNA copy-number changes of individual genes on chromosomes 8q, 13q, and 20q in gastric adenocarcinomas to clinicopathological data. DNA isolated from 63 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded gastric adenocarcinoma tissue samples was analyzed by whole-genome microarray comparative genomic hybridization and by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), targeting 58 individual genes on chromosomes 8, 13, and 20. Using array comparative genomic hybridization, gains on 8q, 13q, and 20q were observed in 49 (77.8%), 25 (39.7%), and 49 (77.8%) gastric adenocarcinomas, respectively. Gain of chromosome 20q was significantly correlated with lymph node metastases (p = 0.05) and histological type (p = 0.02). MLPA revealed several genes to be frequently gained in DNA copy number. The oncogene c-myc on 8q was gained in 73% of the cancers, while FOXO1A and ATP7B on 13q were both gained in 28.6% of the cases. Multiple genes on chromosome 20q showed gains in more than 60% of the cancers. DNA copy-number gains of TNFRSF6B (20q13.3) and ZNF217 (20q13.2) were significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.02) and histological type (p = 0.02), respectively. In summary, gains of chromosomes 8q, 13q, and 20q in gastric adenocarcinomas harbor DNA copy-number gains of known and putative oncogenes. ZNF217 and TNFRSF6B are associated with important clinicopathological variables, including lymph node status