A 3D Printed Toolbox for Opto-Mechanical Components

Nowadays is very common to find headlines in the media where it is stated that 3D printing is a technology called to change our lives in the near future. For many authors, we are living in times of a third industrial revolution. Howerver, we are currently in a stage of development where the use of 3D printing is advantageous over other manufacturing technologies only in rare scenarios. Fortunately, scientific research is one of them. Here we present the development of a set of opto-mechanical components that can be built easily using a 3D printer based on Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and parts that can be found on any hardware store. The components of the set presented here are highly customizable, low-cost, require a short time to be fabricated and offer a performance that compares favorably with respect to low-end commercial alternatives.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Enhancement of the sensitivity of a temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg gratings via weak value amplification

"This paper was published in Optics Letters and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.40.003962. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law"We present a proof-of-concept experiment aimed at increasing the sensitivity of Fiber-Bragg-gratings temperature sensors by making use of a weak-value-amplification scheme. The technique requires only linear optics elements for its implementation and appears as a promising method for increasing the sensitivity than state-of the-art sensors can currently provide. The device implemented here is able to generate a shift of the centroid of the spectrum of a pulse of ∼0.035 nm∕°C, a nearly fourfold increase in sensitivity over the same fiber-Bragg-grating system interrogated using standard methods.Severo Ochoa program; Fundacio Privada Cellex, Barcelona; Research Excellency Award Program GVA PROMETEO 2013/012; Spanish MCINN (TEC2014-53727-C2-1-R).Salazar-Serrano, L.; Barrera Vilar, D.; Amaya Ocampo, WA.; Sales Maicas, S.; Pruneri, V.; Capmany Francoy, J.; Torres, J. (2015). Enhancement of the sensitivity of a temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg gratings via weak value amplification. Optics Letters. 40(17):3962-3965. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.40.003962S396239654017Aharonov, Y., Albert, D. Z., & Vaidman, L. (1988). How the result of a measurement of a component of the spin of a spin-1/2particle can turn out to be 100. Physical Review Letters, 60(14), 1351-1354. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.60.1351Duck, I. M., Stevenson, P. M., & Sudarshan, E. C. G. (1989). The sense in which a «weak measurement» of a spin-½ particle’s spin component yields a value 100. Physical Review D, 40(6), 2112-2117. doi:10.1103/physrevd.40.2112Howell, J. C., Starling, D. J., Dixon, P. B., Vudyasetu, P. K., & Jordan, A. N. (2010). Interferometric weak value deflections: Quantum and classical treatments. Physical Review A, 81(3). doi:10.1103/physreva.81.033813Torres, J. P., Puentes, G., Hermosa, N., & Salazar-Serrano, L. J. (2012). Weak interference in the high-signal regime. Optics Express, 20(17), 18869. doi:10.1364/oe.20.018869Ritchie, N. W. M., Story, J. G., & Hulet, R. G. (1991). Realization of a measurement of a ‘‘weak value’’. Physical Review Letters, 66(9), 1107-1110. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.66.1107Hosten, O., & Kwiat, P. (2008). Observation of the Spin Hall Effect of Light via Weak Measurements. Science, 319(5864), 787-790. doi:10.1126/science.1152697Dixon, P. B., Starling, D. J., Jordan, A. N., & Howell, J. C. (2009). Ultrasensitive Beam Deflection Measurement via Interferometric Weak Value Amplification. Physical Review Letters, 102(17). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.173601Starling, D. J., Dixon, P. B., Jordan, A. N., & Howell, J. C. (2010). Precision frequency measurements with interferometric weak values. Physical Review A, 82(6). doi:10.1103/physreva.82.063822Xu, X.-Y., Kedem, Y., Sun, K., Vaidman, L., Li, C.-F., & Guo, G.-C. (2013). Phase Estimation with Weak Measurement Using a White Light Source. Physical Review Letters, 111(3). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.033604Salazar-Serrano, L. J., Janner, D., Brunner, N., Pruneri, V., & Torres, J. P. (2014). Measurement of sub-pulse-width temporal delays via spectral interference induced by weak value amplification. Physical Review A, 89(1). doi:10.1103/physreva.89.012126TAHIR, B. A., ALI, J., & ABDUL RAHMAN, R. (2009). FIBER BRAGG GRATING BASED SYSTEM FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS. International Journal of Modern Physics B, 23(10), 2349-2356. doi:10.1142/s0217979209052091Ricchiuti, A. L., Barrera, D., Nonaka, K., & Sales, S. (2014). Temperature gradient sensor based on a long-fiber Bragg grating and time-frequency analysis. Optics Letters, 39(19), 5729. doi:10.1364/ol.39.005729Egan, P., & Stone, J. A. (2012). Weak-value thermostat with 02 mK precision. Optics Letters, 37(23), 4991. doi:10.1364/ol.37.004991Salazar-Serrano, L. J., Valencia, A., & Torres, J. P. (2014). Observation of spectral interference for any path difference in an interferometer. Optics Letters, 39(15), 4478. doi:10.1364/ol.39.00447

Incidence, clinical characteristics and management of inflammatory bowel disease in Spain: large-scale epidemiological study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD—Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)—during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100, 000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31–56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Simulating the performance of the Southern Wide-view Gamma-ray Observatory

The Southern Wide-view Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) will be a next-generation gamma-ray observatory using a large array of particle detectors at a high elevation site in South America. This project is currently in a three years R&amp;D phase in which the design will be optimised for cost and performance. Therefore it is crucial to efficiently evaluate the impact of different design options on the scientific objectives of the observatory. In this contribution, we will introduce the strategy and the simulation framework in which this evaluation takes place

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory reach for Primordial Black Hole evaporation

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is a proposed ground-based gamma-ray detector that will be located in the Southern Hemisphere and is currently in its design phase. In this contribution, we will outline the prospects for Galactic science with this Observatory. Particular focus will be given to the detectability of extended sources, such as gamma-ray halos around pulsars; optimisation of the angular resolution to mitigate source confusion between known TeV sources; and studies of the energy resolution and sensitivity required to study the spectral features of PeVatrons at the highest energies. Such a facility will ideally complement contemporaneous observatories in studies of high energy astrophysical processes in our Galaxy

Galactic Science with the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is a proposed ground-based gamma-ray detector that will be located in the Southern Hemisphere and is currently in its design phase. In this contribution, we will outline the prospects for Galactic science with this Observatory. Particular focus will be given to the detectability of extended sources, such as gamma-ray halos around pulsars; optimisation of the angular resolution to mitigate source confusion between known TeV sources; and studies of the energy resolution and sensitivity required to study the spectral features of PeVatrons at the highest energies. Such a facility will ideally complement contemporaneous observatories in studies of high energy astrophysical processes in our Galaxy

Monitoring Gamma-Ray Burst VHE emission with the Southern Wide-field-of-view Gamma-ray Observatory

It has been established that Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) can produce Very High Energy radiation (E &gt; 100 GeV), opening a new window on the investigation of particle acceleration and radiation properties in the most energetic domain. We expect that next-generation instruments, such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will mark a huge improvement in their observation. However, constraints on the target visibility and the limited duty cycle of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT) reduce their ability to react promptly to transient events and to characterise their general properties. Here we show that an instrument based on the Extensive Air Shower (EAS) array concept, proposed by the Southern Wide Field-of-view Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) Collaboration, has promising possibilities to detect and track VHE emission from GRBs. Observations made by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) identified some events with a distinct spectral component, extending above 1 GeV or even 10 GeV, which can represent a substantial fraction of the emitted energy and also arise in early stages of the process. Using models based on these properties, we estimate the possibilities that a wide field of view and large effective area ground-based monitoring facility has to probe VHE emission from GRBs. We show that the ability to monitor VHE transients with a nearly continuous scanning of the sky grants an opportunity to access simultaneous electromagnetic counterparts to Multi-Messenger triggers up to cosmological scales, in a way that is not available to IACTs

Benchmarking the Science for the Southern Wide-Field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO)

The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is the project to build a new extensive air shower particle detector for the observation of very-high-energy gamma-rays in South America. SWGO is currently planned for installation in the Southern Hemisphere, which grants it a unique science potential among ground-based gamma-ray detectors. It will complement the capabilities of CTA, working as a wide-field instrument for the monitoring of transient and variable phenomena, and will expand the sky coverage of Northern Hemisphere facilities like HAWC and LHAASO, thus granting access to the entire Galactic Plane and the Galactic Center. SWGO aims to achieve excellent sensitivity over a very large target energy range from about 100 GeV to the PeV, and improve on the performance of current sampling array instruments in all observational parameters, including energy and angular resolution, background rejection, and single-muon detection capabilities. The directives for the final observatory design will be given by a number of key science goals which are being defined over the course of the Project’s R&amp;D phase. In this contribution we will present the core science topics and target performance goals that serve as benchmarks to guide SWGO’s design configuration

Technological options for the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) and current design status

The SWGO Collaboration is in the process of designing and prototyping a wide field of view, high duty cycle complement to CTA and the existing ground-based particle detectors of the Northern Hemisphere (HAWC and LHAASO). In this contribution, we will compare the various technological options for designing the detector and present an overarching system design accommodating them. We will introduce a feasible reference configuration that is used for the first large-scale simulations and cost estimates, and show ongoing prototyping work focused on reaching a maintenance-free and cost-effective detector