65 research outputs found
Combined effects due to phase, intensity and contrast in electrooptic modulation. Application to ferroelectric materials
The combination of phase, intensity, and contrast effects during electrooptic
modulation is theoretically and exper- imentally investigated. One consequence
of this combination is the modification of the amplitude of the
single-frequency signals which are commonly used as working points for
electrooptic mod- ulators and for the measurements of the electrooptic
coefficients. Another consequence of direct intensity modulation is to shift
the double-frequency points of the transfer function from the positions they
normally occupy at the intensity extrema. They can even make them disappear if
the direct intensity modulation is stronger than the phase modulation. Such
phenomena are expected with any ferroelectric material in which a significant
part of the incident light is deflected or scattered by domain walls or grain
boundaries. They can lead to considerable mistakes in the determination of the
electrooptic coefficients. Appropriate procedures to extract the different
contributions are explained. Experimental results in rubidium hydrogen selenate
are given, and consequences of the working of electrooptic modulators are
discussed
The resolved scaling relations in DustPedia: Zooming in on the local Universe
We perform a homogeneous analysis of an unprecedented set of spatially
resolved scaling relations (SRs) between ISM components and other properties in
the range of scales 0.3-3.4 kpc. We also study some ratios: dust-to-stellar,
dust-to-gas, and dust-to-metal. We use a sample of 18 large, spiral, face-on
DustPedia galaxies. All the SRs are moderate/strong correlations except the
dust-HI SR that does not exist or is weak for most galaxies. The SRs do not
have a universal form but each galaxy is characterized by distinct
correlations, affected by local processes and galaxy peculiarities. The SRs
hold starting from 0.3 kpc, and if a breaking down scale exists it is < 0.3
kpc. By evaluating all galaxies at 3.4 kpc, differences due to peculiarities of
individual galaxies are cancelled out and the corresponding SRs are consistent
with those of whole galaxies. By comparing subgalactic and global scales, the
most striking result emerges from the SRs involving ISM components: the
dust-total gas SR is a good correlation at all scales, while the dust-H2 and
dust-HI SRs are good correlations at subkpc/kpc and total scales, respectively.
For the other explored SRs, there is a good agreement between small and global
scales and this may support the picture where the main physical processes
regulating the properties and evolution of galaxies occur locally. Our results
are consistent with the hypothesis of self-regulation of the SF process. The
analysis of subgalactic ratios shows that they are consistent with those
derived for whole galaxies, from low to high z, supporting the idea that also
these ratios could be set by local processes. Our results highlight the
heterogeneity of galaxy properties and the importance of resolved studies on
local galaxies in the context of galaxy evolution. They also provide
observational constraints to theoretical models and updated references for
high-z studies.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures and 5 tables in the main text, 2 figures and 1
table in Appendix. Accepted for publication in A&
Optical and mid-infrared line emission in nearby Seyfert galaxies
Line ratio diagnostics provide valuable clues on the source of ionizing
radiation in galaxies with intense black hole accretion and starbursting
events, such as local Seyfert or galaxies at the peak of the star formation
history. We aim to provide a reference joint optical and mid-IR analysis for
studying AGN identification via line ratios and testing predictions from
photoionization models. We obtained homogenous optical spectra with the
Southern Africa Large Telescope for 42 Seyfert galaxies with Spitzer/IRS
spectroscopy and X-ray to mid-IR multiband data available. After confirming the
power of the main optical ([OIII]) and mid-IR ([NeV], [OIV], [NeIII]) emission
lines in tracing AGN activity, we explore diagrams based on ratios of optical
and mid-IR lines by exploiting photoionization models of different ionizing
sources (AGN, star formation and shocks). We find that pure AGN photoionization
models are good at reproducing observations of Seyfert galaxies with an AGN
fractional contribution to the mid-IR (5-40 micron) emission larger than 50 per
cent. For targets with a lower AGN contribution these same models do not fully
reproduce the observed mid-IR line ratios. Mid-IR ratios like [NeV]/[NeII],
[OIV]/[NeII] and [NeIII]/[NeII] show a dependence on the AGN fractional
contribution to the mid-IR unlike optical line ratios. An additional source of
ionization, either from star formation or radiative shocks, can help explain
the observations in the mid-IR. Among combinations of optical and mid-IR
diagnostics in line ratio diagrams, only those involving the [OI]/Halpha ratio
are promising diagnostics for simultaneously unraveling the relative role of
AGN, star formation and, shocks. A proper identification of the dominant
ionizing source would require the exploitation of analysis tools based on
advanced statistical techniques as well as spatially resolved data.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
Tumour-derived PGD2 and NKp30-B7H6 engagement drives an immunosuppressive ILC2-MDSC axis.
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are involved in human diseases, such as allergy, atopic dermatitis and nasal polyposis, but their function in human cancer remains unclear. Here we show that, in acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), ILC2s are increased and hyper-activated through the interaction of CRTH2 and NKp30 with elevated tumour-derived PGD2 and B7H6, respectively. ILC2s, in turn, activate monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSCs) via IL-13 secretion. Upon treating APL with all-trans retinoic acid and achieving complete remission, the levels of PGD2, NKp30, ILC2s, IL-13 and M-MDSCs are restored. Similarly, disruption of this tumour immunosuppressive axis by specifically blocking PGD2, IL-13 and NKp30 partially restores ILC2 and M-MDSC levels and results in increased survival. Thus, using APL as a model, we uncover a tolerogenic pathway that may represent a relevant immunosuppressive, therapeutic targetable, mechanism operating in various human tumour types, as supported by our observations in prostate cancer.Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) modulate inflammatory and allergic responses, but their function in cancer immunity is still unclear. Here the authors show that, in acute promyelocytic leukaemia, tumour-activated ILC2s secrete IL-13 to induce myeloid-derived suppressor cells and support tumour growth
Interface state effects in GaN Schottky diodes
Current voltage (I-V) and capacitance voltage (C-V) measurements have been performed versus temperature on GaN Schottky diodes. The results show an increase of the Schottky barrier height φ b and a decrease of the ideality factor n both with the increase of the temperature. We show that this behavior originates in the existence of an interface state density distribution, which is determined via the analysis of the temperature dependence of the I-V measurements, and allows the tunneling of the carriers from the semiconductor to the metal. Those interface states are shown to be responsible for interface inhomogeneities which result in two Gaussian voltage dependent Schottky barrier distributions. We show also that, in the presence of this interface state distribution, C-V measurements, without the correction of the built in voltage by taking into account the effect of both the high values of the ideality factor and series resistance, lead to erroneous values of the Schottky barrier height φ b
Tuning of internal gain, dark current and cutoff wavelength of UV photodetectors using quasi-alloy of BGaN-GaN and BGaN-AlN superlattices
Metal-semiconductor-metal solar blind ultraviolet photodetectors have been fabricated using both BGaN-GaN and BGaN-AlN superlattices as active layers. A high internal gain (up to 3 × 10 4 for optical power in the nW range) is obtained with a highly reduced dark current thanks to the boron incorporation. In the high optical power regime (W range), the time response is in the nanosecond range, which is much smaller than that of GaNand ZnO-based ultraviolet photodetectors. Moreover, the boron incorporation in GaN material allows the tuning of the cutoff wavelength
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