A single-photon sampling architecture for solid-state imaging

Advances in solid-state technology have enabled the development of silicon photomultiplier sensor arrays capable of sensing individual photons. Combined with high-frequency time-to-digital converters (TDCs), this technology opens up the prospect of sensors capable of recording with high accuracy both the time and location of each detected photon. Such a capability could lead to significant improvements in imaging accuracy, especially for applications operating with low photon fluxes such as LiDAR and positron emission tomography. The demands placed on on-chip readout circuitry imposes stringent trade-offs between fill factor and spatio-temporal resolution, causing many contemporary designs to severely underutilize the technology's full potential. Concentrating on the low photon flux setting, this paper leverages results from group testing and proposes an architecture for a highly efficient readout of pixels using only a small number of TDCs, thereby also reducing both cost and power consumption. The design relies on a multiplexing technique based on binary interconnection matrices. We provide optimized instances of these matrices for various sensor parameters and give explicit upper and lower bounds on the number of TDCs required to uniquely decode a given maximum number of simultaneous photon arrivals. To illustrate the strength of the proposed architecture, we note a typical digitization result of a 120x120 photodiode sensor on a 30um x 30um pitch with a 40ps time resolution and an estimated fill factor of approximately 70%, using only 161 TDCs. The design guarantees registration and unique recovery of up to 4 simultaneous photon arrivals using a fast decoding algorithm. In a series of realistic simulations of scintillation events in clinical positron emission tomography the design was able to recover the spatio-temporal location of 98.6% of all photons that caused pixel firings.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 5 table

HST/STIS Optical Transit Transmission Spectra of the hot-Jupiter HD209458b

We present the transmission spectra of the hot-Jupiter HD209458b taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Our analysis combines data at two resolutions and applies a complete pixel-by-pixel limb-darkening correction to fully reveal the spectral line shapes of atmospheric absorption features. Terrestrial-based Na I and H I contamination are identified which mask the strong exoplanetary absorption signature in the Na core, which we find reaches total absorption levels of ~0.11% in a 4.4 Ang band. The Na spectral line profile is characterized by a wide absorption profile at the lowest absorption depths, and a sharp transition to a narrow absorption profile at higher absorption values. The transmission spectra also shows the presence of an additional absorber at ~6,250 Ang, observed at both medium and low resolutions. We performed various limb-darkening tests, including using high precision limb-darkening measurements of the sun to characterize a general trend of Atlas models to slightly overestimate the amount of limb-darkening at all wavelengths, likely due to the limitations of the model's one-dimensional nature. We conclude that, despite these limitations, Atlas models can still successfully model limb-darkening in high signal-to-noise transits of solar-type stars, like HD209458, to a high level of precision over the entire optical regime (3,000-10,000 Ang) at transit phases between 2nd and 3rd contact.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to Ap

Corrigendum to "The upper atmosphere of the exoplanet HD209458b revealed by the sodium D lines: Temperature-pressure profile, ionization layer and thermosphere" [2011, A&A, 527, A110]

An error was detected in the code used for the analysis of the HD209458b sodium profile (Vidal-Madjar et al. 2011). Here we present an updated T-P profile and briefly discuss the consequences.Comment: Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 533, C

GTC OSIRIS transiting exoplanet atmospheric survey: detection of sodium in XO-2b from differential long-slit spectroscopy

We present two transits of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet XO-2b using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The time series observations were performed using long-slit spectroscopy of XO-2 and a nearby reference star with the OSIRIS instrument, enabling differential specrophotometric transit lightcurves capable of measuring the exoplanet's transmission spectrum. Two optical low-resolution grisms were used to cover the optical wavelength range from 3800 to 9300{\AA}. We find that sub-mmag level slit losses between the target and reference star prevent full optical transmission spectra from being constructed, limiting our analysis to differential absorption depths over ~1000{\AA} regions. Wider long slits or multi-object grism spectroscopy with wide masks will likely prove effective in minimising the observed slit-loss trends. During both transits, we detect significant absorption in the planetary atmosphere of XO-2b using a 50{\AA} bandpass centred on the Na I doublet, with absorption depths of Delta(R_pl/R_star)^2=0.049+/-0.017 % using the R500R grism and 0.047+/-0.011 % using the R500B grism (combined 5.2-sigma significance from both transits). The sodium feature is unresolved in our low-resolution spectra, with detailed modelling also likely ruling out significant line-wing absorption over an ~800{\AA} region surrounding the doublet. Combined with narrowband photometric measurements, XO-2b is the first hot Jupiter with evidence for both sodium and potassium present in the planet's atmosphere.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA

Are the renormalized band widths in TTF-TCNQ of structural or electronic origin? - An angular dependent NEXAFS study

We have performed angle-dependent near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure measurements in the Auger electron yield mode on the correlated quasi-one-dimensional organic conductor TTF-TCNQ in order to determine the orientation of the molecules in the topmost surface layer. We find that the tilt angles of the molecules with respect to the one-dimensional axis are essentially the same as in the bulk. Thus we can rule out surface relaxation as the origin of the renormalized band widths which were inferred from the analysis of photoemission data within the one-dimensional Hubbard model. Thereby recent theoretical results are corroborated which invoke long-range Coulomb repulsion as alternative explanation to understand the spectral dispersions of TTF-TCNQ quantitatively within an extended Hubbard model.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Direct k-space mapping of the electronic structure in an oxide-oxide interface

The interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 hosts a two-dimensional electron system of itinerant carriers, although both oxides are band insulators. Interface ferromagnetism coexisting with superconductivity has been found and attributed to local moments. Experimentally, it has been established that Ti 3d electrons are confined to the interface. Using soft x-ray angle-resolved resonant photoelectron spectroscopy we have directly mapped the interface states in k-space. Our data demonstrate a charge dichotomy. A mobile fraction contributes to Fermi surface sheets, whereas a localized portion at higher binding energies is tentatively attributed to electrons trapped by O-vacancies in the SrTiO3. While photovoltage effects in the polar LaAlO3 layers cannot be excluded, the apparent absence of surface-related Fermi surface sheets could also be fully reconciled in a recently proposed electronic reconstruction picture where the built-in potential in the LaAlO3 is compensated by surface O-vacancies serving also as charge reservoir.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, incl. Supplemental Informatio

The use of measured genotype information in the analysis of quantitative phenotypes in man.

We have begun a measured genotype approach to the genetic analysis of lipid and lipoprotein variability. This approach enables one to simultaneously estimate the frequencies and effects of alleles at specific loci along with the residual polygenetic variance component. In this study we consider the contribution of three common alleles at the locus coding for apolipoprotein E to interindividual variation of total cholesterol, betalipoprotein, and triglyceride levels. A sample of 102 nuclear families consisting of 434 individuals was studied. The frequencies of the ε2, ε3, and ε4 alleles in this sample are 0·137,0·740, and 0·123, respectively. In separate analyses of cholesterol and betalipoprotein levels, a complete model that includes the effects of the six apo E genotypes, unmeasured polygenes, and individual specific environmental effects fits these data significantly better than a reduced model that does not include the effects of the apo E polymorphism or a reduced model that does not include the effects of polygenes. On the average the ε2 allele lowers total cholesterol and betalipoprotein levels by 0·425 mmol/l and 0·811 units, respectively. The ε4 allele is associated with an average increase of these phenotypes by 0·255 mmol/l and 0·628 units, respectively. Simultaneous estimates of the interindividual variability of total cholesterol levels attributable to the apo E polymorphism and to residual polygenic effects are 8% and 56%, respectively. For betalipoprotein levels, we simultaneously estimate these values to be 7% and 42%, respectively. A reduced model including the effects of polygenes but not the effects of the apo E polymorphism fitted the triglyceride data as well as the complete model. The estimate of the fraction of interindividual variability associated with polygenetic effects was 26.5%. We review our present understanding of the genetic architecture underlying variability of cholesterol levels in the population at large and infer that the majority of the genetic variability may be accounted for by polymorphic gene loci with moderate effects on cholesterol levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65212/1/j.1469-1809.1987.tb00874.x.pd

Exoplanets transmission spectroscopy: accounting for eccentricity and longitude of periastron. Superwinds in the upper atmosphere of HD209458b?

Context: Several studies have so far placed useful constraints on planetary atmospheric properties using transmission spectrsocopy, and in the case of HD209458b even the radial velocity of the planet during the transit event has been reconstructed opening a new range of possibilities. AIMS. In this contribution we highlight the importance to account for the orbital eccentricity and longitude of periastron of the planetary orbit to accurately interpret the measured planetary radial velocity during the transit. Methods: We calculate the radial velocity of a transiting planet in an eccentric orbit. Given the larger orbital speed of planets with respect to their stellar companions even small eccentricities can result in detectable blue or redshift radial velocity offsets during the transit with respect to the systemic velocity, the exact value depending also on the longitude of the periastron of the planetary orbit. For an hot-jupiter planet, an eccentricity of only e=0.01 can produce a radial velocity offset of the order of the km/s. Conclusions: We propose an alternative interpretation of the recently claimed radial velocity blueshift (~2 km/s) of the planetary spectral lines of HD209458b which implies that the orbit of this system is not exactly circular. In this case, the longitude of the periastron of the stellar orbit is most likely confined in the first quadrant (and that one of the planet in the third quadrant). We highlight that transmission spectroscopy allows not only to study the compositional properties of planetary atmospheres, but also to refine their orbital parameters and that any conclusion regarding the presence of windflows on planetary surfaces coming from transmission spectroscopy measurements requires precise known orbital parameters from RV.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Profiling the interface electron gas of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The conducting interface of LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures has been studied by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. From the Ti~2$p$ signal and its angle-dependence we derive that the thickness of the electron gas is much smaller than the probing depth of 4 nm and that the carrier densities vary with increasing number of LaAlO$_3$ overlayers. Our results point to an electronic reconstruction in the LaAlO$_3$ overlayer as the driving mechanism for the conducting interface and corroborate the recent interpretation of the superconducting ground state as being of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure