Resonant Raman scattering off neutral quantum dots

Resonant inelastic (Raman) light scattering off neutral GaAs quantum dots which contain a mean number, N=42, of electron-hole pairs is computed. We find Raman amplitudes corresponding to strongly collective final states (charge-density excitations) of similar magnitude as the amplitudes related to weakly collective or single-particle excitations. As a function of the incident laser frequency or the magnetic field, they are rapidly varying amplitudes. It is argued that strong Raman peaks should come out in the spin-density channels, not related to valence-band mixing effects in the intermediate states.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review

Spin polarization and magneto-luminescence of confined electron-hole systems

A BCS-like variational wave-function, which is exact in the infinite field limit, is used to study the interplay among Zeeman energies, lateral confinement and particle correlations induced by the Coulomb interactions in strongly pumped neutral quantum dots. Band mixing effects are partially incorporated by means of field-dependent masses and g-factors. The spin polarization and the magneto-luminescence are computed as functions of the number of electron-hole pairs present in the dot and the applied magnetic field.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

Statistical analysis plan for the OPTIMUM study: optimising immunisation using mixed schedules, an adaptive randomised controlled trial of a mixed whole-cell/acellular pertussis vaccine schedule

Objective: The purpose of this double-blind, randomised, controlled trial is to compare allergic outcomes in children following vaccination with acellular pertussis (aP) antigen (standard of care in Australia) given at 2 months of age versus whole cell pertussis (wP) in the infant vaccine schedule. Participants: Up to 3000 Australian infants 6 to <12 weeks of age born ≥32 weeks gestation. Interventions: The intervention is a wP containing vaccine as the first scheduled pertussis vaccine dose instead of an aP containing vaccine. Outcomes: The primary outcome is a binary indicator of history of IgE-mediated food allergy at the age of 12 months confirmed, where necessary, with an oral food challenge before 18 months of age. Secondary outcomes include (1) history of parent-reported clinician-diagnosed new onset of atopic dermatitis by 6 or 12 months of age with a positive skin prick test to any allergen before 12 months of age, (2) geometric mean concentration in pertussis toxin-specific IgG before and 21 to 35 days after a booster dose of aP at 18 months of age, and (3) sensitisation to at least one allergen by 12 months of age. Results: Operating characteristics of trial decision rules were evaluated by trial simulation. The selected rules for success and futility approximately maintain type I error of 0.05 and achieved power 0.85 for a reduction in the primary outcome from 10% in the control group to 7% in the intervention group. Discussion: A detailed, prospective statistical analysis plan (SAP) is presented for this Bayesian adaptive design. The plan was written by the trial statistician and details the study design, pre-specified adaptive elements, decision thresholds, statistical methods, and the simulations used to evaluate the operating characteristics of the trial. Application of this SAP will minimise bias and supports transparent and reproducible research. Trial registration: Australia & New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12617000065392. Registered on 12 January 2017 Study protocol: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-04283

The Carboniferous carbon isotope record from sedimentary organic matter: can we disentangle the carbon cycle?

A comprehensive analysis of the 13C composition of sedimentary organic matter from Euramerican Carboniferous successions indicates there are significant shifts in 13C through this key time interval. Our studies have revealed that, at an individual location, the source and delivery mechanism of the sediment contribute to the type of organic matter preserved and, in turn this influences the measured 13C values from bulk sedimentary organic matter of organic matter

Exciton Spin Dynamics in Semiconductor Quantum Wells

In this paper we will review Exciton Spin Dynamics in Semiconductor Quantum Wells. The spin properties of excitons in nanostructures are determined by their fine structure. We will mainly focus in this review on GaAs and InGaAs quantum wells which are model systems.Comment: 55 pages, 27 figure

Links2HealthierBubs' cohort study: Protocol for a record linkage study on the safety, uptake and effectiveness of influenza and pertussis vaccines among pregnant Australian women

Introduction Pregnant women and infants are at risk of severe influenza and pertussis infection. Inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (dTpa) are recommended during pregnancy to protect both mothers and infants. In Australia, uptake is not routinely monitored but coverage appears sub-optimal. Evidence on the safety of combined antenatal IIV and dTpa is fragmented or deficient, and there remain knowledge gaps of population-level vaccine effectiveness. We aim to establish a large, population-based, multi-jurisdictional cohort of mother-infant pairs to measure the uptake, safety and effectiveness of antenatal IIV and dTpa vaccines in three Australian jurisdictions. This is a first step toward assessing the impact of antenatal vaccination programmes in Australia, which can then inform government policy with respect to future strategies in national vaccination programmes. Methods and analysis ' Links2HealthierBubs' is an observational, population-based, retrospective cohort study established through probabilistic record linkage of administrative health data. The cohort includes births between 2012 and 2017 (∼607 605 mother-infant pairs) in jurisdictions with population-level antenatal vaccination and health outcome data (Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory). Perinatal data will be the reference frame to identify the cohort. Jurisdictional vaccination registers will identify antenatal vaccination status and the gestational timing of vaccination. Information on maternal, fetal and child health outcomes will be obtained from hospitalisation and emergency department records, notifiable diseases databases, developmental anomalies databases, birth and mortality registers. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained from the Western Australian Department of Health, Curtin University, the Menzies School of Health Research, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and the West Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committees. Research findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, at scientific meetings, and may be incorporated into communication materials for public health agencies and the public

Negatively Charged Excitons and Photoluminescence in Asymmetric Quantum Well

We study photoluminescence (PL) of charged excitons ($X^-$) in narrow asymmetric quantum wells in high magnetic fields B. The binding of all $X^-$ states strongly depends on the separation $\delta$ of electron and hole layers. The most sensitive is the ``bright'' singlet, whose binding energy decreases quickly with increasing $\delta$ even at relatively small B. As a result, the value of B at which the singlet--triplet crossing occurs in the $X^-$ spectrum also depends on $\delta$ and decreases from 35 T in a symmetric 10 nm GaAs well to 16 T for $\delta=0.5$ nm. Since the critical values of $\delta$ at which different $X^-$ states unbind are surprisingly small compared to the well width, the observation of strongly bound $X^-$ states in an experimental PL spectrum implies virtually no layer displacement in the sample. This casts doubt on the interpretation of PL spectra of heterojunctions in terms of $X^-$ recombination

Pliocene diatom and sponge spicule oxygen isotope ratios from the Bering Sea: isotopic offsets and future directions

Oxygen isotope analyses of different size fractions of Pliocene diatoms (δ18Odiatom) from the Bering Sea show no evidence of an isotope offset and support the use of bulk diatom species samples for palaeoceanographic reconstructions. Additional samples containing concentrations of sponge spicules produce δ18O values several per mille lower than δ18Odiatom with a calculated mean offset of 3.6‰ ± 0.7. This difference is significantly greater than modern day variations in water δ18O through the regional water column. Despite the potential for oxygen isotope disequilibrium within δ18Osponge, there appears to be some similarity between δ18Osponge and a global stacked benthic δ18Oforam record. This highlights the potential for δ18Osponge in palaeoenvironmental research at sites where carbonates are not readily preserved