Optical properties of perovskite alkaline earth titanates : a formulation

In this communication we suggest a formulation of the optical conductivity as a convolution of an energy resolved joint density of states and an energy-frequency labelled transition rate. Our final aim is to develop a scheme based on the augmented space recursion for random systems. In order to gain confidence in our formulation, we apply the formulation to three alkaline earth titanates CaTiO_3, SrTiO_3 and BaTiO_3 and compare our results with available data on optical properties of these systems.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Transcriptional upregulation of c-MET is associated with invasion and tumor budding in colorectal cancer

c-MET and its ligand HGF are frequently overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) and increased c-MET levels are found in CRC liver metastases. This study investigated the role of the HGF/c-MET axis in regulating migration/invasion in CRC, using pre-clinical models and clinical samples. Pre-clinically, we found marked upregulation of c-MET at both protein and mRNA levels in several invasive CRC cells. Down-regulation of c-MET using RNAi suppressed migration/invasion of parental and invasive CRC cells. Stimulation of CRC cells with rh-HGF or co-culture with HGF-expressing colonic myofibroblasts, resulted in significant increases in their migratory/invasive capacity. Importantly, HGF-induced c-MET activation promoted rapid downregulation of c-MET protein levels, while the MET transcript remained unaltered. Using RNA in situ hybridization (RNA ISH), we further showed that MET mRNA, but not protein levels, were significantly upregulated in tumor budding foci at the invasive front of a cohort of stage III CRC tumors (p < 0.001). Taken together, we show for the first time that transcriptional upregulation of MET is a key molecular event associated with CRC invasion and tumor budding. This data also indicates that RNA ISH, but not immunohistochemistry, provides a robust methodology to assess MET levels as a potential driving force of CRC tumor invasion and metastasis

Leakage channel fibers with microstructured cladding elements: a unique LMA platform

We present a novel design of leakage channel fiber (LCF) that incorporates an air-hole lattice to define the modal filtering characteristics. The approach has the potential to offer single-mode, large mode area (LMA) fibers in a single-material platform with bend loss characteristics comparable to all-solid (LCFs) whilst at the same time providing significant fabrication benefits. We compare the performance of the proposed fiber with that of rod-type photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) and all-solid LCFs offering a similar effective mode area of ~1600µm2 at 1.05µm. Our calculations show that the proposed fiber concept succeeds in combining the advantages of the use of small air holes and the larger design space of rod-type PCFs with the improved bend tolerance and greater higher order mode discrimination of all-solid LCFs, while alleviating their respective issues of rigidity and restricted material design space. We report the fabrication and experimental characterization of a first exemplar fiber, which we demonstrate offers a single-mode output with a fundamental mode area ~1440µm2 at 1.06µm, and that can be bent down to a radius of 20cm with a bend loss of &lt;3dB/turn. Finally we show that the proposed design concept can be adopted to achieve larger mode areas (&gt; 3000µm2), albeit at the expense of reduced bend tolerance

Single-mode fiber length for wavefront filtering

Stellar nulling interferometry offers the possibility of direct imaging of extrasolar planets necessary for the detection of extra-terrestrial life. Achieving optimum performance from the interferometers requires that the wavefronts of light reaching the interferometer are free of distortions. This is achieved by using single-mode fibers, which are excellent wavefront filters. In this paper, we present an improved theoretical model to estimate the minimum fiber length required to achieve a certain degree of filtering and show that the effects of both the fiber characteristics and launching conditions of the input optical field should be considered to determine the minimum length

Soft glass based large mode area photonic bandgap fibre for mid-infrared applications

An all-solid LMA Bragg fibre (mode area exceeding 1100µm2) is presented for midinfrared applications, based on a new design strategy that induces large differential loss between fundamental and higher order modes for effective single-mode operation

Loss and dispersion tailoring in 1D photonics band gap Bragg reflection waveguides: finite chirped claddings as a design tool

We exploit a simple and accurate matrix method to analyze the effects of introducing a linear chirp either in thickness or in refractive index of the cladding layers on the propagation characteristics (loss and dispersion) of 1D photonic band gap planar Bragg reflection waveguides (BRWs). We show that an appropriate chirp in the otherwise periodic claddings of finite extent BRWs could be gainfully exploited to tailor its leakage loss and waveguide dispersion features. In particular, we theoretically demonstrate that for some reported sample BRWs, leakage loss and waveguide dispersion could be significantly reduced by a factor of 30-50 and by about two orders of magnitude, respectively as compared to un-chirped BRWs. Furthermore, we also show that in contrast to un-chirped BRWs, how chirped BRWs could be designed with attractive feature like much less number of cladding layers and nearly wavelength independent losses. Our analysis and proposal should serve as a useful design tool to tailor the propagation characteristics of BRWs

Design of a Bragg fiber with large mode area for mid-infrared applications

The design of an all-solid, soft glass-based, large mode area Bragg fiber for effective single mode operation with mode effective area exceeding 1100 µm2 across the wavelength range of 2 - 4 µm is reported. The design adopts a new strategy to induce large differential loss between the fundamental and higher order modes for effective single-mode operation within few tens of centimetres length of an otherwise multimode fiber. In addition to having the potential for the targeted application in high power laser delivery systems; complemented by a zero dispersion wavelength at 2.04 µm and rapidly developing mid-IR optical sources, the proposed fiber should also be attractive for generation of high power, single mode and less divergent supercontinuum light over this mid-IR window