Tunable Q-factor silicon microring resonators for ultra-low power parametric processes

A compact silicon ring resonator is demonstrated that allows simple electrical tuning of the ring coupling coefficient and Q-factor and therefore the resonant enhancement of on-chip nonlinear optical processes. Fabrication-induced variation in designed coupling fraction, crucial in the resonator performance, can be overcome using this post-fabrication trimming technique. Tuning of the microring resonator across the critical coupling point is demonstrated, exhibiting a Q-factor tunable between 9000 and 96,000. Consequently, resonantly enhanced four-wave mixing shows tunable efficiency between -40 and -16.3 dB at an ultra-low on-chip pump power of 0.7 m

Nanoscale accurate heterogeneous integration of waveguide devices by transfer printing

The vertical micro-assembly of membrane photonic devices across a range of materials is presented, including polymers, silicon and III-V semiconductors. Fully-fabricated waveguide structures are integrated with sub-100nm absolute placement accuracy. Light-emitting diodes, silicon photonics and nanowire lasers are examples of the deployment of this technique

Micro-LED nanosecond pulsed structured light sources with 405 nm – 510 nm wavelength

Narrow-pulse visible light sources are crucial to time-resolved imaging. We present 16k-element MicroLED arrays spanning the visible region allowed by InGaN/GaN, achieving 3 ns pulses at up to 100 MHz repetition rate with programmable illumination patterns

High speed single pixel imaging with advanced microLED digital light projector

We demonstrate high speed single pixel imaging using an advanced microLED-on-CMOS array. We show 128x128 pixel image reconstruction at an effective frame rate of 3.8fps and lower resolution reconstructions at over 120fps. The method is demonstrated to be compatible with common compressive imaging techniques

Integrated Nonlinear Photonics in AlGaAs-on-insulator Devices

The heterogeneous integration of AlGaAs-on-insulator (AlGaAs-OI) has proven to be a powerful material platform for nonlinear optics. This talk will explore how chip-scale bonding and transfer printing techniques can be used for the fabrication of these integrated photonic chips for highly efficient second- and third-order non-linear applications

Mindfulness-based stress reduction as supportive therapy in cancer care: systematic review

Aim: This paper reports a systematic review and critical appraisal of the evidence on the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for cancer supportive care. Background: The experience of cancer can have a negative impact on both psychological and physical health and on quality of life. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a therapy package that has been used with patients with a variety of conditions. In order to draw conclusions on its effectiveness for cancer patients, the evidence requires systematic assessment. Methods: A comprehensive search of major biomedical and specialist complementary medicine databases was conducted. Additionally, efforts were made to identify unpublished and ongoing research. Relevant research was categorized by study type and appraised according to study design. Clinical commentaries were obtained for each study and included in the review. Results: Three randomized controlled clinical trials and seven uncontrolled clinical trials were found. A lack of relevant qualitative research studies was identified. Studies report positive results, including improvements in mood, sleep quality and reductions in stress. A dose-response effect has been observed between practice of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and improved outcome. A number of methodological limitations were identified. Modifications to the traditional Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme make comparison between studies difficult and a lack of controlled studies precludes any firm conclusion on efficacy. Conclusion: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction has potential as a clinically valuable self-administered intervention for cancer patients. Further research into its efficacy, feasibility and safety for cancer patients in the nursing context is recommended

Urban blue: A global analysis of the factors shaping people's perceptions of the marine environment and ecological engineering in harbours.

Marine harbours are the focus of a diverse range of activities and subject to multiple anthropogenically induced pressures. Support for environmental management options aimed at improving degraded harbours depends on understanding the factors which influence people's perceptions of harbour environments. We used an online survey, across 12 harbours, to assess sources of variation people's perceptions of harbour health and ecological engineering. We tested the hypotheses: 1) people living near impacted harbours would consider their environment to be more unhealthy and degraded, be more concerned about the environment and supportive of and willing to pay for ecological engineering relative to those living by less impacted harbours, and 2) people with greater connectedness to the harbour would be more concerned about and have greater perceived knowledge of the environment, and be more supportive of, knowledgeable about and willing to pay for ecological engineering, than those with less connectedness. Across twelve locations, the levels of degradation and modification by artificial structures were lower and the concern and knowledge about the environment and ecological engineering were greater in the six Australasian and American than the six European and Asian harbours surveyed. We found that people's perception of harbours as healthy or degraded, but not their concern for the environment, reflected the degree to which harbours were impacted. There was a positive relationship between the percentage of shoreline modified and the extent of support for and people's willingness to pay indirect costs for ecological engineering. At the individual level, measures of connectedness to the harbour environment were good predictors of concern for and perceived knowledge about the environment but not support for and perceived knowledge about ecological engineering. To make informed decisions, it is important that people are empowered with sufficient knowledge of the environmental issues facing their harbour and ecological engineering options

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society