Enhanced Group Delay of the Pulse Reflection with Graphene Surface Plasmon via Modified Otto Configuration

In this paper, the group delay of the transverse magnetic (TM) polarized wave reflected from a modified Otto configuration with graphene surface plasmon is investigated theoretically. The findings show that the optical group delay in this structure can be enhanced negatively and can be switched from negative to positive due to the excitation of surface plasmon by graphene. It is clear that the negative group delay can be actively tuned through the Fermi energy of the graphene. Furthermore, the delay properties can also be manipulated by changing either the relaxation time of graphene or the distance between the coupling prism and the graphene. These tunable delay characteristics are promising for fabricating grapheme-based optical delay devices and other applications in the terahertz regime

Self-Retracting Motion of Graphite Microflakes

We report the observation of a novel phenomenon, the self-retracting motion of graphite, in which tiny flakes of graphite, after being displaced to various suspended positions from islands of highly orientated pyrolytic graphite, retract back onto the islands under no external influences. Our repeated probing and observing such flakes of various sizes indicate the existence of a critical size of flakes, approximately 35 micrometer, above which the self-retracting motion does not occur under the operation. This helps to explain the fact that the self-retracting motion of graphite has not been reported, because samples of natural graphite are typical larger than this critical size. In fact, reports of this phenomenon have not been found in the literature for single crystals of any kinds. A model that includes the static and dynamic shear strengths, the van der Waals interaction force, and the edge dangling bond interaction effect, was used to explain the observed phenomenon. These findings may conduce to create nano-electromechanical systems with a wide range of mechanical operating frequency from mega to giga hertzs

EZSpice

Cooking spices are crucial and necessary in our daily life. Without various spices, chefs as well as home cooks are unable to create multiple delicious dishes.  Storing and looking for different types of spices in our kitchen is a headache, especially for those that are not frequently used.  EZSpice was developed to solve this issue. EZSpice is an intelligent machine for the kitchen.  EZSpice will dispense the desired spice with precise quantity for the consumer while they are cooking, using voice control and touch screen control. With a simple greeting sentence “Hey EZSpice” or touching the screen, our intelligent spice dispensing machine will start serving you. With the voice commands from users, EZSpice will deliver the correct spice with the requested quantity. Given enough time of development, we believe that EZSpice will provide a convenient and affordable spice dispensing machine to the market

Optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a quantum spin Hall insulator

The bulk-boundary correspondence is a key concept in topological quantum materials. For instance, a quantum spin Hall insulator features a bulk insulating gap with gapless helical boundary states protected by the underlying Z2 topology. However, the bulk-boundary dichotomy and distinction are rarely explored in optical experiments, which can provide unique information about topological charge carriers beyond transport and electronic spectroscopy techniques. Here, we utilize mid-infrared absorption micro-spectroscopy and pump-probe micro-spectroscopy to elucidate the bulk-boundary optical responses of Bi4Br4, a recently discovered room-temperature quantum spin Hall insulator. Benefiting from the low energy of infrared photons and the high spatial resolution, we unambiguously resolve a strong absorption from the boundary states while the bulk absorption is suppressed by its insulating gap. Moreover, the boundary absorption exhibits a strong polarization anisotropy, consistent with the one-dimensional nature of the topological boundary states. Our infrared pump-probe microscopy further measures a substantially increased carrier lifetime for the boundary states, which reaches one nanosecond scale. The nanosecond lifetime is about one to two orders longer than that of most topological materials and can be attributed to the linear dispersion nature of the helical boundary states. Our findings demonstrate the optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a topological material and provide a proof-of-principal methodology for studying topological optoelectronics.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Interfacial electron transfer between Fe(II)(CN)₆^4- and TiO₂ nanoparticles: direct electron injection and nonexponential recombination

Photoinduced electron-transfer (ET) dynamics in Fe(II)(CN)64- sensitized TiO2 nanoparticles in D2O solution are studied by subpicosecond tunable laser spectroscopy in the mid-infrared and visible region. The dynamics of the injected electrons are monitored by the mid-IR absorption of electrons in the semiconductor, and the corresponding dynamics of the adsorbate are monitored by the vibrational spectra of the CN stretching mode region and electronic absorption in the visible. After 400 nm excitation, the forward electron injection time from Fe(II)(CN)64- to TiO2 occurs in <50 fs, indicating a direct photoinduced charge-transfer process. The back ET from TiO2 to Fe(III)(CN)63- in the <1 ns time scale is found to be a non-single-exponential process. The best three-exponential fit to the data yields back ET time constants of 3 ps (35%), 40 ps (30%), and >1 ns (35%). Combining with previous measurements in the nanosecond to microsecond time scale (Lu et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 4927 and Vrachnou et al. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1987, 868), the total back ET process is found to be highly nonexponential with time constants ranging from 3 ps to 3 μs