Tunneling Effects on Fine-Structure Splitting in Quantum Dot Molecules

We theoretically study the effects of bias-controlled interdot tunneling in vertically coupled quantum dots on the emission properties of spin excitons in various bias-controlled tunneling regimes. As a main result, for strongly coupled dots we predict substantial reduction of optical fine structure splitting without any drop in the optical oscillator strength. This special reduction diminishes the distinguibility of polarized decay paths in cascade emission processes suggesting the use of stacked quantum dot molecules as entangled photon-pair sources.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to a APS journa

Replica-molded electro-optic polymer Mach–Zehnder modulator

A Mach-Zehnder electro-optic polymer amplitude modulator is fabricated by a simple and high-throughput soft-stamp replica-molding technique. The modulator structure incorporates the highly nonlinear and stable chromophore, AJL8, doped in amorphous polycarbonate. Single-arm phase-retardation results in a halfwave voltage (V-pi) of 8.4 V at 1600 nm. The on/off extinction ratio is better than 19 dB, resulting from precise Y-branch power splitters and good waveguide uniformity. These results indicate that the simple fabrication process allows for good optical performance from high-fidelity replicas of the original master devices

Quantum thermodynamics from the nonequilibrium dynamics of open systems: energy, heat capacity and the third law

We take the perspective of open quantum systems and examine from their nonequilibrium dynamics the conditions when the physical quantities, their relations and the laws of thermodynamics become well defined and viable for quantum many body systems. We first describe how an open system nonequilibrium dynamics (ONEq) approach is different from the closed combined system + environment in a global thermal state (CGTs) setup. Only after the open system equilibrates will it be amenable to conventional thermodynamics descriptions, thus quantum thermodynamics (QTD) comes at the end rather than assumed in the beginning. We see the open system approach having the advantage of dealing with nonequilibrium processes as many experiments in the near future will call for. Because it spells out the conditions of QTD's existence it can also aid us in addressing the basic issues in quantum thermodynamics from first principles in a systematic way. We then study one broad class of open quantum systems where the full nonequilibrium dynamics can be solved exactly, that of the quantum Brownian motion of $N$ strongly coupled harmonic oscillators, interacting strongly with a scalar field environment. Here we focus on the internal energy, heat capacity and the Third Law. We show for this class of physical models, amongst other findings, the extensive property of the internal energy, the positivity of the heat capacity and the validity of the Third Law from the perspective of the behavior of the heat capacity toward zero temperature. These conclusions obtained from exact solutions and quantitative analysis clearly disprove claims of negative specific heat in such systems and dispel allegations that in such systems the validity of the Third Law of thermodynamics relies on quantum entanglement.Comment: 67 pages, 6 figures; published versio

Influence of the miniband on emission mechanism in Zn1−xCdxSe/ZnSe quantum wells

[[abstract]]The stimulated emission has been investigated in Zn1-xCdxSe/ZnSe quantum wells with a constant sample width of 60 Å and barrier widths from 47 Å to 500 Å. A redshift of the stimulated emission peak with increasing excitation intensity was observed in samples with barrier widths narrower than 350 Å, and the stimulated emission mechanism in these samples is found to be dominated by exciton-exciton scattering. In contrast, no redshifts were observed for the sample with a barrier width of 500 Å, and the stimulated emission in this sample appears to be dominated by biexcitons. Time-resolved spectroscopy measurements were also performed on samples with barrier width of 47 and 500 Å below the threshold of stimulated emission, and it was found that the exciton lifetime decreases with increasing exciton energy for both of the samples. With a ten times smaller barrier width in the 47 Å sample, the lifetime of high energy exciton is significantly shorter than that of the other sample, while the low energy lifetime becomes longer. This implies that with a narrower barrier width of the quantum wells the excitons move faster to lower energy regions. The narrower the barrier, the easier it is for excitons to move through the miniband. This freedom of movement increases the exciton concentration at low energies in localized areas in the wells. High exciton concentration made exciton-exciton scattering more probable and reduce the stimulated emission threshold value.[[notice]]補正完畢[[booktype]]紙

Rational Approximate Symmetries of KdV Equation

We construct one-parameter deformation of the Dorfman Hamiltonian operator for the Riemann hierarchy using the quasi-Miura transformation from topological field theory. In this way, one can get the approximately rational symmetries of KdV equation and then investigate its bi-Hamiltonian structure.Comment: 14 pages, no figure

GPER-induced signaling is essential for the survival of breast cancer stem cells.

G protein-coupled estrogen receptor-1 (GPER), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, mediates estrogen-induced proliferation of normal and malignant breast epithelial cells. However, its role in breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) remains unclear. Here we showed greater expression of GPER in BCSCs than non-BCSCs of three patient-derived xenografts of ER- /PR+ breast cancers. GPER silencing reduced stemness features of BCSCs as reflected by reduced mammosphere forming capacity in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo with decreased BCSC populations. Comparative phosphoproteomics revealed greater GPER-mediated PKA/BAD signaling in BCSCs. Activation of GPER by its ligands, including tamoxifen (TMX), induced phosphorylation of PKA and BAD-Ser118 to sustain BCSC characteristics. Transfection with a dominant-negative mutant BAD (Ser118Ala) led to reduced cell survival. Taken together, GPER and its downstream signaling play a key role in maintaining the stemness of BCSCs, suggesting that GPER is a potential therapeutic target for eradicating BCSCs