Gendered dynamics of transnational social protection

Social protection refers to resources and strategies to deal with social risks, such as poverty or obligations and needs of care, which might impede the realization of life chances and well-being. Previous research has shown that migrants are particularly affected by challenges when accessing or providing social protection, because of unfamiliar welfare regulations in the immigration country and their family and friends being located in various locations, calling for an investigation of gendered dynamics in transnational spaces. In this special issue we aim to advance these vital debates by elucidating the social consequences of the articulation and organization of formal and informal social protection across borders for different actors involved through a joint investigation of gender and transnationality as key dimensions of social inequality

Quantum dot occupation and electron dwell time in the cotunneling regime

We present comparative measurements of the charge occupation and conductance of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot. The dot charge is measured with a capacitively coupled quantum point contact sensor. In the single-level Coulomb blockade regime near equilibrium, charge and conductance signals are found to be proportional to each other. We conclude that in this regime, the two signals give equivalent information about the quantum dot system. Out of equilibrium, we study the inelastic-cotunneling regime. We compare the measured differential dot charge with an estimate assuming a dwell time of transmitted carriers on the dot given by h/E, where E is the blockade energy of first-order tunneling. The measured signal is of a similar magnitude as the estimate, compatible with a picture of cotunneling as transmission through a virtual intermediate state with a short lifetime

Positive Cross Correlations in a Normal-Conducting Fermionic Beam Splitter

We investigate a beam splitter experiment implemented in a normal conducting fermionic electron gas in the quantum Hall regime. The cross-correlations between the current fluctuations in the two exit leads of the three terminal device are found to be negative, zero or even positive depending on the scattering mechanism within the device. Reversal of the cross-correlations sign occurs due to interaction between different edge-states and does not reflect the statistics of the fermionic particles which `antibunch'.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Femtosecond pump-probe studies of carrier transport and gain dynamics in quantum cascade lasers

Time-resolved pump-probe differential transmission measurements have been performed on various sets of quantum cascade lasers below and above threshold. Bias-, temperature-, and polarization dependent studies enable a comprehensive understanding of the gain dynamics to be possible in terms of tunneling, transport, and coupling with the intra-cavity photon density. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57927/1/225_ftp.pd

Intersubband gain in a Bloch oscillator and Quantum cascade laser

The link between the inversion gain of quantum cascade structures and the Bloch gain in periodic superlattices is presented. The proposed theoretical model based on the density matrix formalism is able to treat the gain mechanism of the Bloch oscillator and Quantum cascade laser on the same footing by taking into account in-plane momentum relaxation. The model predicts a dispersive contribution in addition to the (usual) population-inversion-dependent intersubband gain in quantum cascade structures and - in the absence of inversion - provides the quantum mechanical description for the dispersive gain in superlattices. It corroborates the predictions of the semi-classical miniband picture, according to which gain is predicted for photon energies lower than the Bloch oscillation frequency, whereas net absorption is expected at higher photon energies, as a description which is valid in the high-temperature limit. A red-shift of the amplified emission with respect to the resonant transition energy results from the dispersive gain contribution in any intersubband transition, for which the population inversion is small.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Resource theory of quantum uncomplexity

Quantum complexity is emerging as a key property of many-body systems, including black holes, topological materials, and early quantum computers. A state's complexity quantifies the number of computational gates required to prepare the state from a simple tensor product. The greater a state's distance from maximal complexity, or “uncomplexity,” the more useful the state is as input to a quantum computation. Separately, resource theories—simple models for agents subject to constraints—are burgeoning in quantum information theory. We unite the two domains, confirming Brown and Susskind's conjecture that a resource theory of uncomplexity can be defined. The allowed operations, fuzzy operations, are slightly random implementations of two-qubit gates chosen by an agent. We formalize two operational tasks, uncomplexity extraction and expenditure. Their optimal efficiencies depend on an entropy that we engineer to reflect complexity. We also present two monotones, uncomplexity measures that decline monotonically under fuzzy operations, in certain regimes. This work unleashes on many-body complexity the resource-theory toolkit from quantum information theory

Time-Resolved Investigations of Electronic Transport Dynamics in Quantum Cascade Lasers Based on Diagonal Lasing Transition

In this study, the nature of electronic transport in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has been extensively investigated using an ultrafast time-resolved, degenerate, pump-probe optical technique. Our investigations enable a comprehensive understanding of the gain recovery dynamics in terms of a coupling of the electronic transport to the oscillating intracavity laser intensity. In QCLs that have a lasing transition diagonal in real space, studies of the near-threshold reveal that the transport of electrons changes bias region from phonon-limited relaxation (tens of picoseconds) below threshold to photon-driven transport via stimulated emission (a few picoseconds) above threshold. The gain recovery dynamics in the photon-driven regime is compared with conventional four-level lasers such as atomic, molecular, and semiconductor interband lasers. The depopulation dynamics out of the lower lasing state is explained using a tight-binding tunneling model and phonon-limited relaxation. For the superlattice relaxation, it is possible to explain the characteristic picosecond transport via dielectric relaxation; Monte Carlo simulations with a simple resistor model are developed, and the Esaki–Tsu model is applied. Subpicosecond dynamics due to carrier heating in the upper subband are isolated and appear to be at most about 10% of the gain compression compared with the contribution of stimulated emission. Finally, the polarization anisotropy in the active waveguide is experimentally shown to be negligible on our pump-probe data, supporting our interpretation of data in terms of gain recovery and transport.Engineering and Applied Science

Resonant Photon-Assisted Tunneling Through a Double Quantum Dot: An Electron Pump From Spatial Rabi Oscillations

The time average of the fully nonlinear current through a double quantum dot, subject to an arbitrary combination of ac and dc voltages, is calculated exactly using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function technique. When driven on resonance, the system functions as an efficient electron pump due to Rabi oscillation between the dots. The pumping current is maximum when the coupling to the leads equals the Rabi frequency.Comment: 6 pages, REVTEX 3.0, 3 postscript figure

The potential role of T-cells and their interaction with antigen-presenting cells in mediating immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage

Objective: Trauma-hemorrhage results in depressed immune responses of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and T-cells. Recent studies suggest a key role of depressed T-cell derived interferon (IFN)-g in this complex immune cell interaction. The aim of this study was to elucidate further the underlying mechanisms responsible for dysfunctional T-cells and their interaction with APCs following trauma-hemorrhage. Design: Adult C3H/HeN male mice were subjected to trauma-hemorrhage (3-cm midline laparotomy) followed by hemorrhage (blood pressure of 35�5mmHg for 90 min and resuscitation) or sham operation. At 24 h thereafter, spleens were harvested and T-cells (by Microbeads) and APCs (via adherence) were Isolated. Co-cultures of T-cells and APCs were established for 48 h and stimulated with concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide. T-Cell specific cytokines known to affect APC function (i.e. interleukin(IL)-2, IL-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)) were measured in culture supernatants by Multiplex assay. The expression of MHC class II as well as co-stimulatory surface molecules on T-cells and APCs was determined by flow cytometry. Results: The release of IL-4 and GM-CSF by T-cells was suppressed following trauma-hemorrhage, irrespective of whether sham or trauma-hemorrhage APCs were present. Antigen-presenting cells from animals subjected to trauma-hemorrhage did not affect T-cell derived cytokine release by sham T-cells. In contrast, T-cells from traumahemorrhage animals depressed MHC class II expression of CD11c(þ) cells, irrespective of whether APCs underwent sham or trauma-hemorrhage procedure. Surprisingly, co-stimulatory molecules on APCs (CD80, CD86) were not affected by trauma-hemorrhage. Conclusions: These results suggest that beside IFN-g other T-cell derived cytokines contribute to immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage causing diminished MHC II expression on APCs. Thus, T-cells appear to play an important role in this interaction at the time-point examined. Therapeutic approaches should aim at maintenance of T-cell function and their interaction with APCs to prevent extended immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage