Green IT principles in Cypriot organizations.

It is not only due to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that our planet faces such problems as unstable climate change and other environmental depredations. Nevertheless, ICT does have some impact - through the pollution caused by hardware manufacture and disposal and through lifetime energy consumption. ICT also has a positive role to play via such green technologies as cloud computing and digital distribution. In developed countries, with mature ICT infrastructures, there have been some substantial moves to apply green conservation principles, but in developing countries there is potentially a conflict between ‘catching up’ fast at any environmental cost or trying to implement more environmental methodologies and technologies from the start. Cyprus is a small developing nation with a steady economy, promising development prospects and a largely well-educated population. As such Cyprus seems like a good place to find out which way this conflict is likely to go. To explore this proposition, a pilot questionnaire, designed to discover the organizational awareness and application of a number of appropriate issues (for example, virtualization, e-waste management), was administered to IT personnel in a selection of Cypriot organizations of differing sizes and sectors. As a result a picture has been developed of how green a typical Cypriot organization might be. Subsequently, some guidelines were constructed to assist Cypriot or similar organizations to adopt environmentally-friendlier ICT practices

Landau-Zener Tunnelling in Waveguide Arrays

Landau-Zener tunnelling is discussed in connection with optical waveguide arrays. Light injected in a specific band of the Bloch spectrum in the propagation constant can be transmitted to another band, changing its physical properties. This is achieved using two waveguide arrays with different refractive indices, which amounts to consider a Schr\"odinger equation in a periodic potential with a step. The step causes wave "acceleration" and thus induces Landau-Zener tunnelling. The region of physical parameters where this phenomenon can occur is analytically determined and a realistic experimental setup is suggested. Its application could allow the realization of light filters.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

A squeeze-like operator approach to position-dependent mass in quantum mechanics

We provide a squeeze-like transformation that allows one to remove a position dependent mass from the Hamiltonian. Methods to solve the Schr\"{o}dinger equation may then be applied to find the respective eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. As an example, we consider a position-dependent-mass that leads to the integrable Morse potential and therefore to well-known solutions

Collision and fusion of counterpropagating micron-sized optical beams in non-uniformly biased photorefractive crystals

We theoretically investigate collision of optical beams travelling in opposite directions through a centrosymmetric photorefractive crystal biased by a spatially non-uniform voltage. We analytically predict the fusion of counterpropagating solitons in conditions in which the applied voltage is rapidly modulated along the propagation axis, so that self-bending is suppressed by the "restoring symmetry" mechanism. Moreover, when the applied voltage is slowly modulated, we predict that the modified self-bending allows conditions in which the two beams fuse together, forming a curved light-channel splice.Comment: 12 page

Bragg solitons in nonlinear PT-symmetric periodic potentials

It is shown that slow Bragg soliton solutions are possible in nonlinear complex parity-time (PT) symmetric periodic structures. Analysis indicates that the PT-symmetric component of the periodic optical refractive index can modify the grating band structure and hence the effective coupling between the forward and backward waves. Starting from a classical modified massive Thirring model, solitary wave solutions are obtained in closed form. The basic properties of these slow solitary waves and their dependence on their respective PT-symmetric gain/loss profile are then explored via numerical simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, published in Physical Review

Statistical Theory for Incoherent Light Propagation in Nonlinear Media

A novel statistical approach based on the Wigner transform is proposed for the description of partially incoherent optical wave dynamics in nonlinear media. An evolution equation for the Wigner transform is derived from a nonlinear Schrodinger equation with arbitrary nonlinearity. It is shown that random phase fluctuations of an incoherent plane wave lead to a Landau-like damping effect, which can stabilize the modulational instability. In the limit of the geometrical optics approximation, incoherent, localized, and stationary wave-fields are shown to exist for a wide class of nonlinear media.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX4. Submitted to Physical Review E. Revised manuscrip

Soliton dynamics and self-induced transparency in nonlinear nanosuspensions

We study spatial soliton dynamics in nano-particle suspensions. Starting from the Nernst-Planck and Smoluchowski equations, we demonstrate that in these systems the underlying nonlinearities as well as the nonlinear Rayleigh losses depend exponentially on optical intensity. Two different nonlinear regimes are identified depending on the refractive index contrast of the nanoparticles involved and the interesting prospect of self-induced transparency is demonstrated. Soliton stability is systematically analyzed for both 1D and 2D configurations and their propagation dynamics in the presence of Rayleigh losses is examined. The possibility of synthesizing artificial nonlinearities using mixtures of nanosuspensions is also considered

Exact soliton solutions, shape changing collisions and partially coherent solitons in coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations

We present the exact bright one-soliton and two-soliton solutions of the integrable three coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations (3-CNLS) by using the Hirota method, and then obtain them for the general $N$-coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations (N-CNLS). It is pointed out that the underlying solitons undergo inelastic (shape changing) collisions due to intensity redistribution among the modes. We also analyse the various possibilities and conditions for such collisions to occur. Further, we report the significant fact that the various partial coherent solitons (PCS) discussed in the literature are special cases of the higher order bright soliton solutions of the N-CNLS equations.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 1 EPS figure To appear in Physical Review Letter

Laser-assisted guiding of electric discharges around objects

Electric breakdown in air occurs for electric fields exceeding 34 kV/cm and results in a large current surge that propagates along unpredictable trajectories. Guiding such currents across specific paths in a controllable manner could allow protection against lightning strikes and high-voltage capacitor discharges. Such capabilities can be used for delivering charge to specific targets, for electronic jamming, or for applications associated with electric welding and machining. We show that judiciously shaped laser radiation can be effectively used to manipulate the discharge along a complex path and to produce electric discharges that unfold along a predefined trajectory. Remarkably, such laser-induced arcing can even circumvent an object that completely occludes the line of sight