No Arabic abstract
An electron beam is deflected when it passes over a silicon nitride surface, if the surface is illuminated by a low-power continuous-wave diode laser. A deflection angle of up-to $1.2 ,textrm{mrad}$ is achieved for an electron beam of $29 ,mutextrm{rad}$ divergence. A mechanical beam-stop is used to demonstrate that the effect can act as an optical electron switch with a rise and fall time of $6 ,mutextrm{s}$. Such a switch provides an alternative means to control electron beams, which may be useful in electron lithography and microscopy.
We present theoretical results of a low-loss all-optical switch based on electromagnetically induced transparency and the classical Zeno effect in a microdisk resonator. We show that a control beam can modify the atomic absorption of the evanescent field which suppresses the cavity field buildup and alters the path of a weak signal beam. We predict more than 35 dB of switching contrast with less than 0.1 dB loss using just 2 micro-Watts of control-beam power for signal beams with less than single photon intensities inside the cavity.
We demonstrate that the conductance switching of benzo-bis(imidazole) molecules upon protonation depends on the lateral functional groups. The protonated H-substituted molecule shows a higher conductance than the neutral one (Gpro>Gneu), while the opposite (Gneu>Gpro) is observed for a molecule laterally functionalized by amino-phenyl groups. These results are demonstrated at various scale lengths : self-assembled monolayer, tiny nanodot-molecule junction and single molecules. From ab-initio theoretical calculations, we conclude that for the H-substituted molecule, the result Gpro>Gneu is correctly explained by a reduction of the LUMO-HOMO gap, while for the amino-phenyl functionnalized molecule, the result Gneu>Gpro is consistent with a shift of HOMO, which reduces the density of states at the Fermi energy.
Our study shows that deposited Ge and Si dielectric thin-films can exhibit low microwave losses at near single-photon powers and sub-Kelvin temperatures ($approx$40 mK). This low loss enables their use in a wide range of devices, including low-loss coplanar, microstrip, and stripline resonators, as well as layers for device isolation, inter-wiring dielectrics, and passivation in microwave and Josephson junction circuit fabrication. We use coplanar microwave resonator structures with narrow trace widths of 2-16 $mu textrm{m}$ to maximize the sensitivity of loss tangent measurements to the interface and properties of the deposited dielectrics, rather than to optimize the quality factor. In this configuration, thermally-evaporated $approx 1 mu textrm{m}$ thick amorphous germanium (a-Ge) films deposited on Si (100) have a single photon loss tangent of $1-2times10^{-6}$ and, $9 mu textrm{m}$-thick chemical vapor deposited (CVD) homoepitaxial Si has a single photon loss tangent of $0.6-2times 10^{-5}$. Interface contamination limits the loss in these devices.
New functionalities in nonlinear optics will require systems with giant optical nonlinearity as well as compatibility with photonic circuit fabrication techniques. Here we introduce a new platform based on strong light-matter coupling between waveguide photons and quantum-well excitons. On a sub-millimeter length scale we generate sub-picosecond bright temporal solitons at a pulse energy of only 0.5 pico-Joules. From this we deduce an unprecedented nonlinear refractive index 3 orders of magnitude larger than in any other ultrafast system. We study both temporal and spatio-temporal nonlinear effects and for the first time observe dark-bright spatio-temporal solitons. Theoretical modelling of soliton formation in the strongly coupled system confirms the experimental observations. These results show the promise of our system as a high speed, low power, integrated platform for physics and devices based on strong interactions between photons.
Integrated optical devices able to control light matter interactions on the nanoscale have attracted the attention of the scientific community in recent years. However, most of these devices are based on silicon waveguides, limiting their use for telecommunication wavelengths. In this contribution, we propose an integrated device that operates with light in the visible spectrum. The proposed device is a hybrid structure consisting of a high-refractive-index layer placed on top of an ion-exchanged glass waveguide. We demonstrate that this hybrid structure serves as an efficient light coupler for the excitation of nanoemitters. The numerical and experimental results show that the device can enhance the electromagnetic field confinement up to 11 times, allowing a higher photoluminescence signal from nanocrystals placed on its surface. The designed device opens new perspectives in the generation of new optical devices suitable for quantum information or for optical sensing.