Semiconductor waveguide directional couplers for coherent receivers

Optical waveguide 3-dB couplers integrated on semicondutors have been studied, designed and fabricated, using both bulk and diluted multi-quantum-well InGaAsP/InP-based materials, grown by MOCVD. The device structure is based on the two-mode interference (TMI) principle and is fully compatible for integration with the optoelectronic and electronic components of a coherent receiver. Bulk material couplers provide an output balanced within 0.05 dB per nanometer and an excess loss of 1.4 dB, compared to a straight guide, while coupling loss to a tapered-lensed single mode fibre is 4 dB.Improved coupling efficiency to single-mode fibres is achieved by use of moderately diluted multi-quantum-well waveguides, which include InGaAsP wells and InP barriers: coupling loss to a tapered-lensed single-mode fibre as low as 0.5 dB and excess loss of 1.8 dB are featured. Couplers fabricated with this waveguide structure have a balance sensitivity of 0.03 to 0.04 dB per nanometer.A moderately diluted multi-quantum-well 3-dB coupler has been permanently pigtailed and butt-coupled to a dual balanced PIN photoreceiver. This hybrid assembly was tested in a coherent transmission system at 155 and 622 Mbits^-1 showing sensitivities, for 10^-9 BER, of about-38.0 dBm and-28.8 dBm, respectively.     

Tachyon kinematics and causality: A systematic thorough analysis of the tachyon causal paradoxes

The chronological order of the events along a spacelike path is not invariant under Lorentz transformations, as is well known. This led to an early conviction that tachyons would give rise to causal anomalies. A relativistic version of the Stückelberg-Feynman switching procedure (SWP) has been invoked as the suitable tool to eliminate those anomalies. The application of the SWP does eliminate the motions backwards in time, but interchanges the roles ofsource anddetector. This fact triggered the proposal of a host of causal paradoxes. Till now, however, it has not been recognized that such paradoxes can be sensibly discussed (and completely solved, at least in microphysics)only after the tachyon relativistic mechanics has been properly developed. We start by showing how to apply the SWP, both in the case ofordinary special relativity and in the case with tachyons. Then we carefully exploit the kinematics of the tachyon exchange between to (ordinary) bodies. Being finally able to tackle the tachyon causality problem, we successively solve the paradoxes of : (i) Tolman-Regge, (ii) Pirani, (iii) Edmonds, and (iv) Bell. Finally, we discuss a further, new paradox associated with the transmission of signals by modulated tachyon beams.Work partially supported by MPI and by FAP-UNICAMP.     

The strong coupling constant: Its theoretical derivation from a geometric approach to hadron structure

Since more than a decade, abi-scale, unified approach to strong and gravitational interactions has been proposed, that uses the geometrical methods of general relativity, and yielded results similar to strong gravity theory's. We fix our attention, in this note, on hadron structure, and show that also the strong interaction strength _S, ordinarily called the (perturbative) coupling-constant square, can be evaluated within our theory, and found to decrease (increase) as the distancer decreases (increases). This yields both the confinement of the hadron constituents (for large values ofr) and their asymptotic freedom (for small values ofr inside the hadron): in qualitative agreement with the experimental evidence. In other words, our approach leads us, on a purely theoretical ground, to a dependence of _S onr which had been previously found only on phenomenological and heuristic grounds. We expect the above agreement to be also quantitative, on the basis of a few checks performed in this paper, and of further work of ours on calculating meson mass spectra.     

Refined hierarchical kinematics quasi-3D Ritz models for free vibration analysis of doubly curved FGM shells and sandwich shells with FGM core

In this paper, the Ritz minimum energy method, based on the use of the Principle of Virtual Displacements (PVD), is combined with refined Equivalent Single Layer (ESL) and Zig Zag (ZZ) shell models hierarchically generated by exploiting the use of Carrera's Unified Formulation (CUF), in order to engender the Hierarchical Trigonometric Ritz Formulation (HTRF). The HTRF is then employed to carry out the free vibration analysis of doubly curved shallow and deep functionally graded material (FGM) shells. The PVD is further used in conjunction with the Gauss theorem to derive the governing differential equations and related natural boundary conditions. Donnell–Mushtari's shallow shell-type equations are given as a particular case. Doubly curved FGM shells and doubly curved sandwich shells made up of isotropic face sheets and FGM core are investigated. The proposed shell models are widely assessed by comparison with the literature results. Two benchmarks are provided and the effects of significant parameters such as stacking sequence, boundary conditions, length-to-thickness ratio, radius-to-length ratio and volume fraction index on the circular frequency parameters and modal displacements are discussed.     

Superluminal Motions? A Bird's-Eye View of the Experimental Situation

In this article, after a theoretical introduction and a sketch of some related long-standing predictions, a bird's-eye view is presented—with the help of nine figures—of the various experimental sectors of physics in which Superluminal motions seem to appear (thus contributing support to those past predictions). In particular, a panorama is presented of the experiments with evanescent waves and/or tunnelling photons, and with the localized Superluminal solutions to the Maxwell equations (like the so-called X-shaped beams). The present review is brief, but is followed by a large enough bibliography to allow the interested reader deepening the preferred topic.     

Fluctuations of the second order observables for dissipative processes in 19F+27Al system

The excitation function (EF) data for dissipative processes in ¹⁹F + ²⁷Al system in the incident energy interval from 113.5 to 130 MeV are used to obtain the dependence of the charge variance and of the interaction time as a function of the incident energy. Fluctuations are observed in the EFs of both these secondary observables. Their correlation is supported by a mechanism based on stochastic exchange of nucleons.     

Some global properties of static spacetimes

 We show that a static Lorentzian manifold satisfying a completeness assumption is geodesically connected. In particular, such condition is satisfied by all compact static manifolds; in the compact case, we also prove the existence of a closed geodesic in every free homotopy class determined by a finite number of deck transformations. Received: 28 July 2002 / Published online: 16 May 2003 Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 53C22, 53C50, 58E10 The first and the second author are sponsored by the MIUR national project ``Metodi variazionali e topologici nello studio di fenomeni nonlineari'. The third author is partially sponsored by CNPq, Brazil.     

Crack propagation in an orthotropic medium with coupled elastodynamic properties

In this paper the Mode-I elastodynamic problem of a crack propagating in an orthotropic medium is studied under the condition that the matrix of elastodynamic coefficients has repeated eigenvalues. It is shown that the crack is constrained in an elastodynamic state which is defined through a compulsory condition coupling its velocity with the elastic parameters of the orthotropic medium. The dynamic stress and displacement components ahead of the crack tip as well as the energy release rate are explicitly obtained.     

On the energy functional on Finsler manifolds and applications to stationary spacetimes

In this paper we first study some global properties of the energy functional on a non-reversible Finsler manifold. In particular we present a fully detailed proof of the Palais–Smale condition under the completeness of the Finsler metric. Moreover, we define a Finsler metric of Randers type, which we call Fermat metric, associated to a conformally standard stationary spacetime. We shall study the influence of the Fermat metric on the causal properties of the spacetime, mainly the global hyperbolicity. Moreover, we study the relations between the energy functional of the Fermat metric and the Fermat principle for the light rays in the spacetime. This allows one to obtain existence and multiplicity results for light rays, using the Finsler theory. Finally the case of timelike geodesics with fixed energy is considered.     

Two arc cracks around a circular rigid inclusion

Summary The problem of two symmetric arc cracks lying between a rigid circular inclusion embedded in an infinite matrix under biaxial loading at infinity is considered. By using the complex variable tecnique, the boundary value problem is solved and stress and displacement components are calculated along the inclusion boundary. Moreover, investigating the local stress field, a stress criterion, already proposed by authors, allowing either the crack extension at the interface or its deviation into the matrix to be taken into account, is applied to study the fracture response of the elastic system. The critical applied loads as well as the angle of the incipient crack extension are expressed in terms of the central angle subtended by the crack arcs.Finally the biaxial load effects are graphically shown and discussed.

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Sommario Si considera il problema piano di due «craks» simmetrici all'interfaccia tra una inclusione circolare rigida e la circostante matrice, in regime di carico biassiale. Facendo uso della tecnica delle variabili complesse, viene risolto il problema dei valori al contorno, ricavando altresi le espressioni delle tensioni e degli spostamenti lungo il contorno dell'inclusione. Inoltre, applicando un criterio tensionale, già proposto dagli autori, che consente di studiare sia la estensione del crack all'interfaccia che la sua deviazione nella matrice, si analizza la risposta del sistema considerato. I valori critici dei carichi applicati, nonchè l'angolo di frattura, risultano espressi in funzione dell'angolo al centro sotteso dai cracks.Infine, vengono illustrati graficamente e discussi gli effetti del carico laterale.

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Financial support of the National Research Council (C.N.R.) (research contribution N. 79.01625.07) is gratefully acknowledged.