500 GHz mode-hop-free idler tuning range with a frequency-stabilized singly resonant optical parametric oscillator

A 1064 nm pumped continuous-wave, mid-IR (3-4 μm), signal-wave resonant optical parametric oscillator is frequency stabilized at the kilohertz jitter level to the transmission peak of an external high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. Owing to the high stability of the resonator length against acoustical perturbation, fine pump tuning of the idler wave around 3.3 μm results in an unprecedented mode-hop-free continuous scan over 500 GHz (17 cm?1).     

First evidence of resistive switching in polycrystalline GaV4S8 thin layers

Recently a new type of reversible and non‐volatile resistive switching was discovered in single crystals of Mott insulators AM₄X₈ (A = Ga, Ge; M = V, Nb, Ta; X = S, Se). Here we report on the first synthesis of thin layers (thicknesses in the 100 to 1000 nm range) of GaV₄S₈ by RF magnetron sputtering process. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and TEM analyses attest the high quality of polycrystalline GaV₄S₈ thin layers. Electrical measurements demonstrate that deposited GaV₄S₈ thin films exhibit a non‐volatile reversible resistive switching at room temperature with writing/erasing times of ～10 µs and a memory window (R_high – R_low)/ R_low > 33%. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)