Electrochemical structure‐switching sensing using nanoplasmonic devices

In this article, the implementation of electrochemical plasmonic nanostructures functionalized with DNA‐based structure‐switching sensors is presented. eNanoSPR devices with open and microfluidic measurement cells are developed on the base of nanohole arrays in 100 nm gold film and applied for combined microscopic and electrochemical surface plasmon (eSPR) visualization. eSPR voltammograms and spectroscopy are performed using planar three electrode schematic with plasmonic nanostructure operated as working electrode. Limit of detection of eNanoSPR devices for oligonucleotide hybridization is estimated in the low nanomolar and applications for structure‐switching electro‐plasmonic sensing in complex liquids are discussed.     

Mathematical Study of an Inflammatory Model for Atherosclerosis: A Nonlinear Renewal Equation

In this work we study the coupling of a nonlinear renewal equation to an ordinary differential equation. We start with existence and uniqueness issues for the coupled equations and, in particular cases, we study the long-time behaviour. The novelty here is the nonlinearity in the renewal equation. This model arises in the context of atherosclerosis. The renewal part accounts for the inflammatory process: leucocyte recruitment in the arterial wall, differentiation when internalizing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and death. The ordinary differential equation describes the LDL dynamics in the arterial wall, leucocyte absorption and release in the blood.

     

Nonreciprocal devices in integrated optics

This article reviews the solutions that have been studied for the implementation of nonreciprocal devices in integrated optics. These components, either isolators or circulators, use the nonreciprocal interaction between light and a magnetic medium. The only two isolators that have been experimented on to date are described in detail with their advantages and drawbacks, and some solutions are proposed to overcome the difficulties encountered.     

Direct synthesis of luminescent SiC quantum dots in water by laser ablation

Direct synthesis of luminescent SiC quantum dots in pure deionized water by laser ablation is reported. A zeta‐potential of –49 mV, higher than for nanoparticles produced by electrochemical etching, suggests a higher colloidal stability of the laser‐produced nanoparticles. IR spectroscopy shows that surface charges related to carboxylate anions ensure long‐term stability of the colloidal solutions based on the as‐prepared SiC quantum dots. Main radiative channel at room temperature corresponds to the recombination of quantumly confined photogenerated charge carriers. Emission from the nanoparticles is mainly centred at 2.75 eV regardless of laser power used for ablation. According to photoluminescence spectra, a partial transformation of the SiC quantum dots from cubic to hexagonal crystalline arrangement is supposed. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Entanglement of a mesoscopic field with an atom induced by photon graininess in a cavity

We observe that a mesoscopic field made of several tens of microwave photons exhibits quantum features when interacting with a single Rydberg atom in a high-Q cavity. The field is split into two components whose phases differ by an angle inversely proportional to the square root of the average photon number. The field and the atomic dipole are phase entangled. These manifestations of photon graininess vanish at the classical limit. This experiment opens the way to studies of large quantum state superpositions at the quantum-classical boundary.     

What controls the thickness of wetting layers near bulk criticality?

We study the thickness of wetting layers in the binary-liquid mixture cyclohexane methanol. Far from the bulk critical point, the wetting layer thickness is independent of temperature, resulting from the competition between van der Waals and gravitational forces. Upon approaching the bulk critical temperature [t=(T(c)-T)/T(c)-->0], we observe that the wetting layer thickness diverges as t(-beta) with effective critical exponent beta=0.23+/-0.06. This is characteristic of a broad, intermediate scaling regime for the crossover from van der Waals wetting to critical scaling. We predict beta=beta/3 approximately 0.11, with beta the usual bulk-order parameter critical exponent, showing a small but significant difference with experiment.     

First results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Laboratory

We report the first results from a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Four Ge and two Si detectors were operated for 52.6 live days, providing 19.4 kg d of Ge net exposure after cuts for recoil energies between 10 and 100 keV. A blind analysis was performed using only calibration data to define the energy threshold and selection criteria for nuclear-recoil candidates. Using the standard dark-matter halo and nuclear-physics WIMP model, these data set the world's lowest exclusion limits on the coherent WIMP-nucleon scalar cross section for all WIMP masses above 15 GeV/c2, ruling out a significant range of neutralino supersymmetric models. The minimum of this limit curve at the 90% C.L. is 4 x 10(-43) cm2 at a WIMP mass of 60 GeV/c2.     

Instability of a vertical columnar vortex in a stratified fluid

In this article, we study experimentally the evolution of a vertical columnar vortex in a stratified fluid. Three different measurement techniques are used. Particle image velocimetry allows us to monitor the time evolution of the characteristics of the vortex (Froude and Reynolds numbers). Dye visualizations reveal the existence of an instability for Froude numbers smaller than one, which creates an undulation of the vortex centerline. Synthetic schlieren visualization shows that the density structure of the unstable mode is very similar to the structure found recently numerically for the radiative instability of a Lamb–Oseen vortex (Riedinger et al. in J Fluid Mech, 2010). The experimental stability diagram and unstable wavelengths are compared with these numerical results. A secondary instability associated with the presence of critical layers is also observed for Froude numbers larger than one.