One of the fundamental axioms of quantum mechanics is associated with the Hermiticity of physical observables. In the case of the Hamiltonian operator, this requirement not only implies real ...eigenenergies but also guarantees probability conservation. Interestingly, a wide class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can still show entirely real spectra. Among these are Hamiltonians respecting parity-time (PT) symmetry. Even though the Hermiticity of quantum observables was never in doubt, such concepts have motivated discussions on several fronts in physics, including quantum field theories, non-Hermitian Anderson models and open quantum systems, to mention a few. Although the impact of PT symmetry in these fields is still debated, it has been recently realized that optics can provide a fertile ground where PT-related notions can be implemented and experimentally investigated. In this letter we report the first observation of the behaviour of a PT optical coupled system that judiciously involves a complex index potential. We observe both spontaneous PT symmetry breaking and power oscillations violating left-right symmetry. Our results may pave the way towards a new class of PT-synthetic materials with intriguing and unexpected properties that rely on non-reciprocal light propagation and tailored transverse energy flow.
We report on the fabrication and characterization of ridge waveguides in lithium niobate thin films by diamond blade dicing. The lithium niobate thin films with a thickness of 1 µm were fabricated by ...bonding a He-implanted lithium niobate wafer to a SiO(2)-coated lithium niobate wafer and crystal ion slicing. Propagation losses of 1.2 dB/cm for TE and 2.8 dB/cm for TM polarization were measured at 1550 nm for a 9.28 mm long and 2.1 µm wide waveguide using the Fabry-Perot method.
In this work, we report on efficient neodymium-doped titanium in-diffused ridge waveguide lasers in x-cut congruent LiNbO
under excitation at 814 nm. For the sample fabrication we used our novel ...technique of three-side evaporation and in-diffusion for Nd and Ti incorporation into pre-defined ridges. Due to improved photorefractive damage resistance by indium tin oxide (ITO) coating we achieved stable laser operation at 1084.7 nm with a maximum output power of 108 mW and a slope efficiency of 34% exceeding the best literature values for Nd:Ti:LiNbO
ridge waveguide lasers.
We report on fabrication of ridge waveguides formed in congruent periodically poled lithium niobate substrates using annealed and reverse proton exchange followed by diamond blade dicing. 1 W of ...second-harmonic generation at 775 nm has been obtained in a single-pass in 50 mm long ridge waveguides with internal conversion efficiency of 70%. At this power level, 97% pump depletion has been reached. Although elevated temperature operation and ridge geometry help to mitigate photorefractive damage (PRD) effects, nevertheless, at even higher second harmonic outputs significant power drop with blue shift and distortion of the SHG tuning curve have been observed indicating an onset of PRD.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains cause diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome resulting from toxin-mediated microvascular endothelial injury. EHEC hemolysin (EHEC-Hly), a member of ...the RTX (repeats-in-toxin) family, is an EHEC virulence factor of increasingly recognized importance. The toxin exists as free EHEC-Hly and as EHEC-Hly associated with outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released by EHEC during growth. Whereas the free toxin is lytic towards human endothelium, the biological effects of the OMV-associated EHEC-Hly on microvascular endothelial and intestinal epithelial cells, which are the major targets during EHEC infection, are unknown. Using microscopic, biochemical, flow cytometry and functional analyses of human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) and Caco-2 cells we demonstrate that OMV-associated EHEC-Hly does not lyse the target cells but triggers their apoptosis. The OMV-associated toxin is internalized by HBMEC and Caco-2 cells via dynamin-dependent endocytosis of OMVs and trafficked with OMVs into endo-lysosomal compartments. Upon endosome acidification and subsequent pH drop, EHEC-Hly is separated from OMVs, escapes from the lysosomes, most probably via its pore-forming activity, and targets mitochondria. This results in decrease of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential and translocation of cytochrome c to the cytosol, indicating EHEC-Hly-mediated permeabilization of the mitochondrial membranes. Subsequent activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 leads to apoptotic cell death as evidenced by DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation in the intoxicated cells. The ability of OMV-associated EHEC-Hly to trigger the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in human microvascular endothelial and intestinal epithelial cells indicates a novel mechanism of EHEC-Hly involvement in the pathogenesis of EHEC diseases. The OMV-mediated intracellular delivery represents a newly recognized mechanism for a bacterial toxin to enter host cells in order to target mitochondria.
Erbium-doped titanium in-diffused ridge waveguide optical amplifiers in x-cut congruent LiNbO
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substrates pumped by a 1486 nm laser diode are reported for the first time. High internal gain of 2.7 ...dB/cm has been demonstrated in 2.5 cm long waveguides for the coupled pump power 200 mW exceeding the best literature values reported for Er:Ti:LiNbO
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channel waveguides. For gain improvement, we have developed a novel technique which is comprised of ridge definition using diamond blade dicing followed by three-side erbium (Er) and titanium (Ti) layer deposition and high-temperature diffusion. Thereby both higher Er concentrations with more symmetric diffusion profiles and lower scattering losses due to the high-temperature smoothened waveguide side walls have been obtained.
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are important tools in bacterial virulence but their role in the pathogenesis of infections caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157, the leading cause ...of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome, is poorly understood. Using proteomics, electron and confocal laser scanning microscopy, immunoblotting, and bioassays, we investigated OMVs secreted by EHEC O157 clinical isolates for virulence factors cargoes, interactions with pathogenetically relevant human cells, and mechanisms of cell injury. We demonstrate that O157 OMVs carry a cocktail of key virulence factors of EHEC O157 including Shiga toxin 2a (Stx2a), cytolethal distending toxin V (CdtV), EHEC hemolysin, and flagellin. The toxins are internalized by cells via dynamin-dependent endocytosis of OMVs and differentially separate from vesicles during intracellular trafficking. Stx2a and CdtV-B, the DNase-like CdtV subunit, separate from OMVs in early endosomes. Stx2a is trafficked, in association with its receptor globotriaosylceramide within detergent-resistant membranes, to the Golgi complex and the endoplasmic reticulum from where the catalytic Stx2a A1 fragment is translocated to the cytosol. CdtV-B is, after its retrograde transport to the endoplasmic reticulum, translocated to the nucleus to reach DNA. CdtV-A and CdtV-C subunits remain OMV-associated and are sorted with OMVs to lysosomes. EHEC hemolysin separates from OMVs in lysosomes and targets mitochondria. The OMV-delivered CdtV-B causes cellular DNA damage, which activates DNA damage responses leading to G2 cell cycle arrest. The arrested cells ultimately die of apoptosis induced by Stx2a and CdtV via caspase-9 activation. By demonstrating that naturally secreted EHEC O157 OMVs carry and deliver into cells a cocktail of biologically active virulence factors, thereby causing cell death, and by performing first comprehensive analysis of intracellular trafficking of OMVs and OMV-delivered virulence factors, we provide new insights into the pathogenesis of EHEC O157 infections. Our data have implications for considering O157 OMVs as vaccine candidates.
A neodymium (Nd) doped lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) was fabricated from a lithium niobate (LN) substrate diffusion-doped with Nd prior to the LNOI fabrication process. Diffusion doping enables ...the fabrication of differently doped regions on a single LNOI substrate, a key advantage for future applications in highly integrated photonics. Fluorescence spectra, emission cross-section, fluorescence lifetime, and small-signal gain of Nd:LNOI were determined for the first time to our knowledge and compared with data published for diffusion-doped ridge or channel waveguides in LN substrates. For an 11 mm-long sample, we achieve a small-signal gain for π (σ) polarization of about 14 (10) dB when pumping with a Ti:Sapphire laser, which is promising for future active components in Nd:LNOI like amplifiers and lasers.
In this work, we report on efficient neodymium-doped titanium in-diffused ridge waveguide lasers in x-cut congruent LiNbO3 under excitation at 814 nm. For the sample fabrication we used our novel ...technique of three-side evaporation and in-diffusion for Nd and Ti incorporation into pre-defined ridges. Due to improved photorefractive damage resistance by indium tin oxide (ITO) coating we achieved stable laser operation at 1084.7 nm with a maximum output power of 108 mW and a slope efficiency of 34% exceeding the best literature values for Nd:Ti:LiNbO3 ridge waveguide lasers.
Waveguide circuits play a key role in modern integrated optics and provide an appealing approach to scalability in quantum optics. We report on periodically poled ridge waveguides in z-cut potassium ...titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO
or KTP), a material that has recently received growing interest due to its unique dispersion properties. Ridges were defined in surface-near rubidium-exchanged KTP by use of a precise diamond-blade dicing saw. We fabricated single-mode ridge waveguides at around 800 nm which exhibit widths of 1.9-3.2 μm and facilitated type-II second harmonic generation from 792 nm to 396 nm with high efficiency of 6.6 %/W·cm
. Temperature dependence of the second harmonic process was found to be 53 pm/K. The low temperature dependence and high nonlinear conversion efficiency make our waveguides ideally suited for future operations in classical nonlinear integrated optics and integrated quantum networking applications.
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