Experimental demonstration of a fast calibration method for integrated photonic circuits with cascaded phase shifters

With the development of research on integrated photonic quantum information processing,the integration level of the integrated quantum photonic circuits has been increasing continuously,which makes the calibration of the phase shifters on the chip increasingly difficult.For the calibration of multiple cascaded phase shifters that is not easy to be decoupled,the resources consumed by conventional brute force methods increase exponentially with the number of phase shifters,making it impossible to calibrate a relatively large number of cascaded phase shifters.In this work,we experimentally validate an efficient method for calibrating cascaded phase shifters that achieves an exponential increase in calibration efficiency compared to the conventional method,thus solving the calibration problem for multiple cascaded phase shifters.Specifically,we experimentally calibrate an integrated quantum photonic circuit with nine cascaded phase shifters and achieve a high-precision calibration with an average fidelity of 99.26%.

Analysis of Solar Direct-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle Powered Vapor Compression Cooling System Combined with Electric Motor for Office Building Air-Conditioning

Solar energy powered organic Rankine cycle vapor compression cycle(ORC-VCC)is a good alternative to convert solar heat into a cooling effect.In this study,an ORC-VCC system driven by solar energy combined with electric motor is proposed to ensure smooth operation under the conditions that solar radiation is unstable and discontinuous,and an office building located in Guangzhou,China is selected as a case study.The results show that beam solar radiation and generation temperature have considerable effects on the system performance.There is an optimal generation temperature at which the system achieves optimum performance.Also,as a key indicator,the cooling power per square meter collector should be considered in the hybrid solar cooling system in design process.Compared to the vapor compression cooling system,the hybrid cooling system can save almost 68.23%of electricity consumption.

Metallurgical properties of CaO–SiO_(2)–Al_(2)O_(3)–4.6wt%MgO–Fe_(2)O_(3)slag system pertaining to spent automotive catalyst smelting

The metallurgical properties of the CaO–SiO_(2)–Al_(2)O_(3)–4.6wt%Mg O–Fe_(2)O_(3)slag system,formed by the co-treatment process of spent automotive catalyst(SAC)and copper-bearing electroplating sludge(CBES),were studied systematically in this paper.The slag structure,melting temperature,and viscous characteristics were investigated by Fourier transform infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy,Raman spectroscopy,Fact Sage calculation,and viscosity measurements.Experimental results show that the increase of Fe_(2)O_(3)content(3.8wt%–16.6wt%),the mass ratio of CaO/SiO_(2)(m(CaO)/m(SiO_(2)),0.5–1.3),and the mass ratio of SiO_(2)/Al_(2)O_(3)(m(SiO_(2))/m(Al_(2)O_(3)),1.0–5.0)can promote the depolymerization of silicate network,and the presence of a large amount of Fe_(2)O_(3)in form of tetrahedral and octahedral units ensures the charge compensation of Al^(3+)ions and makes Al_(2)O_(3)only behave as an acid oxide.Thermodynamic calculation and viscosity measurements show that with the increase of Fe_(2)O_(3)content,m(Ca O)/m(SiO_(2)),and m(SiO_(2))/m(Al_(2)O_(3)),the depolymerization of silicate network structure and low-melting-point phase transformation first occur within the slag,leading to the decrease in melting point and viscosity of the slag,while further increase causes the formation of high-melting-point phase and a resultant re-increase in viscosity and melting point.Based on experimental analysis,the preferred slag composition with low polymerization degree,viscosity,and melting point is as follows:Fe_(2)O_(3)content of 10.2wt%–13.4wt%,m(CaO)/m(SiO_(2))of 0.7–0.9 and m(SiO_(2))/m(Al_(2)O_(3))of 3.0–4.0.This work provides a theoretical support for slag design in co-smelting process of SAC and CBES.

Thermo-Economic Performance of Geothermal Driven High-Temperature Flash Tank Vapor Injection Heat Pump System:A Comparison Study

Process heating constitutes a significant share of final energy consumption in the industrial sector around the world.In this paper,a high-temperature heat pump(HTHP)using flash tank vapor injection technology(FTVI)is proposed to develop low-temperature geothermal source for industrial process heating with temperature above 100°C.With heat sink output temperatures between 120°C and 150°C,the thermo-economic performance of the FTVI HTHP system using R1234ze(Z)as refrigerant is analyzed and also compared to the single-stage vapor compression(SSVC)system by employing the developed mathematical model.The coefficient of performance(COP),exergy efficiency(ηexe),net present value(NPV)and payback period(PBP)are used as performance indicators.The results show that under the typical working conditions,the COP andηexe of FTVI HTHP system are 3.00 and 59.66%,respectively,and the corresponding NPV and PBP reach 8.13×106 CNY and 4.13 years,respectively.Under the high-temperature heating conditions,the thermo-economic performance of the FTVI HTHP system is significantly better than that of the SSVC system,and the larger the temperature lift,the greater the thermo-economic advantage of the FTVI HTHP system.Additionally,the FTVI HTHP system is more capable than the SSVC system in absorbing the financial risks associated with changes of electricity price and natural gas price.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone-thyroid hormone signaling contributes to circadian regulation through repressing clock2/npas2 in zebrafish

Thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH)is important for the thyroid gland,development,growth,and metabolism.Defects in TSH production or the thyrotrope cells within the pituitary gland cause congenital hypothyroidism(CH),resulting in growth retardation and neurocognitive impairment.While human TSH is known to display rhythmicity,the molecular mechanisms underlying the circadian regulation of TSH and the effects of TSH-thyroid hormone(TH)signaling on the circadian clock remain elusive.Here we show that TSH,thyroxine(T4),triiodothyronine(T3),and tshba display rhythmicity in both larval and adult zebrafish and tshba is regulated directly by the circadian clock via both E′-box and D-box.Zebrafish tshba^(−/−)mutants manifest congenital hypothyroidism,with the characteristics of low levels of T_(4)and T_(3)and growth retardation.Loss or overexpression of tshba alters the rhythmicity of locomotor activities and expression of core circadian clock genes and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid(HPT)axis-related genes.Furthermore,TSH-TH signaling regulates clock2/npas2 via the thyroid response element(TRE)in its promoter,and transcriptome analysis reveals extensive functions of Tshba in zebrafish.Together,our results demonstrate that zebrafish tshba is a direct target of the circadian clock and in turn plays critical roles in circadian regulation along with other functions.

Valley piezoelectricity promoted by spin-orbit coupling in quantum materials

Quantum materials have exhibited attractive electro-mechanical responses,but their piezoelectric coefficients are far from satisfactory due to the lack of feasible strategies to benefit from the quantum effects.We discovered the valley piezoelectric mechanism that is absent in the traditional piezoelectric theories yet promising to overcome this challenge.A theoretical model was developed to elucidate the valley piezoelectricity in 2D materials as originating from the strong spin-orbit coupling.Consistent analytical and density-functional-theory calculations validate the model and unveil the crucial dependence of valley piezoelectricity on valley/spin splitting and hybridization energy.Up to 50%of electro-mechanical responses in our tested twodimensional systems are attributed to the valley piezoelectric mechanisms.Rational strategies including doping,passivation,and external strain are proposed to optimize piezoelectricity,with a more than 127%increase in piezoelectricity demonstrated by density-functional-theory simulations.The general valley piezoelectric model not only opens an opportunity to achieve outstanding piezoelectricity via optimizing intrinsic variables but also makes the large family of valley materials promising for piezoelectric sensing and energy harvesting.

Thermometry strategy developed based on fluorescence contrast driven by varying excitations in codoped LiNbO3

We propose what we believe is a novel optical thermometry strategy(FIR-Ex)based on the fluorescence intensity ratio(FIR)between two radiations associated with the same emission peak but different excitation wavelengths,in contrast to the traditional approach(FIR-Em),which depends on the FIR at varying emission wavelengths.The temperature-dependent FIR within the FIR-Ex strategy arises from the different charge/energy evolution routes,rather than the distribution of thermally coupled levels within the FIR-Em strategy.Considerable diversity in thermal behaviors and luminescence mechanisms was demonstrated by analyzing the 618 nm red emission in Pr^3+-doped congruent LiNbO3(Pr:CLN)under 360 and 463 nm excitations.The temperature sensitivity was further improved via Mg^2+ codoping due to the optimization of charge dynamics and energy transfer processes.Given its wide detection scope,relatively high absolute sensitivity at low temperature,and high tunability of temperature sensitivity,the FIR-Ex strategy is promising for developing optical temperature-sensing materials with high performance.