Brightening single-photon emitters by combining an ultrathin metallic antenna and a silicon quasi-BIC antenna

Bright single-photon emitters(SPEs)are fundamental components in many quantum applications.However,it is difficult to simultaneously get large Purcell enhancements and quantum yields in metallic nanostructures because of the huge losses in the metallic nanostructures.Herein,we propose to combine an ultrathin metallic bowtie antenna with a silicon antenna above a metallic substrate to simultaneously get large Purcell enhancements,quantum yields,and collection efficiencies.As a result,the brightness of SPEs in the hybrid nanostructure is greatly increased.Due to the deep subwavelength field confinement(mode size<10 nm)of surface plasmons in the ultrathin metallic film(thickness<4 nm),the Purcell enhancement of the metallic bowtie antenna improves by more than 25 times when the metal thickness decreases from 20 nm to 2 nm.In the hybrid nanostructures by combining an ultrathin metallic bowtie antenna with a silicon antenna,the Purcell enhancement(Fp≈2.6×10^(6))in the hybrid nanostructures is 63 times greater than those(≤4.1×10^(4))in the previous metallic and hybrid nanostructures.Because of the reduced ratio of electromagnetic fields in the ultrathin metallic bowtie antenna when the high-index silicon antenna is under the quasi-BIC state,a high quantum yield(QY≈0.70)is obtained.Moreover,the good radiation directivity of the quasi-BIC(bound state in the continuum)mode of the silicon antenna and the reflection of the metallic substrate result in a high collection efficiency(CE≈0.71).Consequently,the overall enhancement factor of brightness of a SPE in the hybrid nanostructure is EF∗≈Fp×QY×CE≈1.3×10^(6),which is 5.6×10^(2) times greater than those(EF∗≤2.2×103)in the previous metallic and hybrid nanostructures.

Ultrahigh performance passive radiative cooling by hybrid polar dielectric metasurface thermal emitters

Real-world passive radiative cooling requires highly emissive,selective,and omnidirectional thermal emitters to maintain the radiative cooler at a certain temperature below the ambient temperature while maximizing the net cooling power.Despite various selective thermal emitters have been demonstrated,it is still challenging to achieve these conditions sim-ultaneously because of the extreme difficulty in controlling thermal emission of photonic structures in multidimension.Here we demonstrated hybrid polar dielectric metasurface thermal emitters with machine learning inverse design,en-abling a high emissivity of~0.92 within the atmospheric transparency window 8-13μm,a large spectral selectivity of~1.8 and a wide emission angle up to 80 degrees,simultaneously.This selective and omnidirectional thermal emitter has led to a new record of temperature reduction as large as~15.4°C under strong solar irradiation of~800 W/m2,signific-antly surpassing the state-of-the-art results.The designed structures also show great potential in tackling the urban heat island effect,with modelling results suggesting a large energy saving and deployment area reduction.This research will make significant impact on passive radiative cooling,thermal energy photonics and tackling global climate change.

Phonon-assisted upconversion photoluminescence of quantum emitters

Quantum emitters are widely used in quantum networks,quantum information processing,and quantum sensing due to their excellent optical properties.Compared with Stokes excitation,quantum emitters under anti-Stokes excitation exhibit better performance.In addition to laser cooling and nanoscale thermometry,anti-Stokes excitation can improve the coherence of single-photon sources for advanced quantum technologies.In this review,we follow the recent advances in phononassisted upconversion photoluminescence of quantum emitters and discuss the upconversion mechanisms,applications,and prospects for quantum emitters with anti-Stokes excitation.

Single-photon emitters in van der Waals materials

Solid-state sources of single-photon emitters are highly desired for scalable quantum photonic applications, such as quantum communication, optical quantum information processing, and metrology. In the past year, great strides have been made in the characterization of single defects in wide-bandgap materials, such as silicon carbide and diamond, as well as single molecules, quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes. More recently, single-photon emitters in layered van der Waals materials attracted tremendous attention, because the two-dimensional(2 D)lattice allows for high photon extraction efficiency and easy integration into photonic circuits. In this review, we discuss recent advances in mastering single-photon emitters in 2 D materials, electrical generation pathways,detuning, and resonator coupling towards use as quantum light sources. Finally, we discuss the remaining challenges and the outlooks for layered material-based quantum photonic sources.

Engineering of single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride[Invited]

Quantum information technology requires bright and stable single-photon emitters(SPEs).As a promising single-photon source,SPEs in layered hexagonal boron nitride(hBN)have attracted much attention recently for their high brightness and excellent optical stability at room temperature.In this review,the physical mechanisms and the recent progress of the quantum emission of hBN are reviewed,and the various techniques to fabricate high-quality SPEs in hBN are summarized.The latest development and applications based on SPEs in hBN in emerging areas are discussed.This review focuses on the modulation of SPEs in hBN and discusses possible research directions for future device applications.

Improved decoy-state quantum key distribution with uncharacterized heralded single-photon sources

Encoding system plays a significant role in quantum key distribution(QKD).However,the security and performance of QKD systems can be compromised by encoding misalignment due to the inevitable defects in realistic devices.To alleviate the influence of misalignments,a method exploiting statistics from mismatched basis is proposed to enable uncharacterized sources to generate secure keys in QKD.In this work,we propose a scheme on four-intensity decoy-state quantum key distribution with uncharacterized heralded single-photon sources.It only requires the source states are prepared in a two-dimensional Hilbert space,and can thus reduce the complexity of practical realizations.Moreover,we carry out corresponding numerical simulations and demonstrate that our present four-intensity decoy-state scheme can achieve a much higher key rate compared than a three-intensity decoy-state method,and meantime it can obtain a longer transmission distance compared than the one using weak coherent sources.

Research on the correlation between the dual diffusion behavior of zinc in InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche photodiodes and device performance

The development of InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche photodiodes(SPADs)necessitates the utiliza-tion of a two-element diffusion technique to achieve accurate manipulation of the multiplication width and the dis-tribution of its electric field.Regarding the issue of accurately predicting the depth of diffusion in InGaAs/InP SPAD,simulation analysis and device development were carried out,focusing on the dual diffusion behavior of zinc atoms.A formula of X_(j)=k√t-t_(0)+c to quantitatively predict the diffusion depth is obtained by fitting the simulated twice-diffusion depths based on a two-dimensional(2D)model.The 2D impurity morphologies and the one-dimensional impurity profiles for the dual-diffused region are characterized by using scanning electron micros-copy and secondary ion mass spectrometry as a function of the diffusion depth,respectively.InGaAs/InP SPAD devices with different dual-diffusion conditions are also fabricated,which show breakdown behaviors well consis-tent with the simulated results under the same junction geometries.The dark count rate(DCR)of the device de-creased as the multiplication width increased,as indicated by the results.DCRs of 2×10^(6),1×10^(5),4×10^(4),and 2×10^(4) were achieved at temperatures of 300 K,273 K,263 K,and 253 K,respectively,with a bias voltage of 3 V,when the multiplication width was 1.5µm.These results demonstrate an effective prediction route for accu-rately controlling the dual-diffused zinc junction geometry in InP-based planar device processing.

RFFsNet-SEI:a multidimensional balanced-RFFs deep neural network framework for specific emitter identification

Existing specific emitter identification(SEI)methods based on hand-crafted features have drawbacks of losing feature information and involving multiple processing stages,which reduce the identification accuracy of emitters and complicate the procedures of identification.In this paper,we propose a deep SEI approach via multidimensional feature extraction for radio frequency fingerprints(RFFs),namely,RFFsNet-SEI.Particularly,we extract multidimensional physical RFFs from the received signal by virtue of variational mode decomposition(VMD)and Hilbert transform(HT).The physical RFFs and I-Q data are formed into the balanced-RFFs,which are then used to train RFFsNet-SEI.As introducing model-aided RFFs into neural network,the hybrid-driven scheme including physical features and I-Q data is constructed.It improves physical interpretability of RFFsNet-SEI.Meanwhile,since RFFsNet-SEI identifies individual of emitters from received raw data in end-to-end,it accelerates SEI implementation and simplifies procedures of identification.Moreover,as the temporal features and spectral features of the received signal are both extracted by RFFsNet-SEI,identification accuracy is improved.Finally,we compare RFFsNet-SEI with the counterparts in terms of identification accuracy,computational complexity,and prediction speed.Experimental results illustrate that the proposed method outperforms the counterparts on the basis of simulation dataset and real dataset collected in the anechoic chamber.

Biofilm structure and its influence on clogging in drip irrigation emitters distributing reclaimed wastewater

Using reclaimed wastewater for crop irrigation is a practical alternative to discharge wastewater treatment plant effluents into surface waters.However,biofouling has been identified as a major contributor to emitter clogging in drip irrigation systems distributing reclaimed wastewater.Little is known about the biofilm structure and its influence on clogging in the drip emitter flow path.This study was first to investigate the microbial characteristics of mature biofilms present in the emitters and the effect of flow path structures on the biofilm microbial communities.The analysis of biofilm matrix structure using a scanning electron microscopy（SEM） revealed that particles in the matrix of the biofilm coupled extracellular polysaccharides（EPS） and formed sediment in the emitter flow path.Analysis of biofilm mass including protein,polysaccharide,and phospholipid fatty acids（PLFAs） showed that emitter flow path style influenced biofilm community structure and diversity.The correlations of biofilm biomass and discharge reduction after 360 h irrigation were computed and suggest that PFLAs provide the best correlation coeffcient.Comparatively,the emitter with the unsymmetrical dentate structure and shorter flow path（Emitter C） had the best anti-clogging capability.By optimizing the dentate structure,the internal flow pattern within the flow path could be enhanced as an important method to control the biofilm within emitter flow path.This study established electron microscope techniques and biochemical microbial analysis methods that may provide a framework for future emitter biofilm studies.

Ⅲ–Ⅴ compounds as single photon emitters

Single-photon emitters (SPEs) are one of the key components in quantum information applications. The ideal SPEs emit a single photon or a photon-pair on demand, with high purity and distinguishability. SPEs can also be integrated in photonic circuits for scalable quantum communication and quantum computer systems. Quantum dots made from Ⅲ-Ⅴ compounds such as InGaAs or GaN have been found to be particularly attractive SPE sources due to their well studied optical performance and state of the art industrial flexibility in fabrication and integration. Here, we review the optical and optoelectronic properties and growth methods of general SPEs. Subsequently, a brief summary of the latest advantages in Ⅲ-Ⅴ compound SPEs and the research progress achieved in the past few years will be discussed. We finally describe frontier challenges and conclude with the latest SPE fabrication science and technology that can open new possibilities for quantum information applications.

Comparing and evaluating the nationally determined contributions of the top six emitters under the Paris Agreement goals

Comparing and evaluating the Nationally Determined Contribution(NDC) is an important element in global stocktake in the post-Paris climate negotiations, aimed at closing the emissions gap with the Paris Agreement goals. To date, however, there has still been no explicit guideline or method. By applying emissions allowance allocated by 16 schemes as benchmarks, this paper tries to compare and evaluate the NDCs of the top six emitters, which jointly account for about 70% of the world's CO_2 emissions. Results show that the four developed countries' NDCs lack ambition with respect to most allocations under 2℃ and all under 1.5℃, indicating they need to substantially ratchet up their NDCs and lead elevating mitigation. Evaluating cumulative emissions is more likely to clarify the ambition and fairness of China's NDC. If considering cumulative emissions, China's NDC is aligned with the median of cumulative allowances under 2℃ and within the 1.5℃ range. The Paris Agreement invited the Parties to communicate the mid-century low emissions strategies. This paper also tries to explore the mid-century mitigation in the perspective of allocations, which might provide decision-makers with some useful information when envisaging the post-NDC mitigation.

Effects of arrangement of surge-root irrigation emitters on growth,yield and water use efficiency of apple trees

Six-year old apple trees were selected for field experiment.The objective of this study was to obtain the reasonable arrangement of surge-root irrigation emitters in apple orchards.There were three factors:the buried depth H(25,40,55 cm),the horizontal distance L(30,40,60 cm)between the emitters and the trunk of the experimental tree,and the number of the irrigation emitters N(1,2,4).The effect of the arrangement of surge-root irrigation emitters on the growth,yield and irrigation water use efficiency(IWUE)of apple trees were studied in Northern Shaanxi where the irrigation quota takes 60%-75%of the field water capacity.The results showed that the arrangement of emitters for surge-root irrigation had a significant effect on apple tree yield and IWUE,especially,the yield and IWUE reached 28388.17 kg/hm2 and 16.83 kg/m3 in treatment T3,respectively.At the same L and N levels(T1,T2,and T3),the yield and IWUE in treatment T3 were the highest,and the yields in treatments T1 and T2 were decreased by 26.22%and 31.48%,while IWUE is reduced by14.02%and 18.12%compared with T3,respectively.At the same H and N levels(T3,T4,and T5),the yield and IWUE of apple trees were decreased with increasing L level.Especially,when L was 30 cm(T3),the yield and IWUE were the highest.The same L and H levels(T3,T6,and T7)could promote the growth of apple trees when N was 2(T3).Compared with treatment T3,it was found that the increment of new shoots was decreased by 8.07%-18.71%,and the fruit diameter was decreased by 5.41%-9.11%.Therefore,two emitters should be arranged symmetrically on both sides of an apple tree,each was buried at a 40 cm depth and 30 cm away from the trunk of the tree to effectively improve the yield and IWUE of the apple tree in mountainous areas in Northern Shaanxi.

Improving reverse intersystem crossing of MR-TADF emitters for OLEDs

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence(TADF)emitter is a promising organic light-emitting diode(OLED)material due to low cost,wide luminous color gamut and 100%exciton utilization efficiency[1].To achieve high TADF performance,a feasible strategy is to construct a twisted donor–acceptor(D–A)unit,decreasing the overlap between the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO)and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO),and minimizing the energy gap(∆E_(ST))between the lowest singlet(S_(1))and triplet(T_(1))states[2,3].However,this long-range charge transfer feature is often disadvantageous for achieving high oscillator strengths(f)and radiative transition rates(k_(r))[4](Fig.1(a)).

Status of Selective Emitters for p-Type c-Si Solar Cells

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells have the lion share in world PV market. Solar cells made from crystalline silicon have lower conversion efficiency, hence optimization of each process steps are very important. Achieving low-cost photovoltaic energy in the coming years will depend on the development of third-generation solar cells. Given the trend towards these Si materials, the most promising selective emitter methods are identified to date. Current industrial monocrystalline Cz Si solar cells based on screen-printing technology for contact formation and homogeneous emitter have an efficiency potential of around 18.4%. Limitations at the rear side by the fully covering Al-BSF can be changed by selective emitter designs allowing a decoupling and separate optimization of the metallised and non-metallised areas. Several selective emitter concepts that are already in industrial mass production or close to it are presented, and their specialties and status concerning cell performance are demonstrated. Key issues that are considered here are the cost-effectiveness, added complexity, additional benefits, reliability and efficiency potential of each selective emitter tech- niques.

Clinical use of bone-targeting radiopharmaceuticals with focus on alpha-emitters

Various single or multi-modality therapeutic options are available to treat pain of bone metastasis in patients with prostate cancer.Different radionuclides that emitβ-rays such as 153Samarium and 89Strontium and achieve palliation are commercially available.In contrast toβ-emitters,223Radium as a a-emitter has a short path-length.The advantage of the a-emitter is thus a highly localized biological effect that is caused by radiation induced DNA double-strand breaks and subsequent cell killing and/or limited effectiveness of cellular repair mechanisms.Due to the limited range of the a-particles the bone surface to red bone marrow dose ratio is also lower for 223Radium which is expressed in a lower myelotoxicity.The a emitter 223Radium dichloride is the first radiopharmaceutical that significantly prolongslife in castrate resistant prostate cancer patients with wide-spread bone metastatic disease.In a phaseⅢ,randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled study 921patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases were randomly assigned.The analysis confirmed the 223Radium survival benefit compared to the placebo(median,14.9 mo vs 11.3 mo;P<0.001).In addition,the treatment results in pain palliation and thus,improved quality of life and a delay of skeletal related events.At the same time the toxicity profile of223Radium was favourable.Since May 2013,223Radium dichloride(Xofigo?)is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Photon pair source via two coupling single quantum emitters

We study the two coupling two-level single molecules driven by an external field as a photon pair source. The probability of emitting two photons, P2, is employed to describe the photon pair source quality in a short time, and the correlation coefficient RAB is employed to describe the photon pair source quality in a long time limit. The results demonstrate that the coupling single quantum emitters can be considered as a stable photon pair source.

Platinum complexes as phosphorescent emitters in highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes

Applications of platinum complexes as phosphorescent emitters in high efficiency organic light-emitting diodes （OLEDs） were shortly discussed in this paper. Key recent studies on highly efficient blue, green, red and white-phosphorescent OLEDs based on Pt complexes are presented in terms of efficiency and color quality.

Thermophotovoltaic Emitters Based on a One-Dimensional Metallic-Dielectric Multilayer Nanostructures

In this paper, a one-dimensional multilayer is optimized for potential applications as thermophotovoltaic (TPV) selective emitter. The proposed TPV emitter was fabricated through a magnetron sputtering process by using the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system. The spectral emittance of the proposed TPV emitter is measured by using spectral transmittance and reflectance measurement system at wavelength from 0.3 μm to 2.5 μm at near-normal incident 8。. The bidirectional reflectance distribution function BRDF is measured by three axis automated scatterometer (TAAS). The effect of the diffraction orders and plane of incidence on the spectral emittance of the proposed TPV emitter is calculated numerically by using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). The emittance spectrum of the proposed TPV selective emitter shows three close to unity emission peaks which are explained by the surface plasmon polariton (SPP), gap plasmon polariton (GPP) and magnetic polariton (MP) excitation. The results show that the proposed emitter has high emittance value in the spectral range of 0.69 emitter, if used as a selective emitter with a low band gap photovoltaic cell (GaSb), would lead to high TPV overall efficiency and high electrical output power.

Single-photon interconnector composed of two individual one-dimensional nano-waveguides and a single emitter

Recently, theoretical and experimental nano-sized fundamental devices for optical circuits have been proposed at the single-photon level. The assembly of a realistic optical circuit is now a reality. In this work, we introduce a single-photon interconnector composed of two individual nanowires and an optical N-type four-level emitter that can turn the optical connection on and off optically. Because of dipole-induced transmission at the single-photon level, a single photon can travel between the two nanowires reciprocally, which guarantees its application as an all-optical interconnector.

Radiotoxicity induced by Auger electron emitters in human osteosarcoma cell line using comet assay

The comet assay (single cell gel electrophoresis assay) was used to evaluate the radiotoxicity of Augerelectron emitters in the human osteosarcoma cell line (HOS-8603). After internal exposure to 67Ga-EDTMP, the sar-coma cell has been injured severely. The comet length was longer along with the increase of dose, the appearance ofcomet tail was different from that with respect to the 60Co γ-ray irradiation. DNA damage of cell was mainly due tothe radiation effect of Auger electrons. The 67Ga may be a therapeutic radionuclide with good prospect for tumortreatment and palliation of bone pain induced by metastasis.