Induction heating for desorption of surface contamination for high-repetition laser-driven carbon-ion acceleration

This study reports the first experimental demonstration of surface contamination cleaning from a high-repetition supply of thin-tape targets for laser-driven carbon-ion acceleration.The adsorption of contaminants containing protons,mainly water vapor and hydrocarbons,on the surface of materials exposed to low vacuum(>10^(−3)Pa)suppresses carbon-ion acceleration.The newly developed contamination cleaner heats a 5-μm-thick nickel tape to over 400℃in 100 ms by induction heating.In the future,this heating method could be scaled to laserdriven carbon-ion acceleration at rates beyond 10 Hz.The contaminant hydrogen is eliminated from the heated nickel surface,and a carbon source layer—derived from the contaminant carbon—is spontaneously formed by the catalytic effect of nickel.The species of ions accelerated from the nickel film heated to various temperatures have been observed experimentally.When the nickel film is heated beyond∼150℃,the proton signal considerably decreases,with a remarkable increase in the number and energy of carbon ions.The Langmuir adsorption model adequately explains the temperature dependence of desorption and re-adsorption of the adsorbed molecules on a heated target surface,and the temperature required for proton-free carbon-ion acceleration can be estimated.

Imaging assessment of photosensitizer emission induced by radionuclide-derived Cherenkov radiation using charge-coupled device optical imaging and long-pass filters

BACKGROUND Radionuclides produce Cherenkov radiation(CR),which can potentially activate photosensitizers(PSs)in phototherapy.Several groups have studied Cherenkov energy transfer to PSs using optical imaging;however,cost-effectively identifying whether PSs are excited by radionuclide-derived CR and detecting fluorescence emission from excited PSs remain a challenge.Many laboratories face the need for expensive dedicated equipment.AIM To cost-effectively confirm whether PSs are excited by radionuclide-derived CR and distinguish fluorescence emission from excited PSs.METHODS The absorbance and fluorescence spectra of PSs were measured using a microplate reader and fluorescence spectrometer to examine the photo-physical properties of PSs.To mitigate the need for expensive dedicated equipment and achieve the aim of the study,we developed a method that utilizes a chargecoupled device optical imaging system and appropriate long-pass filters of different wavelengths(manual sequential application of long-pass filters of 515,580,645,700,750,and 800 nm).Tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin(TCPP)was utilized as a model PS.Different doses of copper-64(^(64)CuCl_(2))(4,2,and 1 mCi)were used as CR-producing radionuclides.Imaging and data acquisition were performed 0.5 h after sample preparation.Differential image analysis was conducted by using ImageJ software(National Institutes of Health)to visually evaluate TCPP fluorescence.RESULTS The maximum absorbance of TCPP was at 390-430 nm,and the emission peak was at 670 nm.The CR and CRinduced TCPP emissions were observed using the optical imaging system and the high-transmittance long-pass filters described above.The emission spectra of TCPP with a peak in the 645-700 nm window were obtained by calculation and subtraction based on the serial signal intensity(total flux)difference between^(64)CuCl_(2)+TCPP and^(64)CuCl_(2).Moreover,the differential fluorescence images of TCPP were obtained by subtracting the^(64)CuCl_(2)image from the^(64)CuCl_(2)+TCPP image.The experimental results considering different^(64)CuCl_(2)doses showed a dosedependent trend.These results demonstrate that a bioluminescence imaging device coupled with different longpass filters and subtraction image processing can confirm the emission spectra and differential fluorescence images of CR-induced TCPP.CONCLUSION This simple method identifies the PS fluorescence emission generated by radionuclide-derived CR and can contribute to accelerating the development of Cherenkov energy transfer imaging and the discovery of new PSs.

Geometric phase helical PSF for simultaneous orientation and 3D localization microscopy

The 3D location and dipole orientation of light emitters provide essential information in many biological,chemical,and physical systems.Simultaneous acquisition of both information types typically requires pupil engineering for 3D localization and dual-channel polarization splitting for orientation deduction.Here we report a geometric phase helical point spread function for simultaneously estimating the 3D position and dipole orientation of point emitters.It has a compact and simpler optical configuration compared to polarization-splitting techniques and yields achromatic phase modulation in contrast to pupil engineering based on dynamic phase,showing great potential for single-molecule orientation and localization microscopy.

Tunable quantum dots in monolithic Fabry-Perot microcavities for high-performance single-photon sources

Cavity-enhanced single quantum dots(QDs)are the main approach towards ultra-high-performance solid-state quantum light sources for scalable photonic quantum technologies.Nevertheless,harnessing the Purcell effect requires precise spectral and spatial alignment of the QDs’emission with the cavity mode,which is challenging for most cavities.Here we have successfully integrated miniaturized Fabry-Perot microcavities with a piezoelectric actuator,and demonstrated a bright single-photon source derived from a deterministically coupled QD within this microcavity.Leveraging the cavity-membrane structures,we have achieved large spectral tunability via strain tuning.On resonance,a high Purcell factor of~9 is attained.The source delivers single photons with simultaneous high extraction efficiency of 0.58,high purity of 0.956(2)and high indistinguishability of 0.922(4).Together with its compact footprint,our scheme facilitates the scalable integration of indistinguishable quantum light sources on-chip,therefore removing a major barrier to the development of solid-state quantum information platforms based on QDs.

Symmetry-Assisted Protection and Compensation of Hidden Spin Polarization in Centrosymmetric Systems

It was recently noted that in certain nonmagnetic centrosymmetric compounds,spin–orbit interactions couple each local sector that lacks inversion symmetry,leading to visible spin polarization effects in the real space,dubbed“hidden spin polarization(HSP)”.However,observable spin polarization of a given local sector suffers interference from its inversion partner,impeding material realization and potential applications of HSP.Starting from a single-orbital tight-binding model,we propose a nontrivial way to obtain strong sector-projected spin texture through the vanishing hybridization between inversion partners protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry.The HSP effect is generally compensated by inversion partners near the Г point but immune from the hopping effect around the boundary of the Brillouin zone.We further summarize 17 layer groups that support such symmetry-assisted HSP and identify hundreds of quasi-2D materials from the existing databases by first-principle calculations,among which a group of rare-earth compounds LnIO(Ln=Pr,Nd,Ho,Tm,and Lu)serves as great candidates showing strong Rashba-and Dresselhaus-type HSP.Our findings expand the material pool for potential spintronic applications and shed light on controlling HSP properties for emergent quantum phenomena.

Extension of Linear Response Regime in Weak-Value Amplification Technique

The achievable precision of parameter estimation plays a significant role in evaluating a strategy of metrology.In practice,one may employ approximations in a theoretical model development for simplicity,which,however,will cause systematic error and lead to a loss of precision.We derive the error of maximum likelihood estimation in the weak-value amplification technique where the linear approximation of the coupling parameter is used.We show that this error is positively related to the coupling strength and can be effectively suppressed by improving the Fisher information.Considering the roles played by weak values and initial meter states in the weak-value amplification,we also point out that the estimation error can be decreased by several orders of magnitude by averaging the estimations resulted from different initial meter states or weak values.These results are finally illustrated in a numerical example where an extended linear response regime to the parameter is observed.

Conditions for advantageous quantum Bitcoin mining

Our aim is to determine the conditions for quantum computing technology to give rise to the security risks associated with quantum Bitcoin mining.Specifically,we determine the speed and energy efficiency a quantum computer needs to offer an advantage over classical mining.We analyze the setting in which the Bitcoin network is entirely classical except for a single quantum miner with a small hash rate compared to the network.We develop a closed-form approximation for the probability that the quantum miner successfully mines a block,with this probability dependent on the number of Grover iterations the quantum miner applies before making a measurement.Next,we show that for a quantum miner that is“peaceful”,this success probability is maximized if the quantum miner applies Grover iterations for 16 min before measuring,which is surprising,as the network mines blocks every 10 min on average.Using this optimal mining procedure,we show that the quantum miner outperforms a classical computer in efficiency(cost per block)if the condition Q<Crb is satisfied,where Q is the cost of a Grover iteration,C is the cost of a classical hash,r is the quantum miner's speed in Grover iterations per second,and b is a factor that attains its maximum if the quantum miner uses our optimal mining procedure.This condition lays the foundation for determining when quantum mining and the known security risks associated with it will arise.

Chiral Dirac Fermion in a Collinear Antiferromagnet

In a Dirac semimetal, the massless Dirac fermion has zero chirality, leading to surface states connected adiabatically to a topologically trivial surface state as well as vanishing anomalous Hall effect. Recently, it is predicted that in the nonrelativistic limit of certain collinear antiferromagnets, there exists a type of chiral“Dirac-like” fermion, whose dispersion manifests four-fold degenerate crossing points formed by spin-degenerate linear bands, with topologically protected Fermi arcs. Such an unconventional chiral fermion, protected by a hidden SU(2) symmetry in the hierarchy of an enhanced crystallographic group, namely spin space group, is not experimentally verified yet. Here, by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, we reveal the surface origin of the electron pocket at the Fermi surface in collinear antiferromagnet CoNb3S6. Combining with neutron diffraction and first-principles calculations, we suggest a multidomain collinear antiferromagnetic configuration, rendering the the existence of the Fermi-arc surface states induced by chiral Dirac-like fermions.Our work provides spectral evidence of the chiral Dirac-like fermion caused by particular spin symmetry in CoNb_(3)S_(6), paving an avenue for exploring new emergent phenomena in antiferromagnets with unconventional quasiparticle excitations.

Harnessing electron spins with carbon materials for quantum information applications

The implementation of information technology relies on functional chemicals and materials.Semiconductors have led to the rise of the electronic information era.As the next generation of information technology,how to implement quantum information processing has become an urgent task[1].In order to carry superposition state and entanglement,systems,which are better isolated from environment,are designed to boost the quantum coherence time.For example,superconducting circuits,which are the leading candidate of quantum processor,uses the transmon design and the mK temperature condition to reduce the influence of environmental noise.

Topological quantum walks:Theory and experiments

Inspired by recent breakthroughs with topological quantum materials,which pave the way to novel,high-efficiency,low-energy magnetoelectric devices[1-3]and fault-tolerant quantum information processing[4],inter alia,topological quantum walks have emerged as an exciting topic in its own right,especially due to the theoretical and experimental simplifications this approach offers[5-14].Motivated by impressive progress in topological quantum walks,we provide a perspective on theoretical studies and experimental investigations of topological quantum walks focusing on current explorations of topological properties arising for single-walker quantum walks.

Induction of adaptive response in utero by ionizing radiation:A radiation quality dependent phenomenon

Investigation on possible induction of adaptive response(AR)by high-liner energy transfer(LET)particle radiation for protection against low-LET photon radiation-induced detrimental effects has not yet been performed in utero.This study verified if an AR could be induced by high-LET particle radiation from accelerated heavy ions against low-LET X-ray radiation-induced detrimental effects on fetal mice.Total body irradiation of pregnant C57BL/6J mice were performed by delivering a priming dose ranging from 10 mGy to 320 mGy of particle radiation on gestation day 11 followed one day later by a challenge dose at 3500 mGy from X-ray radiation.The monoenergetic beams of carbon,silicon and iron with the LET values of about 15,55,and 200 KeV/μm,respectively,were examined.Significant suppression by the priming radiation of the detrimental effects(fetal death,malformation,or low body weight)was used as the endpoints for judgment of a successful AR induction on gestation day 18.Existence of AR was not observed.On the other hand,the priming dose of high-LET particle radiation,in some cases,even increased the detrimental effects induced by the challenge dose from low-LET X-ray radiation.Although existence of AR induced by high-LET radiation in cultured mammalian cells in vitro and in certain tissues of laboratory mice in vivo was demonstrated,the present study did not suggest that low dose of high-LET particle radiation could induce an AR in fetal mice in utero under the setup of our experimental system.

Bilayer tellurene-metal interfaces

Tellurene, an emerging two-dimensional chain-like semiconductor, stands out for its high switch ratio, carrier mobility and excellent stability in air. Directly contacting the 2D semiconductor materials with metal electrodes is a feasible doping means to inject carriers. However, Schottky barrier often arises at the metal–semiconductors interface, impeding the transport of carriers. Herein, we investigate the interfacial properties of BL tellurene by contacting with various metals including graphene by using ab initio calculations and quantum transport simulations. Vertical Schottky barriers take place in Ag, Al, Au and Cu electrodes according to the maintenance of the noncontact tellurene layer band structure. Besides, a p-type vertical Schottky contact is formed due to the van der Waals interaction for graphene electrode. As for the lateral direction, p-type Schottky contacts take shape for bulk metal electrodes(hole Schottky barrier heights(SBHs) ranging from 0.19 to 0.35 eV). Strong Fermi level pinning takes place with a pinning factor of 0.02. Notably, a desirable p-type quasi-Ohmic contact is developed for graphene electrode with a hole SBH of 0.08 eV. Our work sheds light on the interfacial properties of BL tellurene based transistors and could guide the experimental selections on electrodes.

Bioinspired activation of silent synapses in layered materials for extensible neuromorphic computing

Activation of silent synapses is of great significance for the extension of neural plasticity related to learning and memory.Inspired by the activation of silent synapses via receptor insertion in neural synapses,we propose an efficient method for activating artificial synapses through the intercalation of Sn in layered a-MoO_(3).Sn intercalation is capable of switching on the response of layered a-MoO_(3)to the stimuli of visible and near infrared light by decreasing the bandgap.This mimics the receptor insertion process in silent neural synapses.The Sn-intercalated MoO_(3)(Sn-MoO_(3))exhibits persistent photoconductivity due to the donor impurity induced by Sn intercalation.This enables the two-terminal Sn-MoO_(3)device promising optoelectronic synapse with an ultrahigh paired pulse facilitation(PPF)up to 199.5%.On-demand activation and tunable synaptic plasticity endow the device great potentials for extensible neuromorphic computing.Superior performance of the extensible artificial neural network(ANN)based on the Sn-MoO_(3)synapses are demonstrated in pattern recognition.Impressively,the recognition accuracy increases from 89.7%to 94.8%by activating more nodes into the ANN.This is consistent with the recognition process of physical neural network during brain development.The intercalation engineering of MoO_(3)may provide inspirations for the design of high-performance neuromorphic computing architectures.

Feasibility study of laser-driven neutron sources for pharmaceutical applications

We predict the production yield of a medical radioisotope^(67)Cu using^(67)Zn(n,p)^(67)Cu and ^(68)Zn(n,pn)^(67)Cu reactions with fast neutrons provided from laser-driven neutron sources.The neutrons were generated by the p+9Be and d+9Be reactions with high-energy ions accelerated by laser–plasma interaction.We evaluated the yield to be(3.3±0.5)×10^(5) atoms for^(67)Cu,corresponding to a radioactivity of 1.0±0.2 Bq,for a Zn foil sample with a single laser shot.Using a simulation with this result,we estimated^(67)Cu production with a high-frequency laser.The result suggests that it is possible to generate^(67)Cu with a radioactivity of 270 MBq using a future laser system with a frequency of 10 Hz and 10,000-s radiation in a hospital.

Generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism for defects formation in trapped ions

The Kibble-Zurek(KZ)mechanism has played a fundamental role in defect formation with universal scaling laws in nonequilibrium phase transitions.However,this theory may not accurately predict the scaling laws in inhomogeneous systems and slow quenching processes.Here,we present a generalized KZ mechanism for the defect formation in trapped ions with the freeze-out condition gt=b0τ(t),where g is a universal quenching velocity function and b0 is a constant.We derived a differential equationφ(x,t)to account for the frozen correlation length of a kink in an inhomogeneous system and demonstrated a smooth crossover from a fast quenching process to a slow quenching process,which agrees well with the experiments performed by Ulm et al.[Nat.Commun.4,2290(2013)]and Pyka et al.[Nat.Commun.4,2291(2013)].Furthermore,we confirmed our theoretical model using molecular dynamics simulation by solving the stochastic differential equation,showing excellent agreement with the results from the differential equation.Our theory provides a general theoretical framework for studying KZ physics in inhomogeneous systems,which has applications in other nonequilibrium platforms studied experimentally.

Dual-microcomb generation via a monochromatically pumped dual-mode microresonator

Microcombs have enabled a host of cutting-edge applications from metrology to communications that have garnered significant attention in the last decade.Nevertheless,due to the thermal instability of the microresonator,additional control devices like auxiliary lasers are indispensable for single-soliton generation in some scenarios.Specifically,the increased system complexity would be too overwhelming for dual-microcomb generation.Here,we put forward a novel approach to mitigate the thermal instability and generate the dual-microcomb using a compact system.This process is akin to mode-division multiplexing,as the dual-microcombs are generated by pumping the dual-mode of a single Si_(3)N_(4) microresonator with a continuous-wave laser.Both numerical simulations and experimental measurements indicate that this innovative technique could offer a straightforward way to enlarge the soliton existence range,allowing entry into the multistability regime and triggering another microcomb alongside the main soliton pulse.This outcome not only shines new light on the interaction mechanism of microresonator modes but also provides an avenue for the development of dual-microcomb-based ranging and low phase noise microwave generation.

Backpropagation through nonlinear units for the all-optical training of neural networks

We propose a practical scheme for end-to-end optical backpropagation in neural networks. Using saturable absorption for the nonlinear units, we find that the backward-propagating gradients required to train the network can be approximated in a surprisingly simple pump-probe scheme that requires only simple passive optical elements. Simulations show that, with readily obtainable optical depths, our approach can achieve equivalent performance to state-of-the-art computational networks on image classification benchmarks, even in deep networks with multiple sequential gradient approximation. With backpropagation through nonlinear units being an outstanding challenge to the field, this work provides a feasible path toward truly all-optical neural networks.

Enhancement of pre-pulse and picosecond pedestal contrast of the petawatt J-KAREN-P laser

We have experimentally improved the temporal contrast of the petawatt J-KAREN-P laser facility.We have investigated how the generation of pre-pulses by post-pulses changes due to the temporal overlap between the stretched pulse and the post-pulse in a chirped-pulse amplification system.We have shown that the time at which the pre-pulse is generated by the post-pulse and its shape are related to the time difference between the stretched main pulse and the post-pulse.With this investigation,we have found and identified the origins of the pre-pulses and have demonstrated the removal of most pre-pulses by eliminating the post-pulse with wedged optics.We have also demonstrated the impact of stretcher optics on the picosecond pedestal.We have realized orders of magnitude enhancement of the pedestal by improving the optical quality of a key component in the stretcher.

More efficient induction of genotoxicity by high-LET Fe-particle radiation than low-LET X-ray radiation at low doses

Objective:To understand differential effects on induction of genotoxicity and genomic instability(GI)by high-LET particle radiation and low-LET photon radiation,based on ground-based experiments using total body irradiation(TBI)of mice with Fe-particle radiation and X-ray radiation.Methods:TBI was delivered to C57BL/6J Jms strain female mice of 8 weeks old at a dose ranging from 0.1 to 3.0 Gy of Fe-particle radiation or at a dose ranging from 0.1 to 5.0 Gy of X-ray radiation.Induction of genotoxicity and GI by TBI was determined respectively at 1 and 2 months after exposure using frequency of micronuclei in bone marrow erythrocytes as the endpoint.Inhibition of bone marrow cell proliferation by TBI was measured as reduced erythropoiesis.Physiological conditions were also investigated.Results:TBI,regardless of the type of radiation,caused statistically significant increase in genotoxicity at 1 month after exposure,but did not induce GI at 2 months after exposure even at higher doses(>1.0 Gy).The doseresponse curve for the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes induced by Fe-particle radiation and X-ray radiation was y=0.7798 t 1.7889x–0.5978x^(2)(R^(2)=0.8109)and y=0.7421 t 1.3792x–0.2588 x^(2)(R^(2)=0.8081),respectively.The dose-response curve for the frequency of micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes induced by Fe-particle radiation and X-ray radiation was y=0.7191 t 1.4545x–0.4978x^(2)(R^(2)=0.7047)and y=0.658 t 1.344x–0.2531x^(2)(R^(2)=0.7853),respectively.In general,high-LET Fe-particle radiation was more efficient in inducing genotoxicity than low-LET X-ray radiation at lower doses(<0.5 Gy).Conclusions:These results further confirm that exposure to TBI,even at higher doses and regardless the type of radiation,does not induce GI in C57BL/6J strain mice measured as increased micronuclei in bone marrow erythrocytes.These findings indicate that radiation-induced GI is mouse strain dependent and suggest that more comprehensive studies should be done to explore the late health consequences from exposure to high-LET radiation at low doses.

Supersonic gas jet stabilization in laser–plasma acceleration

Supersonic gas jets generated via a conical nozzle are widely applied in the laser wakefield acceleration of electrons.The stability of the gas jet is critical to the electron injection and the reproducibility of the wakefield acceleration.Here we discussed the role of the stilling chamber in a modified converging-diverging nozzle to dissipate the turbulence and to stabilize the gas jets.By the fluid dynamics simulations and the Mach-Zehnder interferometer measurements,the instability originating from the nonlinear turbulence is studied and the mechanism to suppress the instability is proposed.Both the numerical and experimental results prove that the carefully designed nozzle with a stilling chamber is able to reduce the perturbation by more than 10% compared with a simple-conical nozzle.