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1. Degenerate optical parametric amplification in CMOS silicon

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.478702  

   Heydari, David; Cătuneanu, Mircea; Ng, Edwin; Gray, Dodd J.; Hamerly, Ryan; Mishra, Jatadhari; Jankowski, Marc; Fejer, M. M.; Jamshidi, Kambiz; Mabuchi, Hideo (January 2023, Optica)

   Silicon is a common material for photonics due to its favorable optical properties in the telecom and mid-wave IR bands, as well as compatibility with a wide range of complementary metal–oxide semiconductor (CMOS) foundry processes. Crystalline inversion symmetry precludes silicon from natively exhibiting second-order nonlinear optical processes. In this work, we build on recent works in silicon photonics that break this material symmetry using large bias fields, thereby enabling χ (2) interactions. Using this approach, we demonstrate both second-harmonic generation (with a normalized efficiency of 0.20%W −1 cm −2 ) and, to our knowledge, the first degenerate χ (2) optical parametric amplifier (with an estimated normalized gain of 0.6dBW −1/2 cm −1 ) using silicon-on-insulator waveguides fabricated in a CMOS-compatible commercial foundry. We expect this technology to enable the integration of novel nonlinear optical devices such as optical parametric amplifiers, oscillators, and frequency converters into large-scale, hybrid photonic–electronic systems by leveraging the extensive ecosystem of CMOS fabrication. 

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2. Search for direct production of electroweakinos in final states with one lepton, missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying into two b-jets in $$pp$$ collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8050-3  

   Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abbott, D. C.; Abud, A. Abed; Abeling, K.; Abhayasinghe, D. K.; Abidi, S. H.; AbouZeid, O. S.; Abraham, N. L.; Abramowicz, H.; et al (August 2020, The European Physical Journal C)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract The results of a search for electroweakino pair production $$pp \rightarrow \tilde{\chi }^\pm _1 \tilde{\chi }^0_2$$ p p → χ ~ 1 ± χ ~ 2 0 in which the chargino ( $$\tilde{\chi }^\pm _1$$ χ ~ 1 ± ) decays into a W boson and the lightest neutralino ( $$\tilde{\chi }^0_1$$ χ ~ 1 0 ), while the heavier neutralino ( $$\tilde{\chi }^0_2$$ χ ~ 2 0 ) decays into the Standard Model 125 GeV Higgs boson and a second $$\tilde{\chi }^0_1$$ χ ~ 1 0 are presented. The signal selection requires a pair of b -tagged jets consistent with those from a Higgs boson decay, and either an electron or a muon from the W boson decay, together with missing transverse momentum from the corresponding neutrino and the stable neutralinos. The analysis is based on data corresponding to 139  $$\mathrm {fb}^{-1}$$ fb - 1 of $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s = 13 TeV pp collisions provided by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector. No statistically significant evidence of an excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is found. Limits are set on the direct production of the electroweakinos in simplified models, assuming pure wino cross-sections. Masses of $$\tilde{\chi }^{\pm }_{1}/\tilde{\chi }^{0}_{2}$$ χ ~ 1 ± / χ ~ 2 0 up to 740 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a massless $$\tilde{\chi }^{0}_{1}$$ χ ~ 1 0 . 

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3. Cu ₄ MnGe ₂ S ₇ and Cu ₂ MnGeS ₄ : two polar thiogermanates exhibiting second harmonic generation in the infrared and structures derived from hexagonal diamond

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D1DT02535J  

   Glenn, Jennifer R.; Cho, Jeong Bin; Wang, Yiqun; Craig, Andrew J.; Zhang, Jian-Han; Cribbs, Marvene; Stoyko, Stanislav S.; Rosello, Kate E.; Barton, Christopher; Bonnoni, Allyson; et al (December 2021, Dalton Transactions)

   The new, quaternary diamond-like semiconductor (DLS) Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 was prepared at high-temperature from a stoichiometric reaction of the elements under vacuum. Single crystal X-ray diffraction data were used to solve and refine the structure in the polar space group Cc. Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 features [Ge 2 S 7 ] 6− units and adopts the Cu 5 Si 2 S 7 structure type that can be considered a derivative of the hexagonal diamond structure. The DLS Cu 2 MnGeS 4 with the wurtz-stannite structure was similarly prepared at a lower temperature. The achievement of relatively phase-pure samples, confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction data, was nontrival as differential thermal analysis shows an incongruent melting behaviour for both compounds at relatively high temperature. The dark red Cu 2 MnGeS 4 and Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 compounds exhibit direct optical bandgaps of 2.21 and 1.98 eV, respectively. The infrared (IR) spectra indicate potentially wide windows of optical transparency up to 25 μm for both materials. Using the Kurtz–Perry powder method, the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ (2) , values for Cu 2 MnGeS 4 and Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 were estimated to be 16.9 ± 2.0 pm V −1 and 2.33 ± 0.86 pm V −1 , respectively, by comparing with an optical-quality standard reference material, AgGaSe 2 (AGSe). Cu 2 MnGeS 4 was found to be phase matchable at λ = 3100 nm, whereas Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 was determined to be non-phase matchable at λ = 1600 nm. The weak SHG response of Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 precluded phase-matching studies at longer wavelengths. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) for Cu 2 MnGeS 4 was estimated to be ∼0.1 GW cm −2 at λ = 1064 nm (pulse width: τ = 30 ps), while the LIDT for Cu 4 MnGe 2 S 7 could not be ascertained due to its weak response. The significant variance in NLO properties can be reasoned using the results from electronic structure calculations. 

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4. Observation of the decay $$ {\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0 $$ → χc1pπ−

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2021)095  

   Aaij, R.; Abellán Beteta, C.; Ackernley, T.; Adeva, B.; Adinolfi, M.; Afsharnia, H.; Aidala, C. A.; Aiola, S.; Ajaltouni, Z.; Akar, S.; et al (May 2021, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract The Cabibbo-suppressed decay $$ {\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0 $$ Λ b 0 → χ c1 pπ − is observed for the first time using data from proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb − 1 , collected with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Evidence for the $$ {\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0 $$ Λ b 0 → χ c2 pπ − decay is also found. Using the $$ {\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0 $$ Λ b 0 → χ c1 pK − decay as normalisation channel, the ratios of branching fractions are measured to be $$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}1}{\mathrm{p}\uppi}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}1}{\mathrm{p}\mathrm{K}}^{-}\right)}=\left(6.59\pm 1.01\pm 0.22\right)\times {10}^{-2},\\ {}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}2}{\mathrm{p}\uppi}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}1}{\mathrm{p}\uppi}^{-}\right)}=0.95\pm 0.30\pm 0.04\pm 0.04,\\ {}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}2}{\mathrm{p}\mathrm{K}}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({\Lambda}_{\mathrm{b}}^0\to {\upchi}_{\mathrm{c}1}{\mathrm{p}\mathrm{K}}^{-}\right)}=1.06\pm 0.05\pm 0.04\pm 0.04,\end{array}} $$ B Λ b 0 → χ c 1 pπ − B Λ b 0 → χ c 1 pK − = 6.59 ± 1.01 ± 0.22 × 10 − 2 , B Λ b 0 → χ c 2 pπ − B Λ b 0 → χ c 1 pπ − = 0.95 ± 0.30 ± 0.04 ± 0.04 , B Λ b 0 → χ c 2 pK − B Λ b 0 → χ c 1 pK − = 1.06 ± 0.05 ± 0.04 ± 0.04 , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is due to the uncertainties in the branching fractions of χ c1 , 2 → J / ψγ decays. 

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5. Programmable plasmonic phase modulation of free-space wavefronts at gigahertz rates

   Alexei Smolyaninov, Abdelkrim El (February 2019, Nature photonics)

   Space-variant control of optical wavefronts is important for many applications in photonics, such as the generation of structured light beams, and is achieved with spatial light modulators. Commercial devices, at present, are based on liquid-crystal and digital micromirror technologies and are typically limited to kilohertz switching speeds. To realize significantly higher operating speeds, new technologies and approaches are necessary. Here we demonstrate two-dimensional control of free-space optical fields at a wavelength of 1,550 nm at a 1 GHz modulation speed using a programmable plasmonic phase modulator based on near-field interactions between surface plasmons and materials with an electrooptic response. High χ(2) and χ(3) dielectric thin films of either aluminium nitride or silicon-rich silicon nitride are used as an active modulation layer in a surface plasmon resonance configuration to realize programmable space-variant control of optical wavefronts in a 4 × 4 pixel array at high speed. 

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