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T. Nguyen

Publications and source records attributed to T. Nguyen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

New methods for modal decomposition in multi-mode fibres

We propose and demonstrate two methods for modal decomposition in multi-mode fibres. Linearly polarized modes propagating in a slightly multi-mode fibre are easily retrieved from intensity measurements at the fibre output surface. The first method is an improvement of the so-called spectrally and spatially imaging technique, which is limited to largemode-area optical fibers. The second method is a new, simpler and faster solution for the characterization of any kind of optical fibre, thus attractive in comparison to previously reported methods, which are cumbersome, time-consuming and/or limited to large-more-area fibres. Different kinds of multi-mode optical fibres are characterized. A large-modearea photonic-bandgap fibre, a photonic-crystal small-core non-linear fibre, and a standard index-stepped multi-mode fibre are characterized successfully.

physics.optics

Workshop on a future muon program at FNAL

The Snowmass report on rare processes and precision measurements recommended Mu2e-II and a next generation muon facility at Fermilab (Advanced Muon Facility) as priorities for the frontier. The Workshop on a future muon program at FNAL was held in March 2023 to discuss design studies for Mu2e-II, organizing efforts for the next generation muon facility, and identify synergies with other efforts (e.g., muon collider). Topics included high-power targetry, status of R&D for Mu2e-II, development of compressor rings, FFA and concepts for muon experiments (conversion, decays, muonium and other opportunities) at AMF. This document summarizes the workshop discussions with a focus on future R&D tasks needed to realize these concepts.

hep-ex

Detection of the Crab Nebula with the 9.7 m Prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope

The Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) is a telescope concept proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. It employs a dual-mirror optical design to remove comatic aberrations over an $8^{\circ}$ field of view, and a high-density silicon photomultiplier camera (with a pixel resolution of 4 arcmin) to record Cherenkov emission from cosmic ray and gamma-ray initiated particle cascades in the atmosphere. The prototype SCT (pSCT), comprising a 9.7 m diameter primary mirror and a partially instrumented camera with 1536 pixels, has been constructed at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. The telescope was inaugurated in January 2019, with commissioning continuing throughout 2019. We describe the first campaign of observations with the pSCT, conducted in January and February of 2020, and demonstrate the detection of gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula with a statistical significance of $8.6\sigma$.

astro-ph.IM

Tailoring Superconducting Phases Observed in Hyperdoped Si:Ga for Cryogenic Circuit Applications

Hyperdoping with gallium (Ga) has been established as a route to observe superconductivity in silicon (Si). The relatively large critical temperatures (T$_{\rm c}$) and magnetic fields (B$_{\rm c}$) make this phase attractive for cryogenic circuit applications, particularly for scalable hybrid superconductor--semiconductor platforms. However, the robustness of Si:Ga superconductivity at millikelvin temperatures is yet to be evaluated. Here, we report the presence of a reentrant resistive transition below T$_{\rm c}$ for Si:Ga whose strength strongly depends on the distribution of the Ga clusters that precipitate in the implanted Si after annealing. By monitoring the reentrant resistance over a wide parameter space of implantation energies and fluences, we determine conditions that significantly improve the coherent coupling of Ga clusters, therefore, eliminating the reentrant transition even at temperatures as low as 20~mK.

cond-mat.supr-con

Giant Spin Seebeck Effect through an Interface Organic Semiconductor

Interfacing an organic semiconductor C60 with a non-magnetic metallic thin film (Cu or Pt) has created a novel heterostructure that is ferromagnetic at ambient temperature, while its interface with a magnetic metal (Fe or Co) can tune the anisotropic magnetic surface property of the material. Here, we demonstrate that sandwiching C60 in between a magnetic insulator (Y3Fe5O12: YIG) and a non-magnetic, strong spin-orbit metal (Pt) promotes highly efficient spin current transport via the thermally driven spin Seebeck effect (SSE). Experiments and first principles calculations consistently show that the presence of C60 reduces significantly the conductivity mismatch between YIG and Pt and the surface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of YIG, giving rise to enhanced spin mixing conductance across YIG/C60/Pt interfaces. As a result, a 600% increase in the SSE voltage (VLSSE) has been realized in YIG/C60/Pt relative to YIG/Pt. Temperature-dependent SSE voltage measurements on YIG/C60/Pt with varying C60 layer thicknesses also show an exponential increase in VLSSE at low temperatures below 200 K, resembling the temperature evolution of spin diffusion length of C60. Our study emphasizes the important roles of the magnetic anisotropy and the spin diffusion length of the intermediate layer in the SSE in YIG/C60/Pt structures, providing a new pathway for developing novel spin-caloric materials.

physics.app-ph

High performance photonic microwave filters based on a 50GHz optical soliton crystal Kerr micro-comb

We demonstrate a photonic radio frequency (RF) transversal filter based on an integrated optical micro-comb source featuring a record low free spectral range of 49 GHz yielding 80 micro-comb lines across the C-band. This record-high number of taps, or wavelengths for the transversal filter results in significantly increased performance including a QRF factor more than four times higher than previous results. Further, by employing both positive and negative taps, an improved out-of-band rejection of up to 48.9 dB is demonstrated using Gaussian apodization, together with a tunable centre frequency covering the RF spectra range, with a widely tunable 3-dB bandwidth and versatile dynamically adjustable filter shapes. Our experimental results match well with theory, showing that our transversal filter is a competitive solution to implement advanced adaptive RF filters with broad operational bandwidths, high frequency selectivity, high reconfigurability, and potentially reduced cost and footprint. This approach is promising for applications in modern radar and communications systems.

physics.app-ph

The relationship between linguistic expression and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts: A longitudinal study of blog content

Due to its popularity and availability, social media data may present a new way to identify individuals who are experiencing mental illness. By analysing blog content, this study aimed to investigate the associations between linguistic features and symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety, and suicidal ideation. This study utilised a longitudinal study design. Individuals who blogged were invited to participate in a study in which they completed fortnightly mental health questionnaires including the PHQ9 and GAD7 for a period of 36 weeks. Linguistic features were extracted from blog data using the LIWC tool. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate the correlations between the linguistic features and mental health scores between subjects. We then used the multivariate regression model to predict longitudinal changes in mood within subjects. A total of 153 participants consented to taking part, with 38 participants completing the required number of questionnaires and blog posts during the study period. Between-subject analysis revealed that several linguistic features, including tentativeness and non-fluencies, were significantly associated with depression and anxiety symptoms, but not suicidal thoughts. Within-subject analysis showed no robust correlations between linguistic features and changes in mental health score. This study provides further support for the relationship between linguistic features within social media data and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The lack of robust within-subject correlations indicate that the relationship observed at the group level may not generalise to individual changes over time.

cs.CL

Camera-Aware Multi-Resolution Analysis (CAMRA) for Raw Sensor Data Compression

We propose a novel lossless and lossy compression scheme for color filter array~(CFA) sampled images based on the wavelet transform of them. Our analysis suggests that the wavelet coefficients of HL and LH subbands are highly correlated. Hence, we decorrelate Mallat wavelet packet decomposition to further sparsify the coefficients. In addition, we develop a camera processing pipeline for compressing CFA sampled images aimed at maximizing the quality of the color images constructed from the compressed CFA sampled images. We validated our theoretical analysis and the performance of the proposed compression scheme using images of natural scenes captured in a raw format. The experimental results verify that our proposed method improves coding efficiency relative to the standard and the state-of-the-art compression schemes CFA sampled images.

cs.CV

Pole Placement Approach to Coherent Passive Reservoir Engineering for Storing Quantum Information

Reservoir engineering is the term used in quantum control and information technologies to describe manipulating the environment within which an open quantum system operates. Reservoir engineering is essential in applications where storing quantum information is required. From the control theory perspective, a quantum system is capable of storing quantum information if it possesses a so-called decoherence free subsystem (DFS). This paper explores pole placement techniques to facilitate synthesis of decoherence free subsystems via coherent quantum feedback control. We discuss limitations of the conventional `open loop' approach and propose a constructive feedback design methodology for decoherence free subsystem engineering. It captures a quite general dynamic coherent feedback structure which allows systems with decoherence free modes to be synthesized from components which do not have such modes.

quant-ph

Very-High-Energy $\gamma$-Ray Observations of the Blazar 1ES 2344+514 with VERITAS

We present very-high-energy $\gamma$-ray observations of the BL Lac object 1ES 2344+514 taken by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) between 2007 and 2015. 1ES 2344+514 is detected with a statistical significance above background of $20.8\sigma$ in $47.2$ hours (livetime) of observations, making this the most comprehensive very-high-energy study of 1ES 2344+514 to date. Using these observations the temporal properties of 1ES 2344+514 are studied on short and long times scales. We fit a constant flux model to nightly- and seasonally-binned light curves and apply a fractional variability test, to determine the stability of the source on different timescales. We reject the constant-flux model for the 2007-2008 and 2014-2015 nightly-binned light curves and for the long-term seasonally-binned light curve at the $> 3\sigma$ level. The spectra of the time-averaged emission before and after correction for attenuation by the extragalactic background light are obtained. The observed time-averaged spectrum above 200 GeV is satisfactorily fitted (${\chi^2/NDF = 7.89/6}$) by a power-law function with index $\Gamma = 2.46 \pm 0.06_{stat} \pm 0.20_{sys} $ and extends to at least 8 TeV. The extragalactic-background-light-deabsorbed spectrum is adequately fit (${\chi^2/NDF = 6.73/6}$) by a power-law function with index $\Gamma = 2.15 \pm 0.06_{stat} \pm 0.20_{sys} $ while an F-test indicates that the power-law with exponential cutoff function provides a marginally-better fit ($\chi^2/NDF $ = $2.56 / 5 $) at the 2.1$\sigma$ level. The source location is found to be consistent with the published radio location and its spatial extent is consistent with a point source.

astro-ph.HE

A luminous and isolated gamma-ray flare from the blazar B2 1215+30

B2 1215+30 is a BL Lac-type blazar that was first detected at TeV energies by the MAGIC atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, and subsequently confirmed by the VERITAS observatory with data collected between 2009 and 2012. In 2014 February 08, VERITAS detected a large-amplitude flare from B2 1215+30 during routine monitoring observations of the blazar 1ES 1218+304, located in the same field of view. The TeV flux reached 2.4 times the Crab Nebula flux with a variability timescale of < 3.6 h. Multiwavelength observations with Fermi-LAT, Swift, and the Tuorla observatory revealed a correlated high GeV flux state and no significant optical counterpart to the flare, with a spectral energy distribution where the gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the synchrotron luminosity. When interpreted in the framework of a one-zone leptonic model, the observed emission implies a high degree of beaming, with Doppler factor > 10, and an electron population with spectral index < 2.3.

astro-ph.HE

A Search for Very High-Energy Gamma Rays from the Missing Link Binary Pulsar J1023+0038 with VERITAS

The binary millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1023+0038 exhibits many characteristics similar to the gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259--63/LS 2883, making it an ideal candidate for the study of high-energy non-thermal emission. It has been the subject of multi-wavelength campaigns following the disappearance of the pulsed radio emission in 2013 June, which revealed the appearance of an accretion disk around the neutron star. We present the results of very high-energy gamma-ray observations carried out by VERITAS before and after this change of state. Searches for steady and pulsed emission of both data sets yield no significant gamma-ray signal above 100 GeV, and upper limits are given for both a steady and pulsed gamma-ray flux. These upper limits are used to constrain the magnetic field strength in the shock region of the PSR J1023+0038 system. Assuming that very high-energy gamma rays are produced via an inverse-Compton mechanism in the shock region, we constrain the shock magnetic field to be greater than $\sim$2 G before the disappearance of the radio pulsar and greater than $\sim$10 G afterwards.

astro-ph.HE

A functional basis for efficient physical-layer classical control in quantum processors

The rapid progress seen in the development of quantum coherent devices for information processing has motivated serious consideration of quantum computer architecture and organization. One topic which remains open for investigation and optimization relates to the design of the classical-quantum interface, where control operations on individual qubits are applied according to higher-level algorithms; accommodating competing demands on performance and scalability remains a major outstanding challenge. In this work we present a resource-efficient, scalable framework for the implementation of embedded physical-layer classical controllers for quantum information systems. Design drivers and key functionalities are introduced, leading to the selection of Walsh functions as an effective functional basis for both programming and controller hardware implementation. This approach leverages the simplicity of real-time Walsh-function generation in classical digital hardware, and the fact that a wide variety of physical-layer controls such as dynamic error suppression are known to fall within the Walsh family. We experimentally implement a real-time FPGA-based Walsh controller producing Walsh timing signals and Walsh-synthesized analog waveforms appropriate for critical tasks in error-resistant quantum control and noise characterization. These demonstrations represent the first step towards a unified framework for the realization of physical-layer controls compatible with large-scale quantum information processing.

quant-ph

Upper limits from five years of blazar observations with the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes

Between the beginning of its full-scale scientific operations in 2007 and 2012, the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array observed more than 130 blazars; of these, 26 were detected as very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) {\gamma}-ray sources. In this work, we present the analysis results of a sample of 114 undetected objects. The observations constitute a total live-time of ~570 hours. The sample includes several unidentified Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) sources (located at high Galactic latitude) as well as all the sources from the second Fermi-LAT catalog which are contained within the field of view of the VERITAS observations. We have also performed optical spectroscopy measurements in order to estimate the redshift of some of these blazars that do not have a spectroscopic distance estimate. We present new optical spectra from the Kast instrument on the Shane telescope at the Lick observatory for 18 blazars included in this work, which allowed for the successful measurement or constraint on the redshift of four of them. For each of the blazars included in our sample we provide the flux upper limit in the VERITAS energy band. We also study the properties of the significance distributions and we present the result of a stacked analysis of the data-set, which shows a 4 {\sigma} excess.

astro-ph.HE

Second order anisotropy contribution in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions

Magnetoresistance loops under in-plane applied field were measured on perpendicularly magnetized magnetic tunnel junction (pMTJ) pillars with nominal diameters ranging from 50 to 150 nm. By fitting the hard-axis magnetoresistance loops to an analytical model, the effective anisotropy fields in both free and reference layers were derived and their variations in temperature range between 340K and 5K were determined. It is found that an accurate fitting is possible only if a second-order anisotropy term of the form $-K_{2}cos^4{\theta}$, is added to the fitting model. This higher order contribution exists both in the free and reference layers and its sign is opposite to that of the first order anisotropy constant, $K_{1}$. At room temperatures the estimated $-K_{2}/K_{1}$ ratios are 0.1 and 0.24 for the free and reference layers, respectively. The ratio is more than doubled at low temperatures altering the ground state of the reference layer from 'easy-axis' to 'easy-cone' regime. Easy-cone state has clear signatures in the shape of the hard-axis magnetoresistance loops. The same behavior was observed in all measured devices regardless of their diameter. The existence of this higher order anisotropy was confirmed experimentally on FeCoB/MgO sheet films by ferromagnetic resonance technique. It is of interfacial nature and is believed to be linked to spatial fluctuations at the nanoscale of the anisotropy parameter at the FeCoB/MgO interface, in agreement with Dieny-Vedyayev model.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Science Highlights from VERITAS

The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is a ground-based array located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona and is one of the world's most sensitive gamma-ray instruments at energies of 85 GeV to $>$30 TeV. VERITAS has a wide scientific reach that includes the study of extragalactic and Galactic objects as well as the search for astrophysical signatures of dark matter and the measurement of cosmic rays. In this paper, we will summarize the current status of the VERITAS observatory and present some of the scientific highlights from the last two years, focusing in particular on those results shown at the 2015 ICRC in The Hague, Netherlands.

astro-ph.HE

Development of a SiPM Camera for a Schwarzschild-Couder Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

We present the development of a novel 11328 pixel silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) camera for use with a ground-based Cherenkov telescope with Schwarzschild-Couder optics as a possible medium-sized telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The finely pixelated camera samples air-shower images with more than twice the optical resolution of cameras that are used in current Cherenkov telescopes. Advantages of the higher resolution will be a better event reconstruction yielding improved background suppression and angular resolution of the reconstructed gamma-ray events, which is crucial in morphology studies of, for example, Galactic particle accelerators and the search for gamma-ray halos around extragalactic sources. Packing such a large number of pixels into an area of only half a square meter and having a fast readout directly attached to the back of the sensors is a challenging task. For the prototype camera development, SiPMs from Hamamatsu with through silicon via (TSV) technology are used. We give a status report of the camera design and highlight a number of technological advancements that made this development possible.

astro-ph.IM