INO ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM Brescia, October 1,2,3 2014 POSTER SESSION i Poster list P1. “Squeezed light from a quantum emitter coupled to a nanostructure” D. Martín-Cano, H.R. Haakh, K. Murr, M. Agio P2. “Classification of normal and tumor tissues using tissue optical spectroscopy-A multimodal approach” R. Cicchi, S. Anand, A. Cosci, S. Rossari, A. Crisci, F. Giordano, G. Nesi, A. M. Buccoliero, V. De Giorgi, M. Carini, R. Guerrini and F. S. Pavone P3. "Generation of hybrid entanglement of light" L. S. Costanzo, S. Grandi, H. Jeong, M. Kang, S. Lee, T. C. Ralph. A. Zavatta, M. Bellini P4. "Concordia Multi-Process Atmospheric Studies (CoMPASs): optical sensors and remote sensing techniques for the analysis of the vertical structure of the Antarctic atmosphere." G. Bianchini, S. Argentini, M. Baldi, F. Cairo, F. Calzolari, G. Casasanta, A.Conidi, M. Del Guasta, G. Di Natale, A. Lupi, M. Mazzola, M. De Muro, L.Palchetti, I. Petenko, B. Petkov, M. Snels, F. Stefano, G. Trivellone, A. Viola, M.Viterbini P5. "Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Sensors for Mid-Infrared Trace-Gas Detection" S. Borri, M. Siciliani de Cumis, I. Galli, S. Viciani, D. Mazzotti, G. Giusfredi, P.Patimisco, G. Scamarcio, V. Spagnolo, F. D’Amato, N. Akikusa, M. Yamanishi,and P. De Natale P6. "Interferometric characterization of gas targets used in laser wakefield acceleration" F. Brandi, F. Baffigi, M. Borghesi, F. Conti, A. De Luca, S. De Nicola, R. Fedele, L. Fulgentini, R. Garland, F. Giammanco, P. M. Koester, L. Labate,P. Marsili, G. Sarri, F. Sylla, and L. A. Gizzi P7. "Interacting Bosons in a Disordered Lattice: Dynamical Characterization of the Quantum Phase Diagram" P. Buonsante, L. Pezzè, A. Smerzi P8. "2D Single Particle Tracking and Superresolution in living cells" M. Calamai, N. Parenti, F.S. Pavone P9. "Evidence of saturation effects in CH3OH molecule by means of THz QCL based spectroscopy" A. Campa, L. Consolino, S. Bartalini, M. Ravaro, H. E. Beere , D. A. Ritchie ,M. S. Vitiello, P. Cancio, D. Mazzotti, P. De Natale P10. "New Quantum Simulation with Ultracold Ytterbium Atoms" G. Cappellini, M. Mancini, G. Pagano,C. Sias, J. Catani, M. Inguscio, L. Fallani P11. "Copper oxide nanowires for surface ionization based gas sensor" C. Cerqui, A. Ponzoni, D. Zappa, E. Comini, and G. Sberveglieri P12. "Multimodal non-linear optical (NLO) microscopy of ex vivo human tissues" ii R. Cicchi, A. Sturiale, E. Baria, C. Matthaeus, N. Vogler, G. Nesi, D. Massi, F.Tonelli, J. Popp, and F. S. Pavone P13. "Frequency comb generation in cavity-enhanced second harmonic generation" I. Ricciardi, S. Mosca, M. Parisi, P. Maddaloni, L. Santamaria, P. De Natale, M. De Rosa P14. "Probing Elastic Modulation of Mixed-Phase Boundary in Epitaxial BiFeO3 Thin Films by Ultrasonic Force Microscopy" Franco Dinelli, Cesare Ascoli, Cheng-En Cheng, Heng-Jui Liu, Yi-Chun Chen,Chen-Shiung Chang, Forest Shih-Sen Chien, and Ying-Hao Chu P15. "Quantum enhanced sensors with single spin" N. Fabbri and P. Cappellaro P16. "Measuring spatial entanglement in an optical lattice" M. Cramer, A. Bernard, N. Fabbri, F. Caruso, S. Rosi, L. Fallani, C. Fort,M. Inguscio, M.B. Plenio P17. "Quantum Interferometry with trapped BEC with tunable interactions" A. Trenkwalder, M. Landini, G. Spagnolli, G. Semeghini, G. Colzi, G. Modugno, M. Inguscio, M. Fattori P18. "Extremely bright diamond single-photon source with electrical pumping" D. Yu. Fedyanin and M. Agio P19. "Piezoelectric and thermoelectric energy converters forpower harvesting in autonomous microsystems" M. Ferrari, M. Baù, S. Dalola, M. Demori, V. Ferrari P20. "Prospects for vibrational cooling for RbCs ultra-cold molecules" A.Fioretti, H. Lignier, D. Comparat and C. Gabbanini P21. "Progress towards the realization of a quantum degenerate dipolar gas of dysprosium atoms" A. Fioretti, J. Catani, L. del Bino, C. Gabbanini, S. Gozzini, M. Inguscio, E. Lucioni and G. Modugno P22. "The calibration system of the new g-2 experiment at Fermilab" A. Anastasi, D. Babusci, G. Cantatore, D. Cauz,S. Dabagov, G. Di Sciascio, R. Di Stefano, C. Ferrari,A. Fioretti, C. Gabbanini, D. Hampai1, M. Iacovacci,M. Karuza, F. Marignetti, M. Mastroianni, D. Moricciani, G. Pauletta, L. Santi, G. Venanzoni P23. "A cold cesium atom source for Focused Ion Beams and Single IonImplantation" M. Allegrini, Y. Bruneau, D. Ciampini, D. Comparat, A. Fioretti, F.Fuso, I. Guerri, L. Kime, P. Pillet, B. Rasser, G. Shayeganrad, P. Sudraud, and M. Viteau P24. "Liquid droplet whispering-gallery mode optical resonators" S. Avino, R. Zullo, A. Giorgini, P. Malara, P. De Natale, G. Gagliardi P25. "High-Coherence Mid-Infrared Frequency Comb Generation and Applications" iii I. Galli, F. Cappelli, P. Cancio, G. Giusfredi, D. Mazzotti, S. Bartalini, P. De Natale P26. "Nanostructured ZnO for Novel Metal Oxide Gas Sensors" V. Galstyan, E. Comini, C. Baratto, N. Poli, G. Faglia, G. Sberveglieri P27. "Innovative interrogation methods for surface-plasmon-resonancebased bio-chemical sensors" A. Giorgini, R. Zullo, S. Avino, P. Malara, G. Gagliardi, P. De Natale P28. Graphene-Based Hybrid Films for High-Performance Transparent Electrode Applications, I. Kholmanov, G. Sberveglieri P29. "Tailoring and characterization of porous hierarchical nanostructured p-type thin film of Cu-AlOxide for the detection of pollutant gases" R. Kumar, C. Baratto, G. Faglia, D. Zappa, G. Sberveglieri, K.Vojisavljevic, B.Malic P30. "Mid-infrared digital holography with a quantum cascade laser" M. Locatelli, M. Ravaro, E. Pugliese, M. Siciliani de Cumis, F. D’Amato, P.Poggi, L. Consolino, R. Meucci, P. Ferraro, and P. De Natale P31. "Sensing with a split-mode fiber Bragg-grating ring resonator" P. Malara, A. Giorgini, S. Avino and G. Gagliardi P32. "Single-molecule study for a graphene-based nano-position sensor" G. Mazzamuto, A. Tabani, S. Pazzagli, S. Rizvi, A. Reserbat-Plantey, K. Schädler,G. Navickaite, L. Gaudreau, F.S. Cataliotti, F. Koppens, and C. Toninelli P33. "Composite materials as high efficiency photoanodes in excitonic solar cells" R. Milan, G.S. Selopal, I. Concina, G. Sberveglieri, A. Vomiero P34. "Remote sensing of micro-physical properties of cirrus clouds using wideband infrared spectral measurements" L. Palchetti, G. Di Natale, G. Bianchini, M. Del Guasta P35. "Recent development of the diagnostics set up of the laser-driven source of electron at ILIL" D.Palla, F.Baffigi, P.Ferrara, L.Fulgentini, A.Giulietti, D.Giulietti, P.Koester, L.Labate, T.Levato, L.A.Gizzi P36. "The MONICA Project: Novel Monitoring of coast and sea enviroment" S. Avino, M. De Rosa, G. Gagliardi, A. Giorgini, P. Malara, S. Mosca, M. Parisi,M. Paturzo, I. Ricciardi, A. Rocco, P. Ferraro, P. De Natale P37. "Bright-White Beetle Scales Optimise Multiple Scattering of Light" M. Burresi, L. Cortese, L. Pattelli, M. Kolle, P. Vukusic, D.S. Wiersma, U.Steiner, S. Vignolini P38. "Strongly confined 2D disordered modes with suppressed scattering losses" M. Burresi, F. Pratesi , C. Diederik S. Wiersma P39. "Ultra-narrow-linewidth Mid-infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator" iv I. Ricciardi, S. Mosca, M. Parisi, P. Maddaloni, L. Santamaria, M. De Rosa, G. Giusfredi, P. De Natale P40. "Efficient all-optical production of 6Li quantum gases" A. Burchianti, J. A. Seman, G. Valtolina, M. Zaccanti, M. Inguscio, G. Roati P41. "Using Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry for NDT evaluation of composite materials" A.Rocco, V. Pagliarulo, P. Ferraro P42. "Advanced optical techniques to explore brain structure and function" A. L. Allegra Mascaro, L. Silvestri, I. Costantini, L. Sacconi, F. S. Pavone P43. "Acetylene spectroscopy at cryogenic temperature" L. Santamaria, V. Di Sarno, I. Ricciardi, S. Mosca, M. De Rosa, G. Santambrogio,P. Maddaloni, P. De Natale P44. "Molecule Chip" D. Adu Smith, G. Insero, S. Marx, G. Meijer, T. Zehentbauer, G. Santambrogio P45. "Different food application of a Novel Nano-Wire Electronic Nose" V. Sberveglieri, E. Nunez Carmona, A. Pulvirenti P46. "Precise measurements of molecular lineshapes with direct comb spectroscopy" M. Siciliani de Cumis, P. Cancio Pastor, R. Eramo, N. Coluccelli, M. Cassinerio,G. Galzerano, P. Laporta and P. De Natale P47. "Researches and measurements on Ytterbium and Neodymium activated hosts for lasers in the near infrared." Guido Toci, Antonio Lapucci, Marco Ciofini, Angela Pirri, Georges Boulon, Matteo Vannini P48. "Fast identification of microbiological contamination in vegetable soup by electronic nose" G.Zambotti ,V.Sberveglieri , E. Gobbi , M. Falasconi , E. Nunez , A. Pulvirenti P49. "Tungsten oxide nanowires for conductometric chemical sensors" D. Zappa, A. Bertuna, E. Comini, M. Molinari, N. Poli, G. Sberveglieri P50. “Pyro-‐electric field for the manipulation of biopolymers in contact-‐free modality” S. Coppola,V. Vespini, O. Gennari, S. Grilli, G. Nasti, L. Mecozzi and P. Ferraro “Activities of Lighting and Photometry Lab at CNR INO” F. Francini, D. Jafrancesco, L. Mercatelli, P. Sansoni, D. Fontani P51. v Presenting Authors P1. P2. P3. P4. P5. P6. P7. P8. P9. P10. P11. P12. P13. P14. P15. P16. P17. P18. P19. P20. P21. P22. P23. P24. P25. Agio M. Anand S. Bellini M. Bianchini G. Borri S. Brandi F. Buonsante P. Calamai M. Campa A. Catani J. Cerqui C. Cicchi R. De Rosa M. Dinelli F. Fabbri N. Fabbri N. G. Colzi Fedyanin D. Yu. Ferrari M. Fioretti A. Fioretti A. Fioretti A. Fioretti A. Gagliardi G. Galli I. P26. P27. P28. P29. P30. P31. P32. P33. P34. P35. P36. P37. P38. P39. P40. P41. P42. P43. P44. P45. P46. P47. P48. P49. P50. P51. Galstyan V. Giorgini A. Kholmanov I. Kumar R. Locatelli M. Malara P. Mazzamuto G. Milan R. Palchetti L. Palla D. Parisi M. Pattelli L. Pratesi F. Ricciardi I. Roati G. Rocco A. Sacconi L. Santamaria L. Santambrogio G. Sberveglieri V. Siciliani de Cumis M. Toci G. Zambotti G. Zappa D. Coppola S. Mercatelli L. vi Squeezed light from a quantum emitter coupled to a nanostructure D. Martín-Cano1,3, H.R. Haakh1, K. Murr2,3,4,5, M. Agio2,3,4 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, 91058 Erlangen, Germany 2 National Institute of Optics (INO-CNR), 50125 Florence, Italy 3 Quantum Science and Technology in ARcetri (QSTAR), 50125 Florence, Italy 4 European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), 50019 Sesto F.no, Italy 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, 50019 Sesto F.no, Italy 1 Abstract One of the most profound phenomena of quantum optics is the reduction of quantum fluctuations in the electromagnetic field, i.e., the existence of squeezed states of light. Approaches to create these non-‐classical states have commonly relied on large systems, such as non-‐linear crystals and atomic vapors [1]. However, recent experiments have shown the ability of microscopic entities to generate squeezed light, with the prospect of making quantum integrated devices that further control the squeezing mechanism [2,3]. Among such sources of non-‐classical light, the most elementary one consists of a quantum emitter driven by a laser field near resonance [4]. In our theoretical work, we investigate this process when the emitter is coupled to an optical nanostructure and find that nano-‐architectures can strongly modify the creation of squeezed light [5]. In the far field, we observe that squeezing can be significantly boosted by such hybrid systems. Moreover, the physical conditions for reducing quantum fluctuations are strongly relaxed with respect to free space. Finally, we analyze the behaviour of squeezed light in the near field, opening the pathway to its manipulation at the nanoscale. References [1] R. Loudon and P.L. Knight, Squeezed light, J. Mod. Opt. 34 (1987) 709-759. [2] A. Ourjoumtsev, A. Kubanek, M. Koch, C. Sames, P.W.H. Pinkse, G. Rempe and K. Murr, Observation of squeezed light from one atom excited by two photons, Nature, 474 (2011) 623-626. [3] A.H. Safavi-Naeini, S. Groblacher, J.T. Hill, J. Chan, M. Aspelmeyer and O. Painter, Squeezed light from a silicon micromechanical resonator, Nature 500 (2013) 185-189. [4] D.F. Walls and P. Zoller, Reduced quantum fluctuations in resonance fluorescence, Phys. Rev. Lett., 47 (1981) 709-711. [5] D. Martín-Cano, H.R. Haakh, K. Murr and M. Agio, Large suppression of quantum fluctuations of light from a single emitter by an optical nanostructure, ArXiv:1405.1591 (2014). Presenting author: Mario Agio, INO-CNR, L.go E. Fermi 2, 50125 Florence, phone +39 055 275 5097, fax +39 055 457 2451, email [email protected] P1 Classification of normal and tumor tissues using tissue optical spectroscopy-A multimodal approach R. Cicchi1,2, S. Anand2, A. Cosci2, S. Rossari3, A. Crisci4, F. Giordano5, G. Nesi6, A. M. Buccoliero6, V. De Giorgi3, M. Carini4, R. Guerrini5, and F. S. Pavone1,2 1 National Institute of Optics, National Research Council (INO-CNR), Largo Enrico Fermi 6 - 50125, Florence, Italy; 2 European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Via Nello Carrara, 1 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; 3 Division of Clinical, Preventive and Oncology Dermatology, Department of Surgical and Medical Critical Care, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; 4 Division of Urology, Department of Critical Care Medicine and Surgery, University of Florence, Viale Giovanni Battista Morgagni 85 - 50134, Florence, Italy; 5 Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Neuroscience I, “Anna Meyer” Pediatric Hospital, Viale Gaetano Pieraccini 24 50141, Florence, Italy; 6 Division of Pathology, Department of Critical Care Medicine and Surgery, University of Florence, Viale Morgagni 85 - 50134, Florence, Italy; Abstract Tissue optical point spectroscopy has been widely explored as a diagnostic technique for the classification of normal and tumor tissues. Also, spectroscopy in cancer detection has the ability to complement the disadvantages associated with tissue biopsy. Tumor progression in tissues is accompanied by number of biochemical and morphological changes. Spectroscopic methods operate on different physical principles and can offer complementary information. For instance, fluorescence phenomena in the UV-Vis region gives an account of tissue metabolism, biochemical and morphological information. Raman spectroscopy is an inelastic scattering process which provides narrow band biochemical finger prints which are specific to each molecule. Though these optical spectral methods has the ability to discriminate normal and tumor tissues, a better classification ability can be achieved when information from more than one method is combined together. In this context, we have developed a multimodal spectroscopic device incorporating fluorescence at two different wavelengths and Raman scattering with a fiber optic probe. This device has been implemented in a clinical setting for the detection of melanocytic lesions. Promising results have been obtained with a sensitivity and specificity of 89 and 100% respectively for discrimination of malignant melanoma against melanocytic naevi on freshly excised biopsies [1]. This experimental setup has the potential to be used as a diagnostic tool for a broad range of tissues and pathologies. Promising results have been obtained also on bladder and brain tissues. In particular, good diagnostic performances have been obtained for the discrimination of dysplastic tissue against brain tumor and for healthy bladder mucosa against bladder tumor. Currently we are in the process of developing a compact and movable version of the experimental setup in order to make it usable in a surgical scenario for real time tissue classification. The final aim is to develop a device that can be used for the detection of tumor margins and guided biopsies. References [1] R. Cicchi, A. Cosci, S. Rossari, D. Kapsokalyvas, E. Baria, V. Maio, D. Massi, V. De Giorgi, N. Pimpinelli, and F. S. Pavone, Combined fluorescence-Raman spectroscopic setup for the diagnosis of melanocytic lesions, J. Biophoton., 7, (2014) 86-95. Presenting author: Suresh Anand, LENS, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, 055-4271251. [email protected] P2 Generation of hybrid entanglement of light L. S. Costanzo1, S. Grandi1, H. Jeong2, M. Kang2, S. Lee2, T. C. Ralph3, A. Zavatta1, & M. Bellini1 1 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO-CNR) and LENS, Florence, Italy Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 3 University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia Entanglement between quantum and classical objects is of special interest in the context of fundamental studies of quantum mechanics and practical applications to quantum information processing. Its importance is underlined by the famous Schroedinger’s cat paradox, where the state of a quantum, microscopic, object (a radioactive atom) is entangled with that of a classical, macroscopic, one (a cat). In the optical domain, entanglement between the state of a single photon and of a coherent state in a free-traveling field is an example of such quantum-classical entanglement, and it was recently identified to be useful resource for highly-efficient optical quantum information processing. However, it is also known to be extremely difficult to generate such states since it requires a clean cross-Kerr nonlinear interaction that is not experimentally realistic. In our work [1], we devise and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme to generate such hybrid entanglement for the first time by implementing a quantum superposition of two distinguished operations based on linear optics elements. The small-scale creation of such states in our experiment clearly shows quantum entanglement between the two different types of states, and our proposal further provides a feasible way to generate even larger hybrid entanglement. References [1] H. Jeong, A. Zavatta, M. Kang, S. Lee, L.S. Costanzo, S. Grandi, T.C. Ralph, and M. Bellini, Generation of hybrid entanglement of light, Nature Photonics, 8, 564-569 (2014). Presenting author: Marco Bellini, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica - CNR, c/o LENS, via N. Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy, tel. +39 055 4572493, [email protected]. P3 Concordia Multi-Process Atmospheric Studies (CoMPASs): optical sensors and remote sensing techniques for the analysis of the vertical structure of the Antarctic atmosphere. G. Bianchini1, S. Argentini3, M. Baldi1, F. Cairo3, F. Calzolari2, G. Casasanta3, A. Conidi3, M. Del Guasta1, G. Di Natale1, A. Lupi2, M. Mazzola2, M. De Muro3, L. Palchetti1, I. Petenko3, B. Petkov2, M. Snels3, F. Stefano3, G. Trivellone2, A. Viola3, M. Viterbini3 1 INO-CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. 2 ISAC-CNR, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy 3 ISAC-CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy Abstract Concordia station, in the Dome C region, Antarctica (76° S, 123° E, 3233 m a.s.l.), provides ideal conditions, in terms of low humidity and near absence of precipitations, to characterize, using remote sensing techniques, the micro-physical, and chemical properties of the Antarctic atmosphere in unperturbed and extreme conditions. The COMPASS project has been developed in order to perform this kind of study, mainly through optical sensors. The use of continuously operating, possibly autonomous, instruments is a peculiar point, since enables us to build a multi-year continuous dataset that is a key requisite to study long term trends and single shortduration events. The synergy of different instruments and methodologies, allows to identify and characterize the feedbacks and interactions between the various processes that span across the three lower atmospheric regions: the boundary layer, the troposphere and the stratosphere. The main research themes follow the vertical structure of the atmosphere: • • • The characterization of the dynamics, turbulence and radiation of the atmospheric boundary layer, topic that is of particular interest during the winter period, in which this atmospheric region is characterized by a reduced thickness and extreme sensitivity to external forcing. The study of the clouds in the free troposphere and their radiative interaction with the surface and the neighboring atmospheric layers, a study that, due to the remarkable variability, both daily and seasonal, typical of the Dome C region, needs the requisites of continuity and long duration provided by COMPASS. The study of the stratospheric processes within the Antarctic polar vortex, as ozone chemistry and polar stratospheric clouds, carried out throughout the year in order to constantly follow the evolution of the vortex itself. The COMPASS project plans to complete these tasks through an array of different instruments all characterized by the vertical remote sensing measurement technique: a stratospheric and a tropospheric LIDAR, UV and IR photometers and radiometers, a farinfrared Fourier Transform spectroradiometer, and a high-resolution mini-sodar. The results from the first year of campaign are already available and under analysis to provide a first multi-process characterization of the Antarctic atmosphere. Presenting author: Giovanni Bianchini, INO-CNR sezione di Sesto Fiorentino, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, phone ++39-055-5226309, fax ++39-055-5226348, e-mail [email protected] P4 Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Sensors for Mid-Infrared Trace-Gas Detection S. Borri1, M. Siciliani de Cumis1, I. Galli1, S. Viciani1, D. Mazzotti1, G. Giusfredi1, P. Patimisco2, G. Scamarcio2, V. Spagnolo2, F. D’Amato1, N. Akikusa3, M. Yamanishi3, and P. De Natale1 1 CNR-INO and LENS, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI, Italy 2 Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università e Politecnico di Bari and CNR-IFN, 70126 Bari, Italy 3 Development Bureau Laser Device R&D Group and Central Research Laboratories, Hamamatsu Photonics KK, Shizuoka 434-8601, Japan Abstract The development of cost-effective, compact optical sensors for trace chemical species in the gas phase is, for our present society, a challenge in a wide variety of applications, including climate changes, homeland security, industrial processes control, workplace surveillance, and medical diagnostics. We report here on our recent advances in the development of quartz-enhanced photo-acoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensors based on quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) for the detection, quantification, and monitoring of trace gas species. The architecture and performance of two innovative and sensitive, real-time gas sensors based on the QEPAS technique will be described: 1) Widely-tunable mid-IR fiber coupled QEPAS sensor. The sensor is based on an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) tunable between 7.6 and 8.3 µm wavelengths coupled into a custom-made single-mode hollowcore waveguide. The fiber coupling system converts the astigmatic beam exiting the laser into a TEM00 mode, optimized for matching the QEPAS spectrophone. During a full laser scan, we observed no misalignment between the optical beam and the tuning fork, thus making our system applicable for multi-gas or broadly absorbing detections. The sensor has been tested on H2S dilutions in both dry and wet N2. We achieved a minimum detectable H2S concentration of 450 ppb in ~3 s integration time [1], which is the best value till now reported in literature for H2S optical sensors. 2) Intra-cavity mid-IR QEPAS (I-QEPAS) sensor. An ultra-sensitive, selective and compact QEPAS system combined with a high-finesse cavity sensor platform is proposed as a novel method for trace gas sensing. We called this technique intra-cavity QEPAS (I-QEPAS). In the proposed scheme, a single-mode continuous-wave QCL emitting around 4.3 µm is coupled into a bow-tie optical cavity, locked to the QCL emission frequency. A power enhancement factor of ~240 has been achieved, corresponding to an intra-cavity power of ~0.72 W. An improved sensitivity with respect to standard QEPAS comparable to the power enhancement factor has been recorded, leading to a minimum detection limit on CO2 of 300 ppt by volume at a total gas pressure of 50 mbar with a 20 s acquisition time [2]. This corresponds to a normalized noise equivalent absorption of 3.2·10-10 W·cm-1/Hz1/2, comparable with the best results reported for photoacoustic/cantilever systems on faster relaxing gases. References [1] M. Siciliani de Cumis, S. Viciani, S. Borri, P. Patimisco, A. Sampaolo, G. Scamarcio, P. De Natale, F. D'Amato and V. Spagnolo, “A widely-tunable mid-infrared fiber-coupled quartz-enhanced photoacoustic sensor for environmental monitoring”, Opt. Express (2014, in press) [2] S. Borri, P. Patimisco, I. Galli, D. Mazzotti, G. Giusfredi, N. Akikusa, M. Yamanishi, G. Scamarcio, P. De Natale, V. Spagnolo, “Intracavity quartz-enhanced photoacoustic sensor”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 091114 (2014) Presenting author: Simone Borri, CNR-INO UOS Sesto Fiorentino, via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI); phone: 0554572227; email: [email protected]. P5 Interferometric characterization of gas targets used in laser wakefield acceleration F. Brandi1,2, F. Baffigi1, M. Borghesi3, F. Conti4, A. De Luca5,6, S. De Nicola6,7, R. Fedele5,6, L. Fulgentini1, R. Garland4, F. Giammanco4, P. M. Koester1, L. Labate1,8, P. Marsili4, G. Sarri4, F. Sylla9, and L. A. Gizzi1,8 1 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy 2 Nanophysics Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy 3 School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, UK 4 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy 5 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy 6 INFN Sezione di Napoli. Italy 7 CNR-SPIN Sezione di Napoli, Italy 8 INFN, Sezione di Pisa, Italy 9 SourceLAB SAS, Palaiseaux, France Abstract Recent progresses on laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) open the way for the development of novel compact accelerators with potential applications in biomedical therapy and diagnosis. For these practical applications the full control of the LWFA process becomes a must. Among the fundamental parameters in the acceleration process there are the particle density in the gas targets (e.g., cells, jets and capillaries) and the electron density of the plasma thereby created by the laser, which can be accurately measured by interferometric techniques [1,2]. Two interferometric methods are used for the characterization of a pulsed gas jet and a flowing gas cell are presented, and preliminary results are presented. A Nomarski interferometer is adopted to study the spatial particle density distribution in a freely expanding pulsed gas jet in vacuum [3,4]. The measurements are performed with various gases at different backing pressure, and the evolution of the particle density in the gas jet during the few-ms long pulse is investigated. A single-arm two-colour interferometer, so-called second harmonic interferometer (SHI) [5,6], is used to study the particle density dynamics inside a flowing gas cell in vacuum. The SHI satisfies the requirements for a fast and reliable measurement, being intrinsically stable and combining a high-sensitivity with a high-speed. Therefore such diagnostic can provide an efficient method for the active control of the local gas density within the interaction region for a long-term stable LWFA process. References [1] L.A, Gizzi et. al. Femtosecond interferometry of propagation of a laminar ionization front in a gas Phys. Rev. E, 74 (2006) 036403. [2] L.A. Gizzi et. al. Tracking propagation of ultrashort intense laser pulses in gases via probing of ionization Phys. Rev. E, 79 (2009) 056405. [3] P. Tomassini et. al., Analyzing laser plasma interferograms with a continuous wavelet transform ridge extraction technique: the method Appl. Opt., 40 (2001) 6561-6568. [4] P. Tomassini et. al., Application of novel techniques for interferogram analysis to laser–plasma femtosecond probing Laser Part. Beams, 20 (2002) 195–199. [5] F. Brandi and F. Giammanco, Temporal and spatial characterization of a pulsed gas jet by a compact high-speed high-sensitivity second-harmonic interferometer Opt. Express, 19 (2011) 25479-25487. [6] F. Conti, et. al., High-spatial resolution second-harmonic interferometry Laser Phys. Lett., 10 (2013) 056003. Presenting author: Fernando Brandi, Via Moruzzi, 1 56124-Pisa, Italy, Tel. +39 050 315 2584 Fax. +39 050 315 2247, e-mail [email protected]. P6 Interacting Bosons in a Disordered Lattice: Dynamical Characterization of the Quantum Phase Diagram P. Buonsante1,2, L. Pezzè1,2, A. Smerzi1,2 1 INO-CNR, Firenze, Italia 2 QSTAR Center, Firenze, Italia Abstract We study the quantum dynamics of interacting bosons in a three-dimensional disordered lattice. We show that the superfluid current induced by an adiabatic acceleration of the disordered lattice undergoes a dynamical instability signalling the onset of the Bose-glass phase. The dynamical superfluid–Bose-glass phase diagram is found in very good agreement with static superfluid fraction calculation. A different phase diagram is obtained when the disorder is suddenly quenched in a moving periodic lattice. In this case we do not observe a dynamical instability but rather a depletion of the superfluid density. Our analysis is based on a dynamical Gutzwiller approach which we show to reproduce the quantum Monte Carlo static phase diagram in the strong interaction limit. Presenting author: Pierfrancesco Buonsante, QSTAR Center – Largo Fermi 2 50125 Firenze, +39 055 2755091, [email protected]. P7 2D Single Particle Tracking and Superresolution in living cells M. Calamai1,2, N. Parenti2, F.S. Pavone2 1 INO, CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 2 LENS, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy Abstract We use the single particle tracking (SPT) approach to tackle the molecular basis of timely human pathologies, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the current research on the molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease is based on averaged results obtained using bulk methods. In this case, many important details can be missed and only the most prominent features are eventually taken into account. This consideration may explain at least part of the discrepancies arising from the several models that have been proposed during the last years. Within this context, single particle tracking experiments can provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheirmer's disease by monitoring the dynamics of single cytotoxic oligomeric species and their interaction with the components of the plasma membrane. Overall, the experimental strategy for 2D surface SPT is based on labelling immunochemically the target species with antibodies coupled to small (10-30 nm) and extremely photostable fluorescent probes called ‘quantum dots’ (QDs). Real time recordings of single molecules moving on the plasma membrane of living cells are carried out using a high sensitivity camera. The accurate localization of the fluorescent particle is obtained by fitting its point spread function with a Gaussian function. The analysis of the trajectories allows to calculate the mean square displacement and the diffusion coefficient of each particle. These parameters are used to fit the data to several models of diffusion, and distinguish between different types of motions (random walk, confined motion, directed motion, etc.). The last years have witnessed exciting advancements to bypass the limited spatial resolution inherent to standard optical microscopy. New generations of super-resolution microscopes, fluorophores and data analysis methods have allowed reaching resolution of few nanometers. We have very recently set a super-resolution RESOLFT microscope, which is able to image, based on principles reminiscent of those used for STED microscopy, cellular structures labelled with photo-switchable fluorescent proteins in living cells, with a lateral resolution down to 80 nm. Aside to single particle tracking experiments, the RESOLFT microscope represents an additional exquisite tool for the study of the molecular processes occurring during the development of Alzheimer’s disease. P8 Evidence of saturation effects in CH3OH molecule by means of THz QCL based spectroscopy A. Campa1, L. Consolino1, S. Bartalini1,2, M. Ravaro1, H. E. Beere 4 , D. A. Ritchie 4 , M. S. Vitiello1,3, P. Cancio1,2, D. Mazzotti1,2, P. De Natale 1,2 1 INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica – CNR, Largo E. Fermi 6, Firenze I-50125, Italy. 2 LENS, European Laboratory for NonLinear Spectroscopy, Via N. Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino (FI) I-50019, Italy. 3 NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze – CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza San Silvestro 12, Pisa I-56127, Italy. 4 Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. Abstract The Terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum covers a still under-explored gap, though having potential not only for countless applications in strategic fields, like bio-medical diagnostics, communication technology, security and defense, but also for a number of studies on molecules, since rotational transitions generally fall in the far-infrared range. These transitions typically have large line-strengths [1], and can be very suitable not only for the development of high-sensitivity trace-gas sensing techniques [2], but also for investigating fundamental aspects in molecular physics, like non-linear effects due to saturation mechanisms. Non-linearity is also important for the development of sub-Doppler spectroscopic techniques, that could provide further improvements in the precision of already demonstrated approaches to THz metrology. As an example, the achieved accuracy of 4·10 -9 in the determination of the absolute frequency of a methanol transition demonstrated by our group [3], is at present limited only by the experimental signal-to-noise ratio and the Doppler-limited spectroscopic resolution. In this framework, THz Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) are a valuable tool, since they have first achieved, in the THz range, mW-level powers that can easily produce efficient optical pumping between molecular levels, thus inducing measurable non-linear effects. Here, we present a study of the saturation effect of a molecular transition by using a free-running QCL, in view of QCL-based sub-Doppler spectroscopy. The experiment is based on the simple direct-absorption setup, where the QCL frequency is tuned across the molecular line. Several sets of measurements have been performed, either while changing the methanol gas pressure at a given laser power, or while varying the intensity of the laser beam at a given gas pressure. The results clearly show the presence of a saturation effect, that is very evident at lower pressures, while disappearing for pressures larger than 0.1 mbar. This confirms the possibility of performing QCL-based sub-Doppler spectroscopy and gives a quantitative estimation of the pressure ranges and the power levels that must be used in a future pump-probe saturated-absorption spectroscopy set-up. References [1] H. M. Pickett, R. L. Poynter, E. A. Cohen, M. L. Delitsky, J. C. Pearson, and H. S. P. Mueller, Submillimeter, Millimeter, and Microwave Spectral Line Catalog, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 883 (1998) 60. [2] L. Consolino, S. Bartalini, H. E. Beere, D. A. Ritchie, M. S. Vitiello, and P. De Natale, THz QCL-Based Cryogen-Free Spectrometer for in Situ Trace Gas Sensing, Sensors 3331–3340 (2013) 13. [3] S. Bartalini, L. Consolino, P. Bartolini, A. Taschin, P. Cancio, M. De Pas, H. Beere, D. Ritchie, M. S. Vitiello, R. Torre, and P. De Natale, Frequency comb assisted terahertz quantum cascade laser spectroscopy, Phys. Rev. X 021006 (2014) 4. Presenting author: Annamaria Campa, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica – CNR, Largo E. Fermi 6, Firenze I-50125, Italy, +39 474752954, [email protected] P9 New Quantum Simulation with Ultracold Ytterbium Atoms G. Cappellini1,2, M. Mancini1,4, G. Pagano2,3, C. Sias1,2, J. Catani1,2, M. Inguscio1,2,4,5, L. Fallani1,2,4 INO-CNR U.O.S. Firenze – LENS, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. LENS – European Laboratory for NonLinear Spectroscopy, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 3 SNS Scuola Normale Superiore, 56126 Pisa, Italy 4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 5 INRIM – Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Torino, Italy 1 2 Abstract I will report on the latest results in the Ytterbium lab at INO-CNR & LENS in Florence where we achieve quantum degeneracy of fermionic 173Yb. The specific features of this atomic element provide a powerful test bench for large-spin models ranging from quantum simulation of spinful one-dimensional (1D) systems to the realization of spin-orbit coupling in multicomponent ultracold fermions. The realization of 1D, strongly-correlated liquids of ultracold fermions interacting repulsively [1] with a tunable number N of spin components is reported. We observe that static and dynamic properties of the system deviate from those of ideal fermions and, for N > 2, from those of a spin-1/2 Luttinger liquid. In the large-N limit, the system exhibits properties of a bosonic spinless liquid. I will also report on the direct observation of coherent spin exchange oscillations between two different two-particles states corresponding to molecular potentials with opposite symmetry achieved by exciting 173Yb clock transition [2]. The coherence of the dynamics is revealed by recording long lived oscillations between the populations of the two states, belonging to different orbitals. This result paves the way to possible implementations of paradigmatic models of two-orbital magnetism, like the Kondo model. Finally I will show some preliminary results and perspectives on the physics of a spin-orbit coupled multicomponent Fermi gas accessible by opportunely engineering Raman couplings between the nuclear spin components of 173Yb. References [1] G. Pagano, M. Mancini, G. Cappellini, P. Lombardi, F. Schaefer, H. Hu, X.J. Liu, J. Catani, C. Sias, M. Inguscio, L. Fallani, A one-dimensional liquid of fermions with tunable spin, Nature Physics 10, 198-201 (2014). [2] G. Cappellini, M. Mancini, G. Pagano, P. Lombardi, F. Schaefer, L. Livi, M. Siciliani de Cumis, P. Cancio, M. Pizzocaro, D. Calonico, F. Levi, C. Sias, J. Catani, M. Inguscio, L. Fallani, Direct observation of coherent inter-orbital spin-exchange dynamics, arXiv:1406.6642, (2014), [Phys. Rev. Lett. in press]. Presenting author: Jacopo Catani, [email protected], LENS & INO-CNR via Nello Carrara, 1 I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino Firenze Italy P10 Copper oxide nanowires for surface ionization based gas sensor C. Cerqui1, A. Ponzoni, D. Zappa, E. Comini, and G. Sberveglieri 1 SENSOR Lab, University of Brescia, Eng. Information Department and CNR-INO, Via Valotti, 9 – Brescia - ITALY Abstract This work focuses on the use of copper oxide (CuO) nanowires as gas sensors. CuO nanowires were prepared by thermal oxidation starting from a thin film of metallic copper deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. In addition to the well-known conductimetric sensors, we have developed another kind of device depending upon a different sensing mechanism, namely surface ionization (SI). Our preliminary results show that humidity plays an important role in the ions formation and so in sensors performance. For this reason we have done a systematic study on the interaction mechanism of target molecules with hydroxyl groups adsorbates on CuO surface, explaining the experimental results in terms of acidity/basicity. We have studied the interaction mechanism of ammonia and ethanol molecules with OHadsorbates on CuO surface that resulting in the ion formation. We have seen how the effect of water is in relationship with acidity/basicity of gas, CuO and substrate. Copper oxide nanowires has been prepared by thermal oxidation. The growth process consisted into four main steps. Firstly, alumina substrates were cleaned in acetone using ultrasonic cleaner. Afterwards, metallic copper layer was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The metallic layer was etched in order to remove oxide spontaneously produced by the interaction of copper and oxygen in air. Finally, samples were oxidized by thermal oxidation in a tubular furnace [1]. In presence of ammonia in the tested atmosphere we have seen a more intense response in wet air than in dry air. The reason of this behavior is probably due to OH- ions adsorbates on the metal surface that give a proton to ammonia molecules and help in the formation of NH4+ ions. Differently, in presence of ethanol molecules in the tested atmosphere we have seen an higher response in dry air than in wet air. This is probably due to the fact that in wet air ethanol molecules cannot give their hydroxyl group to the metal surface, that is completely covered by hydroxyl groups of water and so it has not free absorption sites. Otherwise, in dry air ethanol molecules can give their hydroxyl group to CuO surface and convert itself in an ionic form. References [1] D. Zappa and E. Comini; Copper oxide nanowires prepared by thermal oxidation for chemical sensing; Procedia Engineering 25 (2011) 753 – 756 Corresponding author: Cristina Cerqui, SENSOR LAB via Valotti,9 Brescia, ITALY, Tel. +39 030 3715873, Fax +39 030 2091271, [email protected]. P11 Multimodal non-linear optical (NLO) microscopy of ex vivo human tissues R. Cicchi1,2, A. Sturiale3, E. Baria4, C. Matthaeus5, N. Vogler5, G. Nesi6, D. Massi6, F. Tonelli3, J. Popp5, and F. S. Pavone1,2,5 1 National Institute of Optics, National Research Council (INO-CNR), Largo Enrico Fermi 6 - 50125, Florence, Italy; 2 European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Via Nello Carrara, 1 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; 3 Department of Clinical Physiopathology, Surgical Unit, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; 4 Department of Physics, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; 5 Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT-Jena), Jena, Germany; 6 Division of Human Pathology and Oncology, Department of Surgical and Medical Critical Care, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; Abstract Modern optics and spectroscopy are offering promising non-invasive solutions to potentially improve diagnostic capability on tissues, as demonstrated by the extensive use of non-linear laser scanning microscopy for tissue imaging in the past decade. The recent development and integration of multiple non-linear optical (NLO) microscopy techniques in a single instrument has provided new opportunities for integrating morphological and functional information and for correlating the observed molecular and cellular changes with disease behaviour. In particular, multimodal NLO imaging is able to perform a morphochemical quantitative analysis in tumour cells and tissue specimens, providing a high-resolution label-free alternative to both histological and immunohistochemical examination of tissues. For example, two-photon fluorescence (TPF) microscopy and second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy are particularly powerful for tissue imaging. In fact, they can provide morphological information of the tissue under investigation with sub-cellular resolution at both epithelial and connective tissue level, producing images that correlates very well with the corresponding histological images [1]. In addition, the possibility of exciting molecules involved in the cellular metabolism, such as NADH and FAD nucleotides, as well as the analysis of fluorescence decay, can add functional information on the investigated tissue specimens, opening the possibility to diagnose cancer in a very early stage [1]. Results obtained on various tissues, including colon, skin, and arteries [2] using multiple NLO microscopy techniques are presented here, showing the capability of NLO microscopy for tissue imaging and characterization when used with a multimodal approach. Although up to now limited to optical research labs, multimodal NLO microscopy is becoming increasingly popular among medical doctors and has the potential to find a stable place in a clinical setting in the near future [3]. References [1] R. Cicchi, A. Sturiale, G. Nesi, D. Kapsokalyvas, G. Alemanno, F. Tonelli, and F.S. Pavone, Multiphoton morpho-functional imaging of healthy colon mucosa, adenomatous polyp and adenocarcinoma, Biomed. Opt. Express, 4 (2013)1204-1213. [2] R. Cicchi, C. Matthäus, T. Meyer, A. Lattermann, B. Dietzek, B. R. Brehm, J. Popp, and F. S. Pavone, Characterization of collagen and cholesterol deposition in atherosclerotic arterial tissue using non-linear microscopy, J. Biophoton. 7, (2014) 135-143. [3] R. Cicchi, The New Digital Pathology: Just Say NLO, Dig. Dis. Sci., 59 (2014) 1347–1348. Presenting author: Riccardo Cicchi, INO-CNR, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, 055-2308228. [email protected] P12 Frequency comb generation in cavity-enhanced second harmonic generation I. Ricciardi1, S. Mosca1, M. Parisi1, P. Maddaloni1, L. Santamaria1, P. De Natale2, M. De Rosa1 1 CNR-INO, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy 2 CNR-INO, Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI, Italy The quest for optical frequency combs (OFCs) has been strongly motivated by the need of increasingly precise frequency measurements. OFCs have quickly found new applications beyond frequency metrology and nowadays they are currently used in many laboratories as a tool for frequency transfer, precision spectroscopy, astronomical spectral calibration, generation of low-phase-noise microwave and RF oscillators [1]. Mode-locked femtosecond lasers have been the first systems used for realizing OFCs, however, in the last years, comb generation has been demonstrated in different systems, as continuously pumped optical microresonators, exploiting third order nonlinearities of the materials [2]. We report on frequency comb generation in a continuously-pumped second-order nonlinear crystal, placed in an optical cavity for resonantly-enhanced second harmonic generation [3]. By properly designing the optical cavity, as the pump power exceeds a threshold value of about 100 mW cascaded χ (2) nonlinear processes occur, enabling the onset of broadband comb emission around both the fundamental pump frequency and its second harmonic. Frequency combs are simultaneously generated both around the fundamental pump frequency and its second harmonic, with up to about 10 nm of spectral bandwidth. We observe different regimes of generation, depending on the phase-matching condition for second harmonic generation. We also present a simple dynamical model, showing striking resemblance to the four-wave mixing model usually adopted for combs in microresonators. References [1] P. Maddaloni, P. Cancio Pastor, and P. De Natale, Meas. Sci. Technol. 20, 052001 (2009). [2] T. J. Kippenberg, R. Holzwarth, and S. A. Diddams, Science 332, 555 (2011). [3] I. Ricciardi, M. De Rosa, A. Rocco, P. Ferraro, and P. De Natale, Opt. Express 18, 10985 (2010). Presenting author: Maurizio De Rosa, [email protected]. P13 Probing Elastic Modulation of Mixed-Phase Boundary in Epitaxial BiFeO3 Thin Films by Ultrasonic Force Microscopy Franco Dinelli1, Cesare Ascoli1, Cheng-En Cheng2,3, Heng-Jui Liu4, Yi-Chun Chen5, Chen-Shiung Chang2, Forest Shih-Sen Chien3, and Ying-Hao Chu4 1 2 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Pisa, Italy Department of Photonics and Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 3 Department of Applied Physics, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan 4 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 5 Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan Abstract The elastic response at the nanoscale phase boundary of multiferroics is essential to understand their exotic behaviors in piezo/ferroelectricity and multiferroicity [1,2]. Epitaxial mixed-phase BiFeO3 thin films on LaAlO3 (001) were characterized by means of Piezo Force Microscopy (PFM) in order to characterize the piezoelectric properties [3]. Additionally, Ultrasonic force microscopy (UFM) was employed to investigate the elastic response at the phase boundary of the mixed-phase regions [4]. Our homemade system allows PFM [3] and UFM [4] to be performed in the same place, with no need to withdraw the tip. The elastic modulation at the nanoscale mixed-phase region has been resolved, revealing that the low/high stiffness values perfectly coincide with the MI/MII,tilt phases. The rhombohedral-like MI phase is found to be more compliant than other phases. A large elastic modulation at the phase boundary on the MI side suggests a high strain gradient there compliant to compressive stress. (a) and (b) Topographic and UFM images of a mixed-phase region. (c) Cross-section profiles of height (in black for MI and blue for MII,tilt) and UFM signals (in red) along the dotted lines at the mixed-phase region in (a) and (b). The shadowed areas indicate the MII,tilt phase. The green arrows on the left side indicate the magnitude of the variation in UFM signal in the MI and MII,tilt areas. References [1] R. J. Zeches , et al., Science 326, 977 (2009) [2] Y.-C. Chen , et al., Advanced Materials 24, 3070 (2012) [3] A. Gruverman, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B 13, 1095 (1995) [4] O. Kolosov, K. Yamanaka, Japan J. of Appl. Phys. Part 2-Letters 32 (8A). L 1095 (1993) Presenting author: [email protected] P14 Quantum enhanced sensors with single spin N. Fabbri1,2 and P. Cappellaro2,3 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica INO-CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italia 2 European laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy LENS, Sesto Fiorentino, Italia 3 Nuclear Science and Engineering Department and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA 1 Abstract Whereas atoms trapped in optical lattices or cavities have demonstrated to be a powerful testbed for investigating properties of complex quantum systems in condensed matter physics, several solid-state systems – such as quantum dots, molecules embedded in solid-state matrix, and single defects in crystals – have emerged as versatile atom-like structures, useful for exploring the control of single-quantum systems. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond are a particularly promising platform for different applications, both in metrology and quantum information, thanks to their exceptional spin and optical properties. In particular, NV centers can be exploited as biocompatible sensors of magnetic and electric fields, temperature and pressure, even in ambient conditions [1-3]. They have also the potential to serve as quantum registers featuring decoherence-protected quantum gates and long coherence times [4-5]. Here, we present the new experimental activity that we are starting at Lens, focused on the study of NV centers. Using nuclear and electronic magnetic resonance, we want to exploit the combined sensitivity and high spatial resolution offered by NV centers for magnetometry applications. References [1] M. S. Grinolds et al., Nanoscale magnetic imaging of a single electron spin under ambient conditions, Nature Physics 9, 215 (2013). [2] G. Kucsko et al., Nanometre-scale thermometry in a living cell, Nature (London) 500, 54 (2013). [3] F. Dolde et al., Electric-field sensing using single diamond spins, Nature Physics 7, 459 (2011). [4] T. van der Sar et al., Decoherence-protected quantum gates for a hybrid solid-state spin register, Nature 484, 82 (2012). [5] P. C. Maurer et al., Room-temperature quantum bit memory exceeding one second, Science 336, 1283 (2012). Presenting author: Nicole Fabbri, INO-CNR and LENS, via Nello Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italia, phone +39 055 457 2469, email: [email protected]. P15 Measuring spatial entanglement in an optical lattice M. Cramer1, A. Bernard2, N. Fabbri2,3, F. Caruso2,4, S. Rosi2, L. Fallani2,4, C. Fort2,4, M. Inguscio2,4,5, M.B. Plenio1 1 Institut für Theoretische Physik and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Ulm, Germany 2 European laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy LENS, Sesto Fiorentino, Italia 3 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica INO-CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italia 4 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italia 5 Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica INRIM, Torino, Italia Abstract Entanglement is a fundamental resource for quantum information processing [1-3], its applications including scalable quantum communication, secure quantum key distribution protocols for cryptography, and exponential speedup of quantum algorithms. It occurs naturally in manybody systems at low temperatures: This makes cold atoms good candidates to provide entangled states involving a large number of particles. For realizing and manipulating such states, an essential task is quantifying the actual amount of entanglement contained in the created state before using it for quantum information protocols. However, this task represents a major challenge, as it requires either full state tomography, scaling exponentially in the system size, or the assumption of unverified system characteristics such as its Hamiltonian or temperature. In this experiment [4], we obtain a quantification of multipartite entanglement from readily accessible measurements – that is, time-of-flight atomic density distribution – based on a recent theoretical proposal [5]. We directly observe and quantify the multipartite spatial entanglement between the sites of a periodic optical potential (optical lattice) that hosts massive bosonic particles. We characterize its behaviour when crossing the superfluid-Mott insulator transition and when varying temperature, demonstrating the robustness of our method. References [1] M. A. Nielsen and I. L. Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2000). [2] R. Horodecki, et al., Quantum entanglement, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81 (2009) 865-942. [3] O. Göhne and G. Tóth, Entanglement detection, Physics Reports 474 (2009) 1-75. [4] M. Cramer, A. Bernard, N. Fabbri et al., Spatial entanglement of bosons in optical lattices, Nature Communications 4, (2013) 2161 1-4. [5] M. Cramer, M. B. Plenio, and H. Wunderlich, Measuring entanglement in condensed matter systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 (2011) 020401 1-4. Presenting author: Nicole Fabbri, INO-CNR and LENS, via Nello Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italia, phone +39 055 457 2469, email [email protected]. P16 Quantum Interferometry with trapped BEC with tunable interactions A. Trenkwalder1, M. Landini1, G. Spagnolli2, G. Semeghini2, G. Colzi2, G. Modugno2, M. Inguscio3, M. Fattori1,2 1 CNR-INO,Via Nello Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy 2 LENS,University of Florence, Via Nello Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy 3 INRIM, Strada delle Cacce 91, Torino, Italy We report on the operation of an atom interferometer with trapped Bose Einstein condensates of K39 where interactions can be tuned using broad magnetic Feshbach resonances [1]. An ultra-stable double well trapping potential allows to split and recombine the atomic matter wave in two distinct spatial modes. Canceling the homo-nuclear scattering length it is possible to achieve long coherence times and demonstrate the operation of a sensor with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution in the measurement of forces [2]. Our system is the ideal test bench to study the usefulness of non-classical states for quantum enhanced metrology. References [1] C. D'Errico, M. Zaccanti, M. Fattori, G. Roati, M. Inguscio, G. Modugno and A. Simoni, New. J. Phys. 9, 223 (2007) [2] M. Fattori, C. D’Errico, G. Roati, M. Zaccanti, M. Jona-Lasinio, M. Modugno, M. Inguscio, and G. Modugno, PRL 100, 080405 (2008) P17 Extremely bright diamond single-photon source with electrical pumping D. Yu. Fedyanin,1 and M. Agio2 Laboratory of Nanooptics and Plasmonics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Dolgoprudny, Russian Federation 2 National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO), Quantum Science and Technology in ARcetri (QSTAR) and European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), Florence, Italy 1 Abstract Operation at the single-photon level is beneficial for energy efficiency in optical and optoelectronic devices and opens new prospects for novel applications, ranging from quantum cryptography to quantum computations. In this regard, efficient single-photon sources operating at room temperature are crucially important. Color centers in diamond are currently the best candidates capable of room temperature operation. Intensive study of these defects in the lattice structure of diamond has resulted in the realization single-photon sources under optical pumping [1]. However, optical pumping is difficult to be implemented at the nanoscale, its energy efficiency is low, and, finally, filtering out the pump signal is challenging in integrated circuits. These problems can be eliminated by means of electrical pumping, where electrons and holes recombine via states of the color center and emit a photon. The possibility of operation upon electrical injection was not clear for diamond, mainly because diamond is a unique material at the interface between solid-state and semiconductor physics and can demonstrate effects from both of these worlds, but the recently demonstrated electroluminescence and single photon emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond have proven the concept [2,3]. However, so far extremely low emission rates, compared to optical pumping, i.e. of the order of 103 – 104 counts per seconds (cps) compared to 106 cps have been presented. Since neither theoretical description of electrically pumped color centers in diamond nor emission control has been presented, the fundamental limitations of the diamond single photon source are not known, so are its potential practical applications. In this work, we propose to pump electrically color center in diamond and use the metal electrode as a photonic element to control single-photon emission (enhance and direct it). Besides this, we present for the first time the theory for electroluminescence and single-photon emission from color centers and demonstrate that emission rates of more than 107 photons per second can be achieved with a nanoscale Schottky barrier diamond diode, which creates the backbone for practical implementation of electrically driven single-photon sources. References [1] I. Aharonovich et al., Diamond-based single-photon emitters, Rep. Prog. Phys. 74 (2011) 076501. [2] N. Mizuochi et. al., Electrically driven single-photon source at room temperature in diamond, Nat. Photon. 6 (2012) 299. [3] A. Lohrmann et al., Diamond based light-emitting diode for visible single-photon emission at room temperature, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99 (2011) 251106. Presenting author: Dmitry Yu. Fedyanin, address: 9 Institutsky Lane, Dolgoprudny 141707, Moscow Region, Russian Federation, phone: +79260806104, email: [email protected]. P18 Piezoelectric and thermoelectric energy converters for power harvesting in autonomous microsystems 1 M. Ferrari1,2, M. Baù1, S. Dalola1, M. Demori1, V. Ferrari1,2 Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy 2 CNR-INO, U.O.S. Brescia, SENSOR Lab, Brescia, Italy Abstract Networks of autonomous sensors are in constant expansion. To be fully autonomous, it is necessary that the sensors carry their power supply. Batteries have limitations such as the demand for periodical access for replacement/recharge; the energy harvesting from freely-available ambient sources is generally considered a very promising alternative. The piezoelectric effect can be exploited in energy harvesters from mechanical sources such as vibrations and movement, while thermoelectric converters can be used when thermal gradients are present. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric converters fabricated by Thick-Film Technology (TFT) have been proposed to power autonomous sensors [1]. Besides screen-printing, approaches based on direct-writing technology are investigated by depositing a low-curing-temperature PZT ink on a MEMS silicon cantilever [2]. Recent trends in energy harvesting from vibrations are aimed at obtaining broadband response overcoming the bandwidth limitations of the conventional harvesters based on single resonant converter. One investigated approach is multi-element harvesters which combine the outputs from multiple converters with different frequency responses into a Multi-Frequency Converter Array (MFCA) [3]. Another approach to widen the effective frequency range of the harvested energy from broadband vibrations is the exploitation of nonlinear effects coupled to a piezoelectric converter. The use of magnets introduces a counter-restoring force which sums to the elasticity of the beam and causes nonlinearity or bistability [4-5]. Autonomous systems based on piezoelectric converters have been implemented in different application including energy harvesting from Von Karman vortices in airflow [6]. Commercial thermoelectric modules have been investigated and used to supply an autonomous system that interfaces with a temperature sensor and periodically transmits the measurement information via an RF link [7]. In order to improve the power density per unit area in thermoelectric generators (TEGs), a thermoelectric microgenerator based on a novel structure, has been designed, fabricated in BESOI MEMS technology and experimentally characterized [8]. The concept exploits the heat flowing in elements with different thermal resistances and produces local temperature differences in the device. In addition, promising high-efficiency thermoelectric materials based on zinc oxide and copper oxide nanowires have been investigated. Combining ZnO and CuO nanowire elements, a prototype of planar thermoelectric module has been fabricated and experimentally characterized, confirming feasibility of fabricating planar thermoelectric generators based on metal-oxide nanowires with the future aim to powering autonomous sensor microsystems [9]. References [1] M. Ferrari et al., IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 55-6 (2006) 2096-2101. [2] M. Baù et al., Procedia Engineering, 25 (2011) 737-744. [3] M. Ferrari et al., Sens. Actuators A, 142-1 (2008) 329-335. [4] M. Ferrari et al., Sens. Actuators A, 162-2 (2010) 425-431. [5] M. Ferrari et al., Sens. Actuators A, 172-2 (2011) 287-292. [5] M. Demori et al., Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 268 LNEE, (2014) 417-421. [6] S. Dalola et al., Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on, 58-1 (2009) 99,107. [7] S. Dalola, V. Ferrari, Procedia Engineering, 25 (2011) 207-210. [8] D. Zappa et al., Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 5 (2014) 927-936. Presenting author: Marco Ferrari, Dept. of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy, Tel: +39.030.3715899, Fax: +39.030.380014, E-mail: [email protected] P19 Prospects for vibrational cooling for RbCs ultra-cold molecules A. Fioretti1, H. Lignier2, D. Comparat2 and C. Gabbanini1 1 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, INO-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Bat. 505, 91405 Orsay, France Abstract Hetero-nuclear ultra-cold molecules are the object of many experimental and theoretical efforts because of their promising applications in precise measurements of fundamental physical constants, in quantum computation and in the so-called ultra-cold chemistry [1]. Beside the very successful results obtained with the magneto-association technique followed by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage , which produces almost quantum degenerate samples of molecules in a definite ground level [2,3], photo-association (PA) of cold atoms in a double-species magneto-optical trap remains an experimentally simpler option. In this case, spontaneous emission distributes molecules over many ground-state levels. Nevertheless, the ro-vibrational laser cooling technique, which uses a combination of broad-band and narrow-band lasers, is in principle able to pump most of the molecules in a target level [4, 5,6]. In this poster we present our experimental and theoretical efforts for the RbCs case. In this system, quite efficient, short-range PA transitions have been found [7], some of them already naturally producing a large fraction of molecules in the (v=0, J=0) level of the ground-state [8]. As we will show, the structure of the potential energy curves of RbCs is rather unfavorable to the vibrational cooling of the molecules into the (v=0) level, and indeed it was not observed experimentally. On the contrary, vibrational cooling into a higher level, for example the (v=3), should be possible although needs a more complex spectral shaping of the pumping laser. References [1] R.V. Krems, W.C. Stwalley and B. Friedrich, Cold molecules: theory, experiment, applications, (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2009). [2] K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, D. Wang, G. Quemener, B. Neyenhuis, M.H.G. de Miranda, J.L. Bohn, J. Ye, and D. Jin, Nature, 464 (2010). 1324 [3] T. Takekoshi, L. Reichsollner, A. Shindewolf, J.M. Hutson, C.R. le Sueur, O. Dulieu, F. Ferlaino, R. Grimm, and H.C. Nagerl, ArXiv e-prints (2014), arXiv :1405.6037 [cond-mat.quant-gas]. [4] M. Viteau, A. Chotia, M. Allegrini, N. Bouloufa, O. Dulieu, D. Comparat, and P. Pillet, Science, 321 (2008) 232 [5] I. Manai, R. Horchani, H. Lignier, P.Pillet, D. Comparat, A. Fioretti, and M. Allegrini, Phys, Rev, Lett., 109 (2012). 183001 [6] A.Wakim, P. Zabawa, M. Haruza, and N. P. Bigelow, Luminorefrigeration of NaCs, Opt. Ex., 20 (2012) 16083 [7] C. Gabbanini and O. Dulieu, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 13 (2011) 18905 [8] T. Shimasaki, M. Bellos, C.D. Bruzewicz, Z. Lasner, and D. de Mille, ArXiv e-prints (2014), arXiv :1407.7512. Presenting author: Andrea Fioretti, INO-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, tel +050 3152528, email: [email protected] P20 Progress towards the realization of a quantum degenerate dipolar gas of dysprosium atoms A. Fioretti1, J. Catani2,3, L. del Bino2, C. Gabbanini1, S. Gozzini1, M. Inguscio2,4, E. Lucioni2,3 and G. Modugno2,3, 1 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, C.N.R., UOS Pisa, via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy LENS and Dip. di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 3 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica,CNR, UOS Sesto Fiorentino, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 4 INRIM, 10135 Torino, Italy Abstract Long-range interactions, such as Coulomb interaction between electrons and dipolar interaction between magnetic spins, usually govern the behavior of many physical systems. A controlled experimental environment to study quantum effects of long-range interactions is therefore of general interest. Ultracold polar molecules, frozen Rydberg atoms and quantum gases with strong magnetic dipolar interactions offer the possibility to study paradigm systems that can lead to better understanding some physical mechanisms of real matter and possibly to the engineering of new materials. Moreover, the ability to hold them in the ordered environment provided by an optical lattice opens the way to studies of strongly-correlated systems in different dimensionalities. With the present project we plan to realize a quantum gas of dysprosium atoms to perform quantum simulations of strongly-correlated dipolar systems. Contrary to alkali atoms, usually employed in cold atoms experiments, dysprosium has a huge magnetic dipole moment, 10 Bohr magnetons, the largest among all elements. For this reason, besides interacting via van der Waals interaction, which has substantially a contact nature, Dy atoms also interact via dipole-dipole magnetic interaction, which is both long-range and anisotropic. The combination of these two ingredients leads to the appearance of peculiar quantum phenomena so far only barely explored[1]. Moreover, Dy isotopes, with both fermionic and bosonic nature, can be brought to quantum degeneracy[2,3], allowing statistics-dependent studies. At present, a blue laser source (421nm) for the Zeeman slowing of the Dy beam has been realized, together with part of the control electronics. Test of the vacuum apparatus is in progress. The first results of magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of dysprosium are expected at the beginning of 2015, as soon as a 626nm narrowline laser source, necessary for MOT operation, is acquired. This experiment is a joint effort of teams from both the Pisa and the Sesto Fiorentino sections of the INO-CNR. References [1] C. Trefzger, C. Menotti, B. Capogrosso-Sansone, and M Lewenstein, Ultracold dipolar gases in optical lattices, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 44 (2011) 193001. [2] Mingwu Lu, Nathaniel Q. Burdick, Seo Ho Youn, and Benjamin L. Lev, Strongly Dipolar Bose-Einstein Condensate of Dysprosium, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107 (2011) 190401 [3] Mingwu Lu, Nathaniel Q. Burdick, and Benjamin L. Lev, Quantum Degenerate Dipolar Fermi Gas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108 (2012) 215301 Presenting author: Andrea Fioretti, INO-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, tel +050 3152528, email: [email protected] P21 The calibration system of the new g-2 experiment at Fermilab A. Anastasi1,3, D. Babusci1, G. Cantatore4,7, D. Cauz4,9, S. Dabagov1, G. Di Sciascio6, R. Di Stefano5,10, C. Ferrari1,2, A. Fioretti1,2, C. Gabbanini1,2, D. Hampai1, M. Iacovacci5,8, M. Karuza4,11, F. Marignetti5,10, M. Mastroianni8, D. Moricciani6, G. Pauletta4,9, L. Santi4,9,G. Venanzoni1 1 Laboratori Nazionali Frascati dell' INFN, Via E. Fermi 40, 00044 Frascati, Italy Istituto Nazionale di Ottica del C.N.R., UOS Pisa, via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Messina, Messina, Italy 4 INFN, Sezione di Trieste e G.C. di Udine, Italy 5 INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Italy 6 INFN, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy 7 Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy 8 Università di Napoli, Napoli, Italy 9 Università di Udine, Udine, Italy 10 Università di Cassino, Cassino, Italy 11 University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia 2 Abstract The muon anomaly a=(g-2)/2 is a low-energy observable, which can be both measured and computed to high precision [1]. Therefore it provides an important test of the Standard Model (SM) and it is a sensitive search for new physics [2]. Since the first precision measurement of a from the E821 experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in 2001 [3], there has been a discrepancy between its experimental value and the SM prediction. This discrepancy has been slowly growing to more than 3 standard deviations due to impressive theoretical and experimental achievements, and its now dominated by the uncertainty in the theoretical calculation. A new experiment, E989 [4] at Fermilab, to measure the muon g-2 to a precision of 1.6x10-10 (0.14 ppm), is expected to start data taking in 2017. To achieve a statistical uncertainty of 0.1 ppm, the total data set must contain more than 1.8x1011 detected positrons with energy greater than 1.8 GeV. The systematical uncertainty will be reduced to 0.1 ppm thanks to: (i) a higher proton rate but with less protons per bunch than at BNL; (ii) 900m pion decay line (BNL: 80m); (iii) less pion flash at muon ring injection; (iiii)improved detectors against signal pileup, new electronics and better shimming to reduce B-field variations. The new experiment will require upgrades of detectors, electronics and data acquisition equipment to handle the much higher data volumes and slightly higher instantaneous rates. In particular, it will require a continuous monitoring and state-of-art calibration of the detectors, whose response may vary on both the short timescale of a single fill, and on the long one of an entire run. This will be attained by sending trains of calibrated laser pulses simultaneously on all the detectors. References [1] F. Jegerlehner, \The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon," Berlin, Springer (2008) 426 p (Springer tracts in modern physics. 226) [2] D. St ockinger, \Muon (g-2) and physics beyond the standard model," In Roberts, Lee B., Marciano, William J. (eds.): Lepton dipole moments 393-438 (Adv. series on directions in high energy physics. 20) [3] H. N. Brown et al. [Muon g-2 Collaboration], Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2227 (2001). [4] New Muon (g 2) Collaboration, R.M. Carey et. al., see http://lss.fnal.gov/archive/testproposal/0000/fermilab-proposal-0989.shtml Presenting author: Andrea Fioretti, INO-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, tel +050 3152528, email: [email protected] P22 A cold cesium atom source for Focused Ion Beams and Single Ion Implantation M. Allegrini1,4, Y. Bruneau2, D. Ciampini1,4, D. Comparat2, A. Fioretti4,1, F. Fuso1,4, I. Guerri1, L. Kime3, P. Pillet2, B. Rasser3, G. Shayeganrad1, P. Sudraud3, and M. Viteau3 1 Dipart. di Fisica, Univ. di Pisa,and CNISM, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 PISA, Italy 2 Lab. Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Un. Paris-Sud, ENS Cachan, Bât. 505, 91405 Orsay, France 3 Orsay Physics, 95 Avenue des Monts Aurélien,ZAC Saint Charles, 13710 Fuveau, France 4 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, U.O.S. Pisa, via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy Abstract Monochromatic ion beams are invaluable tools in material sciences, in the emerging nanotechnology industry, and in studies of biological materials. In these domains, where ions are used to modify, image or analyze surfaces and materials, the ability to convey large ion currents into smaller and smaller spot sizes is considered as a primary figure of merit.[1] State-of-the-art Focused Ion Beams (FIBs) are commercially available, based mainly on plasma, liquid metal tip or Helium ion sources for large, intermediate, and low currents, respectively. On the other extreme of the current range, single ion delivery and implantation onto a surface with nanometric precision opens exciting research possibilities and leads to the ultimate frontiers of the solitary dopant optoelectronics solotronics - for engineering few atoms devices.[2] Recently, experimental realizations of novel ion or electron sources based on the ionization of laser-cooled atoms have been reported [3,4] and have shown the potential of these new sources. Due to the low temperatures associated with laser cooling, the ion (or electron) beam originating from the cold sample has an extremely narrow angular spread. This means that ion or electron sources based on the ionization of cold atoms would have the ability to create very small focal spots with relatively strong currents. Here we present two experiments realized within the framework (IAPP grant) of a collaboration among three (two academic and one industrial) partners. In the first one a FIB machine has been realized and used to image and modify different targets with a typical 100nm resolution. In the second one, bunches of low-energy ions, virtually single ones, are extracted and directed onto a detector, trying to establish a protocol for deterministic delivery of single ions. Both experiments are based on the ionization of laser-cooled cesium atom beams. After this first demonstration of the prototype cold atom-based FIB, further development and engeneering are actually undertaken by the industrial partner. D.C., F.F. and P.S. acknowledge gratefully the support of the European Union Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 under Grant Agreement No. 251391 MC-IAPP ”COLDBEAMS”. G.S. and M.V. are Research Fellows hired under this program. References [1] J. Orloff, M. Utlaut, and L. Swanson, High Resolution Focused Ion Beams: FIB and its applications (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002). [2] P.M. Koenraad and M.A.. Flatté, single dopants in semiconductors, Nature Materials, 10 (2011) 91 [3] B. Knuffman, A.V. Steele, J. Orloff and J.J. McClelland, Nanoscale focused ion beam from laser-cooled lithium atoms, New Journal of Physics 13 (2011) 103035 [4] L. Kime, A. Fioretti, Y. Bruneau, N. Porfido, F. Fuso, M. Viteau, G. Khalili, N. Šantić, A. Gloter, B. Rasser, P. Sudraud, P. Pillet, and D. Comparat, High-flux monochromatic ion and electron beams based on laser-cooled atoms, Phys. Rev. A, 88 (2013) 033424 Presenting author: Andrea Fioretti, INO-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, tel +050 3152528, email: [email protected] P23 Liquid droplet whispering-gallery mode optical resonators S. Avino1, R. Zullo1, A. Giorgini1, P. Malara1, P. De Natale2, G. Gagliardi1 CNR-Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), via Campi Flegrei 34, Complesso “A. Olivetti”, 80078 Pozzuoli (Napoli), Italy 2 CNR-Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy 1 Abstract Over the last decade, optical whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) have been observed in solid micro-cavities of various geometries [1]. WGMs supported by dielectric microspheres and toroids exhibit and optical field that is confined near to the surface. The interaction with chemical species may occur through the modification of the optical environment of the resonator if the internal field is exposed along the cavity-medium interface. For example, if interacting molecules exhibit optical absorption features at the operating wavelength, the lifetime of photons within the cavity is reduced [2]. Silica resonators proved ultra-sensitive bio-chemical probes but were also studied as miniature systems to observe coupling and interaction phenomena between light and matter. Here, we demonstrate the use of liquid droplets as micro-resonators for sensing applications. The droplet itself serves as the sensor and the sample at the same time, where the internal optical field is directly used to probe dissolved analytes or nanoparticles. We free-space light excitation of whispering-gallery modes in vertically-suspended mm-size oil droplets and laser frequency locking on resonant modes for cavity lifetime measurements, recording Q-factors ranging from 5x105 to 107 in the near-infrared and visible spectral regions [3]. The potential of droplet cavities for sensing of dielectric and metallic nanoparticles in the liquid by WGM shifts and Q-factor measurement is investigated [3, 4]. Future applications for bio-sensing, material characterization and non-linear optics are envisaged. References [1] A. B. Matsko, V. S. Ilchenko, Optical resonators with whispering-gallery modes, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. 12 (2006) 3-32. [2] J. A. Barnes, G. Gagliardi, H.-P. Loock, Absolute absorption cross section measurement of a sub-monolayer film on a silica microresonator, Optica 1 (2014) 75-83. [3] S. Avino, A. Krause, R. Zullo, A. Giorgini, P. Malara, P. De Natale, H.-P. Loock, and G. Gagliardi, Direct sensing in liquids using whispering-gallery mode droplet resonators, Adv. Opt. Mat., in press. [4] M. R. Foreman, S. Avino, R. Zullo, H.-P. Loock, F. Vollmer, and G. Gagliardi, Enhanced nanoparticle detection with liquid droplet resonators, Eur. Phys. J. ST, in press. Presenting author: Gianluca Gagliardi, Complezzo A. Olivetti, via Campi Flegrei 34 80078 Pozzuoli, +390818675423, +390818675420, [email protected]. P24 High-Coherence Mid-Infrared Frequency Comb Generation and Applications I. Galli, F. Cappelli, P. Cancio, G. Giusfredi, D. Mazzotti, S. Bartalini, P. De Natale Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO) - CNR and European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI, Italy Abstract A highly-coherent MIR-comb is generated through an intracavity DFG process [1]. The 1040-nm portion of the spectrum of a visible/NIR OFCS is amplified in an Ybdoped fiber and then mixed with the intracavity radiation at 839 nm of a Ti:sapphire (Ti:Sa) laser in a MgO:PPLN non-linear crystal. A MIR-comb centered around 4.33 μm is thus generated. We demonstrate that excess frequency noise of the NIR-comb can be efficiently removed in the down-converted one by properly using a direct digital synthesis (DDS) scheme. This leads to a 2.0 kHz tooth linewidth (in a 1-s timescale) of the generated MIR-comb. In addition, the high repetition rate (fr=1 GHz) and the intracavity power-boosted DFG determine an average per-tooth power of 1 μW and thus a power spectral density at the μW/kHz level, comparable to the best results achieved with OPO-based MIR-combs. The MIR-comb beam has been coupled to a high-finesse cavity in order to resolve the teeth and to study the frequency noise power spectral density (FNPSD). At this wavelength (4.33 μm) the finesse is ~8000. We have used the empty cavity to observe the resolved MIR-comb teeth with the Vernier technique. In order to estimate the coherence of the MIR-comb we have used the high-finesse cavity as frequency-toamplitude converter to retrieve the FNPSD of the radiation. From the FNPSD we have estimated a linewidth of the comb teeth of 2.0 kHz FWHM in a 1-s timescale and 750 Hz in a 20-ms timescale. This is to our knowledge the narrowest measured linewidth of a MIR-comb. Taking into account the MIR-comb power, we calculate a per-tooth power spectral density of 0.5 μW/kHz (in a 1-s timescale), which is comparable with the best values obtained with OPO-based MIR-combs [2, 3]. It is worth noting that this power level is in a range suitable for direct comb spectroscopy in this spectral region [4]. Moreover a quantum cascade laser at 4.33 μm has been phase-locked to a comb tooth and coupled to the same cavity in order to verify its frequency narrowing. Thanks to the locking, the QCL linewidth is reduced from about 600 kHz to 4.6 kHz in a 1-s timescale and the locking efficiency is ~73%. References [1] I. Galli, F. Cappelli, P. Cancio, G. Giusfredi, D. Mazzotti, S. Bartalini, and P. De Natale, Highcoherence mid-infrared frequency comb, Opt. Express, 21 (2013) 28877-28885. [2] F. Adler, K. C. Cossel, M. J. Thorpe, I. Hartl, M. E. Fermann, and J. Ye, Phase-stabilized, 1.5 W frequency comb at 2.8-4.8 μm, Opt. Lett., 34 (2009) 1330-1332. [3] K. L. Vodopyanov, E. Sorokin, I. T. Sorokina, and P. G. Schunemann, Mid-IR frequency comb source spanning 4.4-5.4 μm based on subharmonic GaAs optical parametric oscillator, Opt. Lett., 36 (2011) 2275-2277. [4] E. Baumann, F. R. Giorgetta, W. C. Swann, A. M. Zolot, I. Coddington, and N. R. Newbury, Spectroscopy of the methane ν3 band with an accurate midinfrared coherent dual-comb spectrometer Phys. Rev. A, 84 (2011) 062513. Presenting author: Iacopo Galli, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO) - CNR, UOS Firenze LENS, Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI, phone: 055-457-2292, email: [email protected]. P25 Nanostructured ZnO for Novel Metal Oxide Gas Sensors V. Galstyan, E. Comini, C. Baratto, N. Poli, G. Faglia, G. Sberveglieri Sensor Lab, Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia and CNR INO, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy Abstract The specific physical and chemical properties of transition metal oxides open great perspectives for their applications in environmental monitoring and catalysis [1-3]. Among different transition oxides ZnO with a wide direct band gap (3.37 eV) and high exciton energy (60 meV) is one of the extensively investigated materials due to its mixed covalent/ionic aspects in the chemical bonding [4]. Herein, we report fabrication and gas sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures. The structures have been obtained by electrochemical anodization and post-growth annealing of thin films of metallic Zn. Thin films of metallic Zn were deposited on 2 mm square alumina substrates by means of RF (13.56 MHz) magnetron sputtering. Metallic thin films of Zn were anodized in two-electrode system at room temperature. A platinum foil was used as a counter electrode. Anodization was carried out in ethanolic solution of oxalic acid dihydrate. As-prepared samples were zinc oxalate dihydrate (ZnC2O4⋅2H2O). To transform the prepared samples to crystalline ZnO they were annealed at 400 °C for 4 h. The morphology of the samples was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The crystal structure studies were performed by means of X-Ray Diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Gas sensing properties towards H2, CH4 and NO2 were investigated in a wide range of operating temperature. Morphological analysis shows that ZnO has been obtained in shape of nanoparticles with the diameter of 25 nm that are connected with each other forming chains. The structural investigations indicate that the samples have been transformed to crystalline ZnO after the thermal treatment. The structures show high and reversible response to NO2, H2 and CH4 indicating that the obtained architecture of nanostructured ZnO is promising for chemical sensors. References [1] M.J.S. Spencer, Gas sensing applications of 1D-nanostructured zinc oxide: Insights from density functional theory calculations, Progress in Materials Science, 57 (2012) 437-486. [2] V. Galstyan, E. Comini, G. Faglia, G. Sberveglieri, TiO2 nanotubes: Recent advances in synthesis and gas sensing properties, Sensors (Switzerland), 13 (2013) 14813-14838. [3] C. Brookes, P.P. Wells, G. Cibin, N. Dimitratos, W. Jones, D.J. Morgan, M. Bowker, Molybdenum Oxide on Fe2O3 Core-Shell Catalysts: Probing the Nature of the Structural Motifs Responsible for Methanol Oxidation Catalysis, Acs Catalysis, 4 (2014) 243-250. [4] Q. Yuan, Y.P. Zhao, L. Li, T. Wang, Ab Initio Study of ZnO-Based Gas-Sensing Mechanisms: Surface Reconstruction and Charge Transfer, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 113 (2009) 6107-6113. Presenting author: Vardan galstyan, Sensor Lab, Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia and CNR INO, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy, + 39 030 3715702, +39 030 2091271, [email protected]. P26 Innovative interrogation methods for surface-plasmon-resonance based bio-chemical sensors A. Giorgini1, R. Zullo1, S. Avino1, P. Malara1, G. Gagliardi1, P. De Natale1,2 1 INO-CNR, Pozzuoli, Napoli, Italy 2 INO-CNR, Firenze, Italy The growing interest towards safety controls and environmental monitoring, has driven the demand of a new generation of label free, selective chemical sensors [1,2]. In this framework a lead role is played by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors. An intensive research activity has been spent on different stages of the sensing process. On one side, the efforts have been concentrated on the efficiency improvement of chemical immobilization protocols, while new techniques have been applied to on-chip engineering for sensitivity enhancement. No real advance has been obtained in optical techniques for detection&readout of the SPR interaction with the target medium. The state-of the-art resolution ranges between 10-6 and 10-7 RIU. The ultimate resolution limiting factor, in most cases,is set by the amplitude fluctuations of the light source and photodetector noise [2,3]. However, the selective detection of low-weight molecular species at low concentration, of great importance in bio-medical tests and experiments, requires even higher resolution. With the aim to overcome the present limits, our activiy has focused on the development of new SPR optical interrogation methods. In particular, the application of experimental techniques derived from laser spectroscopy has been considered. The first step is represented by the integration of the SPR sensing element (chip), in a Kretschmann configuration [1], as an intermediate mirror of an optical resonator. The system is interrogated by a single-wavelength laser source. The SPR light coupling variations, caused by sample refractive index changes or by an analyte captured on the sensing surface, affect the reflectivity of the chip and thus modulate the intracavity radiation loss. Very promising results have been obtained thanks with a time-domain measurements approach. In this scheme, the refractive-index changes seen by the SPR have been detected through the measurement of the cavity photon lifetime [4,5]. New measurement schemes, based on a differential detection approach, are under development to improve resolution and longterm stability. Applications to bio-sensing are envisaged using a microfluidic system within the resonator set-up and standard chip-functionalization protocols. References [1] J. Homola, Surface plasmon resonance based sensors, Springer, Vol. 4 (2006). [2] P. Adam, M. Piliarik, H. Šípová, T. Špringer, M. Vala, J. Homola, Surface Plasmons for Biodetection, in Photonic Sensing: Principles and Applications for Safety and Security Monitoring, G. Xiao & W. Bock, (Eds.), John Wiley & Sons (2012) 1-58. [3] M. Piliarik and J. Homola, Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors: approaching their limits?, Optics express, 17.19 (2009) 16505-16517. [4] A. Giorgini, et al., Surface plasmon resonance optical cavity enhanced refractive index sensing, Optics letters, 38.11 (2013): 1951-1953. [5] A. Giorgini, S. Avino, P. Malara, R. Zullo, G. Gagliardi, J. Homola, P. De Natale, Cavity-enhanced surface-plasmon resonance sensing: modeling and performance, Measurement Science and Technology 25.1 (2014): 015205. Presenting author: Antonio Giorgini, INO-CNR, UOS Napoli, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy, phone +39 081 867 5415, fax +39 081 867 5420, e-mail: [email protected]. P27 Graphene-Based Hybrid Films for High-Performance Transparent Electrode Applications I. Kholmanov, G. Sberveglieri CNR-INO, Sensor Lab, Via Branze 45, Italy Abstract Today, indium tin oxide (ITO) is the main material used for transparent conductive films (TCFs). However, the brittle ceramic structure, poor compatibility with organic materials, and the growing cost of indium, seriously limit the use of ITO in TCFs. Therefore, several other materials including new oxide films, conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes (CNT), metal nanostructures, and graphene-based nanostructures have been investigated as alternatives to ITO. Among these materials, carbon nanotubes, metal nanowires (NWs), and graphene-based films garner interest due to their good TCF characteristics, i.e., low sheet resistance (Rs) and high optical transmittance (T). However, their use in a wide range of devices is restricted by several specific drawbacks. In particular, metal NW and CNT films, are characterized by open spaces between nanostructures, high surface roughness, and poor adhesion to substrates. Drawbacks of graphene films include the currently costly fabrication that use vacuum and high temperature and the time-consuming and challenging multiple transfer steps from metal to the transparent substrate. Here, we demonstrate a general strategy for fabrication of hybrid TCFs composed of graphene and metal nanowires. We demonstrate that the shortcomings of single component TCFs might be overcome by hybrid films, in which the film properties can be improved due to synergy between individual components. Moreover hybrid TCFs may exhibit additional functionalities that can vary depending on their composition. This feature opens up possibilities for developing next generation multi-component and multifunctional TCFs. Presenting author: Dr. Iskandar Kholmanov, CNR-INO Sensor Lab, [email protected] P28 Tailoring and characterization of porous hierarchical nanostructured p type thin film of Cu-Al-Oxide for the detection of pollutant gases R. Kumar1, C. Baratto1, G. Faglia1, D. Zappa1, G. Sberveglieri1, K.Vojisavljevic2, B. Malic2 1 SENSOR Lab. CNR-INO and University of Brescia, Dept. of Information Engineering, Via Valotti, 9 25133 Brescia, Italy 2 Electronic Ceramics Department, Jozef Stefan Institute Jamova 39, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia Abstract In past one decade, thin film, nanobelts, and nanowire based on p-type transparent conducting oxide materials have attracted significant research interest in the field of chemical gas sensing, nano electronic devices. An experimental approach for the detection of harmful gases in presence of humidity has been applied for gas sensors based on p-type Cu-Al-Oxide thin films. The impact of deposition conditions on the surface, morphology and sensing properties of the semiconducting oxide thin films are investigated. We observed that inert atmosphere and deposition temperature play the important role to affect the structural and surface morphology of Cu-Al-Oxide thin films. Thin films were deposited by RF sputtering on silicon in inert atmosphere starting with a 2” delafossite (CuAlO2) target [1,2]. The polycrystalline porous hierarchical nanostructured thin films on the silicon substrate were observed by SEM. For realization of solid state gas sensing device, thin film of Cu-Al-Oxide were deposited on alumina substrates. Sensors were exposed to reducing (Ethanol, acetone, NH3 and CO) and oxidizing (NO2 and O3) gases in 50% R.H. Sensors behave like p-type oxide material as observed from dynamics response. Operating temperature was varied form 150°C to 500°C. The optimum response towards low concentrations of O3 (70ppb) was observed at 300°C. Response to reducing gases was much smaller than that to ozone and optimum working temperature was observed to be 400°C. The result shows that Cu-Al-Oxide thin films might be used as p-type MOX for fabrication of gas sensor to detect the low concentration of acetone and ozone gases. The relation between testing properties and thin film morphology analyzed by SEM, Raman spectroscopy and XRD will also be discussed [3]. The research leading to this work has received funding from the European Communities 7th Framework Programme under grant agreement NMP3-LA-2010 – 246334. Financial support of the European Commission is therefore gratefully acknowledged. References [1] H. Kawazoe, M. Yasukawa, H. Hyodo, M. Kurita, H. Yanagi, and H. Hosono, P-type electrical conduction in transparent thin films of CuAlO2, Nature 389 (1997) 939. [2] K. Vojisavljevic, B. Malic, M. Senna, S. Drnovsek, M. Kosec, Solid state synthesis of nano-boehmite-derived CuAlO2 powder and processing of the ceramics, Journal of the European Ceramic Society 33 (2013) 3231–3241. [3] X. G. Zheng, K. Taniguchi, A. Takahashi, Y. Liu, and C. N. Xu, Room temperature sensing of ozone by transparent p-type semiconductor CuAlO2, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1728 (2004) 85. Presenting author: Raj Kumar, SENSOR Lab, University of Brescia & CNR-INO, Dept. of Information Engineering, Via Valotti, 9 25133 Brescia, Italy, Phone: +39-0303715873, Fax: +39 030 2091271, e-mail: [email protected]. P29 Mid-infrared digital holography with a quantum cascade laser M. Locatelli1, M. Ravaro1,2, E. Pugliese1, M. Siciliani de Cumis1,2, F. D’Amato1, P. Poggi1, L. Consolino1,2, R. Meucci1, P. Ferraro3, and P. De Natale1,2 1 INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica – CNR, Largo E. Fermi 6, Firenze I-50125, Italy 2 LENS, European Laboratory for NonLinear Spectroscopy, Via N. Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino (FI) I-50019, Italy 3 INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica – CNR – Sezione di Napoli, Via Campi Flegrei, 34 80078 Pozzuoli (Napoli), Italy Extension of hologram recording to the infrared (IR) spectrum has attracted a considerable interest since the early stage of holography, due to the relaxation of the mechanical stability requirements and to the IR transparency of many materials opaque to the visible radiation [1]. In addition, IR hologram recording intrinsically benefits of a large field of view and is well suited for measuring optical path variations, avoiding recourse to phase-unwrapping algorithms [2]. In the last decade, in the wake of the establishment of digital holography (DH) in the visible range, the development of pyrocameras and focal plane array microbolometers, combined with powerful and highly coherent CO2 lasers, has finally boosted IR holography: thanks to sensors including 100,000s of pixels as small as few tens of μm and operating at room temperature, CO2 laser based DH has proved its potential for practical applications [3]. Although their maximum output power and coherence length cannot be as high as those of CO2 lasers, QCLs appear as interesting sources for mid-IR holography, due to their compactness and to the coverage of different regions of the mid-IR spectrum, ranging from 3 to 16 µm [4]. Moreover, the present availability of tunable QCLs oscillating in an external cavity makes them convenient in particular for holographic interferometry [5]. In this work we report the first demonstration of mid-IR digital holography based on a QCL, included in an external cavity and tunable by several 100s nm around 8 µm. By means of a high sensitivity microbolometric thermocamera we acquired speckle holograms of scattering objects, which could be processed in real time [6]. In addition, by exploiting the broad laser tunability, we could acquire holograms at different wavelengths, from which we extracted phase-images not affected by phase-wrapping, with equivalent wavelengths ranging from 100s µm to several mm, thus largely extending the optical path range of mid-IR holographic interferometry [7]. References [1] J. S. Chivian, R. N. Claytor, and D. D. Eden, "Infrared holograms at 10.6 µm", Appl. Phys. Lett. 15, 123 (1969). [2] M. P. Gerorges, J.-F. Vandenrijt, C. Thizy, Y. Stockma, P. Queeckers, F. Dubois, and D. Doyle, "Digital holographic interferometry with CO2 lasers and diffuse illumination applied to large space reflectors metrology", Appl. Opt. 52, A102 (2013). [3] M. Locatelli, E. Pugliese, M. Paturzo, V. Bianco, A. Finizio, A. Pelagotti, P. Poggi, L. Miccio, R. Meucci, and P. Ferraro, "Imaging live humans through smoke and flames using far-infrared digital holography", Opt. Express 21, 5379 (2013). [4] J. Faist, Quantum Cascade Lasers, (Oxford, 2013). [5] R. Maulini, I. Dunayevskiy, A. Lyakh, A. Tsekoun, C. K. N. Patel, L. Diehl, C. Pfluegl, and F. Capasso, "Widely tunable high-power external cavity quantum cascade laser operating in continuous-wave at room temperature", Electron. Lett. 45, 107 (2009). [7] M. Ravaro, M. Locatelli, E. Pugliese, I. Di Leo, M. Siciliani de Cumis, F. D’Amato, P. Poggi, L. Consolino, R. Meucci, P. Ferraro, and P. De Natale, " Mid-infrared digital holography and holographic interferometry with a tunable quantum cascade laser", Opt. Lett. 39, 4843 (2014). [6] A. Wada, M. Kato, and Y. Ishii, "Multiple-wavelength digital holographic interferometry using tunable laser diodes", Appl. Opt. 47 , 2053 (2008). Presenting author: Massimiliano Locatelli, email: [email protected], Tel: +39 055 2308286 P30 Sensing with a split-mode fiber Bragg-grating ring resonator P. Malara, A. Giorgini, S. Avino and G. Gagliardi Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), via Campi Flegrei, 34 - Comprensorio A. Olivetti, 80078 Pozzuoli (Naples), Italy L. Mastronardi, C. E. Campanella, , V.M.N. Passaro Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e dell’Informazione, Politecnico di Bari, Via Edoardo Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy. A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) integrated into a ring cavity acts as a partial reflector that couples the two counterpropagating modes of the resonator. Such a coupling results in a frequency splitting of the resonances that depends on the reflectivity of the intracavity FBG. We show that the mode-splitting of such a device can be used as an observable for strain sensing applications. The width of the split resonances depends on the length of the fiber loop, but the mode-splitting is almost immune from the perturbations of L. The demonstrated technique thus combines the measurement precision attainable in a long fiber optic resonator with the local sensing approach of a standalone FBG. A resolution of 320 pε/Ηz1/2 at 0 Hz is experimentally demonstrated, which is to our knowledge the highest achieved to date for static deformations. References 1. J. Rao, “In-fibre Bragg grating sensors” Meas. Sci. Technol. 8, 355 (1997). 2. J. H. Chow, D. E. McClelland, M. B. Gray, I. C. M. Littler, “Demonstration of a passive subpicostrain fiber strain sensor”. Opt. Lett. 30, 1923 (2005). 3. G. Gagliardi, S. De Nicola, P. Ferraro, P. De Natale - “Interrogation of fiber Bragg-grating resonators by polarization-spectroscopy laser-frequency locking”. Opt. Express 15, 3715 (2007). 4. C. E. Campanella, A. Giorgini, S. Avino, P. Malara, R. Zullo, G. Gagliardi, and P. De Natale, “Localized strain sensing with fiber Bragg-grating ring cavities” Opt.Expr. 21, 24, pp. 29435-29441 (2013) 5. J. Ctyroky, I. Richter, M. Sinor, “Dual resonance in a waveguide coupled ring micro-resonator,” Opt. Quantum Electron. 38, 781 (2006). Presenting author: Pietro Malara, [email protected]. P31 Single-molecule study for a graphene-based nano-position sensor G. Mazzamuto1,4, A. Tabani1, S. Pazzagli2, S. Rizvi1, A. Reserbat-Plantey5, K. Schädler5, G. Navickaite5, L. Gaudreau5, F.S. Cataliotti1,2,3, F. Koppens5, and C. Toninelli1,3,4 LENS and Università di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 3 QSTAR, Firenze, Italy 4 INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Firenze, Italy 5 ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain 1 2 Abstract In this study we lay the groundwork for a graphene-based fundamental ruler at the nanoscale. It relies on the efficient energy-transfer mechanism between single quantum emitters and low-doped graphene monolayers. Our experiments, conducted with dibenzoterrylene (DBT) molecules, allow going beyond ensemble analysis due to the emitter photo-stability and brightness. A quantitative characterization of the fluorescence decay-rate modification is presented and compared to a simple model, showing agreement with the d-4 dependence, a genuine manifestation of a dipole interacting with a 2D material. With DBT molecules, we can estimate a potential uncertainty in position measurements as low as 5 nm in the range below 30 nm. References [1] A. A. L. Nicolet et al., Single Dibenzoterrylene Molecules in an Anthracene Crystal: Spectroscopy and Photophysics, ChemPhysChem, 8 (2007) 1215–1220 [2] C. Toninelli et al., Near-infrared single-photons from aligned molecules in ultrathin crystalline films at room temperature, 18 (2010) 6577–6582. [3] A. A. L. Nicolet et al., Single Dibenzoterrylene Molecules in an Anthracene Crystal: Main Insertion Sites, ChemPhysChem, 8 (2007) 1929–1936. [4] L. Gaudreau et al., Universal Distance-Scaling of Nonradiative Energy Transfer to Graphene, Nano Lett., 13 (2013) 2030–2035 Presenting author: Giacomo Mazzamuto, European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Via N. Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, tel. +39 055 457 2026, [email protected] P32 Composite materials as high efficiency photoanodes in excitonic solar cells R. Milan1, G.S. Selopal1, I. Concina1, G. Sberveglieri1, A. Vomiero1 1 CNR INO Sensor Lab and Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Italy Abstract Excitonic solar cells (XSCs) are appealing candidates as alternative devices for solar energy conversion, being in principle low cost, environmentally friendly and suitable for exploiting the near infrared (NIR) region of solar spectrum, which is typically lost in commercial solar cells. [1] Nanoparticulate TiO2 is currently the most known and exploited metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) applied as photoanode in both dye- and quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (DSCs and QDSCs), but in the last years main efforts are spent to study alternative materials to increase the efficiency and to reduce the costs of the devices. For example, the exceptional charge transport properties of carbonaceous materials, such as multi walled carbon nanotubes and graphene, make them ideal candidates to be integrated in TiO2 scaffold, with the aim to create a preferential path for the photogenerated charges to be transported and collected, significantly reducing charge recombination. [2] Transparent graphene layers can be also applied as front contact in dye-sensitized solar cells, as alternative to traditional transparent conducting oxides (TCOs). Other MOSs, such as ZnO and SnO2, are used in substitution of titania, due to higher electron mobility and band structure suitable for NIR-absorbing light harvesters, respectively. [3,4,5] Herein we present the results obtained from a deep investigation of alternative materials used as photoanodes and TCO in the DSSCs and QDSSs devices highlighting the benefits of the engineered materials and process in terms of efficiency and stability of the device. References [1] B. O’Regan, M. Graetzel, A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films, Nature, (1991) 353,737−740. [2] T. Dembele, G.S. Selopal, C. Soldano, R. Nechache, J.C. Rimada, I. Concina, G. Sberveglieri, F. Rosei, A. Vomiero, Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Scaffolds for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, J. Phys. Chem. C (2013) 117, 14510–14517 [3] E. Guillén, L. M. Peter, J. A. Anta, Electron Transport and Recombination in ZnO-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, J. Phys. Chem. C (2011) 115, 2262 [4] N. Memarian, I. Concina, A. Braga, SM Rozati, A Vomiero, G Sberveglieri, Hierarchically Assembled ZnO Nanocrystallites for High-Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Angew Chem (2011) 51, 12321 [5] A. Hossain, JR Jenning, Z.Y. Koh,Q. Wang, Carrier generation and collection in CdS/CdSe-sensitized SnO2 solar cells exhibiting unprecedented photocurrent densities, ACS Nano (2011) 5, 3172 Presenting author: Riccardo Milan, via Branze 45, 25131, Brescia, Tel +39 030 6595253, email: [email protected] P33 Remote sensing of micro-physical properties of cirrus clouds using wideband infrared spectral measurements L. Palchetti, G. Di Natale, G. Bianchini, M. Del Guasta Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy Cirrus clouds play a key role in the Earth's climate system because, by covering about 30% of the surface of the planet, with peaks of 60% in the tropics, they greatly influence the balance between the incoming solar radiation and the outgoing Earth's thermal emission. Cirrus cloud radiative properties depend on the particle microphysics, which must be accurately characterised in order to better evaluate the climate effects of these atmospheric components. In the poster we show the results of the remote sensing of the ice crystals parameters, such as the effective diameter, ice water path, effective temperature and optical thickness, obtained using wideband infrared spectral measurements covering the 9 - 50 micron range, and the support of a LIDAR system for ancillary information. The spectral measurements have been performed by the Fourier transform spectrometer REFIR - PAD (Radiation Explorer in Far InfraRed – Prototype for Application and Development) [1] during many field campaigns that have took place since 2007 from different high-altitude ground-based stations: Testa Grigia Station, Cervinia-Italy, (3480 m asl), Cerro Toco, Atacama-Chile, (5380 m asl), Concordia Base, Dome C-Antarctica (3230 m asl). These measurements also show for the first time the spectral effect of cirrus clouds in the far infrared (FIR) part of the emission spectrum above 15 micron of wavelength. The remote sensing of the ice particle properties has been performed by fitting the measurements with a model of the radiative transfer that integrates the LBLRTM forward model [2] for the atmosphere, with a specific code that simulates the propagation of the radiation through the cloud. The optical properties of clouds have been modelled using the two flux δscaled Eddington approximation for a single layer and the Yang's database for the singlescattering properties of ice crystals [3]. The sounding of the FIR spectrum, where the cirrus cloud signal is higher than in the other infrared regions, has allowed to increase the fit accuracy, thus improving the quality of the remote sensing. References [1] L. Palchetti. G. Bianchini, F. Castagnoli, B. Carli, C. Serio, F. Esposito, V. Cuomo, R. Rizzi, T. Maestri, Breadboard of the Fourier-transform spectrometer for the Radiation Explorer in the Far Infrared (REFIR) atmospheric mission, Applied Optics, 44 (2005), 2870-2878. [2] S.A. Clough, M.W. Shephard, E.J. Mlawer, J.S. Delamere, M.J. Iacono, K. Cady-Pereira, S. Boukabara, and P.D. Brown, Atmospheric radiative transfer modeling: a summary of the AER codes, Short Communication, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 91 (2005), 233-244. [3] P. Yang , H. Wei, H.L. Huang, B.A. Baum, Y. X. Hu , G.W. Kattawar , M.I. Mishchenko, and Q. Fu, Scattering and absorption property database for nonspherical ice particles in the near-through farinfrared spectral region, Applied Optics, 44 (2005), 5512-5523.. Presenting author: Luca Palchetti, INO-CNR UOS Sesto Fiorentino, via Madonna del Piano 10, +39.055.522.6311, +30.055.522.6348, [email protected]. P34 Recent development of the diagnostics set up of the laser-driven source of electron at ILIL D.Pallaa, F.Baffigia, P.Ferraraa, L.Fulgentinia, A.Giuliettia, D.Giuliettib,c, P.Koestera, L.Labatea,b, T.Levatoa, L.A.Gizzia,b a) ILIL, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Via G. Moruzzi, Pisa, Italy b)INFN, Sez. Di Pisa, Italy c)Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Italy [email protected] In the original paper, Tajima and Dawson (1979), suggest to use a wakefield generated by an intense laser pulse to accelerate relativistic electron. After many years, high-power laser pulses with a suitable femtosecond duration have been develop in many laboratory and laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) has been explored an impressive results have been obtained word-wide1,2. In the Laser Wakefield Accelerators (LWFA), the high longitudinal electric field supported by plasma waves is used to accelerate trapped (self-injected) electrons with velocity close to wave phase velocity. With respect to the standard RF-linacs, the accelerating distances of relativistic electron beams is impressively small (in principle, 1000 time shorter). Recently, LWFA has been investigated for the generation of high energy radiation using secondary processes like Bremsstrahlung and Thomson/Compton scattering3,4. At the same time, great attention is being dedicated to the possible use of LWA as a source of high energy particles for radiobiology and radiation therapy. LWA is being investigated at the INO ILIL laboratory where a 10TW laser system is currently operating. The laser delivers up to 400mJ (on target) with 40 fs duration pulse. The beam is focused using a f/10 off-axis parabolic mirror down to 17μm diameter (FWHM) focal spot, the corresponding maximum intensity on target being was up to 2×1018 W/cm2 . The beam is focused onto a supersonic laminar gas jet produced using a rectangular nozzle with size 1.2× 4mm. The gas used was He, N2, Ar and mixture of HeN2. The laser-gas interaction is monitored using Thomson scattering imaging, shadowgraphic and interferometric techniques. The electrons beam is monitored using a LANEX scintillator screen and a magnetic spectrometer. In general, the electron spectrum strongly depends on the gas properties (type and pressure) and the position of gas jet (with respect to the focal spot). In this configuration we have been able to produce electrons with a peak energy up to 30MeV and maximum energy up to 50 MeV, with a good reproducibility. Optimization of this configuration is being carried out to be used for secondary X-ray source development. In the poster we will describe details of the experimental set up and discuss the most important issues for the reliable operation of the LWFA electron source. [1] Nature 431 (2004) [2] Leemans et, al., Nat. Phys., 2:696 (2006) [3] Giulietti et, al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 105002 (208) [4]S. Chen, N.D. Powers, I. Ghebregziabher, C.M. Maharjan, C. Liu, G. Golovin, S. Banerjee, J. Zhang, N. Cunningham, A. Moorti, S. Clarke, S. Pozzi, and D.P. Umstadter, 155003, 1 (2013). P35 The MONICA Project: Novel Monitoring of coast and sea enviroment S. Avino1, M. De Rosa1, G. Gagliardi1, A. Giorgini1, P. Malara1, S. Mosca1, M. Parisi1, M. Paturzo1, I. Ricciardi1, A. Rocco1, P. Ferraro1, P. De Natale1 1 CNR-INO-UOS Napoli, Italy The MONICA project aims to give a major contribution to prevention and management of sea and coastal environmental emergencies. In particular, the main goal of the project is to realize a monitoring network based on fiber optic communication which will connect traditional and innovative sensors.The monitoring activity is performed on emerged and submerged areas in Pozzuoli Gulf, in order to realize an early warning system for hydrogeological and volcanic risk. We are developing innovative sensors which can be easily connected in complex structures for geophysical and geochemical parameters monitoring, in particular: - fiber Bragg grating-based sensors for mechanical strain and acceleration measurements; - evanescent wave-based sensors for chemical analysis of liquid samples; - 3D digital holographic systems for non-intrusive imaging of aquatic microorganisms. The main experimental results attained during the project are presented. References [1] D. Gatti, G. Galzerano, D. Janner, S. Longhi and P. Laporta, Fiber strain sensor based on a p-phase-shifted Bragg grating and the Pound-Drever-Hall technique ,Opt. Express 16, 1945-1950 (2008). [2] B. Lissak, A. Arie, and M. Tur, Highly sensitive dynamic strain measurements by locking lasers to fiber Bragg gratings, Opt. Lett. 23, 1930-1932 (1998). [3] S. Avino, A. Giorgini, M. Salza, M. Fabian, G. Gagliardi, P. De Natale, Evanescent-wave comb spectroscopy of liquids with strongly dispersive optical fiber cavities, Applied Physics Letters, 102(20), 201116 (2013). [4] S. Avino, C. Richmond, A. Giorgini, P. Malara, R. Zullo, P. De Natale and G. Gagliardi, High sensitivity ring-down evanescent-wave sensing in fiber resonators, Optics Letters, In Press [5] M. Paturzo, A. Finizio, P. Memmolo, R. Puglisi, D. Balduzzi, A. Galli and P. Ferraro, Microscopy imaging and quantitative phase contrast mapping in turbid microfluidic channels by digital holography, Lab Chip, 2012, *12*, 3073. [6] V. Bianco, M. Paturzo, A. Finizio, D. Balduzzi, R. Puglisi, A. Galli, P. Ferraro, Clear coherent imaging in turbid microfluidics by multiple holographic acquisitions, Opt. Lett., 37(20), 4212-4214, 2012. Presenting author: Maria Parisi, [email protected]. P36 Bright-White Beetle Scales Optimise Multiple Scattering of Light M. Burresi1,2, L. Cortese1,3, L. Pattelli1,3, M. Kolle4, P. Vukusic5, D.S. Wiersma1,3, U. Steiner6 & S. Vignolini6,7 1 European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Univ. di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (CNR-INO), Firenze, Italy 3 Univerisità di Firenze, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 4 School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard Univ., Cambridge MA, USA and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA 5 Thin Film Photonics, School of Physics, Exeter University, Exeter, UK 6 Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 7 Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Complex nanostructures found in nature are generally produced in ambient conditions using relatively simple materials. However, since the host animal's survival typically rely on their quality, evolution has optimised these nanostructures at least for the last 50 millions of years [1]. By tailoring the morphology of such materials animals and insects can influence thermoregulation, obtain adhesive and hydrophobic properties and finally brilliant coloration, of which they take advantage in diverse contexts such as communication, mating and camouflage. Whiteness, in particular, arises from diffuse and broadband reflection of light typically achieved through optical scattering in randomly structured media [2]. In contrast to structural colour due to deterministic photonic structures which exploit light interference to achieve high values of reflectivity [3], white appearance generally involves thick systems comprising randomly positioned high refractiveindex scattering centers. In the case of the scales of the beetles Cyphochilus and Lepidiota Stigma whiteness is produced using an interconnected random network of chitin rods that, despite their relatively low refractive index of ~1.56, has been found to be extremely efficient in reflecting all visible wavelengths in a layer just 5 to 15 µm thick [4]. This is surprising since, as it is well known, high density strongly limits the scattering strength. Here, we show that the exceptionally bright white appearance of these beetles arises from a remarkably optimised anisotropy of intra-scale chitin networks, which act as a dense scattering media. Using ultra-fast time-resolved measurements, we show that light propagating in the scales of the beetles undergoes pronounced multiple scattering that is associated with the lowest transport mean free path reported to date for low-refractive-index systems. We also show evidence that this brightness is due to the anisotropy of the network scatterers. Introducing a certain degree of anisotropy in the alignment of those elongated scatterers, the beetle succeeds in creating a denser random network yet preserving to some extent the scattering strength of the single scattering element. We find that the scale is just as thick as necessary to virtually remove the ballistic light so that most of the impinging radiation is scattered, achieving an effective reflection. This reduced thickness reflects a careful trade-off between brightness and mass density per area, of crucial importance for flying insects. Our investigation unveils high level of optimisation that achieves high-brightness white in a thin low-mass-per-unitarea anisotropic disordered nanostructure. This investigation suggests new designs for efficient strongly-scattering 3D biomimetic photonic structures. References [1] M.E. McNamara et al. The original colours of fossil beetles, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279.1731 (2012) 1114-1121. [2] P. Vukusic et al. Brilliant whiteness in ultrathin beetle scales, Science 315.5810 (2007) 348-348. [3] S. Kinoshita et al. Physics of structural colors, Reports on Progress in Physics 71.7 (2008) 076401. [4] S.M. Luke et al. Structural optimization for broadband scattering in several ultra-thin white beetle scales, Applied optics 49.22 (2010): 4246-4254. Presenting author: Lorenzo Pattelli, LENS, Università di Firenze, Via Nello Carrara 1 – 50019 – Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italiy, tel. +39 055 457 2452, [email protected] P37 Strongly confined 2D disordered modes with suppressed scattering losses A. Matteo Burresi1,2, B. Filippo Pratesi 1, C. Diederik S. Wiersma1,2 European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze) 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze) The study of wave propagation in disordered systems is tackled in various areas of science, e.g. from biology to solid state physics. A rising interest is recently aimed toward the effect of different structural correlations on waves propagation. For example, in short-range correlated systems the opening of band-gaps was theoretically predicted [1], as well as the formation of localized states [2]. In this work we show that in correlated-disordered quasi-2D systems short-range order not only modifies the in-plane multiple scattering, inducing a strong localization of light [3], but also dominates the out-of-plane coupling mechanism (Fig. a, b). As the volume of these localized modes reduces, the vertical loss concurrently decreases, leading to the counterintuitive effect of having a better ‘cavity mode’ in a smaller volume (Figure a). We show that this effect is induced by the coherent scattering involving nearestneighbor scattering elements which inhibits the out-of-plane coupling. 1 b) Figure: (a) Numerically calculated (3D FDTD) quality factor of three disorder realizations of a correlateddisordered system (black, blue, green) and effective mode volume (red) obtained from the Inverse Participatin Ratio. (b) Lifetime of a random and a correlated disordered system (single realizations) compared with semi-analytical model described in [3]. The modal dispersion has been included in the model to take into account the effective thickness of the slab. (c) Out-of-plane transmission, Tout, (2D FDTD) of the guided light for a single isolated hole (black) and two holes (red) placed ad a distance dav. To study this effect we calculated with 3D Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method the lifetime associated with a random and correlated patterns of holes (typical distance between neighbours dav, radius r=0.23*dav ) in a thin slab (thickness t=0.1 µm, dielectric constant ε = 12). Lifetime in the random system is inversely related to the inplane scattering strength, that is the inverse of the transport mean free path (Fig. b). This is not the case in average for the correlated system, in particular around the adimensional frequency 0.073 t/λ where, for some disorder realization, lifetime can also increase. To study this process, we numerically calculated the out-of-plane transmission of guided light incident on one and two isolated holes in a slab (Fig. C, inset). We showed how these two cases are different, having a minima at 0.073 t/λ when the two holes are detached by dav (Fig. c). This suggest that a coherent scattering mechanism is acting between neighbouring holes to reduce the out-of-plane losses. References [1] S. F. Liew et al.,Phys. Rev. A 84 063818 (2011). [2] S. R. Huisman et al., Phys. Rev. B 86 155154 (2012). [3] G. M. Conley et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 143901 (2014). [4] K. Vynck et al., Nature Materials 11, 1017–1022. Presenting author: Filippo Pratesi, LENS, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy, +39 055-4572475, [email protected]. P38 Ultra-narrow-linewidth Mid-infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator I. Ricciardi1, S. Mosca1, M. Parisi1, P. Maddaloni1, L. Santamaria1, M. De Rosa1, G. Giusfredi2, P. De Natale2 1 CNR-INO, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy 2 CNR-INO, Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI, Italy Highly stable and spectral pure laser sources are crucial for a wide range of demanding applications, including high-resolution spectroscopy, frequency metrology, and precision tests of fundamental physics. We demonstrate sub-kHz narrowing of a singly resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO), emitting in the frequency range between 2.7 and 4.2 µm [1,2]. In our experimental set-up a Nd:YAG laser, frequency narrowed at 1-Hz-linewidth against a stable ultra-low-expansion Fabry–Pérot cavity, is amplified up to 10 W to pump the OPO. The OPO is based on a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 crystal placed in a bow-tie cavity resonant for the signal. The crystal has seven different poling periods, allowing the continuous tuning of the idler frequency between 2.7 and 4.2 µm, with about 1 Watt of emitted power. We exploit a transfer oscillator scheme [3], according to which an optical frequency comb synthesizer acts as the transfer oscillator between a highly stable pump laser mode and the resonating OPO signal mode: as a consequence, the spectral features of the pump laser are transferred to the signal mode, independently of technical fluctuations of the comb frequencies. In turn, the fluctuations of idler mode frequency will be of the same order of the pump laser ones, as in a singly-resonant OPO the idler linewidth is the sum of the two uncorrelated pump and signal linewidths. References [1] I. Ricciardi, E. De Tommasi, P. Maddaloni, S. Mosca, A. Rocco, J.-J. Zondy, M. De Rosa, and P. De Natale, Opt. Express 20, 9178–9186 (2012). [2] I. Ricciardi, E. De Tommasi, P. Maddaloni, S. Mosca, A. Rocco, J.-J. Zondy, M. De Rosa, and P. De Natale, Mol. Phys. 110, 2103–2109 (2012). [3] H. R. Telle, B. Lipphardt, and J. Stenger, Appl. Phys. B 74, 1–6 (2002). Presenting author: Iolanda Ricciardi, [email protected] P39 Efficient all-optical production of 6Li quantum gases A. Burchianti1, J. A. Seman2, G. Valtolina1,3, M. Zaccanti1, M. Inguscio1, G. Roati1 1 INO-CNR and LENS, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 2 Instituto de Fısica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, D. F. Mexico, Mexico 3 Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy Abstract We demonstrate fast and efficient production of 6Li quantum gases using a sub-Doppler cooling scheme based on the D1 transition [1]. After loading in a standard magneto-optical trap, the atomic sample is cooled at temperatures as low as 40 µK in a bichromatic D1 gray-molasses [2]. Then, we transfer more than 2x107 atoms into a high-intensity optical dipole trap, where a two-spin state mixture is evaporatively cooled to quantum degeneracy. We observe that D1 cooling remains effective in the deep trapping potential, allowing an effective increase of the atomic phase-space density. The feasibility of all cooling phases in our system is here proved by the production of both weakly-interacting degenerate Fermi gases of 7x105 atoms at T/TF<0.1 and molecular Bose-Einstein condensates of up to 5x105 molecules. Furthermore, we also discuss the implementation in our set-up of engineered optical potentials for future experiments towards quantum simulation of many-body systems. References [1] A. Burchianti, et al., All-Optical production of a Lithium Quantum Gas Using gray molasses cooling arXiv: 1406.4788 (2014). [2] A.T. Grier, et al. Λ-enhanced sub-Doppler cooling of lithium atoms in a D1 gray molasses, Phys. Rev. A 87, 063411 (2013). Presenting author: Giacomo Roati, via N. Carrara 1, 0554572458, [email protected], Alessia Burchianti, via N. Carrara 1, 0554572458, [email protected]. P40 Using Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry for NDT evaluation of composite materials 1 A.Rocco1, V. Pagliarulo1, P. Ferraro1 CNR, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, 80078 – Pozzuoli (Na) Abstract We present the activity in the framework of the NDT damages evaluation on composite and innovative materials. Through real-time surface illumination by visible laser (i.e. 532 nm), the ESPI technique allows the non-contact, non-destructive detection of micro-deformations, micro-cracks, residual stress and delaminations. The measurement range and accuracy is related to the wavelength and the deformation value is measured by half-wavelength laser multiples. The method records the surface field differential displacement, due to thermal or mechanical solicitations. Speckle interferograms are recorded as images through a CCD camera and a computer. Adapting different setup configurations it is possible to measure out-of-plane or in-plane displacements With this technique it is possible to reveal hidden defects, cracks and to evaluate the effective delamination area due to, for example, an impact damage; such characteristic can be particularly relevant when the examined materials are employed in the industrial application (i.e. aerospace, automotive and so on) when the detection of invisible or barely visible damages is required and the quality of the materials is a key point, involving human safety. This kind of NDT evaluation is useful in all the fields where it is important to operate without contact with the object to be examinated, as it does not require any manipulation of the sample and do not involve any harm. In particular it can be also used in the field of cultural heritage conservation where it is essential to identify, on artifacts incipient or invisible cracks, as well as an understanding of the processes by which the fractures and the discontinuity of the supports alter the layer of the painting, causing degradation of the works. Wood artifacts are particularly suitable for the optical based analysis as the support is the basis for praparation and paint layers. Presently we will focus on the Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) used to evaluate the effective delaminated area of damaged Epoxy-Carbon Fibers and Glass Fiber Composites after mechanical tests [1]. References [1] V. Pagliarulo. A. Rocco et al. Evaluation of delaminated area of polymer/Carbon Nanotubes fiber reinforced composites after flexural tests by ESPI 978-1-4799-2069-3/14 IEEE. Presenting author: Alessandra Rocco, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, 0818675422, [email protected] . P41 Advanced optical techniques to explore brain structure and function 1 A. L. Allegra Mascaro1, L. Silvestri1, I. Costantini1, L. Sacconi2, F. S. Pavone1,2,3 European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence 2 National Institute of Optics, National Research Council 3 Department of Physics, University of Florence Abstract One of the unique features of the brain is that its activity cannot be framed in a single spatio- temporal scale, but rather spans many orders of magnitude both in space and time. A single imaging technique can reveal only a small part of this complex machinery. To obtain a more comprehensive view of brain functionality, complementary approaches should be combined. Here we show how correlative two-photon and electron microscopy allows us to characterize the effect of laser nanosurgery on the ultrastructure of neural tissue. In particular, we show that single axonal branches can be dissected avoiding collateral damage to surrounding dendrites and the formation of a persistent glial scar [1]. Moving to the other extreme of spatial scale, we correlate two-photon and light sheet microscopy, taking advantage of blood vessels as reference chart [2]. We show how the apical dendritic arbor of a single cortical pyramidal neuron imaged in living thy1-GFP-M mice can be found in the large-scale brain reconstruction obtained with light sheet microscopy. Starting from the apical portion, the whole pyramidal neuron can then be segmented and contextualized within a three- dimensional anatomic framework. Finally, we report how innovative nonlinear microscopy [3] in combination with novel voltage sensitive dyes [4] allow optical registrations of action potential across a population of neurons opening promising prospective in understanding brain functionality. The complementary framework presented here allows overcoming the inherent limitations of the single technique, providing a more comprehensive and solid view of the brain. References [1] A. L. Allegra Mascaro et al., “In vivo single branch axotomy induces GAP-43-dependent sprouting and synaptic remodeling in cerebellar cortex”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (2013) 110,. [2] L. Silvestri et al., “Correlative two-photon and light sheet microscopy”, Methods, (2013) available online. [3] L. Sacconi et al., “Action potential propagation in transverse-axial tubular system is impaired in heart failure”, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, (2012) 109. [4] P. Yan et al. “Palette of fluorinated voltage sensitive hemicyanine dyes”, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, (2102) 109. Presenting author: Leonardo Sacconi, National Institute of Optics (INO-CNR) c/o LENS - European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, Tel 055 457 2482/2018 (off./lab), Fax 055 457 2451, [email protected] P42 Acetylene spectroscopy at cryogenic temperature L. Santamaria1, V. Di Sarno1, I. Ricciardi1, S. Mosca1, M. De Rosa1, G. Santambrogio2,3, P. Maddaloni1,4, P. De Natale 4,5 1 CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Pozzuoli, Italy 2 CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 3 Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany 4 INFN, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Sez. di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 5 CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Firenze, Italy Abstract We performed ro-vibrational spectroscopy on the 12C2 H 2 ( 1 3 ) band at cryogenic temperatures, based on a buffer gas cooling (BGC) technique1 with a continuous flow of 4 He gas2. 12C2 H 2 translational temperature was measured by means of Doppler thermometry performed in buffer gas cell. Then, rotational temperature was retrieved by fitting the intensity of several rotational lines using Boltzmann distribution. Finally, we studied the helium-acetylene collision mechanism at 25 K and 100 K through meaurements of 12C2 H 2 diffusion in cold helium environment. The measurement were compared to a Montecarlo simulation in order to estimate the helium-acetylene cross setion and its dependence on temperature. References [1] N. R. Hutzler, H. I. Lu, J. M. Doyle, The Buffer Gas Beam: An Intense, Cold, and Slow Source for Atoms and Molecules, Chem. Rev., 112, (2012) 4803-4827 [2] L. Santamaria, V. Di Sarno, I. Ricciardi, S. Mosca, M. De Rosa, G. Santambrogio, P. Maddaloni, P. De Natale, Assessing the time constancy of the proton-to-electron mass ratio by precision ro-vibrational spectroscopy of a cold molecular beam, J. Mol. Spec., 300, (2014) 116-123 P43 1 2 Molecule Chip D. Adu Smith , G. Insero , S. Marx1, G. Meijer1,3, T. Zehentbauer1, G. Santambrogio1,2,4 1 Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany 2 European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 3 Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 4 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy For physics, the atom chip and ion chip have been employed in fields as diverse as quantum computation, many-body non-equilibrium physics, and gravitational sensing. For chemistry, the lab-on-a-chip shrinks the pipettes, beakers and test tubes of a modern lab onto a microchip-sized substrate, with applications from the international space station to anti-terrorism. The molecule chip, however, is currently in its infancy, but promises a marriage between fundamental quantum physics and the richness of the chemical world. A particular advantage of using molecules instead of atoms on a chip is that they can be coupled to photons over a wider range of frequencies due to their rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom. Moreover, for chemists the molecule chip offers the prospect of extending the control of molecular concentrations and interactions to the level of single molecules with the accuracy in interaction energy reduced to the mK scale and below. A major obstacle that has delayed the development of the molecule chip arises from the extreme richness of molecules’ internal degrees of freedom. As molecules generally lack a closed two-level system, efficient laser cooling and detection using absorption or laser-induced fluorescence is in general not possible. In the last years, it was demonstrated that neutral molecules can be loaded on a microchip directly from a supersonic beam. Once the molecules are trapped, they can be decelerated to a standstill, for instance, or re-ejected at low speed for high resolution spectroscopic measurements. We control the position of the trapped molecules with an accuracy of few microns and the molecules are in a single quantum state.[1] We were able to show that trapped molecules can be transferred between quantum states with absolute selectivity. First, we demonstrated this for rotational transitions, by coupling the molecule chip to a mm-wave radiation source.[2] Then, we extended this technique into the infrared region using laser light.[3] More recently, we showed time-resolved spatial imaging of molecule on the chip, adding the final fundamental component to the molecule chip.[4] For this, we use resonant-enhanced multi-photon ionization, which is quantum state selective, intrinsically background-free, and of general applicability. Imaging detection allows for the determination of the phase space distribution of the molecules in the microtraps, which we exploited, for instance, for the measurement of the temperature of the trapped molecules. References [1] S.A. Meek, H. Conrad, G. Meijer, New J. Phys., 11 (2009) 055024. [2] G. Santambrogio, S.A. Meek, M.J. Abel, L.M. Duffy, G. Mejer, Chem. Phys. Chem., 12 (2011) 1799. [3] M.J. Abel, S. Marx, G. Meijer, G. Santambrogio, Mol. Phys., 110 (2012) 1829. [4] S. Marx, D. Adu Smith, M.J. Abel, T. Zehentbauer, G. Meijer, and G. Santambrogio, Phys. Rev. Lett., 111 (2013) 243007. Presenting author: Gabriele Santambrogio, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, +39 055 457 2006, [email protected] P44 Different food application of a Novel Nano-Wire Electronic Nose V. Sberveglieri1,2, E. Nunez Carmona2,3, A. Pulvirenti1,2 1 CNR-INO sensor lab, Brescia, Italy 2 Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 42124 Reggio Emilia, Italy 3 CNR-IBF, Palermo, Italy Abstract In thi paper is illustrated a range of different applications, in innumerable foodstuffs, by a novel Electronic Nose (EN) based on a mixed metal oxide sensors array collected by thin films as well as nanowires. The electronic nose used for this work has been done, beginning from the commercial model EOS835 produced by SACMI Scarl[1]. The SENSOR Lab (CNR – INO, Brescia) has produced, both typologies of sensors, classical MOX and the new technologies with nanowire[2]. The aim of this work was to test and to show the broad spectrum of potential uses of the EN technique in food quality control and microbial contamination diagnosis. The EN technique was combined with Classical Microbiological and Chemical techniques, like Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) with SPME technique. Three different situations are presented: (a) detection of indigenous mould in green coffee beans (fig.1), (b) selection of microbiological spoilage of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and (c) monitoring of potable water. In each case, the novel EN was able to identify the spoiled product by means of the modifications in the pattern of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), reconstructed by principal constituent analysis (PCA) of the sensor responses. The completed results strongly encourage the use of EN in industrial laboratories. Finally recent trends and future directions are illustrated. Fig. 1 PCA score PLOT about Indonesia green coffee beans during 6 days of analysis (T0 to T6). References [1] I. Concina, M. Falasconi, V. Sberveglieri, Electronic nose as a flexible tools to assess food quality and safety: should we trust them?, IEEE Sensors Journal, 12, (2012) 3232-3237. [2] G. Sberveglieri, I. Concina, E. Comini, M. Falasconi, M. Ferroni, V. Sberveglieri, Synthesis and integration of tin oxide nanowires into an electronic nose, Vacuum, 86, (2012) 532-535. Presenting author: Veronica Sberveglieri, +393204377973, veronica.sberveglieri@unimore. P45 Precise measurements of molecular lineshapes with direct comb spectroscopy M. Siciliani de Cumis1, P. Cancio Pastor1, R. Eramo1, N. Coluccelli2, M. Cassinerio2, G. Galzerano2, P. Laporta2 and P. De Natale1 1 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica-CNR and European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy, Via N. Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 2 Dipartimento di Fisica-Politecnico di Milano and Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie-CNR, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milano, Italy Abstract Direct comb spectroscopy (DCS) is a unique spectroscopic tool in terms of resolution, sensitivity, frequency accuracy and broad-band spectral coverage for measurements in molecular gases mixtures, at frequencies that can now encompass the entire XUV-THz range. This technique uses frequency-comb lasers (FCL’s) [1] as the sources to interact with molecular samples to recover spectra of molecular transitions in the spectral range of FCL emission. DCS- based instrumentation has been developed for multiple trace gas sensing [2, 3], or for hyperspectral lidar [4] with possible large impact in environmental and climatic change monitoring applications. Spectroscopic information about composition, temperature, chemical evolution of the analyzed gases is retrieved by measuring with precision spectral lineshapes of the detected molecular transitions. Such aim can be fulfilled, in part, thanks to the metrological-grade of absolute frequency accuracy of FCL’s, and in part to the ability of the DCS technique of extract molecular lineshapes free of instrumental contributions. Here, we present a DCS approach which allows multiplex spectroscopy with high resolution and precision. Application to measure line-shape behavior against gas pressure and light power is shown for transitions of CO2 molecule around 2 μm. In our DCS spectrometer, a commercial 250 MHz repetition rate (fr) 1-2μm-FCL, amplified around 2-μm wavelength edge by using a home-made Tm-Ho-doped fiber amplifier (FA), is filtered with a medium finesse FP cavity by following the Comb-Vernier dispersive approach with a Vernier ratio of about 18/1. An active electronic control of the FP length is used to keep all FP-resonant FCL modes at the maximum transmission. In this way, the FPtransmitted comb, spaced by the FP free spectral range, FSR=4.5 GHz is resolved by a 1.5 GHz resolution-diffraction limited grating dispersive spectrometer (SOPRA). Then, the dispersed modes are detected by an InSb 320 x 256 CCD camera, recording images for each FCL-fr and SOPRA-grating position. Our first results are encouraging from the point of view of possible environmental application of this technique. Knowledge of precise data about transition frequencies and collisional shifts of a molecule as CO 2, so relevant for studies of climatic change are extremely needful to extract information about concentrations and temperatures from in-field samples. References [1] P. Maddaloni, P. Cancio and P. De Natale, “Optical comb generators for laser frequency measurement” Meas. Sci. Technol. 20, 052001 (2009). [2] A. Schliesser, M. Brehm, F. Keilmann and D. W. van der Weide, “Frequency-comb infrared spectrometer for rapid, remote chemical sensing” Optics Express 13, 9029-9038 (2005). [3] R. Grilli, G. M ́ jean, S. Kassi, I. Ventrillard, C. Abd-Alrahman and D. Romanini, “Frequency Comb Based Spectrometer for in Situ and Real Time Measurements of IO, BrO, NO 2 , and H2 CO at pptv and ppqv Levels” Environ. Sci. Technol 46, 10704-10710 (2012). [4] S. Boudreau, S. Levasseur, C. Perilla, S. Roy and J. Genest, “Chemical detection with hyperspectral lidar using dual frequency combs” Optics Express 21, 7411 (2013). Presenting author: Mario Siciliani de Cumis, Via N. Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, tel 0554572292, [email protected] P46 Researches and measurements on Ytterbium and Neodymium activated hosts for lasers in the near infrared. Guido Toci1, Antonio Lapucci2, Marco Ciofini2, , Angela Pirri3, Georges Boulon4, Matteo Vannini1 1 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica INO-CNR UOS di Sesto Fiorentino, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 2 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Largo Enrico Fermi 6 50125 Firenze, Italy 3 Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” IFAC-CNR Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino. Italy 4 Institute Light Matter (ILM), UMR5306 CNRS-University Lyon1, University of Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne, France Abstract We present the work performed on diode pumped active media doped with ytterbium and neodymium for laser sources in the near infrared (~1 μm emission). Because of the short distance between the pump and the emission wavelength, Yb3+ lasers exhibit a very low quantum defect and in consequence limiting the heating and maximizing the full exploitation of the diode emission. This is because Yb3+ has only two levels, so pump and lasing happen between the two manifolds involving different vibration levels. Our work spans several hosts starting from activated crystals and ceramics showing different characteristics which depend on the different electric field surrounding the doping ions. In consequence some media, due to the longer lifetime of the upper level, are more suitable for amplifiers (such as Yb:YLF) whereas other work very efficiently as laser oscillators i.e. LuAG, Sc2O3, Lu2O3, YAG). We describe the tuning range and the slope efficiency of several laser systems tested in our laboratory. The pump consists of a fiber coupled semiconductor laser coupled to the media by an achromatic doublet and emitting at 940 nm for the Yb3+ systems and at 808 nm for Nd3+ (see Fig. 1). We measured the thermal lensing generally negatively affecting the laser performance with a Shack-Hartmann device and we discuss here the main results [1]. The investigation on Neodymium doped media focused on sesquioxides (Y2O3 and Lu2O3) ceramics, fabricated at the Tohoku University (Japan) with the Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) sintering and the Shock Plasma Sintering (SPS) method. This latter is a new and non-conventional method, resulting in a simpler and less time-consuming production of transparent ceramics. We demonstrated for the first time the laser oscillation of two near IR emission lines at 1076.3 nm and 1080.5 nm using a 1% Nd3+-doped Lu2O3 transparent ceramics fabricated by SPS (see Fig. 2). Yb:YAG Achromatic doublets D1 EM D2 0.6 Fiber-coupled diode laser =936 nm Pump beam OC R=90% R=95% R=99% R=98% 0.5 Output power (W) FM 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 Absorbed pump power (W) Figure 1 - Typical laser set-up for CW lasing of Ybdoped ceramics and crystals. Figure 2 - Output power vs. absorbed pump power for the SPS 1%Nd3+-doped Lu2O3 ceramics. R: reflectivity of the output coupler. References [1] Experimental evidence of a nonlinear loss mechanism in highly doped Yb: LuAG crystal , A. Pirri, G. Toci, M. Nikl, V. Babin, M. Vannini, Optics Express 22 (4), 4038-4049 (2014) [2] Nd3+-doped Lu2O3 transparent sesquioxide ceramics elaborated by the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) method. Part2: First laser output results and comparison with Nd3+:Lu2O3 and Nd3+-doped Y2O3 ceramics elaborated by conventional methods G. Toci, M. Vannini, M. Ciofini, A. Lapucci, A. Pirri, A. Ito, T. Goto, A. Yoshikawa, Akio Ikesue, G. Alombert-Goget, Y. Guyot,M. Guzik, G. Boulon. Submitted to Optical Materials (August 2014) P47 Fast identification of microbiological contamination in vegetable soup by electronic nose G.Zambotti 1,2,V.Sberveglieri 2,3, E. Gobbi 4,2, M. Falasconi 1, 2 , E. Nunez 3,5, A. Pulvirenti 2,3 1 Dept. of Information Engineering, - University of Brescia, Via Vallotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy 2 CNR INO, SENSOR Lab., Via Branze 45, 25123 Brescia, Italy 3 Dept. of Life Sciences- Padiglione Besta,University of Modena and Reggio Emilia,Via Amendola 2, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy 4 Dept. Molecular and Translational Medicine,and AgrifoodLAB,University of Brescia,Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia, Italy 5 CNR-IBF Via Ugo La Malfa 153 90146 Palermo, Italy Summary In this work we present the EOS507C Electronic Nose (EN) for early screening of Enterobacter hormaechei type strain (ATCC 49162) contamination in vegetable soup. The EOS507C based on an array of metal oxide semiconductor (MOX) sensors [1], is a rather innovative system equipped with dynamic headspace autosampler and new functionalities such as real-time sample humidity compensation, sensor response linearization and automated periodic calibration. The EOS507C has provided excellent results in terms of screening capabilities: E.hormaechei contamination was detected in 24 hours at very low inocula concentrations (down to 10 cfu per 100 ml). Motivation and result Microbial contamination of food is cause of economic losses for the food industry and may often lead to emerging disease risks for the consumers. Today microbial contamination is screened by the industries through post-production storage of the food packages in large incubators for two weeks. Previous works [2],[3] have demonstrated that the EN is capable of diagnosing microbial contamination in different food matrices through the detection of volatile secondary metabolites produced by the organisms during their growth. In this work vegetable soups, mix of vegetable, were contaminated with E.hormaechei. Suspension cell were inoculate in 100 ml of vegetable soup and incubated at 35 °C for a variable time: 3, 5, 7, 12, 15, 17 and 21 hours, in order to identify the best detection time. Subsequently the sample was aliquoted in 10 ml vials wrapped and incubate for 3 hours before the measurement. Control samples (uncontaminated) followed the same procedure. The EN is able to discriminate the vegetable soups contaminated by E.hormaechei from the control samples after 24 hours of incubation. All the samples contaminated with 100 cfu/100 ml can be correctly classified while the minimum detection threshold looks to be around 10 cfu/100 ml which is compatible with typical contamination values that may occur during actual production. All the contaminated samples that were incubated for less than 24h are overlapped with control samples, independently of the inoculum concentration. The EN has proven to be an excellent tool for microbiological screening, although the diagnosis is limited by the production of volatile metabolites that can occur after few hours of growth. Future improvements of the technology which are currently under investigation, e.g. the incorporation of much more sensitive sensors, can lead to reduction of detection limits and hence of the detection time. Acknolegments: This work has been supported by Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro, Cremona (Italy) Reference: [1] M. Pardo and G.Sberveglieri, Electronic olfactory systems based on metal oxide semiconductor sensor arrays, MRS Bulletin, 29 (2004) 703-708. [2] I. Concina, M. Falasconi, V. Sberveglieri Electronic Noses As Flexible Tools To Assess Food Quality And Safety: Should We Trust Them?,IEEE Sensor Journal,12 (2012) 3232-3237. [3]M. Falasconi, I. Concina, E. Gobbi,,V. Sberveglieri, A. Pulvirenti, and G. Sberveglieri,Electronic Nose for Microbiological Quality Control of Food Products,Int.J. Electrochem.,2012 (2012) Article ID 715763. Corresponding author: Giulia Zambotti, Via Branze 45, Brescia, 030-6595249, [email protected] P48 Tungsten oxide nanowires for conductometric chemical sensors D. Zappa, A. Bertuna, E. Comini, M. Molinari, N. Poli, G. Sberveglieri SENSOR Laboratory, University of Brescia and CNR-INO, Via Valotti 9, 25133 Brescia, Italy Abstract Metal oxide nanowires are well-known as candidate for next generation of low-cost chemical sensors. Scientific research is looking forward new materials that exhibit excellent performances together with high selectivity and stability over time. Tungsten oxide is a n-type promising semiconductor material that is under investigation by quite long time, especially in form of thin film [1]. Nanostructured tungsten oxide could enhance the overall performances of the devices compared to traditional thin film technology [2]. Thermal oxidation is a technique that was successfully used to synthetize metal-oxide materials [3]. In the present work it was slightly adapted to be used in low vacuum environment, in order to reduce the oxygen partial pressure in the atmosphere. Tungsten oxide nanowires were synthetized on both silicon and alumina substrates: silicon substrates (10x10 mm) were used for morphological (Fig.1) and structural investigations; alumina (2x2 mm) was used for the fabrication of sensing devices. A 18nm thin layer of metallic tungsten was deposited on target substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at 300°C, and then oxidized in a tubular furnace at 550°C for one hour at 1 mbar pressure. Conductometric mat-based devices were prepared depositing interdigited platinum contacts on the front side of samples, while a platinum heater was deposited with the same technique, to thermally activate metal oxide interaction with the surrounding atmosphere. The substrate was bonded on 4-pins TO package using gold wires. A custom climatic chamber was used to evaluate the performance of fabricated nanostructures (Fig. 2). Sensors were exposed to various concentration of both oxidizing and reducing chemical species (CO, NO2, NH3, Acetone, Ethanol). Relative humidity was set at 50% @ 20°C during temperature screening, to find out the optimal working temperature of the devices. Afterwards calibration curves were estimated for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ammonia. Nanowires seems to perform excellent towards ammonia and carbon monoxide. The influence of humidity was also taken into account. We changed the humidity level form 0% to 75% and detected the response ratio compared to the standard 50% level. Fig. 2: Dynamic response of sensing devices towards some oxidizing and reducing gas chemical compound, measured at 200°C with a relative humidity of 50% @ 20°C. Fig. 1: SEM picture of tungsten oxide nanowires at 50k magnification level References [1] Wang, X.S., Miura, N. and Yamazoe, N., Sens. Actuator B-Chem. 2000, 66(1-3), 74 [2] Meng, D., Shaalan, N.M., Yamazaki, T. and Kikuta, T., Sens. Actuator B-Chem. 2012, 169, 113 [3] Zappa, D., Comini, E. and Sberveglieri, G., Nanotechnology. 2013, 24(44) Presenting author: Dario Zappa, Via Valotti 9 Brescia, +390303715767, [email protected] P49 Pyro-electric field for the manipulation of biopolymers in contact-free modality S. Coppola1,V. Vespini1, O. Gennari1, S. Grilli1, G. Nasti1, L. Mecozzi1 and P. Ferraro1 1 National Institue of Optics,INO-CNR,Pozzuoli, Italy Abstract In the present work we show an unconventional but very simple approach: a nozzle-less and electrode-less pyro-electrodynamic method for the manipulation of biopolymers. The proposed technique could be used for the direct fabrication of 2D full-ordered patterns. The tethered pyro-electrodynamic spinning is based on a revolutionary nozzle-free approach operating in wireless modality, i.e. without electric circuit, electrodes and voltage supply [1]. This novel approach definitively simplify the conventional electrospinning apparatus extending the nanofiber spinning also to active organic polymers preserving at the same time all the properties of conventional systems. Fiber drawing from the liquid polymer is driven through the pyroelectric charge generated into a ferroelectric crystal (LiNbO3) able to induce the electrohydrodynamics (EHD) pressure required for polymer manipulation without wires. The high resolution patterns produced could find exploitations in biotechnology and photonics as photonic waveguide and cell patterning. In fact, this study could open the way to innovative optogenesys analysis, guiding light for generating or transporting optical/electronic signals from and to cells. The pyro-EHD manipultaion of polymers could also be used to shape polymers in 3D microstructures in form of microneedles [2]. This micro components mounted onto a flexible substrate could be inserted into a transdermal drug delivery cuff made of an interchangeable cartridge able to provide a controlled transdermal drug delivery just by tightening it in an appropriate condition. This novel technique overcomes the technological limitations of both microcasting and drawing lithography opening new frontiers in the field of transdermal delivery. References [1] S. Coppola, R. Vecchione, E. Esposito, C. Casale, V. Vespini, S. Grilli, P. Ferraro, P. A. Netti, Electro-Drawn Drug-Loaded Biodegradable Polymer Microneedles as a Viable Route to Hypodermic Injection, Advanced Functional Materials, 24 (2014) 3515-3523. [2] S. Coppola, V. Vespini, G. Nasti, O. Gennari, S. Grilli, M. Ventre, M. Iannone, P. A. Netti, P. Ferraro, Tethered Pyro-Electrohydrodynamic Spinning for Patterning Well-Ordered Structures at Micro- and Nanoscale, Chemistry of Materials, 26 (2014) 3357-3360. Presenting author: Sara Coppola, National Institue of Optics INO-CNR Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), +390818675039, [email protected]. P50 Activities of Lighting and Photometry Lab at CNR INO F. Francini1, D. Jafrancesco1, L. Mercatelli1, P. Sansoni1, D. Fontani1 1 CNR INO, Florence, Italy Abstract The Photometry and Lighting Laboratory is an internal structure of CNR - National Institute of Optics of Florence, Italy. The aim of this Lab is to develop both research activities (up to now mainly concerned the solar energy) and measurements, optical design and consulting for industrial companies and public utilities. The P&L Lab executes a set of standard measurements according to procedures and international standards and norms. The Lab activity includes the measure of optical properties of materials, measurement of spatial and spectral emission of luminous sources, color measurements and analysis of the compliance of a product (i.e. monitor, lamps, optical devices) to a defined standard. The Lab performs also measurements on lamps and laser safety (according CEI EN 60825-1 and CEI EN 62471). The Lab designs and tests optical systems for industrial or medical applications and performs lighting simulation of sources, following also their realization. The Lab participated to National and European Projects and is open to collaboration with other research centers or industrial structures both public or privates. The Lab staff can plan training courses on radiometry, photometry, colorimetry and safety of optical sources. Presenting author: Luca Mercatelli, CNR Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6 – Firenze (Italy), phone +390552308310, fax +390552337755, email [email protected] P51
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