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Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are an important space radiation source, especially for the space weather environment in the inner heliosphere. The energy spectrum of SEP events is crucial both for evaluating their radiation effects and for understanding their acceleration process at the source region and their propagation mechanism. In this work, we investigate the properties of the SEP peak flux spectra and the fluence spectra and their potential formation mechanisms using statistical methods. We aim to advance our understanding of both SEPs' acceleration and propagation mechanisms. Employing the dataset of European Space Agency's Solar Energetic Particle Environment Modelling (SEPEM) program, we have obtained and fitted the peak-flux and fluence proton spectra of more than a hundred SEP events from 1974 to 2018. We analyzed the relationship among the solar activity, X-ray peak intensity of solar flares and the SEP spectral parameters. Based on the assumption that the initial spectrum of accelerated SEPs generally has a power-law distribution and also the diffusion coefficient has a power-law dependence on particle energy, we can assess both the source and propagation properties using the observed SEP event peak flux and fluence energy spectra. We confirm that SEPs' spectral properties are influenced by the solar source and the interplanetary conditions and their transportation process can be influenced by different phases of solar cycle. This study provides an observational perspective on the double power-law spectral characteristics of the SEP energy spectra, showing their correlation with the adiabatic cooling and diffusion processes during the particle propagation from the Sun to the observer. This contributes to a deeper understanding of the acceleration and propagation of SEP events, in particular the possible origins of the double-power law.

Compact photonic systems that offer high frequency stability and low noise are of increasing importance to applications in precision metrology, quantum computing, communication, and advanced sensing technologies. However, on-chip resonators comprised of dielectrics cannot match the frequency stability and noise characteristics of Fabry-Perot cavities, whose electromagnetic modes live almost entirely in vacuum. In this study, we present a novel strategy to interface micro-fabricated Fabry-Perot cavities with photonic integrated circuits to realize compact, high-performance integrated systems. Using this new integration approach, we demonstrate self-injection locking of an on-chip laser to a milimeter-scale vacuum-gap Fabry-Perot using a circuit interface that transforms the reflected cavity response to enable efficient feedback to the laser. This system achieves a phase noise of -97 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset frequency, a fractional frequency stability of 5*10-13 at 10 ms, a 150 Hz 1/pi integral linewidth, and a 35 mHz fundamental linewidth. We also present a complementary integration strategy that utilizes a vertical emission grating coupler and a back-reflection cancellation circuit to realize a fully co-integrated module that effectively redirects the reflected signals and isolates back-reflections with a 10 dB suppression ratio, readily adaptable for on-chip PDH locking. Together, these demonstrations significantly enhance the precision and functionality of RF photonic systems, paving the way for continued advancements in photonic applications.

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a satellite-borne particle detector for measurements of high-energy cosmic rays and \gamma-rays. DAMPE has been operating smoothly in space for more than 8 years since launch on December 17, 2015. The trigger logic of DAMPE is designed according to the deposited energy information recorded by the calorimeter. The precise calibration of the trigger thresholds and their long-term evolutions are very important for the scientific analysis of DAMPE. In this work, we develop a new method for the threshold calibration, considering the influence from the electronic noise, and obtain the long-term evolutions of the trigger thresholds. The average increase rate of the trigger thresholds for the first 4 layers of the calorimeter is found to be about 0.9% per year, resulting in variations of the high-energy trigger efficiency of cosmic ray electrons by about -5% per year at 2 GeV and less than about -0.05% above 30 GeV.

CMEs are one of the main drivers of space weather. However, robust and efficient numerical modeling of the initial stages of CME propagation and evolution process in the sub-Alfvenic corona is still lacking. Based on the highly efficient quasi-steady-state implicit MHD coronal model (Feng et al. 2021; Wang et al. 2022a), we further develop an efficient and time-accurate coronal model and employ it to simulate the CME's evolution and propagation. A pseudo-time marching method, where a pseudo time, tau, is introduced at each physical time step to update the solution by solving a steady-state problem on tau, is devised to improve the temporal accuracy. Moreover, an RBSL flux rope whose axis can be designed in an arbitrary shape is inserted into the background corona to trigger the CME event. We call it the SIP-IFVM coronal model and utilize it to simulate a CME evolution process from the solar surface to 20 Rs in the background corona of CR 2219. It can finish the CME simulation covering 6 hours of physical time by less than 0.5 hours (192 CPU cores, 1 M cells) without much loss in temporal accuracy. Besides, an ad hoc simulation with initial magnetic fields artificially increased shows that this model can effectively deal with time-dependent low-beta problems (beta<0.0005). Additionally, an Orszag-Tang MHD vortex flow simulation demonstrates that the pseudo-time-marching method adopted in this coronal model is also capable of simulating small-scale unsteady-state flows. The simulation results show that this MHD coronal model is very efficient and numerically stable and is promising to timely and accurately simulate time-varying events in solar corona with low plasma beta.

This review paper describes the energy-upgraded CEBAF accelerator. This superconducting linac has achieved 12 GeV beam energy by adding 11 new high-performance cryomodules containing eighty-eight superconducting cavities that have operated CW at an average accelerating gradient of 20 MV/m. After reviewing the attributes and performance of the previous 6 GeV CEBAF accelerator, we discuss the upgraded CEBAF accelerator system in detail with particular attention paid to the new beam acceleration systems. In addition to doubling the acceleration in each linac, the upgrade included improving the beam recirculation magnets, adding more helium cooling capacity to allow the newly installed modules to run cold, adding a new experimental hall, and improving numerous other accelerator components. We review several of the techniques deployed to operate and analyze the accelerator performance, and document system operating experience and performance. In the final portion of the document, we present much of the current planning regarding projects to improve accelerator performance and enhance operating margins, and our plans for ensuring CEBAF operates reliably into the future. For the benefit of potential users of CEBAF, the performance and quality measures for beam delivered to each of the experimental halls is summarized in the appendix.

The MUon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) was motivated by the proton radius puzzle arising from the discrepancy between muonic hydrogen spectroscopy and electron-proton measurements. The MUSE physics goals also include testing lepton universality, precisely measuring two-photon exchange contribution, and testing radiative corrections. MUSE addresses these physics goals through simultaneous measurement of high precision cross sections for electron-proton and muon-proton scattering using a mixed-species beam. The experiment will run at both positive and negative beam polarities. Measuring precise cross sections requires understanding both the incident beam energy and the radiative corrections. For this purpose, a lead-glass calorimeter was installed at the end of the beam line in the MUSE detector system. In this article we discuss the detector specifications, calibration and performance. We demonstrate that the detector performance is well reproduced by simulation, and meets experimental requirements.

High-power broadband tunable long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) femtosecond lasers operating at fingerprint wavelengths of 7-14 \mum hold significant promise across a range of applications, including molecular hyperspectral imaging, strong-field light-matter interaction, and resonant tissue ablation. Here we present 6-12 \mum broadband tunable parametric amplifier based on LiGaS2 or BaGa4S7, generating new record output power of 2.4 W at 7.5 \mum, and 1.5 W at 9.5 \mum, pumped by a simple and effective thin-square-rod Yb:YAG amplifier producing 110 W 274 fs output pulses. As a proof of concept, we showcase efficient resonant ablation and microstructure fabrication on enamel at the hydroxyapatite resonant wavelength of 9.5 \mum, with a laser intensity two orders-of-magnitude lower than that required by non-resonant femtosecond lasers, which could foster more precision surgical applications with superior biosafety.

Filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections are physical phenomena related to magnetic flux ropes carrying electric current. A magnetic flux rope is a key structure for solar eruptions, and when it carries a southward magnetic field component when propagating to the Earth. It is the primary driver of strong geomagnetic storms. As a result, developing a numerical model capable of capturing the entire progression of a flux rope, from its inception to its eruptive phase, is crucial for forecasting adverse space weather. The existence of such flux ropes is revealed by the presence of sigmoids in active regions or hot channels by observations from space and ground instruments. After proposing cartoons in 2D, potential, linear, non-linear-force-free-field (NLFFF) and non-force-free-field (NFFF) magnetic extrapolations, 3D numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation models were developed, first in a static configuration and later dynamic data-driven MHD models using high resolution observed vector magnetograms. This paper reviews a few recent developments in data-driven mode, such as the time-dependent magneto-frictional (TMF) and thermodynamic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models. Hereafter, to demonstrate the capacity of these models to reveal the physics of observations, we present the results for three events explored in our group: 1. the eruptive X1.0 flare on 28 October 2021; 2. the filament eruption on 18 August 2022; and 3. the confined X2.2 flare on 6 September 2017. These case studies validate the ability of data-driven models to retrieve observations, including the formation and eruption of flux ropes, 3D magnetic reconnection, CME three-part structures and the failed eruption. Based on these results, we provide some arguments for the formation mechanisms of flux ropes, the physical nature of the CME leading front, and the constraints of failed eruptions.

The Tamm structures show high quality (Q) factor property with simple photonic Bragg reflectors composed of alternative high/low refractive index layers and metal reflectors. However, the Q-factor of Tamm structures is inherently limited by the periodic constraints and fixed thicknesses of the Bragg reflector pairs. Removing periodic constraints and adopting aperiodic designs can lead to significantly higher Q-factors. Nevertheless, to fully exploit the potential of Tamm structures, it is essential to thoroughly explore the extensive search space introduced by these aperiodic designs. Herein, we introduce a novel approach that utilizes the quantum-inspired classical annealer combined with a factorization machine to facilitate the design of photonic Bragg reflectors with the aim of achieving ultrahigh Q-factor properties. Our investigation begins by establishing the effectiveness of global optimization in a 15-bit problem setting, showcasing a remarkable efficiency improvement of nearly one order of magnitude compared to random search strategies. Subsequently, we expand our analysis to a 20-bit problem, demonstrating comparable efficiency to state-of-the-art Bayesian optimization methods. Moreover, the proposed method proves its capability in handling extremely large search spaces, exemplified by a 40-bit problem, where we successfully uncover a Tamm structure design exhibiting an extraordinary ultrahigh Q-factor surpassing millions. The designed aperiodic Tamm structure exhibits exceptional high localization and enhancement of electric field, and the power loss is concentrated in the low loss dielectric layer. Hence, the decay rate of power dissipation significantly decreases and light-matter interaction time increases, resulting in ultrahigh Q-factor.

Swept laser interferometry is an extremely powerful solution embedded in several recent technologies such as absolute distance measurement, light detection and ranging, optical frequency domain reflectometry, optical coherence tomography, microresonator characterization, and gas spectroscopy. Nonlinearity in the optical frequency sweeping of tunable lasers is a fatal drawback in gaining the expected outcome from these technologies. Here, we introduce an onchip, millimeter scale, 7 m spiral resonator that is made of ultralow loss silicon nitride to act as a frequency ruler for correction of the tunable lasers sweeping nonlinearities. The sharp 2 MHz frequency lines of the 85 M high-quality resonator and the narrow spaced 25.57 MHz frequency ticks of the 7 m spiral allow unprecedented precise nonlinearity correction on an integrated photonics platform. Accurate measurements of the rulers frequency spacing, linewidth, and temperature and wavelength sensitivities of the frequency ticks are performed here to demonstrate the quality of the frequency ruler. In addition, the spiral resonator is implemented in an FMCW LiDAR experiment to demonstrate a potential application of the proposed onchip frequency ruler.

This paper presents the design and optimization of a LYSO crystal-based electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) for the DarkSHINE experiment, which aims to search for dark photon as potential dark force mediator. The ECAL design has been meticulously evaluated through comprehensive simulations, focusing on optimizing dimensions, material choices, and placement within the detector array to enhance sensitivity in search for dark photon signatures while balancing cost and performance. The concluded ECAL design, comprising 2.5$\times$2.5$\times$4 cm$^3$ LYSO crystals arranged in a 52.5$\times$52.5$\times$44 cm$^3$ structure, ensures high energy resolution and effective energy containment. The study also explored the energy distribution across different ECAL regions and established a dynamic range for energy measurements, with a 4 GeV limit per crystal deemed sufficient. Additionally, the radiation tolerance of ECAL components was assessed, confirming the sustainability of LYSO crystals and radiation-resistant silicon sensors.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) stand as intense eruptions of magnetized plasma from the Sun, playing a pivotal role in driving significant changes of the heliospheric environment. Deducing the properties of CMEs from their progenitors in solar source regions is crucial for space weather forecasting. Deducing the properties of CMEs from their progenitors in solar source regions is crucial for space weather forecasting. The primary objective of this paper is to establish a connection between CMEs and their progenitors in solar source regions, enabling us to infer the magnetic structures of CMEs before their full development. To this end, we create a dataset comprising a magnetic flux rope series with varying projection shapes, sizes and toroidal fluxes, using the Regularized Biot-Savart Laws (RBSL). Thereafter, we simulate the propagation of these flux ropes from the solar surface to a distance of 25$R_{\odot}$ with our global coronal MHD model which is named COCONUT. Our parametric survey reveals significant impacts of source flux ropes on the consequent CMEs. We find that the projection shape can influence the magnetic structures of CMEs at 20$R_{\odot}$, albeit with minimal impacts on the propagation speed. However, these impacts diminish as source flux ropes become fat. In terms of toroidal flux, our simulation results demonstrate a pronounced correlation with the propagation speed of CMEs, as well as the successfulness in erupting. This work builds the bridge between the CMEs in the outer corona and their progenitors in solar source regions. Our parametric survey suggests that the projection shape, cross-section radius and toroidal flux of source flux ropes are crucial parameters in predicting magnetic structures and propagation speed of CMEs, providing valuable insights for space weather prediction.

Intense highly charged ion beam production is essential for high-power heavy ion accelerators. A novel movable Vlasov launcher for superconducting high charge state Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source has been devised that can affect the microwave power effectiveness by a factor of about 4 in terms of highly charged ion beam production. This approach based on a dedicated microwave launching system instead of the traditional coupling scheme has led to new insight on microwave-plasma interaction. With this new understanding, the world record highly charged xenon ion beam currents have been enhanced by up to a factor of 2, which could directly and significantly enhance the performance of heavy ion accelerators and provide many new research opportunities in nuclear physics, atomic physics and other disciplines.

A novel method to reconstruct the energy of hadronic showers in the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) is presented. The HGCAL is a sampling calorimeter with very fine transverse and longitudinal granularity. The active media are silicon sensors and scintillator tiles readout by SiPMs and the absorbers are a combination of lead and Cu/CuW in the electromagnetic section, and steel in the hadronic section. The shower reconstruction method is based on graph neural networks and it makes use of a dynamic reduction network architecture. It is shown that the algorithm is able to capture and mitigate the main effects that normally hinder the reconstruction of hadronic showers using classical reconstruction methods, by compensating for fluctuations in the multiplicity, energy, and spatial distributions of the shower's constituents. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using test beam data collected in 2018 prototype of the CMS HGCAL accompanied by a section of the CALICE AHCAL prototype. The capability of the method to mitigate the impact of energy leakage from the calorimeter is also demonstrated.

High-performance, high-volume-manufacturing Si3N4 photonics requires extremely low waveguide losses augmented with heterogeneously integrated lasers for applications beyond traditional markets of high-capacity interconnects. State-of-the-art quality factors (Q) over 200 million at 1550 nm have been shown previously; however, maintaining high Qs throughout laser fabrication has not been shown. Here, Si3N4 resonator intrinsic Qs over 100 million are demonstrated on a fully integrated heterogeneous laser platform. Qi is measured throughout laser processing steps, showing degradation down to 50 million from dry etching, metal evaporation, and ion implant steps, and controllable recovery to over 100 million from annealing at 250C - 350C.

Silicon strip detectors have been widely utilized in space experiments for gamma-ray and cosmic-ray detections thanks to their high spatial resolution and stable performance. For a silicon micro-strip detector, the Monte Carlo simulation is recognized as a practical and cost-effective approach to verify the detector performance. In this study, a technique for the simulation of the silicon micro-strip detector with the $\rm Allpix^{2}$ framework is developed. By incorporating the electric field into the particle transport simulation based on Geant4, this framework could precisely emulate the carrier drift in the silicon micro-strip detector. The simulation results are validated using the beam test data as well as the flight data of the DAMPE experiment, which suggests that the $\rm Allpix^{2}$ framework is a powerful tool to obtain the performance of the silicon micro-strip detector.

Next-generation communications, radar and navigation systems will extend and exploit the higher bandwidth of the millimeter-wave domain for increased communication data rates as well as radar with higher sensitivity and increased spatial resolution. However, realizing these advantages will require the generation of millimeter-wave signals with low phase noise in simple and compact form-factors. The rapidly developing field of photonic integration addresses this challenge and provides a path toward simplified and portable, low-noise mm-wave generation for these applications. We leverage these advances by heterodyning two silicon photonic chip lasers, phase-locked to the same miniature Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity to demonstrate a simple framework for generating low-noise millimeter-waves with phase noise below the thermal limit of the F-P cavity. Specifically, we generate 94.5 GHz and 118.1 GHz millimeter-wave signals with phase noise of -117 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, decreasing to -120 dBc/Hz at 40 kHz offset, a record low value for such photonic devices. We achieve this with existing technologies that can be integrated into a platform less than $\approx$ 10 mL in volume. Our work illustrates the significant potential and advantages of low size, weight, and power (SWaP) photonic-sourced mm-waves for communications and sensing.

Recently, two-photon fluorescent probes based on anthocyanidins molecules have attracted extensive attention due to their outstanding photophysical properties. However, there are only a few two-photon excited fluorescent probes that really meet the requirements of relatively long emission wavelengths (>600 nm), large two-photon absorption (TPA) cross sections (300 GM), significant Stokes shift (>80 nm), and high fluorescence intensity. Herein, the photophysical properties of a series of anthocyanidins with the same substituents but different fluorophore skeletons were investigated in detail. Compared with b-series molecules, a-series molecules with a six-membered ring in the backbone have a slightly higher reorganization energy. This results in more energy loss upon light excitation, enabling the reaction products to detect NTR through a larger Stokes shift. More importantly, there is very little decrease in fluorescence intensity as the Stokes shift increases. These features are extremely valuable for high-resolution NTR detection. In light of this, novel 2a-n (n=1-5) compounds are designed, which are accomplished by inhibiting the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) effect through alkyl cyclization, azetidine ring and extending \pi conjugation. Among them, 2a-3 gains long emission spectrum (\lambdaem=691.42 nm), noticeable TPA cross section (957.36 GM), and large Stokes shift (110.88 nm), indicating that it serves as a promising candidate for two-photon fluorescent dyes. It is hoped that this work will offer some insightful theoretical direction for the development of novel high performance anthocyanin fluorescent materials.

The Spin Physics Detector collaboration proposes to install a universal detector in the second interaction point of the NICA collider under construction (JINR, Dubna) to study the spin structure of the proton and deuteron and other spin-related phenomena using a unique possibility to operate with polarized proton and deuteron beams at a collision energy up to 27 GeV and a luminosity up to $10^{32}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. As the main goal, the experiment aims to provide access to the gluon TMD PDFs in the proton and deuteron, as well as the gluon transversity distribution and tensor PDFs in the deuteron, via the measurement of specific single and double spin asymmetries using different complementary probes such as charmonia, open charm, and prompt photon production processes. Other polarized and unpolarized physics is possible, especially at the first stage of NICA operation with reduced luminosity and collision energy of the proton and ion beams. This document is dedicated exclusively to technical issues of the SPD setup construction.

Rapid progress in photonics has led to an explosion of integrated devices that promise to deliver the same performance as table-top technology at the nanoscale; heralding the next generation of optical communications, sensing and metrology, and quantum technologies. However, the challenge of co-integrating the multiple components of high-performance laser systems has left application of these nanoscale devices thwarted by bulky laser sources that are orders of magnitude larger than the devices themselves. Here we show that the two main ingredients for high-performance lasers -- noise reduction and isolation -- currently requiring serial combination of incompatible technologies, can be sourced simultaneously from a single, passive, CMOS-compatible nanophotonic device. To do this, we take advantage of both the long photon lifetime and the nonreciprocal Kerr nonlinearity of a high quality factor silicon nitride ring resonator to self-injection lock a semiconductor laser chip while also providing isolation. Additionally, we identify a previously unappreciated power regime limitation of current on-chip laser architectures which our system overcomes. Using our device, which we term a unified laser stabilizer, we demonstrate an on-chip integrated laser system with built-in isolation and noise reduction that operates with turnkey reliability. This approach departs from efforts to directly miniaturize and integrate traditional laser system components and serves to bridge the gap to fully integrated optical technologies.

Plasmonic devices, with their ultra-high integration density and data-carrying capacity comparable to optical devices, are currently a hot topic in the field of nanophotonic devices. Photodetectors, non-volatile memories, and ultra-compact lasers based on plasmons in low-dimensional materials are emerging at a rapid pace. However, the narrow optical response band and limited of convenient tunable methods currently available have hindered the development of these plasmonic materials. Here, we report a ultrabroadband non-equilibrium plasmonic responses based on Ge nanowires tuned by optical method. We tracked the blue shift of the plasmonic response of Ge nanowires due to photo-induced carriers over an ultra-broad spectral range of 800-2000 $cm^{-1}$. For the first time, we have achieved the imaging of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in semiconductor nanowires, which were tuned by photo-induced carriers. The ultrafast and ultrabroadband response of semiconductor nanowire plasmons is of great significance for future ultrafast all-optical devices.

The remarkable frequency stability of resonant systems in the optical domain (optical cavities and atomic transitions) can be harnessed at frequency scales accessible by electronics using optical frequency division. This capability is revolutionizing technologies spanning time keeping to high-performance electrical signal sources. A version of the technique called 2-point optical frequency division (2P-OFD) is proving advantageous for application to high-performance signal sources. In 2P-OFD, an optical cavity anchors two spectral endpoints defined by lines of a frequency comb. The comb need not be self-referenced, which greatly simplifies the system architecture and reduces power requirements. Here, a 2P-OFD microwave signal source is demonstrated with record-low phase noise using a microcomb. Key to this advance is a spectral endpoint defined by a frequency agile single-mode dispersive wave that is emitted by the microcomb soliton. Moreover, the system frequency reference is a compact all-solid-state optical cavity with a record Q-factor. The results advance integrable microcomb-based signal sources into the performance realm of much larger microwave sources.

Owing to extremely large band gap of 5.5 eV and high thermal conductivity, diamond is recognized as the most important semiconductor. The superconductivity of polycrystalline diamond has always been reported, but there are also many controversies over the existence of superconductivity in bulk single crystal diamond and it remains a question whether a metallic state exists for such a large band gap semiconductor. Herein, we realize a single crystal superconducting diamond with a Hall carrier concentration larger than 3*1020 cm-3 by co-doped of boron and nitrogen. Furthermore, we show that diamond can transform from superconducting to metallic state under similar carrier concentration with tuned carrier mobility degrading from 9.10 cm2 V-1 s-1 or 5.30 cm2 V-1 s-1 to 2.66 cm2 V-1 s-1 or 1.34 cm2 V-1 s-1. Through integrating graphene on a nitrogen and boron heavily co-doped diamond, the monolayer graphene can be superconducting through combining Andreev reflection and exciton mediated superconductivity, which may intrigue more interesting superconducting behavior of diamond heterostructure.

The Silicon Charge Detector (SCD) is a subdetector of the High Energy Cosmic Radiation Detection payload. The dynamic range of the silicon microstrip detector can be extended by the capacitive coupling effect, which is related to the interstrip capacitance and the coupling capacitance. A detector prototype with several sets of parameters was designed and tested in the ion beams at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The capacitive coupling fractions with readout strip and floating strip incidences were studied using the beam test data and SPICE simulation.

Silicon photonics with the advantages of low power consumption, low cost, and high yield is a crucial technology for facilitating high-capacity optical communications and interconnects. The graphene photodetectors (GPDs) featuring broadband operation, high speed, and low integration cost can be good additions to the conventional SiGe photodetectors, supporting silicon-integrated on-chip photodetection in new wavelength bands beyond 1.6 microns (e.g., U-band and 2 microns). Here we realize a silicon-integrated four-channel wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical receiver based on a micro-ring resonator (MRR) array and four p-n homojunction GPDs. These GPDs based on the photo-thermoelectric (PTE) effect operating under zero (current) bias exhibit responsivities of about 1.1 V/W and flat frequency responses up to 67 GHz which is set-up limited. The GPDs show good consistence benefiting from the compact active region array (0.006 mm^2) covered by a single mechanically exfoliated hBN/graphene/hBN stack. Moreover, the WDM graphene optical receiver realized the 4 x 16 Gbps non-return to zero (NRZ) optical signal transmission. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first GPD-array-based optical receiver using high-quality mechanically exfoliated graphene and edge graphene-metal conduct with low resistance. Apparently, our design is also compatible with CVD-grown graphene, which can also result in a good consistence of the GPDs. This work shed light on the large-scale integration of GPDs with high consistency and uniformity, enabling the application of high-quality mechanically exfoliated graphene, and promoting the development of the graphene photonic integrated circuits.

A simplex-based network is referred to as a higher-order network, in which describe that the interactions can include more than two nodes. Many multicomponent interactions can be grasped through simplicial complexes, which have recently found applications in social, technological, and biological contexts. The paper first proposes a competitive evolving model of higher-order networks. We introduce the difference equation analysis approach in the high-order network to make the analysis network more rigorous. It avoids the assumption that the degrees of nodes are continuous in the traditional analysis network. We obtain an analytical expression for the distribution of higher-order degrees by employing the theory of Poisson processes. The established results indicate that in a d-order network the scale-free behavior for the (d-1)-dim simplex with respect to the d-order degree is controlled by the competitiveness factor. As the competitiveness increases, the d-order degree of the (d-1)-dim simplex is bent under the logarithmic coordinates. While the e(<d-1)-dim simplex with respect to the d-order degree exhibits scale-free behavior. Second, by considering the weight changes of the neighboring simplices, as triggered by the selected simplex, a new weighted evolving model in higher-order networks is proposed. The results of the competitive evolving model of higher-order networks are used to analyze the weighted evolving model so that obtained are the analytical expressions of the higher-order degree distribution and higher-order strength density function of weighted higher-order networks. The outcomes of the simulation experiments are consistent with the theoretical analysis.

Terahertz (THz) detector has great potential for use in imaging, spectroscopy, and communications due to its fascinating interactions between radiation and matter. However, current THz detection devices have limitations in sensitivity, operating frequency range, and bulky footprint. While recent ferroelectric-integrated graphene plasmonic devices show promise in overcoming these limitations, they are not yet extended to the THz range. Here, we propose a wavelength-sensitive terahertz detector that uses a single layer graphene integrated onto the ferroelectric thin film with patterned polarization domains. This device works at room temperature, with high responsivity and detectivity by coupling graphene plasmons with THz frequencies through spatial modulation of carrier behaviors using ferroelectric polarization, without requiring additional local electrodes. By reconfiguring an interweaving squared ferroelectric domain array with alternating upward and downward polarizations to highly confine graphene surface plasmon polaritons, our device achieves an ultrahigh responsivity of 1717 A W-1 and a normalized detectivity of 1.07*10^13 Jones at a resonance frequency of 6.30 THz and a 0.3 V bias voltage. We also show that the device makes possible for spectrum reconstruction application of portable spectrometer combining the mathematical algorithms.

Aims. We studied the first multi-spacecraft high-energy solar energetic particle (SEP) event of solar cycle 25, which triggered a ground level enhancement (GLE) on 28 October 2021, using data from multiple observers that were widely distributed throughout the heliosphere. Methods. We performed detail modelling of the shock wave and investigated the magnetic connectivity of each observer to the solar surface and examined the shock magnetic connection. We performed 3D SEP propagation simulations to investigate the role of particle transport in the distribution of SEPs to distant magnetically connected observers. Results. Observations and modelling show that a strong shock wave formed promptly in the low corona. At the SEP release time windows, we find a connection with the shock for all the observers. PSP, STA, and Solar Orbiter were connected to strong shock regions with high Mach numbers, whereas the Earth and other observers were connected to lower Mach numbers. The SEP spectral properties near Earth demonstrate two power laws, with a harder (softer) spectrum in the low-energy (high-energy) range. Composition observations from SIS (and near-Earth instruments) show no serious enhancement of flare-accelerated material. Conclusions. A possible scenario consistent with the observations and our analysis indicates that high-energy SEPs at PSP, STA, and Solar Orbiter were dominated by particle acceleration and injection by the shock, whereas high-energy SEPs that reached near-Earth space were associated with a weaker shock; it is likely that efficient transport of particles from a wide injection source contributed to the observed high-energy SEPs. Our study cannot exclude a contribution from a flare-related process; however, composition observations show no evidence of an impulsive composition of suprathermals during the event, suggestive of a non-dominant flare-related process.

Context. Three-dimensional (3D) reconnection is an important mechanism for efficiently releasing energy during astrophysical eruptive events, which is difficult to be quantitatively analyzed especially within turbulent plasmas. Aims. In this paper, an efficient method for identifying locations and configurations of 3D reconnection from MHD data is developed. Methods. This method analyzes the local nonideal electric field and magnetic structure at an arbitrary position. As only performing algebraical manipulations on the discrete field data and avoiding computationally expensive operations like field-line tracing and root-finding, this method naturally possesses high efficiency. To validate this method, we apply it to the 3D data from a high-resolution simulation of a Harris-sheet reconnection and a data-driven simulation of a coronal flux rope eruption. Results. It is shown that this method can precisely identify the local structures of discrete magnetic field. Through the information of nonideal electric field and the geometric attributes of magnetic field, the local structures of reconnection sites can be effectively and comprehensively determined. For fine turbulent processes, both qualitative pictures and quantitative statistical properties of small-scale reconnection structures can be obtained. For large-scale solar simulations, macro-scale magnetic structures such as flux ropes and eruption current sheets can also be recognized. Conclusions. We develop a powerful method to analyze multi-scale structures of 3D reconnection. It can be applied not only in MHD simulations but also in kinetic simulations, plasma experiments, and in-situ observations.

Coupler RF kick due to the asymmetric structure caused by the coupler, is more likely to lead to emittance growth in the SHINE injector with low beam energy. The calculation of coupler RF kick and resulting emittance dilution has been studied in detail in the literature. In this paper, a novel approach is provided that a lossy material is placed on the surface of the superconducting cavity to approximate the Q0 of the TESLA cavity, and a frequency solver of CST is used to simulate the electromagnetic field distribution, which is used to calculate coupler RF kick, and calibrated against the results of CST Particle Tracking Studio with a good agreement. In order to minimize the emittance growth of SHINE injector, a 1.3 GHz symmetric twin-coupler cavity is adoped in the single-cavity cryomodule, and the rotational angle and permutation of the 8 cavities in the 8-cavities cryomodule is optimized. Ultimately, the optimized emittance is lower than the design parameter.

If the terrestrial environment is permeated by dark matter, the levitation experiences damping forces and fluctuations attributed to dark matter. This paper investigates levitodynamics with multiple stochastic forces, including thermal drag, photon recoil, feedback, etc., assuming that all of these forces adhere to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The ratio of total damping to the stochastic damping coefficient distinguishes the levitodynamics from cases involving only one single stochastic force. The heating and cooling processes are formulated to determine the limits of temperature change. All sources of stochastic forces are comprehensively examined, revealing that dark matter collisions cannot be treated analogously to fluid dynamics. Additionally, a meticulous analysis is presented, elucidating the intricate relationship between the fundamental transfer cross-section and the macroscopic transfer cross-section. While the dark damping coefficient is suppressed by the mass of the levitated particle, scattering can be coherently enhanced based on the scale of the component microscopic particle, the atomic form factor, and the static structure factor. Hence, dark damping holds the potential to provide valuable insights into the detection of the macroscopic strength of fundamental particles. We propose experimental procedures for levitation and employ linear estimation to extract the dark damping coefficient. Utilizing current levitation results, we demonstrate that the fundamental transfer cross section of dark matter can be of the order $\sigma^{\rm D}_{T}\lsim {\cal O}(10^{-26})\rm cm^2$.

We demonstrate laser frequency stabilization using a high-Q MgF2 crystalline whispering gallery mode resonator coupled with a tapered fiber. We discovered that the tapered fiber, acting as a microcantilever, exhibits mechanical resonance characteristics that is capable of transmitting acoustic perturbations to the frequency locking loop. Both experimental and theoretical investigations into the influence of external acoustic waves on the coupling system were conducted. After acoustic isolation, the locked laser exhibits a minimum frequency noise of 0.4Hz2/Hz at 7kHz and an integral linewidth of 68Hz (0.1s integration time). Benefiting from the ultralow frequency noise of the stabilized laser, it achieves a minimum noise equivalent acoustic signal level of 4.76*10-4 Pa/Hz1/2. Our results not only facilitate the realization of ultralow noise lasers but also serves as a novel and sensitive photoacoustic detector.

Hydrazine stands out as the most generally used chemical-reducing agent for reducing graphene oxide. Despite numerous experimental and theoretical investigations into the reduction reaction, the reduction mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we propose that, in aqueous hydrazine solutions, both hydrazine and hydroxide ions could initiate the reduction of graphene oxide. We introduce a chemical reaction pathway involving C-H cleavage and a dehydroxylation process for the reduction of graphene oxide. By utilizing density functional theory calculations, the reduction reactions mediated by hydrazine and hydroxide ions are separately investigated. The reaction routes on the basal plane and edge regions of graphene oxide are discussed independently. The density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the proposed mechanism is both thermodynamically and dynamically feasible. This work might contribute to an atomic-level comprehension of a longstanding challenge in the field of graphene oxide.

Context: Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are rapid eruptions of magnetized plasma that occur on the Sun, which are known as the main drivers of adverse space weather. Accurately tracking their evolution in the heliosphere in numerical models is of utmost importance for space weather forecasting. Aims: The main objective of this paper is to implement the Regularized Biot-Savart Laws (RBSL) method in a new global corona model COCONUT. This approach has the capability to construct the magnetic flux rope with an axis of arbitrary shape. Methods: We present the implementation process of the RBSL flux rope model in COCONUT, which is superposed onto a realistic solar wind reconstructed from the observed magnetogram around the minimum of solar activity. Based on this, we simulate the propagation of an S-shaped flux rope from the solar surface to a distance of 25 solar radii. Results: Our simulation successfully reproduces the birth process of a CME originating from a sigmoid in a self-consistent way. The model effectively captures various physical processes and retrieves the prominent features of the CMEs in observations. In addition, the simulation results indicate that the magnetic topology of the CME flux rope at around 20 solar radii deviates from a coherent structure, and manifests as a mix of open and closed field lines with diverse footpoints. Conclusions: This work demonstrates the potential of the RBSL flux rope model in reproducing CME events that are more consistent with observations. Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that magnetic reconnection during the CME propagation plays a critical role in destroying the coherent characteristic of a CME flux rope.

A digital twin (DT) is a virtual representation of physical process, products and/or systems that requires a high-fidelity computational model for continuous update through the integration of sensor data and user input. In the context of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing, a digital twin of the manufacturing process can offer predictions for the produced parts, diagnostics for manufacturing defects, as well as control capabilities. This paper introduces a parameterized physics-based digital twin (PPB-DT) for the statistical predictions of LPBF metal additive manufacturing process. We accomplish this by creating a high-fidelity computational model that accurately represents the melt pool phenomena and subsequently calibrating and validating it through controlled experiments. In PPB-DT, a mechanistic reduced-order method-driven stochastic calibration process is introduced, which enables the statistical predictions of the melt pool geometries and the identification of defects such as lack-of-fusion porosity and surface roughness, specifically for diagnostic applications. Leveraging data derived from this physics-based model and experiments, we have trained a machine learning-based digital twin (PPB-ML-DT) model for predicting, monitoring, and controlling melt pool geometries. These proposed digital twin models can be employed for predictions, control, optimization, and quality assurance within the LPBF process, ultimately expediting product development and certification in LPBF-based metal additive manufacturing.

Controlling the frequency of nonclassical light is indispensable for implementing quantum computation, communication and bridging various quantum systems. However, frequency-shift devices for solid state single-photon sources that are easy to integrate are practically absent. Here, we propose an integrated single-photon frequency shifter based on acousto-optic modulation. The device consists of two Interdigital Transducers (IDTs) for surface acoustic wave (SAW) generation and a silicon waveguide periodically placed at the nodes the SAW to increase the interaction length. The V\pi*L of the device is 1.2v.cm. Under 133.2MHz driving frequency and 10 volt driving voltage, a shift up to 65.7GHz is achieved with near unity conversion efficiency. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of on-chip deterministic quantum spectral control in constructing hybrid quantum networks.

Magnetic flux ropes are a bundle of twisted magnetic field lines produced by internal electric currents, which are responsible for solar eruptions and are the major drivers of geomagnetic storms. As such, it is crucial to develop a numerical model that can capture the entire evolution of a flux rope, from its birth to death, in order to predict whether adverse space weather events might occur or not. In this paper, we develop a data-driven modeling that combines a time-dependent magneto-frictional approach with a thermodynamic magnetohydrodynamic model. Our numerical modeling successfully reproduces the formation and confined eruption of an observed flux rope, and unveils the physical details behind the observations. Regarding the long-term evolution of the active region, our simulation results indicate that the flux cancellation due to collisional shearing plays a critical role in the formation of the flux rope, corresponding to a substantial increase in magnetic free energy and helicity. Regarding the eruption stage, the deformation of the flux rope during its eruption can cause an increase in the downward tension force, which suppresses it from further rising. This finding may shed light on why some torus-unstable flux ropes lead to failed eruptions after large-angle rotations. Moreover, we find that twisted fluxes can accumulate during the confined eruptions, which would breed the subsequent eruptive flares.

ScaleLat (Scale Lattice) is a computer program written in C for performing the atomic structure analysis of multi-phase system or high entropy alloys (HEAs). The program implements an atomic cluster extraction algorithm to obtain all independent and symmetry-reduced characteristic chemical structures for the complex atomic configurations which are usually obtained from molecular dynamics or kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations for supercell containing more than 104 atoms. ScaleLat employes an efficient and unique chemical structure matching algorithm to map all extracted atomic clusters from a large supercell (>10^4 atoms) to a representative small one (~ 10^3 or less), providing the possibility to directly use the highly accurate quantum mechanical methods to study the electronic, magnetic, and mechanical properties of multi-component alloys with complex microstructures. We demonstrate the capability of ScaleLat code by conducting both the atomic structure analysis and chemical structure matching procedure for Fe-12.8 at.% Cr binary alloy and equiatomic CrFeCoNiCu high entropy alloy, and by successfully obtaining the representatively supercells containing 10^2~10^3 atoms of the two alloys. Overall, ScaleLat program provides a universal platform to efficiently project all essential chemical structures of large complex atomic structures to a relatively easy-handling small supercell for quantum mechanical calculations of various user interested properties.

The unique benefits of Fabry-Pérot resonators as frequency-stable reference cavities and as an efficient interface between atoms and photons make them an indispensable resource for emerging photonic technologies. To bring these performance benefits to next-generation communications, computation, and timekeeping systems, it will be necessary to develop strategies to integrate compact Fabry-Pérot resonators with photonic integrated circuits. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel reflection cancellation circuit that utilizes a numerically optimized multi-port polarization-splitting grating coupler to efficiently interface high-finesse Fabry-Pérot resonators with a silicon photonic circuit. This circuit interface produces spatial separation of the incident and reflected waves, as required for on-chip Pound-Drever-Hall frequency locking, while also suppressing unwanted back reflections from the Fabry-Pérot resonator. Using inverse design principles, we design and fabricate a polarization-splitting grating coupler that achieves 55% coupling efficiency. This design realizes an insertion loss of 5.8 dB for the circuit interface and more than 9 dB of back reflection suppression, and we demonstrate the versatility of this system by using it to interface several reflective off-chip devices.

Analysis of compressible turbulent flows is essential for applications related to propulsion, energy generation, and the environment. Here, we present BLASTNet 2.0, a 2.2 TB network-of-datasets containing 744 full-domain samples from 34 high-fidelity direct numerical simulations, which addresses the current limited availability of 3D high-fidelity reacting and non-reacting compressible turbulent flow simulation data. With this data, we benchmark a total of 49 variations of five deep learning approaches for 3D super-resolution - which can be applied for improving scientific imaging, simulations, turbulence models, as well as in computer vision applications. We perform neural scaling analysis on these models to examine the performance of different machine learning (ML) approaches, including two scientific ML techniques. We demonstrate that (i) predictive performance can scale with model size and cost, (ii) architecture matters significantly, especially for smaller models, and (iii) the benefits of physics-based losses can persist with increasing model size. The outcomes of this benchmark study are anticipated to offer insights that can aid the design of 3D super-resolution models, especially for turbulence models, while this data is expected to foster ML methods for a broad range of flow physics applications. This data is publicly available with download links and browsing tools consolidated at https://blastnet.github.io.

In the Earth-field range, the nonlinear Zeeman (NLZ) effect has been a bottleneck limiting the sensitivity and accuracy of atomic magnetometry from physical mechanism. To break this bottleneck, various techniques are introduced to suppress the NLZ effect. Here we revisit the spin dynamics in the Earth-field-range magnetometry and identify the existence of the intrinsic spin squeezed state (SSS) generated from the geomagnetically induced NLZ effect with the oscillating squeezing degree and squeezing axis. Such oscillating features of the SSS prevent its direct observation and as well, accessibility to magnetic sensing. To exploit quantum advantage of the intrinsic SSS in the Earth-field-range magnetometry, it's essential to lock the oscillating SSS to a persistent one. Hence, we develop a quantum locking technique to achieve a persistent SSS, benefiting from which the sensitivity of the Earth-field-range magnetometer is quantum-enhanced. This work presents an innovative way turning the drawback of NLZ effect into the quantum advantage and opens a new access to quantum-enhanced magnetometry in the Earth-field range.

Space weather is a multidisciplinary research area connecting scientists from across heliophysics domains seeking a coherent understanding of our space environment that can also serve modern life and society's needs. COSPAR's ISWAT (International Space Weather Action Teams) 'clusters' focus attention on different areas of space weather study while ensuring the coupled system is broadly addressed via regular communications and interactions. The ISWAT cluster "H3: Radiation Environment in the Heliosphere" (https://www.iswat-cospar.org/h3) has been working to provide a scientific platform to understand, characterize and predict the energetic particle radiation in the heliosphere with the practical goal of mitigating radiation risks associated with areospace activities, satellite industry and human space explorations. In particular, present approaches help us understand the physical phenomena at large, optimizing the output of multi-viewpoint observations and pushing current models to their limits. In this paper, we review the scientific aspects of the radiation environment in the heliosphere covering four different radiation types: Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), Ground Level Enhancement (GLE, a type of SEP events with energies high enough to trigger the enhancement of ground-level detectors), Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs). We focus on related advances in the research community in the past 10-20 years and what we still lack in terms of understanding and predictive capabilities. Finally we also consider some recommendations related to the improvement of both observational and modeling capabilities in the field of space radiation environment.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used radiological modality renowned for its radiation-free, comprehensive insights into the human body, facilitating medical diagnoses. However, the drawback of prolonged scan times hinders its accessibility. The k-space undersampling offers a solution, yet the resultant artifacts necessitate meticulous removal during image reconstruction. Although Deep Learning (DL) has proven effective for fast MRI image reconstruction, its broader applicability across various imaging scenarios has been constrained. Challenges include the high cost and privacy restrictions associated with acquiring large-scale, diverse training data, coupled with the inherent difficulty of addressing mismatches between training and target data in existing DL methodologies. Here, we present a novel Physics-Informed Synthetic data learning framework for Fast MRI, called PISF. PISF marks a breakthrough by enabling generalized DL for multi-scenario MRI reconstruction through a single trained model. Our approach separates the reconstruction of a 2D image into many 1D basic problems, commencing with 1D data synthesis to facilitate generalization. We demonstrate that training DL models on synthetic data, coupled with enhanced learning techniques, yields in vivo MRI reconstructions comparable to or surpassing those of models trained on matched realistic datasets, reducing the reliance on real-world MRI data by up to 96%. Additionally, PISF exhibits remarkable generalizability across multiple vendors and imaging centers. Its adaptability to diverse patient populations has been validated through evaluations by ten experienced medical professionals. PISF presents a feasible and cost-effective way to significantly boost the widespread adoption of DL in various fast MRI applications.

Numerous modern technologies are reliant on the low-phase noise and exquisite timing stability of microwave signals. Substantial progress has been made in the field of microwave photonics, whereby low noise microwave signals are generated by the down-conversion of ultra-stable optical references using a frequency comb. Such systems, however, are constructed with bulk or fiber optics and are difficult to further reduce in size and power consumption. Our work addresses this challenge by leveraging advances in integrated photonics to demonstrate low-noise microwave generation via two-point optical frequency division. Narrow linewidth self-injection locked integrated lasers are stabilized to a miniature Fabry-Pérot cavity, and the frequency gap between the lasers is divided with an efficient dark-soliton frequency comb. The stabilized output of the microcomb is photodetected to produce a microwave signal at 20 GHz with phase noise of -96 dBc/Hz at 100 Hz offset frequency that decreases to -135 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset--values which are unprecedented for an integrated photonic system. All photonic components can be heterogeneously integrated on a single chip, providing a significant advance for the application of photonics to high-precision navigation, communication and timing systems.

Objective: This study aims at investigating a novel super resolution CBCT imaging technique with the dual-layer flat panel detector (DL-FPD). Approach: In DL-FPD based CBCT imaging, the low-energy and high-energy projections acquired from the top and bottom detector layers contain intrinsically mismatched spatial information, from which super resolution CBCT images can be generated. To explain, a simple mathematical model is established according to the signal formation procedure in DL-FPD. Next, a dedicated recurrent neural network (RNN), named as suRi-Net, is designed by referring to the above imaging model to retrieve the high resolution dual-energy information. Different phantom experiments are conducted to validate the performance of this newly developed super resolution CBCT imaging method. Main Results: Results show that the proposed suRi-Net can retrieve high spatial resolution information accurately from the low-energy and high-energy projections having lower spatial resolution. Quantitatively, the spatial resolution of the reconstructed CBCT images of the top and bottom detector layers is increased by about 45% and 54%, respectively. Significance: In future, suRi-Net provides a new approach to achieve high spatial resolution dual-energy imaging in DL-FPD based CBCT systems.

The effects of turbulence intensity and turbulence region on the distribution of femtosecond laser filaments are experimentally elaborated. Through the ultrasonic signals emitted by the filaments, and it is observed that increasing turbulence intensity and expanding turbulence active region cause an increase in the start position of the filament, and a decrease in filament length, which can be well explained by the theoretical calculation. It is also observed that the random perturbation of the air refractive index caused by atmospheric turbulence expanded the spot size of the filament. Additionally, when turbulence intensity reaches , multiple filaments are formed. Furthermore, the standard deviation of the transverse displacement of filament is found to be proportional to the square root of turbulent structure constant under the experimental turbulence parameters in this paper. These results contribute to the study of femtosecond laser propagation mechanisms in complex atmospheric turbulence conditions

Femtosecond laser filament-induced plasma spectroscopy (FIPS) demonstrates great potentials in the remote sensing for identifying atmospheric pollutant molecules. Due to the widespread aerosols in atmosphere, the remote detection based on FIPS would be affected from both the excitation and the propagation of fingerprint fluorescence, which still remain elusive. Here the physical model of filament-induced aerosol fluorescence is established to reveal the combined effect of Mie scattering and amplification spontaneous emission, which is then proved by the experimental results, the dependence of the backward fluorescence on the interaction length between filament and aerosols. These findings provide an insight into the complicated aerosol effect in the overall physical process of FIPS including propagation, excitation and emission, paving the way to its practical application in atmospheric remote sensing.

By self-injection-locking a 1560 nm distributed feedback semiconductor laser to a high-$Q$ silicon nitride resonator, a high-coherence 780 nm second harmonic signal is generated via the photogalvanic-induced second-order nonlinearity. A record-low frequency noise floor of 4 Hz$^2$/Hz is achieved for the 780 nm emission. The approach can be generalized for signal generation over a wide range of visible and near-visible bands.

Sea salt aerosols composed mainly of micrometer-sized sodium chloride particles not only pose a potential threat to human health and traffic safety, but also directly affect climate prediction. The long-range and high-precision sensing of sea salt aerosols remains a challenge for existing composition analysis methods. As the development of ultrashort laser technology, femtosecond laser filamentation provides a new opportunity for molecular remote sensing in complex environments. However, the accuracy at long-distance of this method is still hard to meet the demand (<10 ng/m3) for the remote aerosol monitoring. To solve this problem, we built a remote detection system for sea salt aerosol fluorescence spectroscopy and obtained a very high system sensitivity by introducing a terawatt-class high-performance femtosecond laser and optimizing the filament and aerosol interaction length. The system achieves a Na+ detection limit of 0.015 ng/m3 at a detection distance of 30 m, and 0.006 ng/m3 when supplemented with a deep processing learning algorithm.

Accidental exposure to overdose ionizing radiation will inevitably lead to severe biological damage, thus detecting and localizing radiation is essential. Traditional measurement techniques are generally restricted to the limited detection range of few centimeters, posing a great risk to operators. The potential in remote sensing makes femtosecond laser filament technology great candidates for constructively address this challenge. Here we propose a novel filament-based ionizing radiation sensing technology (FIRST), and clarify the interaction mechanism between filaments and ionizing radiation. Specifically, it is demonstrated that the energetic electrons and ions produced by \alpha radiation in air can be effectively accelerated within the filament, serving as seed electrons, which will markedly enhance nitrogen fluorescence. The extended nitrogen fluorescence lifetime of ~1 ns is also observed. These findings provide insights into the intricate interaction among ultra-strong light filed, plasma and energetic particle beam, and pave the way for the remote sensing of ionizing radiation.

The use of accelerated sampling methods such as metadynamics has shown significant advantage in calculations that involve infrequent events, which would otherwise require sampling a prohibitive number of configurations to determine, e.g., difference in free energies between two or more chemically distinct states such as in the calculation of acid dissociation constants $K_a$. In this case, the most common method is to bias the system via a single collective variable (CV) representing the $coordination~number$ of the proton donor group, which yields results in reasonable agreement with experiments. Here we study the deprotonation of acetic acid using the reactive force field ReaxFF and observe a significant dependence of $K_a$ on the simulation box size when biasing only the coordination number CV, which is due to incomplete sampling of the deprotonated state for small simulation systems, and inefficient sampling for larger ones. Incorporating a second CV representing the distance between the H$_3$O$^+$ cation and the acetate anion results in a substantially more efficient sampling both accelerating the dynamics and virtually eliminating the computational box size dependence.

In the past two decades, a series of important results have been established in the empirical and theoretical modeling of complex networks, although considered are mainly pairwise networks. However, with the development of science and technology, an increasing number of higher-order networks with many-body interactions have gradually moved to the center stage of research when real-life systems are investigated. In the paper, the concept of higher-order degree is introduced to higher-order networks, and a bending power law (BPL) model with continuous-time growth is proposed. The evolution mechanism and topological properties of the general higher-order network are studied. The batch effect of low dimensional simplex is considered. The model is analyzed by using the mean-field method and Poisson process theory. The stationary average higher-order degree distribution of simplices is expressed analytically. The obtained analytical results agree well with those observed through simulations. In particular, this paper shows that the higher-order degree distribution of simplices in the network processes a property of bending power law, and the scale-free property of the higher-order degree is controlled by the higher-order edge, the simplex dimension and the feature parameter of the model. The BPL model of higher-order networks not only generalizes the NGF model, but also the famous scale-free model of complex networks to higher-order networks.

We present an innovative contactless method suitable to study in-plane thermal transport based on beam-offset frequency-domain thermoreflectance using a one-dimensional heat source with uniform power distribution. Using a one-dimensional heat source provides a number of advantages as compared to point-like heat sources, as typically used in time- and frequency-domain thermoreflectance experiments, just to name a few: (i) it leads to a slower spatial decay of the temperature field in the direction perpendicular to the line-shaped heat source, allowing to probe the temperature field at larger distances from the heater, hence, enhancing the sensitivity to in-plane thermal transport; (ii) the frequency range of interest is typically < 100 kHz. This rather low frequency range is convenient regarding the cost of the required excitation laser system but, most importantly, it allows the study of materials without the presence of a metallic transducer with almost no influence of the finite optical penetration depth of the pump and probe beams on the thermal phase lag, which arises from the large thermal penetration depth imposed by the used frequency range. We also show that for the case of a harmonic thermal excitation source, the phase lag between the thermal excitation and thermal response of the sample exhibits a linear dependence with their spatial offset, where the slope is proportional to the inverse of the thermal diffusivity of the material. We demonstrate the applicability of this method to the cases of: (i) suspended thin films of Si and PDPP4T, (ii) Bi bulk samples, and (iii) Si, glass, and highly-oriented pyrollitic graphite (HOPG) bulk samples with a thin metallic transducer. Finally, we also show that it is possible to study in-plane heat transport on substrates with rather low thermal diffusivity, e.g., glass, even using a metallic transducer.

The presence and distribution of water on the Moon are fundamental to our understanding of the Earth-Moon system. Despite extensive research and remote detection, the origin and chemical form of lunar water (H2O) have remained elusive. In this study, we present the discovery of a hydrated mineral, (NH4)MgCl3*6H2O, in lunar soil samples returned by the Chang'e-5 mission, containing approximately 41 wt% H2O. The mineral's structure and composition closely resemble novograblenovite, a terrestrial fumarole mineral formed through the reaction of hot basalt with water-rich volcanic gases, and carnallite, an earth evaporite mineral. We rule out terrestrial contamination or rocket exhaust as the origin of this hydrate, based on its chemical and isotopic compositions and formation conditions. The presence of ammonium indicates a more complex lunar degassing history and highlights its potential as a resource for lunar habitation. Our findings also suggest that water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the Moon as hydrated salt, providing crucial constraints to the fugacity of water and ammonia vapor in lunar volcanic gases.

Understanding the factors underpinning device switching times is crucial for the implementation of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) in neuromorphic computing and real-time sensing applications. Existing models of device operation cannot explain the experimental observations that turn-off times are generally much faster than turn-on times in accumulation mode OECTs. Through operando optical microscopy, we image the local doping level of the transistor channel and show that device turn-on occurs in two stages, while turn-off occurs in one stage. We attribute the faster turn-off to a combination of engineering as well as physical and chemical factors including channel geometry, differences in doping and dedoping kinetics, and the physical phenomena of carrier density-dependent mobility. We show that ion transport is limiting the device operation speed in our model devices. Our study provides insights into the kinetics of OECTs and guidelines for engineering faster OECTs.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an important semiconductor material for fabricating power electronic devices that exhibit higher switch frequency, lower energy loss and substantial reduction both in size and weight in comparison with its Si-based counterparts1-4. Currently, most devices, such as metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors, which are core devices used in electric vehicles, photovoltaic industry and other applications, are fabricated on a hexagonal polytype 4H-SiC because of its commercial availability5. Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC), the only cubic polytype, has a moderate band gap of 2.36 eV at room-temperature, but a superior mobility and thermal conduction than 4H-SiC4,6-11. Moreover, the much lower concentration of interfacial traps between insulating oxide gate and 3C-SiC helps fabricate reliable and long-life devices7-10,12-14. The growth of 3C-SiC crystals, however, has remained a challenge up to now despite of decades-long efforts by researchers because of its easy transformation into other polytypes during growth15-19, limiting the 3C-SiC based devices. Here, we report that 3C-SiC can be made thermodynamically favored from nucleation to growth on a 4H-SiC substrate by top-seeded solution growth technique(TSSG), beyond what's expected by classic nucleation theory. This enables the steady growth of quality and large sized 3C-SiC crystals (2~4-inch in diameter and 4.0~10.0 mm in thickness) sustainable. Our findings broaden the mechanism of hetero-seed crystal growth and provide a feasible route to mass production of 3C-SiC crystals,offering new opportunities to develop power electronic devices potentially with better performances than those based on 4H-SiC.

It is important to measure in-plane conductivity of Nafion membrane for fuel cell, but this target is generally inhibited by measuring system with heterogeneous interfaces and immature electrochemical measurements. This paper simply used water media to establish stable measuring system with metal electrode and Nafion membrane, representing system as equivalent circuit. Our equivalent circuit was validated by both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, also clarified connection and difference in two measurements. This electrochemistry breakthrough helps realize measuring system completely and reliably even under successive temperature cycles, providing circuit elements for kinetic analysis in contact resistance, in-plane conductivity, inactive and active proton. We also clarified that the inactive and active proton shift can dictate low frequency inductance, which is an important sign for active and stable operation in fuel cell, secondary battery and materials. All these results can induce enormous progress in multi-disciplines, making our work have great significance and broad impact for future studies.

Preparing a massive mechanical resonator in a state with quantum limited motional energy provides a promising platform for studying fundamental physics with macroscopic systems and allows to realize a variety of applications, including precise sensing. While several demonstrations of such ground-state cooled systems have been achieved, in particular in sideband-resolved cavity optomechanics, for many systems overcoming the heating from the thermal bath remains a major challenge. In contrast, optomechanical systems in the sideband-unresolved limit are much easier to realize due to the relaxed requirements on their optical properties, and the possibility to use a feedback control schemes to reduce the motional energy. The achievable thermal occupation is ultimately limited by the correlation between the measurement precision and the back-action from the measurement. Here, we demonstrate measurement-based feedback cooling on a fully integrated optomechanical device fabricated using a pick-and-place method, operating in the deep sideband-unresolved limit. With the large optomechanical interaction and a low thermal decoherence rate, we achieve a minimal average phonon occupation of 0.76 when pre-cooled with liquid helium and 3.5 with liquid nitrogen. Significant sideband asymmetry for both bath temperatures verifies the quantum character of the mechanical motion. Our method and device are ideally suited for sensing applications directly operating at the quantum limit, greatly simplifying the operation of an optomechanical system in this regime.

The Super $\tau$-Charm facility (STCF) is an electron-positron collider proposed by the Chinese particle physics community. It is designed to operate in a center-of-mass energy range from 2 to 7 GeV with a peak luminosity of $0.5\times 10^{35}{\rm cm}^{-2}{\rm s}^{-1}$ or higher. The STCF will produce a data sample about a factor of 100 larger than that by the present $\tau$-Charm factory -- the BEPCII, providing a unique platform for exploring the asymmetry of matter-antimatter (charge-parity violation), in-depth studies of the internal structure of hadrons and the nature of non-perturbative strong interactions, as well as searching for exotic hadrons and physics beyond the Standard Model. The STCF project in China is under development with an extensive R\&D program. This document presents the physics opportunities at the STCF, describes conceptual designs of the STCF detector system, and discusses future plans for detector R\&D and physics case studies.

Niobium telluride (NbTe$_2$), an emerging transition metal dichalcogenide material, has been theoretically predicted to have nonlinear absorption properties and excellent optical response. However, only a few studies of the utilization of NbTe$_2$ in ultrafast photonics have been reported. In this work, a NbTe$_2$-based saturable absorber (SA) was applied in an erbium-doped fiber as a mode-locked device, and a vector soliton based on NbTe$_2$ was obtained for the first time. NbTe$_2$-PVA film SA was successfully prepared by the liquid-phase exfoliation and spin coating methods, with a modulation depth of up to 10.87%. The nonlinear absorption coefficient of NbTe$_2$-based SA film tested through the open-aperture Z-scan laser measurement is 0.62. A conventional soliton with a pulse duration of 858 fs was generated using NbTe$_2$-based SA, which was demonstrated to be a kind of polarization-locked vector soliton in further investigation. Our experimental results reveal the nonlinear optical properties of NbTe$_2$ and broaden its applications in ultrafast photonic devices.

Magnetic semiconductors are at the core of recent spintronics research endeavors. Chemically doped II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductors, such as (Zn$_{1-x}$Cr$_{x}$)Te, provide promising platform in this quest. However, a detailed knowledge of the microscopic nature of magnetic ground state is necessary for any practical application. Here, we report on the synergistic study of (Zn$_{1-x}$Cr$_{x}$)Te single crystals using elastic neutron scattering measurements and density functional calculations. For the first time, our research unveils the intrinsic properties of ferromagnetic state in macroscopic specimen of (Zn$_{0.8}$Cr$_{0.2}$)Te. The ferromagnetism is onset at $T_c \sim$ 290 K and remains somewhat independent to modest change in the substitution coefficient x. We show that magnetic moments on Zn/Cr site develop ferromagnetic correlation in a-c plane with large ordered moment of $\mu$ = 3.08 $\mu_B$. Magnetic moment across the lattice is induced via the mediation of Te site, uncoupled to the number of dopant carriers as inferred from the density functional calculation. Additionally, the ab-initio calculations also reveal half-metallicity in x = 0.2 composition. These properties are highly desirable for future spintronic applications.

Tianwen-1 spacecraft (Wan et al. 2020) is China's first Mars exploration mission. The Mars Orbiter Magnetometer (MOMAG) is a scientific instrument aboard the Tianwen-1 mission that is designed to study magnetic fields at Mars, including the solar wind to the magnetosheath and the ionosphere. Using the first Tianwen-1/MOMAG data that is publicly available, we present interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) and stream interaction region (SIR) catalogues based on in-situ observations at Mars between November 16, 2021, and December 31, 2021. We compared the magnetic field intensity and vector magnetic field measurements from Tianwen-1/MOMAG and Mars Atmospheric Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)/MAG during the ICME and SIR interval and found a generally good consistency between them. Due to MAVEN's orbital adjustment since 2019, the Tianwen-1/MOMAG instrument is currently the almost unique interplanetary magnetic field monitor at Mars. The observations indicate that the MOMAG instrument on Tianwen-1 is performing well and can provide accurate measurements of the vector magnetic field in the near-Mars solar wind space. The multi-point observations combining MOMAG, MINPA, and MEPA on board Tianwen-1 with MAG, SWIA, and STATIC on board MAVEN will open a window to systematically study the characteristic of ICMEs and SIRs at Mars, and their influences on the Martian atmosphere and ionosphere.

Mars Orbiter Magnetometer (MOMAG) is one of seven science payloads onboard Tianwen-1's orbiter. Unlike most of the satellites, Tianwen-1's orbiter is not magnetically cleaned, and the boom where placed the magnetometer's sensors is not long enough. These pose many challenges to the magnetic field data processing. In this paper, we introduce the in-flight calibration process of the Tianwen-1/MOMAG. The magnetic interference from the spacecraft, including spacecraft generated dynamic field and slowly-changing offsets are cleaned in sequence. Then the calibrated magnetic field data are compared with the data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN). We find that some physical structures in the solar wind are consistent between the two data sets, and the distributions of the magnetic field strength in the solar wind are very similar. These results suggest that the in-flight calibration of the MOMAG is successful and the MOMAG provides reliable data for scientific research.

In this work, sub-ppb aerosol detection is achieved by femtosecond laser filament with a single pulse energy of 4 mJ at a distance of 30 m. A concave mirror with an open aperture of 41.4 cm is employed in an off-axis optical system to focus the femtosecond laser beam and collect the fluorescence of NaCl aerosol. The simulation and experimental results show that the astigmatism can be greatly reduced when femtosecond laser beam is incident non-symmetrically on the concave mirror. Compared with the case that femtosecond laser strikes at the center of the concave mirror, the intensity of the optical filament is increased by 69.5 times, and the detection of limit of sodium chloride aerosol is reduced by 86%, which is down to 0.32 ppb. The improved excitation scheme in this work utilizes the nonsymmetrical beam spot on the concave mirror to compensate the non-symmetry induced by the off-axis setup, reducing the astigmatism of the focusing laser beam and improving the aerosol's detection of limit.

Normal group velocity dispersion (GVD) microcombs offer high comb line power and high pumping efficiency compared to bright pulse microcombs. The recent demonstration of normal GVD microcombs using CMOS-foundry-produced microresonators is an important step towards scalable production. However, the chromatic dispersion of CMOS devices is large and impairs generation of broadband microcombs. Here, we report the development of a microresonator in which GVD is reduced due to a couple-ring resonator configuration. Operating in the turnkey self-injection-locking mode, the resonator is hybridly integrated with a semiconductor laser pump to produce high-power-efficiency combs spanning a bandwidth of 9.9 nm (1.22 THz) centered at 1560 nm, corresponding to 62 comb lines. Fast, linear optical sampling of the comb waveform is used to observe the rich set of near-zero GVD comb behaviors, including soliton molecules, switching waves (platicons) and their hybrids. Tuning of the 20 GHz repetition rate by electrical actuation enables servo locking to a microwave reference, which simultaneously stabilizes the comb repetition rate, offset frequency and temporal waveform. This hybridly integrated system could be used in coherent communications or for ultra-stable microwave signal generation by two-point optical frequency division.

While photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are being widely used in applications such as telecommunications and datacenter interconnects, PICs capable of replacing bulk optics and fibers in high-precision, highly-coherent applications will require ultra-low-noise laser sources to be integrated with other photonic components in a compact and robustly aligned format -- that is, on a single chip. Such PICs could offer superior scalability for complex functionalities and volume production, as well as improved stability and reliability over time. However, there are two major issues preventing the realization of such envisioned PICs: the high phase noise of semiconductor lasers, and the difficulty of integrating optical isolators directly on chip. PICs are still considered as inferior solutions in optical systems such as microwave synthesizers, optical gyroscopes and atomic clocks, despite their advantages in size, weight, power consumption and cost (SWaPC). Here, we challenge this convention by introducing three-dimensional (3D) integration in silicon photonics that results in ultra-low-noise, isolator-free PICs. Through multiple monolithic and heterogeneous processing sequences, direct on-chip integration of III-V gain and ultra-low-loss (ULL) silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides with optical loss around 0.5 dB/m are demonstrated. Consequently, the demonstrated PIC enters a new regime, such that an integrated ultra-high-Q cavity reduces the laser noise close to that of fiber lasers. Moreover, the cavity acts as an effective block for any downstream on-chip or off-chip reflection-induced destabilization, thus eliminating the need for optical isolators. We further showcase isolator-free, widely-tunable, low-noise, heterodyne microwave generation using two ultra-low-noise lasers on the same silicon chip.

Mars Orbiter MAGnetometer (MOMAG) is a scientifc instrument onboard the orbiter of China's first mission for Mars -- Tianwen-1. It started to routinely measure the magnetic field from the solar wind to magnetic pile-up region surrounding Mars since November 13, 2021. Here we present its in-flight performance and first science results based on the first one and a half months' data. By comparing with the magnetic field data in the solar wind from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), the magnetic field by MOMAG is at the same level in magnitude, and the same magnetic structures with the similar variations in three components could be found in MOMAG data. In the first one and a half months, we recognize 158 clear bow shock (BS) crossings from MOMAG data, whose locations statistically match well with the modeled average BS. We also identify 5 pairs of simultaneous BS crossings of the Tianwen-1's orbiter and MAVEN. These BS crossings confirm the global shape of modeled BS as well as the south-north asymmetry of the Martian BS. Two presented cases in this paper suggest that the BS is probably more dynamic at flank than near the nose. So far, MOMAG performs well, and provides accurate magnetic field vectors. MOMAG is continuously scanning the magnetic field surrounding Mars. These measurements complemented by observations from MAVEN will undoubtedly advance our understanding of the plasma environment of Mars.

The realization of ultra-compact passive silicon photonic devices is becoming more and more important for the future large-scale photonic integration as desired for many systems. Although some compact silicon photonic devices have been demonstrated by using inverse design, the device performance is still insufficient for real applications. Here, we propose and realize several representative ultra-compact advanced passive silicon photonic devices with decent performances by introducing subwavelength-grating (SWG) structures developed by our high-efficiency inverse design method. These devices are designed by optimally manipulating the multimode excitation and the multimode interference in a region defined with SWG structures. These SWG structures with excellent feature-size uniformity are more fabrication-friendly than those random nano-structures used in previous inverse-designed photonic devices. The high-efficiency of our inverse design method is attributed to a novel search-space-dimension control strategy and the efficient problem-oriented electromagnetic-field solvers available for SWG structures. Specifically, we present the realization of a 6-channel mode (de)multiplexer, a broadband 90\deg-hybrid, and a two-channel flat-top wavelength demultiplexer as some examples, which can hardly be realized by previously reported inverse design approaches. These devices exhibit ultra-compact footprints as well as decent performances when compared to the counterparts developed by the classical theory.

Liquid droplets usually wet smooth and homogeneous substrates isotropically. Recent research works have revealed that droplets sit, slide and spread anisotropically on uniaxially stretched soft substrates, showing an enhanced wettability and contact line mobility along the stretching direction. This phenomenon arises from the anisotropic deformation of the substrate below the contact line. Here, we investigate how the stretching of soft substrates affects droplets drying. We observe that water droplet evaporates with an elongated non-circular contact line on the stretched substrates and switches the elongation direction during evaporation. The contact line velocity and its temporal evolution depend on the orientation of the contact line relative to the stretching direction. On the substrate stretched by 250%, the contact line recedes about 20% of the droplet lifetime earlier along the stretching direction and faster than its perpendicular direction. When nanoparticles are added into the liquid, the circular deposition pattern, i.e., the so-called coffee-ring, becomes elongated along the direction perpendicular to the stretching direction. Particularly, such non-circular deposition pattern exhibits periodic height gradients along its rim. The finer structure of the pattern can be controlled by applying different stretching ratios to the soft substrate and thus are correlated to the anisotropic surface stresses near the contact line.