Generation of pulsed bipartite entanglement using four-wave mixing

Using four-wave mixing in a hot atomic vapor, we generate a pair of entangled twin beams in the microsecond pulsed regime near the D1 line of $^{85}$Rb, making it compatible with commonly used quantum memory techniques. The beams are generated in the bright and vacuum-squeezed regimes, requiring two separate methods of analysis, without and with local oscillators, respectively. We report a noise reduction of up to $3.8\pm 0.2$ dB below the standard quantum limit in the pulsed regime and a level of entanglement that violates an Einstein--Podolsky--Rosen inequality.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in New Journal Of Physici

A GaAs MMIC chip-set for 10 to 15GHz radio-links applications

This paper describes the development of a GaAs MMIC chip-set for Ku-band radio-links transmitter. This chip-set includes two circuits, a times-two multiplier 5-7.5GHz to 10-15GHz, and a single side band up-converter. The development and the results of these circuits are analysed. The times-two multiplier is based on a specific balanced configuration leading to a very high level of input frequency suppression at the output (typically 50dBc) on a 2.7mm² chip. The mixer circuit is a broadband build-in single side band mixer of 10mm², with typically 30dBc image suppression

Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis

Survey data from over 1,600 households in ten countries were used to analyse the determinants of residential water demand. Results show that in every country the price elasticity is negative and statistically significant. Households that do not have to pay for the water they use (volumetric water charges) consume about a third more water than similar households that do have to pay such charges. Consumers’ attitudes do not have a statistically significant effect on total water use, although they do increase the probability of households using some water saving behaviours. Volumetric water charges also have an impact on the adoption of water saving actions. Full-cost water pricing appears to be a highly effective instrument to manage residential water demand.water demand, water consumption, water pricing, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C21, Q25, Q50,

Amorphization of ZnAl2O4 spinel under heavy ion irradiation

ZnAl2O4 spinels have been irradiated with several ions (Ne, S, Kr and Xe) at the IRRSUD beam-line of the GANIL facility, in order to determine irradiation conditions (stopping power, fluence) for amorphisation. We observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) that with Xe ions at 92 MeV, individual ion tracks are still crystalline, whereas an amorphisation starts below a fluence of 5.1012 cm-2 up to a total amorphisation between 1x1013 and 1x1014 cm-2. The coexistence of amorphous and crystalline domains in the same pristine grain is clearly visible in the TEM images. All the crystalline domains remain close to the same orientation as the original grain. According to TEM and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results, the stopping power threshold for amorphisation is between 9 and 12 keV.nm-1