Spectral line | EPFL Graph Search

A spectral line is a weaker or stronger region in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to identify atoms and molecules. These "fingerprints" can be compared to the previously collected ones of atoms and molecules, and are thus used to identify the atomic and molecular components of stars and planets, which would otherwise be impossible. Types of line spectra Spectral lines are the result of interaction between a quantum system (usually atoms, but sometimes molecules or atomic nuclei) and a single photon. When a photon has about the right amount of energy (which is connected to its frequency) to allow a change in the energy state of the system (in the case of an atom this is usually an electron changing orbitals), the photon is absorbed. Then the energy will be spontaneously re-emitted, either as one photon at the same f

Converging intracortical signatures of two separated processing timescales in human early auditory cortex

Fabiano Baroni, Arwen Blanche Giraud

Neural oscillations in auditory cortex are argued to support parsing and representing speech constituents at their corresponding temporal scales. Yet, how incoming sensory information interacts with ongoing spontaneous brain activity, what features of the neuronal microcircuitry underlie spontaneous and stimulus-evoked spectral fin-gerprints, and what these fingerprints entail for stimulus encoding, remain largely open questions. We used a combination of human invasive electrophysiology, computational modeling and decoding techniques to assess the information encoding properties of brain activity and to relate them to a plausible underlying neuronal micro -architecture. We analyzed intracortical auditory EEG activity from 10 patients while they were listening to short sentences. Pre-stimulus neural activity in early auditory cortical regions often exhibited power spectra with a shoulder in the delta range and a small bump in the beta range. Speech decreased power in the beta range, and increased power in the delta-theta and gamma ranges. Using multivariate machine learning techniques, we assessed the spectral profile of information content for two aspects of speech processing: detection and discrimination. We obtained better phase than power information decoding, and a bimodal spectral profile of information content with better decoding at low (delta-theta) and high (gamma) frequencies than at intermediate (beta) frequencies. These experimental data were reproduced by a simple rate model made of two subnetworks with different timescales, each composed of coupled excitatory and inhibitory units, and connected via a negative feedback loop. Modeling and experimental results were similar in terms of pre-stimulus spectral profile (except for the iEEG beta bump), spectral modulations with speech, and spectral profile of information content. Altogether, we provide converging evidence from both univariate spectral analysis and decoding approaches for a dual timescale processing infrastructure in human auditory cortex, and show that it is consistent with the dynamics of a simple rate model.

2020

Gigahertz free-space electro-optic modulators based on Mie resonances

Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus

Electro-optic modulators are essential for sensing, metrology and telecommunications. Most target fiber applications. Instead, metasurface-based architectures that modulate free-space light at gigahertz (GHz) speeds can boost flat optics technology by microwave electronics for active optics, diffractive computing or optoelectronic control. Current realizations are bulky or have low modulation efficiencies. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid silicon-organic metasurface platform that leverages Mie resonances for efficient electro-optic modulation at GHz speeds. We exploit quasi bound states in the continuum (BIC) that provide narrow linewidth (Q = 550 at lambda(res) = 1594 nm), light confinement to the non-linear material, tunability by design and voltage and GHz-speed electrodes. Key to the achieved modulation of Delta T/T-max = 67% are molecules with r(33) = 100 pm/V and optical field optimization for low-loss. We demonstrate DC tuning of the resonant frequency of quasi-BIC by Delta lambda(res) = 11 nm, surpassing its linewidth, and modulation up to 5 GHz (f(EO,- 3dB) = 3 GHz). Guided mode resonances tune by Delta lambda(res) = 20 nm. Our hybrid platform may incorporate free-space nanostructures of any geometry or material, by application of the active layer post-fabrication.

NATURE PORTFOLIO2022

Accordabilité de la réponse optique des cristaux photoniques par infiltration de matériaux organiques

Pascale El-Kallassi

Photonic crystals are stuctures in which the refractive index varies periodically on the wavelength scale in one, two or three dimensions. Due to interference effects, these structures can forbid light propagation over a large spectral range called "the photonic bandgap". Integrated optics is one of the potential applications of photonic crystals in which the information can be treated as a light signal that propagates through photonic crystal-based devices, such as filters, lasers, waveguides, bends and multiplexers. The photonic crystals structures studied for integrated optics applications consist of periodic arrays of holes etched through classical semiconducteur-based planar waveguides. For any practical application, the optical properties of the fabricated components have to be tuned by external means. In this thesis, we explore a possible approach to photonic crystal tuning : the infiltration of photoactive organic materials in the holes of these photonic structures. First we considered liquid crystals, which exhibit anisotropic optical properties like birefringence due to their long-range orientational order. This latter molecular organization can be modified by external factors, i.e. temperature and electric field. Nematic liquid crystals were infiltrated in the holes of the photonic crystals to tune their properties by changing the temperature and applying an electric field. Moreover, the organization of liquid crystals in the nanometric holes were studied by optical techniques. The demand for all-optical tunable devices in integrated optical circuits led us to consider the possibility of optically tuning the response of photonic crystal structures. For this purpose, we used photo-induced phase transitions of a liquid crystal blend doped with azobenzene photochromic molecules. Since the phase transitions in these mixtures depend on the concentration of the photochromic compound and on the temperature, we studied in detail the phase diagram of the blend. The last part of this thesis focused on one of the most innovative aspects in the domain of photonic crystal tuning : selective infiltration to locally modify the optical properties of the photonic structures. We used the photopolymerization of acrylate monomers by ultraviolet laser irradiation. Finally, with three clear examples, this thesis shows that organic photoactive materials are well-adapted to be combined with photonic crystals. We demonstrated that the obtained hybrid structures are very promising for integrated optics applications.

EPFL2009