Birefringent porous silicon membranes for optical sensing
In this work anisotropic porous silicon is investigated as a material for optical sensing. Birefringence and sensitivity of the anisotropic porous silicon membranes are thoroughly studied in the framework of Bruggeman model which is extended to incorporate the influence of environment effects, such as silicon oxidation. The membranes were also characterized optically demonstrating sensitivity as high as 1245 nm/RIU at 1500 nm. This experimental value only agrees with the theory when it takes into consideration the effect of silicon oxidation. Furthermore we demonstrate that oxidized porous silicon membranes have optical parameters with long term stability. Finally, we developed a new model …
A polarimetric sensor based on nanoporous free standing membranes
A polarimetric sensor with state of the art sensitivity is developed using free standing porous silicon membranes. The use of an optimized etching receipt greatly reduces the pore roughness. Depolarization factors are thus limited and material birefringence is increased. Free standing membranes are fabricated in n-type substrates and characterized both from the optical and structural point of view. The proposed approach is fully CMOS compatible and can therefore pave the way to the development of cheap microarray that exploits multiplexing capabilities while keeping the amount of analyte required by the analysis down to the microliter level.
Adjuvant Tamoxifen Plus Ovarian Function Suppression Versus Tamoxifen Alone in Premenopausal Women With Early Breast Cancer: Patient-Reported Outcomes in the Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial
Purpose The Suppression of Ovarian Function trial showed improved disease control for tamoxifen plus ovarian function suppression (OFS) compared with tamoxifen alone for the cohort of premenopausal patients who received prior chemotherapy. We present the patient-reported outcomes. Patients and Methods The quality-of-life (QoL) analysis includes 1,722 of 2,045 premenopausal patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer randomly assigned to receive adjuvant treatment with 5 years of tamoxifen plus OFS or tamoxifen alone. Chemotherapy use before enrollment was optional. Patients completed a QoL form consisting of global and symptom indicators at baseline, every 6 months for 24 months, …
Unidirectional reflection from an integrated "taiji" microresonator
We study light transmission and reflection from an integrated microresonator device, formed by a circular microresonator coupled to a bus waveguide, with an embedded S-shaped additional crossover waveguide element that selectively couples counter-propagating modes in a propagation-direction-dependent way. The overall shape of the device resembles a "taiji"symbol, hence its name. While Lorentz reciprocity is preserved in transmission, the peculiar geometry allows us to exploit the non-Hermitian nature of the system to obtain high-contrast unidirectional reflection with negligible reflection for light incident in one direction and a significant reflection in the opposite direction.