0.48Tb/s (12x40Gb/s) WDM transmission and high-quality thermo-optic switching in dielectric loaded plasmonics

We demonstrate Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM)-enabled transmission of 480Gb/s aggregate data traffic (12x40Gb/s) as well as high-quality 1x2 thermo-optic tuning in Dielectric-Loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides (DLSPPWs). The WDM transmission characteristics have been verified through BER measurements by exploiting the heterointegration of a 60 μm-long straight DLSPPW on a Silicon-on-Insulator waveguide platform, showing error-free performance for six out of the twelve channels. High-quality thermo-optic tuning has been achieved by utilizing Cycloaliphatic-Acrylate-Polymer as an efficient thermo-optic polymer loading employed in a dual-resonator DLSPPW switching structure, yielding a 9 nm wavelength shift and extinction ratio values higher than 10 dB at both output ports when heated to 90°C.

Interfaces of polydisperse fluids: surface tension and adsorption properties

We consider a system of spherical colloidal particles with a size polydispersity and use a simple van der Waals description in order to study the combined effect of both the polydispersity and the spatial nonuniformity induced by a planar interface between a low-density fluid phase (enriched in small particles) and a high-density fluid phase (enriched in large particles). We find a strong adsorption of small particles at the interface, the latter being broadened with respect to the monodisperse case. We also find that the surface tension of the polydisperse system results from a competition between the tendency of the polydispersity to lower the surface tension and its tendency to raise the critical-point temperature (i.e., its tendency to favor phase separation) with the former tendency winning at low temperatures and the latter at the higher temperatures.

In colchicine-treated rats, cellular distribution of AQP-1 in convoluted and straight proximal tubule segments is differently affected

In cells along the nephron, the recycling of various components between the plasma membrane and intracellular organelles by vesicle trafficking depends on intact microtubules (MT). Previous studies of rats treated with the MT-disrupting drug colchicine showed that some brush-border membrane (BBM) transporters in renal proximal convoluted tubule cells (PCTC) become internalized in numerous vesicles randomly scattered in the cytoplasm. In this study, we compare the intracellular distribution of MT and several BBM proteins [megalin, vacuolar (V)-ATPase, water channel aquaporin-1 (AQP-1)] as well as endocytosis of the in-vivo-injected fluorescent marker FITC-dextran in PCTC and proximal straight tubule cells (PSTC) in control and colchicine-treated rats. Immunoblotting and immunocytochemical data show that in the PCTC and PSTC colchicine treatment causes: (1) disappearance of MT, (2) strongly diminished endocytosis of FITC-dextran, and (3) marked loss of megalin and V-ATPase from the BBM and their redistribution into intracellular vesicles. Similar pattern was observed for the distribution of AQP-1 in the PCTC. However, in the PSTC, the staining intensity of AQP-1 in the BBM, as well as its intracellular distribution remained unaffected by colchicine treatment. We conclude that in the PSTC, either MT play a minor role in the recycling of AQP-1 between the BBM and intracellular vesicles or BBM AQP-1 turns over much more slowly than in the PCTC.