ioptic

Dual suspended core optical fiber for sensing application

2012-12-04T03:07:00.000-08:00

Dual suspended core optical fiber was fabricated and demonstrated by researchers at the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton in the UK. This fiber has unique function that any other fibers not able to achieve easily, not only transmit light, also the two cores can mechanically move and interact with each other. This MEMS-type of optical fiber was made from lead silicate glass.

The sub-micron optical fiber is highly sensitive to pressure, vibration etc. and would offer interesting applications in the broad field of sensing.

[http://ioptic.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/dual-suspended-core-optical-fibre-for-sensing-application/]

2012-04-27T02:20:00.001-07:00

PhDs -- investment banking

Contributer: haris aziz

I recently received an email from a ‘banking science’ organisation that had arranged a workshop where practitioners from the financial services industry in London would give an insight into their job. The workshop was specially geared towards PhDs. Since quite a few friends from mathematics and science have ended up in this sector, I thought it was worth checking what the excitement was about. A (Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets) which I had read recently also interested me towards this event.

The whole event was well managed and it was surprising to find over two hundred students there who were doing postgraduate or doctoral studies. I was sitting next to a German man doing a PhD in economics and a Spanish man doing a PhD in Biology. Most of the presenters were from the top investment banks (Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan etc.). They had done PhDs in scientific subjects and then switched to banking. A chemistry researcher raised concerns that it seemed that investment banks seemed inclined towards mathematics and physics PhDs. Although the speaker gave examples of how varied backgrounds were welcome, it did seem evident that mathematical PhDs were desirable because of the complex modelling and quantitative analysis involved in the job.

Although most talks were about the London financial sector, there was one presentation about the numerous opportunities in Qatar and other centres that are part of Gulf Cooperation Council. There was an interesting comment by Dr. Jessica James from Citi was that in the banking sector, mathematical PhDs are almost like the classics degrees of the pervious era, a sign of an ‘intelligent’ and ‘useful’ person. She gave a relatively technical presentation on how to make better predictions.

One common piece of advice was for PhDs to take part in an internship program so that they can see if the financial sector is the career for them before taking a plunge. I was particularly impressed by the presentation of a Polish physicist who switched to Wall Street and has a major role in HSBC. I will try to convey some useful advice he gave in my next entry.

Piotr Karasinski is the global head of quantitative development at HSBC. He was a successful academic before he shifted to Wall Street. Therefore if anyone is able to give some insight into investment banking it would be him. Piotr Karasinski explained that the role of quantitative analysts is to “implement derivates pricing models, develop tools for calibrating model parameters, analyse model performance and provide trading desk support.”

He felt that applicants for banking jobs need to demonstrate interest in finance either by personal reading or specialized workshops. Among quantitative tools he particularly emphasized partial differential equations, probability & statistics, stochastic and programming skills. He also emphasized basic knowledge about stocks, bonds, call/put options, interest rates and inflation. He commented that some knowledge of Capital Asset Pricing Model, Black-Scholes model and Gaussian Mean-Reverting Short-Rate model is helpful.

Compared to other speakers, Dr. Karasinski gave tips (Principles of Money, Banking and Financial Markets (<Addison-Wesley Series in Economics>; <My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance>; <Options, Futures and Other Derivatives>; <Frequently Asked Questions in Quantitative Finance (Wiley Series in Financial Engineering)>) certain books to read. Among magazines, he recommended (http://www.risk.net/),(http://www.cfapubs.org/loi/faj) and (http://www.wilmott.com/). He commented that additional dimensions of knowledge of psychology, economic history and business are crucial for any mathematical PhDs applying to be a quantitative analyst.

There were a couple of more focussed presentations on algorithmic trading which is of particular interest to me. There is great development in this area and it is something that has also attracted considerable interest (http://www.marketbasedcontrol.com/blog/) in the computer science academic community. On the banking side, algorithmic trading involves complex modeling of historic movement to predict the future, and analysis for hedge strategy. There is also a scope of exotics which includes pricing of complex financial instruments and risk management techniques. One speaker emphasized proprietary trading as one of the key areas of focus. Overall, the presentations were insightful enough to provide a flavour of what life in an investment bank is like.

Source:

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/blogs/phd-student/2008/07/10/investment-banking-for-phds-part-i/

http://ioptic.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/investment-banking-for-phds/

Google 1Gbps network near Stanford is live [CNET]

2011-08-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

By: Marguerite Reardon, August 23, 2011 3:17 PM PDT

Some residents near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., are getting the first taste of Google's 1-gigabit-per-second broadband service.

The service has been live in the market for about a month, and it will continue to be rolled out to homes in the community, where mostly Stanford professors and faculty live. The service is free to residents for the first year.

Google is building the Stanford fiber-to-the-home network and a larger network in Kansas City, Kansas, as sort of test beds for ultra-high speed broadband. So far, residents in the Stanford community are the first to get access to the high-speed networks that Google is building.

Stanford economics professor Martin Carnoy, who was one of the first people in the neighborhood to get the high-speed access, said he has been loving his new high-speed service. He frequently sends and receives big data files of 20MB or greater from his home computer.

"It used to take several minutes to send big files with the AT&T broadband service I had before," he said. "I felt like I was always waiting around when I was sending or receiving files. But now it takes seconds. There's no waiting."
Carnoy hasn't tested his connection to see how fast the service is, but Engadget reports that at least one Stanford resident says he has tested the network and is getting about 150Mbps download speeds and upload speeds around 92Mbps.

The idea behind the Google Fiber initiative is to provide 100 times faster speed broadband connections to businesses and homes so that entrepreneurs can use these networks to innovate and test new ideas for Internet services and applications.

"High-speed Internet access must be much more widely available," Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman, said when the company first announced the project. "Broadband is a major driver of new jobs and businesses, yet we rank only 15th in the world for access. More government support for broadband remains critical."
Getting broadband and super fast broadband to Americans is a stated goal of the Federal Communications Commission. The agency said in its National Broadband Plan that it plans to extend broadband to every American and it promises to offer 100 Mbps broadband to 100 million people by 2020.

A separate initiative called GigU driven by 29 universities in the U.S. is also looking to build 1Gbps networks in and around universities.

Most major universities already have access to cutting edge Internet technology, and many are involved in research and development networks such as Internet 2, which is used to connect universities throughout the world to share data and test new Internet technologies. But Google Fiber and Gig.U are extending this kind of high speed Internet access outside the university to the private sector.

Verizon launches 100G Ethernet network

2011-08-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Verizon (March 4, 2011) successfully deployed a 100G Ethernet network on a large section of one of its Internet backbones in Europe.

This deployment makes Verizon the first backbone carrier to deploy the new Ethernet standard with speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second, according to Verizon. The company was able to establish the 100-Gigabit Ethernet network between routers on a 555-mile stretch between Paris and Frankfurt.
In Verizon's words, this marks the first "standards-based, multivendor 100G Ethernet link for an IP backbone," and it will increase capacity for business customers and organizations that tap into the backbone.

Internet Protocol backbones use high-speed fiber-optic lines to connect the major routers across the Internet, enabling different networks to talk to each other. Separate IP backbones are maintained by different companies and organizations, including telecom providers such as Verizon and AT&T. Providing a major performance boost over the older 1G and 10G Ethernet and the more recent 40G Ethernet, the 100G Ethernet standard itself was ratified by the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) last summer.

Wellbrock ( director of optical transport network architecture and design for Verizon) confirmed that although different enterprises may be launching 100G Ethernet networks within their own organizations, Verizon believes it's the first backbone carrier to successfully deploy it. But Verizon was not alone in the effort as two other companies contributed critical pieces, making this a true multivendor project.

See more of the story:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20039383-76.html?tag=mncol;title

Journal impact factor 2011

2011-08-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Journal	2010 Impact Factor (released on June 28, 2011)	2009 Impact Factor (released on June 18, 2010)	2008 Impact Factor (released in June 2009)
CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	94.262	87.925	74.575
The New England Journal of Medicine	53.484	47.050	50.017
Nature	36.101	34.480	31.434
Cell	32.401	31.152	31.253
Science	31.364	29.747	28.103
Nature Nanotechnology	30.306	26.309	20.571
Nature Photonics	26.442	22.869	24.982
Nano Letters	12.186	9.991	10.371
Nano Today	11.750	13.237	8.795
ACS Nano	9.855	7.493	5.472
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences	9.771	9.432	9.380
Physical Review Letters	7.621	7.328	7.180
Small	7.333	6.171	6.525
Lab on a Chip	6.260	6.342	5.068
Proceeding of IEEE	5.096	4.878	3.82
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence	5.027	4.378	5.960
Applied Physics Letters	3.820	3.596	3.726
Physical Review B	3.772	3.475	3.322
Optics Express	3.749	3.278	3.880
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids	3.702	3.317	3.467
IEEE transactions on industrial electronics	3.439	4.678	5.468
Optics Letters	3.316	3.059	3.772
Journal of Biomedical Optics	3.188	2.501	2.970
IEEE Electronic Device Letters	2.714	2.605	3.049
Pattern Recognition	2.607	2.554	3.279
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing	2.606	2.848	3.315
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics	2.577	2.331	1.614
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering	2.276	1.997	2.233
IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems	2.157	1.922	2.226
Journal of Applied Physics	2.064	2.072	2.201
IEEE Photonics technology letters	1.987	1.815	2.173
JOSA A	1.933	1.670	1.870
Experimental Mechanics	1.854	1.542	1.469
Applied Optics	1.703	1.410	1.763
Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics	1.662	1.198	1.742
Optics and Lasers Technology	1.616	0.981	0.892
Review of Scientific Instruments	1.598	1.521	1.738
Journal of Biomedical Engineering (Trans. ASME)	1.584	2.154	2.013
Optics and Lasers in Engineering	1.567	1.262	1.103
Optics Communications	1.517	1.316	1.552
ASCE Journal of Water Resources, Planning and Management	1.252	1.164	1.275
Pattern Recognition Letters	1.213	1.303	1.559
Journal of Applied Biomechanics	1.078	0.810	1.197
Strain	1.000	1.083	1.154
ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics	0.956	0.980	0.792
Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design	0.897	0.748	0.626
Optical Engineering	0.815	0.553	0.722
Journal of Applied Mechanics (Transactions of the ASME)	0.617	0.915	1.065

Ref

http://faculty.cua.edu/wangz/

High speed fiber optics for communication

2011-08-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ultra high speed fiber optics for communication tend to generate much attention due to nowadays internet usage is largely maximized (probably youtube takes much of the internet bandwidth). Companies such as Google is now plan to build very high speed fibre to home:
http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/

Silica glass single mode optical fiber used for communication at the moment using wavelength 1550 nm, the reason using this wavelength is because, the optical loss at this wavelength is relatively low (lowest fiber loss appeared at the valley between the Reighley scattering and IR absorption, see previous post about basic optics knowledge at: http://ioptic.blogspot.com/2011/08/online-learning-about-optics.html, fiber attenuation: http://ioptic.blogspot.com/2011/08/cut-back-method-for-testing-fibre-loss.html) also, EDFA could amplify light signal at this wavelength.

For fabricating even lower loss optical fibres, few ways could be done, (1) find new materials to replace the silica fibre. Chalcogenide glasses could be one of the candidates. Chalcogenide glasses are transparent at near-infrared and mid-infrared, in this case, chalcogenide fibres are not limited by the IR absorption curve. (2) Guide light using hollow core fibres. (3) Multiple cores in fibre, maybe. Etc…

University of Southampton and University of Essex in the UK now start up new project ‘Photonics Hyperhighway programme’:
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/I01196X/1
http://www.orc.soton.ac.uk/PHH/

Figures ref:
http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/~schubert/Light-Emitting-Diodes-dot-org/chap22/chap22.htm
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/optical/15000r5_0/planning/guide/r50appc.html

ioptic: Top photonic research groups in UK universities

2011-08-17T01:42:00.000-07:00

ioptic: Top photonic research groups in UK universities: " List in alpha-beta order: Aston University
http://www1.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/groups/photonics/ Cranfield University
http://www.cr..."

Top photonic research groups in UK universities

2011-08-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

List in alpha-beta order:

Aston University

http://www1.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/groups/photonics/

Cranfield University

http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/soe/departments/appliedmaths/engineeringphotonics/index.html

Heriot Watt University

http://www.aop.hw.ac.uk/

Imperial College

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research/photonics/

St Andrews university

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~photocryst/

http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/research/photonics

University of Bangor

http://www.eng.bangor.ac.uk/research/optoelectronics.php

University of Bath

http://www.bath.ac.uk/physics/groups/cppm/index.php

University of Bristol

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/groups/cqp/

University of Cambridge

http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/photonics/

University of Exeter

http://newton.ex.ac.uk/research/emag/butterflies/

University of Glasgow

http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Optics/people/

University of Leeds

http://www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/imp/

University of Nottingham

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/unimat/expertise/electronics/index.phtml

University of Oxford

http://www-thz.physics.ox.ac.uk/

University of Sheffield

http://www.epmm.group.shef.ac.uk/

University of Southampton

http://www.orc.soton.ac.uk/

University of Strathclyde

http://www.photonics.ac.uk/

University of Surrey

http://www.ati.surrey.ac.uk/photonics

Useful simulation tools for planar waveguides and fibers:

2011-08-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

FIMMWAVE (Photon design) http://www.photond.com/products/fimmwave.htm
Optiwave http://www.optiwave.com/
Rsoft http://www.rsoftdesign.com/
Lumerical http://www.lumerical.com/
EMFlex http://www.wai.com/emflex.aspx
FreeBPM http://www.freebpm.com/
SMU Waveguide http://lyle.smu.edu/ee/smuphotonics/WAVEGUIDE/Main_Waveguide.htm
MIT Photonic-Bands (MIT) http://ab-initio.mit.edu/wiki/index.php/MIT_Photonic_Bands
Comsol http://www.comsol.com/industry/application/rf/po/
SMTP v2.0 (The source-model technique package) http://webee.technion.ac.il/leviatan/smtp/index.htm

Reference:
http://www.nusod.org/inst/software.html
ioptic.wordpress.com

Online learning about 'Optics'

2011-08-16T04:28:00.000-07:00

Online study of basic optics

Fundamentals of Optical Fiber Technology and Systems

Short Description

Propagation of light in optical waveguides. Transmission characteristics of optical fibers: attenuation, modal, chromatic and polarization dispersion. Passive network components. Optical switching: technology and characteristics. Linear and nonlinear propagation effects. Optical sources and detectors. Principles of optical amplifiers and classification. Application of optical amplifiers. Wavelength division multiplexing technology. Nonlinear effects. Four wave mixing. Optical multiplexing and amplification as method of upgrading fiber optic networks. Coherent optical systems. Principles of coherent detection. Noise in coherent optical systems. Optical communication system design.

Lessons

Targed Grup

Students of electronics and telecommunications at IET PUT, ICT students at EU partner universities and training organisations (both BSc and MSc levels). Part-time students and continuous education students. Engineers and technicians from telecommunications industry participating in vocational courses offered by university and over the Internet.

Course Aims

To provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding of optical communication networks. To prepare students to design, to operate and maintain optical fiber systems and networks.

Prerequisits

Basics knowledge of optics, solid state physics and optoelectronics.

System Requirements

Internet access and browser, personal computer, no specialized software is necessary.

Author

Jan lamperski
Poznan University of Technology
Institute of Electronics & telecommunications
Poznan, Poland

Link

http://www.invocom.et.put.poznan.pl/~invocom/C/P1-9/swiatlowody_en/index.htm

Cut back method for testing fibre loss

2011-08-16T02:16:00.000-07:00

Attenuation of an optical fibre is the loss of optical power as a result of absorption, scattering, bending, and other loss mechanisms as the light travels through the fibre.

The cutback method is a typical way used for measuring the total attenuation of an optical fibre. The cutback method involves comparing the optical power transmitted through a longer piece of fibre to the power transmitted through a shorter piece of the fibre.

The cutback method requires that a test fibre of known length ‘L’ be cut back to a shorter length. It needs access to both ends of the fibre. The cutback method begins by measuring the output power Py of the test fibre of known length ‘L’. Without disturbing the input conditions, the test fibre is cut back to a shorter length. The output power Px of the short test fiber is then measured and the fibre attenuation ‘A’ and the attenuation coefficient ‘a‘are calculated.

http://ioptic.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/cut-back-method-for-testing-fibre-loss/

Website for applying post doc position (international)

2011-08-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

For post-docs:

http://www.academictransfer.nl/org/

http://www.postdocjobs.com/

http://www.sciencejobs.com

http://scijobs.org/

http://recruit.sciencemag.org/

http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/

http://www.ccom/areerpath.

http://www.jobsunlimited.com/

http://www.newscientistjobs.com/

http://www.smth.org/bbscon.php?board=AdvancedEdu&id=637

1. UK： http://jobs.ac.uk/
2. Gemany: http://www.mpg.de/english/institut/
3. AIP: http://www.aip.org/careersvc/jobs/

http://careers.physicstoday.org/search/

http://www.phdjobs.com/

http://www.post-docs.com/

http://www.aps.org/jobs/

http://tiptop.iop.org/

http://www.postdocjobs.com/

http://www.newscientistjobs.com/splash.action

http://aaas.sciencecareers.org/js.php?q=postdoctoral+positions

http://www.postdocjobs.com/jobs/

Chinese

http://www.csc.edu.cn/gb/

http://www.csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2007/xmzn.htm

http://www.csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2007/项目指南/澳大利亚悉尼大学博士生、博士后项目.doc

http://www.csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2007/项目指南/中德DAAD精英奖学金项目.doc

(1) JobMart

http://www.kumc.edu/rrsnews/JobMart.htm#PostDoc

(2) NMRInfo

http://www.spincore.com/nmrinfo/

(click “Positions” on the left side Menu)

(3) SMI (The Society of Molecular Imaging). As the name can tell, it is related to molecular imaging, such as MRI, CT, PET, etc.

http://www.mi-careers.org/cgi-bin/view.cgi

(4) To browse the personal webpage of famous professors in your field, you may probably find a suitable position!

Ref:

http://www.sciencenet.cn/

http://pop.6park.com/chan2/messages/8657.html

http://ioptic.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/website-for-applying-post-doc-position-international/

Welcome to Ioptics!

2011-08-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

This blog will show you news and research highlights in optics, optical materials, optofluidic, MEMS etc.

Also, visit my another blog at: http://ioptic.wordpress.com/