Graphene has been hailed as a wonderful material in electronics, and recently, it is the rising star in photonics, as well. The wonderful optical properties of graphene afford multiple functions of signal emitting, transmitting, modulating, and detection to be realized in one material. In this paper, the latest progress in graphene photonics, plasmonics, and broadband optoelectronic devices is reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the ability to integrate graphene photonics onto the silicon platform to afford broadband operation in light routing and amplification, which involves components like polarizer, modulator, and photodetector. Other functions like saturable absorber and optical limiter are also reviewed.

Graphene photonics, plasmonics, and broadband optoelectronic devices.

In the real world, a realistic setting for computer vision or multimedia recognition problems is that we have some classes containing lots of training data and many classes contain a small amount of training data. Therefore, how to use frequent classes to help learning rare classes for which it is harder to collect the training data is an open question. Learning with Shared Information is an emerging topic in machine learning, computer vision and multimedia analysis. There are different level of components that can be shared during concept modeling and machine learning stages, such as sharing generic object parts, sharing attributes, sharing transformations, sharing regularization parameters and sharing training examples, etc. Regarding the specific methods, multi-task learning, transfer learning and deep learning can be seen as using different strategies to share information. These learning with shared information methods are very effective in solving real-world large-scale problems. This special issue aims at gathering the recent advances in learning with shared information methods and their applications in computer vision and multimedia analysis. Both state-of-the-art works, as well as literature reviews, are welcome for submission. Papers addressing interesting real-world computer vision and multimedia applications are especially encouraged. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:  • Multi-task learning or transfer learning for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Deep learning for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Multi-modal approach for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Different sharing strategies, e.g., sharing generic object parts, sharing attributes, sharing transformations, sharing regularization parameters and sharing training examples, • Real-world computer vision and multimedia applications based on learning with shared information, e.g., event detection, object recognition, object detection, action recognition, human head pose estimation, object tracking, location-based services, semantic indexing. • New datasets and metrics to evaluate the benefit of the proposed sharing ability for the specific computer vision or multimedia problem. • Survey papers regarding the topic of learning with shared information.  Authors who are unsure whether their planned submission is in scope may contact the guest editors prior to the submission deadline with an abstract, in order to receive feedback.

IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence

Black phosphorus (BP), an emerging narrow direct band-gap two-dimensional (2D) layered material that can fill the gap between the semi-metallic graphene and the wide-bandgap transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), had been experimentally found to exhibit the saturation of optical absorption if under strong light illumination. By taking advantage of this saturable absorption property, we could fabricate a new type of optical saturable absorber (SA) based on mechanically exfoliated BPs, and further demonstrate the applications for ultra-fast laser photonics. Based on the balanced synchronous twin-detector measurement method, we have characterized the saturable absorption property of the fabricated BP-SAs at the telecommunication band. By incorporating the BP-based SAs device into the all-fiber Erbium-doped fiber laser cavities, we are able to obtain either the passive Q-switching (with maximum pulse energy of 94.3 nJ) or the passive mode-locking operation (with pulse duration down to 946 fs). Our results show that BP could also be developed as an effective SA for pulsed fiber or solid-state lasers.

Mechanically exfoliated black phosphorus as a new saturable absorber for both Q-switching and Mode-locking laser operation

This paper describes program LEVEL, which can solve the radial or one-dimensional Schrodinger equation and automatically locate either all of, or a selected number of, the bound and/or quasibound levels of any smooth single- or double-minimum potential, and calculate inertial rotation and centrifugal distortion constants and various expectation values for those levels. It can also calculate Franck–Condon factors and other off-diagonal matrix elements, either between levels of a single potential or between levels of two different potentials. The potential energy function may be defined by any one of a number of analytic functions, or by a set of input potential function values which the code will interpolate over and extrapolate beyond to span the desired range.

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LEVEL: A computer program for solving the radial Schrödinger equation for bound and quasibound levels

We demonstrate a compact Q-switched dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser based on graphene as a saturable absorber (SA). By optically driven deposition of graphene on a fiber core, the SA is constructed and inserted into a diode-pumped EDF laser cavity. Also benefiting from the strong third-order optical nonlinearity of graphene to suppress the mode competition of EDF, a stable dual-wavelength Q-switching operation has been achieved using a two-reflection peak fiber Bragg grating as the external cavity mirror. The Q-switched EDF laser has a low pump threshold of 6.5mW at 974nm and a wide range of pulse-repetition rate from 3.3 to 65.9kHz. The pulse duration and the pulse energy have been characterized. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of a graphene-based Q-switched laser.

Graphene-based passively Q-switched dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser.

Infinite‐order sudden approximation (IOSA) calculations of the phenomenological production and relaxation cross sections governing the magnetoviscosity effect have been undertaken for the system N2 at infinite dilution in He for the purpose of testing the usefulness of the IOSA procedure. Three l‐labeling schemes (IL, FL, and AVL) have been employed and the results obtained for each of the three types of cross sections occuring in the viscomagnetic effect have been compared. For the relaxation cross sections σT( j′j‖Ek), σ(1)η( j′j‖Ek), and σ(2)η( j′j‖Ek), the IL/FL and AVL results differ by less than 5% on the average, but for the production cross sections σTη( j′j‖Ek), the three schemes IL, FL, AVL give widely differing results (one order of magnitude and sign). Thermally averaged phenomenological cross sections at 77.5 K were obtained for three potentials of the MSV type: one obtained from beam experiments and two using the beam scattering isotropic part and modified anisotropy parameters. For one of t...

Production and relaxation cross sections for the shear viscosity SBE. II. IOSA results for the N2–He system

We introduce a new optimization algorithm that combines the basin-hopping method, which can be used to efficiently map out an energy landscape associated with minima, with the multicanonical Monte Carlo method, which encourages the system to move out of energy traps during the computation. As an example of implementing the algorithm for the global minimization of a multivariable system, we consider the Lennard-Jones systems containing 150–185 particles, and find that the new algorithm is more efficient than the original basin-hopping method.

Multicanonical basin hopping: a new global optimization method for complex systems.

Self-mode locking effect in a wideband tunable graphene-based passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser has been observed experimentally. Q-switching is achieved by using graphene as a saturable absorber, while a tunable bandpass filter with a narrow bandwidth is used to obtain wideband tunability. We propose to suppress the modulation on each pulse from self-mode locking by introducing three subring resonators constructed with three 3 dB couplers into the laser ring cavity. Moreover, the laser output characteristics with respect to pump power are studied in detail. A stable Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with a tunable range from 1522 nm to 1568 nm is demonstrated experimentally.

Tunable graphene Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with suppressed self-mode locking effect.

We propose a global optimization procedure, basin paving, which is based on the combination of the optimization strategies behind basin hopping and energy landscape paving. As an example, we describe its application in the protein structure prediction by examining two well-studied peptides, where we have found lower potential energy minima than previously located. We also compare the statistics of the searching trajectories produced by basin paving, basin hopping, and energy landscape paving.

Monte Carlo basin paving: an improved global optimization method.

The dissociation of a diatomic molecule by a chirped infrared laser pulse is modeled by a Morse oscillator interacting with a classical electric field with a time-dependent frequency. Our previous classical analysis in terms of bucket dynamics, in which systems within the single-node separatrices (buckets) in phase space are trapped and undergo convection to highly excited states, is found to be applicable to the more general cases of nonlinear chirping and using a realistic dipole moment function for the molecule. This route of excitation leads to a much lower dissociation threshold laser intensity when compared to the chaotic diffusion route for monochromatic excitation. Time-dependent quantum mechanical calculations of the dissociation probability based on the split-operator method are performed. It is found that the classical and quantum results agree well, and the classical resonances appear also in the quantum probabilities. Hence the classical method can be used to investigate various characteristics of the chirped pulse excitation and dissociation processes.

Wing-Ki Liu

Papers

Production and relaxation cross sections for the shear viscosity SBE. II. IOSA results for the N2–He system

Multicanonical basin hopping: a new global optimization method for complex systems.

Tunable graphene Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with suppressed self-mode locking effect.

Monte Carlo basin paving: an improved global optimization method.

Classical and quantum dynamics of chirped pulse dissociation of diatomic molecules