École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

About: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne is a facility organization based out in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 44041 authors who have published 98296 publications receiving 4372092 citations. The organization is also known as: EPFL & ETHL.

Q-switching stability limits of continuous-wave passive mode locking

Abstract: The use of a saturable absorber as a passive mode locker in a solid-state laser can introduce a tendency for Q-switched mode-locked operation. We have investigated the transition between the regimes of cw mode locking and Q-switched mode locking. Experimental data from Nd:YLF lasers in the picosecond domain and soliton mode-locked Nd:glass lasers in the femtosecond domain, both passively mode locked with semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors, were compared with predictions from an analytical model. The observed stability limits for the picosecond lasers agree well with a previously described model, while for soliton mode-locked femtosecond lasers we have developed an extended theory that takes into account nonlinear soliton-shaping effects and gain filtering. © 1999 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(99)01001-2] OCIS codes: 140.3580, 140.4050, 140.3540, 140.7090.

Subpicosecond interfacial charge separation in dye-sensitized nanocrystalline titanium dioxide films

Abstract: We have employed subpicosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study the rate of electron injection following optical excitation of the ruthenium dye RuII(2,2‘-bipyridyl-4,4‘-dicarboxylate)2(NCS)2 (1) adsorbed onto the surface of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2) films. This sensitizer dye is of particular interest as it is the most efficient sensitizer dye reported to date and is receiving considerable attention for applications in photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. Transient data collected for 1 adsorbed onto TiO2 films were compared with those obtained for control dye-coated ZrO2 films, as the high conduction band edge of ZrO2 prevents electron injection. Adsorption of the dye onto the TiO2 film was found to result in a rapid (<500 ps) quenching of the dye excited-state luminescence. Absorption difference spectra collected for the two dye-coated films were assigned by comparison with the spectroscopy of the dye excited and cation states in solution. These transient absorption data...

Data-driven Distributionally Robust Optimization Using the Wasserstein Metric: Performance Guarantees and Tractable Reformulations

Abstract: We consider stochastic programs where the distribution of the uncertain parameters is only observable through a finite training dataset. Using the Wasserstein metric, we construct a ball in the space of (multivariate and non-discrete) probability distributions centered at the uniform distribution on the training samples, and we seek decisions that perform best in view of the worst-case distribution within this Wasserstein ball. The state-of-the-art methods for solving the resulting distributionally robust optimization problems rely on global optimization techniques, which quickly become computationally excruciating. In this paper we demonstrate that, under mild assumptions, the distributionally robust optimization problems over Wasserstein balls can in fact be reformulated as finite convex programs---in many interesting cases even as tractable linear programs. Leveraging recent measure concentration results, we also show that their solutions enjoy powerful finite-sample performance guarantees. Our theoretical results are exemplified in mean-risk portfolio optimization as well as uncertainty quantification.

Mapping human whole-brain structural networks with diffusion MRI.

Abstract: Understanding the large-scale structural network formed by neurons is a major challenge in system neuroscience. A detailed connectivity map covering the entire brain would therefore be of great value. Based on diffusion MRI, we propose an efficient methodology to generate large, comprehensive and individual white matter connectional datasets of the living or dead, human or animal brain. This non-invasive tool enables us to study the basic and potentially complex network properties of the entire brain. For two human subjects we find that their individual brain networks have an exponential node degree distribution and that their global organization is in the form of a small world.