Related papers: Evolution and the Calcite Eye Lens
Using the Jones matrix formalism, crystal optical properties of inhomogeneous material consisting of a pile of weakly birefringent plates are analysed in relation to the cell model adopted in polarization tomography of 3D dielectric tensor…
The eye lens is the most characteristic example of mammalian tissues exhibiting complex colloidal behaviour. In this paper we briefly describe how dynamics in colloidal suspensions can help addressing selected aspects of lens cataract which…
Future high precision photometric measurements of transiting extrasolar planets promise to tell us much about the nature of these systems. We examine how atmospheric lensing and (projected) planet oblateness/ellipticity modify transit light…
When gravitational waves pass through the nuclear star clusters of galactic lenses, they may be microlensed by the stars. Such microlensing can cause potentially observable beating patterns on the waveform due to waveform superposition and…
In this letter, we show how transformation optics makes it possible to design what we call conjugate metamaterials. We show that these materials can also serve as substrates for making a subwavelength-resolution lens. The so-called "perfect…
It is shown that negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability recently discovered in a photonic crystal in the vicinity of the Gamma-point are properties of propagating modes only. The evanescent modes rather decay than increase…
Spin glasses are magnetic systems exhibiting both quenched disorder and frustration, and have often been cited as examples of `complex systems.' In this talk I review some of the basic notions of spin glass physics, and discuss how some of…
Among the 100 strong lens candidates found in the COSMOS field, 20 with redshifts in the range [0.34,1.13], feature multiple images of background sources. Using the multi-wavelength coverage of the field and its spectroscopic follow-up, we…
Polarized light microscopy provides unique opportunities for analyzing the molecular order in man-made and natural materials, including biological structures inside living cells, tissues, and whole organisms. 20 years ago, the LC-PolScope…
This thesis focuses on two different, but complementary, aspects of the modification of gallium lanthanum sulphide (GLS) glasses. Firstly the addition of transition metal ions as dopants is examined and their potential for use as active…
Laue lenses are an emerging technology based on diffraction in crystals that allows the concentration of soft gamma rays. This kind of optics that works in the 100 keV - 1.5 MeV band can be used to realize an high-sensitivity and…
The slow evaporation of an aqueous solution containing L-valine and salicylic acid results in the fractional crystallization of salicylic acid and not any so called L-valinium salicylate as reported recently by Andal and Murugakoothan in…
Dark matter caustics have specific density profiles and, therefore, precisely calculable gravitational lensing properties. We present a formalism which simplifies the relevant calculations, and apply it to four specific cases. In the first…
In supercooled liquids, vitrification generally suppresses crystallization. Yet some glasses can still crystallize despite the arrest of diffusive motion. This ill-understood process may limit the stability of glasses, but its microscopic…
In quasars which are lensed by galaxies, the point-like images sometimes show sharp and uncorrelated brightness variations (microlensing). These brightness changes are associated with the innermost region of the quasar passing through a…
Metasurface-based lenses (metalenses) offer specific conceptual advantages compared to ordinary refractive lenses. For example, it is possible to tune the focal length of a metalens doublet by varying the relative angle between the two…
The nature of Calcium--Silicate--Hydrate (C--S--H), the binding phase of cement, remains a controversial question. In particular, contrary to the former crystalline model, it was recently proposed that its nanoscale structure was actually…
We study a lattice model with two body interactions that reproduces in three-dimensions many features of structural glasses, like cage effect and vanishing diffusivity. While having a crystalline state at low temperatures, it does not…
Any material in thermal equilibrium exhibits fundamental thermodynamic fluctuations of its mechanical and optical properties. Such thermodynamic fluctuations of length, elastic constants, and refractive index of amorphous materials -- like…
For the first time, with the Laue project, bent crystals are being used for focusing photons in the 80-300 keV energy range. The advantage is their high reflectivity and better Point Spread Function with respect to the mosaic flat crystals.…