We report the first observation of the magnon-polariton bistability in a cavity magnonics system consisting of cavity photons strongly interacting with the magnons in a small yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere. The bistable behaviors are emerged as sharp frequency switchings of the cavity magnon-polaritons (CMPs) and related to the transition between states with large and small number of polaritons. In our experiment, we align, respectively, the [100] and [110] crystallographic axes of the YIG sphere parallel to the static magnetic field and find very different bistable behaviors (e.g., clockwise and counter-clockwise hysteresis loops) in these two cases. The experimental results are well fitted and explained as being due to the Kerr nonlinearity with either positive or negative coefficient. Moreover, when the magnetic field is tuned away from the anticrossing point of CMPs, we observe simultaneous bistability of both magnons and cavity photons by applying a drive field on the lower branch.

We present a micrometer scale, on-chip integrated, plasmonic enhanced graphene photodetector (GPD) for telecom wavelengths operating at zero dark current. The GPD is designed and optimized to directly generate a photovoltage and has an external responsivity∼12.2V/W with a 3dB bandwidth∼42GHz. We utilize Au split-gates with a∼100nm gap to electrostatically create a p-n-junction and simultaneously guide a surface plasmon polariton gap-mode. This increases light-graphene interaction and optical absorption and results in an increased electronic temperature and steeper temperature gradient across the GPD channel. This paves the way to compact, on-chip integrated, power-efficient graphene based photodetectors for receivers in tele and datacom modules.The ever-growing demand for global data traffic[1] is driving the development of next generation communication standards [2,3]. The increasing numbers of connected devices[4], the need for new functionalities, and the development of high-performance computing [5,6] require optical communication systems performing at higher speeds, with improved energy-efficiency, whilst maintaining scalability and cost-effective manufacturing. Si photonics[7-9] offers the prospect of dense (nanoscale) integration[10] relying on mature, low-cost (based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication processes) manufacturing [8,9], making it one of the key technologies for short-reach (<10km) optical interconnects[11] beyond currently employed lithium niobate[12] and indium phosphate[13]. A variety of functionalities have been developed and demonstrated in Si photonics for local optical interconnects[11]. Electro-optic modulators based on carrier-depletion (phase-modulation) in Si[14, 15] or the Franz-Keldysh effect[16] (amplitude-modulation) in strained Si-Ge[17, 18] encode information into optical signals at telecom wavelengths (λ =1.3-1.6µm). On the receiver side, Ge[19] or bonded III-V[20, 21] photodetectors (PD) are needed for optical-to-electrical signal conversion, since the telecom photon energies are not sufficient for direct (band-to-band) photodetection in Si[22].On-chip integrated Ge PDs [23][24][25][26][27] are standard components in Si photonics foundries [8,9,22]. Their external responsivities (in A/W), R I = I ph /P in , where I ph is the photocurrent and P in is the incident optical power, can exceed 1A/W [8,23] and their bandwidth can reach 60GHz [25][26][27]. Following the development of high temperature (> 600 • C) [19] heterogeneous integration of Ge-on-Si using epitaxial growth and cyclic thermal annealing [19,28,29], the concentration of defects and threading dislocations in Ge epilayers and at Si/Ge interfaces can be reduced [19], resulting in low (<10nA[9, 27]) dark current in waveguide integrated Ge p-i-n photodiodes [24,27]. However, Ge-on-Si integration is a complex process [19,22,29], as the lattice mismatch between Si and Ge [19], ion implantation [23,25], thermal budget (i.e. thermal energy transfer to the wafer) management [22], and the non-plan...

Magnon–polaritons are hybrid light–matter quasiparticles originating from the strong coupling between magnons and photons. They have emerged as a potential candidate for implementing quantum transducers and memories. Owing to the dampings of both photons and magnons, the polaritons have limited lifetimes. However, stationary magnon–polariton states can be reached by a dynamical balance between pumping and losses, so the intrinsically nonequilibrium system may be described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Here we design a tunable cavity quantum electrodynamics system with a small ferromagnetic sphere in a microwave cavity and engineer the dissipations of photons and magnons to create cavity magnon–polaritons which have non-Hermitian spectral degeneracies. By tuning the magnon–photon coupling strength, we observe the polaritonic coherent perfect absorption and demonstrate the phase transition at the exceptional point. Our experiment offers a novel macroscopic quantum platform to explore the non-Hermitian physics of the cavity magnon–polaritons.

Hybridizing collective spin excitations and a cavity with high cooperativity provides a new research subject in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics and can also have potential applications to quantum information. Here we report an experimental study of cavity quantum electrodynamics with ferromagnetic magnons in a small yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) sphere at both cryogenic and room temperatures. We observe for the first time a strong coupling of the same cavity mode to both a ferromagnetic-resonance (FMR) mode and a magnetostatic (MS) mode near FMR in the quantum limit. This is achieved at a temperature~22 mK, where the average microwave photon number in the cavity is less than one. At room temperature, we also observe strong coupling of the cavity mode to the FMR mode in the same YIG sphere and find a slight increase of the damping rate of the FMR mode. These observations reveal the extraordinary robustness of the FMR mode against temperature. However, the MS mode becomes unobservable at room temperature in the measured transmission spectrum of the microwave cavity containing the YIG sphere. Our numerical simulations show that this is due to a drastic increase of the damping rate of the MS mode.

We experimentally demonstrate magnon Kerr effect in a cavity-magnon system, where magnons in a small yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere are strongly but dispersively coupled to the photons in a three-dimensional cavity. When the YIG sphere is pumped to generate considerable magnons, the Kerr effect yields a perceptible shift of the cavity's central frequency and more appreciable shifts of the magnon modes. We derive an analytical relation between the magnon frequency shift and the drive power for the uniformly magnetized YIG sphere and find that it agrees very well with the experimental results of the Kittel mode. Our study paves the way to explore nonlinear effects in the cavity-magnon system.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy is a promising cancer treatment strategy, which has revolutionized the treatment landscape of malignancies. Over the last decade, PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy has been trialed in a broad range of malignancies and achieved clinical success. Despite the potentially cure-like survival benefit, only a minority of patients are estimated to experience a positive response to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy, and the primary or acquired resistance might eventually lead to cancer progression in patients with clinical responses. Accordingly, the resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade remains a significant challenge hindering its further application. To overcome the limitation in therapy resistance, substantial effort has been made to improve or develop novel anti-PD-1/PD-L1 based immunotherapy strategies with better clinical response and reduced immune-mediated toxicity. In this review, we provide an overview on the resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade and briefly introduce the mechanisms underlying therapy resistance. Moreover, we summarize potential predictive factors for the resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Furthermore, we give an insight into the possible solutions to improve efficacy and clinical response. In the following research, combined efforts of basic researchers and clinicians are required to address the limitation of therapy resistance.

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To investigate the incidence and outcome of major complication following conventional transarterial embolization/chemoembolization (TAE/TACE) therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).From May 2010 to May 2016, all patients with major complication following conventional TAE/TACE for HCC were included. Major complication was defined as admission to a hospital for therapy, an unplanned increase in the level of care, prolonged hospitalization, permanent adverse sequelae, or death after conventional TAE/TACE therapy by Society of Interventional Radiology.During the study period, a total of 2863 TAE/TACE procedures were performed among 1120 patients, and a total of 24 patients (21 male and 3 female) developed major complication with the incidence of 2.1% (24/1120) per patient and 0.84% (24/2863) per TAE/TACE procedure. The major complications were liver rupture (n = 6), liver abscess (n = 5), femoral artery pseudoaneurysm (n = 3), cholecystitis (n = 2), biloma (n = 2), pulmonary embolism (n = 2), and 1 each of the following: cerebral lipiodol embolism, tumor lysis syndrome, partial intestinal obstruction, gallbladder perforation. The mean interval from last TAE/TACE procedure to the diagnosis of major complication was 11.1 ± 7.7 days. The treatments of the complications were conservative treatment (n = 12), conservative treatment plus percutaneous drainage (n = 3), ultrasound-guided thrombin injection (n = 3), conservative treatment plus TAE (n = 2), and conservative treatment plus surgery (n = 2). Of the 24 patients, 20 patients were recovered, and remaining 4 patients were died of major complications; therefore, the mortality rate of major complication was 16.7% (4/24).Major complication following conventional TAE/TACE therapy is uncommon; the outcomes are benign of most major complications, but some are mortality.