Finding the right material platform for engineering efficient photonic interfaces to solid state emitters has been a long-standing bottleneck for scaling up solid state quantum systems. In this work, we demonstrate that nitrogen-rich silicon nitride, with its low background auto-fluorescence at visible wavelengths, is a viable quantum photonics platform by showing that nitrogen vacancy centres embedded in nanodiamonds preserve both their quantum optical and spin properties post-encapsulation. Given the variety of high-performance photonic components already demonstrated in silicon nitride, our work opens up a new avenue for building integrated photonic circuits using solid state emitters. arXiv:1909.09383v1 [physics.app-ph] Keywords Colour centre, nanodiamond, silicon nitride, integrated quantum photonics, solid state quantum emitters, atom-like systems

Laser oscillation is reported on certain pure-rotational transitions in the ground electronic state of the hydroxyl ion, v=0 and v=1. the active medium has been prepared by the O(1D)+H2 reaction in a large excess of rare gas. The transitions on which oscillation occurs have upper states which are energetically resonant with one, or even two, vibrational quanta. The pumping mechanism is assigned as a V→R transfer with ΔJ the order of 12.

Gas plasma sterilization is new to the healthcare field. The first such sterilizer has been manufactured by Advanced Sterilization Products (J&J, Irvine, CA). The system uses hydrogen peroxide as the substrate gas and radio frequency emissions to generate plasma. This system is a low-temperature, quick-acting process with no toxic residues. It appears that this sterilizer system holds promise in the healthcare field and could help to reduce the use of ethylene oxide.

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice with remarkable mechanical, electrical and optical properties. For the first time graphene layers suspended on copper meshes were installed into a gas detector equipped with a gaseous electron multiplier. Measurements of low energy electron and ion transfer through graphene were conducted. In this paper we describe the sample preparation for suspended graphene layers, the testing procedures and we discuss the preliminary results followed by a prospect of further applications.