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Nonlinear optical effects are used to generate coherent light at wavelengths difficult to reach with lasers. Materials periodically poled or nanostructured in the nonlinear susceptibility in three spatial directions are called 3D nonlinear photonic crystals (NPhCs). They enable enhanced nonlinear optical conversion efficiencies, emission control, and simultaneous generation of nonlinear wavelengths. The chemical inertness of efficient second-order nonlinear materials ($\chi^{(2)}$) prohibited their nanofabrication until 2018. The current method is restricted to top-down laser-based techniques limiting the periodicity along z-axis to 10 um. We demonstrate the first bottom-up fabricated 3D NPhC in sol-gel derived barium titanate by soft-nanoimprint lithography: a woodpile with eight layers and periodicities of 1 um (xy-plane) and 300 nm (z-plane). The surface areas exceed $5.3\cdot 10^4$ um^2, which is two orders of magnitude larger than the state-of-the-art. This study is expected to initiate bottom-up fabrication of 3D NPhCs with a supremely strong and versatile nonlinear response., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

In display technologies or data processing, planar and subwavelength free-space components suited for flat photonic devices are needed. Metasurfaces, which shape the optical wavefront within hundreds of nanometers, can provide a solution for thin and portable photonic devices, e.g. as CMOS-compatible modules. While conventional electro-optic modulators are inconvenient to operate in free space configurations, its principle can largely be applied to the development of active metasurfaces with the prospect of modulation speeds up to the GHz region. Here, we use this concept to realize fast and continuous modulation of light at low voltage and MHz speed with a lithium niobate metasurface tuned by the linear electro-optic effect. Furthermore, we exploit the resonance in the visible to enhance the modulation of the transmitted light by two orders of magnitude, namely by a factor of 80, compared to the unstructured substrate. This proof-of-concept work is a first important step towards the use of lithium niobate metasurfaces for free space modulation.

Storytelling has the potential to revolutionize the way we engage with cultural heritage and has been widely recognized as an important direction for attracting and satisfying the audience of museums and other cultural heritage sites. This approach has been investigated in various research projects, but its adoption outside research remains limited due to the challenges inherent in its creation. In this work, we present the web-based Narralive Storyboard Editor and the Narralive Mobile Player app, developed with the objective to assist the creative process and promote research on different aspects of the application of mobile digital storytelling in cultural heritage settings. The tools have been applied and evaluated in a variety of contexts and sites, and the main findings of this process are presented and discussed, concluding in general findings about the authoring of digital storytelling experiences in cultural heritage.

We define a family of the braid group representations via the action of the $R$-matrix (of the quasitriangular extension) of the restricted quantum $\mathfrak{sl}(2)$ on a tensor power of a simple projective module. This family is an extension of the Lawrence representation specialized at roots of unity. Although the center of the braid group has finite order on the specialized Laurence representations, this action is faithful for our extension., Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures

We prove the BMM symmetrising trace conjecture for the exceptional complex reflection groups $G_4,\,G_5,\,G_6,\,G_7,\,G_8$ using a combination of algorithms programmed in different languages (C++, SAGE, GAP3, Mathematica). Our proof depends on the choice of a suitable basis for the generic Hecke algebra associated with each group., Comment: 19 pages

Induced earthquakes often accompany fluid injection, and the seismic hazard they pose threatens various underground engineering projects. Models to monitor and control induced seismic hazard with traffic light systems should be probabilistic, forward-looking, and updated as new data arrive. In this study, we propose an Induced Seismicity Test Bench to test and rank such models; this test bench can be used for model development, model selection, and ensemble model building. We apply the test bench to data from the Basel 2006 and Soultz-sous-For\^ets 2004 geothermal stimulation projects, and we assess forecasts from two models: Shapiro and Smoothed Seismicity (SaSS) and Hydraulics and Seismics (HySei). These models incorporate a different mix of physics-based elements and stochastic representation of the induced sequences. Our results show that neither model is fully superior to the other. Generally, HySei forecasts the seismicity rate better after shut-in, but is only mediocre at forecasting the spatial distribution. On the other hand, SaSS forecasts the spatial distribution better and gives better seismicity rate estimates before shut-in. The shut-in phase is a difficult moment for both models in both reservoirs: the models tend to underpredict the seismicity rate around, and shortly after, shut-in., Comment: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016JB013236/abstract

We harness non-volatile, amorphous-crystalline transitions in the chalcogenide phase-change medium germanium antimony telluride (GST) to realize optically-switchable, all-dielectric metamaterials. Nanostructured, subwavelength-thickness films of GST present high-quality resonances that are spectrally shifted by laser-induced structural transitions, providing reflectivity and transmission switching contrast ratios of up to 5:1 (7 dB) at visible/near-infrared wavelengths selected by design., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

By harnessing the resonant nature of localized electromagnetic modes in a nanostructured silicon membrane, an all-dielectric metamaterial can act as nonlinear medium at optical telecommunications wavelengths. We show that such metamaterials provide extremely large optomechanical nonlinearities, operating at intensities of only a few {\mu}W per unit cell and modulation frequencies as high as 152 MHz, thereby offering a path to fast, compact and energy efficient all-optical metadevices., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

In this paper we study properties of the Markov trace ${\rm tr}_d$ and the specialized trace ${\rm tr}_{d,D}$ on the Yokonuma-Hecke algebras, such as behaviour under inversion of a word, connected sums and mirror imaging. We then define invariants for framed, classical and singular links through the trace ${\rm tr}_{d,D}$ and also invariants for transverse links through the trace ${\rm tr}_d$. In order to compare the invariants for classical links with the Homflypt polynomial we develop computer programs and we evaluate them on several Homflypt-equivalent pairs of knots and links. Our computations lead to the result that these invariants are topologically equivalent to the Homflypt polynomial on knots. However, they do not demonstrate the same behaviour on links., Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. For related computational packages see http://math.ntua.gr/~sofia/yokonuma . The paper at http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.06666 is sequel to this one

In this paper we announce the existence of a family of new $2$-variable polynomial invariants for oriented classical links defined via a Markov trace on the Yokonuma-Hecke algebra of type $A$. Yokonuma-Hecke algebras are generalizations of Iwahori-Hecke algebras, and this family contains the Homflypt polynomial, the famous $2$-variable invariant for classical links arising from the Iwahori-Hecke algebra of type $A$. We show that these invariants are topologically equivalent to the Homflypt polynomial on knots, but not on links, by providing pairs of Homflypt-equivalent links that are distinguished by our invariants. In order to do this, we prove that our invariants can be defined diagrammatically via a special skein relation involving only crossings between different components. We further generalize this family of invariants to a new $3$-variable skein link invariant which is stronger than the Homflypt polynomial. Finally, we present a closed formula for this invariant, by W.B.R. Lickorish, which uses Homflypt polynomials of sublinks and linking numbers of a given oriented link., Comment: 57 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. For related computational packages, see http://math.ntua.gr/~sofia/yokonuma . Added an appendix by W.B.R. Lickorish