| 1. |
- Cruz, Raquel, et al.
(författare)
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Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity
- 2022
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press. - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 31:22, s. 3789-3806
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here, we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10−8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (P = 1.3 × 10−22 and P = 8.1 × 10−12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (P = 4.4 × 10−8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (P = 2.7 × 10−8) and ARHGAP33 (P = 1.3 × 10−8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, P = 4.1 × 10−8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or ≥60 years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Alarcón, Alvaro, 1991-
(författare)
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All-Fiber System for Photonic States Carrying Orbital Angular Momentum : A Platform for Classical and Quantum Information Processing
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The protection of confidential data is a fundamental need in the society in which we live. This task becomes more relevant when observing that every day, data traffic increases exponentially, as well as the number of attacks on the telecommunication infra-structure. From the natural sciences, it has been strongly argued that quantum communication has great potential to solve this problem, to such an extent that various governmental and industrial entities believe the protection provided by quantum communications will be an important layer in the field of information security in the next decades. However, integrating quantum technologies both in current optical networks and in industrial systems is not a trivial task, taking into account that a large part of current quantum optical systems are based on bulk optical devices, which could become an important limitation. Throughout this thesis we present an all-in-fiber optical platform that allows a wide range of tasks that aim to take a step forward in terms of generation and detection of photonic states. Among the main features, the generation and detection of photonic quantum states carrying orbital angular momentum stand out. The platform can also be configured for the generation of random numbers from quantum mechanical measurements, a central aspect in future information tasks. Our scheme is based on the use of new space-division-multiplexing (SDM) technologies such as few-mode-fibers and photonic lanterns. Furthermore, our platform can also be scaled to high dimensions, it operates in 1550 nm (telecommunications band) and all the components used for its implementation are commercially available. The results presented in this thesis can be a solid alternative to guarantee the compatibility of new SDM technologies in emerging experiments on optical networks and open up new possibilities for quantum communication.
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| 4. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, et al.
(författare)
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All-in-Fiber Dynamically Reconfigurable Orbital Angular Momentum Mode Sorting
- 2023
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Ingår i: ACS Photonics. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 2330-4022. ; 10:10, s. 3700-3707
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The orbital angular momentum (OAM) spatial degree of freedom of light has been widely explored in many applications, including telecommunications, quantum information, and light-based micromanipulation. The ability to separate and distinguish between the different transverse spatial modes is called mode sorting or mode demultiplexing, and it is essential to recover the encoded information in such applications. An ideal d mode sorter should be able to faithfully distinguish between the different d spatial modes, with minimal losses, and have d outputs and fast response times. All previous mode sorters rely on bulk optical elements, such as spatial light modulators, which cannot be quickly tuned and have additional losses if they are to be integrated with optical fiber systems. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first all-in-fiber method for OAM mode sorting with ultrafast dynamic reconfigurability. Our scheme first decomposes the OAM mode in-fiber-optical linearly polarized (LP) modes and then interferometrically recombines them to determine the topological charge, thus correctly sorting the OAM mode. In addition, our setup can also be used to perform ultrafast routing of the OAM modes. These results show a novel and fiber-integrated form of optical spatial mode sorting that can be readily used for many new applications in classical and quantum information processing.
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| 5. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Creating Spatial States of Light for Quantum Information with Photonic Lanterns
- 2021
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Ingår i: Applied Industrial Optics 2021. - : Optical Society of America. - 9781943580934
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate an all-fiber platform for the generation and detection of spatial photonic states where combinations of LP01, LP11a and LP11b modes are used. This scheme can be employed for quantum communication applications.
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| 6. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamic generation of photonic spatial quantum states with an all-fiber platform
- 2023
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - : Optica Publishing Group. - 1094-4087. ; 31:6, s. 10673-10683
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photonic spatial quantum states are a subject of great interest for applications in quantum communication. One important challenge has been how to dynamically generate these states using only fiber-optical components. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an all-fiber system that can dynamically switch between any general transverse spatial qubit state based on linearly polarized modes. Our platform is based on a fast optical switch based on a Sagnac interferometer combined with a photonic lantern and few-mode optical fibers. We show switching times between spatial modes on the order of 5 ns and demonstrate the applicability of our scheme for quantum technologies by demonstrating a measurement-device-independent (MDI) quantum random number generator based on our platform. We run the generator continuously over 15 hours, acquiring over 13.46 Gbits of random numbers, of which we ensure that at least 60.52% are private, following the MDI protocol. Our results show the use of photonic lanterns to dynamically create spatial modes using only fiber components, which due to their robustness and integration capabilities, have important consequences for photonic classical and quantum information processing.(c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement
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| 7. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Few-Mode-Fiber Technology Fine-tunes Losses in Quantum Communication Systems
- 2021
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Ingår i: Physical Review Applied. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2331-7019. ; 16:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A natural choice for quantum communication is to use the relative phase between two paths of a single photon for information encoding. This method was nevertheless quickly identified as impractical over long distances, and thus a modification based on single-photon time bins has become widely adopted. It, how-ever, introduces a fundamental loss, which increases with the dimension and limits its application over long distances. Here solve this long-standing hurdle by using a few-mode-fiber space-division-multiplexing platform working with orbital-angular-momentum modes. In our scheme, we maintain the practicability provided by the time-bin scheme, while the quantum states are transmitted through a few-mode fiber in a configuration that does not introduce postselection losses. We experimentally demonstrate our proposal by successfully transmitting phase-encoded single-photon states for quantum cryptography over 500 m of few-mode fiber, showing the feasibility of our scheme.
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| 8. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Polarization-independent single-photon switch based on a fiber-optical Sagnac interferometer for quantum communication networks
- 2020
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Ingår i: Optics Express. - : OPTICAL SOC AMER. - 1094-4087. ; 28:22, s. 33731-33738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An essential component of future quantum networks is an optical switch capable of dynamically routing single photons. Here we implement such a switch, based on a fiber-optical Sagnac interferometer design. The routing is implemented with a pair of fast electro-optical telecom phase modulators placed inside the Sagnac loop, such that each modulator acts on an orthogonal polarization component of the single photons, in order to yield polarization-independent capability that is crucial for several applications. We obtain an average extinction ratio of more than 19 dB between both outputs of the switch. Our experiment is built exclusively with commercial off-the-shelf components, thus allowing direct compatibility with current optical communication systems. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
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| 9. |
- Alarcon, Alvaro, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Quantum Random Number Generation Based on Spatial Modal Superposition over Few-Mode-Fibers
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2022 (FIO, LS). - : Optica Publishing Group. - 9781957171173
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A quantum random number generator based on few-mode fiber technology is presented. The randomness originates from measurements of spatial modal quantum superpositions of the LP11a and LP11b modes. The generated sequences have passed NIST tests.
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| 10. |
- Alarcón Cuevas, Alvaro, 1991-
(författare)
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A Few-Mode-Fiber Platform for Quantum Communication Applications
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Society as we know it today would not have been possible without the explosive and astonishing development of telecommunications systems, and optical fibers have been one of the pillars of these technologies.Despite the enormous amount of data being transmitted over optical networks today, the trend is that the demand for higher bandwidths will also increase. Given this context, a central element in the design of telecommunications networks will be data security, since information can often be confidential or private.Quantum information emerges as a solution to encrypt data by quantum key distribution (QKD) between two users. This technique uses the properties of nature as the fundamentals of operation rather than relying on mathematical constructs to provide data protection. A popular alternative to performing QKD is to use the relative phase between two individual photon paths for information encoding. However, this method was not practical over long distances. The time-bin- based scheme was a solution to the previous problem given its practical nature, however, it introduces intrinsic losses due to its design, which increases with the dimension of the encoded quantum system.In this thesis we have designed and tested a fiber-optic platform using spatial-division- multiplexing techniques. The use of few-mode fibers and photonic lanterns are the cornerstone of our proposal, which also allow us to support orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. The platform builds on the core ideas of the phase-coded quantum communication system and also takes advantage of the benefits proposed by the time-bin scheme. We have experimentally tested our proposal by successfully transmitting phase-coded single-photon states over 500 m few-mode fiber, demonstrating the feasibility of our scheme. We demonstrated the successful creation of OAM states, their propagation and their successful detection in an all in-fiber scheme. Our platform eliminates the post-selection losses of time-bin quantum communication systems and ensures compatibility with next-generation optical networks and opens up new possibilities for quantum communication.
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