The experimental demonstration of a novel integrated optical isolator concept is presented. By using a transversely magnetized ferromagnetic metal as the electric contact of an active waveguide structure, the transverse magneto-optic Kerr effect induces nonreciprocal loss of the TM guided mode. Based on this principle we designed, fabricated and characterized the first version of an optical iso...

In less-developed countries, studies of bloodstream infections (BSI) have been hindered because of the difficulty and costs of culturing blood for bacteria, mycobacteria, and fungi. During two study periods (study period I [1997] and study period II [1998]), we cultured blood from patients in Malawi by using the BACTEC MYCO/F LYTIC (MFL), ISOLATOR 10 (Isolator), Septi-Chek AFB (SC-AFB), and Sep...

The reliability of MYCO/F Lytic medium in the BACTEC 9240 blood culture system was evaluated by comparing its performance to that of the Isolator system for the recovery of fungi and to that of the ESP II system for the recovery of mycobacteria. Of 717 specimens of blood cultured for fungi, 24 were positive; 12 samples were positive with both systems, 7 samples were positive with the Isolator s...

Performance improvements by using an isolator as an amplified spontaneous emission suppressing component within erbium-doped fibers are evaluated. Simultaneous high-gain and near-quantum-limited noise figures can be obtained by such a scheme. The noise figure improves for input signal powers below -5 dBm and an improvement of 2.0 db with a simultaneous gain increase of 4.1 dB is measured relati...

Recently, a benchmark problem has been developed to study seismically excited highway bridges. In the second phase of the aforementioned study, the bridge is isolated both at the abutments and at the central pier location. The isolation, though effective in reducing the superstructure responses such as mid-span accelerations, results in increased mid-span and isolator displacements. The perform...

The photo shows the Isolator which was developed in 1925 by Hugo Gernsback to treat conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. 1 The patient would wear the diving bell-like apparatus. Outside sound was excluded and the eye holes 'focussed' one's attention on the task at hand. The Isolator came with its own oxygen supply to ensure the patient did not suffocate during treatment.

A variety of blood culture media were compared to determine the optimal method for the isolation of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI) from the blood of patients with AIDS. Simulated laboratory blood cultures and clinical blood cultures were tested. Glucose broth, Bactec aerobic medium, Kirschner's medium, and Bactec Middlebrook medium supported the growth of MAI. The Isolator system, a l...

We compared the performance of the BacT/Alert MB system, that of the manual Bactec Myco/F Lytic procedure, and that of the Isolator 10 lysis-centrifugation system in the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteremia. Mean times to detection were 16.4 days for BacT/Alert MB versus 20.0 days for Myco/F Lytic, 16.5 days for BacT/Alert MB versus 23.8 days for Isolator 10, and 21.1 days for Bac...

We theoretically investigate an all-optical isolator under arbitrary linearly polarized fundamental wave (FW) input in an optical superlattice (OSL). The scheme is based on simultaneously phase matching the first-order Type I (oo-e) quasi-phase-matching (QPM) second-harmonic generation (SHG) process and higher-order Type 0 (ee-e) QPM SHG process in an OSL with a defect inserted in an asymmetric...