Full House: A Retrospective Analysis of High Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevalence among Adult Film Actors at a Singular Residence.

BACKGROUND: During a routine human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) investigation, Florida Department of Health staff identified a house (house A) in which over 150 individuals had resided at least briefly. Further investigation revealed that house A is used by the producer of a small adult film production company to board his actors. This report describes sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence among male actors in gay adult films residing in a common Florida residence. METHODS: LexisNexis Accurint was used to identify house A residents since October 2002 when the producer arrived. Information on STIs and interview data were obtained from Florida's STI surveillance system. An infection was considered to be associated with residence in house A if the date of diagnosis occurred 6 months before an individual's residence start date through 6 months after his residence end date. RESULTS: Excluding the producer, 150 men resided in house A starting from September 2003 to July 2015. Forty-six individuals had a reported case of HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and/or chlamydia with 92 infections total. Forty-two (46%) infections among 24 men were considered associated with residence in house A. CONCLUSIONS: LexisNexis Accurint was a useful tool for identifying house A residents, a highly mobile and highly sexually active population. There is a high prevalence of STIs among residents, but it is unclear where transmission is occurring. Settings like house A are good candidates for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and active STI screenings and may be an opportunity for public health officials to intervene in high-risk groups to reduce STI rates in the community.

Tunable microwave signal generator with an optically-injected 1310 nm QD-DFB laser.

Tunable microwave signal generation with frequencies ranging from below 1 GHz to values over 40 GHz is demonstrated experimentally with a 1310 nm Quantum Dot (QD) Distributed-Feedback (DFB) laser. Microwave signal generation is achieved using the period 1 dynamics induced in the QD DFB under optical injection. Continuous tuning in the positive detuning frequency range of the quantum dot's unique stability map is demonstrated. The simplicity of the experimental configuration offers promise for novel uses of these nanostructure lasers in Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) applications and future mobile networks.

Instabilities in quantum-dot spin-VCSELs.

A modified spin-flip model is used to investigate the stability of optically-pumped quantum-dot spin-vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers. in terms of pump intensity and polarization. The stability maps exhibit pronounced polarization switching in the stable regions. Periodic oscillations in unstable regions are attributed to competition between spin relaxation and birefringence.

Optically-pumped dilute nitride spin-VCSEL.

We report the first room temperature optical spin-injection of a dilute nitride 1300 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) under continuous-wave optical pumping. We also present a novel experimental protocol for the investigation of optical spin-injection with a fiber setup. The experimental results indicate that the VCSEL polarization can be controlled by the pump polarization, and the measured behavior is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions using the spin flip model. The ability to control the polarization of a long-wavelength VCSEL at room temperature emitting at the wavelength of 1.3 µm opens up a new exciting research avenue for novel uses in disparate fields of technology ranging from spintronics to optical telecommunication networks.

Optical neuron using polarisation switching in a 1550nm-VCSEL.

We report a new approach to mimic basic functionalities of a neuron using a 1550 nm Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) which is based on the polarisation switching (PS) that can be induced in these devices when subject to polarised optical injection. Positive and negative all-optical threshold operations are demonstrated experimentally using external optical injection into the two orthogonal polarizations of the fundamental transverse mode. The polarisation of the light emitted by the device is used to determine the state of the VCSEL-Neuron, active (orthogonal) or inactive (parallel). This approach forms a new way to reproduce optically the response of a neuron to an excitatory and an inhibitory stimulus.

Different forms of wavelength polarization switching and bistability in a 1.55 microm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser under orthogonally polarized optical injection.

Different forms of wavelength polarization switching and bistability are reported in a 1550 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) operated just above threshold and subject to orthogonally polarized optical injection into the subsidiary orthogonal polarization mode. This diversity of behavior at the wavelength of 1550 nm offers promise for the use of VCSELs in optical signal processing and optical switching applications.

Effects of parallel and orthogonal polarization on nonlinear optical characteristics of a 1550 nm VCSOA.

Experimental observation of Optical Bistability (OB) and nonlinear gain is reported in a 1550-nm Vertical Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (VCSOA) under parallel and orthogonal polarized optical injection into the two orthogonal polarizations of the fundamental mode. Different nonlinear switching mechanisms, including anticlockwise and clockwise nonlinear gain and bistability, have been found when the polarization of the externally injected signal matches that of the injected mode, whilst a linear response is measured when the polarization is orthogonal to that of the mode under injection. This diversity of behavior with input polarization offers promise for the potential use of VCSOAs for all-optical signal processing and all-optical switching/routing applications.