Human TRPV1 is an efficient thermogenetic actuator for chronic neuromodulation.

Thermogenetics is a promising neuromodulation technique based on the use of heat-sensitive ion channels. However, on the way to its clinical application, a number of questions have to be addressed. First, to avoid immune response in future human applications, human ion channels should be studied as thermogenetic actuators.

Threshold of stochastic self-focusing from the Poisson property of extreme-event statistics.

Statistics of self-focusing induced by a stochastic laser driver is shown to converge, in the large-sample-size limit, to a generalized Poisson distribution whose mean is given by the exponent of the respective extreme-value statistics. For a given ratio of the laser peak power to the self-focusing threshold P, the mean number of self-focusing counts in a large sample of laser pulses is shown to depend on the number of pulses in the sample, N, and the signal-to-noise ratio of laser pulses, a. We derive a closed-form solution for the threshold of stochastic self-focusing, which, unlike its deterministic counterpart, P, is a function of the sample size N and the signal-to-noise ratio a.

Extreme-value statistics in nonlinear optics.

We show that, although nonlinear optics may give rise to a vast multitude of statistics, all these statistics converge, in their extreme-value limit, to one of a few universal extreme-value statistics. Specifically, in the class of polynomial nonlinearities, such as those found in the Kerr effect, weak-field harmonic generation, and multiphoton ionization, the statistics of the nonlinear-optical output converges, in the extreme-value limit, to the exponentially tailed, Gumbel distribution. Exponentially growing nonlinear signals, on the other hand, such as those induced by parametric instabilities and stimulated scattering, are shown to reach their extreme-value limits in the class of the Fréchet statistics, giving rise to extreme-value distributions (EVDs) with heavy, manifestly nonexponential tails, thus favoring extreme-event outcomes and rogue-wave buildup.

Hyper spectral resolution stimulated Raman spectroscopy with amplified fs pulse bursts.

We present a novel approach for Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) spectroscopy in which a hyper spectral resolution and high-speed spectral acquisition are achieved by employing amplified offset-phase controlled fs-pulse bursts. We investigate the method by solving the coupled non-linear Schrödinger equations and validate it by numerically characterizing SRS in molecular nitrogen as a model compound. The spectral resolution of the method is found to be determined by the inverse product of the number of pulses in the burst and the intraburst pulse separation.

First passage time of laser-driven tunneling.

The notion of the first passage time is shown to offer a meaningful extension to quantum tunneling, providing a closed-integral-form analytical unification of the tunneling rate and the tunneling passage time. We demonstrate that, in suitable potential settings, the quantum first passage time, found as a solution to the Fokker-Planck and backward Kolmogorov's equations for the quantum probability density, recovers the hallmark results for the Kramers escape rate, the lifetime of tunneling quasi-stationary wave packets, leads to a classical, distance-over-speed passage time for a free-particle wave function, and offers useful insights into Keldysh's intimation on the electron barrier-traversal time in field-induced ionization.