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This study considers an innovative coolant nozzle that enables a remarkable reduction in grinding fluid consumption in cylindrical plunge grinding of chromium molybdenum steel (ISO 34CrMo4 / JIS SCM435) using a vitrified-bonded cubic boron nitride (CBN) wheel. This coolant nozzle has a simple structure consisting of ordinary nylon or polypropylene fiber brushes and an acrylic resin oil pool. This flexible brush-nozzle is suitably placed in contact with the wheel surface, and the grinding fluid is supplied along the brush to the wheel surface to form a fluid film to the wheel surface, while simultaneously scraping the "air belt." Thus, the grinding fluid adheres to the whole wheel surface by the "Coandă effect," and grinding fluid consumption is reduced to 0.5 L/min or less without causing any thermal damage to the ground surface. The cooling effect of this coolant nozzle is examined mainly by a grinding temperature measurement by means of a fiber-coupled two-color pyrometer. The nylon fiber brush is more effective than the polypropylene brush because of its high elasticity and good water absorption rate, which is related to the wettability. Even with such an extremely small amount of grinding fluid, the grinding force, surface roughness, and grinding temperature are nearly the same as those in the case of the conventional wet grinding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum communication and quantum cryptography are expected to enhance the transmission rate and the security (confidentiality of data transmission), respectively. We study a new scheme which can potentially bridge an intermediate region covered by these two schemes, which is referred to as quantum photonic network. The basic framework is information theoretically secure communications in a free space optical (FSO) wiretap channel, in which an eavesdropper has physically limited access to the main channel between the legitimate sender and receiver. We first review a theoretical framework to quantify the optimal balance of the transmission efficiency and the security level under power constraint and at finite code length. We then present experimental results on channel characterization based on 10MHz on-off keying transmission in a 7.8km terrestrial FSO wiretap channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient generation and detection of indistinguishable twin photons are at the core of quantum information and communications technology (Q-ICT). These photons are conventionally generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC), which is a probabilistic process, and hence occurs at a limited rate, which restricts wider applications of Q-ICT. To increase the rate, one had to excite SPDC by higher pump power, while it inevitably produced more unwanted multi-photon components, harmfully degrading quantum interference visibility. Here we solve this problem by using recently developed 10 GHz repetition-rate-tunable comb laser, combined with a group-velocity-matched nonlinear crystal, and superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. They operate at telecom wavelengths more efficiently with less noises than conventional schemes, those typically operate at visible and near infrared wavelengths generated by a 76 MHz Ti Sapphire laser and detected by Si detectors. We could show high interference visibilities, which are free from the pump-power induced degradation. Our laser, nonlinear crystal, and detectors constitute a powerful tool box, which will pave a way to implementing quantum photonics circuits with variety of good and low-cost telecom components, and will eventually realize scalable Q-ICT in optical infra-structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]