International Business Machines Corporation

William Paul Risk

Camillo Sassano

Kevin Lavern Schultz

Matthew Allen Butterbaugh

Ryan Elsasser

Michael Scott Good

Donald Stimson Bethune

Benjamin G Shaw

Michael Vincent DeBole

Charles Thomas Rettner

Ralph G Devoe

Christian Kurtsiefer

An apparatus according to one embodiment includes a landing pad having a mating portion configured to mate with a mating feature of a removable element as the removable element approaches the landing pad in a first direction. The apparatus also includes a mount along which the landing pad is movable in a second direction. A lever is positionable between a disengaged position and an engaged position, the lever being coupled to the landing pad for translating the landing pad along the mount in the second direction during movement thereof from the disengaged position toward the engaged position. The first direction is different than the second direction.

Method and apparatus for the alignment and locking of removable elements with a connector

Slidable assemblies are provided which include a support, a slidable assembly, and a spring-clip element. The slidable assembly, which includes a slide member, is coupled to the support to slide along the support between a first position and a second position. The spring-clip element is associated with the support, and receives the slide member of the slidable assembly. The slide member translates within the spring-clip element as the slidable assembly is slid between the first position and the second position, and is retained by the spring-clip element in position when the slidable assembly is slid to the second position to hold the slidable assembly and restrain the slidable assembly from sliding along the support to the first position.

Slidable assembly with spring clip retainer

An apparatus includes a coupling rod having a longitudinal axis and disposed within one or more bearing elements that laterally constrain the coupling rod while enabling axial rotation, multiple latching barbs coupled to the coupling rod, rotational force elements that apply a rotational force to the latching barbs in a latching direction and resist rotation of the latching barbs in an unlatching direction. The apparatus may be deployed in a rack system having a rack drawer. The apparatus may also include barb engagement elements for engaging and latching the latching barbs when the rack drawer is moved from an open position to a closed position. Rotation of the coupling rod in the unlatching direction unlatches the latching barbs when the rack drawer is in the closed position and enables a user to open the rack drawer. A method that uses the apparatus is also disclosed herein.

Drawer latching assembly

Rack-mountable assemblies are provided which include a structure to be mounted to a frame of an electronics rack, and a spring-hinged mounting bracket associated with and extending from a side of the structure to facilitate mounting the structure to the frame of the electronics rack. The spring-hinged mounting bracket facilitates insertion of the structure into the frame by pivoting inward towards the side of the structure upon the spring-hinged mounting bracket encountering an obstruction as the rack-mountable assembly is positioned within the frame for mounting to the frame.

Rack-mountable assembly with spring-hinged mounting bracket(s)

Rack-mountable assemblies are provided which include a cover configured to fixedly mount to a frame of an electronics rack, and a drawer configured to slidably mount to the frame adjacent to the cover to slide relative to the cover. When operatively mounted to the frame, the cover and drawer together define an enclosure for one or more electronic components. The assembly further includes an electromagnetic shielding structure to provide, at least in part, electromagnetic shielding at a gap between the cover and drawer when operatively positioned within the electronics rack. The electromagnetic shielding structure includes an electromagnetic shielding plate which overlies, at least in part, the gap between the cover and the drawer, and which self-adjusts with sliding of the drawer into the electronics rack to facilitate providing the electromagnetic shielding at the gap between the cover and the drawer.

Rack-mountable assembly with electromagnetic shielding structure(s)

An avalanche-type detector circuit includes an avalanche-type photon detector device, a coupling capacitor, a bias network, a first transmission line and a second transmission line. The coupling capacitor has a first terminal that is coupled to a first terminal of the avalanche-type photon detector device. A first terminal of the bias network is coupled to the first terminal of the avalanche-type photon detector device, while a second terminal of the bias network is coupled to a bias voltage so that the avalanche-type photon detector device is reverse biased. A first end of the first transmission line is coupled to a second terminal of the coupling capacitor, and second end of the first transmission line is terminated by an open-circuit termination. A first end of the second transmission line is coupled to a second terminal of the avalanche-type photon detector device. The second end of the second transmission line is terminated by a short-circuit termination. A bias pulse voltage V,is coupled to the second terminal of the coupling capacitor such that the bias pulse voltage reverse biases the avalanche-type photon detector device to be greater than a reverse breakdown voltage V,of the avalanche-type photon detector device during a duration of the bias pulse voltage V,. A round-trip propagation delay along the first transmission line is substantially equal to a round-trip propagation delay along the second transmission line.

System for gated detection of optical pulses containing a small number of photons using an avalanche photodiode

A quantum cryptographic key distribution (QKD) system splits discrete light signals from a laser source into a pair of light pulses that are orthogonally polarized with respect to each other, imparts a phase shift to one or both of these separate pulses during their round trip from the sender to the receiver and back, assures that the return pulses from the receiver are attenuated to single-photon pulses, recombines the phase-shifted pulses at the sender, and then detects from the recombined signal its polarization state, which is representative of the net phase shift imparted by the sender and receiver. The phase modulator at the receiver transmits only one polarization (e.g., vertical), but is used in a manner that permits it to equally modulate both polarization components of an arriving pulse. In this arrangement, when both components of a pulse reach the phase modulator at the receiver, they are both entirely vertically polarized and a phase shift is imparted at that time. This has the advantage that the effect of any time variation or phase errors in the phase modulator will be the same on both components. The key information is decoded at a detection stage at the sender that uses two detectors, one of which detects a first polarization state corresponding to the phase difference between the two phase shifts being 0 and the other of which detects a second polarization state corresponding to the phase difference between the two phase shifts being &pgr;.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

William Paul Risk