Tunable resonance-domain diffraction gratings based on electrostrictive polymers.

PubMed

Axelrod, Ramon; Shacham-Diamand, Yosi; Golub, Michael A

2017-03-01

Critical combination of high diffraction efficiency and large diffraction angles can be delivered by resonance-domain diffractive optics with high aspect ratio and wavelength-scale grating periods. To advance from static to electrically tunable resonance-domain diffraction grating, we resorted to its replication onto 2-5 μm thick P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) electrostrictive ter-polymer membranes. Electromechanical and optical computer simulations provided higher than 90% diffraction efficiency, a large continuous deflection range exceeding 20°, and capabilities for adiabatic spatial modulation of the grating period and slant. A prototype of the tunable resonance-domain diffraction grating was fabricated in a soft-stamp thermal nanoimprinting process, characterized, optically tested, and provided experimental feasibility proof for the tunable sub-micron-period gratings on electrostrictive polymers.

Strain-induced tunable negative differential resistance in triangle graphene spirals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Jie; Zhang, Xiaoming; Liu, Wenguan; He, Xiujie; Zhao, Mingwen

2018-05-01

Using non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism combined with density functional theory calculations, we investigate the significant changes in electronic and transport properties of triangle graphene spirals (TGSs) in response to external strain. Tunable negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior is predicted. The NDR bias region, NDR width, and peak-to-valley ratio can be well tuned by external strain. Further analysis shows that these peculiar properties can be attributed to the dispersion widths of the p z orbitals. Moreover, the conductance of TGSs is very sensitive to the applied stress, which is promising for applications in nanosensor devices. Our findings reveal a novel approach to produce tunable electronic devices based on graphene spirals.

Strain-induced tunable negative differential resistance in triangle graphene spirals.

PubMed

Tan, Jie; Zhang, Xiaoming; Liu, Wenguan; He, Xiujie; Zhao, Mingwen

2018-05-18

Using non-equilibrium Green's function formalism combined with density functional theory calculations, we investigate the significant changes in electronic and transport properties of triangle graphene spirals (TGSs) in response to external strain. Tunable negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior is predicted. The NDR bias region, NDR width, and peak-to-valley ratio can be well tuned by external strain. Further analysis shows that these peculiar properties can be attributed to the dispersion widths of the p z orbitals. Moreover, the conductance of TGSs is very sensitive to the applied stress, which is promising for applications in nanosensor devices. Our findings reveal a novel approach to produce tunable electronic devices based on graphene spirals.

Colored ultrathin hybrid photovoltaics with high quantum efficiency

DOE PAGES

Lee, Kyu -Tae; Lee, Jae Yong; Seo, Sungyong; ...

2014-10-24

Most current solar panels are fabricated via complex processes using expensive semiconductor materials, and they are rigid and heavy with a dull, black appearance. As a result of their non-aesthetic appearance and weight, they are primarily installed on rooftops to minimize their negative impact on building appearance. The large surfaces and interiors of modern buildings are not efficiently utilized for potential electric power generation. Here, we introduce dual-function solar cells based on ultrathin dopant-free amorphous silicon embedded in an optical cavity that not only efficiently extract the photogenerated carriers but also display distinctive colors with the desired angle-insensitive appearances. Light-energy-harvestingmore » colored signage is demonstrated. Furthermore, a cascaded photovoltaics scheme based on tunable spectrum splitting can be employed to increase power efficiency by absorbing a broader band of light energy. Furthermore, this study pioneers a new approach to architecturally compatible and decorative thin-film photovoltaics.« less

Colored ultrathin hybrid photovoltaics with high quantum efficiency

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Kyu -Tae; Lee, Jae Yong; Seo, Sungyong

Most current solar panels are fabricated via complex processes using expensive semiconductor materials, and they are rigid and heavy with a dull, black appearance. As a result of their non-aesthetic appearance and weight, they are primarily installed on rooftops to minimize their negative impact on building appearance. The large surfaces and interiors of modern buildings are not efficiently utilized for potential electric power generation. Here, we introduce dual-function solar cells based on ultrathin dopant-free amorphous silicon embedded in an optical cavity that not only efficiently extract the photogenerated carriers but also display distinctive colors with the desired angle-insensitive appearances. Light-energy-harvestingmore » colored signage is demonstrated. Furthermore, a cascaded photovoltaics scheme based on tunable spectrum splitting can be employed to increase power efficiency by absorbing a broader band of light energy. Furthermore, this study pioneers a new approach to architecturally compatible and decorative thin-film photovoltaics.« less

Correlation between tunability and anisotropy in magnetoelectric voltage tunable inductor (VTI).

PubMed

Yan, Yongke; Geng, Liwei D; Zhang, Lujie; Gao, Xiangyu; Gollapudi, Sreenivasulu; Song, Hyun-Cheol; Dong, Shuxiang; Sanghadasa, Mohan; Ngo, Khai; Wang, Yu U; Priya, Shashank

2017-11-22

Electric field modulation of magnetic properties via magnetoelectric coupling in composite materials is of fundamental and technological importance for realizing tunable energy efficient electronics. Here we provide foundational analysis on magnetoelectric voltage tunable inductor (VTI) that exhibits extremely large inductance tunability of up to 1150% under moderate electric fields. This field dependence of inductance arises from the change of permeability, which correlates with the stress dependence of magnetic anisotropy. Through combination of analytical models that were validated by experimental results, comprehensive understanding of various anisotropies on the tunability of VTI is provided. Results indicate that inclusion of magnetic materials with low magnetocrystalline anisotropy is one of the most effective ways to achieve high VTI tunability. This study opens pathway towards design of tunable circuit components that exhibit field-dependent electronic behavior.

Thermo- and light-regulated formation and disintegration of double hydrophilic block copolymer assemblies with tunable fluorescence emissions.

PubMed

Wu, Yonghao; Hu, Huamin; Hu, Jinming; Liu, Tao; Zhang, Guoying; Liu, Shiyong

2013-03-19

We report on thermo- and light-regulated formation and disintegration of double hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC) micelles associated with tunable fluorescence emissions by employing two types of DHBCs covalently labeled with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) donor and acceptor moieties, respectively, within the light and temperature dually responsive block. Both DHBCs are molecularly soluble at room temperature in their aqueous mixture, whereas, upon heating to above the critical micellization temperature (CMT, ~31 °C), they coassemble into mixed micelles possessing hydrophilic coronas and mixed cores containing FRET donors and acceptors. Accordingly, the closer spatial proximity between the FRET pair (NBDAE and RhBEA moieties) within micellar cores leads to substantially enhanced FRET efficiency, compared to that in the non-aggregated unimer state. Moreover, upon UV irradiation, the light-reactive moieties undergo light-cleavage reaction and transform into negatively charged carboxylate residues, leading to elevated CMT (∼46 °C). Thus, thermo-induced mixed micelles in the intermediate temperature range (31 °C < T < 46 °C) undergo light-triggered disintegration into unimers, accompanied with the decrease of FRET efficiency. Overall, the coassembly and disassembly occurring in the mixed DHBC solution can be dually regulated by temperature and UV irradiation, and most importantly, these processes can be facilely monitored via changes in FRET efficiency and distinct emission colors.

Color-tunable and high-efficiency organic light-emitting diode by adjusting exciton bilateral migration zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shengqiang; Wu, Ruofan; Huang, Jiang; Yu, Junsheng

2013-09-01

A voltage-controlled color-tunable and high-efficiency organic light-emitting diode (OLED) by inserting 16-nm N,N'-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) interlayer between two complementary emitting layers (EMLs) was fabricated. The OLED emitted multicolor ranging from blue (77.4 cd/A @ 6 V), white (70.4 cd/A @ 7 V), to yellow (33.7 cd/A @ 9 V) with voltage variation. An equivalent model was proposed to reveal the color-tunable and high-efficiency emission of OLEDs, resulting from the swing of exciton bilateral migration zone near mCP/blue-EML interface. Also, the model was verified with a theoretical arithmetic using single-EML OLEDs to disclose the crucial role of mCP exciton adjusting layer.

Design of compressors for FEL pulses using deformable gratings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonora, Stefano; Fabris, Nicola; Frassetto, Fabio; Giovine, Ennio; Miotti, Paolo; Quintavalla, Martino; Poletto, Luca

2017-06-01

We present the optical layout of soft X-rays compressors using reflective grating specifically designed to give both positive or negative group-delay dispersion (GDD). They are tailored for chirped-pulse-amplification experiments with FEL sources. The optical design originates from an existing compressor with plane gratings already realized and tested at FERMI, that has been demonstrated capable to introduce tunable negative GDD. Here, we discuss two novel designs for compressors using deformable gratings capable to give both negative and positive GDD. Two novel designs are discussed: 1) a design with two deformable gratings and an intermediate focus between the twos, that is demonstrated capable to introduce positive GDD; 2) a design with one deformable grating giving an intermediate focus, followed by a concave mirror and a plane grating, that is capable to give both positive and negative GDD depending on the distance between the second mirror and the second grating. Both the designs are tunable in wavelength and GDD, by acting on the deformable gratings, that are rotated to tune the wavelength and the GDD and deformed to introduce the radius required to keep the spectral focus. The deformable gratings have a laminar profile and are ruled on a thin silicon plane substrate. A piezoelectric actuator is glued on the back of the substrate and is actuated to give a radius of curvature that is varying from infinite (plane) to few meters. The ruling procedure, the piezoelectric actuator and the efficiency measurements in the soft X-rays will be presented. Some test cases are discussed for wavelengths shorter than 12 nm.

Hoberman-sphere-inspired lattice metamaterials with tunable negative thermal expansion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Yangbo; Chen, Yanyu; Li, Tiantian

Materials with engineered thermal expansion coefficients, capable of avoiding failure or irreversible destruction of structures and devices, are important for aerospace, civil, biomedical, optics, and semiconductor applications. In natural materials, thermal expansion usually cannot be adjusted easily and a negative thermal expansion coefficient is still uncommon. Here we propose a novel architected lattice bi-material system, inspired by the Hoberman sphere, showing a wide range of tunable thermal expansion coefficient from negative to positive, -1.04 x 10 -3 degrees C-1 to 1.0 x 10 -5 degrees C-1. Numerical simulations and analytical formulations are implemented to quantify the evolution of the thermalmore » expansion coefficients and reveal the underlying mechanisms responsible for this unusual behavior. We show that the thermal expansion coefficient of the proposed metamaterials depends on the thermal expansion coefficient ratio and the axial stiffness ratio of the constituent materials, as well as the bending stiffness and the topological arrangement of the constitutive elements. The finding reported here provides a new routine to design architected metamaterial systems with tunable negative thermal expansion for a wide range of potential applications.« less

Hoberman-sphere-inspired lattice metamaterials with tunable negative thermal expansion

DOE PAGES

Li, Yangbo; Chen, Yanyu; Li, Tiantian; ...

2018-02-02

Materials with engineered thermal expansion coefficients, capable of avoiding failure or irreversible destruction of structures and devices, are important for aerospace, civil, biomedical, optics, and semiconductor applications. In natural materials, thermal expansion usually cannot be adjusted easily and a negative thermal expansion coefficient is still uncommon. Here we propose a novel architected lattice bi-material system, inspired by the Hoberman sphere, showing a wide range of tunable thermal expansion coefficient from negative to positive, -1.04 x 10 -3 degrees C-1 to 1.0 x 10 -5 degrees C-1. Numerical simulations and analytical formulations are implemented to quantify the evolution of the thermalmore » expansion coefficients and reveal the underlying mechanisms responsible for this unusual behavior. We show that the thermal expansion coefficient of the proposed metamaterials depends on the thermal expansion coefficient ratio and the axial stiffness ratio of the constituent materials, as well as the bending stiffness and the topological arrangement of the constitutive elements. The finding reported here provides a new routine to design architected metamaterial systems with tunable negative thermal expansion for a wide range of potential applications.« less

Thermally tunable silicon racetrack resonators with ultralow tuning power.

PubMed

Dong, Po; Qian, Wei; Liang, Hong; Shafiiha, Roshanak; Feng, Dazeng; Li, Guoliang; Cunningham, John E; Krishnamoorthy, Ashok V; Asghari, Mehdi

2010-09-13

We present thermally tunable silicon racetrack resonators with an ultralow tuning power of 2.4 mW per free spectral range. The use of free-standing silicon racetrack resonators with undercut structures significantly enhances the tuning efficiency, with one order of magnitude improvement of that for previously demonstrated thermo-optic devices without undercuts. The 10%-90% switching time is demonstrated to be ~170 µs. Such low-power tunable micro-resonators are particularly useful as multiplexing devices and wavelength-tunable silicon microcavity modulators.

Optimizing indoor illumination quality and energy efficiency using a spectrally tunable lighting system to augment natural daylight.

PubMed

Hertog, W; Llenas, A; Carreras, J

2015-11-30

This article demonstrates the benefits of complementing a daylight-lit environment with a spectrally tunable illumination system. The spectral components of daylight present in the room are measured by a low-cost miniature spectrophotometer and processed through a number of optimization algorithms, carefully trading color fidelity for energy efficiency. Spectrally-tunable luminaires provide only those wavelengths that ensure that either the final illumination spectrum inside the room is kept constant or carefully follows the dynamic spectral pattern of natural daylight. Analyzing the measured data proves that such a hybrid illumination system brings both unprecendented illumination quality and significant energy savings.

Experimental demonstrations in audible frequency range of band gap tunability and negative refraction in two-dimensional sonic crystal.

PubMed

Pichard, Hélène; Richoux, Olivier; Groby, Jean-Philippe

2012-10-01

The propagation of audible acoustic waves in two-dimensional square lattice tunable sonic crystals (SC) made of square cross-section infinitely rigid rods embedded in air is investigated experimentally. The band structure is calculated with the plane wave expansion (PWE) method and compared with experimental measurements carried out on a finite extend structure of 200 cm width, 70 cm depth and 15 cm height. The structure is made of square inclusions of 5 cm side with a periodicity of L = 7.5 cm placed inbetween two rigid plates. The existence of tunable complete band gaps in the audible frequency range is demonstrated experimentally by rotating the scatterers around their vertical axis. Negative refraction is then analyzed by use of the anisotropy of the equi-frequency surface (EFS) in the first band and of a finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Experimental results finally show negative refraction in the audible frequency range.

Tunable diode laser-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF laser operated in continuous-wave and Q-switched modes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcguckin, B. T.; Hemmati, H.; Menzies, R. T.

1992-01-01

Tunable continuous-wave and pulsed laser output was obtained from a Tm-sensitized Ho:YLiF4 crystal at subambient temperatures when longitudinally pumped with a diode laser array. A conversion efficiency of 42 percent and slope efficiency of approximately 60 percent relative to the absorbed pumped power have been achieved at a crystal temperature of 275 K. The emission spectrum was etalon tunable over a range of 16/cm centered at 2067 nm with fine tuning capability of the transition frequency with crystal temperature at measured rate of -0.03/cm/K. Output energies of 0.22 mJ per pulse and 22 ns pulse duration were recorded at Q-switch frequencies that correspond to an effective upper laser level lifetime of 6 ms, and a pulse energy extraction efficiency of 64 percent.

Progress in Cherenkov femtosecond fiber lasers

PubMed Central

Liu, Xiaomin; Svane, Ask S.; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Tu, Haohua; Boppart, Stephen A.; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2016-01-01

We review the recent developments in the field of ultrafast Cherenkov fiber lasers. Two essential properties of such laser systems – broad wavelength tunability and high efficiency of Cherenkov radiation wavelength conversion are discussed. The exceptional performance of the Cherenkov fiber laser systems are highlighted - dependent on the realization scheme, the Cherenkov lasers can generate the femtosecond output tunable across the entire visible and even the UV range, and for certain designs more than 40 % conversion efficiency from the pump to Cherenkov signal can be achieved. The femtosecond Cherenkov laser with all-fiber architecture is presented and discussed. Operating in the visible range, it delivers 100–200 fs wavelength-tunable pulses with multimilliwatt output power and exceptionally low noise figure an order of magnitude lower than the traditional wavelength tunable supercontinuum-based femtosecond sources. The applications for Cherenkov laser systems in practical biophotonics and biomedical applications, such as bio-imaging and microscopy, are discussed. PMID:27110037

Progress in Cherenkov femtosecond fiber lasers.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaomin; Svane, Ask S; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Tu, Haohua; Boppart, Stephen A; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2016-01-20

We review the recent developments in the field of ultrafast Cherenkov fiber lasers. Two essential properties of such laser systems - broad wavelength tunability and high efficiency of Cherenkov radiation wavelength conversion are discussed. The exceptional performance of the Cherenkov fiber laser systems are highlighted - dependent on the realization scheme, the Cherenkov lasers can generate the femtosecond output tunable across the entire visible and even the UV range, and for certain designs more than 40 % conversion efficiency from the pump to Cherenkov signal can be achieved. The femtosecond Cherenkov laser with all-fiber architecture is presented and discussed. Operating in the visible range, it delivers 100-200 fs wavelength-tunable pulses with multimilliwatt output power and exceptionally low noise figure an order of magnitude lower than the traditional wavelength tunable supercontinuum-based femtosecond sources. The applications for Cherenkov laser systems in practical biophotonics and biomedical applications, such as bio-imaging and microscopy, are discussed.

High-efficiency water-loaded microwave antenna in ultra-high-frequency band

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Zilun; Bartone, Chris; Yang, Fuyi; Yao, Jie

2018-03-01

High-index dielectrics are widely used in microwave antennas to control the radiation characteristics. Liquid water, with a high dielectric index at microwave frequency, is an interesting material to achieving tunable functionalities. Here, we demonstrate a water-loaded microwave antenna system that has high loss-tolerance and wideband tunability enabled by fluidity. Our simulation and experimental results show that the resonance frequency can be effectively tuned by the size of loading water. Furthermore, the antenna systems with water loading can achieve high radiation efficiency (>90%) in the ultra-high-frequency (0.3-3 GHz) band. This work brings about opportunities in realistic tunable microwave antenna designs enabled by liquid.

A high-efficiency tunable TEM-TE11 mode converter for high-power microwave applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiao-Yu; Fan, Yu-Wei; Shu, Ting; Yuan, Cheng-wei; Zhang, Qiang

2017-03-01

The tunable high power microwave source (HPM's) is considered to be an important research direction. However, the corresponding mode converter has been researched little. In this paper, a high-efficiency tunable mode converter (HETMC) is investigated for high-power microwave applications. The HETMC that is consisted of coaxial inner and outer conductors, with four metal plates arranged radially, at 90° in the coaxial gap, and matching rods can transform coaxial transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode to TE11 coaxial waveguide mode. The results show that adjusting the length of the downstream plate, and the distance between the rods installed upstream and the closest edges of the plates, can improve the conversion efficiency and bandwidth remarkably. Moreover, when the frequency ranges from 1.63 GHz to 2.12 GHz, the conversion efficiency is above 95% between 1.63 GHz and 2.12 GHz with a bandwidth of 26.1%. Besides, the unwished reflection and transmission can be eliminated effectively in the HETMC.

Tunable electron heating induced giant magnetoresistance in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system

DOE PAGES

Wang, Zhuo; Samaraweera, R. L.; Reichl, C.; ...

2016-12-07

Electron-heating induced by a tunable, supplementary dc-current (I dc) helps to vary the observed magnetoresistance in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system. The magnetoresistance at B = 0.3 T is shown to progressively change from positive to negative with increasing Idc, yielding negative giant-magnetoresistance at the lowest temperature and highest I dc. A two-term Drude model successfully fits the data at all Idc and T. The results indicate that carrier heating modifies a conductivity correction σ 1, which undergoes sign reversal from positive to negative with increasing I dc, and this is responsible for the observed crossover from positive-more » to negative- magnetoresistance, respectively, at the highest B.« less

Extremely frequency-widened terahertz wave generation using Cherenkov-type radiation.

PubMed

Suizu, Koji; Koketsu, Kaoru; Shibuya, Takayuki; Tsutsui, Toshihiro; Akiba, Takuya; Kawase, Kodo

2009-04-13

Terahertz (THz) wave generation based on nonlinear frequency conversion is promising way for realizing a tunable monochromatic bright THz-wave source. Such a development of efficient and wide tunable THz-wave source depends on discovery of novel brilliant nonlinear crystal. Important factors of a nonlinear crystal for THz-wave generation are, 1. High nonlinearity and 2. Good transparency at THz frequency region. Unfortunately, many nonlinear crystals have strong absorption at THz frequency region. The fact limits efficient and wide tunable THz-wave generation. Here, we show that Cherenkov radiation with waveguide structure is an effective strategy for achieving efficient and extremely wide tunable THz-wave source. We fabricated MgO-doped lithium niobate slab waveguide with 3.8 microm of thickness and demonstrated difference frequency generation of THz-wave generation with Cherenkov phase matching. Extremely frequency-widened THz-wave generation, from 0.1 to 7.2 THz, without no structural dips successfully obtained. The tuning frequency range of waveguided Cherenkov radiation source was extremely widened compare to that of injection seeded-Terahertz Parametric Generator. The tuning range obtained in this work for THz-wave generation using lithium niobate crystal was the widest value in our knowledge. The highest THz-wave energy obtained was about 3.2 pJ, and the energy conversion efficiency was about 10(-5) %. The method can be easily applied for many conventional nonlinear crystals, results in realizing simple, reasonable, compact, high efficient and ultra broad band THz-wave sources.

Novel micro-Raman setup with tunable laser excitation for time-efficient resonance Raman microscopy and imaging.

PubMed

Stürzl, Ninette; Lebedkin, Sergei; Klumpp, Stefanie; Hennrich, Frank; Kappes, Manfred M

2013-05-07

We describe a micro-Raman setup allowing for efficient resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS), i.e., mapping of Raman spectra as a function of tunable laser excitation wavelength. The instrument employs angle-tunable bandpass optical filters which are integrated into software-controlled Raman and laser cleanup filter devices. These automatically follow the excitation laser wavelength and combine tunability with high bandpass transmission as well as high off-band blocking of light. Whereas the spectral intervals which can be simultaneously acquired are bandpass limited to ~350 cm(-1), they can be tuned across the spectrum of interest to access all characteristic Raman features. As an illustration of performance, we present Raman mapping of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs): (i) in a small volume of water-surfactant dispersion as well as (ii) after deposition onto a substrate. A significant improvement in the acquisition time (and efficiency) is demonstrated compared to previous RRS implementations. These results may help to establish (micro) Raman spectral mapping as a routine tool for characterization of SWNTs as well as other materials with a pronounced resonance Raman response in the visible-near-infrared spectral region.

Tunable electronic lens using a gradient polymer network liquid crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Hongwen; Wu, Shin-Tson

2003-01-01

Tunable electronic lenses using gradient polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) cells were demonstrated. By changing the photomask pattern, both positive and negative lenses were fabricated. The advantages of such a PNLC lens are low operation voltage, large aperture size, and simple electrode design. To overcome the polarization dependence, stacking two orthogonal homogeneous PNLC cells is considered.

Internal quantum efficiency and tunable colour temperature in monolithic white InGaN/GaN LED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titkov, Ilya E.; Yadav, Amit; Zerova, Vera L.; Zulonas, Modestas; Tsatsulnikov, Andrey F.; Lundin, Wsevolod V.; Sakharov, Alexey V.; Rafailov, Edik U.

2014-03-01

Internal Quantum Efficiency (IQE) of two-colour monolithic white light emitting diode (LED) was measured by temperature dependant electro-luminescence (TDEL) and analysed with modified rate equation based on ABC model. External, internal and injection efficiencies of blue and green quantum wells were analysed separately. Monolithic white LED contained one green InGaN QW and two blue QWs being separated by GaN barrier. This paper reports also the tunable behaviour of correlated colour temperature (CCT) in pulsed operation mode and effect of self-heating on device performance.

Theoretical Investigation of Tunable Goos-Hänchen Shifts in a Four-Level Quantum System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafarzadeh, Hossein; Payravi, Mohammad

2018-05-01

Goos-Hänchen (GH) shifts in the reflected and transmitted light have been discussed in a cavity with four-level quantum system. It is realized that the refraction index of intracavity medium can be negative by manipulating the external coherent laser fields. For the negative refraction index of intracavity medium, the GH shifts of reflected and transmitted light beams have been analyzed in a parametric condition. It is found that due to modulation of laser signals and relative phase between applied fields, large and tunable GH shifts in reflected and transmitted light beams can be obtained.

Negative refraction, gain and nonlinear effects in hyperbolic metamaterials.

PubMed

Argyropoulos, Christos; Estakhri, Nasim Mohammadi; Monticone, Francesco; Alù, Andrea

2013-06-17

The negative refraction and evanescent-wave canalization effects supported by a layered metamaterial structure obtained by alternating dielectric and plasmonic layers is theoretically analyzed. By using a transmission-line analysis, we formulate a way to rapidly analyze the negative refraction operation for given available materials over a broad range of frequencies and design parameters, and we apply it to broaden the bandwidth of negative refraction. Our analytical model is also applied to explore the possibility of employing active layers for loss compensation. Nonlinear dielectrics can also be considered within this approach, and they are explored in order to add tunability to the optical response, realizing positive-to-zero-to-negative refraction at the same frequency, as a function of the input intensity. Our findings may lead to a better physical understanding and improvement of the performance of negative refraction and subwavelength imaging in layered metamaterials, paving the way towards the design of gain-assisted hyperlenses and tunable nonlinear imaging devices.

An optical system adopting liquid crystals with electrical tunability of wavelength and energy density for low level light therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Ming; Wang, Yu-Jen; Chen, Hung-Shan; Lin, Yi-Hsin; Srivastava, Abhishek K.; Chigrinov, Vladimir G.

2015-09-01

We have developed a bistable negative lens by integrating a polarization switch of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) with a passively anisotropic focusing element. The proposed lens not only exhibits electrically tunable bistability but also fast response time of sub-milliseconds, which leads to good candidate of optical component in optical system for medical applications. In this paper, we demonstrate an optical system consisting of two FLC phase retarders and one LC lenses that exhibits both of electrically tunable wavelength and size of exposure area. The operating principles and the experimental results are discussed. The tunable spectrum, exposure area size and tunable irradiance are illustrated. Compared to conventional lenses with mechanical movements in the medical light therapy system, our electrically switchable optical system is more practical in the portable applications of light therapy (LLLT).

Enhanced and Tunable Optical Quantum Efficiencies from Plasmon Bandwidth Engineering in Bimetallic CoAg Nanoparticles (Open Access Publisher’s Version)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

Engineering Engineering -- Faculty Publications and Other Works 8-2016 Enhanced and tunable optical quantum efficiencies from plasmon bandwidth engineering ...this and additional works at: http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_matepubs Part of the Materials Science and Engineering Commons This Article is brought to...you for free and open access by the Engineering -- Faculty Publications and Other Works at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been

Optimal design of tunable phononic bandgap plates under equibiaxial stretch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hedayatrasa, Saeid; Abhary, Kazem; Uddin, M. S.; Guest, James K.

2016-05-01

Design and application of phononic crystal (PhCr) acoustic metamaterials has been a topic with tremendous growth of interest in the last decade due to their promising capabilities to manipulate acoustic and elastodynamic waves. Phononic controllability of waves through a particular PhCr is limited only to the spectrums located within its fixed bandgap frequency. Hence the ability to tune a PhCr is desired to add functionality over its variable bandgap frequency or for switchability. Deformation induced bandgap tunability of elastomeric PhCr solids and plates with prescribed topology have been studied by other researchers. Principally the internal stress state and distorted geometry of a deformed phononic crystal plate (PhP) changes its effective stiffness and leads to deformation induced tunability of resultant modal band structure. Thus the microstructural topology of a PhP can be altered so that specific tunability features are met through prescribed deformation. In the present study novel tunable PhPs of this kind with optimized bandgap efficiency-tunability of guided waves are computationally explored and evaluated. Low loss transmission of guided waves throughout thin walled structures makes them ideal for fabrication of low loss ultrasound devices and structural health monitoring purposes. Various tunability targets are defined to enhance or degrade complete bandgaps of plate waves through macroscopic tensile deformation. Elastomeric hyperelastic material is considered which enables recoverable micromechanical deformation under tuning finite stretch. Phononic tunability through stable deformation of phononic lattice is specifically required and so any topology showing buckling instability under assumed deformation is disregarded. Nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (GA) NSGA-II is adopted for evolutionary multiobjective topology optimization of hypothesized tunable PhP with square symmetric unit-cell and relevant topologies are analyzed through finite element method. Following earlier studies by the authors, specialized GA algorithm, topology mapping, assessment and analysis techniques are employed to get feasible porous topologies of assumed thick PhP, efficiently.

Efficient color-tunable multiexcitonic dual wavelength emission from Type II semiconductor tetrapods.

PubMed

Wu, Wen-Ya; Li, Mingjie; Lian, Jie; Wu, Xiangyang; Yeow, Edwin K L; Jhon, Mark H; Chan, Yinthai

2014-09-23

We synthesized colloidal InP/ZnS seeded CdS tetrapods by harnessing the structural stability of the InP/ZnS seed nanocrystals at the high reaction temperatures needed to grow the CdS arms. Because of an unexpected Type II band alignment at the interface of the InP/ZnS core and CdS arms that enhanced the occurrence of radiative excitonic recombination in CdS, these tetrapods were found to be capable of exhibiting highly efficient multiexcitonic dual wavelength emission of equal intensity at spectrally distinct wavelengths of ∼485 and ∼675 nm. Additionally, the Type II InP/ZnS seeded CdS tetrapods displayed a wider range of pump-dependent emission color-tunability (from red to white to blue) within the context of a CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram and possessed higher photostability due to suppressed multiexcitonic Auger recombination when compared to conventional Type I CdSe seeded CdS tetrapods. By employing time-resolved spectroscopy measurements, we were able to attribute the wide emission color-tunability to the large valence band offset between InP and CdS. This work highlights the importance of band alignment in the synthetic design of semiconductor nanoheterostructures, which can exhibit color-tunable multiwavelength emission with high efficiency and photostability.

Broadly tunable terahertz generation in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers.

PubMed

Vijayraghavan, Karun; Jiang, Yifan; Jang, Min; Jiang, Aiting; Choutagunta, Karthik; Vizbaras, Augustinas; Demmerle, Frederic; Boehm, Gerhard; Amann, Markus C; Belkin, Mikhail A

2013-01-01

Room temperature, broadly tunable, electrically pumped semiconductor sources in the terahertz spectral range, similar in operation simplicity to diode lasers, are highly desired for applications. An emerging technology in this area are sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation in dual-wavelength mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. Here we report terahertz quantum cascade laser sources based on an optimized non-collinear Cherenkov difference-frequency generation scheme that demonstrates dramatic improvements in performance. Devices emitting at 4 THz display a mid-infrared-to-terahertz conversion efficiency in excess of 0.6 mW W(-2) and provide nearly 0.12 mW of peak power output. Devices emitting at 2 and 3 THz fabricated on the same chip display 0.09 and 0.4 mW W(-2) conversion efficiencies at room temperature, respectively. High terahertz-generation efficiency and relaxed phase-matching conditions offered by the Cherenkov scheme allowed us to demonstrate, for the first time, an external-cavity terahertz quantum cascade laser source tunable between 1.70 and 5.25 THz.

Tunable plasmon lensing in graphene-based structure exhibiting negative refraction.

PubMed

Zhong, Shifeng; Lu, Yanxin; Li, Chao; Xu, Haixia; Shi, Fenghua; Chen, Yihang

2017-02-02

We propose a novel method to achieve tunable plasmon focusing in graphene/photonic-crystal hybrid structure exhibiting all-angle negative refraction at terahertz frequencies. A two-dimensional photonic crystal composed of a square lattice of dielectric rods is constructed on the substrate of a graphene sheet to provide the hyperbolic dispersion relations of the graphene plasmon, giving rise to the all-angle plasmonic negative refraction. Plasmon lensing induced from the negative refraction is observed. We show that the ultracompact graphene-based system can produce sub-diffraction-limited images with the resolution significant smaller than the wavelength of the incident terahertz wave. Moreover, by adjusting the Fermi energy of the graphene, the imaging performance of the proposed system can remain almost invariant for different frequencies. Our results may find applications in diverse fields such as subwavelength spatial light manipulation, biological imaging, and so forth.

Tunable plasmon lensing in graphene-based structure exhibiting negative refraction

PubMed Central

Zhong, Shifeng; Lu, Yanxin; Li, Chao; Xu, Haixia; Shi, Fenghua; Chen, Yihang

2017-01-01

We propose a novel method to achieve tunable plasmon focusing in graphene/photonic-crystal hybrid structure exhibiting all-angle negative refraction at terahertz frequencies. A two-dimensional photonic crystal composed of a square lattice of dielectric rods is constructed on the substrate of a graphene sheet to provide the hyperbolic dispersion relations of the graphene plasmon, giving rise to the all-angle plasmonic negative refraction. Plasmon lensing induced from the negative refraction is observed. We show that the ultracompact graphene-based system can produce sub-diffraction-limited images with the resolution significant smaller than the wavelength of the incident terahertz wave. Moreover, by adjusting the Fermi energy of the graphene, the imaging performance of the proposed system can remain almost invariant for different frequencies. Our results may find applications in diverse fields such as subwavelength spatial light manipulation, biological imaging, and so forth. PMID:28150750

gram-scale metafluids and large area tunable metamaterials: design, fabrication, and nano-optical tomographic characterization (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dionne, Jennifer A.

2016-09-01

Advances in metamaterials and metasurfaces have enabled unprecedented control of light-matter interactions. Metamaterial constituents support high-frequency electric and magnetic dipoles, which can be used as building blocks for new materials capable of negative refraction, electromagnetic cloaking, strong visible-frequency circular dichroism, and enhanced magnetic or chiral transitions in ions and molecules. However, most metamaterials to date have been limited to solid-state, static, narrow-band, and/or small-area structures. Here, we introduce the design, fabrication, and three-dimensional nano-optical characterization of large-area, dynamically-tunable metamaterials and gram-scale metafluids. First, we use transformation optics to design a broadband metamaterial constituent - a metallo-dielectric nanocrescent - characterized by degenerate electric and magnetic dipoles. A periodic array of nanocrescents exhibits large positive and negative refractive indices at optical frequencies, confirmed through simulations of plane wave refraction through a metamaterial prism. Simulations also reveal that the metamaterial optical properties are largely insensitive to the wavelength, orientation and polarization of incident light. Then, we introduce a new tomographic technique, cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopic tomography, to probe light-matter interactions in individual nanocrescents with nanometer-scale resolution. Two-dimensional CL maps of the three-dimensional nanostructure are obtained at various orientations, while a filtered back projection is used to reconstruct the CL intensity at each wavelength. The resulting tomograms allow us to locate regions of efficient cathodoluminescence in three dimensions across visible and near-infrared wavelengths, with contributions from material luminescence and radiative decay of electromagnetic eigenmodes. Finally, we demonstrate the fabrication of dynamically tunable large-area metamaterials and gram-scale metafluids, using a combination of colloidal synthesis, protein-directed assembly, self-assembly, etching, and stamping. The electric and magnetic response of the bulk metamaterial and metafluid are directly probed with optical scattering and spectroscopy. Using chemical swelling, these metamaterials exhibit reversible, unity-order refractive index changes that may provide a foundation for new adaptive optical materials in sensing, solar, and display applications.

A High Power, Frequency Tunable Colloidal Quantum Dot (CdSe/ZnS) Laser

PubMed Central

Prasad, Saradh; Saleh AlHesseny, Hanan; AlSalhi, Mohamad S.; Devaraj, Durairaj; Masilamai, Vadivel

2017-01-01

Tunable lasers are essential for medical, engineering and basic science research studies. Most conventional solid-state lasers are capable of producing a few million laser shots, but limited to specific wavelengths, which are bulky and very expensive. Dye lasers are continuously tunable, but exhibit very poor chemical stability. As new tunable, efficient lasers are always in demand, one such laser is designed with various sized CdSe/ZnS quantum dots. They were used as a colloid in tetrahydrofuran to produce a fluorescent broadband emission from 520 nm to 630 nm. The second (532 nm) and/or third harmonic (355 nm) of the Nd:YAG laser (10 ns, 10 Hz) were used together as the pump source. In this study, different sized quantum dots were independently optically pumped to produce amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with 4 nm to 7 nm of full width at half-maximum (FWHM), when the pump power and focusing were carefully optimized. The beam was directional with a 7 mrad divergence. Subsequently, these quantum dots were combined together, and the solution was placed in a resonator cavity to obtain a laser with a spectral width of 1 nm and tunable from 510 to 630 nm, with a conversion efficiency of about 0.1%. PMID:28336863

A High Power, Frequency Tunable Colloidal Quantum Dot (CdSe/ZnS) Laser.

PubMed

Prasad, Saradh; AlHesseny, Hanan Saleh; AlSalhi, Mohamad S; Devaraj, Durairaj; Masilamai, Vadivel

2017-01-30

Tunable lasers are essential for medical, engineering and basic science research studies. Most conventional solid-state lasers are capable of producing a few million laser shots, but limited to specific wavelengths, which are bulky and very expensive. Dye lasers are continuously tunable, but exhibit very poor chemical stability. As new tunable, efficient lasers are always in demand, one such laser is designed with various sized CdSe/ZnS quantum dots. They were used as a colloid in tetrahydrofuran to produce a fluorescent broadband emission from 520 nm to 630 nm. The second (532 nm) and/or third harmonic (355 nm) of the Nd:YAG laser (10 ns, 10 Hz) were used together as the pump source. In this study, different sized quantum dots were independently optically pumped to produce amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with 4 nm to 7 nm of full width at half-maximum (FWHM), when the pump power and focusing were carefully optimized. The beam was directional with a 7 mrad divergence. Subsequently, these quantum dots were combined together, and the solution was placed in a resonator cavity to obtain a laser with a spectral width of 1 nm and tunable from 510 to 630 nm, with a conversion efficiency of about 0.1%.

Ultra-wide band signal generation using a coupling-tunable silicon microring resonator.

PubMed

Ding, Yunhong; Huang, Bo; Peucheret, Christophe; Xu, Jing; Ou, Haiyan; Zhang, Xinliang; Huang, Dexiu

2014-03-10

Ultra-wide band signal generation using a silicon microring resonator tuned to an NRZ-DPSK modulated optical carrier is proposed and demonstrated. The scheme is shown to enable the generation of UWB signals with switchable polarity and tunable bandwidth by simply tuning the coupling regions of the microring resonator. Monocycle pulses with both negative and positive polarities are successfully synthesized experimentally.

Mixed-Halide Perovskites with Stabilized Bandgaps.

PubMed

Xiao, Zhengguo; Zhao, Lianfeng; Tran, Nhu L; Lin, Yunhui Lisa; Silver, Scott H; Kerner, Ross A; Yao, Nan; Kahn, Antoine; Scholes, Gregory D; Rand, Barry P

2017-11-08

One merit of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites is their tunable bandgap by adjusting the halide stoichiometry, an aspect critical to their application in tandem solar cells, wavelength-tunable light emitting diodes (LEDs), and lasers. However, the phase separation of mixed-halide perovskites caused by light or applied bias results in undesirable recombination at iodide-rich domains, meaning open-circuit voltage (V OC ) pinning in solar cells and infrared emission in LEDs. Here, we report an approach to suppress halide redistribution by self-assembled long-chain organic ammonium capping layers at nanometer-sized grain surfaces. Using the stable mixed-halide perovskite films, we are able to fabricate efficient and wavelength-tunable perovskite LEDs from infrared to green with high external quantum efficiencies of up to 5%, as well as linearly tuned V OC from 1.05 to 1.45 V in solar cells.

Refractory oxide hosts for a high power, broadly tunable laser with high quantum efficiency and method of making same

DOEpatents

Chen, Yok; Gonzalez, Roberto

1986-01-01

Refractory oxide crystals having high-quantum efficiency and high thermal stability for use as broadly tunable laser host materials. The crystals are formed by removing hydrogen from a single crystal of the oxide material to a level below about 10.sup.12 protons per cm.sup.3 and subsequently thermochemically reducing the oxygen content of the crystal to form sufficient oxygen anion vacancies so that short-lived F.sup.+ luminescence is produced when the crystal is optically excited.

Refractory oxide hosts for a high power, broadly tunable laser with high quantum efficiency and method of making same

DOEpatents

Chen, Yok; Gonzalez, R.

1985-07-03

Refractory oxide crystals having high-quantum efficiency and high thermal stability for use as broadly tunable laser host materials. The crystals are formed by removing hydrogen from a single crystal of the oxide material to a level below about 10/sup 12/ protons per cm/sup 3/ and subsequently thermochemically reducing the oxygen content of the crystal to form sufficient oxygen anion vacancies so that short-lived F/sup +/ luminescence is produced when the crystal is optically excited.

2.5-Gb/s hybridly-integrated tunable external cavity laser using a superluminescent diode and a polymer Bragg reflector.

PubMed

Yoon, Ki-Hong; Oh, Su Hwan; Kim, Ki Soo; Kwon, O-Kyun; Oh, Dae Kon; Noh, Young-Ouk; Lee, Hyung-Jong

2010-03-15

We presented a hybridly-integrated tunable external cavity laser with 0.8 nm mode spacing 16 channels operating in the direct modulation of 2.5-Gbps for a low-cost source of a WDM-PON system. The tunable laser was fabricated by using a superluminescent diode (SLD) and a polymer Bragg reflector. The maximum output power and the power slope efficiency of the tunable laser were 10.3 mW and 0.132 mW/mA, respectively, at the SLD current of 100 mA and the temperature of 25 degrees C. The directly-modulated tunable laser successfully provided 2.5-Gbps transmissions through 20-km standard single mode fiber. The power penalty of the tunable laser was less than 0.8 dB for 16 channels after a 20-km transmission. The power penalty variation was less than 1.4 dB during the blue-shifted wavelength tuning.

High-efficiency resonant coupled wireless power transfer via tunable impedance matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anowar, Tanbir Ibne; Barman, Surajit Das; Wasif Reza, Ahmed; Kumar, Narendra

2017-10-01

For magnetic resonant coupled wireless power transfer (WPT), the axial movement of near-field coupled coils adversely degrades the power transfer efficiency (PTE) of the system and often creates sub-resonance. This paper presents a tunable impedance matching technique based on optimum coupling tuning to enhance the efficiency of resonant coupled WPT system. The optimum power transfer model is analysed from equivalent circuit model via reflected load principle, and the adequate matching are achieved through the optimum tuning of coupling coefficients at both the transmitting and receiving end of the system. Both simulations and experiments are performed to evaluate the theoretical model of the proposed matching technique, and results in a PTE over 80% at close coil proximity without shifting the original resonant frequency. Compared to the fixed coupled WPT, the extracted efficiency shows 15.1% and 19.9% improvements at the centre-to-centre misalignment of 10 and 70 cm, respectively. Applying this technique, the extracted S21 parameter shows more than 10 dB improvements at both strong and weak couplings. Through the developed model, the optimum coupling tuning also significantly improves the performance over matching techniques using frequency tracking and tunable matching circuits.

Widely tunable femtosecond solitonic radiation in photonic crystal fiber cladding

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peng Jiahui; Sokolov, Alexei V.; Benabid, F.

2010-03-15

We report on a means to generate tunable ultrashort optical pulses. We demonstrate that dispersive waves generated by solitons within the small-core features of a photonic crystal fiber cladding can be used to obtain femtosecond pulses tunable over an octave-wide spectral range. The generation process is highly efficient and occurs at the relatively low laser powers available from a simple Ti:sapphire laser oscillator. The described phenomenon is general and will play an important role in other systems where solitons are known to exist.

Compact tunable Compton x-ray source from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Hai-En; Wang, Xiaoming; Shaw, Joseph M.; Li, Zhengyan; Arefiev, Alexey V.; Zhang, Xi; Zgadzaj, Rafal; Henderson, Watson; Khudik, V.; Shvets, G.; Downer, M. C.

2015-02-01

We present an in-depth experimental-computational study of the parameters necessary to optimize a tunable, quasi-monoenergetic, efficient, low-background Compton backscattering (CBS) x-ray source that is based on the self-aligned combination of a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) and a plasma mirror (PM). The main findings are (1) an LPA driven in the blowout regime by 30 TW, 30 fs laser pulses produce not only a high-quality, tunable, quasi-monoenergetic electron beam, but also a high-quality, relativistically intense (a0 ˜ 1) spent drive pulse that remains stable in profile and intensity over the LPA tuning range. (2) A thin plastic film near the gas jet exit retro-reflects the spent drive pulse efficiently into oncoming electrons to produce CBS x-rays without detectable bremsstrahlung background. Meanwhile, anomalous far-field divergence of the retro-reflected light demonstrates relativistic "denting" of the PM. Exploiting these optimized LPA and PM conditions, we demonstrate quasi-monoenergetic (50% FWHM energy spread), tunable (75-200 KeV) CBS x-rays, characteristics previously achieved only on more powerful laser systems by CBS of a split-off, counter-propagating pulse. Moreover, laser-to-x-ray photon conversion efficiency (˜6 × 10-12) exceeds that of any previous LPA-based quasi-monoenergetic Compton source. Particle-in-cell simulations agree well with the measurements.

Workshop Proceedings of the Conference on Solid State Tunable Lasers Held at Hampton, Virginia on 13-15 June 1984.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-07-01

87 Trivalent Cerium Doped Crystals as Tunable Laser Systems: Two Bad Apples Douglas S. Hamilton...161 Theory of Fluorescence Quenching in Low-Field Chromium ... trivalent types of luminescent centers can be grown. Mostly high quantum efficiencies at room-temperature are observed. Pulsed room-temperature lasing

Tunable and switchable all-fiber comb filter using a PBS-based two-stage cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Zhi-Chao; Luo, Ai-Ping; Xu, Wen-Cheng

2011-08-01

We propose and demonstrate a novel tunable and switchable all-fiber comb filter by employing a polarization beam splitter (PBS)-based two-stage cascaded Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer. The proposed comb filter consists of a rotatable polarizer, a fiber PBS, a non-3-dB coupler and a 3-dB coupler. By simply adjusting the polarization state of the input light, the dual-function of channel spacing tunable and wavelength switchable (interleaving) operations can be efficiently obtained. The theoretical analysis is verified by the experimental results. A comb filter with both the channel spacing tunable from 0.18 nm to 0.36 nm and the wavelength switchable functions is experimentally demonstrated.

Tunable modulation of refracted lamb wave front facilitated by adaptive elastic metasurfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shilong; Xu, Jiawen; Tang, J.

2018-01-01

This letter reports designs of adaptive metasurfaces capable of modulating incoming wave fronts of elastic waves through electromechanical-tuning of their cells. The proposed elastic metasurfaces are composed of arrayed piezoelectric units with individually connected negative capacitance elements that are online tunable. By adjusting the negative capacitances properly, accurately formed, discontinuous phase profiles along the elastic metasurfaces can be achieved. Subsequently, anomalous refraction with various angles can be realized on the transmitted lowest asymmetric mode Lamb wave. Moreover, designs to facilitate planar focal lenses and source illusion devices can also be accomplished. The proposed flexible and versatile strategy to manipulate elastic waves has potential applications ranging from structural fault detection to vibration/noise control.

Wavelength-tunable thulium-doped fiber laser by employing a self-made Fabry-Perot filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y. P.; Ju, Y. L.; Wu, C. T.; Liu, W.; Yang, C.

2017-06-01

In this demonstration, we proposed a novel wavelength-tunable thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) with a self-made Fabry-Perot (F-P) filter. When the F-P filter was not inserted, the maximum output power of 11.1 W was achieved when the pump power was 70.2 W. The corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 15.8% and the slope efficiency was 22.1%. When the F-P filter was inserted, the output wavelength could be tuned from 1952.9 to 1934.9 nm with the change of cavity length of F-P filter which was fixed on a piezoelectric ceramic transducer (PZT) controlled by the voltage applied to it. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) was no more than 0.19 nm. Furthermore, the wavelength fluctuations of the tunable fiber laser were kept within  ±0.2 nm.

Tunable Fano resonator using multilayer graphene in the near-infrared region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Chaobiao; Liu, Guoqin; Ban, Guoxun; Li, Shiyu; Huang, Qingzhong; Xia, Jinsong; Wang, Yi; Zhan, Mingsheng

2018-03-01

Fano resonance (FR) holds promising applications for high performance optoelectronic devices due to its strong enhancement of light-matter interactions. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a tunable FR in a photonic crystal nanoresonator (PCR), including the effects of structural parameters and graphene nanosheets with different layer numbers. The results show that the intensity and position of Fano peaks can be tuned via altering the lattice constant and the hole radius of PCR due to the variation of the effective refractive index. More importantly, we experimentally study the interaction between sharp FR with multilayer graphene. The results indicate that the FR transmission spectrum can be efficiently adjusted with the layer number of graphene, and the largest change in transmission (˜44%) is achieved with three-layer graphene because of high conductivity. These consequences may lead to efficient and tunable electro-optical modulators, biosensors, and optical switches in the near-infrared region.

Cr/sup 3 +/-doped colquiriite solid state laser material

DOEpatents

Payne, S.A.; Chase, L.L.; Newkirk, H.W.; Krupke, W.F.

1988-03-31

Chromium doped colquiriite, LiCaAlF/sub 6/:Cr/sup 3 +/, is useful as a tunable laser crystal that has a high intrinsic slope efficiency, comparable to or exceeding that of alexandrite, the current leading performer of vibronic sideband Cr/sup 3 +/ lasers. The laser output is tunable from at least 720 nm to 840 nm with a measured slope efficiency of about 60% in a Kr laser pumped laser configuration. The intrinsic slope efficiency (in the limit of large output coupling) may approach the quantum defect limited value of 83%. The high slope efficiency implies that excited state absorption (ESA) is negligible. The potential for efficiency and the tuning range of this material satisfy the requirements for a pump laser for a high density storage medium incorporating Nd/sup 3 +/ or Tm/sup 3 +/ for use in a multimegajoule single shot fusion research facility. 4 figs.

Cr.sup.3+ -doped colquiriite solid state laser material

DOEpatents

Payne, Stephen A.; Chase, Lloyd L.; Newkirk, Herbert W.; Krupke, William F.

1989-01-01

Chromium doped colquiriite, LiCaAlF.sub.6 :Cr.sup.3+, is useful as a tunable laser crystal that has a high intrinsic slope efficiency, comparable to or exceeding that of alexandrite, the current leading performer of vibronic sideband Cr.sup.3+ lasers. The laser output is tunable from at least 720 nm to 840 nm with a measured slop efficiency of about 60% in a Kr laser pumped laser configuration. The intrinsic slope efficiency (in the limit of large output coupling) may approach the quantum defect limited value of 83%. The high slope efficiency implies that excited state absorption (ESA) is negligible. The potential for efficiency and the tuning range of this material satisfy the requirements for a pump laser for a high density storage medium incorporating Nd.sup.3+ or Tm.sup.3+ for use in a multimegajoule single shot fusion research facility.

A low-threshold, high-efficiency microfluidic waveguide laser.

PubMed

Vezenov, Dmitri V; Mayers, Brian T; Conroy, Richard S; Whitesides, George M; Snee, Preston T; Chan, Yinthai; Nocera, Daniel G; Bawendi, Moungi G

2005-06-29

This communication describes a long (1 cm), laser-pumped, liquid core-liquid cladding (L2) waveguide laser. This device provides a simple, high intensity, tunable light source for microfludic applications. Using a core solution of 2 mM rhodamine 640 perchlorate, optically pumped by a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, we found that the threshold for lasing was as low as 22 muJ (16-ns pulse length) and had a slope efficiency up to 20%. The output wavelength was tunable over a 20-nm range by changing the ratio of solvent components (dimethyl sulfoxide and methanol) in the liquid core.

Highly efficient all-fiber tunable polarization filter using torsional acoustic wave.

PubMed

Lee, Kwang Jo; Park, Hyun Chul; Kim, Byoung Yoon

2007-09-17

We demonstrate an all-fiber tunable polarization filter with high coupling efficiency based on acousto-optic coupling between two optical polarization modes of the LP(01) mode propagating in a highly birefringent single mode optical fiber. An over-coupling between the two polarization modes is realized over the wavelength range from 1530 nm to 1610 nm using traveling torsional acoustic wave. The measured 3-dB optical bandwidth of the filter was 4.8 nm at the wavelength around 1550 nm. The details of the filter transmission and the coupling characteristics are discussed.

Widely tunable asymmetric long-period fiber grating with high sensitivity using optical polymer on laser-ablated cladding.

PubMed

Chen, Nan-Kuang; Hsu, Der-Yi; Chi, Sien

2007-08-01

We demonstrate high-efficiency, wideband-tunable, laser-ablated long-period fiber gratings that use an optical polymer overlay. Portions of the fiber cladding are periodically removed by CO(2) laser pulses to induce periodic index changes for coupling the core mode into cladding modes. An optical polymer with a high thermo-optic coefficient with a dispersion distinct from that of silica is used on a deep-ablated cladding structure so that the effective indices of cladding modes become dispersive and the resonant wavelengths can be efficiently tuned. The tuning efficiency can be as high as 15.8 nm/ degrees C, and the tuning range can be wider than 105 nm (1545-1650 nm).

Tunable random lasing behavior in plasmonic nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, Ashish; Zhong, Liubiao; Sun, Jun; Jiang, Lin; Cheng, Gary J.; Chi, Lifeng

2017-01-01

Random lasing is desired in plasmonics nanostructures through surface plasmon amplification. In this study, tunable random lasing behavior was observed in dye molecules attached with Au nanorods (NRs), Au nanoparticles (NPs) and Au@Ag nanorods (NRs) respectively. Our experimental investigations showed that all nanostructures i.e., Au@AgNRs, AuNRs & AuNPs have intensive tunable spectral effects. The random lasing has been observed at excitation wavelength 532 nm and varying pump powers. The best random lasing properties were noticed in Au@AgNRs structure, which exhibits broad absorption spectrum, sufficiently overlapping with that of dye Rhodamine B (RhB). Au@AgNRs significantly enhance the tunable spectral behavior through localized electromagnetic field and scattering. The random lasing in Au@AgNRs provides an efficient coherent feedback for random lasers.

Compact tunable Compton x-ray source from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tsai, Hai-En; Wang, Xiaoming; Shaw, Joseph M.

2015-02-15

We present an in-depth experimental-computational study of the parameters necessary to optimize a tunable, quasi-monoenergetic, efficient, low-background Compton backscattering (CBS) x-ray source that is based on the self-aligned combination of a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) and a plasma mirror (PM). The main findings are (1) an LPA driven in the blowout regime by 30 TW, 30 fs laser pulses produce not only a high-quality, tunable, quasi-monoenergetic electron beam, but also a high-quality, relativistically intense (a{sub 0} ∼ 1) spent drive pulse that remains stable in profile and intensity over the LPA tuning range. (2) A thin plastic film near the gas jetmore » exit retro-reflects the spent drive pulse efficiently into oncoming electrons to produce CBS x-rays without detectable bremsstrahlung background. Meanwhile, anomalous far-field divergence of the retro-reflected light demonstrates relativistic “denting” of the PM. Exploiting these optimized LPA and PM conditions, we demonstrate quasi-monoenergetic (50% FWHM energy spread), tunable (75–200 KeV) CBS x-rays, characteristics previously achieved only on more powerful laser systems by CBS of a split-off, counter-propagating pulse. Moreover, laser-to-x-ray photon conversion efficiency (∼6 × 10{sup −12}) exceeds that of any previous LPA-based quasi-monoenergetic Compton source. Particle-in-cell simulations agree well with the measurements.« less

Chemically Responsive Elastomers Exhibiting Unity-Order Refractive Index Modulation.

PubMed

Wu, Di M; Solomon, Michelle L; Naik, Gururaj V; García-Etxarri, Aitzol; Lawrence, Mark; Salleo, Alberto; Dionne, Jennifer A

2018-02-01

Chameleons are masters of light, expertly changing their color, pattern, and reflectivity in response to their environment. Engineered materials that share this tunability can be transformative, enabling active camouflage, tunable holograms, and novel colorimetric medical sensors. While progress has been made in creating artificial chameleon skin, existing schemes often require external power, are not continuously tunable, and may prove too stiff or bulky for applications. Here, a chemically tunable, large-area metamaterial is demonstrated that accesses a wide range of colors and refractive indices. An ordered monolayer of nanoresonators is fabricated, then its optical response is dynamically tuned by infiltrating its polymer substrate with solvents. The material shows a strong magnetic response with a dependence on resonator spacing that leads to a highly tunable effective permittivity, permeability, and refractive index spanning negative and positive values. The unity-order index tuning exceeds that of traditional electro-optic and photochromic materials and is robust to cycling, providing a path toward programmable optical elements and responsive light routing. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Thermally tunable broadband terahertz metamaterials with negative refractive index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Weili; Meng, Qinglong; Huang, Renshuai; Zhong, Zheqiang; Zhang, Bin

2018-04-01

A thermally tunable broadband metamaterials with negative refractive index (NRI) is investigated in terahertz (THz) region theoretically. The metamaterials is designed by fabricating two stand-up opposite L shape metallic structures on fused quartz substrate, and the indium antimonide (InSb) is filled in the bottom gap of the two L shape structures. The tunability is attributed to the InSb because the InSb can changes the capacitance of the gap area by adjusting the temperature. The transmission characteristics and the retrieved electromagnetic parameters of the metamaterials are analyzed. Results indicate that the resonant frequency and amplitude modulation of the metamaterials can be tuned continuously in broadband range (about 0.62 THz), and the phase modulation from - 2 to 3 rad is also achieved within broadband range (about 0.8 THz). In addition, the metamaterials shows dual-band NRI behaviors at 0 . 4- 0 . 9 THz and 1 . 06- 1 . 15 THz when the temperature increases to 400 K. The wedge-shaped prism simulations are implemented to verify the NRI characteristics and indicate that the NRI of the metamaterials can be achieved.

Spider web-structured labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials for low-frequency sound control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krushynska, A. O.; Bosia, F.; Miniaci, M.; Pugno, N. M.

2017-10-01

Attenuating low-frequency sound remains a challenge, despite many advances in this field. Recently-developed acoustic metamaterials are characterized by unusual wave manipulation abilities that make them ideal candidates for efficient subwavelength sound control. In particular, labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials exhibit extremely high wave reflectivity, conical dispersion, and multiple artificial resonant modes originating from the specifically-designed topological architectures. These features enable broadband sound attenuation, negative refraction, acoustic cloaking and other peculiar effects. However, hybrid and/or tunable metamaterial performance implying enhanced wave reflection and simultaneous presence of conical dispersion at desired frequencies has not been reported so far. In this paper, we propose a new type of labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials (LAMMs) with hybrid dispersion characteristics by exploiting spider web-structured configurations. The developed design approach consists in adding a square surrounding frame to sectorial circular-shaped labyrinthine channels described in previous publications (e.g. (11)). Despite its simplicity, this approach provides tunability in the metamaterial functionality, such as the activation/elimination of subwavelength band gaps and negative group-velocity modes by increasing/decreasing the edge cavity dimensions. Since these cavities can be treated as extensions of variable-width internal channels, it becomes possible to exploit geometrical features, such as channel width, to shift the band gap position and size to desired frequencies. Time transient simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed metastructures for wave manipulation in terms of transmission or reflection coefficients, amplitude attenuation and time delay at subwavelength frequencies. The obtained results can be important for practical applications of LAMMs such as lightweight acoustic barriers with enhanced broadband wave-reflecting performances.

Generation of tunable high-repetition rate middle infrared transform-limited picosecond pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakovlev, Vladislav V.; Ballmann, Charles W.; Petrov, Georgi I.

2018-03-01

Tunable middle infrared generation is now affordable through optical parametric generation and amplification in a number of infrared nonlinear crystals. However, maintaining narrow bandwidth, while achieving high conversion efficiency, remains a challenge. In this report, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a relatively simple setup, which utilizes a single-wavelength diode laser as a seed laser for an optical parametric amplifier.

Resonantly enhanced method for generation of tunable, coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation

DOEpatents

Glownia, James H.; Sander, Robert K.

1985-01-01

Carbon Monoxide vapor is used to generate coherent, tunable vacuum ultraviolet radiation by third-harmonic generation using a single tunable dye laser. The presence of a nearby electronic level resonantly enhances the nonlinear susceptibility of this molecule allowing efficient generation of the vuv light at modest pump laser intensities, thereby reducing the importance of a six-photon multiple-photon ionization process which is also resonantly enhanced by the same electronic level but to higher order. By choosing the pump radiation wavelength to be of shorter wavelength than individual vibronic levels used to extend tunability stepwise from 154.4 to 124.6 nm, and the intensity to be low enough, multiple-photon ionization can be eliminated. Excitation spectra of the third-harmonic emission output exhibit shifts to shorter wavelength and broadening with increasing CO pressure due to phase matching effects. Increasing the carbon monoxide pressure, therefore, allows the substantial filling in of gaps arising from the stepwise tuning thereby providing almost continuous tunability over the quoted range of wavelength emitted.

Resonantly enhanced method for generation of tunable, coherent vacuum-ultraviolet radiation

DOEpatents

Glownia, J.H.; Sander, R.K.

1982-06-29

Carbon Monoxide vapor is used to generate coherent, tunable vacuum ultraviolet radiation by third-harmonic generation using a single tunable dye laser. The presence of a nearby electronic level resonantly enhances the nonlinear susceptibility of this molecule allowing efficient generation of the vuv light at modest pump laser intensities, thereby reducing the importance of a six-photon multiple-photon ionization process which is also resonantly enhanced by the same electronic level but no higher order. By choosing the pump radiation wavelength to be of shorter wavelength than individual vibronic levels used to extend tunability stepwise from 154.4 to 124.6 nm, and the intensity to be low enough, multiple-photon ionization can be eliminated. Excitation spectra of the third-harmonic emission output exhibit shifts to shorter wavelength and broadening with increasing CO pressure due to phase matching effects. Increasing the carbon monoxide pressure, therefore, allows the substantial filling in of gaps arising from the stepwise tuning thereby providing almost continuous tunability over the quoted range of wavelength emitted.

Electrically tunable spin filtering for electron tunneling between spin-resolved quantum Hall edge states and a quantum dot

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kiyama, H., E-mail: kiyama@meso.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Fujita, T.; Teraoka, S.

2014-06-30

Spin filtering with electrically tunable efficiency is achieved for electron tunneling between a quantum dot and spin-resolved quantum Hall edge states by locally gating the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) leads near the tunnel junction to the dot. The local gating can change the potential gradient in the 2DEG and consequently the edge state separation. We use this technique to electrically control the ratio of the dot–edge state tunnel coupling between opposite spins and finally increase spin filtering efficiency up to 91%, the highest ever reported, by optimizing the local gating.

A Co3O4-CDots-C3N4 three component electrocatalyst design concept for efficient and tunable CO2 reduction to syngas.

PubMed

Guo, Sijie; Zhao, Siqi; Wu, Xiuqin; Li, Hao; Zhou, Yunjie; Zhu, Cheng; Yang, Nianjun; Jiang, Xin; Gao, Jin; Bai, Liang; Liu, Yang; Lifshitz, Yeshayahu; Lee, Shuit-Tong; Kang, Zhenhui

2017-11-28

Syngas, a CO and H 2 mixture mostly generated from non-renewable fossil fuels, is an essential feedstock for production of liquid fuels. Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 and H + /H 2 O is an alternative renewable route to produce syngas. Here we introduce the concept of coupling a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst with a CDots/C 3 N 4 composite (a CO 2 reduction catalyst) to achieve a cheap, stable, selective and efficient route for tunable syngas production. Co 3 O 4 , MoS 2 , Au and Pt serve as the HER component. The Co 3 O 4 -CDots-C 3 N 4 electrocatalyst is found to be the most efficient among the combinations studied. The H 2 /CO ratio of the produced syngas is tunable from 0.07:1 to 4:1 by controlling the potential. This catalyst is highly stable for syngas generation (over 100 h) with no other products besides CO and H 2 . Insight into the mechanisms balancing between CO 2 reduction and H 2 evolution when applying the HER-CDots-C 3 N 4 catalyst concept is provided.

Wrinkled silica/titania nanoparticles with tunable interwrinkle distances for efficient utilization of photons in dye-sensitized solar cells.

PubMed

Kang, Jin Soo; Lim, Joohyun; Rho, Won-Yeop; Kim, Jin; Moon, Doo-Sik; Jeong, Juwon; Jung, Dongwook; Choi, Jung-Woo; Lee, Jin-Kyu; Sung, Yung-Eun

2016-08-04

Efficient light harvesting is essential for the realization of high energy conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). State-of-the-art mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes fall short for collection of long-wavelength visible light photons, and thus there have been efforts on introduction of scattering nanoparticles. Herein, we report the synthesis of wrinkled silica/titania nanoparticles with tunable interwrinkle distances as scattering materials for enhanced light harvesting in DSCs. These particles with more than 20 times larger specific surface area (>400 m(2)/g) compared to the spherical scattering particles (<20 m(2)/g) of the similar sizes gave rise to the dye-loading amounts, causing significant improvements in photocurrent density and efficiency. Moreover, dependence of spectral scattering properties of wrinkled particles on interwrinkle distances, which was originated from difference in overall refractive indices, was observed.

Efficient CW diode-pumped Tm, Ho:YLF laser with tunability near 2.067 microns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcguckin, B. T.; Menzies, Robert T.

1992-01-01

A conversion efficiency of 42 percent and slope efficiency of approximately 60 percent relative to absorbed pump power are reported from a continuous wave diode-pumped Tm, Ho:YLF laser at 2 microns with output power of 84 mW at sub-ambient temperatures. The emission spectrum is etalon tunable over a range of 16/cm centered on 2.067 microns, with fine tuning capability of the transition frequency with crystal temperature at a measured rate of about -0.03/cm-K. The effective emission cross section is measured to be 5 x 10 exp -21 sq cm. These and other aspects of the laser performance are discussed in the context of calculated atmospheric absorption characteristics in this spectral region and potential use in remote sensing applications.

Rapid calibrated high-resolution hyperspectral imaging using tunable laser source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Lam K.; Margalith, Eli

2009-05-01

We present a novel hyperspectral imaging technique based on tunable laser technology. By replacing the broadband source and tunable filters of a typical NIR imaging instrument, several advantages are realized, including: high spectral resolution, highly variable field-of-views, fast scan-rates, high signal-to-noise ratio, and the ability to use optical fiber for efficient and flexible sample illumination. With this technique, high-resolution, calibrated hyperspectral images over the NIR range can be acquired in seconds. The performance of system features will be demonstrated on two example applications: detecting melamine contamination in wheat gluten and separating bovine protein from wheat protein in cattle feed.

Tunable Q-factor silicon microring resonators for ultra-low power parametric processes.

PubMed

Strain, Michael J; Lacava, Cosimo; Meriggi, Laura; Cristiani, Ilaria; Sorel, Marc

2015-04-01

A compact silicon ring resonator is demonstrated that allows simple electrical tuning of the ring coupling coefficient and Q-factor and therefore the resonant enhancement of on-chip nonlinear optical processes. Fabrication-induced variation in designed coupling fraction, crucial in the resonator performance, can be overcome using this post-fabrication trimming technique. Tuning of the microring resonator across the critical coupling point is demonstrated, exhibiting a Q-factor tunable between 9000 and 96,000. Consequently, resonantly enhanced four-wave mixing shows tunable efficiency between -40 and -16.3  dB at an ultra-low on-chip pump power of 0.7 mW.

Highly tunable birefringent microstructured optical fiber.

PubMed

Kerbage, C; Steinvurzel, P; Reyes, P; Westbrook, P S; Windeler, R S; Hale, A; Eggleton, B J

2002-05-15

We demonstrate a method for introducing and dynamically tuning birefringence in a microstructured optical fiber. Waveguide asymmetry in the fiber is obtained by selective filling of air holes with polymer, and tunability is achieved by temperature tuning of the polymer's index. The fiber is tapered such that the mode field expands into the cladding and efficiently overlaps the polymer that has been infused into the air holes, ensuring enhanced tunability and low splice loss. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations made with the beam propagation method and confirm birefringence tuning that corresponds to a phase change of 6pi for a 1-cm length of fiber.

Engineered liquid crystal anchoring energies with nanopatterned surfaces.

PubMed

Gear, Christopher; Diest, Kenneth; Liberman, Vladimir; Rothschild, Mordechai

2015-01-26

The anchoring energy of liquid crystals was shown to be tunable by surface nanopatterning of periodic lines and spaces. Both the pitch and height were varied using hydrogen silsesquioxane negative tone electron beam resist, providing for flexibility in magnitude and spatial distribution of the anchoring energy. Using twisted nematic liquid crystal cells, it was shown that this energy is tunable over an order of magnitude. These results agree with a literature model which predicts the anchoring energy of sinusoidal grooves.

Stable room-temperature LiF:F2+* tunable color-center laser for the 830-1060-nm spectral range pumped by second-harmonic radiation from a neodymium laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ter-Mikirtychev, V. V.

1995-09-01

Simultaneous photostability and thermostability of a room-temperature LiF:F2+ * tunable color-center laser, with an operating range over 830-1060 nm, pumped by second-harmonic radiation of a YAG:Nd3+ laser with a 532-nm wavelength has been achieved. The main lasing characteristics of the obtained LiF:F2+* laser have been measured. Twenty-five percent real efficiency in a nonselective resonator cavity and 15% real efficiency in a selective resonator cavity have been obtained. The stable LiF:F2 +* laser operates at a 1-100-Hz pulse-repetition rate with a 15-ns pulse duration, a 1-1.5-cm-1 narrow-band oscillation bandwidth, and divergency of better than 6 \\times 10-4. Doubling the fundamental frequencies of F2+ * oscillation made it possible to obtain stable blue-green tunable radiation over the 415-530-nm range.

Reversed oxygen sensing using colloidal quantum wells towards highly emissive photoresponsive varnishes

PubMed Central

Lorenzon, Monica; Christodoulou, Sotirios; Vaccaro, Gianfranco; Pedrini, Jacopo; Meinardi, Francesco; Moreels, Iwan; Brovelli, Sergio

2015-01-01

Colloidal quantum wells combine the advantages of size-tunable electronic properties with vast reactive surfaces that could allow one to realize highly emissive luminescent-sensing varnishes capable of detecting chemical agents through their reversible emission response, with great potential impact on life sciences, environmental monitoring, defence and aerospace engineering. Here we combine spectroelectrochemical measurements and spectroscopic studies in a controlled atmosphere to demonstrate the ‘reversed oxygen-sensing’ capability of CdSe colloidal quantum wells, that is, the exposure to oxygen reversibly increases their luminescence efficiency. Spectroelectrochemical experiments allow us to directly relate the sensing response to the occupancy of surface states. Magneto-optical measurements demonstrate that, under vacuum, heterostructured CdSe/CdS colloidal quantum wells stabilize in their negative trion state. The high starting emission efficiency provides a possible means to enhance the oxygen sensitivity by partially de-passivating the particle surfaces, thereby enhancing the density of unsaturated sites with a minimal cost in term of luminescence losses. PMID:25910499

Can magneto-plasmonic nanohybrids efficiently combine photothermia with magnetic hyperthermia?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espinosa, Ana; Bugnet, Mathieu; Radtke, Guillaume; Neveu, Sophie; Botton, Gianluigi A.; Wilhelm, Claire; Abou-Hassan, Ali

2015-11-01

Multifunctional hybrid-design nanomaterials appear to be a promising route to meet the current therapeutics needs required for efficient cancer treatment. Herein, two efficient heat nano-generators were combined into a multifunctional single nanohybrid (a multi-core iron oxide nanoparticle optimized for magnetic hyperthermia, and a gold branched shell with tunable plasmonic properties in the NIR region, for photothermal therapy) which impressively enhanced heat generation, in suspension or in vivo in tumours, opening up exciting new therapeutic perspectives.Multifunctional hybrid-design nanomaterials appear to be a promising route to meet the current therapeutics needs required for efficient cancer treatment. Herein, two efficient heat nano-generators were combined into a multifunctional single nanohybrid (a multi-core iron oxide nanoparticle optimized for magnetic hyperthermia, and a gold branched shell with tunable plasmonic properties in the NIR region, for photothermal therapy) which impressively enhanced heat generation, in suspension or in vivo in tumours, opening up exciting new therapeutic perspectives. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06168g

The design of a multi-harmonic step-tunable gyrotron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Xiang-Bo; Du, Chao-Hai; Zhu, Juan-Feng; Pan, Shi; Liu, Pu-Kun

2017-03-01

The theoretical study of a step-tunable gyrotron controlled by successive excitation of multi-harmonic modes is presented in this paper. An axis-encircling electron beam is employed to eliminate the harmonic mode competition. Physics images are depicted to elaborate the multi-harmonic interaction mechanism in determining the operating parameters at which arbitrary harmonic tuning can be realized by magnetic field sweeping to achieve controlled multiband frequencies' radiation. An important principle is revealed that a weak coupling coefficient under a high-harmonic interaction can be compensated by a high Q-factor. To some extent, the complementation between the high Q-factor and weak coupling coefficient makes the high-harmonic mode potential to achieve high efficiency. Based on a previous optimized magnetic cusp gun, the multi-harmonic step-tunable gyrotron is feasible by using harmonic tuning of first-to-fourth harmonic modes. Multimode simulation shows that the multi-harmonic gyrotron can operate on the 34 GHz first-harmonic TE11 mode, 54 GHz second-harmonic TE21 mode, 74 GHz third-harmonic TE31 mode, and 94 GHz fourth-harmonic TE41 mode, corresponding to peak efficiencies of 28.6%, 35.7%, 17.1%, and 11.4%, respectively. The multi-harmonic step-tunable gyrotron provides new possibilities in millimeter-terahertz source development especially for advanced terahertz applications.

Electrically Tunable Goos-Hänchen Effect with Graphene in the Terahertz Regime

DOE PAGES

Fan, Yuancheng; Shen, Nian-Hai; Zhang, Fuli; ...

2016-07-14

Goos-Hänchen (G-H) effect is of great interest in the manipulation of optical beams. However, it is still fairly challenging to attain efficient controls of the G-H shift for diverse applications. Here, we propose a mechanism to realize tunable G-H shift in the terahertz regime with electrically controllable graphene. Taking monolayer graphene covered epsilon-near-zero metamaterial as a planar model system, it is found that the G-H shift for the orthogonal s-polarized and p-polarized terahertz beams at oblique incidence are positive and negative, respectively. The G-H shift can be modified substantially by electrically controlling the Fermi energy of the monolayer graphene. Reversely,more » the Fermi energy dependent G-H effect can also be used as a strategy for measuring the doping level of graphene. In addition, the G-H shifts of the system are of strong frequency-dependence at oblique angles of incidence, therefore the proposed graphene hybrid system can potentially be used for the generation of terahertz “rainbow”, a flat analog of the dispersive prism in optics. The proposed scheme of hybrid system involving graphene for dynamic control of G-H shift will have potential applications in the manipulation of terahertz waves.« less

Enhanced performance configuration for fast-switching deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal continuous tunable Lyot filter.

PubMed

Tam, A M W; Qi, G; Srivastava, A K; Wang, X Q; Fan, F; Chigrinov, V G; Kwok, H S

2014-06-10

In this paper, we present a novel design configuration of double DHFLC wave plate continuous tunable Lyot filter, which exhibits a rapid response time of 185 μs, while the high-contrast ratio between the passband and stop band is maintained throughout a wide tunable range. A DHFLC tunable filter with a high-contrast ratio is attractive for realizing high-speed optical processing devices, such as multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems, real-time remote sensing, field sequential color display, and wavelength demultiplexing in the metro network. In this work, an experimental prototype for a single-stage DHFLC Lyot filter of this design has been fabricated using photoalignment technology. We have demonstrated that the filter has a continuous tunable range of 30 nm for a blue wavelength, 45 nm for a green wavelength, and more than 50 nm for a red wavelength when the applied voltage gradually increases from 0 to 8 V. Within this tunable range, the contrast ratio of the proposed double wave plate configuration is maintained above 20 with small deviation in the transmittance level. Simulation and experimental results showed the proposed double DHFLC wave plate configuration enhances the contrast ratio of the tunable filter and, thus, increases the tunable range of the filter when compared with the Lyot filter using a single DHFLC wave plate. Moreover, we have proposed a polarization insensitive configuration for which the efficiency of the existing prototype can theoretically be doubled by the use of polarization beam splitters.

RF-MEMS tunable interdigitated capacitor and fixed spiral inductor for band pass filter applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bade, Ladon Ahmed; Dennis, John Ojur; Khir, M. Haris Md; Wen, Wong Peng

2016-11-01

This research presents the tunable Radio Frequency Micro Electromechanical Systems (RF-MEMS) coupled band-pass filter (BPF), which possess a wide tuning range and constructed by using the Chebyshev fourth degree equivalent circuit consisting of fixed inductors and interdigitated tunable capacitors. The suggested method was authenticated by designing a new tunable BPF with a 100% tuning range from 3.1 GHz to 4.9 GHz. The Metal Multi-User MEMS Process (Metal MUMPs) was involved in the process of design of this band-pass filter. It aimed to achieve the reconfiguration of frequencies and show high efficiency of RF in the applications that using Ultra Wide Band (UWB) such as wireless sensor networks. The RF performance of this filter was found to be very satisfactory due to its simple fabrication. Moreover, it showed less insertion loss of around 4 dB and high return loss of around 20 dB.

Development of an eye-safe solid-state tunable laser transmitter in the 1.4-1.5 μm wavelength region based on Cr4+:YAG crystal for lidar applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova-Mayor, Anna; Wulfmeyer, Volker; Weibring, Petter

2008-04-01

An experimental optimization of the efficiency of a gain switched tunable Cr4+:YAG laser at 10 Hz is described. The thermal lensing during pulsed operation was measured. Optimal performance occurred at a crystal temperature of 34 °C and resulted in an output energy of ~7 mJ and a pulse duration of ~35 ns. Tunability in the range of 1350-1500 nm, spectral linewidth of ~200 GHz, and M2<4 are demonstrated. The main laser material parameters are estimated. Such a laser could be employed in a laboratory-based nonscanning lidar system if a narrowband birefringent filter is installed. The tunability will permit the improvement of the Cr4+:YAG transmitter for water-vapor differential absorption lidar if injection seeding is applied.

Flux-tunable heat sink for quantum electric circuits.

PubMed

Partanen, M; Tan, K Y; Masuda, S; Govenius, J; Lake, R E; Jenei, M; Grönberg, L; Hassel, J; Simbierowicz, S; Vesterinen, V; Tuorila, J; Ala-Nissila, T; Möttönen, M

2018-04-20

Superconducting microwave circuits show great potential for practical quantum technological applications such as quantum information processing. However, fast and on-demand initialization of the quantum degrees of freedom in these devices remains a challenge. Here, we experimentally implement a tunable heat sink that is potentially suitable for the initialization of superconducting qubits. Our device consists of two coupled resonators. The first resonator has a high quality factor and a fixed frequency whereas the second resonator is designed to have a low quality factor and a tunable resonance frequency. We engineer the low quality factor using an on-chip resistor and the frequency tunability using a superconducting quantum interference device. When the two resonators are in resonance, the photons in the high-quality resonator can be efficiently dissipated. We show that the corresponding loaded quality factor can be tuned from above 10 5 down to a few thousand at 10 GHz in good quantitative agreement with our theoretical model.

High energy efficient solid state laser sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byer, Robert L.

1988-01-01

Recent progress in the development of highly efficient coherent optical sources is reviewed. This work focusses on nonlinear frequency conversion of the highly coherent output of the Non-Planar Ring Laser Oscillators developed earlier in the program, and includes high efficiency second harmonic generation and the operation of optical parametric oscillators for wavelength diversity and tunability.

Reconfigurable and tunable compact comb filter and (de)interleaver on silicon platform.

PubMed

Zhou, Nan; Zheng, Shuang; Long, Yun; Ruan, Zhengsen; Shen, Li; Wang, Jian

2018-02-19

We propose and demonstrate a reconfigurable and tunable chip-scale comb filter and (de)interleaver on a silicon platform. The silicon-based photonic integrated device is formed by Sagnac loop mirrors (SLMs) with directional couplers replaced by multi-mode interference (MMI) assisted tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) couplers. The device can be regarded as a large SLM incorporating two small SLMs which form a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity. By appropriately adjusting the micro-heaters in tunable MZI couplers and cavity, switchable operation between comb filter and (de)interleaver and extinction ratio and wavelength tunable operations of comb filter and (de)interleaver are achievable by thermo-optic tuning. Reconfigurable comb filter and (de)interleaver is demonstrated in the experiment. The central wavelength shifts of comb filter and (de)interleaver are demonstrated with wavelength tuning efficiencies of ~0.0224 nm/mW and ~0.0193 nm/mW, respectively. The 3-dB bandwidth of the comb filter is ~0.032 nm. The 3-dB and 20-dB bandwidths of the (de)interleaver passband are ~0.225 nm and ~0.326 nm. The obtained results indicate that the designed and fabricated device provides switchable comb filtering and interleaving functions together with extinction ratio and wavelength tunabilities. Reconfigurable and tunable silicon-based comb filter and (de)interleaver may find potential applications in robust wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical communication systems.

Graphene-based terahertz metasurface with tunable spectrum splitting.

PubMed

Su, Zhaoxian; Chen, Xuan; Yin, Jianbo; Zhao, Xiaopeng

2016-08-15

We design a tunable terahertz metasurface, which consists of two different trapezoid graphene ribbons patterned in opposite directions on a gold film, separated by a thin dielectric spacer. The two kinds of graphene ribbons can cover a nearly 2π phase shift with high reflection efficiency in different spectral regions so that the metasurface can reflect different frequency waves to totally different directions. By changing the Fermi level of the graphene ribbons, the response frequency of the proposed metasurface can be adjusted, and as a result, tunable spectrum splitting can be realized. The present metasurface provides a powerful way to control terahertz waves and has potential applications in wide-angle beam splitters.

Diode-pumped continuous wave tunable and graphene Q-switched Tm:LSO lasers.

PubMed

Feng, T L; Zhao, S Z; Yang, K J; Li, G Q; Li, D C; Zhao, J; Qiao, W C; Hou, J; Yang, Y; He, J L; Zheng, L H; Wang, Q G; Xu, X D; Su, L B; Xu, J

2013-10-21

We have investigated the lasing characteristics of Tm:LSO crystal in three operation regimes: continuous wave (CW), wavelength tunable and passive Q-switching based on graphene. In CW regime, a maximum output power of 0.65 W at 2054.9 nm with a slope efficiency of 21% was achieved. With a quartz plate, a broad wavelength tunable range of 145 nm was obtained, corresponding to a FWHM of 100 nm. By using a graphene saturable absorber mirror, the passively Q-switched Tm:LSO laser produced pulses with duration of 7.8 μs at 2030.8 nm under a repetition rate of 7.6 kHz, corresponding to pulse energy of 14.0 μJ.

Tunable bi-functional photonic device based on one-dimensional photonic crystal infiltrated with a bistable liquid-crystal layer.

PubMed

Wu, Chong-Yin; Zou, Yi-Hong; Timofeev, Ivan; Lin, Yu-Ting; Zyryanov, Victor Ya; Hsu, Jy-Shan; Lee, Wei

2011-04-11

We investigated the optical properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal infiltrated with a bistable chiral tilted homeotropic nematic liquid crystal as the central defect layer. By modulating the nematic director orientation with applied voltage, the electrical tunability of the defect modes was observed in the transmission spectrum. The composite not only is a general tunable device but also involves the green concept in that it can operate in two stable states at 0 V. Under the parallel-polarizer scheme, the spectral characteristics suggest a potential application for this device as an energy-efficient multichannel optical switch. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Gate-Tunable Electron Transport Phenomena in Al-Ge⟨111⟩-Al Nanowire Heterostructures.

PubMed

Brunbauer, Florian M; Bertagnolli, Emmerich; Lugstein, Alois

2015-11-11

Electrostatically tunable negative differential resistance (NDR) is demonstrated in monolithic metal-semiconductor-metal (Al-Ge-Al) nanowire (NW) heterostructures integrated in back-gated field-effect transistors (FETs). Unambiguous signatures of NDR even at room temperature are attributed to intervalley electron transfer. At yet higher electric fields, impact ionization leads to an exponential increase of the current in the ⟨111⟩ oriented Ge NW segments. Modulation of the transfer rates, manifested as a large tunability of the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) and the onset of impact ionization is achieved by the combined influences of electrostatic gating, geometric confinement, and heterojunction shape on hot electron transfer and by electron-electron scattering rates that can be altered by varying the charge carrier concentration in the NW FETs.

Generation of intensity-tunable structural color from helical photonic crystals for full color reflective-type display.

PubMed

Kim, Se-Um; Lee, Sin-Hyung; Lee, In-Ho; Lee, Bo-Yeon; Na, Jun-Hee; Lee, Sin-Doo

2018-05-14

A new concept of intensity-tunable structural coloration is proposed on the basis of a helical photonic crystal (HPC). The HPCs are constructed from a mixture of chiral reactive mesogens by spin-coating, followed by the photo-polymerization. A liquid crystal (LC) layer, being homogeneously aligned, is prepared on the HPCs to serve as a tunable waveplate. The electrical modulation of the phase retardation through the LC layer directly leads to the intensity-tunable Bragg reflection from the HPCs upon the incidence of the polarized light. The bandwidths of the structural colors are found to be well preserved regardless of the applied voltage. A prototype of a full color reflective-type display, incorporated with three primary color units, is demonstrated. Our concept of decoupling two mutually independent functions, the intensity modulation by the tunable waveplate and the color reflection by the HPCs provides a simple and powerful way of producing a full color reflective-type display which possesses high color purity, high optical efficiency, the cycling durability, and the design flexibility.

Negative refraction with low absorption using Raman transitions with magnetoelectric coupling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sikes, D. E.; Yavuz, D. D.

2010-07-15

We suggest a scheme for obtaining negative refraction that does not require the simultaneous presence of an electric-dipole and a magnetic-dipole transition near the same transition frequency. The key idea of the scheme is to obtain a strong electric response by using far-off-resonant Raman transitions. We propose to use a pair of electric-dipole Raman transitions and utilize magneto-electric cross coupling to achieve a negative index of refraction without requiring negative permeability. The interference of the two Raman transitions allows tunable negative refraction with low absorption.

Fully tunable 360° microwave photonic phase shifter based on a single semiconductor optical amplifier.

PubMed

Sancho, Juan; Lloret, Juan; Gasulla, Ivana; Sales, Salvador; Capmany, José

2011-08-29

A fully tunable microwave photonic phase shifter involving a single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is proposed and demonstrated. 360° microwave phase shift has been achieved by tuning the carrier wavelength and the optical input power injected in an SOA while properly profiting from the dispersion feature of a conveniently designed notch filter. It is shown that the optical filter can be advantageously employed to switch between positive and negative microwave phase shifts. Numerical calculations corroborate the experimental results showing an excellent agreement.

Tunable microwave photonic filter free from baseband and carrier suppression effect not requiring single sideband modulation using a Mach-Zenhder configuration.

PubMed

Mora, José; Ortigosa-Blanch, Arturo; Pastor, Daniel; Capmany, José

2006-08-21

We present a full theoretical and experimental analysis of a novel all-optical microwave photonic filter combining a mode-locked fiber laser and a Mach-Zenhder structure in cascade to a 2x1 electro-optic modulator. The filter is free from the carrier suppression effect and thus it does not require single sideband modulation. Positive and negative coefficients are obtained inherently in the system and the tunability is achieved by controlling the optical path difference of the Mach-Zenhder structure.

Gate-tunable resonant tunneling in double bilayer graphene heterostructures.

PubMed

Fallahazad, Babak; Lee, Kayoung; Kang, Sangwoo; Xue, Jiamin; Larentis, Stefano; Corbet, Christopher; Kim, Kyounghwan; Movva, Hema C P; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Register, Leonard F; Banerjee, Sanjay K; Tutuc, Emanuel

2015-01-14

We demonstrate gate-tunable resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance in the interlayer current-voltage characteristics of rotationally aligned double bilayer graphene heterostructures separated by hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) dielectric. An analysis of the heterostructure band alignment using individual layer densities, along with experimentally determined layer chemical potentials indicates that the resonance occurs when the energy bands of the two bilayer graphene are aligned. We discuss the tunneling resistance dependence on the interlayer hBN thickness, as well as the resonance width dependence on mobility and rotational alignment.

Graphene based widely-tunable and singly-polarized pulse generation with random fiber lasers

PubMed Central

Yao, B. C.; Rao, Y. J.; Wang, Z. N.; Wu, Y.; Zhou, J. H.; Wu, H.; Fan, M. Q.; Cao, X. L.; Zhang, W. L.; Chen, Y. F.; Li, Y. R.; Churkin, D.; Turitsyn, S.; Wong, C. W.

2015-01-01

Pulse generation often requires a stabilized cavity and its corresponding mode structure for initial phase-locking. Contrastingly, modeless cavity-free random lasers provide new possibilities for high quantum efficiency lasing that could potentially be widely tunable spectrally and temporally. Pulse generation in random lasers, however, has remained elusive since the discovery of modeless gain lasing. Here we report coherent pulse generation with modeless random lasers based on the unique polarization selectivity and broadband saturable absorption of monolayer graphene. Simultaneous temporal compression of cavity-free pulses are observed with such a polarization modulation, along with a broadly-tunable pulsewidth across two orders of magnitude down to 900 ps, a broadly-tunable repetition rate across three orders of magnitude up to 3 MHz, and a singly-polarized pulse train at 41 dB extinction ratio, about an order of magnitude larger than conventional pulsed fiber lasers. Moreover, our graphene-based pulse formation also demonstrates robust pulse-to-pulse stability and wide-wavelength operation due to the cavity-less feature. Such a graphene-based architecture not only provides a tunable pulsed random laser for fiber-optic sensing, speckle-free imaging, and laser-material processing, but also a new way for the non-random CW fiber lasers to generate widely tunable and singly-polarized pulses. PMID:26687730

Microwave tunable laser source: A stable, precision tunable heterodyne local oscillator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sachse, G. W.

1980-01-01

The development and capabilities of a tunable laser source utilizing a wideband electro-optic modulator and a CO2 laser are described. The precision tunability and high stability of the device are demonstrated with examples of laboratory spectroscopy. Heterodyne measurements are also presented to demonstrate the performance of the laser source as a heterodyne local oscillator. With the use of five CO2 isotope lasers and the 8 to 18 GHz sideband offset tunability of the modulator, calculations indicate that 50 percent spectral coverage in the 9 to 12 micron region is achievable. The wavelength accuracy and stability of this laser source is limited by the CO2 laser and is more than adequate for the measurement of narrow Doppler-broadened line profiles. The room-temperature operating capability and the programmability of the microwave tunable laser source are attractive features for its in-the-field implementation. Although heterodyne measurements indicated some S/N degradation when using the device as a local oscillator, there does not appear to be any fundamental limitation to the heterodyne efficiency of this laser source. Through the use of a lower noise-figure traveling wave tube amplifier and optical matching of the output beam with the photomixer, a substantial increase in the heterodyne S/N is expected.

Graphene based widely-tunable and singly-polarized pulse generation with random fiber lasers.

PubMed

Yao, B C; Rao, Y J; Wang, Z N; Wu, Y; Zhou, J H; Wu, H; Fan, M Q; Cao, X L; Zhang, W L; Chen, Y F; Li, Y R; Churkin, D; Turitsyn, S; Wong, C W

2015-12-21

Pulse generation often requires a stabilized cavity and its corresponding mode structure for initial phase-locking. Contrastingly, modeless cavity-free random lasers provide new possibilities for high quantum efficiency lasing that could potentially be widely tunable spectrally and temporally. Pulse generation in random lasers, however, has remained elusive since the discovery of modeless gain lasing. Here we report coherent pulse generation with modeless random lasers based on the unique polarization selectivity and broadband saturable absorption of monolayer graphene. Simultaneous temporal compression of cavity-free pulses are observed with such a polarization modulation, along with a broadly-tunable pulsewidth across two orders of magnitude down to 900 ps, a broadly-tunable repetition rate across three orders of magnitude up to 3 MHz, and a singly-polarized pulse train at 41 dB extinction ratio, about an order of magnitude larger than conventional pulsed fiber lasers. Moreover, our graphene-based pulse formation also demonstrates robust pulse-to-pulse stability and wide-wavelength operation due to the cavity-less feature. Such a graphene-based architecture not only provides a tunable pulsed random laser for fiber-optic sensing, speckle-free imaging, and laser-material processing, but also a new way for the non-random CW fiber lasers to generate widely tunable and singly-polarized pulses.

Unique Zigzag-Shaped Buckling Zn2C Monolayer with Strain-Tunable Band Gap and Negative Poisson Ratio.

PubMed

Meng, Lingbiao; Zhang, Yingjuan; Zhou, Minjie; Zhang, Jicheng; Zhou, Xiuwen; Ni, Shuang; Wu, Weidong

2018-02-19

Designing new materials with reduced dimensionality and distinguished properties has continuously attracted intense interest for materials innovation. Here we report a novel two-dimensional (2D) Zn 2 C monolayer nanomaterial with exceptional structure and properties by means of first-principles calculations. This new Zn 2 C monolayer is composed of quasi-tetrahedral tetracoordinate carbon and quasi-linear bicoordinate zinc, featuring a peculiar zigzag-shaped buckling configuration. The unique coordinate topology endows this natural 2D semiconducting monolayer with strongly strain tunable band gap and unusual negative Poisson ratios. The monolayer has good dynamic and thermal stabilities and is also the lowest-energy structure of 2D space indicated by the particle-swarm optimization (PSO) method, implying its synthetic feasibility. With these intriguing properties the material may find applications in nanoelectronics and micromechanics.

High energy efficient solid state laser sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byer, Robert L.

1989-01-01

Recent progress in the development of highly efficient coherent optical sources was reviewed. This work has focused on nonlinear frequency conversion of the highly coherent output of the non-planar ring laser oscillators developed earlier in the program, and includes high efficiency second harmonic generation and the operation of optical parametric oscillators for wavelength diversity and tunability.

Tandem luminescent solar concentrators based on engineered quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Kaifeng; Li, Hongbo; Klimov, Victor I.

2018-02-01

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) can serve as large-area sunlight collectors for terrestrial and space-based photovoltaics. Due to their high emission efficiencies and readily tunable emission and absorption spectra, colloidal quantum dots have emerged as a new and promising type of LSC fluorophore. Spectral tunability of the quantum dots also facilitates the realization of stacked multilayered LSCs, where enhanced performance is obtained through spectral splitting of incident sunlight, as in multijunction photovoltaics. Here, we demonstrate a large-area (>230 cm2) tandem LSC based on two types of nearly reabsorption-free quantum dots spectrally tuned for optimal solar-spectrum splitting. This prototype device exhibits a high optical quantum efficiency of 6.4% for sunlight illumination and solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of 3.1%. The efficiency gains due to the tandem architecture over single-layer devices quickly increase with increasing LSC size and can reach more than 100% in structures with window sizes of more than 2,500 cm2.

Tunable φ Josephson junction ratchet.

PubMed

Menditto, R; Sickinger, H; Weides, M; Kohlstedt, H; Koelle, D; Kleiner, R; Goldobin, E

2016-10-01

We demonstrate experimentally the operation of a deterministic Josephson ratchet with tunable asymmetry. The ratchet is based on a φ Josephson junction with a ferromagnetic barrier operating in the underdamped regime. The system is probed also under the action of an additional dc current, which acts as a counterforce trying to stop the ratchet. Under these conditions the ratchet works against the counterforce, thus producing a nonzero output power. Finally, we estimate the efficiency of the φ Josephson junction ratchet.

Energy scaling and extended tunability of terahertz wave parametric oscillator with MgO-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystal.

PubMed

Wang, Yuye; Tang, Longhuang; Xu, Degang; Yan, Chao; He, Yixin; Shi, Jia; Yan, Dexian; Liu, Hongxiang; Nie, Meitong; Feng, Jiachen; Yao, Jianquan

2017-04-17

A widely tunable, high-energy terahertz wave parametric oscillator based on 1 mol. % MgO-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystal has been demonstrated with 1064 nm nanosecond pulsed laser pumping. The tunable range of 1.16 to 4.64 THz was achieved. The maximum THz wave output energy of 17.49 μJ was obtained at 1.88 THz under the pump energy of 165 mJ/pulse, corresponding to the THz wave conversion efficiency of 1.06 × 10^-4 and the photon conversion efficiency of 1.59%, respectively. Moreover, under the same experimental conditions, the THz output energy of TPO with MgO:SLN crystal was about 2.75 times larger than that obtained from the MgO:CLN TPO at 1.60 THz. Based on the theoretical analysis, the THz energy enhancement mechanism in the MgO:SLN TPO was clarified to originate from its larger Raman scattering cross section and smaller absorption coefficient.

Diffraction of digital micromirror device gratings and its effect on properties of tunable fiber lasers.

PubMed

Chen, Xiao; Yan, Bin-bin; Song, Fei-jun; Wang, Yi-quan; Xiao, Feng; Alameh, Kamal

2012-10-20

A digital micromirror device (DMD) is a kind of widely used spatial light modulator. We apply DMD as wavelength selector in tunable fiber lasers. Based on the two-dimensional diffraction theory, the diffraction of DMD and its effect on properties of fiber laser parameters are analyzed in detail. The theoretical results show that the diffraction efficiency is strongly dependent upon the angle of incident light and the pixel spacing of DMD. Compared with the other models of DMDs, the 0.55 in. DMD grating is an approximate blazed state in our configuration, which makes most of the diffracted radiation concentrated into one order. It is therefore a better choice to improve the stability and reliability of tunable fiber laser systems.

Tunable hole injection of solution-processed polymeric carbon nitride towards efficient organic light-emitting diode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaowen; Zheng, Qinghong; Tang, Zhenyu; Li, Wanshu; Zhang, Yan; Xu, Kai; Xue, Xiaogang; Xu, Jiwen; Wang, Hua; Wei, Bin

2018-02-01

Polymeric carbon nitride (CNxHy) has been facilely synthesized from dicyandiamide and functions as a solution-processed hole injection layer in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The measurements using X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and impedance spectroscopy elucidate that CNxHy exhibits superior film morphology and extra electric properties such as tailored work function and tunable hole injection. The luminous efficiency of CNxHy-based OLED is found to improve by 76.6% in comparison to the counterpart using favorite solution-processed poly(ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) as the hole injection layer. Our results also pave a way for broadening carbon nitride applications in organic electronics using the solution process.

Widely tunable long-period waveguide grating couplers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Y.; Liu, Q.; Lor, K. P.; Chiang, K. S.

2006-12-01

We demonstrate experimentally two widely tunable optical couplers formed with parallel long-period polymer waveguide gratings. One of the couplers consists of two parallel gratings and shows a peak coupling efficiency of ~34%. The resonance wavelength of the coupler can be tuned thermally with a sensitivity of 4.7 nm/°C. The experimental results agree well with the coupled-mode analysis. The other coupler consists of an array of ten widely separated gratings. A peak coupling efficiency of ~11% is obtained between the two best matched gratings in the array and the resonance wavelength can be tuned thermally with a sensitivity of -3.8 nm/°C. These couplers have the potential to be further developed into practical broadband add/drop multiplexers and signal dividers.

Application of RF varactor using Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO3/TiO2/HR-Si substrate for reconfigurable radio.

PubMed

Kim, Ki-Byoung; Park, Chul-Soon

2007-11-01

In this paper, the potential feasibility of integrating Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO3 (BST) films into Si wafer by adopting tunable interdigital capacitor (IDC) with TiO2 thin film buffer layer and a RF tunable active bandpass filter (BPF) using BST based capacitor are proposed. TiO2 as a buffer layer is grown onto Si substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and the interdigital capacitor on BST(500 nm)/TiO2 (50 nm)/HR-Si is fabricated. BST interdigital tunable capacitor integrated on HR-Si substrate with high tunability and low loss tangent are characterized for their microwave performances. BST/TiO2/HR-Si IDC shows much enhanced tunability values of 40% and commutation quality factor (CQF) of 56.71. A resonator consists of an active capacitance circuit together with a BST varactor. The active capacitor is made of a field effect transistor (FET) that exhibits negative resistance as well as capacitance. The measured second order active BPF shows bandwidth of 110 MHz, insertion loss of about 1 dB at the 1.81 GHz center frequency and tuning frequency of 230 MHz (1.81-2.04 GHz).

Manipulation of acoustic wavefront by gradient metasurface based on Helmholtz Resonators.

PubMed

Lan, Jun; Li, Yifeng; Xu, Yue; Liu, Xiaozhou

2017-09-06

We designed a gradient acoustic metasurface to manipulate acoustic wavefront freely. The broad bandwidth and high efficiency transmission are achieved by the acoustic metasurface which is constructed with a series of unit cells to provide desired discrete acoustic velocity distribution. Each unit cell is composed of a decorated metal plate with four periodically arrayed Helmholtz resonators (HRs) and a single slit. The design employs a gradient velocity to redirect refracted wave and the impedance matching between the metasurface and the background medium can be realized by adjusting the slit width of unit cell. The theoretical and numerical results show that some excellent wavefront manipulations are demonstrated by anomalous refraction, non-diffracting Bessel beam, sub-wavelength flat focusing, and effective tunable acoustic negative refraction. Our designed structure may offer potential applications for the imaging system, beam steering and acoustic lens.

Enzyme Encapsulation by a Ferritin Cage.

PubMed

Tetter, Stephan; Hilvert, Donald

2017-11-20

Ferritins, conserved across all kingdoms of life, are protein nanocages that evolved to mineralize iron. The last several decades have shown that these cages have considerable technological and medical potential owing to their stability and tolerance to modification, as well as their ability to template nanoparticle synthesis and incorporate small molecules. Here we show that it is possible to encapsulate proteins in a ferritin cage by exploiting electrostatic interactions with its negatively charged interior. Positively supercharged green fluorescent protein is efficiently taken up by Archaeoglobus fulgidus ferritin in a tunable fashion. Moreover, several enzymes were readily incorporated when genetically tethered to this fluorescent protein. These fusion proteins retained high catalytic activity and showed increased tolerance to proteolysis and heat. Equipping ferritins with enzymatic activity paves the way for many new nanotechnological and pharmacological applications. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

TiO2 nanorods/PMMA copolymer-based nanocomposites: highly homogeneous linear and nonlinear optical material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sciancalepore, C.; Cassano, T.; Curri, M. L.; Mecerreyes, D.; Valentini, A.; Agostiano, A.; Tommasi, R.; Striccoli, M.

2008-05-01

Original nanocomposites have been obtained by direct incorporation of pre-synthesized oleic acid capped TiO2 nanorods into properly functionalized poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymers, carrying carboxylic acid groups on the repeating polymer unit. The presence of carboxylic groups on the alkyl chain of the host functionalized copolymer allows an highly homogeneous dispersion of the nanorods in the organic matrix. The prepared TiO2/PMMA-co-MA nanocomposites show high optical transparency in the visible region, even at high TiO2 nanorod content, and tunable linear refractive index depending on the nanoparticle concentration. Finally measurements of nonlinear optical properties of TiO2 polymer nanocomposites demonstrate a negligible two-photon absorption and a negative value of nonlinear refractive index, highlighting the potential of the nanocomposite for efficient optical devices operating in the visible region.

Tunable carbon nanotube-tungsten carbide nanoparticles heterostructures by vapor deposition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xia, Min; Guo, Hongyan; Ge, Changchun

2014-05-14

A simple, versatile route for the synthesis of carbon nanotube (CNT)-tungsten carbide nanoparticles heterostructures was set up via vapor deposition process. For the first time, amorphous CNTs (α-CNTs) were used to immobilized tungsten carbide nanoparticles. By adjusting the synthesis and annealing temperature, α-CNTs/amorphous tungsten carbide, α-CNTs/W{sub 2}C, and CNTs/W{sub 2}C/WC heterostructures were prepared. This approach provides an efficient method to attach other metal carbides and other nanoparticles to carbon nanotubes with tunable properties.

Photoacoustic microbeam-oscillator with tunable resonance direction and amplitude

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qingjun; Li, Fanghao; Wang, Bo; Yi, Futing; Jiang, J. Z.; Zhang, Dongxian

2018-01-01

We successfully design one photoacoustic microbeam-oscillator actuated by nanosecond laser, which exhibits tunable resonance direction and amplitude. The mechanism of laser induced oscillation is systematically analyzed. Both simulation and experimental results reveal that the laser induced acoustic wave propagates in a multi-reflected mode, resulting in resonance in the oscillator. This newly-fabricated micrometer-sized beam-oscillator has an excellent actuation function, i.e., by tuning the laser frequency, the direction and amplitude of actuation can be efficiently altered, which will have potential industrial applications.

Negative differential resistance in GaN tunneling hot electron transistors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Zhichao; Nath, Digbijoy; Rajan, Siddharth

Room temperature negative differential resistance is demonstrated in a unipolar GaN-based tunneling hot electron transistor. Such a device employs tunnel-injected electrons to vary the electron energy and change the fraction of reflected electrons, and shows repeatable negative differential resistance with a peak to valley current ratio of 7.2. The device was stable when biased in the negative resistance regime and tunable by changing collector bias. Good repeatability and double-sweep characteristics at room temperature show the potential of such device for high frequency oscillators based on quasi-ballistic transport.

Hexaazatrinaphthylene derivatives: Efficient electron-transporting materials with tunable energy levels for inverted perovskite solar cells

DOE PAGES

Zhao, Dongbing; Zhu, Zonglong; Kuo, Ming -Yu; ...

2016-06-08

Hexaazatrinaphthylene (HATNA) derivatives have been successfully shown to function as efficient electron-transporting materials (ETMs) for perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). The cells demonstrate a superior power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.6% with negligible hysteresis. Furthermore, this study provides one of the first nonfullerene small-moleculebased ETMs for high-performance p–i–n PVSCs.

Tunable Nanowire Patterning Using Standing Surface Acoustic Waves

PubMed Central

Chen, Yuchao; Ding, Xiaoyun; Lin, Sz-Chin Steven; Yang, Shikuan; Huang, Po-Hsun; Nama, Nitesh; Zhao, Yanhui; Nawaz, Ahmad Ahsan; Guo, Feng; Wang, Wei; Gu, Yeyi; Mallouk, Thomas E.; Huang, Tony Jun

2014-01-01

Patterning of nanowires in a controllable, tunable manner is important for the fabrication of functional nanodevices. Here we present a simple approach for tunable nanowire patterning using standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW). This technique allows for the construction of large-scale nanowire arrays with well-controlled patterning geometry and spacing within 5 seconds. In this approach, SSAWs were generated by interdigital transducers (IDTs), which induced a periodic alternating current (AC) electric field on the piezoelectric substrate and consequently patterned metallic nanowires in suspension. The patterns could be deposited onto the substrate after the liquid evaporated. By controlling the distribution of the SSAW field, metallic nanowires were assembled into different patterns including parallel and perpendicular arrays. The spacing of the nanowire arrays could be tuned by controlling the frequency of the surface acoustic waves. Additionally, we observed 3D spark-shape nanowire patterns in the SSAW field. The SSAW-based nanowire-patterning technique presented here possesses several advantages over alternative patterning approaches, including high versatility, tunability, and efficiency, making it promising for device applications. PMID:23540330

Liquid-crystal-based tunable plasmonic waveguide filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Shengtao; Liu, Yan Jun; Xiao, Dong; He, Huilin; Luo, Dan; Jiang, Shouzhen; Dai, Haitao; Ji, Wei; Sun, Xiao Wei

2018-06-01

We propose a liquid-crystal-based tunable plasmonic waveguide filter and numerically investigate its filtering properties. The filter consists of a metal-insulator-metal waveguide with a nanocavity resonator. By filling the nanocavity with birefringent liquid crystals (LCs), we could then vary the effective refractive index of the nanocavity by controlling the alignment of the LC molecules, hence making the filter tunable. The tunable filtering properties are further analyzed in details via the temporal coupled mode theory (CMT) and the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results show that the resonant wavelengths have linear redshift as the refractive index of the nanocavity increases and the coupling efficiency is more than 65% without considering the internal loss in the nanocavity and waveguides. These achieved results by the FDTD simulations can be also accurately analyzed by CMT. The compact design of our proposed plasmonic filters is especially favorable for integration, and such filters could find many important potential applications in high-density plasmonic integration circuits.

Deep-UV Based Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter for Spectral Sensing Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prasad, Narasimha S.

2006-01-01

In this paper, recent progress made in the development of quartz and KDP crystal based acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTF) are presented. These AOTFs are developed for operation over deep-UV to near-UV wavelengths of 190 nm to 400 nm. Preliminary output performance measurements of quartz AOTF and design specifications of KDP AOTF are presented. At 355 nm, the quartz AOTF device offered approx.15% diffraction efficiency with a passband full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of less than 0.0625 nm. Further characterization of quartz AOTF devices at deep-UV wavelengths is progressing. The hermetic packaging of KDP AOTF is nearing completion. The solid-state optical sources being used for excitation include nonlinear optics based high-energy tunable UV transmitters that operate around 320 nm and 308 nm wavelengths, and a tunable deep-UV laser operating over 193 nm to 210 nm. These AOTF devices have been developed as turn-key devices for primarily for space-based chemical and biological sensing applications using laser induced Fluorescence and resonance Raman techniques.

Thermo-optic devices on polymer platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ziyang; Keil, Norbert

2016-03-01

Optical polymers possess in general relatively high thermo-optic coefficients and at the same time low thermal conductivity, both of which make them attractive material candidates for realizing highly efficient thermally tunable devices. Over the years, various thermo-optic components have been demonstrated on polymer platform, covering (1) tunable reflectors and filters as part of a laser cavity, (2) variable optical attenuators (VOAs) as light amplitude regulators in e.g. a coherent receiver, and (3) thermo-optic switches (TOSs) allowing multi-flow control in the photonic integrated circuits (PICs). This work attempts to review the recent progress on the above mentioned three component branches, including linearly and differentially tunable filters, VOAs based on 1×1 multimode interference structure (MMI) and Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), and 1×2 TOS based on waveguide Y-branch, driven by a pair of sidelong placed heater electrodes. These thermo-optic components can well be integrated into larger PICs: the dual-polarization switchable tunable laser and the colorless optical 90° hybrid are presented in the end as examples.

Color-Tunable ZnO/GaN Heterojunction LEDs Achieved by Coupling with Ag Nanowire Surface Plasmons.

PubMed

Yang, Liu; Wang, Yue; Xu, Haiyang; Liu, Weizhen; Zhang, Cen; Wang, Chunliang; Wang, Zhongqiang; Ma, Jiangang; Liu, Yichun

2018-05-09

Color-tunable light-emitting devices (LEDs) have a great impact on our daily life. Herein, LEDs with tunable electroluminescence (EL) color were achieved via introducing Ag nanowires surface plasmons into p-GaN/n-ZnO film heterostructures. By optimizing the surface coverage density of coated Ag nanowires, the EL color was changed continuously from yellow-green to blue-violet. Transient-state and temperature-variable fluorescence emission characterizations uncovered that the spontaneous emission rate and the internal quantum efficiency of the near-UV emission were increased as a consequence of the resonance coupling interaction between Ag nanowires surface plasmons and ZnO excitons. This effect induces the selective enhancement of the blue-violet EL component but suppresses the defect-related yellow-green emission, leading to the observed tunable EL color. The proposed strategy of introducing surface plasmons can be further applied to many other kinds of LEDs for their selective enhancement of EL intensity and effective adjustment of the emission color.

Optical and Acoustic Device Applications of Ferroelastic Crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meeks, Steven Wayne

This dissertation presents the discovery of a means of creating uniformly periodic domain gratings in a ferroelastic crystal of neodymium pentaphosphate (NPP). The uniform and non-uniform domain structures which can be created in NPP have the potential applications as tunable active gratings for lasers, tunable diffraction gratings, tunable Bragg reflection gratings, tunable acoustic filters, optical modulators, and optical domain wall memories. The interaction of optical and acoustic waves with ferroelastic domain walls in NPP is presented in detail. Acoustic amplitude reflection coefficients from a single domain wall in NPP are much larger than other ferroelastic-ferroelectrics such as gadolinium molybdate (GMO). Domain walls of NPP are used to make two demonstration acoustic devices: a tunable comb filter and a tunable delay line. The tuning process is accomplished by moving the position of the reflecting surface (the domain wall). A theory of the reflection of optical waves from NPP domain walls is discussed. The optical reflection is due to a change in the polarization of the wave, and not a change in the index, as the wave crosses the domain wall. Theoretical optical power reflection coefficients show good agreement with the experimentally measured values. The largest optical reflection coefficient of a single domain wall is at a critical angle and is 2.2% per domain wall. Techniques of injecting periodic and aperiodic domain walls into NPP are presented. The nucleation process of the uniformly periodic domain gratings in NPP is described in terms of a newly-discovered domain structure, namely the ferroelastic bubble. A ferroelastic bubble is the elastic analogue to the well-known magnetic bubble. The period of the uniformly periodic domain grating is tunable from 100 to 0.5 microns and the grating period may be tuned relatively rapidly. The Bragg efficiency of these tunable gratings is 77% for an uncoated crystal. Several demonstration devices which use these periodic structures are discussed. These devices are a tunable active grating laser (TAG laser), a tunable active grating (TAG), and a tunable acoustic bulk wave filter.

BMFO-PVDF electrospun fiber based tunable metamaterial structures for electromagnetic interference shielding in microwave frequency region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Revathi, Venkatachalam; Dinesh Kumar, Sakthivel; Subramanian, Venkatachalam; Chellamuthu, Muthamizhchelvan

2015-11-01

Metamaterial structures are artificial structures that are useful in controlling the flow of electromagnetic radiation. In this paper, composite fibers of sub-micron thickness of barium substituted magnesium ferrite (Ba0.2Mg0.8Fe2O4) - polyvinylidene fluoride obtained by electrospinning is used as a substrate to design electromagnetic interference shielding structures. While electrospinning improves the ferroelectric properties of the polyvinylidene fluoride, the presence of barium magnesium ferrite modifies the magnetic property of the composite fiber. The dielectric and magnetic properties at microwave frequency measured using microwave cavity perturbation technique are used to design the reflection as well as absorption based tunable metamaterial structures for electromagnetic interference shielding in microwave frequency region. For one of the structures, the simulation indicates that single negative metamaterial structure becomes a double negative metamaterial under the external magnetic field.

Non-linear Mechanics of Three-dimensional Architected Materials; Design of Soft and Functional Systems and Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babaee, Sahab

In the search for materials with new properties, there have been significant advances in recent years aimed at the construction of architected materials whose behavior is governed by structure, rather than composition. Through careful design of the material's architecture, new mechanical properties have been demonstrated, including negative Poisson's ratio, high stiffness to weight ratio and mechanical cloaking. However, most of the proposed architected materials (also known as mechanical metamaterials) have a unique structure that cannot be recon figured after fabrication, making them suitable only for a specific task. This thesis focuses on the design of architected materials that take advantage of the applied large deformation to enhance their functionality. Mechanical instabilities, which have been traditionally viewed as a failure mode with research focusing on how to avoid them, are exploited to achieve novel and tunable functionalities. In particular I demonstrate the design of mechanical metamaterials with tunable negative Poisson ratio, adaptive phononic band gaps, acoustic switches, and reconfigurable origami-inspired waveguides. Remarkably, due to large deformation capability and full reversibility of soft materials, the responses of the proposed designs are reversible, repeatable, and scale independent. The results presented here pave the way for the design of a new class of soft, active, adaptive, programmable and tunable structures and systems with unprecedented performance and improved functionalities.

Negative Dielectric Constant Material Based on Ion Conducting Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, Keith L. (Inventor); Kang, Jin Ho (Inventor); Park, Cheol (Inventor); Lillehei, Peter T. (Inventor); Harrison, Joycelyn S. (Inventor)

2017-01-01

Metamaterials or artificial negative index materials (NIMs) have generated great attention due to their unique and exotic electromagnetic properties. One exemplary negative dielectric constant material, which is an essential key for creating the NIMs, was developed by doping ions into a polymer, a protonated poly (benzimidazole) (PBI). The doped PBI showed a negative dielectric constant at megahertz (MHz) frequencies due to its reduced plasma frequency and an induction effect. The magnitude of the negative dielectric constant and the resonance frequency were tunable by doping concentration. The highly doped PBI showed larger absolute magnitude of negative dielectric constant at just above its resonance frequency than the less doped PBI.

Negative Dielectric Constant Material Based on Ion Conducting Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, Keith L. (Inventor); Kang, Jin Ho (Inventor); Harrison, Joycelyn S. (Inventor); Park, Cheol (Inventor); Lillehei, Peter T. (Inventor)

2014-01-01

Metamaterials or artificial negative index materials (NIMs) have generated great attention due to their unique and exotic electromagnetic properties. One exemplary negative dielectric constant material, which is an essential key for creating the NIMs, was developed by doping ions into a polymer, a protonated poly(benzimidazole) (PBI). The doped PBI showed a negative dielectric constant at megahertz (MHz) frequencies due to its reduced plasma frequency and an induction effect. The magnitude of the negative dielectric constant and the resonance frequency were tunable by doping concentration. The highly doped PBI showed larger absolute magnitude of negative dielectric constant at just above its resonance frequency than the less doped PBI.

Tunable elastic parity-time symmetric structure based on the shunted piezoelectric materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Zhilin; Assouar, Badreddine

2018-02-01

We theoretically and numerically report on the tunable elastic Parity-Time (PT) symmetric structure based on shunted piezoelectric units. We show that the elastic loss and gain can be archived in piezoelectric materials when they are shunted by external circuits containing positive and negative resistances. We present and discuss, as an example, the strongly dependent relationship between the exceptional points of a three-layered system and the impedance of their external shunted circuit. The achieved results evidence that the PT symmetric structures based on this proposed concept can actively be tuned without any change of their geometric configurations.

Cobalt(II) complexes with azole-pyridine type ligands for non-aqueous redox-flow batteries: Tunable electrochemistry via structural modification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armstrong, Craig G.; Toghill, Kathryn E.

2017-05-01

A single species redox flow battery employing a new class of cobalt(II) complexes with 'tunable' tridentate azole-pyridine type ligands is reported. Four structures were synthesised and their electrochemical, physical and battery characteristics were investigated as a function of successive substitution of the ligand terminal pyridyl donors. The Co(II/I) and Co(III/II) couples are stable and quasi-reversible on gold and glassy carbon electrodes, however redox potentials are tunable allowing the cobalt potential difference to be preferentially increased from 1.07 to 1.91 V via pyridine substitution with weaker σ-donating/π-accepting 3,5-dimethylpyrazole groups. The charge-discharge properties of the system were evaluated using an H-type glass cell and graphite rod electrodes. The complexes delivered high Coulombic efficiencies of 89.7-99.8% and very good voltaic efficiencies of 70.3-81.0%. Consequently, energy efficiencies are high at 63.1-80.8%, marking an improvement on other similar non-aqueous systems. Modification of the ligands also improved solubility from 0.18 M to 0.50 M via pyridyl substitution with 3,5-dimethylpyrazole, though the low solubility of the complexes limits the overall energy capacity to between 2.58 and 12.80 W h L-1. Preliminary flow cell studies in a prototype flow cell are also demonstrated.

Solid-state lasers for coherent communication and remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byer, Robert L.

1990-01-01

Laser development, high efficiency, high power second harmonic generation, operation of optical parametric oscillators for wavelength diversity and tunability, and studies in coherent communications are reviewed.

Design of negative refractive index metamaterial with water droplets using 3D-printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Zhaoyang; Yang, Helin; Huang, Xiaojun; Yu, Zetai

2017-11-01

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate a negative refractive index (NRI) behavior in combined water droplets and photosensitive resin materials operating in the microwave regime. The NRI is achieved over a very wide frequency range in 10.27-15 GHz with bandwidth of 4.63 GHz. The simulated results approximately agree with the experimental results. The negative index band can be controlled by water droplet radius. The proposed metamaterial production process is simple and may have potential applications in broadband tunable devices.

Investigation of graphene-integrated tunable metamaterials in THz regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, S. Mahircan; Yüksek, Yahya; Sabah, Cumali

2018-05-01

A metallic fishnet metamaterial structure in sub-THz region is presented. The proposed structure is based on hexagonal resonators. Simulations have been performed by a 3D full-wave electromagnetic simulator and a negative refractive index has been observed at the frequency range between 0.55 and 0.70 THz with the help of the graphene layer. In order to observe the effect of the graphene layer, the metamaterial structure has been simulated and examined before and after graphene integration. Significant modification in the propagation properties has been observed after the graphene integration. Change in S-parameters with the size variation of hexagonal resonators and alteration in graphene thickness are also presented as a parametric study to show the tunability of the structure. Suitability of the metamaterial for sensor applications has been investigated. The proposed metamaterial structure is promising to be effectively used for tunability and sensor applications.

Experimental study of an adaptive elastic metamaterial controlled by electric circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, R.; Chen, Y. Y.; Barnhart, M. V.; Hu, G. K.; Sun, C. T.; Huang, G. L.

2016-01-01

The ability to control elastic wave propagation at a deep subwavelength scale makes locally resonant elastic metamaterials very relevant. A number of abilities have been demonstrated such as frequency filtering, wave guiding, and negative refraction. Unfortunately, few metamaterials develop into practical devices due to their lack of tunability for specific frequencies. With the help of multi-physics numerical modeling, experimental validation of an adaptive elastic metamaterial integrated with shunted piezoelectric patches has been performed in a deep subwavelength scale. The tunable bandgap capacity, as high as 45%, is physically realized by using both hardening and softening shunted circuits. It is also demonstrated that the effective mass density of the metamaterial can be fully tailored by adjusting parameters of the shunted electric circuits. Finally, to illustrate a practical application, transient wave propagation tests of the adaptive metamaterial subjected to impact loads are conducted to validate their tunable wave mitigation abilities in real-time.

Towards a versatile active wavelength converter for all-optical networks based on quasi-phase matched intra-cavity difference-frequency generation.

PubMed

Torregrosa, Adrián J; Maestre, Haroldo; Capmany, Juan

2013-11-18

The availability of reconfigurable all-optical wavelength converters for an efficient and flexible use of optical resources in WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) networks is still lacking at present. We propose and report preliminary results on a versatile active technique for multiple and tunable wavelength conversions in the 1500-1700 nm spectral region. The technique is based on combining broadband quasi-phase matched intra-cavity parametric single-pass difference-frequency generation close to degeneracy in a diode-pumped tunable laser. A periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal is used as the nonlinear medium, with a parametric pump wave generated in a continuous-wave self-injection locked Cr3+:LiCAF tunable laser operating at around 800 nm.

Tunable double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on a double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Yichang; Zhang, Shumin; Wang, Xinzhan; Du, Juan; Li, Hongfei; Hao, Yanping; Li, Xingliang

2012-03-01

We have demonstrated an adjustable double-clad Yb 3+-doped fiber laser using a double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The laser is adjustable over a range of 40 nm from 1064 nm to 1104 nm. By adjusting the state of the polarization controller, which is placed in the double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we obtained central lasing wavelengths that can be accurately tuned with controllable spacing between different tunable wavelengths. The laser has a side mode suppression ratio of 42 dB, the 3 dB spectral width is less than 0.2 nm, and the slope efficiencies at 1068 nm, 1082 nm and 1098 nm are 23%, 32% and 26%, respectively. In addition, we have experimentally observed tunable multi-wavelengths lasing output.

Tunable, Flexible, and Efficient Optimization of Control Pulses for Practical Qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machnes, Shai; Assémat, Elie; Tannor, David; Wilhelm, Frank K.

2018-04-01

Quantum computation places very stringent demands on gate fidelities, and experimental implementations require both the controls and the resultant dynamics to conform to hardware-specific constraints. Superconducting qubits present the additional requirement that pulses must have simple parameterizations, so they can be further calibrated in the experiment, to compensate for uncertainties in system parameters. Other quantum technologies, such as sensing, require extremely high fidelities. We present a novel, conceptually simple and easy-to-implement gradient-based optimal control technique named gradient optimization of analytic controls (GOAT), which satisfies all the above requirements, unlike previous approaches. To demonstrate GOAT's capabilities, with emphasis on flexibility and ease of subsequent calibration, we optimize fast coherence-limited pulses for two leading superconducting qubits architectures—flux-tunable transmons and fixed-frequency transmons with tunable couplers.

Compensation for first-order polarization-mode dispersion by using a novel tunable compensator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, Feng; Ning, Tigang; Pei, Shanshan; Xing, Yujun; Jian, Shuisheng

2005-01-01

Polarization-related impairments have become a critical issue for high-data-rate optical systems, particularly when considering polarization-mode dispersion (PMD). Consequently, compensation of PMD, especially for the first-order PMD is necessary to maintain adequate performance in long-haul systems at a high bit rate of 10 Gb/s or beyond. In this paper, we successfully demonstrated automatic and tunable compensation for first-order polarization-mode dispersion. Furthermore, we reported the statistical assessment of this tunable compensator at 10 Gbit/s. Experimental results, including bit error rate measurements, are successfully compared with theory, therefore demonstrating the compensator efficiency at 10 Gbit/s. The first-order PMD was max 274 ps before PMD compensation, and it was lower than 7ps after PMD compensation.

Tunable optical frequency comb enabled scalable and cost-effective multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiple access passive optical network with source-free optical network units.

PubMed

Chen, Chen; Zhang, Chongfu; Liu, Deming; Qiu, Kun; Liu, Shuang

2012-10-01

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiple access passive optical network (OFDMA-PON) with source-free optical network units (ONUs), enabled by tunable optical frequency comb generation technology. By cascading a phase modulator (PM) and an intensity modulator and dynamically controlling the peak-to-peak voltage of a PM driven signal, a tunable optical frequency comb source can be generated. It is utilized to assist the configuration of a multiple source-free ONUs enhanced OFDMA-PON where simultaneous and interference-free multiuser upstream transmission over a single wavelength can be efficiently supported. The proposed multiuser OFDMA-PON is scalable and cost effective, and its feasibility is successfully verified by experiment.

Narrow-bandwidth tunable picosecond pulses in the visible produced by noncollinear optical parametric amplification with a chirped blue pump.

PubMed

Co, Dick T; Lockard, Jenny V; McCamant, David W; Wasielewski, Michael R

2010-04-01

Narrow-bandwidth (approximately 27 cm(-1)) tunable picosecond pulses from 480 nm-780 nm were generated from the output of a 1 kHz femtosecond titanium:sapphire laser system using a type I noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) with chirped second-harmonic generation (SHG) pumping. Unlike a femtosecond NOPA, this system utilizes a broadband pump beam, the chirped 400 nm SHG of the Ti:sapphire fundamental, to amplify a monochromatic signal beam (spectrally-filtered output of a type II collinear OPA). Optimum geometric conditions for simultaneous phase- and group-velocity matching were calculated in the visible spectrum. This design is an efficient and simple method for generating tunable visible picosecond pulses that are synchronized to the femtosecond pulses.

Tunable light source for use in photoacoustic spectrometers

DOEpatents

Bisson, Scott E.; Kulp, Thomas J.; Armstrong, Karla M.

2005-12-13

The present invention provides a photoacoustic spectrometer that is field portable and capable of speciating complex organic molecules in the gas phase. The spectrometer has a tunable light source that has the ability to resolve the fine structure of these molecules over a large wavelength range. The inventive light source includes an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) having combined fine and coarse tuning. By pumping the OPO with the output from a doped-fiber optical amplifier pumped by a diode seed laser, the inventive spectrometer is able to speciate mixtures having parts per billion of organic compounds, with a light source that has a high efficiency and small size, allowing for portability. In an alternative embodiment, the spectrometer is scanned by controlling the laser wavelength, thus resulting in an even more compact and efficient design.

Large Size Color-tunable Electroluminescence from Cationic Iridium Complexes-based Light-emitting Electrochemical Cells

PubMed Central

Zeng, Qunying; Li, Fushan; Guo, Tailiang; Shan, Guogang; Su, Zhongmin

2016-01-01

Solution-processable light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) with simple device architecture have become an attractive candidate for application in next generation lighting and flat-panel displays. Herein, single layer LECs employing two cationic Ir(III) complexes showing highly efficient blue-green and yellow electroluminescence with peak current efficiency of 31.6 cd A−1 and 40.6 cd A−1, respectively, have been reported. By using both complexes in the device, color-tunable LECs with a single spectral peak in the wavelength range from 499 to 570 nm were obtained by varying their rations. In addition, the fabrication of efficient LECs was demonstrated based on low cost doctor-blade coating technique, which was compatible with the roll to roll fabrication process for the large size production. In this work, for the first time, 4 inch LEC devices by doctor-blade coating were fabricated, which exhibit the efficiencies of 23.4 cd A−1 and 25.4 cd A−1 for the blue-green and yellow emission, respectively. The exciting results indicated that highly efficient LECs with controllable color could be realized and find practical application in large size lighting and displays. PMID:27278527

DNA Meter: Energy Tunable, Quantitative Hybridization Assay

PubMed Central

Braunlin, William; Völker, Jens; Plum, G. Eric; Breslauer, Kenneth J.

2015-01-01

We describe a novel hybridization assay that employs a unique class of energy tunable, bulge loop-containing competitor strands (C*) that hybridize to a probe strand (P). Such initial “pre-binding” of a probe strand modulates its effective “availability” for hybridizing to a target site (T). More generally, the assay described here is based on competitive binding equilibria for a common probe strand (P) between such tunable competitor strands (C*) and a target strand (T). We demonstrate that loop variable, energy tunable families of C*P complexes exhibit enhanced discrimination between targets and mismatched targets, thereby reducing false positives/negatives. We refer to a C*P complex between a C* competitor single strand and the probe strand as a “tuning fork,” since the C* strand exhibits branch points (forks) at the duplex-bulge interfaces within the complex. By varying the loop to create families of such “tuning forks,” one can construct C*P “energy ladders” capable of resolving small differences within the target that may be of biological/functional consequence. The methodology further allows quantification of target strand concentrations, a determination heretofore not readily available by conventional hybridization assays. The dual ability of this tunable assay to discriminate and quantitate targets provides the basis for developing a technology we refer to as a “DNA Meter.” Here we present data that establish proof-of-principle for an in solution version of such a DNA Meter. We envision future applications of this tunable assay that incorporate surface bound/spatially resolved DNA arrays to yield enhanced discrimination and sensitivity. PMID:23529692

Multichannel tunable omnidirectional photonic band gaps of 1D ternary photonic crystal containing magnetized cold plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awasthi, Suneet Kumar; Panda, Ranjita; Chauhan, Prashant Kumar; Shiveshwari, Laxmi

2018-05-01

By using the transfer matrix method, theoretical investigations have been carried out in the microwave region to study the reflection properties of multichannel tunable omnidirectional photonic bandgaps (OPBGs) based on the magneto-optic Faraday effect. The proposed one dimensional ternary plasma photonic crystal consists of alternate layers of quartz, magnetized cold plasma (MCP), and air. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the proposed structure possesses two OPBGs induced by Bragg scattering and is strongly dependent on the incident angle, the polarization of the incident light, and the lattice constant unlike to the single-negative gap and zero- n ¯ gap. Next, the reflection properties of OPBGs have been made tunable by the application of external magnetic field under right hand and left hand polarization configurations. The results of this manuscript may be utilized for the development of a new kind of tunable omnidirectional band stop filter with ability to completely stop single to multiple bands (called channels) of microwave frequencies in the presence of external static magnetic field under left-hand polarization and right-hand polarization configurations, respectively. Moreover, outcomes of this study open a promising way to design tunable magneto-optical devices, omnidirectional total reflectors, and planar waveguides of high Q microcavities as a result of evanescent fields in the MCP layer to allow propagation of light.

Tunable positive and negative refraction of infrared radiation in graphene-dielectric multilayers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, R. Z.; Zhang, Z. M., E-mail: zhuomin.zhang@me.gatech.edu

2015-11-09

Graphene-dielectric multilayers consisting of alternating layers of atom-thick graphene and nanometer-scale dielectric films exhibit characteristics of hyperbolic metamaterials, in which one positive and one negative permittivity are defined for orthogonal directions. Negative permittivity for electric field polarized in the direction parallel to the conductive graphene sheets gives rise to a negative angle of refraction and low-loss transmission for the side-incidence perspective proposed in this work. The Poynting vector tracing demonstrates the switching between positive and negative refraction in the mid-infrared region by tuning the chemical potential of graphene. This adjustable dual-mode metamaterial holds promise for infrared imaging applications.

Classification of Salmonella serotypes with hyperspectral microscope imagery

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Previous research has demonstrated an optical method with acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) based hyperspectral microscope imaging (HMI) had potential for classifying gram-negative from gram-positive foodborne pathogenic bacteria rapidly and nondestructively with a minimum sample preparation. In t...

``Smart'' theranostic lanthanide nanoprobes with simultaneous up-conversion fluorescence and tunable T1-T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast and near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yan; Das, Gautom Kumar; Vijayaragavan, Vimalan; Xu, Qing Chi; Padmanabhan, Parasuraman; Bhakoo, Kishore K.; Tamil Selvan, Subramanian; Tan, Timothy Thatt Yang

2014-10-01

The current work reports a type of ``smart'' lanthanide-based theranostic nanoprobe, NaDyF4:Yb3+/NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+, which is able to circumvent the up-converting poisoning effect of Dy3+ ions to give efficient near infrared (980 nm) triggered up-conversion fluorescence, and offers not only excellent dark T2-weighted MR contrast but also tunable bright and T1-weighted MR contrast properties. Due to the efficient up-converted energy transfer from the nanocrystals to chlorin e6 (Ce6) photosensitizers loaded onto the nanocrystals, cytotoxic singlet oxygen was generated and photodynamic therapy was demonstrated. Therefore, the current multifunctional nanocrystals could be potentially useful in various image-guided diagnoses where bright or dark MRI contrast could be selectively tuned to optimize image quality, but also as an efficient and more penetrative near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy agent.The current work reports a type of ``smart'' lanthanide-based theranostic nanoprobe, NaDyF4:Yb3+/NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+, which is able to circumvent the up-converting poisoning effect of Dy3+ ions to give efficient near infrared (980 nm) triggered up-conversion fluorescence, and offers not only excellent dark T2-weighted MR contrast but also tunable bright and T1-weighted MR contrast properties. Due to the efficient up-converted energy transfer from the nanocrystals to chlorin e6 (Ce6) photosensitizers loaded onto the nanocrystals, cytotoxic singlet oxygen was generated and photodynamic therapy was demonstrated. Therefore, the current multifunctional nanocrystals could be potentially useful in various image-guided diagnoses where bright or dark MRI contrast could be selectively tuned to optimize image quality, but also as an efficient and more penetrative near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy agent. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4nr01717j

Self-assembled DNA tetrahedral optofluidic lasers with precise and tunable gain control.

PubMed

Chen, Qiushu; Liu, Huajie; Lee, Wonsuk; Sun, Yuze; Zhu, Dan; Pei, Hao; Fan, Chunhai; Fan, Xudong

2013-09-07

We have applied self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures for the precise and tunable control of the gain in an optofluidic fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) laser. By adjusting the ratio of the donor and the acceptor attached to the tetrahedral vertices, 3.8 times reduction in the lasing threshold and 28-fold enhancement in the lasing efficiency were demonstrated. This work takes advantage of the self-recognition and self-assembly capabilities of biomolecules with well-defined structures and addressability, enabling nano-engineering of the laser down to the molecular level.

Near-field refrigeration and tunable heat exchange through four-wave mixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khandekar, Chinmay; Messina, Riccardo; Rodriguez, Alejandro W.

2018-05-01

We modify and extend a recently proposed four-wave mixing scheme [C. Khandekar and A. Rodriguez, Opt. Express 25(19), 23164 (2017)] for achieving near-field thermal upconversion and energy transfer, to demonstrate efficient thermal refrigeration at low intensities ˜ 109W/m2 over a wide range of gap sizes (from tens to hundreds of nanometers) and operational temperatures (from tens to hundreds of Kelvins). We further exploit the scheme to achieve magnitude and directional tunability of near-field heat exchange between bodies held at different temperatures.

A lithium niobate electro-optic tunable Bragg filter fabricated by electron beam lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierno, L.; Dispenza, M.; Secchi, A.; Fiorello, A.; Foglietti, V.

2008-06-01

We have designed and fabricated a lithium niobate tunable Bragg filter patterned by electron beam lithography and etched by reactive ion etching. Devices with 1 mm, 2 mm and 4 mm length and 360 and 1080 nm Bragg period, with 5 pm V-1 tuning efficiency, have been characterized. Some applications were identified. Optical simulation based on finite element model (FEM) software showing the optical filtering curve and the coupling factor dependence on the manufacturing parameter is reported. The tuning of the filter window position is electro-optically controlled.

"Smart" theranostic lanthanide nanoprobes with simultaneous up-conversion fluorescence and tunable T1-T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast and near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy.

PubMed

Zhang, Yan; Das, Gautom Kumar; Vijayaragavan, Vimalan; Xu, Qing Chi; Padmanabhan, Parasuraman; Bhakoo, Kishore K; Selvan, Subramanian Tamil; Tan, Timothy Thatt Yang

2014-11-07

The current work reports a type of "smart" lanthanide-based theranostic nanoprobe, NaDyF4:Yb(3+)/NaGdF4:Yb(3+),Er(3+), which is able to circumvent the up-converting poisoning effect of Dy(3+) ions to give efficient near infrared (980 nm) triggered up-conversion fluorescence, and offers not only excellent dark T2-weighted MR contrast but also tunable bright and T1-weighted MR contrast properties. Due to the efficient up-converted energy transfer from the nanocrystals to chlorin e6 (Ce6) photosensitizers loaded onto the nanocrystals, cytotoxic singlet oxygen was generated and photodynamic therapy was demonstrated. Therefore, the current multifunctional nanocrystals could be potentially useful in various image-guided diagnoses where bright or dark MRI contrast could be selectively tuned to optimize image quality, but also as an efficient and more penetrative near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy agent.

Highly efficient multifunctional MnSe/ZnSeS quantum dots for biomedical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armijo, Leisha M.; Akins, Brian A.; Plumley, John B.; Rivera, Antonio C.; Withers, Nathan J.; Cook, Nathaniel C.; Smolyakov, Gennady A.; Huber, Dale L.; Smyth, Hugh D. C.; Osińki, Marek

2013-03-01

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are of interest for a variety of biomedical applications, including bioimaging, drug targeting, and photodynamic therapy. However, a significant limitation is that highly efficient photoluminescent QDs available commercially contain cadmium. Recent research has focused on cadmium-free QDs, which are anticipated to exhibit significantly lower cytotoxicity. Previous work has focused on InP and ZnO as alternative semiconductor materials for QDs. However, these nanoparticles have been shown to be cytotoxic. Recently, we have synthesized high quantum efficiency (exceeding 90%), color tunable MnSe/ZnSeS nanoparticles, as potentially attractive QDs for biomedical applications. Additionally, the manganese imparts magnetic properties on the QDs, which are important for magnetic field-guided transport, hyperthermia, and potentially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The QDs can be further biofunctionalized via conjugation to a ligand or a biomarker of disease, allowing combination of drug delivery with visual verification and colocalization due to the color tunability of the QDs.

High performace silicon 2x2 optical switch based on a thermo-optically tunable multimode interference coupler and efficient electrodes.

PubMed

Rosa, Álvaro; Gutiérrez, Ana; Brimont, Antoine; Griol, Amadeu; Sanchis, Pablo

2016-01-11

Optical switches based on tunable multimode interference (MMI) couplers can simultaneously reduce the footprint and increase the tolerance against fabrication deviations. Here, a compact 2x2 silicon switch based on a thermo-optically tunable MMI structure with a footprint of only 0.005 mm(2) is proposed and demonstrated. The MMI structure has been optimized using a silica trench acting as a thermal isolator without introducing any substantial loss penalty or crosstalk degradation. Furthermore, the electrodes performance have significantly been improved via engineering the heater geometry and using two metallization steps. Thereby, a drastic power consumption reduction of around 90% has been demonstrated yielding to values as low as 24.9 mW. Furthermore, very fast switching times of only 1.19 µs have also been achieved.

Observation of Gate-Tunable Coherent Perfect Absorption of Terahertz Waves in Graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kocabas, Coskun; Kakenov, Nurbek; Balci, Osman; Takan, Taylan; Ozkan, Vedat Ali; Altan, Hakan

We report experimental observation of electrically tunable coherent perfect absorption (CPA) of terahertz (THz) radiation in graphene. We develop a reflection-type tunable THz cavity formed by a large-area graphene layer, a metallic reflective electrode, and an electrolytic medium in between. Ionic gating in the THz cavity allows us to tune the Fermi energy of graphene up to 1 eV and to achieve a critical coupling condition at 2.8 THz with absorption of 100 %. With the enhanced THz absorption, we were able to measure the Fermi energy dependence of the transport scattering time of highly doped graphene. Furthermore, we demonstrate flexible active THz surfaces that yield large modulation in the THz reflectivity with low insertion losses. We anticipate that the gate-tunable CPA will lead to efficient active THz optoelectronics applications. This work was partially supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Grant No. 114F379 and the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant ERC-682723 SmartGraphene. N.K. acknowledges the TUBITAK-BIDEB 2215.

To investigate the relation between pore size and twist angle in enhanced thermoelectric efficient porous armchair graphene nanoribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaur, Sukhdeep; Randhawa, Deep Kamal Kaur; Bindra Narang, Sukhleen

2018-05-01

Based on Non-Equilibrium Green’s function method, we demonstrate that the twisted deformation is an efficient method to improve the figure of merit ZT of porous armchair graphene nanoribbons AGNRs. The peak value of ZT can be obtained for a certain tunable twist angle. Further analysis shows that the tunable twist angle exhibits an inverse relationship with the pore size laying forth the designers a choice for the larger twists to be replaced by smaller ones simply by increasing the size of the pore. Ballistic transport regime and semi-empirical method using Huckel basis set is used to obtain the electrical properties while the Tersoff potential is employed for the phononic system. These interesting findings indicate that the twisted porous AGNRs can be utilized as designing materials for potential thermoelectric applications.

Wavelength-tunable waveguides based on polycrystalline organic-inorganic perovskite microwires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ziyu; Liu, Jingying; Xu, Zai-Quan; Xue, Yunzhou; Jiang, Liangcong; Song, Jingchao; Huang, Fuzhi; Wang, Yusheng; Zhong, Yu Lin; Zhang, Yupeng; Cheng, Yi-Bing; Bao, Qiaoliang

2016-03-01

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have emerged as new photovoltaic materials with impressively high power conversion efficiency due to their high optical absorption coefficient and long charge carrier diffusion length. In addition to high photoluminescence quantum efficiency and chemical tunability, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites also show intriguing potential for diverse photonic applications. In this work, we demonstrate that polycrystalline organic-inorganic perovskite microwires can function as active optical waveguides with small propagation loss. The successful production of high quality perovskite microwires with different halogen elements enables the guiding of light with different colours. Furthermore, it is interesting to find that out-coupled light intensity from the microwire can be effectively modulated by an external electric field, which behaves as an electro-optical modulator. This finding suggests the promising applications of perovskite microwires as effective building blocks in micro/nano scale photonic circuits.

Wavelength-tunable waveguides based on polycrystalline organic-inorganic perovskite microwires.

PubMed

Wang, Ziyu; Liu, Jingying; Xu, Zai-Quan; Xue, Yunzhou; Jiang, Liangcong; Song, Jingchao; Huang, Fuzhi; Wang, Yusheng; Zhong, Yu Lin; Zhang, Yupeng; Cheng, Yi-Bing; Bao, Qiaoliang

2016-03-28

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have emerged as new photovoltaic materials with impressively high power conversion efficiency due to their high optical absorption coefficient and long charge carrier diffusion length. In addition to high photoluminescence quantum efficiency and chemical tunability, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites also show intriguing potential for diverse photonic applications. In this work, we demonstrate that polycrystalline organic-inorganic perovskite microwires can function as active optical waveguides with small propagation loss. The successful production of high quality perovskite microwires with different halogen elements enables the guiding of light with different colours. Furthermore, it is interesting to find that out-coupled light intensity from the microwire can be effectively modulated by an external electric field, which behaves as an electro-optical modulator. This finding suggests the promising applications of perovskite microwires as effective building blocks in micro/nano scale photonic circuits.

Broadband and efficient plasmonic control in the near-infrared and visible via strong interference of surface plasmon polaritons.

PubMed

Gan, C H; Nash, G R

2013-11-01

Broadband and tunable control of surface plasmon polaritons in the near-infrared and visible spectrum is demonstrated theoretically and numerically with a pair of phased nanoslits. We establish, with simulations supported by a coupled wave model, that by dividing the incident power equally between two input channels, the maximum plasmon intensity deliverable to either side of the nanoslit pair is twice that for an isolated slit. For a broadband source, a compact device with nanoslit separation of the order of a tenth of the wavelength is shown to steer nearly all the generated plasmons to one side for the same phase delay, thereby achieving a broadband unidirectional plasmon launcher. The reported effect can be applied to the design of ultra-broadband and efficient tunable plasmonic devices.

A study of the structure-property relationship of azole-azine based homoleptic platinum(II) complexes and tunability of the photo-physical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ranga Prabhath, Malaviarachchige Rabel

Owing to superior energy efficiency, Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology has become considerably commercialised over the last decade. Innovations in this field have been spurred along by the discovery of new molecules with good stability and high emission intensity, followed through by intense engineering efforts. Emissive transition metal complexes are potent molecular emitters as a result of their high quantum efficiencies related to facile intersystem crossing (ISC) between excited-state manifolds (efficient spin orbit coupling (SOC)) and resultant efficient emission from the triplet state (phosphorescence). These also allow rational tuning of the emission wavelengths. Tuning of the ground and excited state energies, and thus emission wavelength of these complexes can be achieved by subtle structural changes in the organic ligands. Pyridyl-triazole ligands have started receiving increasing attention in recent years as strong field ligands that are relatively straightforward to synthesise. In this study we explore the emission tunability of a newly synthesised series of 5-subsituted-Pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole-based ligands and their Pt(II) complexes. Studies have shown, substitution at the triazole moiety is less effective in achieving emission tunability. Alternatively we carried out the substitution at the 5th position of the pyridine ring with a wide range of electronically diverse, donor-acceptor groups (-N(CH3)2, -H, -CHO, -CHC(CN)2). The target ligands were approached through the serial application of the Sonogashira carbon-carbon coupling and the Sharpless copper-catalyzed Huisgen’s 1,3-dipolarcycloaddition procedures. As a result, coarse tunability of excimer emission was observed in thin-films, generating blue-(486 nm), green-(541 nm), orange-(601 nm) and red-(625 nm) luminescence respectively. This “turned-on” substituent effect was accounted for metallophilic Pt—Pt interaction-induced aggregates in the solid state. Excited state calculations reveal that the solid state emission is associated with 1MMLCT transitions. Lifetime measurements revealed the existence of two decay processes: one being fluorescence and the other process, either phosphorescence or delayed fluorescence. Further a linear-relationship between the Hammett parameters of the substituents and emission wavelengths was established. This allows a reliable emission predictability for any given substituent of 5-substituted pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole platinum complexes. In conclusion, we show a new approach in achieving coarse emission tunability in pyridyl-1,2,3-triazole based platinum complexes via subtle changes in the molecular structure and the importance of metallophilic interactions in the process. During the second phase of the study, the scope was broadened to examine the effects of heterocyclic nitrogens in the ligand skeleton. Fifteen different combinations of azole-azine linked ligand systems were synthesized, by systematically increasing the number of nitrogens and changing the ring position of the nitrogens in the skeleton. Later, the homoleptic platinum complexes of the respective ligands were synthesised, and the photo-physical characteristics were studied. The above mentioned changes in the ligand structure resulted in a 264 nm emission tunability, in the thin films of the complexes. Theoretical studies on the complexes revealed that based on the structure of the ligand, different metallophilic stacking behaviours and different origins of emission (fluorescence and phosphorescence) can result, which in turn give rise to tunable emission wavelengths.

Color-Tunable and High-Efficiency Dye-Encapsulated Metal-Organic Framework Composites Used for Smart White-Light-Emitting Diodes.

PubMed

Chen, Wenwei; Zhuang, Yixi; Wang, Le; Lv, Ying; Liu, Jianbin; Zhou, Tian-Liang; Xie, Rong-Jun

2018-05-25

Luminescent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) (typically dye-encapsulated MOFs) are considered as one kind of interesting downconversion materials for white-light-emitting diodes (LEDs), but their quantum efficiency (QE) is not sufficient and thus needs to be significantly enhanced for practical applications. In this study, we successfully synthesized a series of Rh@bio-MOF-1 (Rh = rhodamine) with an internal QE as high as ∼79% via a solvothermal reaction followed by cation exchanges. The high efficiency of the Rh@bio-MOF-1 composites was attributable to the high intrinsic luminescent efficiency of the selected Rh dyes, the confinement effect in the bio-MOF-1 host, and the uniform particle morphology. The emission maximum could be continuously tuned from 550 to 610 nm by controlling the species and concentration of encapsulated dye molecules, showing great color tunability of the dye-encapsulated MOFs. The emission lifetime of ∼7 ns was 1 or 2 magnitude orders shorter than that of Ce 3+ - or Eu 2+ -doped inorganic phosphors, allowing for visible light communication (VLC). White LEDs, fabricated by using the synthesized Rh@bio-MOF-1 composite and inorganic phosphors of green (Ba,Sr) 2 SiO 4 :Eu 2+ and red CaAlSiN 3 :Eu 2+ , exhibited a high color rendering index of 80-94, a luminous efficacy of 94-156 lm/W, and an excellent stability in color point against drive current. The Rh@bio-MOF-1 composites with tunable colors, short emission lifetime, and high QE are expected to be used for smart white LEDs with multifunctions of both lighting and VLC.

Efficient room-temperature source of polarized single photons

DOEpatents

Lukishova, Svetlana G.; Boyd, Robert W.; Stroud, Carlos R.

2007-08-07

An efficient technique for producing deterministically polarized single photons uses liquid-crystal hosts of either monomeric or oligomeric/polymeric form to preferentially align the single emitters for maximum excitation efficiency. Deterministic molecular alignment also provides deterministically polarized output photons; using planar-aligned cholesteric liquid crystal hosts as 1-D photonic-band-gap microcavities tunable to the emitter fluorescence band to increase source efficiency, using liquid crystal technology to prevent emitter bleaching. Emitters comprise soluble dyes, inorganic nanocrystals or trivalent rare-earth chelates.

Matching Impedances and Modes in Acoustic Levitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, M. B.

1985-01-01

Temperature differences accommodated with tunable coupler. Report discusses schemes for coupling sound efficiently from cool outside atmosphere into hot acoustic-levitation chamber. Theoretical studies have practical implications for material-processing systems that employ acoustic levitation.

Tunable all-angle negative refraction and photonic band gaps in two-dimensional plasma photonic crystals with square-like Archimedean lattices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Hai-Feng, E-mail: hanlor@163.com, E-mail: lsb@nuaa.edu.cn; Nanjing Artillery Academy, Nanjing 211132; Liu, Shao-Bin, E-mail: hanlor@163.com, E-mail: lsb@nuaa.edu.cn

In this paper, the tunable all-angle negative refraction and photonic band gaps (PBGs) in two types of two-dimensional (2D) plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) composed of homogeneous plasma and dielectric (GaAs) with square-like Archimedean lattices (ladybug and bathroom lattices) for TM wave are theoretically investigated based on a modified plane wave expansion method. The type-1 structure is dielectric rods immersed in the plasma background, and the complementary structure is named as type-2 PPCs. Theoretical simulations demonstrate that the both types of PPCs with square-like Archimedean lattices have some advantages in obtaining the higher cut-off frequency, the larger PBGs, more number ofmore » PBGs, and the relative bandwidths compared to the conventional square lattices as the filling factor or radius of inserted rods is same. The influences of plasma frequency and radius of inserted rod on the properties of PBGs for both types of PPCs also are discussed in detail. The calculated results show that PBGs can be manipulated by the parameters as mentioned above. The possibilities of all-angle negative refraction in such two types of PPCs at low bands also are discussed. Our calculations reveal that the all-angle negative phenomena can be observed in the first two TM bands, and the frequency range of all-angle negative refraction can be tuned by changing plasma frequency. Those properties can be used to design the optical switching and sensor.« less

Method for enhancement of useful luminescence from vacancy defects in refractory oxides for tunable lasers

DOEpatents

Chen, Yok

1990-01-01

Refractory oxide crystals suitable for use in tunable lasers and a method for preparing the same are provided. The crystals are characterized by high quantum efficiency, high thermal stability, good crystal transparency, and a high percentage of useful luminescence. The method for preparation of the crystals involves removing substantially all the hydrogen, thermochemically reducing the crystal's oxygen content to produce oxygen (anion) vacancy defects, and subsequently irradiating the crystal with electrons to inactivate trace H.sup.- ions so that an increased amount of short lived F.sup.+ luminescence is produced when the crystal is optically excited.

All-fiber mid-infrared difference frequency generation source and its application to molecular dispersion spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krzempek, K.; Abramski, K. M.; Nikodem, M.

2017-09-01

A widely tunable, fully monolithic, mid-infrared difference frequency generation source and its application in the dispersion-spectroscopy-based laser trace gas detection of methane and ethane, near 2938 and 2998 cm-1, is presented. Utilizing a fiber pigtailed nonlinear crystal module radically simplified the optical setup, while maintaining a superb conversion efficiency of 20% W-1. Seeded directly from two laser diodes, the source delivered ~0.5 mW of tunable radiation, which was used in a chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy setup, enabling the highly sensitive detection of hydrocarbons.

Tunable solid-state lasers - An emerging technology for remote sensing of planetary atmospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Norman P.; Allario, Frank

1988-01-01

The present development status and prospective (1990s) performance-improvement evaluation of tunable solid-state laser technology notes recent trends toward spectrum coverage over the 0.20-14.0 microns range, in addition to dramatic increases in efficiency, service life, and reliability. It is judged that the Ti:Al2O3 laser and the AgGaSe2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Ho:YAG laser could cover the near-IR and mid-IR regions of the spectrum. Laser diodes operating at 0.78 microns should provide an excellent pump for a Ho:YAG laser.

CuI/Pd0 cooperative dual catalysis: tunable stereoselective construction of tetra-substituted alkenes.

PubMed

Vercruysse, Sébastien; Cornelissen, Loïc; Nahra, Fady; Collard, Laurent; Riant, Olivier

2014-02-10

This paper describes a tunable and stereoselective dual catalytic system that uses copper and palladium reagents. This cooperative silylcupration and palladium-catalyzed allylation readily affords trisubstituted alkenylsilanes. Fine-tuning the reaction conditions allows selective access to one stereoisomer over the other. This new methodology tolerates different substituents on both coupling partners with high levels of stereoselectivity. The one-pot reaction involving a Cu(I)/Pd(0) cooperative dual catalyst directly addresses the need to develop more time-efficient and less-wasteful synthetic pathways. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A cladding-pumped, tunable holmium doped fiber laser.

PubMed

Simakov, Nikita; Hemming, Alexander; Clarkson, W Andrew; Haub, John; Carter, Adrian

2013-11-18

We present a tunable, high power cladding-pumped holmium doped fiber laser. The laser generated >15 W CW average power across a wavelength range of 2.043 - 2.171 μm, with a maximum output power of 29.7 W at 2.120 μm. The laser also produced 18.2 W when operating at 2.171 µm. To the best of our knowledge this is the highest power operation of a holmium doped laser at a wavelength >2.15 µm. We discuss the significance of background losses and fiber design for achieving efficient operation in holmium doped fibers.

Highly Tunable Aptasensing Microarrays with Graphene Oxide Multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Yun Kyung; Lee, Taemin; Shin, Eeseul; Kim, Byeong-Su

2013-11-01

A highly tunable layer-by-layer (LbL)-assembled graphene oxide (GO) array has been devised for high-throughput multiplex protein sensing. In this array, the fluorescence of different target-bound aptamers labeled with dye is efficiently quenched by GO through fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and simultaneous multiplex target detection is performed by recovering the quenched fluorescence caused by specific binding between an aptamer and a protein. Thin GO films consisting of 10 bilayers displayed a high quenching ability, yielding over 85% fluorescence quenching with the addition of a 2 μM dye-labeled aptamer. The limit for human thrombin detection in the 6- and 10-bilayered GO array is estimated to be 0.1 and 0.001 nM, respectively, indicating highly tunable nature of LbL assembled GO multilayers in controlling the sensitivity of graphene-based FRET aptasensor. Furthermore, the GO chip could be reused up to four times simply by cleaning it with distilled water.

Gate-tunable rectification inversion and photovoltaic detection in graphene/WSe{sub 2} heterostructures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, Anyuan; Liu, Erfu; Long, Mingsheng

2016-05-30

We studied electrical transport properties including gate-tunable rectification inversion and polarity inversion, in atomically thin graphene/WSe{sub 2} heterojunctions. Such engrossing characteristics are attributed to the gate tunable mismatch of Fermi levels of graphene and WSe{sub 2}. Also, such atomically thin heterostructure shows excellent performances on photodetection. The responsivity of 66.2 mA W{sup −1} (without bias voltage) and 350 A W{sup −1} (with 1 V bias voltage) can be reached. What is more, the devices show great external quantum efficiency of 800%, high detectivity of 10{sup 13} cm Hz{sup 1/2}/W, and fast response time of 30 μs. Our study reveals that vertical stacking of 2D materials has great potentialmore » for multifunctional electronic and optoelectronic device applications in the future.« less

Compact, passively Q-switched, all-solid-state master oscillator-power amplifier-optical parametric oscillator (MOPA-OPO) system pumped by a fiber-coupled diode laser generating high-brightness, tunable, ultraviolet radiation.

PubMed

Peuser, Peter; Platz, Willi; Fix, Andreas; Ehret, Gerhard; Meister, Alexander; Haag, Matthias; Zolichowski, Paul

2009-07-01

We report on a compact, tunable ultraviolet laser system that consists of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and a longitudinally diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA). The pump energy for the whole laser system is supplied via a single delivery fiber. Nanosecond pulses are produced by an oscillator that is passively Q-switched by a Cr(4+):YAG crystal. The OPO is pumped by the second harmonic of the Nd:YAG MOPA. Continuously tunable radiation is generated by an intracavity sum-frequency mixing process within the OPO in the range of 245-260 nm with high beam quality. Maximum pulse energies of 1.2 mJ were achieved, which correspond to an optical efficiency of 3.75%, relating to the pulse energy of the MOPA at 1064 nm.

Photonic crystal nanocavity assisted rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter

PubMed Central

Long, Yun; Xia, Jinsong; Zhang, Yong; Dong, Jianji; Wang, Jian

2017-01-01

Driven by the increasing demand on handing microwave signals with compact device, low power consumption, high efficiency and high reliability, it is highly desired to generate, distribute, and process microwave signals using photonic integrated circuits. Silicon photonics offers a promising platform facilitating ultracompact microwave photonic signal processing assisted by silicon nanophotonic devices. In this paper, we propose, theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate a simple scheme to realize ultracompact rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter (MPF) based on a silicon photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity with fixed extinction ratio. Using a conventional modulation scheme with only a single phase modulator (PM), the rejection ratio of the presented MPF can be tuned from about 10 dB to beyond 60 dB. Moreover, the central frequency tunable operation in the high rejection ratio region is also demonstrated in the experiment. PMID:28067332

Tunable electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials and their one-dimensional derivatives.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhuhua; Liu, Xiaofei; Yu, Jin; Hang, Yang; Li, Yao; Guo, Yufeng; Xu, Ying; Sun, Xu; Zhou, Jianxin; Guo, Wanlin

2016-01-01

Low-dimensional materials exhibit many exceptional properties and functionalities which can be efficiently tuned by externally applied force or fields. Here we review the current status of research on tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of low-dimensional carbon, boron nitride, metal-dichalcogenides, phosphorene nanomaterials by applied engineering strain, external electric field and interaction with substrates, etc, with particular focus on the progress of computational methods and studies. We highlight the similarities and differences of the property modulation among one- and two-dimensional nanomaterials. Recent breakthroughs in experimental demonstration of the tunable functionalities in typical nanostructures are also presented. Finally, prospective and challenges for applying the tunable properties into functional devices are discussed. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2016, 6:324-350. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1251 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.

Photonic crystal nanocavity assisted rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Yun; Xia, Jinsong; Zhang, Yong; Dong, Jianji; Wang, Jian

2017-01-01

Driven by the increasing demand on handing microwave signals with compact device, low power consumption, high efficiency and high reliability, it is highly desired to generate, distribute, and process microwave signals using photonic integrated circuits. Silicon photonics offers a promising platform facilitating ultracompact microwave photonic signal processing assisted by silicon nanophotonic devices. In this paper, we propose, theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate a simple scheme to realize ultracompact rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter (MPF) based on a silicon photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity with fixed extinction ratio. Using a conventional modulation scheme with only a single phase modulator (PM), the rejection ratio of the presented MPF can be tuned from about 10 dB to beyond 60 dB. Moreover, the central frequency tunable operation in the high rejection ratio region is also demonstrated in the experiment.

A Near IR Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Wide Field, Low Resolution Hyperspectral Imaging on the Next Generation Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barry, R. K.; Satyapal, S.; Greenhouse, M. A.; Barclay, R.; Amato, D.; Arritt, B.; Brown, G.; Harvey, V.; Holt, C.; Kuhn, J.

2000-01-01

We discuss work in progress on a near-infrared tunable bandpass filter for the Goddard baseline wide field camera concept of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). This filter, the Demonstration Unit for Low Order Cryogenic Etalon (DULCE), is designed to demonstrate a high efficiency scanning Fabry-Perot etalon operating in interference orders 1 - 4 at 30K with a high stability DSP based servo control system. DULCE is currently the only available tunable filter for lower order cryogenic operation in the near infrared. In this application, scanning etalons will illuminate the focal plane arrays with a single order of interference to enable wide field lower resolution hyperspectral imaging over a wide range of redshifts. We discuss why tunable filters are an important instrument component in future space-based observatories.

Color display and encryption with a plasmonic polarizing metamirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Maowen; Li, Xiong; Pu, Mingbo; Guo, Yinghui; Liu, Kaipeng; Yu, Honglin; Ma, Xiaoliang; Luo, Xiangang

2018-01-01

Structural colors emerge when a particular wavelength range is filtered out from a broadband light source. It is regarded as a valuable platform for color display and digital imaging due to the benefits of environmental friendliness, higher visibility, and durability. However, current devices capable of generating colors are all based on direct transmission or reflection. Material loss, thick configuration, and the lack of tunability hinder their transition to practical applications. In this paper, a novel mechanism that generates high-purity colors by photon spin restoration on ultrashallow plasmonic grating is proposed. We fabricated the sample by interference lithography and experimentally observed full color display, tunable color logo imaging, and chromatic sensing. The unique combination of high efficiency, high-purity colors, tunable chromatic display, ultrathin structure, and friendliness for fabrication makes this design an easy way to bridge the gap between theoretical investigations and daily-life applications.

Photonic crystal nanocavity assisted rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter.

PubMed

Long, Yun; Xia, Jinsong; Zhang, Yong; Dong, Jianji; Wang, Jian

2017-01-09

Driven by the increasing demand on handing microwave signals with compact device, low power consumption, high efficiency and high reliability, it is highly desired to generate, distribute, and process microwave signals using photonic integrated circuits. Silicon photonics offers a promising platform facilitating ultracompact microwave photonic signal processing assisted by silicon nanophotonic devices. In this paper, we propose, theoretically analyze and experimentally demonstrate a simple scheme to realize ultracompact rejection ratio tunable notch microwave photonic filter (MPF) based on a silicon photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity with fixed extinction ratio. Using a conventional modulation scheme with only a single phase modulator (PM), the rejection ratio of the presented MPF can be tuned from about 10 dB to beyond 60 dB. Moreover, the central frequency tunable operation in the high rejection ratio region is also demonstrated in the experiment.

Graphene-based fine-tunable optical delay line for optical beamforming in phased-array antennas.

PubMed

Tatoli, Teresa; Conteduca, Donato; Dell'Olio, Francesco; Ciminelli, Caterina; Armenise, Mario N

2016-06-01

The design of an integrated graphene-based fine-tunable optical delay line on silicon nitride for optical beamforming in phased-array antennas is reported. A high value of the optical delay time (τ_g=920  ps) together with a compact footprint (4.15  mm²) and optical loss <27  dB make this device particularly suitable for highly efficient steering in active phased-array antennas. The delay line includes two graphene-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer switches and two vertically stacked microring resonators between which a graphene capacitor is placed. The tuning range is obtained by varying the value of the voltage applied to the graphene electrodes, which controls the optical path of the light propagation and therefore the delay time. The graphene provides a faster reconfigurable time and low values of energy dissipation. Such significant advantages, together with a negligible beam-squint effect, allow us to overcome the limitations of conventional RF beamformers. A highly efficient fine-tunable optical delay line for the beamsteering of 20 radiating elements up to ±20° in the azimuth direction of a tile in a phased-array antenna of an X-band synthetic aperture radar has been designed.

Optimizing plasmonic nanoantennas via coordinated multiple coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Linhan; Zheng, Yuebing

2015-10-01

Plasmonic nanoantennas, which can efficiently convert light from free space into sub-wavelength scale with the local field enhancement, are fundamental building blocks for nanophotonic systems. Predominant design methods, which exploit a single type of near- or far-field coupling in pairs or arrays of plasmonic nanostructures, have limited the tunability of spectral response and the local field enhancement. To overcome this limit, we are developing a general strategy towards exploiting the coordinated effects of multiple coupling. Using Au bowtie nanoantenna arrays with metal-insulator-metal configuration as examples, we numerically demonstrate that coordinated design and implementation of various optical coupling effects leads to both the increased tunability in the spectral response and the significantly enhanced electromagnetic field. Furthermore, we design and analyze a refractive index sensor with an ultra-high figure-of-merit (254), a high signal-to-noise ratio and a wide working range of refractive indices, and a narrow-band near-infrared plasmonic absorber with 100% absorption efficiency, high quality factor of up to 114 and a wide range of tunable wavelength from 800 nm to 1,500 nm. The plasmonic nanoantennas that exploit coordinated multiple coupling will benefit a broad range of applications, including label-free bio-chemical detection, reflective filter, optical trapping, hot-electron generation, and heat-assisted magnetic recording.

Energy transfer and color tunable emission in Tb3 +,Eu3 + co-doped Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F phosphors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shuo; Guo, Ning; Liang, Qimeng; Ding, Yu; Zhou, Huitao; Ouyang, Ruizhuo; Lü, Wei

2018-02-01

A group of color tunable Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F:Tb3 +,Eu3 + phosphors were prepared by conventional high temperature solid state method. The phase structures, luminescence properties, fluorescence lifetimes and energy transfer were investigated in detail. Under 369 nm excitation, owing to efficient energy transfer of Tb3 + → Eu3 +, the emission spectra both have green emission of Tb3 + and red emission of Eu3 +. An efficient energy transfer occur in Tb3 +, Eu3 + co-doped Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F phosphors. The most possible mechanism of energy transfer is dipole-dipole interaction by Dexter's theoretical model. The energy transfer of Tb3 + and Eu3 + was confirmed by the variations of emission and excitation spectra and Tb3 +/Eu3 + decay lifetimes in Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F:Tb3 +,Eu3 +. The color tone can tuned from yellowish-green through yellow and eventually to reddish-orange with fixed Tb3 + content by changing Eu3 + concentrations. The results show that the prepared Tb3 +, Eu3 + co-doped color tunable Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F phosphor can be used for white LED.

Ultrasensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Detection Based on Amorphous Molybdenum Oxide Quantum Dots.

PubMed

Li, Hao; Xu, Qun; Wang, Xuzhe; Liu, Wei

2018-06-07

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based on plasmonic semiconductive material has been proved to be an efficient tool to detect trace of substances, while the relatively weak plasmon resonance compared with noble metal materials restricts its practical application. Herein, for the first time a facile method to fabricate amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots with tunable plasmon resonance is developed by a controlled oxidization route. The as-prepared amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots show tunable plasmon resonance in the region of visible and near-infrared light. Moreover, the tunability induced by SC CO 2 is analyzed by a molecule kinetic theory combined with a molecular thermodynamic model. More importantly, the ultrahigh enhancement factor of amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots detecting on methyl blue can be up to 9.5 × 10 5 with expending the limit of detection to 10 -9 m. Such a remarkable porperty can also be found in this H x MoO 3 -based sensor with Rh6G and RhB as probe molecules, suggesting that the amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dot is an efficient candidate for SERS on molecule detection in high precision. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

[Testing method research for key performance indicator of imaging acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF)].

PubMed

Hu, Shan-Zhou; Chen, Fen-Fei; Zeng, Li-Bo; Wu, Qiong-Shui

2013-01-01

Imaging AOTF is an important optical filter component for new spectral imaging instruments developed in recent years. The principle of imaging AOTF component was demonstrated, and a set of testing methods for some key performances were studied, such as diffraction efficiency, wavelength shift with temperature, homogeneity in space for diffraction efficiency, imaging shift, etc.

Broad Wavelength Tunable Robust Lasing from Single-Crystal Nanowires of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskites (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br, I).

PubMed

Fu, Yongping; Zhu, Haiming; Stoumpos, Constantinos C; Ding, Qi; Wang, Jue; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G; Zhu, Xiaoyang; Jin, Song

2016-08-23

Lead halide perovskite nanowires (NWs) are emerging as a class of inexpensive semiconductors with broad bandgap tunability for optoelectronics, such as tunable NW lasers. Despite exciting progress, the current organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite NW lasers suffer from limited tunable wavelength range and poor material stability. Herein, we report facile solution growth of single-crystal NWs of inorganic perovskite CsPbX3 (X = Br, Cl) and their alloys [CsPb(Br,Cl)3] and a low-temperature vapor-phase halide exchange method to convert CsPbBr3 NWs into perovskite phase CsPb(Br,I)3 alloys and metastable CsPbI3 with well-preserved perovskite crystal lattice and NW morphology. These single crystalline NWs with smooth end facets and subwavelength dimensions are ideal Fabry-Perot cavities for NW lasers. Optically pumped tunable lasing across the entire visible spectrum (420-710 nm) is demonstrated at room temperature from these NWs with low lasing thresholds and high-quality factors. Such highly efficient lasing similar to what can be achieved with organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites indicates that organic cation is not essential for light emission application from these lead halide perovskite materials. Furthermore, the CsPbBr3 NW lasers show stable lasing emission with no measurable degradation after at least 8 h or 7.2 × 10(9) laser shots under continuous illumination, which are substantially more robust than their organic-inorganic counterparts. The Cs-based perovskites offer a stable material platform for tunable NW lasers and other nanoscale optoelectronic devices.

Hyperspectral microscope imaging methods to classify gram-positive and gram-negative foodborne pathogenic bacteria

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An acousto-optic tunable filter-based hyperspectral microscope imaging method has potential for identification of foodborne pathogenic bacteria from microcolony rapidly with a single cell level. We have successfully developed the method to acquire quality hyperspectral microscopic images from variou...

In-Plane Electrical Connectivity and Near-Field Concentration of Isolated Graphene Resonators Realized by Ion Beams.

PubMed

Luo, Weiwei; Cai, Wei; Xiang, Yinxiao; Wu, Wei; Shi, Bin; Jiang, Xiaojie; Zhang, Ni; Ren, Mengxin; Zhang, Xinzheng; Xu, Jingjun

2017-08-01

Graphene plasmons provide great opportunities in light-matter interactions benefiting from the extreme confinement and electrical tunability. Structured graphene cavities possess enhanced confinements in 3D and steerable plasmon resonances, potential in applications for sensing and emission control at the nanoscale. Besides graphene boundaries obtained by mask lithography, graphene defects engineered by ion beams have shown efficient plasmon reflections. In this paper, near-field responses of structured graphene achieved by ion beam direct-writing are investigated. Graphene nanoresonators are fabricated easily and precisely with a spatial resolution better than 30 nm. Breathing modes are observed in graphene disks. The amorphous carbons around weaken the response of edge modes in the resonators, but meanwhile render the isolated resonators in-plane electrical connections, where near-fields are proved gate-tunable. The realization of gate-tunable near-fields of graphene 2D resonators opens up tunable near-field couplings with matters. Moreover, graphene nonconcentric rings with engineered near-field confinement distributions are demonstrated, where the quadrupole plasmon modes are excited. Near-field mappings reveal concentrations at the scale of 3.8×10-4λ02 within certain zones which can be engineered. The realization of electrically tunable graphene nanoresonators by ion beam direct-writing is promising for active manipulation of emission and sensing at the nanoscale. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Tunable CW diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YLiF4 laser operating at or near room temperature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcguckin, Brendan T. (Inventor); Menzies, Robert T. (Inventor)

1995-01-01

A conversion efficiency of 42% and slope efficiency of 60% relative to absorbed pump power are obtained from a continuous wave diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YLiF4 laser at 2 microns with output power of 84 mW at a crystal temperature of 275 K. The emission spectrum is etalon tunable over a range of7 nm (16.3/cm) centered on 2.067 microns with fine tuning capability of the transition frequency with crystal temperature at a measured rate of -0.03/(cm)K. The effective emission cross-section is measured to be 5 x 10(exp -21) cm squared. These and other aspects of the laser performance are disclosed in the context of calculated atmospheric absorption characteristics in this spectral region and potential use in remote sensing applications. Single frequency output and frequency stabilization are achieved using an intracavity etalon in conjunction with an external reference etalon.

Tunable energy transfer from d 10 heterobimetallic dicyanide(I) donor ions to terbium(III) acceptor ions in luminescent Tb[Ag xAu 1- x(CN) 2] 3 ( x = 0 → 1)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Haiyan; Yson, Renante; Ford, James; Tracy, Henry J.; Carrier, Alora B.; Keller, Aaron; Mullin, Jerome L.; Poissan, Michelle J.; Sawan, Samuel; Patterson, Howard H.

2007-07-01

We report on the heterobimetallic system, Tb[Ag xAu 1- x(CN) 2] 3 ( x = 0 → 1), in which sensitization of terbium luminescence occurs by energy transfer from [Ag xAu 1- x(CN) 2] - donor excited states. The donor states have energies which are tunable and dependent on the Ag/Au stoichiometric ratio. We report on their use as donor systems with Tb(III) ions as acceptor ions in energy transfer studies. Luminescence results show that the mixed metal dicyanides with the higher silver loading have a better energy transfer efficiency than the pure Ag(CN)2- and Au(CN)2- donors. The better energy transfer efficiency is due to the greater overlap between the donor emission and acceptor excitation.

High average power, widely tunable femtosecond laser source from red to mid-infrared based on an Yb-fiber-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillator.

PubMed

Gu, Chenglin; Hu, Minglie; Zhang, Limeng; Fan, Jintao; Song, Youjian; Wang, Chingyue; Reid, Derryck T

2013-06-01

We report on the highly efficient generation of widely tunable femtosecond pulses based on intracavity second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG) in a MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO(3) optical parametric oscillator (OPO), which is pumped by a Yb-doped large-mode-area photonics crystal fiber femtosecond laser. Red and near infrared from intracavity SHG and SFG and infrared signals were directly obtained from the OPO. A 2 mm β-BaB(2)O(4) is applied for Type I (oo → e) intracavity SHG and SFG, and then femtosecond laser pulses over 610 nm ~ 668 nm from SFG and 716 nm ~ 970 nm from SHG are obtained with high efficiency. In addition, the oscillator simultaneously generates signal and idler femtosecond pulses over 1450 nm ~ 2200 nm and 2250 nm ~ 4000 nm, respectively.

A mechanically tunable and efficient ceramic probe for MR-microscopy at 17 Tesla

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurdjumov, Sergei; Glybovski, Stanislav; Hurshkainen, Anna; Webb, Andrew; Abdeddaim, Redha; Ciobanu, Luisa; Melchakova, Irina; Belov, Pavel

2017-09-01

In this contribution we propose and study numerically a new probe (radiofrequency coil) for magnetic resonance mi-croscopy in the field of 17T. The probe is based on two coupled donut resonators made of a high-permittivity and low-loss ceramics excited by a non-resonant inductively coupled loop attached to a coaxial cable. By full-wave numerical simulation it was shown that the probe can be precisely tuned to the Larmor frequency of protons (723 MHz) by adjusting a gap between the two resonators. Moreover, the impedance of the probe can be matched by varying the distance from one of the resonators to the loop. As a result, a compact and mechanically tunable resonant probe was demonstrated for 17 Tesla applications using no lumped capacitors for tuning and matching. The new probe was numerically compared to a conventional solenoidal probe showing better efficiency.

Tunable, Flexible and Efficient Optimization of Control Pulses for Superconducting Qubits, part II - Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

AsséMat, Elie; Machnes, Shai; Tannor, David; Wilhelm-Mauch, Frank

In part I, we presented the theoretic foundations of the GOAT algorithm for the optimal control of quantum systems. Here in part II, we focus on several applications of GOAT to superconducting qubits architecture. First, we consider a control-Z gate on Xmons qubits with an Erf parametrization of the optimal pulse. We show that a fast and accurate gate can be obtained with only 16 parameters, as compared to hundreds of parameters required in other algorithms. We present numerical evidences that such parametrization should allow an efficient in-situ calibration of the pulse. Next, we consider the flux-tunable coupler by IBM. We show optimization can be carried out in a more realistic model of the system than was employed in the original study, which is expected to further simplify the calibration process. Moreover, GOAT reduced the complexity of the optimal pulse to only 6 Fourier components, composed with analytic wrappers.

Hydration and Thermal Expansion in Anatase Nanoparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, He; Li, Qiang; Ren, Yang

A tunable thermal expansion is reported in nanosized anatase by taking advantage of surface hydration. The coefficient of thermal expansion of 4 nm TiO2 along a-axis is negative with a hydrated surface and is positive without a hydrated surface. High-energy synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function analysis combined with ab initio calculations on the specific hydrated surface are carried out to reveal the local structure distortion that is responsible for the unusual negative thermal expansion.

Electrically tunable infrared metamaterial devices

DOEpatents

Brener, Igal; Jun, Young Chul

2015-07-21

A wavelength-tunable, depletion-type infrared metamaterial optical device is provided. The device includes a thin, highly doped epilayer whose electrical permittivity can become negative at some infrared wavelengths. This highly-doped buried layer optically couples with a metamaterial layer. Changes in the transmission spectrum of the device can be induced via the electrical control of this optical coupling. An embodiment includes a contact layer of semiconductor material that is sufficiently doped for operation as a contact layer and that is effectively transparent to an operating range of infrared wavelengths, a thin, highly doped buried layer of epitaxially grown semiconductor material that overlies the contact layer, and a metallized layer overlying the buried layer and patterned as a resonant metamaterial.

Tunable THz polariton laser based on 1342  nm wavelength for enhanced terahertz wave extraction.

PubMed

Lee, Andrew J; Spence, David J; Pask, Helen M

2017-07-15

We detail the operation of a THz laser source based on non-linear stimulated polariton scattering (SPS) in Mg:LiNbO₃. This system utilizes a fundamental wavelength of 1342 nm to completely avoid the negative effect of free-carrier generation within high-resistivity silicon (Si) prisms used to extract THz radiation from the Mg:LiNbO₃ crystal. THz power of up to 23.6 μW (62.3 μW when chopped at 50% duty cycle) was detected at 1.33 THz, and frequency tunability across the range 1.05-2.2 THz was achieved.

Highly anisotropic metasurface: a polarized beam splitter and hologram.

PubMed

Zheng, Jun; Ye, Zhi-Cheng; Sun, Nan-Ling; Zhang, Rui; Sheng, Zheng-Ming; Shieh, Han-Ping D; Zhang, Jie

2014-09-29

Two-dimensional metasurface structures have recently been proposed to reduce the challenges of fabrication of traditional plasmonic metamaterials. However, complex designs and sophisticated fabrication procedures are still required. Here, we present a unique one-dimensional (1-D) metasurface based on bilayered metallic nanowire gratings, which behaves as an ideal polarized beam splitter, producing strong negative reflection for transverse-magnetic (TM) light and efficient reflection for transverse-electric (TE) light. The large anisotropy resulting from this TE-metal-like/TM-dielectric-like feature can be explained by the dispersion curve based on the Bloch theory of periodic metal-insulator-metal waveguides. The results indicate that this photon manipulation mechanism is fundamentally different from those previously proposed for 2-D or 3-D metastructures. Based on this new material platform, a novel form of metasurface holography is proposed and demonstrated, in which an image can only be reconstructed by using a TM light beam. By reducing the metamaterial structures to 1-D, our metasurface beam splitter exhibits the qualities of cost-efficient fabrication, robust performance, and high tunability, in addition to its applicability over a wide range of working wavelengths and incident angles. This development paves a foundation for metasurface structure designs towards practical metamaterial applications.

Highly anisotropic metasurface: a polarized beam splitter and hologram

PubMed Central

Zheng, Jun; Ye, Zhi-Cheng; Sun, Nan-Ling; Zhang, Rui; Sheng, Zheng-Ming; Shieh, Han-Ping D.; Zhang, Jie

2014-01-01

Two-dimensional metasurface structures have recently been proposed to reduce the challenges of fabrication of traditional plasmonic metamaterials. However, complex designs and sophisticated fabrication procedures are still required. Here, we present a unique one-dimensional (1-D) metasurface based on bilayered metallic nanowire gratings, which behaves as an ideal polarized beam splitter, producing strong negative reflection for transverse-magnetic (TM) light and efficient reflection for transverse-electric (TE) light. The large anisotropy resulting from this TE-metal-like/TM-dielectric-like feature can be explained by the dispersion curve based on the Bloch theory of periodic metal-insulator-metal waveguides. The results indicate that this photon manipulation mechanism is fundamentally different from those previously proposed for 2-D or 3-D metastructures. Based on this new material platform, a novel form of metasurface holography is proposed and demonstrated, in which an image can only be reconstructed by using a TM light beam. By reducing the metamaterial structures to 1-D, our metasurface beam splitter exhibits the qualities of cost-efficient fabrication, robust performance, and high tunability, in addition to its applicability over a wide range of working wavelengths and incident angles. This development paves a foundation for metasurface structure designs towards practical metamaterial applications. PMID:25262791

Tuning coercive force by adjusting electric potential in solution processed Co/Pt(111) and the mechanism involved

PubMed Central

Chang, Cheng-Hsun-Tony; Kuo, Wei-Hsu; Chang, Yu-Chieh; Tsay, Jyh-Shen; Yau, Shueh-Lin

2017-01-01

A combination of a solution process and the control of the electric potential for magnetism represents a new approach to operating spintronic devices with a highly controlled efficiency and lower power consumption with reduced production cost. As a paradigmatic example, we investigated Co/Pt(111) in the Bloch-wall regime. The depression in coercive force was detected by applying a negative electric potential in an electrolytic solution. The reversible control of coercive force by varying the electric potential within few hundred millivolts is demonstrated. By changing the electric potential in ferromagnetic layers with smaller thicknesses, the efficiency for controlling the tunable coercive force becomes higher. Assuming that the pinning domains are independent of the applied electric potential, an electric potential tuning-magnetic anisotropy energy model was derived and provided insights into our knowledge of the relation between the electric potential tuning coercive force and the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer. Based on the fact that the coercive force can be tuned by changing the electric potential using a solution process, we developed a novel concept of electric-potential-tuned magnetic recording, resulting in a stable recording media with a high degree of writing ability. PMID:28255160

High Efficient Ultra-Thin Flat Optics Based on Dielectric Metasurfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozdemir, Aytekin

Metasurfaces which emerged as two-dimensional counterparts of metamaterials, facilitate the realization of arbitrary phase distributions using large arrays with subwavelength and ultra-thin features. Even if metasurfaces are ultra-thin, they still effectively manipulate the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light in transmission or reflection mode. In contrast, conventional optical components are bulky, and they lose their functionality at sub-wavelength scales, which requires conceptually new types of nanoscale optical devices. On the other hand, as the optical systems shrink in size day by day, conventional bulky optical components will have tighter alignment and fabrication tolerances. Since metasurfaces can be fabricated lithographically, alignment can be done during lithographic fabrication, thus eliminating the need for post-fabrication alignments. In this work, various types of metasurface applications are thoroughly investigated for robust wavefront engineering with enhanced characteristics in terms of broad bandwidth, high efficiency and active tunability, while beneficial for application. Plasmonic metasurfaces are not compatible with the CMOS process flow, and, additionally their high absorption and ohmic loss is problematic in transmission based applications. Dielectric metasurfaces, however, offer a strong magnetic response at optical frequencies, and thus they can offer great opportunities for interacting not only with the electric component of a light field, but also with its magnetic component. They show great potential to enable practical device functionalities at optical frequencies, which motivates us to explore them one step further on wavefront engineering and imaging sensor platforms. Therefore, we proposed an efficient ultra-thin flat metalens at near-infrared regime constituted by silicon nanodisks which can support both electric and magnetic dipolar Mie-type resonances. These two dipole resonances can be overlapped at the same frequency by varying the geometric parameters of silicon nanodisks. Having two resonance mechanisms at the same frequency allows us to achieve full (0-2?) phase shift on the transmitted beam. To enable the miniaturization of pixel size for achieving high-resolution, planar, compact-size focal plane arrays (FPAs), we also present and explore the metasurface lens array-based FPAs. The investigated dielectric metasurface lens arrays achieved high focusing efficiency with superior optical crosstalk performance. We see a magnificent application prospect for metasurfaces in enhancing the fill factor and reducing the pixel size of FPAs and CCD, CMOS imaging sensors as well. Moreover, it is of paramount importance to design metasurfaces possessing tunable properties. Thus, we also propose a tunable beam steering device by combining phase manipulating metasurfaces concept and liquid crystals. Tunability feature is implemented by nematic liquid crystals infiltrated into nano holes in SiO2. Using electrically tunable nematic liquid crystals, dynamic beam steering is achieved.

Wide-Band Spatially Tunable Photonic Bandgap in Visible Spectral Range and Laser based on a Polymer Stabilized Blue Phase

PubMed Central

Lin, Jia-De; Wang, Tsai-Yen; Mo, Ting-Shan; Huang, Shuan-Yu; Lee, Chia-Rong

2016-01-01

This work successfully develops a largely-gradient-pitched polymer-stabilized blue phase (PSBP) photonic bandgap (PBG) device with a wide-band spatial tunability in nearly entire visible region within a wide blue phase (BP) temperature range including room temperature. The device is fabricated based on the reverse diffusion of two injected BP-monomer mixtures with a low and a high chiral concentrations and afterwards through UV-curing. This gradient-pitched PSBP can show a rainbow-like reflection appearance in which the peak wavelength of the PBG can be spatially tuned from the blue to the red regions at room temperature. The total tuning spectral range for the cell is as broad as 165 nm and covers almost the entire visible region. Based on the gradient-pitched PSBP, a spatially tunable laser is also demonstrated in this work. The temperature sensitivity of the lasing wavelength for the laser is negatively linear and approximately −0.26 nm/°C. The two devices have a great potential for use in applications of photonic devices and displays because of their multiple advantages, such as wide-band tunability, wide operated temperature range, high stability and reliability, no issue of hysteresis, no need of external controlling sources, and not slow tuning speed (mechanically). PMID:27456475

CW and tunable performances of Yb3+:LuAG transparent ceramics with different doping concentrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Chaoyang; Zhu, Jiangfeng; Liu, Kai; Wen, Zicheng; Ma, Ran; Long, Jiaqi; Yuan, Xuanyi; Cao, Yongge

2017-07-01

We report the CW laser operation and wavelength tunability of 10 at%, 15 at% and 20 at% Yb3+-doping LuAG ceramics pumped at 970 nm. The absorption saturation effects were taken into account herein. For 10 at% Yb3+-doping sample, the maximum slop efficiency and output power was 60.7% and 1.8 W, respectively. Furthermore, the slop efficiencies of 52.3% (15 at%) and 46.5% (20 at%) were reported. What's more, the maximum optical-to-optical efficiency for our samples was determined to be 40.1%, 36.8%, and 33.1% at the incident pump power of 4 W, respectively. The round-trip cavity loss of the laser system based on our Yb3+:LuAG ceramics were evaluated. The tuning curve of a 20 at% Yb3+:LuAG ceramic extended from 1018 nm up to 1062 nm, and that of 10 at% and 15 at% samples became much more broader, making Yb3+:LuAG ceramics possible candidates for ultrashort pulse generation.

Core/multishell nanowire heterostructures as multicolor, high-efficiency light-emitting diodes.

PubMed

Qian, Fang; Gradecak, Silvija; Li, Yat; Wen, Cheng-Yen; Lieber, Charles M

2005-11-01

We report the growth and characterization of core/multishell nanowire radial heterostructures, and their implementation as efficient and synthetically tunable multicolor nanophotonic sources. Core/multishell nanowires were prepared by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition with an n-GaN core and InxGa1-xN/GaN/p-AlGaN/p-GaN shells, where variation of indium mole fraction is used to tune emission wavelength. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy studies reveal that the core/multishell nanowires are dislocation-free single crystals with a triangular morphology. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy clearly shows shells with distinct chemical compositions, and quantitatively confirms that the thickness and composition of individual shells can be well controlled during synthesis. Electrical measurements show that the p-AlGaN/p-GaN shell structure yields reproducible hole conduction, and electroluminescence measurements demonstrate that in forward bias the core/multishell nanowires function as light-emitting diodes, with tunable emission from 365 to 600 nm and high quantum efficiencies. The ability to synthesize rationally III-nitride core/multishell nanowire heterostructures opens up significant potential for integrated nanoscale photonic systems, including multicolor lasers.

Electrically tunable superconducting terahertz metamaterial with low insertion loss and high switchable ratios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Chun; Zhang, Caihong, E-mail: chzhang@nju.edu.cn; Hu, Guoliang

2016-07-11

With the emergence and development of artificially structured electromagnetic materials, active terahertz (THz) metamaterial devices have attracted significant attention in recent years. Tunability of transmission is desirable for many applications. For example, short-range wireless THz communications and ultrafast THz interconnects require switches and modulators. However, the tunable range of transmission amplitude of existing THz metamaterial devices is not satisfactory. In this article, we experimentally demonstrate an electrically tunable superconducting niobium nitride metamaterial device and employ a hybrid coupling model to analyze its optical transmission characteristics. The maximum transmission coefficient at 0.507 THz is 0.98 and decreases to 0.19 when themore » applied voltage increases to 0.9 V. A relative transmittance change of 80.6% is observed, making this device an efficient narrowband THz switch. Additionally, the frequency of the peak is red shifted from 0.507 to 0.425 THz, which means that the device can be used to select the frequency. This study offers an alternative tuning method to existing optical, thermal, magnetic-field, and electric-field tuning, delivering a promising approach for designing active and miniaturized THz devices.« less

Polymer lattices as mechanically tunable 3-dimensional photonic crystals operating in the infrared

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chernow, V. F., E-mail: vchernow@caltech.edu; Alaeian, H.; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

2015-09-07

Broadly tunable photonic crystals in the near- to mid-infrared region could find use in spectroscopy, non-invasive medical diagnosis, chemical and biological sensing, and military applications, but so far have not been widely realized. We report the fabrication and characterization of three-dimensional tunable photonic crystals composed of polymer nanolattices with an octahedron unit-cell geometry. These photonic crystals exhibit a strong peak in reflection in the mid-infrared that shifts substantially and reversibly with application of compressive uniaxial strain. A strain of ∼40% results in a 2.2 μm wavelength shift in the pseudo-stop band, from 7.3 μm for the as-fabricated nanolattice to 5.1 μm when strained.more » We found a linear relationship between the overall compressive strain in the photonic crystal and the resulting stopband shift, with a ∼50 nm blueshift in the reflection peak position per percent increase in strain. These results suggest that architected nanolattices can serve as efficient three-dimensional mechanically tunable photonic crystals, providing a foundation for new opto-mechanical components and devices across infrared and possibly visible frequencies.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cao, Jianjun; Shen, Dongyi; Feng, Yaming

Negative refraction has attracted much interest for its promising capability in imaging applications. Such an effect can be implemented by negative index meta-materials, however, which are usually accompanied by high loss and demanding fabrication processes. Recently, alternative nonlinear approaches like phase conjugation and four wave mixing have shown advantages of low-loss and easy-to-implement, but associated problems like narrow accepting angles can still halt their practical applications. Here, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally a scheme to realize negative refraction by nonlinear difference frequency generation with wide tunability, where a thin Beta barium borate slice serves as a negative refraction layer bendingmore » the input signal beam to the idler beam at a negative angle. Furthermore, we realize optical focusing effect using such nonlinear negative refraction, which may enable many potential applications in imaging science.« less

Hyperbolically Patterned 3D Graphene Metamaterial with Negative Poisson's Ratio and Superelasticity.

PubMed

Zhang, Qiangqiang; Xu, Xiang; Lin, Dong; Chen, Wenli; Xiong, Guoping; Yu, Yikang; Fisher, Timothy S; Li, Hui

2016-03-16

A hyperbolically patterned 3D graphene metamaterial (GM) with negative Poisson's ratio and superelasticity is highlighted. It is synthesized by a modified hydrothermal approach and subsequent oriented freeze-casting strategy. GM presents a tunable Poisson's ratio by adjusting the structural porosity, macroscopic aspect ratio (L/D), and freeze-casting conditions. Such a GM suggests promising applications as soft actuators, sensors, robust shock absorbers, and environmental remediation. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Tuning the relative concentration ratio of bulk defects to surface defects in TiO2 nanocrystals leads to high photocatalytic efficiency.

PubMed

Kong, Ming; Li, Yuanzhi; Chen, Xiong; Tian, Tingting; Fang, Pengfei; Zheng, Feng; Zhao, Xiujian

2011-10-19

TiO(2) nanocrystals with tunable bulk/surface defects were synthesized and characterized with TEM, XRD, BET, positron annihilation, and photocurrent measurements. The effect of defects on photocatalytic activity was studied. It was found for the first time that decreasing the relative concentration ratio of bulk defects to surface defects in TiO(2) nanocrystals could significantly improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes, thus significantly enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency.

Can magneto-plasmonic nanohybrids efficiently combine photothermia with magnetic hyperthermia?

PubMed

Espinosa, Ana; Bugnet, Mathieu; Radtke, Guillaume; Neveu, Sophie; Botton, Gianluigi A; Wilhelm, Claire; Abou-Hassan, Ali

2015-12-07

Multifunctional hybrid-design nanomaterials appear to be a promising route to meet the current therapeutics needs required for efficient cancer treatment. Herein, two efficient heat nano-generators were combined into a multifunctional single nanohybrid (a multi-core iron oxide nanoparticle optimized for magnetic hyperthermia, and a gold branched shell with tunable plasmonic properties in the NIR region, for photothermal therapy) which impressively enhanced heat generation, in suspension or in vivo in tumours, opening up exciting new therapeutic perspectives.

Reconfigurable radio-over-fiber system based on optical switch and tunable filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiao; Yin, Rui; Ji, Wei; Sun, Kai; Zhang, Shicheng

2017-09-01

As the best candidate for wireless-access networks, radio-over-fiber (RoF) technology can carry a variety of business. It is necessary to provide differentiated services for different users, so the network needs to produce signals with different modulation formats and different frequencies. A reconfigurable RoF system based on a switch and tunable optical filter that can realize modulation format conversion and multiple frequency signal switching functions is designed. It has a good performance in terms of bit error rate and an eye diagram. The design can help to use radio frequency resources efficiently and make dynamic bandwidth resources controllable.

Non-Uniform Bias Enhancement of a Varactor-Tuned FSS used with a Low Profile 2.4 GHz Dipole Antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cure, David; Weller, Thomas M.; Miranda, Felix A.

2012-01-01

In this paper a low profile antenna using a nonuniformly biased varactor-tuned frequency selective surface (FSS) is presented. The tunable FSS avoids the use of vias and has a simplified DC bias network. The voltages to the DC bias ports can be varied independently allowing adjustment in the frequency response and enhanced radiation properties. The measured data demonstrate tunability from 2.15 GHz to 2.63 GHz with peak efficiencies that range from 50% to 90% and instantaneous bandwidths of 50 MHz to 280 MHz within the tuning range. The total antenna thickness is approximately lambda/45.

Asymmetric diffraction by atomic gratings with optical PT symmetry in the Raman-Nath regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shui, Tao; Yang, Wen-Xing; Liu, Shaopeng; Li, Ling; Zhu, Zhonghu

2018-03-01

We propose and analyze an efficient scheme for the lopsided Raman-Nath diffraction of one-dimensional (1 D ) and two-dimensional (2 D ) atomic gratings with periodic parity-time (PT )-symmetric refractive index. The atomic grating is constructed by the cold-atomic vapor with two isotopes of rubidium, which is driven by weak probe field and space-dependent control field. Using experimentally achievable parameters, we identify the conditions under which PT -symmetric refractive index allows us to observe the lopsided Raman-Nath diffraction phenomenon and improve the diffraction efficiencies beyond what is achievable in a conventional atomic grating. The nontrivial atomic grating is a superposition of an amplitude grating and a phase grating. It is found that the lopsided Raman-Nath diffraction at the exceptional point (EP) of PT -symmetric grating originates from constructive and destructive interferences between the amplitude and phase gratings. Furthermore, we show that the PT -phase transition from unbroken to broken PT -symmetric regimes can modify the asymmetric distribution of the diffraction spectrum and that the diffraction efficiencies in the non-negative diffraction orders can be significantly enhanced when the atomic grating is pushed into a broken PT -symmetric phase. In addition, we also analyze the influence of the grating thickness on the diffraction spectrum. Our scheme may provide the possibility to design a gain-beam splitter with tunable splitting ratio and other optical components in integrated optics.

Electrically tunable color filter based on a polarization-tailored nano-photonic dichroic resonator featuring an asymmetric subwavelength grating.

PubMed

Park, Chang-Hyun; Yoon, Yeo-Taek; Shrestha, Vivek Raj; Park, Chul-Soon; Lee, Sang-Shin; Kim, Eun-Soo

2013-11-18

We have demonstrated a highly efficient electrically tunable color filter, which provides precise control of color output, taking advantage of a nano-photonic polarization-tailored dichroic resonator combined with a liquid-crystal based polarization rotator. The visible dichroic resonator based on the guided mode resonance, which incorporates a planar dielectric waveguide in Si3N4 integrated with an asymmetric two-dimensional subwavelength Al grating with unequal pitches along its principal axes, exhibited polarization specific transmission featuring high efficiency up to 75%. The proposed tunable color filters were constructed by combining three types of dichroic resonators, each of which deals with a mixture of two primary colors (i.e. blue/green, blue/red, and green/red) with a polarization rotator exploiting a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell. The output colors could be dynamically and seamlessly customized across the blend of the two corresponding primary colors, by altering the polarization via the voltage applied to the polarization rotator. For the blue/red filter, the center wavelength was particularly adjusted from 460 to 610 nm with an applied voltage variation of 2 V, leading to a tuning range of up to 150 nm. And the spectral tuning was readily confirmed via color mapping. The proposed devices may permit the tuning span to be readily extended by tailoring the grating pitches.

Energy transfer and color tunable emission in Tb3+,Eu3+ co-doped Sr3LaNa(PO4)3F phosphors.

PubMed

Li, Shuo; Guo, Ning; Liang, Qimeng; Ding, Yu; Zhou, Huitao; Ouyang, Ruizhuo; Lü, Wei

2018-02-05

A group of color tunable Sr 3 LaNa(PO 4 ) 3 F:Tb 3+ ,Eu 3+ phosphors were prepared by conventional high temperature solid state method. The phase structures, luminescence properties, fluorescence lifetimes and energy transfer were investigated in detail. Under 369nm excitation, owing to efficient energy transfer of Tb 3+ →Eu 3+ , the emission spectra both have green emission of Tb 3+ and red emission of Eu 3+ . An efficient energy transfer occur in Tb 3+ , Eu 3+ co-doped Sr 3 LaNa(PO 4 ) 3 F phosphors. The most possible mechanism of energy transfer is dipole-dipole interaction by Dexter's theoretical model. The energy transfer of Tb 3+ and Eu 3+ was confirmed by the variations of emission and excitation spectra and Tb 3+ /Eu 3+ decay lifetimes in Sr 3 LaNa(PO 4 ) 3 F:Tb 3+ ,Eu 3+ . The color tone can tuned from yellowish-green through yellow and eventually to reddish-orange with fixed Tb 3+ content by changing Eu 3+ concentrations. The results show that the prepared Tb 3+ , Eu 3+ co-doped color tunable Sr 3 LaNa(PO 4 ) 3 F phosphor can be used for white LED. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An L-band transit-time oscillator with mechanical frequency tunability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Lili; He, Juntao; Ling, Junpu; Cao, Yibing

2017-02-01

An L-band coaxial Transit-time Oscillator (TTO) with mechanical frequency tunability is introduced in this paper. Particle-in-cell simulations have been done. The output power efficiency has been improved at least 20% under a 10.2 GW input power and with a tunable range from 1.57 GHz to 1.90 GHz by modulating the outer conductor. It is worth to note that the efficiency can reach as high as 41% at 1.75 GHz. The mechanical engineering method is also detailed in this work. The frequency tuning range of the coaxial TTO is 22.6% of the central frequency. On the other hand, the frequency can be tuned from 1.6 GHz to 1.85 GHz by modulating the inner conductor. The author highlights a hollow structure of the L-band coaxial TTO which can work from 1.03 GHz to 1.31 GHz via modulating the outer conductor in the rest of the article. The frequency tuning range of the hollow TTO is 21.4% of the central frequency. More importantly, the hollow TTO can be easily achieved after the inner conductor is removed from the coaxial TTO. The electric field distributions of the coaxial and hollow TTOs are analyzed, resulting in that the longitudinal and transverse working modes are TM01 and π mode, respectively. The same working mode from these two structures implies the stability of the TTOs mentioned above.

Fabrication of a nano-cone array on a p-GaN surface for enhanced light extraction efficiency from GaN-based tunable wavelength LEDs.

PubMed

Soh, C B; Wang, B; Chua, S J; Lin, Vivian K X; Tan, Rayson J N; Tripathy, S

2008-10-08

We report on the fabrication of a nano-cone structured p-GaN surface for enhanced light extraction from tunable wavelength light emitting diodes (LEDs). Prior to p-contact metallization, self-assembled colloidal particles are deposited and used as a mask for plasma etching to create nano-cone structures on the p-GaN layer of LEDs. A well-defined periodic nano-cone array, with an average cone diameter of 300 nm and height of 150 nm, is generated on the p-GaN surface. The photoluminescence emission intensity recorded from the regions with the nano-cone array is increased by two times as compared to LEDs without surface patterning. The light output power from the LEDs with surface nano-cones shows significantly higher electroluminescence intensity at an injection current of 70 mA. This is due to the internal multiple scattering of light from the nano-cone sidewalls. Furthermore, we have shown that with an incorporation of InGaN nanostructures in the quantum well, the wavelength of these surface-patterned LEDs can be tuned from 517 to 488 nm with an increase in the injection current. This methodology may serve as a practical approach to increase the light extraction efficiency from wavelength tunable LEDs.

Electrically tunable two-dimensional holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal grating with variable period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Kangni; Zheng, Jihong; Liu, Yourong; Gao, Hui; Zhuang, Songlin

2017-06-01

An electrically tunable two-dimensional (2D) holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) grating with variable period was fabricated by inserting a cylindrical lens in a conventional holographic interference beam. The interference between the plane wave and cylindrical wave resulting in varying intersection angles on the sample, combined with dual exposure along directions perpendicular to each other, generates a 2D H-PDLC grating with varied period. We have identified periods varying from 3.109 to 5.158 μm across a 16 mm width, with supporting theoretical equations for the period. The period exhibits a symmetrical square lattice in a diagonal direction, with an asymmetrical rectangular lattice in off-diagonal locations. With the first exposure at 2 s and the second exposure at 60 s, the phase separation between the prepolymer and liquid crystal was most evident. The diffraction properties and optic-electric characteristics were also studied. The diffraction efficiency of first-order light was observed to be 13.5% without external voltage, and the transmission efficiency of non-diffracted light was 78% with an applied voltage of 100 V. The proposed method provides the capability of generating period variation to the conventional holographic interference path, with potential application in diffractive optics such as tunable multi-wavelength organic lasing from a dye-doped 2D H-PDLC grating.

Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting

DOE PAGES

Mo, Jingke; Retterer, Scott T.; Cullen, David A.; ...

2016-06-13

Liquid/gas diffusion layers (LGDLs) play a crucial role in electrochemical energy technology and hydrogen production, and are expected to simultaneously transport electrons, heat, and reactants/products with minimum voltage, current, thermal, interfacial, and fluidic losses. In addition, carbon materials, which are typically used in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), are unsuitable for PEM electrolyzer cells (PEMECs). In this study, a novel titanium thin LGDL with well-tunable pore morphologies was developed by employing nano-manufacturing and was applied in a standard PEMEC. The LGDL tests show significant performance improvements. The operating voltages required at a current density of 2.0 A/cm 2 weremore » as low as 1.69 V, and its efficiency reached a report high of up to 88%. The new thin and flat LGDL with well-tunable straight pores has been demonstrated to remarkably reduce the ohmic, interfacial and transport losses. In addition, well-tunable features, including pore size, pore shape, pore distribution, and thus porosity and permeability, will be very valuable for developing PEMEC models and for validation of its simulations with optimal and repeatable performance. The LGDL thickness reduction from greater than 350 μm of conventional LGDLs to 25 μm will greatly decrease the weight and volume of PEMEC stacks, and represents a new direction for future developments of low-cost PEMECs with high performance.« less

Prism-coupled Cherenkov phase-matched terahertz wave generation using a DAST crystal.

PubMed

Suizu, Koji; Shibuya, Takayuki; Uchida, Hirohisa; Kawase, Kodo

2010-02-15

Terahertz (THz) wave generation based on nonlinear frequency conversion is a promising method for realizing a tunable monochromatic high-power THz-wave source. Unfortunately, many nonlinear crystals have strong absorption in the THz frequency region. This limits efficient and widely tunable THz-wave generation. The Cherenkov phase-matching method is one of the most promising techniques for overcoming these problems. Here, we propose a prism-coupled Cherenkov phase-matching (PCC-PM) method, in which a prism with a suitable refractive index at THz frequencies is coupled to a nonlinear crystal. This has the following advantages. Many crystals can be used as THz-wave emitters; the phase-matching condition inside the crystal does not have to be observed; the absorption of the crystal does not prevent efficient generation of radiation; and pump sources with arbitrary wavelengths can be employed. Here we demonstrate PCC-PM THz-wave generation using the organic crystal 4-dimethylamino-N-metyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST) and a Si prism coupler. We obtain THz-wave radiation with tunability of approximately 0.1 to 10 THz and with no deep absorption features resulting from the absorption spectrum of the crystal. The obtained spectra did not depend on the pump wavelength in the range 1300 to 1450 nm. This simple technique shows promise for generating THz radiation using a wide variety of nonlinear crystals.

Exploiting One-Dimensional Exciton-Phonon Coupling for Tunable and Efficient Single-Photon Generation with a Carbon Nanotube.

PubMed

Jeantet, A; Chassagneux, Y; Claude, T; Roussignol, P; Lauret, J S; Reichel, J; Voisin, C

2017-07-12

Condensed-matter emitters offer enriched cavity quantum electrodynamical effects due to the coupling to external degrees of freedom. In the case of carbon nanotubes, a very peculiar coupling between localized excitons and the one-dimensional acoustic phonon modes can be achieved, which gives rise to pronounced phonon wings in the luminescence spectrum. By coupling an individual nanotube to a tunable optical microcavity, we show that this peculiar exciton-phonon coupling is a valuable resource to enlarge the tuning range of the single-photon source while keeping an excellent exciton-photon coupling efficiency and spectral purity. Using the unique flexibility of our scanning fiber cavity, we are able to measure the efficiency spectrum of the very same nanotube in the Purcell regime for several mode volumes. Whereas this efficiency spectrum looks very much like the free-space luminescence spectrum when the Purcell factor is small (large mode volume), we show that the deformation of this spectrum at lower mode volumes can be traced back to the strength of the exciton-photon coupling. It shows an enhanced efficiency on the red wing that arises from the asymmetry of the incoherent energy exchange processes between the exciton and the cavity. This allows us to obtain a tuning range up to several hundred times the spectral width of the source.

Superior stability for perovskite solar cells with 20% efficiency using vacuum co-evaporation.

PubMed

Zhu, Xuejie; Yang, Dong; Yang, Ruixia; Yang, Bin; Yang, Zhou; Ren, Xiaodong; Zhang, Jian; Niu, Jinzhi; Feng, Jiangshan; Liu, Shengzhong Frank

2017-08-31

Chemical composition and film quality are two key figures of merit for large-area high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. To date, all studies on mixed perovskites have used solution-processing, which results in imperfect surface coverage and pin-holes generated during solvent evaporation, execrably influencing the stability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Herein, we report our development using a vacuum co-evaporation deposition method to fabricate pin-hole-free cesium (Cs)-substituted perovskite films with complete surface coverage. Apart from the simplified procedure, the present method also promises tunable band gap, reduced trap-state density and longer carrier lifetime, leading to solar cell efficiency as high as 20.13%, which is among the highest reported for planar perovskite solar cells. The splendid performance is attributed to superior merits of the Cs-substituted perovskite film including tunable band gap, reduced trap-state density and longer carrier lifetime. Moreover, the Cs-substituted perovskite device without encapsulation exhibits significantly higher stability in ambient air compared with the single-component counterpart. When the Cs-substituted perovskite solar cells are stored in dark for one year, the PCE remains at 19.25%, degrading only 4.37% of the initial efficiency. The excellent stability originates from reduced lattice constant and relaxed strain in perovskite lattice by incorporating Cs cations into the crystal lattice, as demonstrated by the positive peak shifts and reduced peak width in X-ray diffraction analysis.

Origami structures for tunable thermal expansion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boatti, Elisa; Bertoldi, Katia

Materials with engineered thermal expansion, capable of achieving targeted and extreme area/volume changes in response to variations in temperature, are important for a number of aerospace, optical, energy, and microelectronic applications. While most of the proposed structures with tunable coefficient of thermal expansion consist of bi-material 2D or 3D lattices, here we propose a periodic metastructure based on a bilayer Miura-Ori origami fold. We combine experiments and simulations to demonstrate that by tuning the geometrical and mechanical parameters an extremely broad range of thermal expansion coefficients can be obtained, spanning both negative and positive values. Additionally, the thermal properties along different directions can be adjusted independently. Differently from all previously reported systems, the proposed structure is non-porous.

Interfacial varactor characteristics of ferroelectric thin films on high-resistivity Si substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, Wen-An; Wang, Tsan-Chun; Huang, Ling-Hui; Wu, Tai-Bor

2006-07-01

Ferroelectric Ba(Zr0.25Ti0.75)O3 (BZT) thin films were deposited on high-resistivity Si substrate without or with inserting a high-k buffer layer of Ta2O5. The varactor characteristics of the BZT capacitors in metal-oxide-semiconductor structure were studied. At low frequency (1MHz ), the capacitors exhibit a negatively tunable characteristic, i.e., [C(V)-C(0)]/C(0)<0, against dc bias V, but opposite tunable characteristics were found at microwave frequencies (>1GHz). The change of voltage-dependent characteristic is attributed to the effect of low-resistivity interface induced by charged defects formed from interfacial oxidation of Si in screening the microwave from penetrating into the bulk of Si.

Robustness analysis of interdependent networks under multiple-attacking strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Yan-Li; Chen, Shi-Ming; Nie, Sen; Ma, Fei; Guan, Jun-Jie

2018-04-01

The robustness of complex networks under attacks largely depends on the structure of a network and the nature of the attacks. Previous research on interdependent networks has focused on two types of initial attack: random attack and degree-based targeted attack. In this paper, a deliberate attack function is proposed, where six kinds of deliberate attacking strategies can be derived by adjusting the tunable parameters. Moreover, the robustness of four types of interdependent networks (BA-BA, ER-ER, BA-ER and ER-BA) with different coupling modes (random, positive and negative correlation) is evaluated under different attacking strategies. Interesting conclusions could be obtained. It can be found that the positive coupling mode can make the vulnerability of the interdependent network to be absolutely dependent on the most vulnerable sub-network under deliberate attacks, whereas random and negative coupling modes make the vulnerability of interdependent network to be mainly dependent on the being attacked sub-network. The robustness of interdependent network will be enhanced with the degree-degree correlation coefficient varying from positive to negative. Therefore, The negative coupling mode is relatively more optimal than others, which can substantially improve the robustness of the ER-ER network and ER-BA network. In terms of the attacking strategies on interdependent networks, the degree information of node is more valuable than the betweenness. In addition, we found a more efficient attacking strategy for each coupled interdependent network and proposed the corresponding protection strategy for suppressing cascading failure. Our results can be very useful for safety design and protection of interdependent networks.

Tunable and Reconfigurable Optical Negative-Index Materials with Low Losses

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-21

to study metric signature transitions and the cosmological “Big Bang”. • A theory for basic nonlinear optical processes in NIMs and in double...h-MMs) can be used to study metric signature transitions and the cosmological “Big Bang”. • A theory for basic nonlinear optical processes in NIMs

Carbon nanotubes as in vivo bacterial probes.

PubMed

Bardhan, Neelkanth M; Ghosh, Debadyuti; Belcher, Angela M

2014-09-17

With the rise in antibiotic-resistant infections, non-invasive sensing of infectious diseases is increasingly important. Optical imaging, although safer and simpler, is less developed than other modalities such as radioimaging, due to low availability of target-specific molecular probes. Here we report carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as bacterial probes for fluorescence imaging of pathogenic infections. We demonstrate that SWNTs functionalized using M13 bacteriophage (M13-SWNT) can distinguish between F'-positive and F'-negative bacterial strains. Moreover, through one-step modification, we attach an anti-bacterial antibody on M13-SWNT, making it easily tunable for sensing specific F'-negative bacteria. We illustrate detection of Staphylococcus aureus intramuscular infections, with ~3.4 × enhancement in fluorescence intensity over background. SWNT imaging presents lower signal spread ~0.08 × and higher signal amplification ~1.4 × , compared with conventional dyes. We show the probe offers greater ~5.7 × enhancement in imaging of S. aureus infective endocarditis. These biologically functionalized, aqueous-dispersed, actively targeted, modularly tunable SWNT probes offer new avenues for exploration of deeply buried infections.

Carbon nanotubes as in vivo bacterial probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardhan, Neelkanth M.; Ghosh, Debadyuti; Belcher, Angela M.

2014-09-01

With the rise in antibiotic-resistant infections, non-invasive sensing of infectious diseases is increasingly important. Optical imaging, although safer and simpler, is less developed than other modalities such as radioimaging, due to low availability of target-specific molecular probes. Here we report carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as bacterial probes for fluorescence imaging of pathogenic infections. We demonstrate that SWNTs functionalized using M13 bacteriophage (M13-SWNT) can distinguish between F‧-positive and F‧-negative bacterial strains. Moreover, through one-step modification, we attach an anti-bacterial antibody on M13-SWNT, making it easily tunable for sensing specific F‧-negative bacteria. We illustrate detection of Staphylococcus aureus intramuscular infections, with ~3.4 × enhancement in fluorescence intensity over background. SWNT imaging presents lower signal spread ~0.08 × and higher signal amplification ~1.4 × , compared with conventional dyes. We show the probe offers greater ~5.7 × enhancement in imaging of S. aureus infective endocarditis. These biologically functionalized, aqueous-dispersed, actively targeted, modularly tunable SWNT probes offer new avenues for exploration of deeply buried infections.

Carbon Nanotubes as in vivo Bacterial Probes

PubMed Central

Bardhan, Neelkanth M.; Ghosh, Debadyuti; Belcher, Angela M.

2014-01-01

With the rise in antibiotic-resistant infections, noninvasive sensing of infectious diseases is increasingly important. Optical imaging, while safer and simpler, is less developed than other modalities like radioimaging; due to low availability of target-specific molecular probes. Here, we report carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as bacterial probes for fluorescence imaging of pathogenic infections. We demonstrate that SWNTs functionalized using M13 bacteriophage (M13-SWNT) can distinguish between F'-positive and F'-negative bacterial strains. Moreover, through one-step modification, we attach an anti-bacterial antibody on M13-SWNT, making it easily tunable for sensing specific F’-negative bacteria. We illustrate detection of Staphylococcus aureus intramuscular infections, with ~3.4× enhancement in fluorescence intensity over background. SWNT imaging presents lower signal spread ~0.08×, and higher signal amplification ~1.4×, compared to conventional dyes. We show the probe offers greater ~5.7× enhancement in imaging of S. aureus infective endocarditis. These biologically-functionalized, aqueous-dispersed, actively-targeted, modularly-tunable SWNT probes offer new avenues for exploration of deeply-buried infections. PMID:25230005

Infrared heterodyne spectroscopy for astronomical purposes. [laser applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Townes, C. H.

1978-01-01

Heterodyne infrared astronomy was carried out using CO2 lasers and some solid state tunable lasers. The best available detectors are mercury cadmium telluride photodiodes. Their quantum efficiencies reach values near 0.5 and in an overall system an effective quantum efficiency, taking into account optical losses and amplifier noise, of about 0.25 was demonstrated. Initial uses of 10 micron heterodyne spectroscopy were for the study of planetary molecular spectra.

Concentration specific and tunable photoresponse of bismuth vanadate functionalized hexagonal ZnO nanocrystals based photoanodes for photoelectrochemical application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Sonal; Ruhela, Aakansha; Rani, Sanju; Khanuja, Manika; Sharma, Rishabh

2018-02-01

In the present work, dual layer BiVO4/ZnO photoanode is instigated for photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting applications. Two different photocatalytic layers ZnO and BiVO4, reduces charge carrier recombination and charge transfer resistance at photoanode/electrolyte junction. The concentration-specific, tunable and without 'spike and overshoot' features, photocurrent density response is originated by varying BiVO4 concentration in the BiVO4/ZnO photoanode. The crystal structure of ZnO (hexagonal wurtzite structure) and BiVO4 (monoclinic scheelite structure) is confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. The band gap of BiVO4/ZnO was estimated to be ca. 2.42 eV through Kubler-Munk function F(R∞) using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Electrochemical behavior of samples was analyzed with photocurrent measurements, electrochemical impedance, Mott-Schottky plots, bulk separation efficiency and surface transfer efficiency. The maximum photocurrent density of BiVO4/ZnO photoanode was found to be 2.3 times higher than pristine ZnO sample.0.038 M BiVO4/ZnO exhibited the highest separation efficiency of 72% and surface transfer efficiency of 64.7% at +1.23 V vs. RHE. Mott-Schottky study revealed the maximum charge carrier density in the same sample.

MEMS for Tunable Photonic Metamaterial Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stark, Thomas

Photonic metamaterials are materials whose optical properties are derived from artificially-structured sub-wavelength unit cells, rather than from the bulk properties of the constituent materials. Examples of metamaterials include plasmonic materials, negative index materials, and electromagnetic cloaks. While advances in simulation tools and nanofabrication methods have allowed this field to grow over the past several decades, many challenges still exist. This thesis addresses two of these challenges: fabrication of photonic metamaterials with tunable responses and high-throughput nanofabrication methods for these materials. The design, fabrication, and optical characterization of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) tunable plasmonic spectrometer are presented. An array of holes in a gold film, with plasmon resonance in the mid-infrared, is suspended above a gold reflector, forming a Fabry-Perot interferometer of tunable length. The spectra exhibit the convolution of extraordinary optical transmission through the holes and Fabry-Perot resonances. Using MEMS, the interferometer length is modulated from 1.7 mum to 21.67 mum , thereby tuning the free spectral range from about 2900 wavenumbers to 230.7 wavenumbers and shifting the reflection minima and maxima across the infrared. Due to its broad spectral tunability in the fingerprint region of the mid-infrared, this device shows promise as a tunable biological sensing device. To address the issue of high-throughput, high-resolution fabrication of optical metamaterials, atomic calligraphy, a MEMS-based dynamic stencil lithography technique for resist-free fabrication of photonic metamaterials on unconventional substrates, has been developed. The MEMS consists of a moveable stencil, which can be actuated with nanometer precision using electrostatic comb drive actuators. A fabrication method and flip chip method have been developed, enabling evaporation of metals through the device handle for fabrication on an external substrate. While the MEMS can be used to fabricate over areas of approximately 100 square mum2, a piezoelectric step-and repeat system enables fabrication over cm length scales. Thus, this technique leverages the precision inherent to MEMS actuation, while enhancing nanofabrication thoughput. Fabricating metamaterials on new substrates will enable novel and tunable metamaterials. For example, by fabricating unit cells on a periodic auxetic mechanical scaffold, the optical properties can be tuned by straining the mechanical scaffold.

APPLICATION OF PULSE COMBUSTION TO SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATION

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses the application of pulse combustion to solid and hazardous waste incineration. otary kiln incinerator simulator was retrofitted with a frequency-tunable pulse combustor to enhance the efficiency of combustion. he pulse combustor excites pulsations in the kiln ...

Cr doping induced negative transverse magnetoresistance in C d3A s2 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yanwen; Tiwari, Rajarshi; Narayan, Awadhesh; Jin, Zhao; Yuan, Xiang; Zhang, Cheng; Chen, Feng; Li, Liang; Xia, Zhengcai; Sanvito, Stefano; Zhou, Peng; Xiu, Faxian

2018-02-01

The magnetoresistance of a material conveys various dynamic information about charge and spin carriers, inspiring both fundamental studies in physics and practical applications such as magnetic sensors, data storage, and spintronic devices. Magnetic impurities play a crucial role in the magnetoresistance as they induce exotic states of matter such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect in topological insulators and tunable ferromagnetic phases in dilute magnetic semiconductors. However, magnetically doped topological Dirac semimetals are hitherto lacking. Here, we report a systematic study of Cr-doped C d3A s2 thin films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. With the Cr doping, C d3A s2 thin films exhibit unexpected negative transverse magnetoresistance and strong quantum oscillations, bearing a trivial Berry's phase and an enhanced effective mass. More importantly, with ionic gating the magnetoresistance of Cr-doped C d3A s2 thin films can be drastically tuned from negative to positive, demonstrating the strong correlation between electrons and the localized spins of the Cr impurities, which we interpret through the formation of magnetic polarons. Such a negative magnetoresistance under perpendicular magnetic field and its gate tunability have not been observed previously in the Dirac semimetal C d3A s2 . The Cr-induced topological phase transition and the formation of magnetic polarons in C d3A s2 provide insights into the magnetic interaction in Dirac semimetals as well as their potential applications in spintronics.

Inverse-designed stretchable metalens with tunable focal distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callewaert, Francois; Velev, Vesselin; Jiang, Shizhou; Sahakian, Alan Varteres; Kumar, Prem; Aydin, Koray

2018-02-01

In this paper, we present an inverse-designed 3D-printed all-dielectric stretchable millimeter wave metalens with a tunable focal distance. A computational inverse-design method is used to design a flat metalens made of disconnected polymer building blocks with complex shapes, as opposed to conventional monolithic lenses. The proposed metalens provides better performance than a conventional Fresnel lens, using lesser amount of material and enabling larger focal distance tunability. The metalens is fabricated using a commercial 3D-printer and attached to a stretchable platform. Measurements and simulations show that the focal distance can be tuned by a factor of 4 with a stretching factor of only 75%, a nearly diffraction-limited focal spot, and with a 70% relative focusing efficiency, defined as the ratio between power focused in the focal spot and power going through the focal plane. The proposed platform can be extended for design and fabrication of multiple electromagnetic devices working from visible to microwave radiation depending on scaling of the devices.

On-chip plasmon-induced transparency based on plasmonic coupled nanocavities

PubMed Central

Zhu, Yu; Hu, Xiaoyong; Yang, Hong; Gong, Qihuang

2014-01-01

On-chip plasmon-induced transparency offers the possibility of realization of ultrahigh-speed information processing chips. Unfortunately, little experimental progress has been made to date because it is difficult to obtain on-chip plasmon-induced transparency using only a single meta-molecule in plasmonic circuits. Here, we report a simple and efficient strategy to realize on-chip plasmon-induced transparency in a nanoscale U-shaped plasmonic waveguide side-coupled nanocavity pair. High tunability in the transparency window is achieved by covering the pair with different organic polymer layers. It is possible to realize ultrafast all-optical tunability based on pump light-induced refractive index change of a graphene cover layer. Compared with previous reports, the overall feature size of the plasmonic nanostructure is reduced by more than three orders of magnitude, while ultrahigh tunability of the transparency window is maintained. This work also provides a superior platform for the study of the various physical effects and phenomena of nonlinear optics and quantum optics. PMID:24435059

On-chip plasmon-induced transparency based on plasmonic coupled nanocavities.

PubMed

Zhu, Yu; Hu, Xiaoyong; Yang, Hong; Gong, Qihuang

2014-01-17

On-chip plasmon-induced transparency offers the possibility of realization of ultrahigh-speed information processing chips. Unfortunately, little experimental progress has been made to date because it is difficult to obtain on-chip plasmon-induced transparency using only a single meta-molecule in plasmonic circuits. Here, we report a simple and efficient strategy to realize on-chip plasmon-induced transparency in a nanoscale U-shaped plasmonic waveguide side-coupled nanocavity pair. High tunability in the transparency window is achieved by covering the pair with different organic polymer layers. It is possible to realize ultrafast all-optical tunability based on pump light-induced refractive index change of a graphene cover layer. Compared with previous reports, the overall feature size of the plasmonic nanostructure is reduced by more than three orders of magnitude, while ultrahigh tunability of the transparency window is maintained. This work also provides a superior platform for the study of the various physical effects and phenomena of nonlinear optics and quantum optics.

Chemically active reduced graphene oxide with tunable C/O ratios.

PubMed

Compton, Owen C; Jain, Bonny; Dikin, Dmitriy A; Abouimrane, Ali; Amine, Khalil; Nguyen, Sonbinh T

2011-06-28

Organic dispersions of graphene oxide can be thermally reduced in polar organic solvents under reflux conditions to afford electrically conductive, chemically active reduced graphene oxide (CARGO) with tunable C/O ratios, dependent on the boiling point of the solvent. The reductions are achieved after only 1 h of reflux, and the corresponding C/O ratios do not change upon further thermal treatment. Hydroxyl and carboxyl groups can be removed when the reflux is carried out above 155 °C, while epoxides are removable only when the temperature is higher than 200 °C. The increasing hydrophobic nature of CARGO, as its C/O ratio increases, improves the dispersibility of the nanosheets in a polystyrene matrix, in contrast to the aggregates formed with CARGO having lower C/O ratios. The excellent processability of the obtained CARGO dispersions is demonstrated via free-standing CARGO papers that exhibit tunable electrical conductivity/chemical activity and can be used as lithium-ion battery anodes with enhanced Coulombic efficiency.

Large tunable valley splitting in edge-free graphene quantum dots on boron nitride

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitag, Nils M.; Reisch, Tobias; Chizhova, Larisa A.; Nemes-Incze, Péter; Holl, Christian; Woods, Colin R.; Gorbachev, Roman V.; Cao, Yang; Geim, Andre K.; Novoselov, Kostya S.; Burgdörfer, Joachim; Libisch, Florian; Morgenstern, Markus

2018-05-01

Coherent manipulation of the binary degrees of freedom is at the heart of modern quantum technologies. Graphene offers two binary degrees: the electron spin and the valley. Efficient spin control has been demonstrated in many solid-state systems, whereas exploitation of the valley has only recently been started, albeit without control at the single-electron level. Here, we show that van der Waals stacking of graphene onto hexagonal boron nitride offers a natural platform for valley control. We use a graphene quantum dot induced by the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope and demonstrate valley splitting that is tunable from -5 to +10 meV (including valley inversion) by sub-10-nm displacements of the quantum dot position. This boosts the range of controlled valley splitting by about one order of magnitude. The tunable inversion of spin and valley states should enable coherent superposition of these degrees of freedom as a first step towards graphene-based qubits.

Carbon-bridged oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)s for photostable and broadly tunable, solution-processable thin film organic lasers

PubMed Central

Morales-Vidal, Marta; Boj, Pedro G.; Villalvilla, José M.; Quintana, José A.; Yan, Qifan; Lin, Nai-Ti; Zhu, Xiaozhang; Ruangsupapichat, Nopporn; Casado, Juan; Tsuji, Hayato; Nakamura, Eiichi; Díaz-García, María A.

2015-01-01

Thin film organic lasers represent a new generation of inexpensive, mechanically flexible devices for spectroscopy, optical communications and sensing. For this purpose, it is desired to develop highly efficient, stable, wavelength-tunable and solution-processable organic laser materials. Here we report that carbon-bridged oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)s serve as optimal materials combining all these properties simultaneously at the level required for applications by demonstrating amplified spontaneous emission and distributed feedback laser devices. A series of six compounds, with the repeating unit from 1 to 6, doped into polystyrene films undergo amplified spontaneous emission from 385 to 585 nm with remarkably low threshold and high net gain coefficients, as well as high photostability. The fabricated lasers show narrow linewidth (<0.13 nm) single mode emission at very low thresholds (0.7 kW cm−2), long operational lifetimes (>105 pump pulses for oligomers with three to six repeating units) and wavelength tunability across the visible spectrum (408–591 nm). PMID:26416643

Tunable electronic and magnetic properties of two‐dimensional materials and their one‐dimensional derivatives

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhuhua; Liu, Xiaofei; Yu, Jin; Hang, Yang; Li, Yao; Guo, Yufeng; Xu, Ying; Sun, Xu; Zhou, Jianxin

2016-01-01

Low‐dimensional materials exhibit many exceptional properties and functionalities which can be efficiently tuned by externally applied force or fields. Here we review the current status of research on tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of low‐dimensional carbon, boron nitride, metal‐dichalcogenides, phosphorene nanomaterials by applied engineering strain, external electric field and interaction with substrates, etc, with particular focus on the progress of computational methods and studies. We highlight the similarities and differences of the property modulation among one‐ and two‐dimensional nanomaterials. Recent breakthroughs in experimental demonstration of the tunable functionalities in typical nanostructures are also presented. Finally, prospective and challenges for applying the tunable properties into functional devices are discussed. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2016, 6:324–350. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1251 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. PMID:27818710

Tunable, high-repetition-rate, dual-signal-wavelength femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on BiB3O6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Xianghao; Wang, Zhaohua; Tian, Wenlong; Fang, Shaobo; Wei, Zhiyi

2018-01-01

We have demonstrated a high-repetition-rate tunable femtosecond dual-signal-wavelength optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on BiB3O6 (BiBO) crystal, synchronously pumped by a frequency-doubled mode-locked Yb:KGW laser. The cavity is simple since no dispersion compensators are used in the cavity. The wavelength range of dual-signal is widely tunable from 710 to 1000 nm. Tuning is accomplished by rotating phase-matching angle of BiBO, and optimizing cavity length and output coupler. Using a 3.75 W pump laser, the maximum average dual-signal output power is 760 mW at 707 and 750 nm, leading to a conversion efficiency of 20.3% not taking into account the idler power. Our experimental results show a non-critical phase-matching configuration pumped by a high peak power laser source. The operation of the dual-signal benefits from the balance of phase matching and group velocity mismatching between the two signals.

140 W peak power laser system tunable in the LWIR.

PubMed

Gutty, François; Grisard, Arnaud; Larat, Christian; Papillon, Dominique; Schwarz, Muriel; Gerard, Bruno; Ostendorf, Ralf; Rattunde, Marcel; Wagner, Joachim; Lallier, Eric

2017-08-07

We present a high peak power rapidly tunable laser system in the long-wave infrared comprising an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) broadly tunable from 8 to 10 µm and an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on quasi phase-matching in orientation-patterned gallium arsenide (OP-GaAs) of fixed grating period. The nonlinear crystal is pumped by a pulsed fiber laser system to achieve efficient amplification in the OPA. Quasi phase-matching remains satisfied when the EC-QCL wavelength is swept from 8 to 10 µm with a crystal of fixed grating period through tuning the pump laser source around 2 µm. The OPA demonstrates parametric amplification from 8 µm to 10 µm and achieves output peak powers up to 140 W with spectral linewidths below 3.5 cm -1 . The beam profile quality (M 2 ) remains below 3.4 in both horizontal and vertical directions. Compared to the EC-QCL, the linewidth broadening is attributed to a coupling with the OPA.

Tunable picosecond infrared pulses generated by stimulated electronic Raman scattering of a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser in potassium vapor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohde, H.; Lin, S.; Minoh, A.; Shimizu, F. O.; Aono, M.; Suzuki, T.

1996-01-01

A down-conversion to the mid-infrared region by using Stimulated Electronic Raman Scattering (SERS) in potassium vapor is described. The pump radiation is a frequency-doubled regeneratively amplified Ti:Sapphire laser with a pulse duration of 2 ps, pulse energy of 0.2 mJ, and repetition rate of 10 Hz. With the pumping frequency tuned around the potassium 4 s-5 p transition, nearly transform-limited infrared radiation tunable between 2.2 and 3.4 μm has been generated with a peak infrared energy of 12 µJ, corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 17%, and with a pulse duration of 2 ps. The present tuning range could be extended by extending the tuning range of the pump laser. In comparison, intense infrared radiation of 90 µJ energy but with a very narrow tunability around 2.9 μm has also been generated by SERS in barium vapor.

Encapsulation-free controlled release: Electrostatic adsorption eliminates the need for protein encapsulation in PLGA nanoparticles

PubMed Central

Pakulska, Malgosia M.; Elliott Donaghue, Irja; Obermeyer, Jaclyn M.; Tuladhar, Anup; McLaughlin, Christopher K.; Shendruk, Tyler N.; Shoichet, Molly S.

2016-01-01

Encapsulation of therapeutic molecules within polymer particles is a well-established method for achieving controlled release, yet challenges such as low loading, poor encapsulation efficiency, and loss of protein activity limit clinical translation. Despite this, the paradigm for the use of polymer particles in drug delivery has remained essentially unchanged for several decades. By taking advantage of the adsorption of protein therapeutics to poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles, we demonstrate controlled release without encapsulation. In fact, we obtain identical, burst-free, extended-release profiles for three different protein therapeutics with and without encapsulation in PLGA nanoparticles embedded within a hydrogel. Using both positively and negatively charged proteins, we show that short-range electrostatic interactions between the proteins and the PLGA nanoparticles are the underlying mechanism for controlled release. Moreover, we demonstrate tunable release by modifying nanoparticle concentration, nanoparticle size, or environmental pH. These new insights obviate the need for encapsulation and offer promising, translatable strategies for a more effective delivery of therapeutic biomolecules. PMID:27386554

Host composition dependent tunable multicolor emission in the single-phase Ba2(Ln(1-z)Tb(z))(BO3)2Cl:Eu phosphors.

PubMed

Xia, Zhiguo; Zhuang, Jiaqing; Meijerink, Andries; Jing, Xiping

2013-05-14

A new strategy based on the host composition design has been adopted to obtain efficient color-tunable emission from Ba2Ln(0.97-z)Tb(z)(BO3)2Cl:0.03Eu (Ln = Y, Gd and Lu, z = 0-0.97) phosphors. This study reveals that the single-phase Ba2Ln(1-z)Tb(z)(BO3)2Cl compounds can be applied to use allowed Eu(2+) absorption transitions to sensitize Eu(3+) emission via the energy transfer Eu(2+) → (Tb(3+))n → Eu(3+). The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement analysis shows single-phase Ba2Ln(1-z)Tb(z)(BO3)2Cl. As-prepared Ba2Ln(0.97-z)Tb(z)(BO3)2Cl:0.03Eu phosphors show intense green, yellow, orange and red emission under 377 nm near ultraviolet (n-UV) excitation due to a variation in the relative intensities of the Eu(2+), Tb(3+) and Eu(3+) emission depending on the Tb content (z) in the host composition, allowing color tuning. The variation in emission color is explained by energy transfer and has been investigated by photoluminescence and lifetime measurements and is further characterized by the Commission Internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) chromaticity indexes. The quantum efficiencies of the phosphors are high, up to 74%, and show good thermal stabilities up to 150 °C. This investigation demonstrates the possibility to sensitize Eu(3+) line emission by Eu(2+)via energy migration over Tb(3+) resulting in efficient color tunable phosphors which are promising for use in solid-state white light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs).

A fast, robust and tunable synthetic gene oscillator.

PubMed

Stricker, Jesse; Cookson, Scott; Bennett, Matthew R; Mather, William H; Tsimring, Lev S; Hasty, Jeff

2008-11-27

One defining goal of synthetic biology is the development of engineering-based approaches that enable the construction of gene-regulatory networks according to 'design specifications' generated from computational modelling. This approach provides a systematic framework for exploring how a given regulatory network generates a particular phenotypic behaviour. Several fundamental gene circuits have been developed using this approach, including toggle switches and oscillators, and these have been applied in new contexts such as triggered biofilm development and cellular population control. Here we describe an engineered genetic oscillator in Escherichia coli that is fast, robust and persistent, with tunable oscillatory periods as fast as 13 min. The oscillator was designed using a previously modelled network architecture comprising linked positive and negative feedback loops. Using a microfluidic platform tailored for single-cell microscopy, we precisely control environmental conditions and monitor oscillations in individual cells through multiple cycles. Experiments reveal remarkable robustness and persistence of oscillations in the designed circuit; almost every cell exhibited large-amplitude fluorescence oscillations throughout observation runs. The oscillatory period can be tuned by altering inducer levels, temperature and the media source. Computational modelling demonstrates that the key design principle for constructing a robust oscillator is a time delay in the negative feedback loop, which can mechanistically arise from the cascade of cellular processes involved in forming a functional transcription factor. The positive feedback loop increases the robustness of the oscillations and allows for greater tunability. Examination of our refined model suggested the existence of a simplified oscillator design without positive feedback, and we construct an oscillator strain confirming this computational prediction.

Negative stiffness honeycombs as tunable elastic metamaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldsberry, Benjamin M.; Haberman, Michael R.

2018-03-01

Acoustic and elastic metamaterials are media with a subwavelength structure that behave as effective materials displaying atypical effective dynamic properties. These material systems are of interest because the design of their sub-wavelength structure allows for direct control of macroscopic wave dispersion. One major design limitation of most metamaterial structures is that the dynamic response cannot be altered once the microstructure is manufactured. However, the ability to modify wave propagation in the metamaterial with an external stimulus is highly desirable for numerous applications and therefore remains a significant challenge in elastic metamaterials research. In this work, a honeycomb structure composed of a doubly periodic array of curved beams, known as a negative stiffness honeycomb (NSH), is analyzed as a tunable elastic metamaterial. The nonlinear static elastic response that results from large deformations of the NSH unit cell leads to a large variation in linear elastic wave dispersion associated with infinitesimal motion superposed on the externally imposed pre-strain. A finite element model is utilized to model the static deformation and subsequent linear wave motion at the pre-strained state. Analysis of the slowness surface and group velocity demonstrates that the NSH exhibits significant tunability and a high degree of anisotropy which can be used to guide wave energy depending on static pre-strain levels. In addition, it is shown that partial band gaps exist where only longitudinal waves propagate. The NSH therefore behaves as a meta-fluid, or pentamode metamaterial, which may be of use for applications of transformation elastodynamics such as cloaking and gradient index lens devices.

Tunable CW diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YLiF4 laser operating at or near room temperature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcguckin, Brendan T. (Inventor); Menzies, Robert T. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A conversion efficiency of 42 percent and slope efficiency of 60 percent relative to absorbed pump power are obtained from a continuous wave diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YLiF4 laser at 2 microns with output power of 84mW at a crystal temperature of 275K. The emission spectrum is etalon tunable over a range of 7nm (16.3 cm(sup -1) centered on 2.067 microns with fine tuning capability of the transition frequency with crystal temperature at a measured rate of -0.03/(cm)K. The effective emission cross-section is measured to be 5 x 10(sup -21) cm squared. These and other aspects of the laser performance are disclosed in the context of calculated atmospheric absorption characteristics in this spectral region and potential use in remote sensing applications. Single frequency output and frequency stabilization are achieved using an intracavity etalon in conjunction with an external reference etalon.

Design of a size-efficient tunable metamaterial absorber based on leaf-shaped cell at near-infrared regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Hailong; Xia, Hui; Xie, Wenke; Guo, Zhibo; Li, Hongjian

2018-06-01

A size-efficient tunable metamaterial absorber (MA) composed of metallic leaf-shaped cell, graphene layer, silicon substrate, and bottom metal film is investigated theoretically and numerically at near-infrared (NIR) regions. Simulation results reveal that the single-band high absorption of 91.9% is obtained at 1268.7 nm. Further results show that the single-band can be simply changed into dual-band high absorption by varying the geometric parameters of top metallic layer at same wavelength regions, yielding two high absorption coefficients of 96.6% and 95.3% at the wavelengths of 1158.7 nm and 1323.6 nm, respectively. And the effect of related geometric parameter on dual-band absorption intensities is also investigated to obtain the optimized one. The peak wavelength can be tuned via modifying the Fermi energy of the graphene layer through controlling the external gate voltage. The work shows that the proposed strategy can be applied to other design of the dual-band structure at infrared regions.

Efficient Gate-tunable light-emitting device made of defective boron nitride nanotubes: from ultraviolet to the visible

PubMed Central

Attaccalite, Claudio; Wirtz, Ludger; Marini, Andrea; Rubio, Angel

2013-01-01

Boron nitride is a promising material for nanotechnology applications due to its two-dimensional graphene-like, insulating, and highly-resistant structure. Recently it has received a lot of attention as a substrate to grow and isolate graphene as well as for its intrinsic UV lasing response. Similar to carbon, one-dimensional boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been theoretically predicted and later synthesised. Here we use first principles simulations to unambiguously demonstrate that i) BN nanotubes inherit the highly efficient UV luminescence of hexagonal BN; ii) the application of an external perpendicular field closes the electronic gap keeping the UV lasing with lower yield; iii) defects in BNNTS are responsible for tunable light emission from the UV to the visible controlled by a transverse electric field (TEF). Our present findings pave the road towards optoelectronic applications of BN-nanotube-based devices that are simple to implement because they do not require any special doping or complex growth. PMID:24060843

Tunable organic distributed feedback dye laser device excited through Förster mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsutsumi, Naoto; Hinode, Taiki

2017-03-01

Tunable organic distributed feedback (DFB) dye laser performances are re-investigated and characterized. The slab-type waveguide DFB device consists of air/active layer/glass substrate. Active layer consisted of tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum (Alq3), 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) dye, and polystyrene (PS) matrix. Effective energy transfer from Alq3 to DCM through Förster mechanism enhances the laser emission. Slope efficiency in the range of 4.9 and 10% is observed at pump energy region higher than 0.10-0.15 mJ cm-2 (lower threshold), which is due to the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and lasing. Typical slope efficiency for lasing in the range of 2.0 and 3.0% is observed at pump energy region higher than 0.25-0.30 mJ cm-2 (higher threshold). The tuning wavelength for the laser emission is ranged from 620 to 645 nm depending on the ASE region.

Gallium Nitride Nanowires and Heterostructures: Toward Color-Tunable and White-Light Sources.

PubMed

Kuykendall, Tevye R; Schwartzberg, Adam M; Aloni, Shaul

2015-10-14

Gallium-nitride-based light-emitting diodes have enabled the commercialization of efficient solid-state lighting devices. Nonplanar nanomaterial architectures, such as nanowires and nanowire-based heterostructures, have the potential to significantly improve the performance of light-emitting devices through defect reduction, strain relaxation, and increased junction area. In addition, relaxation of internal strain caused by indium incorporation will facilitate pushing the emission wavelength into the red. This could eliminate inefficient phosphor conversion and enable color-tunable emission or white-light emission by combining blue, green, and red sources. Utilizing the waveguiding modes of the individual nanowires will further enhance light emission, and the properties of photonic structures formed by nanowire arrays can be implemented to improve light extraction. Recent advances in synthetic methods leading to better control over GaN and InGaN nanowire synthesis are described along with new concept devices leading to efficient white-light emission. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Nonradiative relaxation and laser action in tunable solid state laser crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petricevic, V.; Gayen, S. K.; Alfano, R. R.

1989-01-01

Room-temperature pulsed laser action was obtained in chromium-activated forsterite (Cr:Mg2SiO4) for both 532 and 1064 nm pumping. Free running laser emission in both cases is centered at 1235 nm and has a bandwidth of approximately 30 nm. Slope efficiency as high as 22 percent was measured. Using different sets of output mirrors and a single birefrigent plate as the intracavity wavelength selecting element tunability over the 1167 to 1268 nm spectral range was demonstrated. Continuous wave laser operation at room temperature was obtained for 1064 nm pumping from a CW Nd:YAG laser. The output power slope efficiency is 6.8 percent. The gain cross section is estimated to be 1.1 x 10 to the 19th sq cm. Spectroscopic studies suggest that the laser action is due to a center other than the trivalent chromium (Cr 3+), presumably the tetravalent chromium (Cr 4+) in a tetrahedrally coordinated site.

Ultra-wideband all-fiber tunable Tm/Ho-co-doped laser at 2 μm.

PubMed

Xue, Guanghui; Zhang, Bin; Yin, Ke; Yang, Weiqiang; Hou, Jing

2014-10-20

We demonstrate an all-fiber tunable Tm/Ho-codoped laser operating in the 2 μm wavelength region. The wavelength tuning range of the Tm/Ho-codoped fiber laser (THFL) with 1-m length of Tm/Ho-codoped fiber (THDF) was from 1727 nm to 2030 nm. Efficient short wavelength operation and ultra-wide wavelength tuning range of 303 nm were both achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the broadest tuning range that has been reported for an all-fiber rare-earth-doped laser to date. By increasing the THDF length to 2 m, the obtainable wavelength of the THFL was further red-shifted to the range from 1768 nm to 2071 nm. The output power of the THFL was scaled up from 1810 nm to 2010 nm by using a stage of Tm/Ho-codoped fiber amplifier (THFA), which exhibited the maximum slope efficiency of 42.6% with output power of 408 mW at 1910 nm.

Electronically tunable extraordinary optical transmission in graphene plasmonic ribbons coupled to subwavelength metallic slit arrays

DOE PAGES

Kim, Seyoon; Jang, Min Seok; Brar, Victor W.; ...

2016-08-08

In this paper, subwavelength metallic slit arrays have been shown to exhibit extraordinary optical transmission, whereby tunneling surface plasmonic waves constructively interfere to create large forward light propagation. The intricate balancing needed for this interference to occur allows for resonant transmission to be highly sensitive to changes in the environment. Here we demonstrate that extraordinary optical transmission resonance can be coupled to electrostatically tunable graphene plasmonic ribbons to create electrostatic modulation of mid-infrared light. Absorption in graphene plasmonic ribbons situated inside metallic slits can efficiently block the coupling channel for resonant transmission, leading to a suppression of transmission. Full-wave simulationsmore » predict a transmission modulation of 95.7% via this mechanism. Experimental measurements reveal a modulation efficiency of 28.6% in transmission at 1,397 cm –1, corresponding to a 2.67-fold improvement over transmission without a metallic slit array. This work paves the way for enhancing light modulation in graphene plasmonics by employing noble metal plasmonic structures.« less

Efficient generation of twin photons at telecom wavelengths with 2.5 GHz repetition-rate-tunable comb laser.

PubMed

Jin, Rui-Bo; Shimizu, Ryosuke; Morohashi, Isao; Wakui, Kentaro; Takeoka, Masahiro; Izumi, Shuro; Sakamoto, Takahide; Fujiwara, Mikio; Yamashita, Taro; Miki, Shigehito; Terai, Hirotaka; Wang, Zhen; Sasaki, Masahide

2014-12-19

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.

Tuning Transpiration by Interfacial Solar Absorber-Leaf Engineering.

PubMed

Zhuang, Shendong; Zhou, Lin; Xu, Weichao; Xu, Ning; Hu, Xiaozhen; Li, Xiuqiang; Lv, Guangxin; Zheng, Qinghui; Zhu, Shining; Wang, Zhenlin; Zhu, Jia

2018-02-01

Plant transpiration, a process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts especially leaves, consumes a large component of the total continental precipitation (≈48%) and significantly influences global water distribution and climate. To date, various chemical and/or biological explorations have been made to tune the transpiration but with uncertain environmental risks. In recent years, interfacial solar steam/vapor generation is attracting a lot of attention for achieving high energy transfer efficiency. Various optical and thermal designs at the solar absorber-water interface for potential applications in water purification, seawater desalination, and power generation appear. In this work, the concept of interfacial solar vapor generation is extended to tunable plant transpiration by showing for the first time that the transpiration efficiency can also be enhanced or suppressed through engineering the solar absorber-leaf interface. By tuning the solar absorption of membrane in direct touch with green leaf, surface temperature of green leaf will change accordingly because of photothermal effect, thus the transpiration efficiency as well as temperature and relative humidity in the surrounding environment will be tuned. This tunable transpiration by interfacial absorber-leaf engineering can open an alternative avenue to regulate local atmospheric temperature, humidity, and eventually hydrologic cycle.

Free-electron laser simulations on the MPP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vonlaven, Scott A.; Liebrock, Lorie M.

1987-01-01

Free electron lasers (FELs) are of interest because they provide high power, high efficiency, and broad tunability. FEL simulations can make efficient use of computers of the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) class because most of the processing consists of applying a simple equation to a set of identical particles. A test version of the KMS Fusion FEL simulation, which resides mainly in the MPPs host computer and only partially in the MPP, has run successfully.

Widely tunable gas laser for remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothe, D. E.

1988-01-01

An advanced, highly efficient and reliable Rare-Gas Halide laser was developed. It employs the following: (1) novel prepulse techniques and impedance matching for efficient energy transfer; (2) magnetic switches for high reliability; (3) x-ray preionization for discharge uniformity and beam quality; and (4) an integrated gas flow loop for compactness. When operated as a XeCl laser, the unit produces 2 J per pulse with good beam uniformity. Optical pulse duration is 100 ns. Pulse repetition rate was tested up to 25 Hz. Efficiency is 3 percent.

Mirrorless Optical Parametric Oscillation with Tunable Threshold in Cold Atoms.

PubMed

Mei, Yefeng; Guo, Xianxin; Zhao, Luwei; Du, Shengwang

2017-10-13

We report the demonstration of a mirrorless optical parametric oscillator with a tunable threshold in laser-cooled atoms with four-wave mixing (FWM) using electromagnetically induced transparency. Driven by two classical laser beams, the generated Stokes and anti-Stokes fields counterpropagate and build up efficient intrinsic feedback through the nonlinear FWM process. This feedback does not involve any cavity or spatially distributed microstructures. We observe the transition of photon correlation properties from the biphoton quantum regime (below the threshold) to the oscillation regime (above the threshold). The pump threshold can be tuned by varying the operating parameters. We achieve the oscillation with a threshold as low as 15  μW.

Multiple current peaks in room-temperature atmospheric pressure homogenous dielectric barrier discharge plasma excited by high-voltage tunable nanosecond pulse in air

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, De-Zheng; Wang, Wen-Chun; Zhang, Shuai

2013-05-13

Room temperature homogenous dielectric barrier discharge plasma with high instantaneous energy efficiency is acquired by using nanosecond pulse voltage with 20-200 ns tunable pulse width. Increasing the voltage pulse width can lead to the generation of regular and stable multiple current peaks in each discharge sequence. When the voltage pulse width is 200 ns, more than 5 organized current peaks can be observed under 26 kV peak voltage. Investigation also shows that the organized multiple current peaks only appear in homogenous discharge mode. When the discharge is filament mode, organized multiple current peaks are replaced by chaotic filament current peaks.

A tunable dual-wavelength pump source based on simulated polariton scattering for terahertz-wave generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Bo; Liu, Jinsong; Yao, Jianquan; Li, Enbang

2013-11-01

We propose a dual-wavelength pump source by utilizing stimulated polariton scattering in a LiNbO3 crystal. The residual pump and the generated tunable Stokes waves can be combined to generate THz-wave generation via difference frequency generation (DFG). With a pump energy of 49 mJ, Stokes waves with a tuning range from 1067.8 to 1074 nm have been generated, and an output energy of up to 14.9 mJ at 1070 nm has been achieved with a conversion efficiency of 21.7%. A sum frequency generation experiment was carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme for THz-wave DFG.

Broadly tunable terahertz difference-frequency generation in quantum cascade lasers on silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Seungyong; Kim, Jae Hyun; Jiang, Yifan; Vijayraghavan, Karun; Belkin, Mikhail A.

2018-01-01

We report broadly tunable terahertz (THz) sources based on intracavity Cherenkov difference-frequency generation in quantum cascade lasers transfer-printed on high-resistivity silicon substrates. Spectral tuning from 1.3 to 4.3 THz was obtained from a 2-mm long laser chip using a modified Littrow external cavity setup. The THz power output and the midinfrared-to-THz conversion efficiency of the devices transferred on silicon are dramatically enhanced, compared with the devices on a native semi-insulating InP substrate. Enhancement is particularly significant at higher THz frequencies, where the tail of the Reststrahlen band results in a strong absorption of THz light in the InP substrate.

Solid-State Laser Source of Tunable Narrow-Bandwidth Ultraviolet Radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldberg, Lew; Kliner, Dahv A.; Koplow, Jeffrey P.

1998-01-01

A solid-state laser source of tunable and narrow-bandwidth UV light is disclosed. The system relies on light from a diode laser that preferably generates light at infrared frequencies. The light from the seed diode laser is pulse amplified in a light amplifier, and converted into the ultraviolet by frequency tripling, quadrupling, or quintupling the infrared light. The narrow bandwidth, or relatively pure light, of the seed laser is preserved, and the pulse amplifier generates high peak light powers to increase the efficiency of the nonlinear crystals in the frequency conversion stage. Higher output powers may be obtained by adding a fiber amplifier to power amplify the pulsed laser light prior to conversion.

Tunable, Flexible and Efficient Optimization of Control Pulses for Superconducting Qubits, part I - Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machnes, Shai; AsséMat, Elie; Tannor, David; Wilhelm, Frank

Quantum computation places very stringent demands on gate fidelities, and experimental implementations require both the controls and the resultant dynamics to conform to hardware-specific ansatzes and constraints. Superconducting qubits present the additional requirement that pulses have simple parametrizations, so they can be further calibrated in the experiment, to compensate for uncertainties in system characterization. We present a novel, conceptually simple and easy-to-implement gradient-based optimal control algorithm, GOAT, which satisfies all the above requirements. In part II we shall demonstrate the algorithm's capabilities, by using GOAT to optimize fast high-accuracy pulses for two leading superconducting qubits architectures - Xmons and IBM's flux-tunable couplers.

Polarized fine structure in the photoluminescence excitation spectrum of a negatively charged quantum dot.

PubMed

Ware, M E; Stinaff, E A; Gammon, D; Doty, M F; Bracker, A S; Gershoni, D; Korenev, V L; Bădescu, S C; Lyanda-Geller, Y; Reinecke, T L

2005-10-21

We report polarized photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy of the negative trion in single charge-tunable quantum dots. The spectrum exhibits a p-shell resonance with polarized fine structure arising from the direct excitation of the electron spin triplet states. The energy splitting arises from the axially symmetric electron-hole exchange interaction. The magnitude and sign of the polarization are understood from the spin character of the triplet states and a small amount of quantum dot asymmetry, which mixes the wave functions through asymmetric e-e and e-h exchange interactions.

A Tunable Laser Source for the Validation of Homogeneous Negative Refractive Index Materials in the Optical Regime

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

theoretically predicted earlier, and it is based on coexistence of the spin wave ( magnon ) mode with the plasmonic mode, with simultaneous negative...region 27-28 µm. Such behavior is expected, since the spin waves ( magnons ) which are responsible for the maximum are not presented in this specific...the magnon -plasmon resonance in magnetic semiconductors. 22 24 26 28 0.65 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 R 22 24 26 28 0.65 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 R

Tunable two-dimensional acoustic meta-structure composed of funnel-shaped unit cells with multi-band negative acoustic property

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Sungjin; Kim, Boseung; Min, Dongki; Park, Junhong

2015-10-01

This paper presents a two-dimensional heat-exhaust and sound-proof acoustic meta-structure exhibiting tunable multi-band negative effective mass density. The meta-structure was composed of periodic funnel-shaped units in a square lattice. Each unit cell operates simultaneously as a Helmholtz resonator (HR) and an extended pipe chamber resonator (EPCR), leading to a negative effective mass density creating bandgaps for incident sound energy dissipation without transmission. This structure allowed large heat-flow through the cross-sectional area of the extended pipe since the resonance was generated by acoustic elements without using solid membranes. The pipes were horizontally directed to a flow source to enable small flow resistance for cooling. Measurements of the sound transmission were performed using a two-load, four-microphone method for a unit cell and small reverberation chamber for two-dimensional panel to characterize the acoustic performance. The effective mass density showed significant frequency dependent variation exhibiting negative values at the specific bandgaps, while the effective bulk modulus was not affected by the resonator. Theoretical models incorporating local resonances in the multiple resonator units were proposed to analyze the noise reduction mechanism. The acoustic meta-structure parameters to create broader frequency bandgaps were investigated using the theoretical model. The negative effective mass density was calculated to investigate the creation of the bandgaps. The effects of design parameters such as length, cross-sectional area, and volume of the HR; length and cross-sectional area of the EPCR were analyzed. To maximize the frequency band gap, the suggested acoustic meta-structure panel, small neck length, and cross-sectional area of the HR, large EPCR length was advantageous. The bandgaps became broader when the two resonant frequencies were similar.

Optofluidic lens with tunable focal length and asphericity

PubMed Central

Mishra, Kartikeya; Murade, Chandrashekhar; Carreel, Bruno; Roghair, Ivo; Oh, Jung Min; Manukyan, Gor; van den Ende, Dirk; Mugele, Frieder

2014-01-01

Adaptive micro-lenses enable the design of very compact optical systems with tunable imaging properties. Conventional adaptive micro-lenses suffer from substantial spherical aberration that compromises the optical performance of the system. Here, we introduce a novel concept of liquid micro-lenses with superior imaging performance that allows for simultaneous and independent tuning of both focal length and asphericity. This is achieved by varying both hydrostatic pressures and electric fields to control the shape of the refracting interface between an electrically conductive lens fluid and a non-conductive ambient fluid. Continuous variation from spherical interfaces at zero electric field to hyperbolic ones with variable ellipticity for finite fields gives access to lenses with positive, zero, and negative spherical aberration (while the focal length can be tuned via the hydrostatic pressure). PMID:25224851

Goos-Hanchen shifts in tilted uniaxial crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaohu

2018-06-01

The Goos-Hanchen shifts at the surface of the tilted uniaxial crystals have been studied with the help of the stationary phase method. It is found that the permittivity and the optical axis of the uniaxial crystal have outstanding influence on the Goos-Hanchen shift. The numerical results show that the negative Goos-Hanchen shift can occur even when the refractive index of the material is not negative. Besides, the Goos-Hanchen shift can be negative or positive infinite under certain conditions. Our results may provide useful information in manipulating the Goos-Hanchen shift in uniaxial crystals. We believe this method could find practical applications in tunable sensors and switches, which are based on Goos-Hanchen shifts.

Cascaded chirped photon acceleration for efficient frequency conversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edwards, Matthew R.; Qu, Kenan; Jia, Qing; Mikhailova, Julia M.; Fisch, Nathaniel J.

2018-05-01

A cascaded sequence of photon acceleration stages using the instantaneous creation of a plasma density gradient by flash ionization allows the generation of coherent and chirped ultraviolet and x-ray pulses with independently tunable frequency and bandwidth. The efficiency of the cascaded process scales with 1/ω in energy, and multiple stages produce significant frequency up-conversion with gas-density plasmas. Chirping permits subsequent pulse compression to few-cycle durations, and output frequencies are not limited to integer harmonics.

Tunable TiO2 Nanotube Arrays for Flexible Bio-Sensitized Solar Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

microid extender followed by a colloidal silica /wetted imperial cloth. The foil was then cut into 1- × 2-cm samples. Then, the substrates were...17. Lei, B.; Liao, J.; Wang, R. J.; Su, C.; Kuang, D. Ordered Crystalline Ti02 Nanotube Arrays on Transparent FTO Glass for Efficient Dye...combined with a transparent , Indium Tin Dioxide coated PET film are attractive candidates for efficient, flexible DSSC’s. Flexible solar cells offer

Tunable, rare earth-doped solid state lasers

DOEpatents

Emmett, John L.; Jacobs, Ralph R.; Krupke, William F.; Weber, Marvin J.

1980-01-01

Laser apparatus comprising combinations of an excimer pump laser and a rare earth-doped solid matrix, utilizing the 5d-4f radiative transition in a rare earth ion to produce visible and ultra-violet laser radiation with high overall efficiency in selected cases and relatively long radiative lifetimes.

Tunable white light of a Ce3+,Tb3+,Mn2+ triply doped Na2Ca3Si2O8 phosphor for high colour-rendering white LED applications: tunable luminescence and energy transfer.

PubMed

Lü, Wei; Xu, Huawei; Huo, Jiansheng; Shao, Baiqi; Feng, Yang; Zhao, Shuang; You, Hongpeng

2017-07-18

A tunable white light emitting Na 2 Ca 3 Si 2 O 8 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ ,Mn 2+ phosphor with a high color rendering index (CRI) has been prepared. Under UV excitation, Na 2 Ca 3 Si 2 O 8 :Ce 3+ phosphors present blue luminescence and exhibit a broad excitation ranging from 250 to 400 nm. When codoping Tb 3+ /Mn 2+ ions into Na 2 Ca 3 Si 2 O 8 , energy transfer from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ and Ce 3+ to Mn 2+ ions is observed from the spectral overlap between Ce 3+ emission and Tb 3+ /Mn 2+ excitation spectra. The energy-transfer efficiencies and corresponding mechanisms are discussed in detail. The mechanism of energy transfer from Ce 3+ to Tb 3+ is demonstrated to be a dipole-quadrupole mechanism by the Inokuti-Hirayama model. The wavelength-tunable white light can be realized by coupling the emission bands centered at 440, 550 and 590 nm ascribed to the contribution from Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ and Mn 2+ , respectively. The commission on illumination value of color tunable emission can be tuned by controlling the content of Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ and Mn 2+ . Temperature-dependent luminescence spectra proved the good thermal stability of the as-prepared phosphor. White LEDs with CRI = 93.5 are finally fabricated using a 365 nm UV chip and the as-prepared Na 2 Ca 3 Si 2 O 8 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ ,Mn 2+ phosphor. All the results suggest that Na 2 Ca 3 Si 2 O 8 :Ce 3+ ,Tb 3+ ,Mn 2+ can act as potential color-tunable and single-phase white emission phosphors for possible applications in UV based white LEDs.

Robust and Elastic Polymer Membranes with Tunable Properties for Gas Separation

DOE PAGES

Cao, Peng -Fei; Li, Bingrui; Hong, Tao; ...

2017-07-17

Here, polymer membranes with the capability to process a massive volume of gas are especially attractive for practical applications of gas separation. Although much effort has been devoted to develop novel polymer membranes with increased selectivity, the overall gas-separation performance and lifetime of membrane are still negatively affected by the weak mechanical performance, low plasticization resistance and poor physical aging tolerance. Recently, elastic polymer membranes with tunable mechanical properties have been attracting significant attentions due to their tremendous potential applications. Herein, we report a series of urethanerich PDMS-based polymer networks (U-PDMS-NW) with improved mechanical performance for gas separation. The cross-linkmore » density of U-PDMS-NWs is tailored by varying the molecular weight ( M n) of PDMS. The U-PDMS-NWs show up to 400% elongation and tunable Young’s modulus (1.3–122.2 MPa), ultimate tensile strength (1.1–14.3 MPa), and toughness (0.7–24.9 MJ/m 3). All of the U-PDMS-NWs exhibit salient gas-separation performance with excellent thermal resistance and aging tolerance, high gas permeability (>100 Barrer), and tunable gas selectivity (up to α[ P CO2/ P N2] ≈ 41 and α[ P CO2/ P CH4] ≈ 16). With well-controlled mechanical properties and gas-separation performance, these U-PDMS-NW can be used as a polymermembrane platform not only for gas separation but also for other applications such as microfluidic channels and stretchable electronic devices.« less

Tunable thermal expansion and magnetism in Zr-doped ScF 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Tao; Xu, Jiale; Hu, Lei

The negative thermal expansion (NTE) behavior provides us an opportunity to design materials with controllable coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). In this letter, we report a tunable isotropic thermal expansion in the cubic (Sc1-xZrx)F3+δ over a wide temperature and CTE range (αl = -4.0 to +16.8 x 10-6 K-1, 298–648 K). The thermal expansion can be well adjusted from strong negative to zero, and finally to large positive. Intriguingly, isotropic zero thermal expansion (αl = 2.6 x 10-7 K-1, 298–648 K) has been observed in the composition of (Sc0.8Zr0.2)F3+δ. The controllable thermal expansion in (Sc1-xZrx)F3+δ is correlated to the localmore » structural distortion. Interestingly, the ordered magnetic behavior has been found in the zero thermal expansion compound of (Sc0.8Zr0.2)F3+δ at room temperature, which presumably correlates with the unpaired electron of the lower chemical valence of Zr cation. The present study provides a useful reference to control the thermal expansion and explore the multi-functionalization for NTE materials.« less

Tunable inversion symmetry in heterostructures of layered oxides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rondinelli, James

Traditional approaches to create and control functional electronic materials have focused on new phases in previously unknown bulk minerals. More recently, interlayer physics has spawned interest in known materials in unexplored atomic scale geometries, especially in complex transition metal oxides (TMO), where heterostructures can be created on demand. In this talk, I show that although epitaxial strain routinely induces (enhances) electric polarizations, biaxial strain can also induce an unanticipated polar-to-nonpolar (P-NP) structural transition in (001) thin films of naturally layered An + 1Bn O3n+1 (n = 1 - ∞) oxides. Density functional theory calculations and a complete phenomenological model for Ca3Ti2O7 are used to show that the origin of the P-NP transition originates from the interplay of trilinear-related lattice mode interactions active in the layered oxides, and those interactions are directly strain tunable. Moreover these layered oxides exhibit a quasi-two dimensional phonon mode-an acoustic branch with quadratic dispersion, enabling unusual membrane effects such as tunable negative thermal expansion. I conclude by emphasizing that broken inversion symmetric structures offer a plentiful playground for realizing new functionalities in thin films, including new multiferroics from polar metals.

Widely-tunable, narrow-linewidth III-V/silicon hybrid external-cavity laser for coherent communication.

PubMed

Guan, Hang; Novack, Ari; Galfsky, Tal; Ma, Yangjin; Fathololoumi, Saeed; Horth, Alexandre; Huynh, Tam N; Roman, Jose; Shi, Ruizhi; Caverley, Michael; Liu, Yang; Baehr-Jones, Thomas; Bergman, Keren; Hochberg, Michael

2018-04-02

We demonstrate a III-V/silicon hybrid external cavity laser with a tuning range larger than 60 nm at the C-band on a silicon-on-insulator platform. A III-V semiconductor gain chip is hybridized into the silicon chip by edge-coupling the silicon chip through a Si 3 N 4 spot size converter. The demonstrated packaging method requires only passive alignment and is thus suitable for high-volume production. The laser has a largest output power of 11 mW with a maximum wall-plug efficiency of 4.2%, tunability of 60 nm (more than covering the C-band), and a side-mode suppression ratio of 55 dB (>46 dB across the C-band). The lowest measured linewidth is 37 kHz (<80 kHz across the C-band), which is the narrowest linewidth using a silicon-based external cavity. In addition, we successfully demonstrate all silicon-photonics-based transmission of 34 Gbaud (272 Gb/s) dual-polarization 16-QAM using our integrated laser and silicon photonic coherent transceiver. The results show no additional penalty compared to commercially available narrow linewidth tunable lasers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of a complete silicon photonic based coherent link. This is also the first experimental demonstration of >250 Gb/s coherent optical transmission using a silicon micro-ring-based tunable laser.

Tunable emergent heterostructures in a prototypical correlated metal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fobes, D. M.; Zhang, S.; Lin, S.-Z.; Das, Pinaki; Ghimire, N. J.; Bauer, E. D.; Thompson, J. D.; Harriger, L. W.; Ehlers, G.; Podlesnyak, A.; Bewley, R. I.; Sazonov, A.; Hutanu, V.; Ronning, F.; Batista, C. D.; Janoschek, M.

2018-05-01

At the interface between two distinct materials, desirable properties, such as superconductivity, can be greatly enhanced1, or entirely new functionalities may emerge2. Similar to in artificially engineered heterostructures, clean functional interfaces alternatively exist in electronically textured bulk materials. Electronic textures emerge spontaneously due to competing atomic-scale interactions3, the control of which would enable a top-down approach for designing tunable intrinsic heterostructures. This is particularly attractive for correlated electron materials, where spontaneous heterostructures strongly affect the interplay between charge and spin degrees of freedom4. Here we report high-resolution neutron spectroscopy on the prototypical strongly correlated metal CeRhIn5, revealing competition between magnetic frustration and easy-axis anisotropy—a well-established mechanism for generating spontaneous superstructures5. Because the observed easy-axis anisotropy is field-induced and anomalously large, it can be controlled efficiently with small magnetic fields. The resulting field-controlled magnetic superstructure is closely tied to the formation of superconducting6 and electronic nematic textures7 in CeRhIn5, suggesting that in situ tunable heterostructures can be realized in correlated electron materials.

Tunable microwave metasurfaces for high-performance operations: dispersion compensation and dynamical switch

PubMed Central

Xu, He-Xiu; Tang, Shiwei; Ma, Shaojie; Luo, Weijie; Cai, Tong; Sun, Shulin; He, Qiong; Zhou, Lei

2016-01-01

Controlling the phase distributions on metasurfaces leads to fascinating effects such as anomalous light refraction/reflection, flat-lens focusing, and optics-vortex generation. However, metasurfaces realized so far largely reply on passive resonant meta-atoms, whose intrinsic dispersions limit such passive meta-devices’ performances at frequencies other than the target one. Here, based on tunable meta-atoms with varactor diodes involved, we establish a scheme to resolve these issues for microwave metasurfaces, in which the dispersive response of each meta-atom is precisely controlled by an external voltage imparted on the diode. We experimentally demonstrate two effects utilizing our scheme. First, we show that a tunable gradient metasurface exhibits single-mode high-efficiency operation within a wide frequency band, while its passive counterpart only works at a single frequency but exhibits deteriorated performances at other frequencies. Second, we demonstrate that the functionality of our metasurface can be dynamically switched from a specular reflector to a surface-wave convertor. Our approach paves the road to achieve dispersion-corrected and switchable manipulations of electromagnetic waves. PMID:27901088

13CO2/12CO2 ratio analysis in exhaled air by lead-salt tunable diode lasers for noninvasive diagnostics in gastroenterology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepanov, Eugene V.; Zyrianov, Pavel V.; Miliaev, Valerii A.; Selivanov, Yurii G.; Chizhevskii, Eugene G.; Os'kina, Svetlana; Ivashkin, Vladimir T.; Nikitina, Elena I.

1999-07-01

An analyzer of 13CO2/12CO2 ratio in exhaled air based on lead-salt tunable diode lasers is presented. High accuracy of the carbon isotope ratio detection in exhaled carbon dioxide was achieved with help of very simple optical schematics. It was based on the use of MBE laser diodes operating in pulse mode and on recording the resonance CO2 absorption at 4.2 micrometers . Special fast acquisition electronics and software were applied for spectral data collection and processing. Developed laser system was tested in a clinical train aimed to assessment eradication efficiency in therapy of gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. Data on the 13C-urea breath test used for P.pylori detection and obtained with tunable diode lasers in the course of the trail was compared with the results of Mass-Spectroscopy analysis and histology observations. The analyzer can be used also for 13CO2/12CO2 ratio detection in exhalation to perform gastroenterology breath test based on using other compounds labeled with stable isotopes.

Broadband gate-tunable terahertz plasmons in graphene heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Baicheng; Liu, Yuan; Huang, Shu-Wei; Choi, Chanyeol; Xie, Zhenda; Flor Flores, Jaime; Wu, Yu; Yu, Mingbin; Kwong, Dim-Lee; Huang, Yu; Rao, Yunjiang; Duan, Xiangfeng; Wong, Chee Wei

2018-01-01

Graphene, a unique two-dimensional material comprising carbon in a honeycomb lattice1, has brought breakthroughs across electronics, mechanics and thermal transport, driven by the quasiparticle Dirac fermions obeying a linear dispersion2,3. Here, we demonstrate a counter-pumped all-optical difference frequency process to coherently generate and control terahertz plasmons in atomic-layer graphene with octave-level tunability and high efficiency. We leverage the inherent surface asymmetry of graphene for strong second-order nonlinear polarizability4,5, which, together with tight plasmon field confinement, enables a robust difference frequency signal at terahertz frequencies. The counter-pumped resonant process on graphene uniquely achieves both energy and momentum conservation. Consequently, we demonstrate a dual-layer graphene heterostructure with terahertz charge- and gate-tunability over an octave, from 4.7 THz to 9.4 THz, bounded only by the pump amplifier optical bandwidth. Theoretical modelling supports our single-volt-level gate tuning and optical-bandwidth-bounded 4.7 THz phase-matching measurements through the random phase approximation, with phonon coupling, saturable absorption and below the Landau damping, to predict and understand graphene plasmon physics.

Tunable emergent heterostructures in a prototypical correlated metal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fobes, D. M.; Zhang, S.; Lin, S. -Z.

We report at the interface between two distinct materials, desirable properties, such as superconductivity, can be greatly enhanced1, or entirely new functionalities may emerge. Similar to in artificially engineered heterostructures, clean functional interfaces alternatively exist in electronically textured bulk materials. Electronic textures emerge spontaneously due to competing atomic-scale interactions, the control of which would enable a top-down approach for designing tunable intrinsic heterostructures. This is particularly attractive for correlated electron materials, where spontaneous heterostructures strongly affect the interplay between charge and spin degrees of freedom. Here we report high-resolution neutron spectroscopy on the prototypical strongly correlated metal CeRhIn 5, revealingmore » competition between magnetic frustration and easy-axis anisotropy—a well-established mechanism for generating spontaneous superstructures. Because the observed easy-axis anisotropy is field-induced and anomalously large, it can be controlled efficiently with small magnetic fields. Finally, the resulting field-controlled magnetic superstructure is closely tied to the formation of superconducting and electronic nematic textures in CeRhIn 5, suggesting that in situ tunable heterostructures can be realized in correlated electron materials.« less

Tunable microwave metasurfaces for high-performance operations: dispersion compensation and dynamical switch.

PubMed

Xu, He-Xiu; Tang, Shiwei; Ma, Shaojie; Luo, Weijie; Cai, Tong; Sun, Shulin; He, Qiong; Zhou, Lei

2016-11-30

Controlling the phase distributions on metasurfaces leads to fascinating effects such as anomalous light refraction/reflection, flat-lens focusing, and optics-vortex generation. However, metasurfaces realized so far largely reply on passive resonant meta-atoms, whose intrinsic dispersions limit such passive meta-devices' performances at frequencies other than the target one. Here, based on tunable meta-atoms with varactor diodes involved, we establish a scheme to resolve these issues for microwave metasurfaces, in which the dispersive response of each meta-atom is precisely controlled by an external voltage imparted on the diode. We experimentally demonstrate two effects utilizing our scheme. First, we show that a tunable gradient metasurface exhibits single-mode high-efficiency operation within a wide frequency band, while its passive counterpart only works at a single frequency but exhibits deteriorated performances at other frequencies. Second, we demonstrate that the functionality of our metasurface can be dynamically switched from a specular reflector to a surface-wave convertor. Our approach paves the road to achieve dispersion-corrected and switchable manipulations of electromagnetic waves.

Tunable microwave metasurfaces for high-performance operations: dispersion compensation and dynamical switch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, He-Xiu; Tang, Shiwei; Ma, Shaojie; Luo, Weijie; Cai, Tong; Sun, Shulin; He, Qiong; Zhou, Lei

2016-11-01

Controlling the phase distributions on metasurfaces leads to fascinating effects such as anomalous light refraction/reflection, flat-lens focusing, and optics-vortex generation. However, metasurfaces realized so far largely reply on passive resonant meta-atoms, whose intrinsic dispersions limit such passive meta-devices’ performances at frequencies other than the target one. Here, based on tunable meta-atoms with varactor diodes involved, we establish a scheme to resolve these issues for microwave metasurfaces, in which the dispersive response of each meta-atom is precisely controlled by an external voltage imparted on the diode. We experimentally demonstrate two effects utilizing our scheme. First, we show that a tunable gradient metasurface exhibits single-mode high-efficiency operation within a wide frequency band, while its passive counterpart only works at a single frequency but exhibits deteriorated performances at other frequencies. Second, we demonstrate that the functionality of our metasurface can be dynamically switched from a specular reflector to a surface-wave convertor. Our approach paves the road to achieve dispersion-corrected and switchable manipulations of electromagnetic waves.

Freely-tunable broadband polarization rotator for terahertz waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Ru-Wen; Fan, Ren-Hao; Zhou, Yu; Jiang, Shang-Chi; Xiong, Xiang; Huang, Xian-Rong; Wang, Mu

It is known that commercially-available terahertz (THz) emitters usually generate linearly polarized waves only along certain directions, but in practice, a polarization rotator that is capable of rotating the polarization of THz waves to any direction is particularly desirable and it will have various important applications. In this work, we demonstrate a freely tunable polarization rotator for broadband THz waves using a three-rotating-layer metallic grating structure, which can conveniently rotate the polarization of a linearly polarized THz wave to any desired direction with nearly perfect conversion efficiency. The device performance has been experimentally demonstrated by both THz transmission spectra and direct imaging. The polarization rotation originates from multi wave interference in the three-layer grating structure based on the scattering-matrix analysis. We can expect that this active broadband polarization rotator has wide applications in analytical chemistry, biology, communication technology, imaging, etc.. Reference: R. H. Fan, Y. Zhou, X. P. Ren, R. W. Peng, S. C. Jiang, D. H. Xu, X. Xiong, X. R. Huang, and Mu Wang, Advanced Materials 27,1201(2015). Freely-tunable broadband polarization rotator for terahertz waves.

Quantum cascade lasers: from tool to product.

PubMed

Razeghi, M; Lu, Q Y; Bandyopadhyay, N; Zhou, W; Heydari, D; Bai, Y; Slivken, S

2015-04-06

The quantum cascade laser (QCL) is an important laser source in the mid-infrared and terahertz frequency range. The past twenty years have witnessed its tremendous development in power, wall plug efficiency, frequency coverage and tunability, beam quality, as well as various applications based on QCL technology. Nowadays, QCLs can deliver high continuous wave power output up to 5.1 W at room temperature, and cover a wide frequency range from 3 to 300 μm by simply varying the material components. Broadband heterogeneous QCLs with a broad spectral range from 3 to 12 μm, wavelength agile QCLs based on monolithic sampled grating design, and on-chip beam QCL combiner are being developed for the next generation tunable mid-infrared source for spectroscopy and sensing. Terahertz sources based on nonlinear generation in QCLs further extend the accessible wavelength into the terahertz range. Room temperature continuous wave operation, high terahertz power up to 1.9 mW, and wide frequency tunability form 1 to 5 THz makes this type of device suitable for many applications in terahertz spectroscopy, imaging, and communication.

Recent progress of quantum cascade laser research from 3 to 12  μm at the Center for Quantum Devices [Invited].

PubMed

Razeghi, Manijeh; Zhou, Wenjia; Slivken, Steven; Lu, Quan-Yong; Wu, Donghai; McClintock, Ryan

2017-11-01

The quantum cascade laser (QCL) is becoming the leading laser source in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) range, which contains two atmospheric transmission windows and many molecular fingerprint absorption features. Since its first demonstration in 1994, the QCL has undergone tremendous development in terms of the output power, wall plug efficiency, wavelength coverage, tunability and beam quality. At the Center for Quantum Devices, we have demonstrated high-power continuous wave operation of QCLs covering a wide wavelength range from 3 to 12 μm, with power output up to 5.1 W at room temperature. Recent research has resulted in power scaling in pulsed mode with up to 203 W output, electrically tunable QCLs based on monolithic sampled grating design, heterogeneous QCLs with a broad spectral gain, broadly tunable on-chip beam-combined QCLs, QCL-based mid-IR frequency combs, and fundamental mode surface emitting quantum cascade ring lasers. The developed QCLs will be the basis for a number of next-generation spectroscopy and sensing systems.

Tunable emergent heterostructures in a prototypical correlated metal

DOE PAGES

Fobes, D. M.; Zhang, S.; Lin, S. -Z.; ...

2018-03-26

We report at the interface between two distinct materials, desirable properties, such as superconductivity, can be greatly enhanced1, or entirely new functionalities may emerge. Similar to in artificially engineered heterostructures, clean functional interfaces alternatively exist in electronically textured bulk materials. Electronic textures emerge spontaneously due to competing atomic-scale interactions, the control of which would enable a top-down approach for designing tunable intrinsic heterostructures. This is particularly attractive for correlated electron materials, where spontaneous heterostructures strongly affect the interplay between charge and spin degrees of freedom. Here we report high-resolution neutron spectroscopy on the prototypical strongly correlated metal CeRhIn 5, revealingmore » competition between magnetic frustration and easy-axis anisotropy—a well-established mechanism for generating spontaneous superstructures. Because the observed easy-axis anisotropy is field-induced and anomalously large, it can be controlled efficiently with small magnetic fields. Finally, the resulting field-controlled magnetic superstructure is closely tied to the formation of superconducting and electronic nematic textures in CeRhIn 5, suggesting that in situ tunable heterostructures can be realized in correlated electron materials.« less

A novel IMSL tunable phase shifter for HMSIW-LWA-fed rectangular patches based on nematic liquid crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, JiaHui; Raheem, Odai H.

2017-07-01

A novel IMSL tunable phase shifter for HMSIW-LWA-fed rectangular patches based on liquid crystal technology is proposed. Rectangular patches are used as radiators for the opening sidewall of the waveguide and matched section part for a unit cell. The transition structure is added for enhancing the efficiency of HMSIW-LWA due to converting most input power to the leaky mode. The novel IMSL phase shifter is used for investigating the tunable dielectric characteristics of N-LC by applying an electric field to the LC cell, which is controlled by the orientation angle of the LC molecules. Theoretically, the orientation angle is derived and solved numerically with the accurate method. As a result, the HMSIW-LWA can be tuned up to ± 25° for a fixed frequency by tuning the nematic LC with applied voltage from 0 to 20 V. In addition, the realized gain changed from 6 to 9.4 dB for a fixed tuned frequency, and 46° steerable for rest main beams range of the HMSIW-LWA in both forward and backward directions.

Ground Demonstration of Planetary Gas Lidar Based on Optical Parametric Amplifier

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Numata, Kenji; Riris, Haris; Li, Steve; Wu, Stewart; Kawa, Stephen R.; Krainak, Michael; Abshire, James

2012-01-01

We report on the development effort of a nanosecond-pulsed optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for remote trace gas measurements for Mars and Earth. The OPA output has high spectral purity and is widely tunable both at near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, with an optical-optica1 conversion efficiency of up to approx 39 %. Using this laser source, we demonstrated open-path measurements of CH4 (3291 nm and 1651 nm), CO2 (1573 nm), H2O (1652 nm), and CO (4764 nm) on the ground. The simplicity, tunability. and power scalability of the OPA make it a strong candidate for general planetary lidar instruments, which will offer important information on the origins of the planet's geology, atmosphere, and potential for biology,

Bandwidth-variable tunable optical filter unit for illumination and spectral imaging systems using thin-film optical band-pass filters.

PubMed

Hennig, Georg; Brittenham, Gary M; Sroka, Ronald; Kniebühler, Gesa; Vogeser, Michael; Stepp, Herbert

2013-04-01

An optical filter unit is demonstrated, which uses two successively arranged tunable thin-film optical band-pass filters and allows for simultaneous adjustment of the central wavelength in the spectral range 522-555 nm and of the spectral bandwidth in the range 3-16 nm with a wavelength switching time of 8 ms∕nm. Different spectral filter combinations can cover the complete visible spectral range. The transmitted intensity was found to decrease only linearly with the spectral bandwidth for bandwidths >6 nm, allowing a high maximum transmission efficiency of >75%. The image of a fiber bundle was spectrally filtered and analyzed in terms of position-dependency of the transmitted bandwidth and central wavelength.

Pure electrical, highly-efficient and sidelobe free coherent Raman spectroscopy using acousto-optics tunable filter (AOTF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Zhaokai; Petrov, Georgi I.; Yakovlev, Vladislav V.

2016-02-01

Fast and sensitive Raman spectroscopy measurements are imperative for a large number of applications in biomedical imaging, remote sensing and material characterization. Stimulated Raman spectroscopy offers a substantial improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio but is often limited to a discrete number of wavelengths. In this report, by introducing an electronically-tunable acousto-optical filter as a wavelength selector, a novel approach to a broadband stimulated Raman spectroscopy is demonstrated. The corresponding Raman shift covers the spectral range from 600 cm-1 to 4500 cm-1, sufficient for probing most vibrational Raman transitions. We validated the use of the new instrumentation to both coherent anti-Stokes scattering (CARS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) spectroscopies.

UV Generation of 25 mJ/pulse at 289 nm for Ozone Lidar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Storm, Mark E.; Marsh, Waverly; Barnes, James C.

1998-01-01

Our paper describes a technique for generating tunable UV laser radiation between 250-300 nm capable of energies up to 30-5O mJ/pulse. The tunability of this source is attractive for selecting ozone absorption cross sections which are optimal for ozone DIAL detection throughout the troposphere. A Nd:YAG laser is used to pump a pulsed titanium sapphire laser which is then frequency tripled into the UV. Titanium sapphire (TiS) lases robustly between 750-900 nm. In initial experiments we have converted 110 mJ of 867 nm from a TiS laser into 28 mJ at 289 nm. The energy conversion efficiency was 62% for doubling into 433 nm and 25% into 289 nm.

Solid-state-based laser system as a replacement for Ar⁺ lasers.

PubMed

Beck, Tobias; Rein, Benjamin; Sörensen, Fabian; Walther, Thomas

2016-09-15

We report on a solid-state-based laser system at 1028 nm. The light is generated by a diode laser seeded ytterbium fiber amplifier. In two build-up cavities, its frequency is doubled and quadrupled to 514 nm and 257 nm, respectively. At 514 nm, the system delivers up to 4.7 W of optical power. In the fourth harmonic, up to 173 mW are available limited by the nonlinear crystal. The frequency of the laser is mode-hop-free tunable by 16 GHz in 10 ms in the UV. Therefore, the system is suitable as a low maintenance, efficient, and tunable narrowband replacement for frequency doubled Ar⁺ laser systems.

Wide range operation of regenerative optical parametric wavelength converter using ASE-degraded 43-Gb/s RZ-DPSK signals.

PubMed

Gao, Mingyi; Kurumida, Junya; Namiki, Shu

2011-11-07

For sustainable growth of the Internet, wavelength-tunable optical regeneration is the key to scaling up high energy-efficiency dynamic optical path networks while keeping the flexibility of the network. Wavelength-tunable optical parametric regenerator (T-OPR) based on the gain saturation effect of parametric amplification in a highly nonlinear fiber is promising for noise reduction in phase-shift keying signals. In this paper, we experimentally evaluated the T-OPR performance for ASE-degraded 43-Gb/s RZ-DPSK signals over a 20-nm input wavelength range between 1527 nm and 1547 nm. As a result, we achieved improved power penalty performance for the regenerated idler with a proper pump power range.

Effect of metal coating in all-fiber acousto-optic tunable filter using torsional wave.

PubMed

Song, Du-Ri; Jun, Chang Su; Do Lim, Sun; Kim, Byoung Yoon

2014-12-15

Torsional mode acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is demonstrated using a metal-coated birefringent optical fiber for an improved robustness. The changes in acoustic and optical properties of a metal-coated birefringent optical fiber induced by the thin metal coating were analyzed experimentally and theoretically. The filter wavelength shift is successfully explained as a result of combined effect of acoustic wavelength change and optical birefringence change. We also demonstrated a small form-factor configuration by coiling the fiber with 6 cm diameter without performance degradation. The center wavelength of the filter can be tuned >35 nm by changing the applied frequency, and the coupling efficiency is higher than 92% with <5 nm 3-dB bandwidth.

Wide-range and fast thermally-tunable silicon photonic microring resonators using the junction field effect.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoxi; Lentine, Anthony; DeRose, Christopher; Starbuck, Andrew L; Trotter, Douglas; Pomerene, Andrew; Mookherjea, Shayan

2016-10-03

Tunable silicon microring resonators with small, integrated micro-heaters which exhibit a junction field effect were made using a conventional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic foundry fabrication process. The design of the resistive tuning section in the microrings included a "pinched" p-n junction, which limited the current at higher voltages and inhibited damage even when driven by a pre-emphasized voltage waveform. Dual-ring filters were studied for both large (>4.9 THz) and small (850 GHz) free-spectral ranges. Thermal red-shifting was demonstrated with microsecond-scale time constants, e.g., a dual-ring filter was tuned over 25 nm in 0.6 μs 10%-90% transition time, and with efficiency of 3.2 μW/GHz.

Graphene based terahertz phase modulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kakenov, N.; Ergoktas, M. S.; Balci, O.; Kocabas, C.

2018-07-01

Electrical control of amplitude and phase of terahertz radiation (THz) is the key technological challenge for high resolution and noninvasive THz imaging. The lack of active materials and devices hinders the realization of these imaging systems. Here, we demonstrate an efficient terahertz phase and amplitude modulation using electrically tunable graphene devices. Our device structure consists of electrolyte-gated graphene placed at quarter wavelength distance from a reflecting metallic surface. In this geometry, graphene operates as a tunable impedance surface which yields electrically controlled reflection phase. Terahertz time domain reflection spectroscopy reveals the voltage controlled phase modulation of π and the reflection modulation of 50 dB. To show the promises of our approach, we demonstrate a multipixel phase modulator array which operates as a gradient impedance surface.

Passivated p-type silicon: Hole injection tunable anode material for organic light emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, W. Q.; Ran, G. Z.; Xu, W. J.; Qin, G. G.

2008-02-01

We find that hole injection can be enhanced simply by selecting a lower-resistivity p-Si anode to match an electron injection enhancement for organic light emitting diodes with ultrathin-SiO2-layer-passivated p-Si anode (Si-OLED). For a Si-OLED with ordinary AlQ electron transport layer, the optimized resistivity of the p-Si anode is 40Ωcm; for that with n-doped Bphen electron transport layer, it decreases to 5Ωcm. Correspondingly, the maximum power efficiency increases from 0.3to1.9lm /W, even higher than that of an indium tin oxide control device (1.4lm/W). This passivated p-type silicon is a hole injection tunable anode material for OLED.

Absolute intensities and self-, N2-, and air-broadened Lorentz halfwidths for selected lines in the nu3 band of (C-12)H3D from measurements with a tunable diode laser spectrometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malathy Devi, V.; Benner, D. C.; Rinsland, C. P.; Smith, M. A. H.; Thakur, K. B.

1986-01-01

Absolute intensities and self-, air- and N2-broadened half-widths have been determined for the first time for individual lines in the nu3(A1) band of (C-12)H3D near 7.6 microns from measurements of individual vibration-rotation lines using a tunable diode laser spectrometer. The intensity measurements are believed to be accurate to within three percent. Within experimental uncertainties, equal broadening efficiencies are found for both air and nitrogen. Self-broadened half-widths determined for three transitions yield an average half-width value of 0.803 + or -0.0010/cm/atm at 296 K.

Terahertz wavefront control by tunable metasurface made of graphene ribbons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yatooshi, Takumi; Ishikawa, Atsushi, E-mail: a-ishikawa@okayama-u.ac.jp; Tsuruta, Kenji

2015-08-03

We propose a tunable metasurface consisting of an array of graphene ribbons on a silver mirror with a SiO{sub 2} gap layer to control reflected wavefront at terahertz frequencies. The graphene ribbons exhibit localized plasmon resonances depending on their Fermi levels to introduce abrupt phase shifts along the metasurface. With interference of the Fabry-Perot resonances in the SiO{sub 2} layer, phase shift through the system is largely accumulated, covering the 0-to-2π range for full control of the wavefront. Numerical simulations prove that wide-angle beam steering up to 53° with a high reflection efficiency of 60% is achieved at 5 THzmore » within a switching time shorter than 0.6 ps.« less

Independently tunable dual-band perfect absorber based on graphene at mid-infrared frequencies

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Yuping; Li, Tongtong; Chen, Qi; ...

2015-12-22

We design a dual-band absorber formed by combining two cross-shaped metallic resonators of different sizes within a super-unit-cell arranged in mirror symmetry. Simulations indicate that absorption efficiencies greater than 99% can be achieved at two different frequencies under normal incidence. We also employ a design scheme with graphene integration, which allows independent tuning of individual absorption frequencies by electrostatically changing the Fermi energy of the graphene layer. High absorbance is maintained over a wide incident angle range up to 50 degrees for both TE and TM polarizations. Thus, it enables a promising way to design electrically tunable absorbers, which maymore » contribute toward the realization of frequency selective detectors for sensing applications.« less

Tunable circuit for tunable capacitor devices

DOEpatents

Rivkina, Tatiana; Ginley, David S.

2006-09-19

A tunable circuit (10) for a capacitively tunable capacitor device (12) is provided. The tunable circuit (10) comprises a tunable circuit element (14) and a non-tunable dielectric element (16) coupled to the tunable circuit element (16). A tunable capacitor device (12) and a method for increasing the figure of merit in a tunable capacitor device (12) are also provided.

Efficient terahertz wave generation from GaP crystals pumped by chirp-controlled pulses from femtosecond photonic crystal fiber amplifier

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Jiang; Shi, Junkai; Xu, Baozhong

2014-01-20

A chirp-tunable femtosecond 10 W, 42 MHz photonic-crystal-fiber oscillator-amplifier system that is capable of delivering sub-60 fs light pulses at 1040 nm is used to demonstrate high-efficiency terahertz radiation generation via optical rectification in GaP crystals only a few millimeters in length. The optimization of the chirp of the fiber-laser pulses is shown to radically enhance the terahertz output, indicating one possible way to more efficiently use these extended nonlinear crystals in compact fiber-pumped terahertz radiation sources.

Electrically controlled lens and prism using nanoscale polymer-dispersed and polymer-networked liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yun Hsing; Ren, Hongwen; Wu, Shin Tson

2004-05-01

Inhomogeneous nanoscale polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) devices having gradient nanoscale droplet distribution were fabricated. This gradient refractive index nanoscale (GRIN) PDLC film was obtained by exposing the LC/ monomer with a uniform ultraviolet (UV) light through a patterned photomask. The monomer and LC were mixed at 70: 30 wt% ratio. The area exposed to a weaker UV intensity would produce a larger droplet size, and vice versa. Owing to the nanoscale LC droplets involved, the GRIN PDLC devices are highly transparent in the whole visible region. The gradient refractive index profile can be used as switchable prism gratings, Fresnel lens, and positive and negative lenses with tunable focal lengths. Such a GRIN PDLC device is a broadband device and independent of light polarization. The diffraction efficiency of the lens is controllable by the applied voltage. The major advantages of the GRIN PDLC devices are in simple fabrication process, polarization-independent, and fast switching speed, although the required driving voltage is higher than 100 Vrms. To lower the driving voltage, the technique of polymer-networked liquid crystal (PNLC) has been developed. The PNLC was also produced by exposing the LC/monomer mixture with a uniform UV light through a patterned photomask. However, the monomer concentration in PNLC is only around 2-5 wt%. The formed PNLC structure exhibits a gradient polymer network distribution. The LC in the regions stabilized by a higher polymer concentration exhibits a higher threshold voltage. By using this technique, prism grating, tunable electronic lens and Fresnel lens have been demonstrated. The driving voltage is around 10 Vrms. A drawback of this kind of device is polarization dependence. To overcome the polarization dependence, stacking two orthogonal homogeneous PNLC lens is considered.

Tunable diode laser optogalvanic spectroscopy of molecules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Webster, C. R.; Menzies, R. T.

1983-01-01

The laser optogalvanic (LOG) technique for studying molecular spectra has been extended for the first time to the infrared wavelength region. Portions of the NH3 nu-2 band at 9.5 microns and the NO2 nu-3 band at 6.2 microns have been recorded at Doppler-limited resolution using CW tunable diode lasers to probe dc electrical discharges in pure NH3 and an NO2/He gas mixture. Using adjustable electrode positions and an orthogonal geometry between the probe laser and the discharge axis, two contributions to the optogalvanic signal are identified: one which corresponds to an increase in discharge impedance and is seen only for irradiation of the negative glow region; and a second which corresponds to a decrease in discharge impedance and is seen for irradiation of all other discharge regions.

FILTER-INDUCED BIAS IN Lyα EMITTER SURVEYS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN STANDARD AND TUNABLE FILTERS. GRAN TELESCOPIO CANARIAS PRELIMINARY RESULTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Diego, J. A.; De Leo, M. A.; Cepa, J.

Lyα emitter (LAE) surveys have successfully used the excess in a narrowband filter compared to a nearby broadband image to find candidates. However, the odd spectral energy distribution (SED) of LAEs combined with the instrumental profile has important effects on the properties of the candidate samples extracted from these surveys. We investigate the effect of the bandpass width and the transmission profile of the narrowband filters used for extracting LAE candidates at redshifts z ≅ 6.5 through Monte Carlo simulations, and we present pilot observations to test the performance of tunable filters to find LAEs and other emission-line candidates. Wemore » compare the samples obtained using a narrow ideal rectangular filter, the Subaru NB921 narrowband filter, and sweeping across a wavelength range using the ultra-narrow-band tunable filters of the instrument OSIRIS, installed at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias. We use this instrument for extracting LAE candidates from a small set of real observations. Broadband data from the Subaru, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer databases were used for fitting SEDs to calculate photometric redshifts and to identify interlopers. Narrowband surveys are very efficient in finding LAEs in large sky areas, but the samples obtained are not evenly distributed in redshift along the filter bandpass, and the number of LAEs with equivalent widths <60 Å can be underestimated. These biased results do not appear in samples obtained using ultra-narrow-band tunable filters. However, the field size of tunable filters is restricted because of the variation of the effective wavelength across the image. Thus, narrowband and ultra-narrow-band surveys are complementary strategies to investigate high-redshift LAEs.« less

Efficient two-stage dual-beam noncollinear optical parametric amplifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Yu-Hsiang; Gao, Frank Y.; Poulin, Peter R.; Nelson, Keith A.

2018-06-01

We have constructed a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier with two signal beams amplified in the same nonlinear crystal. This dual-beam design is more energy-efficient than operating two amplifiers in parallel. The cross-talk between two beams has been characterized and discussed. We have also added a second amplification stage to enhance the output of one of the arms, which is then frequency-doubled for ultraviolet generation. This single device provides two tunable sources for ultrafast spectroscopy in the ultraviolet and visible region.

Recent Developments in the Photophysics of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Their Use as Active and Passive Material Elements in Thin Film Photovoltaics

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

photons of energy hn > 1.1 eV, which is the same spectral range captured by a silicon solar cell . The thermodynamic limit for the efficiency of a solar ...Park, NC 27709-2211 15. SUBJECT TERMS Carbon nanotube photovoltaic photophysics solar cell perspective Michael S. Arnold, Jeffrey L. Blackburn...increasing the efficiency and functionality of next-generation solar cells . Widely tunable properties open up possibilities for using nanotubes in many

High flux, narrow bandwidth compton light sources via extended laser-electron interactions

DOEpatents

Barty, V P

2015-01-13

New configurations of lasers and electron beams efficiently and robustly produce high flux beams of bright, tunable, polarized quasi-monoenergetic x-rays and gamma-rays via laser-Compton scattering. Specifically, the use of long-duration, pulsed lasers and closely-spaced, low-charge and low emittance bunches of electron beams increase the spectral flux of the Compton-scattered x-rays and gamma rays, increase efficiency of the laser-electron interaction and significantly reduce the overall complexity of Compton based light sources.

Polarized Fine Structure in the Photoluminescence Excitation Spectrum of a Negatively Charged Quantum Dot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ware, M. E.; Stinaff, E. A.; Gammon, D.; Doty, M. F.; Bracker, A. S.; Gershoni, D.; Korenev, V. L.; Bădescu, Ş. C.; Lyanda-Geller, Y.; Reinecke, T. L.

2005-10-01

We report polarized photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy of the negative trion in single charge-tunable InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The spectrum exhibits a p-shell resonance with polarized fine structure arising from the direct excitation of the electron spin triplet states. The energy splitting arises from the axially symmetric electron-hole exchange interaction. The magnitude and sign of the polarization are understood from the spin character of the triplet states and a small amount of quantum dot asymmetry, which mixes the wave functions through asymmetric e-e and e-h exchange interactions.

Controlled thermoelectric response of a tunable Rashba coupled metal-insulator-superconductor junction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapri, Priyadarshini; Adhikary, Priyanka; Sinha, Shubham; Basu, Saurabh

2018-05-01

Thermoelectric effect for metal, insulator and the superconductor junctions has been studied with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) being present at the interfaces via modified Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) theory. We find that the thermopower, as a function of an effective barrier potential that characterizes the intermediate insulating layer, displays an oscillatory behavior. Interesting interplay between the strength of RSOC and the effective barrier potential has been carried out in details in this regard. For specific ranges of the effective barrier potential, RSOC enhances the thermopower, while the reverse happens for other values. Moreover it is found that the effective barrier potential plays a crucial role in determining the thermopower spectrum. For a tunable Rashba coupling, the thermopower of the junction can be controlled with precision, which may useful for the thermoelectric applications, at low temperatures. Further the efficiency of the system is obtained for different pairing correlations of the superconducting lead where we find that the system with a d-wave symmetry is more efficient as compared to a s-wave correlation, in some selective regions of effective barrier potential. It is found that for some selective regions of effective barrier potential, the efficiency of the system increases with RSOC and the opposite happens for other values.

Tunable plasmon-enhanced broadband light harvesting for perovskite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Que, Meidan; Zhu, Liangliang; Yang, Yawei; Liu, Jie; Chen, Peng; Chen, Wei; Yin, Xingtian; Que, Wenxiu

2018-04-01

In this work, we report a reliable method for synthesizing (Au, Au/Ag core)/(TiO2 shell) nanostructures with their plasmonic wavelengths covering the visible light region for perovskite solar cells. The mono- and bi-metallic core-shell nanoparticles exhibit tunable localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength and function as "light tentacle" to improve the photo-electricity conversion efficiency. Plasmonic nanoparticles with different sizes and shapes, different thicknesses of TiO2 shell and Ag interlayer are found to have a strong influence on the localized surface plasmon resonance enhancement effect. The experimental photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells is significantly enhanced when the plasmonic nanoparticles are embedded inmesoporous TiO2 scaffolds. A champion photo-electricity conversion efficiency of 17.85% is achieved with nanoparticles (Au/Ag, λLSPR = 650 nm), giving a 18.7% enhancement over that of the pristine device (15.04%). Finite-difference time-domain simulations show that nanorod Au in mesoporus TiO2 scaffold induces the most intense electromagnetic coupling, and provides a novel emitter for photon flux in mesoporous perovskite solar cells. These theoretical results are consistent with the corresponding experimental those. Thus, enhancing the incident light intensities around 650 nm will be most favorable to the improvement of the photo-electricity conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

Efficient generation of twin photons at telecom wavelengths with 2.5 GHz repetition-rate-tunable comb laser

PubMed Central

Jin, Rui-Bo; Shimizu, Ryosuke; Morohashi, Isao; Wakui, Kentaro; Takeoka, Masahiro; Izumi, Shuro; Sakamoto, Takahide; Fujiwara, Mikio; Yamashita, Taro; Miki, Shigehito; Terai, Hirotaka; Wang, Zhen; Sasaki, Masahide

2014-01-01

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. PMID:25524646

Highly efficient extraction of anthocyanins from grape skin using deep eutectic solvents as green and tunable media.

PubMed

Jeong, Kyung Min; Zhao, Jing; Jin, Yan; Heo, Seong Rok; Han, Se Young; Yoo, Da Eun; Lee, Jeongmi

2015-12-01

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were investigated as tunable, environmentally benign, yet superior extraction media to enhance the extraction of anthocyanins from grape skin, which is usually discarded as waste. Ten DESs containing choline chloride as hydrogen bond acceptor combined with different hydrogen bond donors were screened for high extraction efficiencies based on the anthocyanin extraction yields. As a result, citric acid, D-(+)-maltose, and fructose were selected as the effective DES components, and the newly designed DES, CM-6 that is composed of citric acid and D-(+)-maltose at 4:1 molar ratio, exhibited significantly higher levels of anthocyanin extraction yields than conventional extraction solvents such as 80% aqueous methanol. The final extraction method was established based on the ultrasound-assisted extraction under conditions optimized using response surface methodology. Its extraction yields were double or even higher than those of conventional methods that are time-consuming and use volatile organic solvents. Our method is truly a green method for anthocyanin extraction with great extraction efficiency using a minimal amount of time and solvent. Moreover, this study suggested that grape skin, the by-products of grape juice processing, could serve as a valuable source for safe, natural colorants or antioxidants by use of the eco-friendly extraction solvent, CM-6.

Singlet and triplet excitation management in a bichromophoric near-infrared-phosphorescent BODIPY-benzoporphyrin platinum complex

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whited, M. T.; Djurovich, P. I.; Roberts, Sean T.

2011-01-12

Multichromophoric arrays provide one strategy for assembling molecules with intense absorptions across the visible spectrum but are generally focused on systems that efficiently produce and manipulate singlet excitations and therefore are burdened by the restrictions of (a) unidirectional energy transfer and (b) limited tunability of the lowest molecular excited state. In contrast, we present here a multichromophoric array based on four boron dipyrrins (BODIPY) bound to a platinum benzoporphyrin scaffold that exhibits intense panchromatic absorption and efficiently generates triplets. The spectral complementarity of the BODIPY and porphryin units allows the direct observation of fast bidirectional singlet and triplet energy transfermore » processes (k ST( 1BDP→ 1Por) = 7.8 × 10 11 s -1, k TT( 3Por→ 3BDP) = 1.0 × 10 10 s -1, k TT( 3BDP→ 3Por) = 1.6 × 10 10 s -1), leading to a long-lived equilibrated [ 3BDP][Por]⇌[BDP][ 3Por] state. This equilibrated state contains approximately isoenergetic porphyrin and BODIPY triplets and exhibits efficient near-infrared phosphorescence (λ em = 772 nm, Φ = 0.26). Taken together, these studies show that appropriately designed triplet-utilizing arrays may overcome fundamental limitations typically associated with core-shell chromophores by tunable redistribution of energy from the core back onto the antennae.« less

Tuning Transpiration by Interfacial Solar Absorber‐Leaf Engineering

PubMed Central

Zhuang, Shendong; Zhou, Lin; Xu, Weichao; Xu, Ning; Hu, Xiaozhen; Li, Xiuqiang; Lv, Guangxin; Zheng, Qinghui; Zhu, Shining

2017-01-01

Abstract Plant transpiration, a process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts especially leaves, consumes a large component of the total continental precipitation (≈48%) and significantly influences global water distribution and climate. To date, various chemical and/or biological explorations have been made to tune the transpiration but with uncertain environmental risks. In recent years, interfacial solar steam/vapor generation is attracting a lot of attention for achieving high energy transfer efficiency. Various optical and thermal designs at the solar absorber–water interface for potential applications in water purification, seawater desalination, and power generation appear. In this work, the concept of interfacial solar vapor generation is extended to tunable plant transpiration by showing for the first time that the transpiration efficiency can also be enhanced or suppressed through engineering the solar absorber–leaf interface. By tuning the solar absorption of membrane in direct touch with green leaf, surface temperature of green leaf will change accordingly because of photothermal effect, thus the transpiration efficiency as well as temperature and relative humidity in the surrounding environment will be tuned. This tunable transpiration by interfacial absorber‐leaf engineering can open an alternative avenue to regulate local atmospheric temperature, humidity, and eventually hydrologic cycle. PMID:29619300

A stable Alq3@MOF composite for white-light emission.

PubMed

Xie, Wei; He, Wen-Wen; Du, Dong-Ying; Li, Shun-Li; Qin, Jun-Sheng; Su, Zhong-Min; Sun, Chun-Yi; Lan, Ya-Qian

2016-02-25

A stable mesoporous blue-emitting MOF NENU-521 was successfully constructed. NENU-521 can serve as a host for encapsulating Alq3 to obtain tunable and efficient white-light emission. The Alq3@NENU-521 composite possesses excellent stability and can be used as a promising white phosphor in WLEDs.

Hyper-crosslinked cyclodextrin porous polymer: An efficient CO 2 capturing material with tunable porosity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meng, Bo; Li, Haiyang; East China Univ. of Science and Technology, Shanghai

We designed and synthesized the cyclodextrin (CD)-based hyper-crosslinked porous polymers (HCPPs) for selective CO 2 adsorption and storage. We also explored the effect of monomer size on micropore formation, and determined a feasible way to tailor the porosity of the materials during the hyper-crosslinking process.

Hyper-crosslinked cyclodextrin porous polymer: An efficient CO 2 capturing material with tunable porosity

DOE PAGES

Meng, Bo; Li, Haiyang; East China Univ. of Science and Technology, Shanghai; ...

2016-11-11

We designed and synthesized the cyclodextrin (CD)-based hyper-crosslinked porous polymers (HCPPs) for selective CO 2 adsorption and storage. We also explored the effect of monomer size on micropore formation, and determined a feasible way to tailor the porosity of the materials during the hyper-crosslinking process.

Excitation of Terahertz Charge Transfer Plasmons in Metallic Fractal Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadivand, Arash; Gerislioglu, Burak; Sinha, Raju; Vabbina, Phani Kiran; Karabiyik, Mustafa; Pala, Nezih

2017-08-01

There have been extensive researches on terahertz (THz) plasmonic structures supporting resonant modes to demonstrate nano and microscale devices with high efficiency and responsivity as well as frequency selectivity. Here, using antisymmetric plasmonic fractal Y-shaped (FYS) structures as building blocks, we introduce a highly tunable four-member fractal assembly to support charge transfer plasmons (CTPs) and classical dipolar resonant modes with significant absorption cross section in the THz domain. We first present that the unique geometrical nature of the FYS system and corresponding spectral response allow for supporting intensified dipolar plasmonic modes under polarised light exposure in a standalone structure. In addition to classical dipolar mode, for the very first time, we demonstrated CTPs in the THz domain due to the direct shuttling of the charges across the metallic fractal microantenna which led to sharp resonant absorption peaks. Using both numerical and experimental studies, we have investigated and confirmed the excitation of the CTP modes and highly tunable spectral response of the proposed plasmonic fractal structure. This understanding opens new and promising horizons for tightly integrated THz devices with high efficiency and functionality.

Oxadiazole-carbazole polymer (POC)-Ir(ppy)3 tunable emitting composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruno, Annalisa; Borriello, Carmela; Di Luccio, Tiziana; Sessa, Lucia; Concilio, Simona; Haque, Saif A.; Minarini, Carla

2017-04-01

POC polymer is an oxadiazole-carbazole copolymer we have previously synthetized and established as light emitting material in Organic Light Emitting Devices (OLEDs), although POC quantum yield emission efficiency and color purity still need to be enhanced. On the other hand, tris[2-phenylpyridinato-C2,N]iridium(III) (Ir(ppy)3) complexes, namely Ir(ppy)3 are among the brightest luminophores employed in green light emitting devices. Our aim, in this work, is to take advantage of Ir(ppy)3 bright emission by combining the Ir complex with blue emitting POC to obtain tunable light emitting composites over a wide range of the visible spectrum. Here we have investigated the optical proprieties POC based nanocomposites with different concentrations of Ir(ppy)3, ranging from 1 to 10 wt%. Both spectral and time resolved fluorescence measurements show an efficient energy transfer from the polymer to the dopants, resulting in white-emitting composites. The most intense and stable emission has been found when POC was doped with about 5 wt% concentration of Ir(ppy)3.

Gate-Tunable WSe2/SnSe2 Backward Diode with Ultrahigh-Reverse Rectification Ratio.

PubMed

Murali, Krishna; Dandu, Medha; Das, Sarthak; Majumdar, Kausik

2018-02-14

Backward diodes conduct more efficiently in the reverse bias than in the forward bias, providing superior high-frequency response, temperature stability, radiation hardness, and 1/f noise performance than a conventional diode conducting in the forward direction. Here, we demonstrate a van der Waals material-based backward diode by exploiting the giant staggered band offsets of WSe 2 /SnSe 2 vertical heterojunction. The diode exhibits an ultrahigh-reverse rectification ratio (R) of ∼2.1 × 10 4 , and the same is maintained up to an unusually large bias of 1.5 V-outperforming existing backward diode reports using conventional bulk semiconductors as well as one- and two-dimensional materials by more than an order of magnitude while maintaining an impressive curvature coefficient (γ) of ∼37 V -1 . The transport mechanism in the diode is shown to be efficiently tunable by external gate and drain bias, as well as by the thickness of the WSe 2 layer and the type of metal contacts used. These results pave the way for practical electronic circuit applications using two-dimensional materials and their heterojunctions.

Bi1−xLaxCuSeO as New Tunable Full Solar Light Active Photocatalysts

PubMed Central

Wang, Huanchun; Li, Shun; Liu, Yaochun; Ding, Jinxuan; Lin, Yuan-Hua; Xu, Haomin; Xu, Ben; Nan, Ce-Wen

2016-01-01

Photocatalysis is attracting enormous interest driven by the great promise of addressing current energy and environmental crises by converting solar light directly into chemical energy. However, efficiently harvesting solar energy for photocatalysis remains a pressing challenge, and the charge kinetics and mechanism of the photocatalytic process is far from being well understood. Here we report a new full solar spectrum driven photocatalyst in the system of a layered oxyselenide BiCuSeO with good photocatalytic activity for degradation of organic pollutants and chemical stability under light irradiation, and the photocatalytic performance of BiCuSeO can be further improved by band gap engineering with introduction of La. Our measurements and density-functional-theory calculations reveal that the effective mass and mobility of the carriers in BiCuSeO can be tuned by the La-doping, which are responsible for the tunable photocatalytic activity. Our findings may offer new perspectives for understanding the mechanism of photocatalysis through modulating the charge mobility and the effective mass of carriers and provide a guidance for designing efficient photocatalyts. PMID:27095046

Temperature-tunable wettability on a bioinspired structured graphene surface for fog collection and unidirectional transport.

PubMed

Song, Yun-Yun; Liu, Yan; Jiang, Hao-Bo; Li, Shu-Yi; Kaya, Cigdem; Stegmaier, Thomas; Han, Zhi-Wu; Ren, Lu-Quan

2018-02-22

We designed a type of smart bioinspired wettable surface with tip-shaped patterns by combining polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and graphene (PDMS/G). The laser etched porous graphene surface can produce an obvious wettability change between 200 °C and 0 °C due to a change in aperture size and chemical components. We demonstrate that the cooperation of the geometrical structure and the controllable wettability play an important role in water gathering, and surfaces with tip-shaped wettability patterns can quickly drive tiny water droplets toward more wettable regions, so making a great contribution to the improvement of water collection efficiency. In addition, due to the effective cooperation between super hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions of the special tip-shaped pattern, unidirectional water transport on the 200 °C heated PDMS/G surface can be realized. This study offers a novel insight into the design of temperature-tunable materials with interphase wettability that may enhance fog collection efficiency in engineering liquid harvesting equipment, and realize unidirectional liquid transport, which could potentially be applied to the realms of microfluidics, medical devices and condenser design.

Steric engineering of metal-halide perovskites with tunable optical band gaps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filip, Marina R.; Eperon, Giles E.; Snaith, Henry J.; Giustino, Feliciano

2014-12-01

Owing to their high energy-conversion efficiency and inexpensive fabrication routes, solar cells based on metal-organic halide perovskites have rapidly gained prominence as a disruptive technology. An attractive feature of perovskite absorbers is the possibility of tailoring their properties by changing the elemental composition through the chemical precursors. In this context, rational in silico design represents a powerful tool for mapping the vast materials landscape and accelerating discovery. Here we show that the optical band gap of metal-halide perovskites, a key design parameter for solar cells, strongly correlates with a simple structural feature, the largest metal-halide-metal bond angle. Using this descriptor we suggest continuous tunability of the optical gap from the mid-infrared to the visible. Precise band gap engineering is achieved by controlling the bond angles through the steric size of the molecular cation. On the basis of these design principles we predict novel low-gap perovskites for optimum photovoltaic efficiency, and we demonstrate the concept of band gap modulation by synthesising and characterising novel mixed-cation perovskites.

Nano-array based monolithic catalysts: Concept, rational materials design and tunable catalytic performance

DOE PAGES

Ren, Zheng; Guo, Yanbing; Gao, Pu-Xian

2015-03-20

Monolithic catalysts, also known as structured catalysts, represent an important catalyst configuration widely used in automotive, chemical, and energy industries. However, several issues associated with washcoat based monolithic catalyst preparation are ever present, such as compromised materials utilization efficiency due to a less-than-ideal wash coating process, difficulty in precise and optimum microstructure control and lack of structure-property correlation. Here, in this mini-review, we introduce the concept of nano-array catalyst, a new type of monolithic catalyst featuring high catalyst utilization efficiency, good thermal/mechanical robustness, and catalytic performance tunability. A comprehensive overview is presented with detailed discussion of the strategies for nano-arraymore » catalyst preparation and rational catalytic activity adjustment enabled by the well-defined nano-array geometry. Specifically their scalable fabrication processes are reviewed in conjunction with discussion of their various catalytic oxidation reaction performances at low temperature. Finally, we hope this review will serve as a timely and useful research guide for rational design and utilization of the new type of monolithic catalysts.« less

Synthesis and click chemistry of a new class of biodegradable polylactide towards tunable thermo-responsive biomaterials.

PubMed

Zhang, Quanxuan; Ren, Hong; Baker, Gregory L

2015-02-28

A new class of clickable and biodegradable polylactide was designed and prepared via bulk polymerization of 3,6-dipropargyloxymethyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione ( 1 ) which was synthesized from easily accessible propargyloxylactic acid ( 5 ). A homopolymer of 1 and random copolymer of 1 with l-lactide were obtained as amorphous materials and exhibit low T g of 8.5 and 34 °C, respectively, indicating their promising potentials for biomedical applications. The statistical nature of random copolymers was investigated by DSC analysis and 13 C NMR spectroscopy, which implies the random distribution of terminal alkyne groups along the back bone of copolymers. The efficient click post-modification of this new class of polylactide with alkyl and mPEG azides affords novel hydrophilic biomaterials, which exhibit reversible thermo-responsive properties as evidenced by their tunable LCST ranging from 22 to 69 °C depending on the balance of the incorporated hydrophilic/hydrophobic side chains. These results indicate the generality of this new class of clickable polylactide in preparing novel smart biomaterials in a simple and efficient manner via click chemistry.

A functionalizable polyester with free hydroxyl groups and tunable physiochemical and biological properties

PubMed Central

You, Zhengwei; Cao, Haiping; Gao, Jin; Shin, Paul H.; Day, Billy W.; Wang, Yadong

2010-01-01

Polyesters with free functional groups allow facile modifications with biomolecules, which can lead to versatile biomaterials that afford controlled interactions with cells and tissues. Efficient synthesis of functionalizable polyesters is still a challenge that greatly limits the availability and widespread applications of biofunctionalized synthetic polymers. Here we report a simple route to prepare a functionalizable polyester, poly(sebacoyl diglyceride) (PSeD) bearing free hydroxyl groups. The key synthetic step is an epoxide ring-opening polymerization, instead of the traditional polycondensation, that produces poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) [1]. PSeD has a more defined structure with mostly linear backbone, more free hydroxyl groups, higher molecular weight, and lower polydispersity than PGS. Crosslinking PSeD with sebacic acid yields a polymer five times tougher and more elastic than cured PGS. PSeD exhibits good cytocompatibility in vitro. Furthermore, functionalization by glycine proceeds with high efficiency. This versatile synthetic platform can offer a large family of biodegradable, functionalized polymers with tunable physiochemical and biological properties useful for a wide range of biomedical applications. PMID:20149441

The influence of size and charge of chitosan/polyglutamic acid hollow spheres on cellular internalization, viability and blood compatibility.

PubMed

Dash, Biraja C; Réthoré, Gildas; Monaghan, Michael; Fitzgerald, Kathleen; Gallagher, William; Pandit, Abhay

2010-11-01

Polymeric hollow spheres can be tailored as efficient carriers of various therapeutic molecules due to their tunable properties. However, the entry of these synthetic vehicles into cells, their cell viability and blood compatibility depend on their physical and chemical properties e.g. size, surface charge. Herein, we report the effect of size and surface charge on cell viability and cellular internalization behaviour and their effect on various blood components using chitosan/polyglutamic acid hollow spheres as a model system. Negatively charged chitosan/polyglutamic acid hollow spheres of various sizes 100, 300, 500 and 1000 nm were fabricated using a template based method and covalently surface modified using linear polyethylene glycol and methoxyethanol amine to create a gradient of surface charge from negative to neutrally charged spheres respectively. The results here suggest that both size and surface charge have a significant influence on the sphere's behaviour, most prominently on haemolysis, platelet activation, plasma recalcification time, cell viability and internalization over time. Additionally, cellular internalization behaviour and viability was found to vary with different cell types. These results are in agreement with those of inorganic spheres and liposomes, and can serve as guidelines for tailoring polymeric solid spheres for specific desired applications in biological and pharmaceutical fields, including the design of nanometer to submicron-sized delivery vehicles. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrically tunable negative refraction in core/shell-structured nanorod fluids.

PubMed

Su, Zhaoxian; Yin, Jianbo; Guan, Yanqing; Zhao, Xiaopeng

2014-10-21

We theoretically investigate optical refraction behavior in a fluid system which contains silica-coated gold nanorods dispersed in silicone oil under an external electric field. Because of the formation of a chain-like or lattice-like structure of dispersed nanorods along the electric field, the fluid shows a hyperbolic equifrequency contour characteristic and, as a result, all-angle broadband optical negative refraction for transverse magnetic wave propagation can be realized. We calculate the effective permittivity tensor of the fluid and verify the analysis using finite element simulations. We also find that the negative refractive index can vary with the electric field strength and external field distribution. Under a non-uniform external field, the gradient refraction behavior can be realized.

Soft mechanical metamaterials with unusual swelling behavior and tunable stress-strain curves

PubMed Central

Guo, Xiaogang; Wu, Jun

2018-01-01

Soft adaptable materials that change their shapes, volumes, and properties in response to changes under ambient conditions have important applications in tissue engineering, soft robotics, biosensing, and flexible displays. Upon water absorption, most existing soft materials, such as hydrogels, show a positive volume change, corresponding to a positive swelling. By contrast, the negative swelling represents a relatively unusual phenomenon that does not exist in most natural materials. The development of material systems capable of large or anisotropic negative swelling remains a challenge. We combine analytic modeling, finite element analyses, and experiments to design a type of soft mechanical metamaterials that can achieve large effective negative swelling ratios and tunable stress-strain curves, with desired isotropic/anisotropic features. This material system exploits horseshoe-shaped composite microstructures of hydrogel and passive materials as the building blocks, which extend into a periodic network, following the lattice constructions. The building block structure leverages a sandwiched configuration to convert the hydraulic swelling deformations of hydrogel into bending deformations, thereby resulting in an effective shrinkage (up to around −47% linear strain) of the entire network. By introducing spatially heterogeneous designs, we demonstrated a range of unusual, anisotropic swelling responses, including those with expansion in one direction and, simultaneously, shrinkage along the perpendicular direction. The design approach, as validated by experiments, allows the determination of tailored microstructure geometries to yield desired length/area changes. These design concepts expand the capabilities of existing soft materials and hold promising potential for applications in a diverse range of areas.

Endosomal escape and siRNA delivery with cationic shell crosslinked knedel-like nanoparticles with tunable buffering capacities

PubMed Central

Shrestha, Ritu; Elsabahy, Mahmoud; Florez-Malaver, Stephanie; Samarajeewa, Sandani; Wooley, Karen L.

2012-01-01

Cationic shell crosslinked knedel-like nanoparticles (cSCKs) have emerged as a highly efficient transfection agent for nucleic acids delivery. In this study, a new class of cSCKs with tunable buffering capacities has been developed by altering the amounts of histamines and primary amines incorporated into their crosslinked shell regions. The effect of histamine content of these nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic diameter of ca. 20 nm, on the siRNA-binding affinity, cytotoxicity, immunogenicity, and transfection efficiency was investigated. The modification of cSCKs with histamine was found to reduce the siRNA-binding affinity and cellular binding. On the other hand, it significantly reduced the toxicity and immunogenicity of the nanoparticles with subsequent increase in the transfection efficiency. In addition, escape from endosomes was facilitated by having two species of low and high pKas (i.e. histamine and primary amine groups, respectively), as demonstrated by the potentiometric titration experiments and the effect of bafilomycin A1, an inhibitor of the endosomal acidification, on the transfection efficiency of cSCKs. Histamine modification of 15 mol% was a threshold, above which cSCKs with higher histamine content completely lost the ability to bind siRNA and to transfect cells. This study highlights the potential of histamine incorporation to augment the gene silencing activity of cationic nanoparticles, reduce their toxicity, and increase their biocompatibility, which is of particular importance in the design of nucleic acids delivery vectors. PMID:22901966

Enhanced targeting of invasive glioblastoma cells by peptide-functionalized gold nanorods in hydrogel-based 3D cultures.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Diana P N; Rodriguez, Raul D; Kurth, Thomas; Bray, Laura J; Binner, Marcus; Jungnickel, Christiane; Gür, Fatih N; Poser, Steve W; Schmidt, Thorsten L; Zahn, Dietrich R T; Androutsellis-Theotokis, Andreas; Schlierf, Michael; Werner, Carsten

2017-08-01

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for drug resistance, tumor recurrence, and metastasis in several cancer types, making their eradication a primary objective in cancer therapy. Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) tumors are usually composed of a highly infiltrating CSC subpopulation, which has Nestin as a putative marker. Since the majority of these infiltrating cells are able to elude conventional therapies, we have developed gold nanorods (AuNRs) functionalized with an engineered peptide capable of specific recognition and selective eradication of Nestin positive infiltrating GBM-CSCs. These AuNRs generate heat when irradiated by a near-infrared laser, and cause localized cell damage. Nanoparticle internalization assays performed with GBM-CSCs or Nestin negative cells cultured as two-dimensional (2D) monolayers or embedded in three-dimensional (3D) biodegradable-hydrogels of tunable mechanical properties, revealed that the AuNRs were mainly internalized by GBM-CSCs, and not by Nestin negative cells. The AuNRs were taken up via energy-dependent and caveolae-mediated endocytic mechanisms, and were localized inside endosomes. Photothermal treatments resulted in the selective elimination of GBM-CSCs through cell apoptosis, while Nestin negative cells remained viable. Results also indicated that GBM-CSCs embedded in hydrogels were more resistant to AuNR photothermal treatments than when cultured as 2D monolayers. In summary, the combination of our engineered AuNRs with our tunable hydrogel system has shown the potential to provide an in vitro platform for the evaluation and screening of AuNR-based cancer therapeutics, leading to a substantial advancement in the application of AuNRs for targeted GBM-CSC therapy. There is an urgent need for reliable and efficient therapies for the treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), which is currently an untreatable brain tumor form with a very poor patient survival rate. GBM tumors are mostly comprised of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are responsible for tumor reoccurrence and therapy resistance. We have developed gold nanorods functionalized with an engineered peptide capable of selective recognition and eradication of GBM-CSCs via heat generation by nanorods upon NIR irradiation. An in vitro evaluation of nanorod therapeutic activities was performed in 3D synthetic-biodegradable hydrogel models with distinct biomechanical cues, and compared to 2D cultures. Results indicated that cells cultured in 3D were more resistant to photothermolysis than in 2D systems. Copyright © 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectral characterization and calibration of AOTF spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katrašnik, Jaka; Pernuš, Franjo; Likar, Boštjan

2010-02-01

The goal of this article is to present a novel method for spectral characterization and calibration of spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging systems based on non-collinear acousto-optical tunable filters. The method characterizes the spectral tuning curve (frequency-wavelength characteristic) of the AOTF (Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter) filter by matching the acquired and modeled spectra of the HgAr calibration lamp, which emits line spectrum that can be well modeled via AOTF transfer function. In this way, not only tuning curve characterization and corresponding spectral calibration but also spectral resolution assessment is performed. The obtained results indicated that the proposed method is efficient, accurate and feasible for routine calibration of AOTF spectrometers and hyper-spectral imaging systems and thereby a highly competitive alternative to the existing calibration methods.

Broadband and tunable optical parametric generator for remote detection of gas molecules in the short and mid-infrared.

PubMed

Lambert-Girard, Simon; Allard, Martin; Piché, Michel; Babin, François

2015-04-01

The development of a novel broadband and tunable optical parametric generator (OPG) is presented. The OPG properties are studied numerically and experimentally in order to optimize the generator's use in a broadband spectroscopic LIDAR operating in the short and mid-infrared. This paper discusses trade-offs to be made on the properties of the pump, crystal, and seeding signal in order to optimize the pulse spectral density and divergence while enabling energy scaling. A seed with a large spectral bandwidth is shown to enhance the pulse-to-pulse stability and optimize the pulse spectral density. A numerical model shows excellent agreement with output power measurements; the model predicts that a pump having a large number of longitudinal modes improves conversion efficiency and pulse stability.

Tunable and mode-locked laser action of Cr4+ in codoped forsterite Cr, Sc:Mg2SiO4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanina, V. V.; Mitrokhin, V. P.; Subbotin, K. A.; Lis, D. A.; Lis, O. N.; Ivanov, A. A.; Zharikov, E. V.

2018-01-01

The laser oscillation of tetravalent chromium and scandium codoped forsterite Cr4+,Sc:Mg2SiO4 single crystal has been demonstrated for the first time for continuous wave, tunable and mode-locked regimes. For comparison, the laser experiments have also been performed in the same configuration with the reference forsterite single crystal solely doped by chromium. The aim of scandium codoping is to inhibit the formation of parasitic trivalent chromium in the crystal. The crystal with scandium demonstrates a wider tuning range, lower lasing threshold and wider mode-locked lasing spectrum than those of the reference crystal, although the total lasing efficiency achieved by both crystals is nearly the same. The obtained results are discussed.

Hybridization-induced broadband terahertz wave absorption with graphene metasurfaces.

PubMed

Mou, Nanli; Sun, Shulin; Dong, Hongxing; Dong, Shaohua; He, Qiong; Zhou, Lei; Zhang, Long

2018-04-30

Electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption plays a vital role in photonics. While metasurfaces are proposed to absorb EM waves efficiently, most of them exhibit limited bandwidth and fixed functionalities. Here, we propose a broadband and tunable terahertz (THz) absorber based on a graphene-based metasurface, which is constructed by a single layer of closely patterned graphene concentric double rings and a metallic mirror separated by an ultrathin SiO 2 layer. Plasmonic hybridization between two graphene rings significantly enlarges the absorption bandwidth, which can be further tuned by gating the graphene. Moreover, the specific design also makes our device insensitive to the incident angle and polarization state of impinging EM waves. Our results may inspire certain wave-modulation-related applications, such as THz imaging, smart absorber, tunable sensor, etc.

Compact OAM microscope for edge enhancement of biomedical and object samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gozali, Richard; Nguyen, Thien-An; Bendau, Ethan; Alfano, Robert R.

2017-09-01

The production of orbital angular momentum (OAM) by using a q-plate, which functions as an electrically tunable spatial frequency filter, provides a simple and efficient method of edge contrast in biological and medical sample imaging for histological evaluation of tissue, smears, and PAP smears. An instrument producing OAM, such as a q-plate, situated at the Fourier plane of a 4f lens system, similar to the use of a high-pass spatial filter, allows the passage of high spatial frequencies and enables the production of an image with highly illuminated edges contrasted against a dark background for both opaque and transparent objects. Compared with ordinary spiral phase plates and spatial light modulators, the q-plate has the added advantage of electric control and tunability.

The 1.083 micron tunable CW semiconductor laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, C. S.; Chen, Jan-Shin; Lu, Ken-Gen; Ouyang, Keng

1991-01-01

A tunable CW laser is desired to produce light equivalent to the helium spectral line at 1.08 microns. This laser will serve as an optical pumping source for He-3 and He-4 atoms used in space magnetometers. This light source can be fabricated either as a semiconductor laser diode or a pumped solid state laser. Continuous output power of greater than 10 mW is desired. Semiconductor lasers can be thermally tuned, but must be capable of locking onto the helium resonance lines. Solid state lasers must have efficient pumping sources suitable for space configuration. Additional requirements are as follows: space magnetometer applications will include low mass (less than 0.5 kg), low power consumption (less than 0.75 W), and high stability/reliability for long missions (5-10 years).

Fast generation of sparse random kernel graphs

DOE PAGES

Hagberg, Aric; Lemons, Nathan; Du, Wen -Bo

2015-09-10

The development of kernel-based inhomogeneous random graphs has provided models that are flexible enough to capture many observed characteristics of real networks, and that are also mathematically tractable. We specify a class of inhomogeneous random graph models, called random kernel graphs, that produces sparse graphs with tunable graph properties, and we develop an efficient generation algorithm to sample random instances from this model. As real-world networks are usually large, it is essential that the run-time of generation algorithms scales better than quadratically in the number of vertices n. We show that for many practical kernels our algorithm runs in timemore » at most ο(n(logn)²). As an example, we show how to generate samples of power-law degree distribution graphs with tunable assortativity.« less

Polarization-controlled coherent phonon generation in acoustoplasmonic metasurfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lanzillotti-Kimura, Norberto D.; O'Brien, Kevin P.; Rho, Junsuk; Suchowski, Haim; Yin, Xiaobo; Zhang, Xiang

2018-06-01

Acoustic vibrations at the nanoscale (GHz-THz frequencies) and their interactions with electrons, photons, and other excitations are the heart of an emerging field in physics: nanophononics. The design of ultrahigh frequency acoustic-phonon transducers, with tunable frequency, and easy to integrate in complex systems is still an open and challenging problem for the development of acoustic nanoscopies and phonon lasers. Here we show how an optimized plasmonic metasurface can act as a high-frequency phonon transducer. We report pump-probe experiments in metasurfaces composed of an array of gold nanostructures, revealing that such arrays can act as efficient and tunable photon-phonon transducers, with a strong spectral dependence on the excitation rate and laser polarization. We anticipate our work to be the starting point for the engineering of phononic metasurfaces based on plasmonic nanostructures.

Tunable, Room Temperature THZ Emitters Based on Nonlinear Photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Raju

The Terahertz (1012 Hz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum covers the frequency range from roughly 300 GHz to 10 THz, which is in between the microwave and infrared regimes. The increasing interest in the development of ultra-compact, tunable room temperature Terahertz (THz) emitters with wide-range tunability has stimulated in-depth studies of different mechanisms of THz generation in the past decade due to its various potential applications such as biomedical diagnosis, security screening, chemical identification, life sciences and very high speed wireless communication. Despite the tremendous research and development efforts, all the available state-of-the-art THz emitters suffer from either being large, complex and costly, or operating at low temperatures, lacking tunability, having a very short spectral range and a low output power. Hence, the major objective of this research was to develop simple, inexpensive, compact, room temperature THz sources with wide-range tunability. We investigated THz radiation in a hybrid optical and THz micro-ring resonators system. For the first time, we were able to satisfy the DFG phase matching condition for the above-mentioned THz range in one single device geometry by employing a modal phase matching technique and using two separately designed resonators capable of oscillating at input optical waves and generated THz waves. In chapter 6, we proposed a novel plasmonic antenna geometry – the dimer rod-tapered antenna (DRTA), where we created a hot-spot in the nanogap between the dimer arms with a very large intensity enhancement of 4.1x105 at optical resonant wavelength. Then, we investigated DFG operation in the antenna geometry by incorporating a nonlinear nanodot in the hot-spot of the antenna and achieved continuously tunable enhanced THz radiation across 0.5-10 THz range. In chapter 8, we designed a multi-metallic resonators providing an ultrasharp toroidal response at THz frequency, then fabricated and experimentally demonstrated an efficient polarization dependent plasmonic toroid switch operating at THz frequency. In summary, we have successfully designed, analytically and numerically investigated novel THz emitters with the advantages of wide range tunability, compactness, room temperature operation, fast modulation and the possibility for monolithic integration, which are the most sought after properties in the new generation THz sources.

Fast tunable blazed MEMS grating for external cavity lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tormen, Maurizio; Niedermann, Philippe; Hoogerwerf, Arno; Shea, Herbert; Stanley, Ross

2017-11-01

Diffractive MEMS are interesting for a wide range of applications, including displays, scanners or switching elements. Their advantages are compactness, potentially high actuation speed and in the ability to deflect light at large angles. We have designed and fabricated deformable diffractive MEMS grating to be used as tuning elements for external cavity lasers. The resulting device is compact, has wide tunability and a high operating speed. The initial design is a planar grating where the beams are free-standing and attached to each other using leaf springs. Actuation is achieved through two electrostatic comb drives at either end of the grating. To prevent deformation of the free-standing grating, the device is 10 μm thick made from a Silicon on Insulator (SOI) wafer in a single mask process. At 100V a periodicity tuning of 3% has been measured. The first resonant mode of the grating is measured at 13.8 kHz, allowing high speed actuation. This combination of wide tunability and high operating speed represents state of the art in the domain of tunable MEMS filters. In order to improve diffraction efficiency and to expand the usable wavelength range, a blazed version of the deformable MEMS grating has been designed. A key issue is maintaining the mechanical properties of the original device while providing optically smooth blazed beams. Using a process based on anisotropic KOH etching, blazed gratings have been obtained and preliminary characterization is promising.

Sr{sub 2}CaW{sub x}Mo{sub 1−x}O{sub 6}:Eu{sup 3+}, Li{sup +}: An emission tunable phosphor through site symmetry and excitation wavelength

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xiao, Ning; Shen, Jun; Xiao, Tengjiao

2015-10-15

The emission of Eu{sup 3+} doped Sr{sub 2}CaW{sub x}Mo{sub 1−x}O{sub 6} phosphors could be tunable by the site symmetry of the activators and the excitation wavelengths. - Highlights: • The emission of Eu{sup 3+} depends on site symmetry and excitation wavelengths. • The color of the samples was tunable by structure and excitation wavelength. • The effect of W and Eu content on the properties of the samples was investigated. - Abstract: A series of Eu{sup 3+} substituted double-perovskite Sr{sub 2}CaW{sub x}Mo{sub 1−x}O{sub 6} phosphors were prepared by solid state reactions. The phase, photoluminescence and energy transfer of the phosphorsmore » were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and luminescence decay respectively. It is found that the emission of the Eu{sup 3+} substituted double perovskites depends on both the site symmetry of the activators and the excitation wavelengths. Based on the decay analysis of Sr{sub 2}CaW{sub x}Mo{sub 1−x}O{sub 6} matrix and Eu{sup 3+} doped samples, the energy transfer efficiencies between the host and activators Eu{sup 3+} were investigated. The results of the emission tunable phosphors indicate their potential applications in LEDs.« less

Tunable, multiwavelength-swept fiber laser based on nematic liquid crystal device for fiber-optic electric-field sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hyun Ji; Kim, Sung-Jo; Ko, Myeong Ock; Kim, Jong-Hyun; Jeon, Min Yong

2018-03-01

We propose a tunable multiwavelength-swept laser based on a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) Fabry-Perot (FP) etalon, which is embedded in the resonator of a wavelength-swept laser. We achieve the continuous wavelength tuning of the multiwavelength-swept laser by applying the electric field to the NLC FP etalon. The free spectral range of the fabricated NLC FP etalon is approximately 7.9 nm. When the electric field applied to the NLC FP etalon exceeds the threshold value (Fréedericksz threshold voltage), the output of the multiwavelength-swept laser can be tuned continuously. The tuning range of the multiwavelength-swept laser can be achieved at a value greater than 75 nm, which has a considerably wider tunable range than a conventional multiwavelength laser based on an NLC FP etalon. The slope efficiencies in the spectral and temporal domains for the tunable multiwavelength-swept laser are 22.2 nm/(mVrms / μm) and 0.17 ms/(mVrms / μm), respectively in the linear region. Therefore, the developed multiwavelength-swept laser based on the NLC FP etalon can be applied to an electric-field sensor. Because the wavelength measurement and time measurement have a linear relationship, the electric-field sensor can detect a rapid change in the electric-field intensity by measuring the peak change of the pulse in the temporal domain using the NLC FP etalon-based multiwavelength-swept laser.

Low-loss tunable 1D ITO-slot photonic crystal nanobeam cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin, Rubab; Tahersima, Mohammad H.; Ma, Zhizhen; Suer, Can; Liu, Ke; Dalir, Hamed; Sorger, Volker J.

2018-05-01

Tunable optical material properties enable novel applications in both versatile metamaterials and photonic components including optical sources and modulators. Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are able to highly tune their optical properties with applied bias via altering their free carrier concentration and hence plasma dispersion. The TCO material indium tin oxide (ITO) exhibits unity-strong index change and epsilon-near-zero behavior. However, with such tuning the corresponding high optical losses, originating from the fundamental Kramers–Kronig relations, result in low cavity finesse. However, achieving efficient tuning in ITO-cavities without using light–matter interaction enhancement techniques such as polaritonic modes, which are inherently lossy, is a challenge. Here we discuss a novel one-dimensional photonic crystal nanobeam cavity to deliver a cavity system offering a wide range of resonance tuning range, while preserving physical compact footprints. We show that a vertical silicon-slot waveguide incorporating an actively gated-ITO layer delivers ∼3.4 nm of tuning. By deploying distributed feedback, we are able to keep the Q-factor moderately high with tuning. Combining this with the sub-diffraction limited mode volume (0.1 (λ/2n)3) from the photonic (non-plasmonic) slot waveguide, facilitates a high Purcell factor exceeding 1000. This strong light–matter-interaction shows that reducing the mode volume of a cavity outweighs reducing the losses in diffraction limited modal cavities such as those from bulk Si3N4. These tunable cavities enable future modulators and optical sources such as tunable lasers.

Rational design of functional and tunable oscillating enzymatic networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semenov, Sergey N.; Wong, Albert S. Y.; van der Made, R. Martijn; Postma, Sjoerd G. J.; Groen, Joost; van Roekel, Hendrik W. H.; de Greef, Tom F. A.; Huck, Wilhelm T. S.

2015-02-01

Life is sustained by complex systems operating far from equilibrium and consisting of a multitude of enzymatic reaction networks. The operating principles of biology's regulatory networks are known, but the in vitro assembly of out-of-equilibrium enzymatic reaction networks has proved challenging, limiting the development of synthetic systems showing autonomous behaviour. Here, we present a strategy for the rational design of programmable functional reaction networks that exhibit dynamic behaviour. We demonstrate that a network built around autoactivation and delayed negative feedback of the enzyme trypsin is capable of producing sustained oscillating concentrations of active trypsin for over 65 h. Other functions, such as amplification, analog-to-digital conversion and periodic control over equilibrium systems, are obtained by linking multiple network modules in microfluidic flow reactors. The methodology developed here provides a general framework to construct dissipative, tunable and robust (bio)chemical reaction networks.

Reversal of spontaneous magnetization and spontaneous exchange bias for Sm1-xYxCrO3: The effect of Y doping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongguang; Wang, Jianhua; Xie, Liang; Fu, Dexiang; Guo, Yanyan; Li, Yongtao

2017-11-01

We report the crystal and electronic structures and magnetic properties of non-magnetic Y3+ ion doped SmCrO3 crystals. Structural distortion and electronic structure variation are caused by cation disorder due to Y doping. Although the spin moment of Sm3+ is diluted by nonmagnetic Y ions, spin reorientation continues to exist, and the temperature-dependent magnetization reversal effect and the spontaneous exchange bias effect under zero field cooling are simultaneously induced below Neel temperature. Significantly, the method of doping promotes the achievement of temperature dependent tunable switching of magnetization and sign of a spontaneous exchange bias from positive to negative. Our work provides more tunable ways to the sign reversal of magnetization and exchange bias, which have potential application in designing magnetic random access memory devices, thermomagnetic switches and spin-valve devices.

Double Sided-Design of Electrodes Driving Tunable Dielectrophoretic Miniature Lens.

PubMed

Almoallem, Yousuf; Jiang, Hongrui

2017-10-01

We demonstrate the design methodology, geometrical analysis, device fabrication, and testing of a double-sided design (DSD) of tunable-focus dielectrophoretic liquid miniature lenses. This design is intended to reduce the driving voltage for tuning the lens, utilizing a double-sided electrode design that enhances the electric field magnitude. Fabricated devices were tested and measurements on a goniometer showed changes of up to 14° in the contact angle when the dielectrophoretic force was applied under 25 V rms . Correspondingly, the back focal length of the liquid lens changed from 67.1 mm to 14.4 mm when the driving voltage was increased from zero to 25 V rms . The driving voltage was significantly lower than those previously reported with similar device dimensions using single-sided electrode designs. This design allows for a range of both positive and negative menisci dependent on the volume of the lens liquid initially dispensed.

Protein separation using an electrically tunable membrane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jou, Ining; Melnikov, Dmitriy; Gracheva, Maria

Separation of small proteins by charge with a solid-state porous membrane requires control over the protein's movement. Semiconductor membrane has this ability due to the electrically tunable electric potential profile inside the nanopore. In this work we investigate the possibility to separate the solution of two similar sized proteins by charge. As an example, we consider two small globular proteins abundant in humans: insulin (negatively charged) and ubiquitin (neutral). We find that the localized electric field inside the pore either attracts or repels the charged protein to or from the pore wall which affects the delay time before a successful translocation of the protein through the nanopore. However, the motion of the uncharged ubiquitin is unaffected. The difference in the delay time (and hence the separation) can be further increased by the application of the electrolyte bias which induces an electroosmotic flow in the pore. NSF DMR and CBET Grant No. 1352218.

Tunable acoustic metamaterial based on piezoelectric ceramic transducer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Xiaohui; Qiao, Jing; Zhang, Guangyu; Zhou, Qiang; Wu, Yingdan; Li, Longqiu

2017-04-01

In this paper, a tunable metamaterial consisting of periodic layers of steel, polyurea and piezoelectric ceramic transducer (PZT) was presented. The PZT layer in this structure was connected to an inductor L. Transfer matrix method was used to calculate the band structure of the sample. It was observed that an extremely narrow stop band was induced by the PZT layer with inductor L. This narrow stop band was attributed to the resonance circuit constituted by the piezoelectric layer, for the piezoelectric layer with electrodes could be seen as a capacitor. Further, homogenization was used to calculate the effective elastic constants of the sample. Results showed that the effective parameters of this structure behaved negative in the narrow stop band. The location of the narrow stop band was in the charge of inductor L, which could be used to design acoustic filters or noise insulators by changing the parameters of structure.

Solar hydrogen production using epitaxial SrTiO 3 on a GaAs photovoltaic

DOE PAGES

Kornblum, L.; Fenning, D. P.; Faucher, J.; ...

2016-12-22

We demonstrate an oxide-stabilized III–V photoelectrode architecture for solar fuel production from water in neutral pH. For this tunable architecture we demonstrate 100% Faradaic efficiency for hydrogen evolution, and incident photon-to-current efficiencies (IPCE) exceeding 50%. High IPCE for hydrogen evolution is a consequence of the low-loss interface achieved via epitaxial growth of a thin oxide on a GaAs solar cell. Developing optimal energetic alignment across the interfaces of the photoelectrode using well-established III–V technology is key to obtaining high performance. This advance constitutes a critical milestone towards efficient, unassisted fuel production from solar energy.

Fully-resonant, tunable, monolithic frequency conversion as a coherent UVA source.

PubMed

Zielińska, Joanna A; Zukauskas, Andrius; Canalias, Carlota; Noyan, Mehmet A; Mitchell, Morgan W

2017-01-23

We demonstrate a monolithic frequency converter incorporating up to four tuning degrees of freedom, three temperature and one strain, allowing resonance of pump and generated wavelengths simultaneous with optimal phase-matching. With a Rb-doped periodically-poled potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) implementation, we demonstrate efficient continuous-wave second harmonic generation from 795 to 397, with low-power efficiency of 72% and high-power slope efficiency of 4.5%. The measured performance shows good agreement with theoretical modeling of the device. We measure optical bistability effects, and show how they can be used to improve the stability of the output against pump frequency and amplitude variations.

Enhancing power cycle efficiency for a supercritical Brayton cycle power system using tunable supercritical gas mixtures

DOEpatents

Wright, Steven A.; Pickard, Paul S.; Vernon, Milton E.; Radel, Ross F.

2017-08-29

Various technologies pertaining to tuning composition of a fluid mixture in a supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system are described herein. Compounds, such as Alkanes, are selectively added or removed from an operating fluid of the supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system to cause the critical temperature of the fluid to move up or down, depending upon environmental conditions. As efficiency of the supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system is substantially optimized when heat is rejected near the critical temperature of the fluid, dynamically modifying the critical temperature of the fluid based upon sensed environmental conditions improves efficiency of such a system.

Porous Metal Carboxylate Boron Imidazolate Frameworks (MC-BIFs)

PubMed Central

Zheng, Shoutian; Wu, Tao; Zhang, Jian; Chow, Mina; Nieto, Ruben A.

2011-01-01

Integrated Material for Efficient CO2 Storage A new family of porous materials with tunable gas sorption properties have been made by integrating metal carboxylates and boron imidazolates under hydro- or solvothermal conditions. One hydrothermally synthesized phase exhibits a very high volumetric CO2 storage capacity at 81 L/L (273K, 1atm). PMID:20583020

Bio-mimetic Nanostructure Self-assembled from Au@Ag Heterogeneous Nanorods and Phage Fusion Proteins for Targeted Tumor Optical Detection and Photothermal Therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fei; Liu, Pei; Sun, Lin; Li, Cuncheng; Petrenko, Valery A.; Liu, Aihua

2014-10-01

Nanomaterials with near-infrared (NIR) absorption have been widely studied in cancer detection and photothermal therapy (PTT), while it remains a great challenge in targeting tumor efficiently with minimal side effects. Herein we report a novel multifunctional phage-mimetic nanostructure, which was prepared by layer-by-layer self-assembly of Au@Ag heterogenous nanorods (NRs) with rhodamine 6G, and specific pVIII fusion proteins. Au@Ag NRs, first being applied for PTT, exhibited excellent stability, cost-effectivity, biocompatibility and tunable NIR absorption. The fusion proteins were isolated from phage DDAGNRQP specifically selected from f8/8 landscape phage library against colorectal cancer cells in a high-throughput way. Considering the definite charge distribution and low molecular weight, phage fusion proteins were assembled on the negatively charged NR core by electrostatic interactions, exposing the N-terminus fused with DDAGNRQP peptide on the surface. The fluorescent images showed that assembled phage fusion proteins can direct the nanostructure into cancer cells. The nanostructure was more efficient than gold nanorods and silver nanotriangle-based photothermal agents and was capable of specifically ablating SW620 cells after 10 min illumination with an 808 nm laser in the light intensity of 4 W/cm2. The prepared nanostructure would become an ideal reagent for simutaneously targeted optical imaging and PTT of tumor.

Metal organic framework Cu9Cl2(cpa)6 as tunable molecular magnet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, Heather S. C.; Farmer, William M.; Skinner, Samuel F.; ter Haar, Leonard W.

2018-05-01

Chemical modifications of the magnetic metal organic framework (MOF) Cu9X2(cpa)6.42H2O (X = F, Cl, Br; cpa = anion of 2-carboxypentonicacid) have been investigated as a means of modifying, in a tunable manner, the magnetism of this 2-D material best described as a triangles-in-triangles (TIT) or triangulated-Kagomé-latttice (TKL). Since numerous theoretical studies have already attempted to describe the enigmatic ground state of this Heisenberg lattice, tunable chemical modifications should provide an excellent opportunity to expand this class of materials for studies concerning fundamental physics of frustrated spins, and applications such as adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration (ADR) that depend on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE). The chemical modification investigated is the intercalation of d- and f-orbital ions into the voids of the framework (channels of nearly 20 Å diameter). Magnetic measurements in the temperature range 1.8 - 300 K confirm signature features of TKL magnetism in intercalated samples persist, specifically: i) large negative Weiss constant (θCW); ii) absence of a phase transition down to 1.8 K; iii) minimum in χMT; iv) low temperature χMT values increasingly divergent at low fields indicating net ferromagnetic correlations; and, v) increasing field dependence of magnetization at low temperatures suggestive of intermediate plateaus, or ferrimagnetism, not saturation.

Heterogeneously Integrated Microwave Signal Generators with Narrow Linewidth Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-20

the linewidth in two ways: (1) increasing the photon lifetime due to effective cavity length enhancement, and (2) providing negative optical...structures. Some devices are also labeled. Figure 1. Microscope image of the photonic microwave generator comprising of two tunable lasers, a coupler...Integrated Photodiodes on Silicon,” IEEE JQE, vol.51, no.11, pp.1-6, Nov. 2015 Figure 9. (left) Optical spectra of two lasers comprising a photonic

Microwave active filters based on coupled negative resistance method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chi-Yang; Itoh, Tatsuo

1990-12-01

A novel coupled negative resistance method for building a microwave active bandpass filter is introduced. Based on this method, four microstrip line end-coupled filters were built. Two are fixed-frequency one-pole and two-pole filters, and two are tunable one-pole and two-pole filters. In order to broaden the bandwidth of the end-coupled filter, a modified end-coupled structure is proposed. Using the modified structure, an active filter with a bandwidth up to 7.5 percent was built. All of the filters show significant passband performance improvement. Specifically, the passband bandwidth was broadened by a factor of 5 to 20.

Tunable sub-wavelength acoustic energy harvesting with a metamaterial plate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oudich, Mourad; Li, Yong

2017-08-01

We report theoretically on sub-wavelength acoustic energy harvesting (AEH) using a thin acoustic metamaterial (AM) made of spring-mass resonators attached to the surface of a homogeneous elastic thin plate. Considering an incident acoustic wave hitting the AM plate, tunable and highly efficient AEH is achieved by introducing a sub-wavelength defect inside the AM structure to confine the elastic energy into a spot which is then electromechanically converted into electrical power using a ceramic PZT patch. Several types of sub-wavelength cavities capable of confining acoustic energy at the sonic regime are extensively investigated for the optimization of AEH. Three analytical approaches—band structure, sound transmission loss and electrical-to-mechanical energy conversion—are proposed to fully describe the system interaction with the acoustic wave and quantify the AEH performance. The computed results show that an average power of 18 μW can be harvested using a specific cavity design of only 3 × 3 cm2 size from an incident acoustic wave with a sound pressure level of 100 dB at 520 Hz. Such a system can open up a way through the design of effective tunable sub-wavelength acoustic energy harvesters based on AM applied to scavenge energy from sound.

Silver nanoparticles with tunable work functions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Pangpang, E-mail: pangpang@molecular-device.kyushu-u.ac.jp; Tanaka, Daisuke; Ryuzaki, Sou

To improve the efficiencies of electronic devices, materials with variable work functions are required to decrease the energy level differences at the interfaces between working layers. Here, we report a method to obtain silver nanoparticles with tunable work functions, which have the same silver core of 5 nm in diameter and are capped by myristates and 1-octanethoilates self-assembled monolayers, respectively. The silver nanoparticles capped by organic molecules can form a uniform two-dimensional sheet at air-water interface, and the sheet can be transferred on various hydrophobic substrates. The surface potential of the two-dimensional nanoparticle sheet was measured in terms of Kelvin probemore » force microscopy, and the work function of the sheet was then calculated from the surface potential value by comparing with a reference material. The exchange of the capping molecules results in a work function change of approximately 150–250 meV without affecting their hydrophobicity. We systematically discussed the origin of the work function difference and found it should come mainly from the anchor groups of the ligand molecules. The organic molecule capped nanoparticles with tunable work functions have a potential for the applications in organic electronic devices.« less

Tunable Encapsulation Structure of Block Copolymer Coated Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Aqueous Solution

DOE PAGES

Han, Youngkyu; Ahn, Suk-Kyun; Zhang, Zhe; ...

2015-05-15

The nano-sized and shape-tunable molecular building blocks can provide great opportunities for the fabrication of precisely controlled nanostructures. In this work, we have fabricated a molecular building block of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) coated by PPO-PEO-PPO block copolymers whose encapsulation structure can be controlled via temperature or addition of small molecules. The structure and optical properties of SWNT-block copolymers have been investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The structure of the hydrated block copolymer layer surrounding SWNT can be controlled reversibly by varying temperature as well asmore » by irreversibly adding 5-methylsalicylic acid (5MS). Increasing hydrophobicity of the polymers with temperature and strong tendency of 5MS to interact with both block copolymers and orbitals of the SWNTs are likely to be responsible for the significant structural change of the block copolymer encapsulation layer, from loose corona shell to tightly encapsulating compact shell. These result shows an efficient and simple way to fabricate and manipulate carbon-based nano building blocks in aqueous systems with tunable structure.« less

Giant Gating Tunability of Optical Refractive Index in Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers.

PubMed

Yu, Yiling; Yu, Yifei; Huang, Lujun; Peng, Haowei; Xiong, Liwei; Cao, Linyou

2017-06-14

We report that the refractive index of transition metal dichacolgenide (TMDC) monolayers, such as MoS 2 , WS 2 , and WSe 2 , can be substantially tuned by >60% in the imaginary part and >20% in the real part around exciton resonances using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible electrical gating. This giant tunablility is rooted in the dominance of excitonic effects in the refractive index of the monolayers and the strong susceptibility of the excitons to the influence of injected charge carriers. The tunability mainly results from the effects of injected charge carriers to broaden the spectral width of excitonic interband transitions and to facilitate the interconversion of neutral and charged excitons. The other effects of the injected charge carriers, such as renormalizing bandgap and changing exciton binding energy, only play negligible roles. We also demonstrate that the atomically thin monolayers, when combined with photonic structures, can enable the efficiencies of optical absorption (reflection) tuned from 40% (60%) to 80% (20%) due to the giant tunability of the refractive index. This work may pave the way toward the development of field-effect photonics in which the optical functionality can be controlled with CMOS circuits.

An imaging vector magnetograph for the next solar maximum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mickey, D. L.; Labonte, B. J.; Canfield, R. C.

1989-01-01

Researchers describe the conceptual design of a new imaging vector magnetograph currently being constructed at the University of Hawaii. The instrument combines a modest solar telescope with a rotating quarter-wave plate, an acousto-optical tunable prefilter as a blocker for a servo-controlled Fabry-Perot etalon, CCD cameras, and on-line digital image processing. Its high spatial resolution (1/2 arcsec pixel size) over a large field of view (5 by 5 arcmin) will be sufficient to significantly measure, for the first time, the magnetic energy dissipated in major solar flares. Its millisecond tunability and wide spectral range (5000 to 7000 A) enable nearly simultaneous vector magnetic field measurements in the gas-pressure-dominated photosphere and magnetically-dominated chromosphere, as well as effective co-alignment with Solar-A's X ray images. Researchers expect to have the instrument in operation at Mees Solar Observatory (Haleakala) in early 1991. They have chosen to use tunable filters as wavelength-selection elements in order to emphasize the spatial relationships between magnetic field elements, and to permit construction of a compact, efficient instrument. This means that spectral information must be obtained from sequences of images, which can cause line profile distortions due to effects of atmospheric seeing.

Shaping complex microwave fields in reverberating media with binary tunable metasurfaces

PubMed Central

Kaina, Nadège; Dupré, Matthieu; Lerosey, Geoffroy; Fink, Mathias

2014-01-01

In this article we propose to use electronically tunable metasurfaces as spatial microwave modulators. We demonstrate that like spatial light modulators, which have been recently proved to be ideal tools for controlling light propagation through multiple scattering media, spatial microwave modulators can efficiently shape in a passive way complex existing microwave fields in reverberating environments with a non-coherent energy feedback. Unlike in free space, we establish that a binary-only phase state tunable metasurface allows a very good control over the waves, owing to the random nature of the electromagnetic fields in these complex media. We prove in an everyday reverberating medium, that is, a typical office room, that a small spatial microwave modulator placed on the walls can passively increase the wireless transmission between two antennas by an order of magnitude, or on the contrary completely cancel it. Interestingly and contrary to free space, we show that this results in an isotropic shaped microwave field around the receiving antenna, which we attribute again to the reverberant nature of the propagation medium. We expect that spatial microwave modulators will be interesting tools for fundamental physics and will have applications in the field of wireless communications. PMID:25331498

Raman Shifting a Tunable ArF Excimer Laser to Wavelengths of 190 to 240 nm With a Forced Convection Raman Cell

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balla, R. Jeffrey; Herring, G. C.

2000-01-01

Tunable radiation, at ultraviolet wavelengths, is produced by Raman shifting a modified 285-mJ ArF excimer laser. Multiple Stokes outputs are observed in H2, CH4, D2, N2, SF6, and CF4 (20, 22, 53, 21, 2.1, and 0.35 percent, respectively). Numbers in parentheses are the first Stokes energy conversion efficiencies. We can access 70 percent of the frequency range 42000-52000 cm (exp -1) (190-240 nm) with Stokes energies that vary from 0.2 microJoule to 58 mJ inside the Raman cell. By using 110 mJ of pump energy and D 2 , the tunable first Stokes energy varies over the 29-58 mJ range as the wavelength is tuned over the 204-206 nm range. Dependence on input energy, gas pressure, He mixture fraction, and circulation of the gas in the forced convection Raman cell is discussed; Stokes conversion is also discussed for laser repetition rates from 1 to 100 Hz. An empirical equation is given to determine whether forced convection can improve outputs for a given repetition rate.

An acoustic on-chip goniometer for room temperature macromolecular crystallography.

PubMed

Burton, C G; Axford, D; Edwards, A M J; Gildea, R J; Morris, R H; Newton, M I; Orville, A M; Prince, M; Topham, P D; Docker, P T

2017-12-05

This paper describes the design, development and successful use of an on-chip goniometer for room-temperature macromolecular crystallography via acoustically induced rotations. We present for the first time a low cost, rate-tunable, acoustic actuator for gradual in-fluid sample reorientation about varying axes and its utilisation for protein structure determination on a synchrotron beamline. The device enables the efficient collection of diffraction data via a rotation method from a sample within a surface confined droplet. This method facilitates efficient macromolecular structural data acquisition in fluid environments for dynamical studies.

Optical frequency up-conversion by supercontinuum-free widely-tunable fiber-optic Cherenkov radiation

PubMed Central

Tu, Haohua; Boppart, Stephen A.

2010-01-01

Spectrally-isolated narrowband Cherenkov radiation from commercial nonlinear photonic crystal fibers is demonstrated as an ultrafast optical source with a visible tuning range of 485–690 nm, which complementarily extends the near-infrared tuning range of 690–1020 nm from the corresponding femtosecond Ti:sapphire pump laser. Pump-to-signal conversion efficiency routinely surpasses 10%, enabling multimilliwatt visible output across the entire tuning range. Appropriate selection of fiber parameters and pumping conditions efficiently suppresses the supercontinuum generation typically associated with Cherenkov radiation. PMID:19506636

Single-nanowire, low-bandgap hot carrier solar cells with tunable open-circuit voltage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limpert, Steven; Burke, Adam; Chen, I.-Ju; Anttu, Nicklas; Lehmann, Sebastian; Fahlvik, Sofia; Bremner, Stephen; Conibeer, Gavin; Thelander, Claes; Pistol, Mats-Erik; Linke, Heiner

2017-10-01

Compared to traditional pn-junction photovoltaics, hot carrier solar cells offer potentially higher efficiency by extracting work from the kinetic energy of photogenerated ‘hot carriers’ before they cool to the lattice temperature. Hot carrier solar cells have been demonstrated in high-bandgap ferroelectric insulators and GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures, but so far not in low-bandgap materials, where the potential efficiency gain is highest. Recently, a high open-circuit voltage was demonstrated in an illuminated wurtzite InAs nanowire with a low bandgap of 0.39 eV, and was interpreted in terms of a photothermoelectric effect. Here, we point out that this device is a hot carrier solar cell and discuss its performance in those terms. In the demonstrated devices, InP heterostructures are used as energy filters in order to thermoelectrically harvest the energy of hot electrons photogenerated in InAs absorber segments. The obtained photovoltage depends on the heterostructure design of the energy filter and is therefore tunable. By using a high-resistance, thermionic barrier, an open-circuit voltage is obtained that is in excess of the Shockley-Queisser limit. These results provide generalizable insight into how to realize high voltage hot carrier solar cells in low-bandgap materials, and therefore are a step towards the demonstration of higher efficiency hot carrier solar cells.

Tunable plasmonic properties of Ag-Fe nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatia, Pradeep; Verma, S. S.; Sinha, M. M.

2018-05-01

Compatibility problems with electronic processes, limited availability and the high cost of noble metals motivate towards the search of alternative materials to enhance the suitability and efficiency of plasmonic based devices. Alloy or coated bimetallic material configuration is an attractive way to engineer a system possessing tuneable plasmonic properties. Magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles (MPNPs) present the possibility to exhibit their tuneable magnetic and optical properties with extensive applications. We studied the optical properties of Ag-Fe alloy for different compositions. The Localised Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) tunability of Agx-Fe1-x (x = 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75) alloy for nanospheres has been calculated by using Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) simulation technique. It is found that absorption and scattering efficiencies of Ag-Fe alloy are found in near ultra violet and visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. Large LSPR shift has been observed in absorption and scattering efficiencies peak for 40 nm and 80 nm size of nanospheres alloys. It is concluded that the LSPR can be tuned by changing nanoparticle size and the alloy composition. Results of the plasmonics properties for Ag-Fe alloy at wavelength 330-545nm (absorption) and 331-507nm (scattering) will open the avenues for new applications in optical imaging, biomedical fields particularly in (calorimetric)-DNA, pentose's, proteins (absorption) and plasmonic-enhanced spectroscopies/spectrometer devices (scattering) for determination of optical densities of cell cultures.

Lightweight Mechanical Metamaterials with Tunable Negative Thermal Expansion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiming; Jackson, Julie A.; Ge, Qi; Hopkins, Jonathan B.; Spadaccini, Christopher M.; Fang, Nicholas X.

2016-10-01

Ice floating on water is a great manifestation of negative thermal expansion (NTE) in nature. The limited examples of natural materials possessing NTE have stimulated research on engineered structures. Previous studies on NTE structures were mostly focused on theoretical design with limited experimental demonstration in two-dimensional planar geometries. In this work, aided with multimaterial projection microstereolithography, we experimentally fabricate lightweight multimaterial lattices that exhibit significant negative thermal expansion in three directions and over a temperature range of 170 degrees. Such NTE is induced by the structural interaction of material components with distinct thermal expansion coefficients. The NTE can be tuned over a large range by varying the thermal expansion coefficient difference between constituent beams and geometrical arrangements. Our experimental results match qualitatively with a simple scaling law and quantitatively with computational models.

Tunable thermal expansion in framework materials through redox intercalation

PubMed Central

Chen, Jun; Gao, Qilong; Sanson, Andrea; Jiang, Xingxing; Huang, Qingzhen; Carnera, Alberto; Rodriguez, Clara Guglieri; Olivi, Luca; Wang, Lei; Hu, Lei; Lin, Kun; Ren, Yang; Lin, Zheshuai; Wang, Cong; Gu, Lin; Deng, Jinxia; Attfield, J. Paul; Xing, Xianran

2017-01-01

Thermal expansion properties of solids are of fundamental interest and control of thermal expansion is important for practical applications but can be difficult to achieve. Many framework-type materials show negative thermal expansion when internal cages are empty but positive thermal expansion when additional atoms or molecules fill internal voids present. Here we show that redox intercalation offers an effective method to control thermal expansion from positive to zero to negative by insertion of Li ions into the simple negative thermal expansion framework material ScF3, doped with 10% Fe to enable reduction. The small concentration of intercalated Li ions has a strong influence through steric hindrance of transverse fluoride ion vibrations, which directly controls the thermal expansion. Redox intercalation of guest ions is thus likely to be a general and effective method for controlling thermal expansion in the many known framework materials with phonon-driven negative thermal expansion. PMID:28181576

Tunable thermal expansion in framework materials through redox intercalation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jun; Gao, Qilong; Sanson, Andrea; Jiang, Xingxing; Huang, Qingzhen; Carnera, Alberto; Rodriguez, Clara Guglieri; Olivi, Luca; Wang, Lei; Hu, Lei; Lin, Kun; Ren, Yang; Lin, Zheshuai; Wang, Cong; Gu, Lin; Deng, Jinxia; Attfield, J. Paul; Xing, Xianran

2017-02-01

Thermal expansion properties of solids are of fundamental interest and control of thermal expansion is important for practical applications but can be difficult to achieve. Many framework-type materials show negative thermal expansion when internal cages are empty but positive thermal expansion when additional atoms or molecules fill internal voids present. Here we show that redox intercalation offers an effective method to control thermal expansion from positive to zero to negative by insertion of Li ions into the simple negative thermal expansion framework material ScF3, doped with 10% Fe to enable reduction. The small concentration of intercalated Li ions has a strong influence through steric hindrance of transverse fluoride ion vibrations, which directly controls the thermal expansion. Redox intercalation of guest ions is thus likely to be a general and effective method for controlling thermal expansion in the many known framework materials with phonon-driven negative thermal expansion.

Heterogeneous Integration for Reduced Phase Noise and Improved Reliability of Semiconductor Lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, Sudharsanan

Significant savings in cost, power and space are possible in existing optical data transmission networks, sensors and metrology equipment through photonic integration. Photonic integration can be broadly classified into two categories, hybrid and monolithic integration. The former involves assembling multiple single functionality optical devices together into a single package including any optical coupling and/or electronic connections. On the other hand monolithic integration assembles many devices or optical functionalities on a single chip so that all the optical connections are on chip and require no external alignment. This provides a substantial improvement in reliability and simplifies testing. Monolithic integration has been demonstrated on both indium phosphide (InP) and silicon (Si) substrates. Integration on larger 300mm Si substrates can further bring down the cost and has been a major area of research in recent years. Furthermore, with increasing interest from industry, the hybrid silicon platform is emerging as a new technology for integrating various active and passive optical elements on a single chip. This is both in the interest of bringing down manufacturing cost through scaling along with continued improvement in performance and to produce multi-functional photonic integrated circuits (PIC). The goal of this work is twofold. First, we show four laser demonstrations that use the hybrid silicon platform to lower phase noise due to spontaneous emission, based on the following two techniques, viz. confinement factor reduction and negative optical feedback. The first two demonstrations are of mode-locked lasers and the next two are of tunable lasers. Some of the key results include; (a) 14dB white frequency noise reduction of a 20GHz radio-frequency (RF) signal from a harmonically mode-locked long cavity laser with greater than 55dB supermode noise suppression, (b) 8dB white frequency noise reduction from a colliding pulse mode-locked laser by reducing the number of quantum wells and a further 6dB noise reduction using coherent photon seeding from long on-chip coupled cavity, (c) linewidth reduction of a tunable laser down to 160kHz using negative optical feedback from coupled ring resonator mirrors, and (d) linewidth reduction of a widely tunable laser down to 50kHz using on-chip coupled cavity feedback effect. Second, we present the results of a reliability study conducted to investigate the influence of molecular wafer bonding between Si and InP on the lifetime of distributed feedback lasers, a common laser source used in optical communication. No degradation in lasing threshold or slope efficiency was observed after aging the lasers for 5000hrs at 70°C and 2500hrs at 85°C. However, among the three chosen bonding interface layer options, the devices with an interface superlattice layer showed a higher yield for lasers and lower dark current values in the on-chip monitor photodiodes after aging.

Controlling Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Entanglement in the Middle Using Tunable Linear Optics Cloning Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiao Dong; Chen, Feng; Wu, Xiang Hua; Guo, Ying

2017-02-01

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) can provide detection efficiency, as compared to discrete-variable quantum key distribution (DVQKD). In this paper, we demonstrate a controllable CVQKD with the entangled source in the middle, contrast to the traditional point-to-point CVQKD where the entanglement source is usually created by one honest party and the Gaussian noise added on the reference partner of the reconciliation is uncontrollable. In order to harmonize the additive noise that originates in the middle to resist the effect of malicious eavesdropper, we propose a controllable CVQKD protocol by performing a tunable linear optics cloning machine (LOCM) at one participant's side, say Alice. Simulation results show that we can achieve the optimal secret key rates by selecting the parameters of the tuned LOCM in the derived regions.

Tunability and Stability of Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots in Ferritin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, J. Ryan; Hansen, Kameron

Quantum dot solar cells have become one of the fastest growing solar cell technologies to date, and lead sulfide has proven to be an efficient absorber. However, one of the primary concerns in dye-sensitized quantum dot solar cell development is core degradation. We have synthesized lead sulfide quantum dots inside of the spherical protein ferritin in order to protect them from photocorrosion. We have studied the band gaps of these quantum dots and found them to be widely tunable inside ferritin just as they are outside the protein shell. In addition, we have examined their stability by measuring changes in photoluminescence as they are exposed to light over minutes and hours and found that the ferritin-enclosed PbS quantum dots have significantly better resistance to photocorrosion. Brigham Young University, National Science Foundation.

Tunable magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in heavy rare-earth based metallic glasses through the substitution of similar elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Huiyan; Li, Ran; Zhang, Leilei; Zhang, Tao

2014-04-01

The influence of interchangeable substitution of similar heavy rare-earth-elements (HRE), i.e., Gd-Ho, Gd-Er, and Ho-Er, on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of HRE55Al27.5Co17.5 metallic glasses was evaluated. The magnetic transition temperature (TC) can be tuned in a wide temperature range from 8 K to 93 K by adjusting the substitutional concentration in the resulting metallic glasses. A roughly linear correlation between peak value of magnetic entropy change (|ΔSMpk|) and TC-2/3 was obtained in the three systems. This kind of substitutional adjustment provides a useful method for designing desirable candidates in metallic glasses with high magnetic entropy change, large magnetic cooling efficiency, and tunable TC for magnetic refrigerant in nitrogen and hydrogen liquefaction temperature ranges.

Microscopic origin of the fast blue-green luminescence of chemically synthesized non-oxidized silicon quantum dots.

PubMed

Dohnalová, Kateřina; Fučíková, Anna; Umesh, Chinnaswamy P; Humpolíčková, Jana; Paulusse, Jos M J; Valenta, Jan; Zuilhof, Han; Hof, Martin; Gregorkiewicz, Tom

2012-10-22

The microscopic origin of the bright nanosecond blue-green photoluminescence (PL), frequently reported for synthesized organically terminated Si quantum dots (Si-QDs), has not been fully resolved, hampering potential applications of this interesting material. Here a comprehensive study of the PL from alkyl-terminated Si-QDs of 2-3 nm size, prepared by wet chemical synthesis is reported. Results obtained on the ensemble and those from the single nano-object level are compared, and they provide conclusive evidence that efficient and tunable emission arises due to radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs confined in the Si-QDs. This understanding paves the way towards applications of chemical synthesis for the development of Si-QDs with tunable sizes and bandgaps. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Wide-range and fast thermally-tunable silicon photonic microring resonators using the junction field effect

DOE PAGES

Wang, Xiaoxi; Lentine, Anthony; DeRose, Christopher; ...

2016-09-26

Tunable silicon microring resonators with small, integrated micro-heaters which exhibit a junction field effect were made using a conventional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic foundry fabrication process. The design of the resistive tuning section in the microrings included a “pinched” p-n junction, which limited the current at higher voltages and inhibited damage even when driven by a pre-emphasized voltage waveform. Dual-ring filters were studied for both large (>4.9 THz) and small (850 GHz) free-spectral ranges. In conclusion, thermal red-shifting was demonstrated with microsecond-scale time constants, e.g., a dual-ring filter was tuned over 25 nm in 0.6 μs 10%–90% transition time, and withmore » efficiency of 3.2 μW/GHz.« less

Widely tunable short-infrared thulium and holmium doped fluorozirconate waveguide chip lasers.

PubMed

Lancaster, D G; Gross, S; Withford, M J; Monro, T M

2014-10-20

We report widely tunable (≈ 260 nm) Tm(3+) and Ho(3+) doped fluorozirconate (ZBLAN) glass waveguide extended cavity lasers with close to diffraction limited beam quality (M(2) ≈ 1.3). The waveguides are based on ultrafast laser inscribed depressed claddings. A Ti:sapphire laser pumped Tm(3+)-doped chip laser continuously tunes from 1725 nm to 1975 nm, and a Tm(3+)-sensitized Tm(3+):Ho(3+) chip laser displays tuning across both ions evidenced by a red enhanced tuning range of 1810 to 2053 nm. We also demonstrate a compact 790 nm diode laser pumped Tm(3+)-doped chip laser which tunes from 1750 nm to 1998 nm at a 14% incident slope efficiency, and a beam quality of M(2) ≈ 1.2 for a large mode-area waveguide with 70 µm core diameter.

Tunable ring laser with internal injection seeding and an optically-driven photonic crystal reflector.

PubMed

Zheng, Jie; Ge, Chun; Wagner, Clark J; Lu, Meng; Cunningham, Brian T; Hewitt, J Darby; Eden, J Gary

2012-06-18

Continuous tuning over a 1.6 THz region in the near-infrared (842.5-848.6 nm) has been achieved with a hybrid ring/external cavity laser having a single, optically-driven grating reflector and gain provided by an injection-seeded semiconductor amplifier. Driven at 532 nm and incorporating a photonic crystal with an azobenzene overlayer, the reflector has a peak reflectivity of ~80% and tunes at the rate of 0.024 nm per mW of incident green power. In a departure from conventional ring or external cavity lasers, the frequency selectivity for this system is provided by the passband of the tunable photonic crystal reflector and line narrowing in a high gain amplifier. Sub - 0.1 nm linewidths and amplifier extraction efficiencies above 97% are observed with the reflector tuned to 842.5 nm.

High power continuous operation of a widely tunable quantum cascade laser with an integrated amplifier

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Slivken, S.; Sengupta, S.; Razeghi, M., E-mail: razeghi@eecs.northwestern.edu

2015-12-21

Wide electrical tuning and high continuous output power is demonstrated from a single mode quantum cascade laser emitting at a wavelength near 4.8 μm. This is achieved in a space efficient manner by integrating an asymmetric sampled grating distributed feedback tunable laser with an optical amplifier. An initial demonstration of high peak power operation in pulsed mode is demonstrated first, with >5 W output over a 270 nm (113 cm{sup −1}) spectral range. Refinement of the geometry leads to continuous operation with a single mode spectral coverage of 300 nm (120 cm{sup −1}) and a maximum continuous power of 1.25 W. The output beam is shown tomore » be nearly diffraction-limited, even at high amplifier current.« less

Ultrathin Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Nanosheets with Bright, Tunable Photoluminescence and High Stability.

PubMed

Yang, Shuang; Niu, Wenxin; Wang, An-Liang; Fan, Zhanxi; Chen, Bo; Tan, Chaoliang; Lu, Qipeng; Zhang, Hua

2017-04-03

Two-dimensional (2D) organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite nanosheets (NSs) are attracting increasing research interest due to their unique properties and promising applications. Here, for the first time, we report the facile synthesis of single- and few-layer free-standing phenylethylammonium lead halide perovskite NSs, that is, (PEA) 2 PbX 4 (PEA=C 8 H 9 NH 3 , X=Cl, Br, I). Importantly, their lateral size can be tuned by changing solvents. Moreover, these ultrathin 2D perovskite NSs exhibit highly efficient and tunable photoluminescence, as well as superior stability. Our study provides a simple and general method for the controlled synthesis of 2D perovskite NSs, which may offer a new avenue for their fundamental studies and optoelectronic applications. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Plasmonic materials based on ZnO films and their potential for developing broadband middle-infrared absorbers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kesim, Yunus E., E-mail: yunus.kesim@bilkent.edu.tr; Battal, Enes; UNAM-National Nanotechnology Research Center, Bilkent University, Ankara, 06800

2014-07-15

Noble metals such as gold and silver have been extensively used for plasmonic applications due to their ability to support plasmons, yet they suffer from high intrinsic losses. Alternative plasmonic materials that offer low loss and tunability are desired for a new generation of efficient and agile devices. In this paper, atomic layer deposition (ALD) grown ZnO is investigated as a candidate material for plasmonic applications. Optical constants of ZnO are investigated along with figures of merit pertaining to plasmonic waveguides. We show that ZnO can alleviate the trade-off between propagation length and mode confinement width owing to tunable dielectricmore » properties. In order to demonstrate plasmonic resonances, we simulate a grating structure and computationally demonstrate an ultra-wide-band (4–15 μm) infrared absorber.« less

Multi-gas sensing with quantum cascade laser array in the mid-infrared region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bizet, Laurent; Vallon, Raphael; Parvitte, Bertrand; Brun, Mickael; Maisons, Gregory; Carras, Mathieu; Zeninari, Virginie

2017-05-01

Wide tunable lasers sources are useful for spectroscopy of complex molecules that have broad absorption spectra and for multiple sensing of smaller molecules. A region of interest is the mid-infrared region, where many species have strong ro-vibrational modes. In this paper a novel broad tunable source composed of a QCL DFB array and an arrayed waveguide grating (also called multiplexer) was used to perform multi-species spectroscopy (CO, C2H2, CO2). The array and the multiplexer are associated in a way to obtain a prototype that is non-sensitive to mechanical vibrations. A 2190-2220 cm^{-1} spectral range is covered by the chip. The arrayed waveguide grating combines beams to have a single output. A multi-pass White cell was used to demonstrate the efficiency of the multiplexer.

Mode selection in square resonator microlasers for widely tunable single mode lasing.

PubMed

Tang, Ming-Ying; Sui, Shao-Shuai; Yang, Yue-De; Xiao, Jin-Long; Du, Yun; Huang, Yong-Zhen

2015-10-19

Mode selection in square resonator semiconductor microlasers is demonstrated by adjusting the width of the output waveguide coupled to the midpoint of one side. The simulation and experimental results reveal that widely tunable single mode lasing can be realized in square resonator microlasers. Through adjusting the width of the output waveguide, the mode interval of the high-Q modes can reach four times of the longitudinal mode interval. Therefore, mode hopping can be efficiently avoided and the lasing wavelength can be tuned continuously by tuning the injection current. For a 17.8-μm-side-length square microlaser with a 1.4-μm-width output waveguide, mode-hopping-free single-mode operation is achieved with a continuous tuning range of 9.2 nm. As a result, the control of the lasing mode is realized for the square microlasers.

A Novel Slicing Method for Thin Supercapacitors.

PubMed

Sun, Hao; Fu, Xuemei; Xie, Songlin; Jiang, Yishu; Guan, Guozhen; Wang, Bingjie; Li, Houpu; Peng, Huisheng

2016-08-01

Thin and flexible supercapacitors with low cost and individual variation are fabricated by a new and efficient slicing method. Tunable output voltage and energy can be realized with a high specific capacitance of 248.8 F g(-1) or 150.8 F cm(-3) , which is well maintained before and after bending. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ultra-Tunable Micro-Power Converters

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

These advantages come at the expense of potentially difficult to integrate magnetic materials and magnetic property limitations/losses that may...that add greatly to the size/weight of a system (or whose properties /efficiency may be compromised to accommodate space constraints). Given the...thin film magnetic core (such as NiFe ). “Taps” are periodically provided through a series of microelectromechanical (MEMS) switches. In the example

Temperature-tunable lasing in negative dielectric chiral nematic liquid crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Ri-Na; Wu, Jie; Wu, Xiao-Jiao; Dai, Qin

2015-05-01

In this work, negative dielectric nematic liquid crystal SLC12V620-400, chiral dopant S811, and laser dye DCM are used to prepare dye-doped chiral nematic liquid crystal laser sample. In order to investigate temperature-tunable lasing in negative dielectric chiral nematic liquid crystal, we measure the transmission and lasing spectrum of this sample. The photonic band gap (PBG) is observed to red shift with its width reducing from 71.2 nm to 40.2 nm, and its short-wavelength band edge moves 55.3 nm while the long-wavelength band edge only moves 24.9 nm. The wavelength of output laser is found to red shift from 614.4 nm at 20 °C to 662.8 nm at 67 °C, which is very different from the previous experimental phenomena. The refractive indices, parallel and perpendicular to the director in chiral nematic liquid crystal have different dependencies on temperature. The experiment shows that the pitch of this chiral nematic liquid crystal increases with the increase of temperature. The decrease in the PBG width, different shifts of band edges, and the red shift of laser wavelength are the results of refractive indices change and pitch thermal elongation. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61378042), the Outstanding Young Scholars Growth Plans of Colleges and Universities in Liaoning Province, China (Grant No. LJQ2013022), the Science and Technology Research of Liaoning Province, China (Grant No. L2010465), the Open Funds of Liaoning Province Key Laboratory of Laser and Optical Information of Shenyang Ligong University, China.

Wide wavelength range tunable one-dimensional silicon nitride nano-grating guided mode resonance filter based on azimuthal rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yukino, Ryoji; Sahoo, Pankaj K.; Sharma, Jaiyam; Takamura, Tsukasa; Joseph, Joby; Sandhu, Adarsh

2017-01-01

We describe wavelength tuning in a one dimensional (1D) silicon nitride nano-grating guided mode resonance (GMR) structure under conical mounting configuration of the device. When the GMR structure is rotated about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the device (azimuthal rotation) for light incident at oblique angles, the conditions for resonance are different than for conventional GMR structures under classical mounting. These resonance conditions enable tuning of the GMR peak position over a wide range of wavelengths. We experimental demonstrate tuning over a range of 375 nm between 500 nm˜875 nm. We present a theoretical model to explain the resonance conditions observed in our experiments and predict the peak positions with show excellent agreement with experiments. Our method for tuning wavelengths is simpler and more efficient than conventional procedures that employ variations in the design parameters of structures or conical mounting of two-dimensional (2D) GMR structures and enables a single 1D GMR device to function as a high efficiency wavelength filter over a wide range of wavelengths. We expect tunable filters based on this technique to be applicable in a wide range of fields including astronomy and biomedical imaging.

Design of efficient circularly symmetric two-dimensional variable digital FIR filters.

PubMed

Bindima, Thayyil; Elias, Elizabeth

2016-05-01

Circularly symmetric two-dimensional (2D) finite impulse response (FIR) filters find extensive use in image and medical applications, especially for isotropic filtering. Moreover, the design and implementation of 2D digital filters with variable fractional delay and variable magnitude responses without redesigning the filter has become a crucial topic of interest due to its significance in low-cost applications. Recently the design using fixed word length coefficients has gained importance due to the replacement of multipliers by shifters and adders, which reduces the hardware complexity. Among the various approaches to 2D design, transforming a one-dimensional (1D) filter to 2D by transformation, is reported to be an efficient technique. In this paper, 1D variable digital filters (VDFs) with tunable cut-off frequencies are designed using Farrow structure based interpolation approach, and the sub-filter coefficients in the Farrow structure are made multiplier-less using canonic signed digit (CSD) representation. The resulting performance degradation in the filters is overcome by using artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization. Finally, the optimized 1D VDFs are mapped to 2D using generalized McClellan transformation resulting in low complexity, circularly symmetric 2D VDFs with real-time tunability.

An efficient method for the creation of tunable optical line traps via control of gradient and scattering forces.

PubMed

Tietjen, Gregory T; Kong, Yupeng; Parthasarathy, Raghuveer

2008-07-07

Interparticle interaction energies and other useful physical characteristics can be extracted from the statistical properties of the motion of particles confined by an optical line trap. In practice, however, the potential energy landscape, U(x), imposed by the line provides an extra, and in general unknown, influence on particle dynamics. We describe a new class of line traps in which both the optical gradient and scattering forces acting on a trapped particle are designed to be linear functions of the line coordinate and in which their magnitude can be counterbalanced to yield a flat U(x). These traps are formed using approximate solutions to general relations concerning non-conservative optical forces that have been the subject of recent investigations [Y. Roichman, B. Sun, Y. Roichman, J. Amato-Grill, and D. G. Grier, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 013602-4 (2008).]. We implement the lines using holographic optical trapping and measure the forces acting on silica microspheres, demonstrating the tunability of the confining potential energy landscape. Furthermore, we show that our approach efficiently directs available laser power to the trap, in contrast to other methods.

A rapid excitation-emission matrix fluorometer utilizing supercontinuum white light and acousto-optic tunable filters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Wenbo; Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, University of British Columbia, 835 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4E8; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, KAIS 5500, 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4

Scanning speed and coupling efficiency of excitation light to optic fibres are two major technical challenges that limit the potential of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectrometer for on-line applications and in vivo studies. In this paper, a novel EEM system, utilizing a supercontinuum white light source and acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTFs), was introduced and evaluated. The supercontinuum white light, generated by pumping a nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with an 800 nm femtosecond laser, was efficiently coupled into a bifurcated optic fiber bundle. High speed EEM spectral scanning was achieved using AOTFs both for selecting excitation wavelength and scanning emission spectra.more » Using calibration lamps (neon and mercury argon), wavelength deviations were determined to vary from 0.18 nm to −0.70 nm within the spectral range of 500–850 nm. Spectral bandwidth for filtered excitation light broadened by twofold compared to that measured with monochromatic light between 650 nm and 750 nm. The EEM spectra for methanol solutions of laser dyes were successfully acquired with this rapid fluorometer using an integration time of 5 s.« less

Design of efficient circularly symmetric two-dimensional variable digital FIR filters

PubMed Central

Bindima, Thayyil; Elias, Elizabeth

2016-01-01

Circularly symmetric two-dimensional (2D) finite impulse response (FIR) filters find extensive use in image and medical applications, especially for isotropic filtering. Moreover, the design and implementation of 2D digital filters with variable fractional delay and variable magnitude responses without redesigning the filter has become a crucial topic of interest due to its significance in low-cost applications. Recently the design using fixed word length coefficients has gained importance due to the replacement of multipliers by shifters and adders, which reduces the hardware complexity. Among the various approaches to 2D design, transforming a one-dimensional (1D) filter to 2D by transformation, is reported to be an efficient technique. In this paper, 1D variable digital filters (VDFs) with tunable cut-off frequencies are designed using Farrow structure based interpolation approach, and the sub-filter coefficients in the Farrow structure are made multiplier-less using canonic signed digit (CSD) representation. The resulting performance degradation in the filters is overcome by using artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization. Finally, the optimized 1D VDFs are mapped to 2D using generalized McClellan transformation resulting in low complexity, circularly symmetric 2D VDFs with real-time tunability. PMID:27222739

Design of a hybrid As₂S₃-Ti:LiNbO₃ optical waveguide for phase-matched difference frequency generation at mid-infrared.

PubMed

Wang, Xin; Madsen, Christi K

2014-11-03

Based on arsenic tri-sulfide films on titanium-diffused lithium niobate, we designed a hybrid optical waveguide for efficient mid-infrared emission by phase-matched difference frequency generation (DFG). The hybrid waveguide structure possesses a low-index magnesium fluoride buffer layer sandwiched between two high-index As(2)S(3) slabs, so that pump and signal waves are tightly confined by titanium-diffused waveguide while the DFG output idler wave at mid-infrared is confined by the whole hybrid waveguide structure. On a 1 mm-long hybrid waveguide pumped at 50 mW powers, a normalized power conversion efficiency of 20.52%W(-1)cm(-2) was theoretically predicted, which is the highest record for mid-infrared DFG waveguides based on lithium niobate crystal, to the best of our knowledge. Using a tunable near-infrared pump laser at 1.38-1.47 µm or a tunable signal laser at 1.95-2.15 µm, a broad mid-infrared tuning range from 4.0 µm to 4.9 µm can be achieved. Such hybrid optical waveguides are feasible for mid-infrared emission with mW powers and sub-nanometer linewidths.

Scalable production of mechanically tunable block polymers from sugar

PubMed Central

Xiong, Mingyong; Schneiderman, Deborah K.; Bates, Frank S.; Hillmyer, Marc A.; Zhang, Kechun

2014-01-01

Development of sustainable and biodegradable materials is essential for future growth of the chemical industry. For a renewable product to be commercially competitive, it must be economically viable on an industrial scale and possess properties akin or superior to existing petroleum-derived analogs. Few biobased polymers have met this formidable challenge. To address this challenge, we describe an efficient biobased route to the branched lactone, β-methyl-δ-valerolactone (βMδVL), which can be transformed into a rubbery (i.e., low glass transition temperature) polymer. We further demonstrate that block copolymerization of βMδVL and lactide leads to a new class of high-performance polyesters with tunable mechanical properties. Key features of this work include the creation of a total biosynthetic route to produce βMδVL, an efficient semisynthetic approach that employs high-yielding chemical reactions to transform mevalonate to βMδVL, and the use of controlled polymerization techniques to produce well-defined PLA–PβMδVL–PLA triblock polymers, where PLA stands for poly(lactide). This comprehensive strategy offers an economically viable approach to sustainable plastics and elastomers for a broad range of applications. PMID:24912182

Directed assembly of colloidal particles for micro/nano photonics (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yuebing

2017-02-01

Bottom-up fabrication of complex structures with chemically synthesized colloidal particles as building blocks pave an efficient and cost-effective way towards micro/nano photonics with unprecedented functionality and tunability. Novel properties can arise from quantum effects of colloidal particles, as well as inter-particle interactions and spatial arrangement in particle assemblies. Herein, I discuss our recent developments and applications of three types of techniques for directed assembly of colloidal particles: moiré nanosphere lithography (MNSL), bubble-pen lithography (BPL), and optothermal tweezers (OTTs). Specifically, MNSL provides an efficient approach towards creating moiré metasurface with tunable and multiband optical responses from visible to mid-infrared regime. Au moiré metasurfaces have been applied for surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy, optical capture and patterning of bacteria, and photothermal denaturation of proteins. BPL is developed to pattern a variety of colloidal particles on plasmonic substrates and two-dimensional atomic-layer materials in an arbitrary manner. The laser-directed microbubble captures and immobilizes nanoparticles through coordinated actions of Marangoni convection, surface tension, gas pressure, and substrate adhesion. OTTs are developed to create dynamic nanoparticle assemblies at low optical power. Such nanoparticle assemblies have been used for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for molecular analysis in their native environments.

Ultra low-loss, isotropic optical negative-index metamaterial based on hybrid metal-semiconductor nanowires

PubMed Central

Paniagua-Domínguez, R.; Abujetas, D. R.; Sánchez-Gil, J. A.

2013-01-01

Recently, many fascinating properties predicted for metamaterials (negative refraction, superlensing, electromagnetic cloaking,…) were experimentally demonstrated. Unfortunately, the best achievements have no direct translation to the optical domain, without being burdened by technological and conceptual difficulties. Of particular importance within the realm of optical negative-index metamaterials (NIM), is the issue of simultaneously achieving strong electric and magnetic responses and low associated losses. Here, hybrid metal-semiconductor nanowires are proposed as building blocks of optical NIMs. The metamaterial thus obtained, highly isotropic in the plane normal to the nanowires, presents a negative index of refraction in the near-infrared, with values of the real part well below −1, and extremely low losses (an order of magnitude better than present optical NIMs). Tunability of the system allows to select the operating range in the whole telecom spectrum. The design is proven in configurations such as prisms and slabs, directly observing negative refraction. PMID:23514968

A high-speed, tunable silicon photonic ring modulator integrated with ultra-efficient active wavelength control.

PubMed

Zheng, Xuezhe; Chang, Eric; Amberg, Philip; Shubin, Ivan; Lexau, Jon; Liu, Frankie; Thacker, Hiren; Djordjevic, Stevan S; Lin, Shiyun; Luo, Ying; Yao, Jin; Lee, Jin-Hyoung; Raj, Kannan; Ho, Ron; Cunningham, John E; Krishnamoorthy, Ashok V

2014-05-19

We report the first complete 10G silicon photonic ring modulator with integrated ultra-efficient CMOS driver and closed-loop wavelength control. A selective substrate removal technique was used to improve the ring tuning efficiency. Limited by the thermal tuner driver output power, a maximum open-loop tuning range of about 4.5nm was measured with about 14mW of total tuning power including the heater driver circuit power consumption. Stable wavelength locking was achieved with a low-power mixed-signal closed-loop wavelength controller. An active wavelength tracking range of > 500GHz was demonstrated with controller energy cost of only 20fJ/bit.

Photoionization Efficiencies of Five Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

PubMed

Johansson, K Olof; Campbell, Matthew F; Elvati, Paolo; Schrader, Paul E; Zádor, Judit; Richards-Henderson, Nicole K; Wilson, Kevin R; Violi, Angela; Michelsen, Hope A

2017-06-15

We have measured photoionization-efficiency curves for pyrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, perylene, and coronene in the photon energy range of 7.5-10.2 eV and derived their photoionization cross-section curves in this energy range. All measurements were performed using tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation generated at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The VUV radiation was used for photoionization, and detection was performed using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. We measured the photoionization efficiency of 2,5-dimethylfuran simultaneously with those of pyrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, perylene, and coronene to obtain references of the photon flux during each measurement from the known photoionization cross-section curve of 2,5-dimethylfuran.

The Dual Wavelength UV Transmitter Development for Space Based Ozone DIAL Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prasad, Narasimha S.

2008-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop efficient 1-micron to UV wavelength conversion technology to generate tunable, single mode, pulsed UV wavelengths of 320 nm and 308 nm. The 532 nm wavelength radiation is generated by a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser through second harmonic generation. The 532 nm pumps an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) to generate 803 nm. The 320 nm is generated by sum frequency generation (SFG) of 532 nm and 803 nm wavelengths The hardware consists of a conductively cooled, 1 J/pulse, single mode Nd:YAG pump laser coupled to an efficient RISTRA OPO and SFG assembly-Both intra and extra-cavity approaches are examined for efficiency.

Spectral and Radiometric Calibration Using Tunable Lasers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCorkel, Joel (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A tunable laser system includes a tunable laser, an adjustable laser cavity for producing one or more modes of laser light emitted from the tunable laser, a first optical parametric oscillator positioned in a light path of the adjustable laser cavity, and a controller operable to simultaneously control parameters of at least the tunable laser, the first optical parametric oscillator, and the adjustable laser cavity to produce a range of wavelengths emitted from the tunable laser system. A method of operating a tunable laser system includes using a controller to simultaneously control parameters of a tunable laser, an adjustable laser cavity for producing one or more modes of laser light emitted from the tunable laser, and a first optical parametric oscillator positioned in a light path of the adjustable laser cavity, to produce a range of wavelengths emitted from the tunable laser system.

Carbon Dots as Versatile Photosensitizers for Solar-Driven Catalysis with Redox Enzymes.

PubMed

Hutton, Georgina A M; Reuillard, Bertrand; Martindale, Benjamin C M; Caputo, Christine A; Lockwood, Colin W J; Butt, Julea N; Reisner, Erwin

2016-12-28

Light-driven enzymatic catalysis is enabled by the productive coupling of a protein to a photosensitizer. Photosensitizers used in such hybrid systems are typically costly, toxic, and/or fragile, with limited chemical versatility. Carbon dots (CDs) are low-cost, nanosized light-harvesters that are attractive photosensitizers for biological systems as they are water-soluble, photostable, nontoxic, and their surface chemistry can be easily modified. We demonstrate here that CDs act as excellent light-absorbers in two semibiological photosynthetic systems utilizing either a fumarate reductase (FccA) for the solar-driven hydrogenation of fumarate to succinate or a hydrogenase (H 2 ase) for reduction of protons to H 2 . The tunable surface chemistry of the CDs was exploited to synthesize positively charged ammonium-terminated CDs (CD-NHMe 2 + ), which were capable of transferring photoexcited electrons directly to the negatively charged enzymes with high efficiency and stability. Enzyme-based turnover numbers of 6000 mol succinate (mol FccA) -1 and 43,000 mol H 2 (mol H 2 ase) -1 were reached after 24 h. Negatively charged carboxylate-terminated CDs (CD-CO 2 - ) displayed little or no activity, and the electrostatic interactions at the CD-enzyme interface were determined to be essential to the high photocatalytic activity observed with CD-NHMe 2 + . The modular surface chemistry of CDs together with their photostability and aqueous solubility make CDs versatile photosensitizers for redox enzymes with great scope for their utilization in photobiocatalysis.

Tunable SnSe2 /WSe2 Heterostructure Tunneling Field Effect Transistor.

PubMed

Yan, Xiao; Liu, Chunsen; Li, Chao; Bao, Wenzhong; Ding, Shijin; Zhang, David Wei; Zhou, Peng

2017-09-01

The burgeoning 2D semiconductors can maintain excellent device electrostatics with an ultranarrow channel length and can realize tunneling by electrostatic gating to avoid deprivation of band-edge sharpness resulting from chemical doping, which make them perfect candidates for tunneling field effect transistors. Here this study presents SnSe 2 /WSe 2 van der Waals heterostructures with SnSe 2 as the p-layer and WSe 2 as the n-layer. The energy band alignment changes from a staggered gap band offset (type-II) to a broken gap (type-III) when changing the negative back-gate voltage to positive, resulting in the device operating as a rectifier diode (rectification ratio ~10 4 ) or an n-type tunneling field effect transistor, respectively. A steep average subthreshold swing of 80 mV dec -1 for exceeding two decades of drain current with a minimum of 37 mV dec -1 at room temperature is observed, and an evident trend toward negative differential resistance is also accomplished for the tunneling field effect transistor due to the high gate efficiency of 0.36 for single gate devices. The I ON /I OFF ratio of the transfer characteristics is >10 6 , accompanying a high ON current >10 -5 A. This work presents original phenomena of multilayer 2D van der Waals heterostructures which can be applied to low-power consumption devices. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Theoretical and experimental investigation of architected core materials incorporating negative stiffness elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Ming; Keefe, Andrew; Carter, William B.; Henry, Christopher P.; McKnight, Geoff P.

2014-04-01

Structural assemblies incorporating negative stiffness elements have been shown to provide both tunable damping properties and simultaneous high stiffness and damping over prescribed displacement regions. In this paper we explore the design space for negative stiffness based assemblies using analytical modeling combined with finite element analysis. A simplified spring model demonstrates the effects of element stiffness, geometry, and preloads on the damping and stiffness performance. Simplified analytical models were validated for realistic structural implementations through finite element analysis. A series of complementary experiments was conducted to compare with modeling and determine the effects of each element on the system response. The measured damping performance follows the theoretical predictions obtained by analytical modeling. We applied these concepts to a novel sandwich core structure that exhibited combined stiffness and damping properties 8 times greater than existing foam core technologies.

Broadband working-waveband-tunable polarization converter based on anisotropic metasurface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yu; Wang, Lei; Gao, Jun; Lu, Yichao; Jiang, Suhua; Zeng, Wei

2017-03-01

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate an ultrathin, broadband, and highly efficient metamaterial-based polarization converter with a metasurface/insulator/metal (MIM) configuration. In such a system, the resonance undergoes a transition from a vertical Fabry-Pérot type to a transverse type as the spacer thickness decreases. By changing the spacer thickness from 1 to 15 mm, the working waveband of this device could be tuned from 10.9-12.9 to 6-8 GHz without compromising the polarization conversion efficiency. Equivalent circuit theory and the transfer matrix method are used for demonstrating the physical mechanism of our device.

Laser dye DCM: CW, synchronously pumped, cavity pumped and single-frequency performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marason, E. G.

1981-04-01

Laser dye DCM exhibits a tuning range of 605 to 725 nm with a lasing efficiency as high as 34% when pumped by the 488 nm line of the argon ion laser, placing it among the most efficient and broadly tunable dyes known. Performance of the dye is characterized for four laser systems: 1) continuous wave, 2) synchronously pumped (SP), 3) cavity dumped synchrompously pumped (SPCD) and 4) single-frequency ring dye laser. Pulse peak powers were as high as 520 W and 2.8 kW for SP and SPCD systems respectively.

Growth and Evaluation of Nonlinear Optical Crystals for Laser Applications: Lithium Borate, Barium Borate and Silver Gallium Selenide.

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-12-08

communication 2. S. A. Kutovi, V. V. Laptev and S. Yu. Matsnev, " Lanthanum scandoborate as a new highly efficient active medium of solid state lasers," Sov. J...34Noncritical detection of tunable C02 laser radiation into green by upconversion in silver thio- gallate ," Applied Physics B53, 19 (1991). 3. N.-H

Tunable Microwave Filter Design Using Thin-Film Ferroelectric Varactors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haridasan, Vrinda

Military, space, and consumer-based communication markets alike are moving towards multi-functional, multi-mode, and portable transceiver units. Ferroelectric-based tunable filter designs in RF front-ends are a relatively new area of research that provides a potential solution to support wideband and compact transceiver units. This work presents design methodologies developed to optimize a tunable filter design for system-level integration, and to improve the performance of a ferroelectric-based tunable bandpass filter. An investigative approach to find the origins of high insertion loss exhibited by these filters is also undertaken. A system-aware design guideline and figure of merit for ferroelectric-based tunable band- pass filters is developed. The guideline does not constrain the filter bandwidth as long as it falls within the range of the analog bandwidth of a system's analog to digital converter. A figure of merit (FOM) that optimizes filter design for a specific application is presented. It considers the worst-case filter performance parameters and a tuning sensitivity term that captures the relation between frequency tunability and the underlying material tunability. A non-tunable parasitic fringe capacitance associated with ferroelectric-based planar capacitors is confirmed by simulated and measured results. The fringe capacitance is an appreciable proportion of the tunable capacitance at frequencies of X-band and higher. As ferroelectric-based tunable capac- itors form tunable resonators in the filter design, a proportionally higher fringe capacitance reduces the capacitance tunability which in turn reduces the frequency tunability of the filter. Methods to reduce the fringe capacitance can thus increase frequency tunability or indirectly reduce the filter insertion-loss by trading off the increased tunability achieved to lower loss. A new two-pole tunable filter topology with high frequency tunability (> 30%), steep filter skirts, wide stopband rejection, and constant bandwidth is designed, simulated, fabricated and measured. The filters are fabricated using barium strontium titanate (BST) varactors. Electromagnetic simulations and measured results of the tunable two-pole ferroelectric filter are analyzed to explore the origins of high insertion loss in ferroelectric filters. The results indicate that the high-permittivity of the BST (a ferroelectric) not only makes the filters tunable and compact, but also increases the conductive loss of the ferroelectric-based tunable resonators which translates into high insertion loss in ferroelectric filters.

Elastic metamaterial beam with remotely tunable stiffness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Wei; Yu, Zhengyue; Wang, Xiaole; Lai, Yun; Yellen, Benjamin B.

2016-02-01

We demonstrate a dynamically tunable elastic metamaterial, which employs remote magnetic force to adjust its vibration absorption properties. The 1D metamaterial is constructed from a flat aluminum beam milled with a linear array of cylindrical holes. The beam is backed by a thin elastic membrane, on which thin disk-shaped permanent magnets are mounted. When excited by a shaker, the beam motion is tracked by a Laser Doppler Vibrometer, which conducts point by point scanning of the vibrating element. Elastic waves are unable to propagate through the beam when the driving frequency excites the first elastic bending mode in the unit cell. At these frequencies, the effective mass density of the unit cell becomes negative, which induces an exponentially decaying evanescent wave. Due to the non-linear elastic properties of the membrane, the effective stiffness of the unit cell can be tuned with an external magnetic force from nearby solenoids. Measurements of the linear and cubic static stiffness terms of the membrane are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements of the bandgap shift as a function of the applied force. In this implementation, bandgap shifts by as much as 40% can be achieved with ˜30 mN of applied magnetic force. This structure has potential for extension in 2D and 3D, providing a general approach for building dynamically tunable elastic metamaterials for applications in lensing and guiding elastic waves.

Controlling electronic couplings with tunable long wavelength pulses: Study of Autler-Townes splitting and XUV emission spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harkema, Nathan; Liao, Chen-Ting; Sandhu, Arvinder

2017-04-01

Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) enables the study of excited electron dynamics with unprecedented temporal and energy resolution. Many ATAS experiments use an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pump pulse and a near-infrared (NIR) probe fixed at the fundamental laser frequency ( 800 nm) to study the light induced effects on electronic structure of atoms and molecules. We extend the technique by using an optical parametric amplifier in one arm of our setup, which allows us to independently tune the frequency of the probe pulse from 1200 to 1800 nm. These long-wavelength pulses allow us to explore a new regime, where we can control the couplings between nearby electronic states to alter the transient absorption lineshapes in atoms. We use this technique to investigate the 4p-3s detuning dependent Autler-Townes splitting of the 4p state in Helium. Light induced Floquet structures extending into the continuum are observed in our study. We demonstrate new tunable XUV emission channels from four-wave mixing processes, and the efficiency of these emissions can be strongly enhanced through resonant couplings. The tunable IR induced electronic couplings are also used to influence the autoionization dynamics in Argon. This work is supported by NSF Grant No. PHY-1505556 and ARO Grant No. W911NF-14-1-0383.

High-power, continuous-wave, tunable mid-IR, higher-order vortex beam optical parametric oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aadhi, A.; Sharma, Varun; Samanta, G. K.

2018-05-01

We report on a novel experimental scheme to generate continuous-wave (cw), high power, and higher-order optical vortices tunable across mid-IR wavelength range. Using cw, two-crystal, singly resonant optical parametric oscillator (T-SRO) and pumping one of the crystals with Gaussian beam and the other crystal with optical vortices of orders, lp = 1 to 6, we have directly transferred the vortices at near-IR to the mid-IR wavelength range. The idler vortices of orders, li = 1 to 6, are tunable across 2276-3576 nm with a maximum output power of 6.8 W at order of, li = 1, for the pump power of 25 W corresponding to a near-IR vortex to mid-IR vortex conversion efficiency as high as 27.2%. Unlike the SROs generating optical vortices restricted to lower orders due to the elevated operation threshold with pump vortex orders, here, the coherent energy coupling between the resonant signals of the crystals of T-SRO facilitates the transfer of pump vortex of any order to the idler wavelength without stringent operation threshold condition. The generic experimental scheme can be used in any wavelength range across the electromagnetic spectrum and in all time scales from cw to ultrafast regime.

Tunable integration of absorption-membrane-adsorption for efficiently separating low boiling gas mixtures near normal temperature

PubMed Central

Liu, Huang; Pan, Yong; Liu, Bei; Sun, Changyu; Guo, Ping; Gao, Xueteng; Yang, Lanying; Ma, Qinglan; Chen, Guangjin

2016-01-01

Separation of low boiling gas mixtures is widely concerned in process industries. Now their separations heavily rely upon energy-intensive cryogenic processes. Here, we report a pseudo-absorption process for separating low boiling gas mixtures near normal temperature. In this process, absorption-membrane-adsorption is integrated by suspending suitable porous ZIF material in suitable solvent and forming selectively permeable liquid membrane around ZIF particles. Green solvents like water and glycol were used to form ZIF-8 slurry and tune the permeability of liquid membrane surrounding ZIF-8 particles. We found glycol molecules form tighter membrane while water molecules form looser membrane because of the hydrophobicity of ZIF-8. When using mixing solvents composed of glycol and water, the permeability of liquid membrane becomes tunable. It is shown that ZIF-8/water slurry always manifests remarkable higher separation selectivity than solid ZIF-8 and it could be tuned to further enhance the capture of light hydrocarbons by adding suitable quantity of glycol to water. Because of its lower viscosity and higher sorption/desorption rate, tunable ZIF-8/water-glycol slurry could be readily used as liquid absorbent to separate different kinds of low boiling gas mixtures by applying a multistage separation process in one traditional absorption tower, especially for the capture of light hydrocarbons. PMID:26892255

Tunable elastin-like polypeptide hollow sphere as a high payload and controlled delivery gene depot.

PubMed

Dash, Biraja C; Mahor, Sunil; Carroll, Oliver; Mathew, Asha; Wang, Wenxin; Woodhouse, Kimberly A; Pandit, Abhay

2011-06-30

Self-assembly driven processes can be utilized to produce a variety of nanostructures useful for various in vitro and in vivo applications. Characteristics such as size, stability, biocompatibility, high therapeutic loading and controlled delivery of these nanostructures are particularly crucial in relation to in vivo applications. In this study, we report the fabrication of tunable monodispersed elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) hollow spheres of 100, 300, 500 and 1000 nm by exploiting the self-assembly property and net positive charge of ELP. The microbial transglutaminase (mTGase) cross-linking provided robustness and stability to the hollow spheres while maintaining surface functional groups for further modifications. The resulting hollow spheres showed a higher loading efficiency of plasmid DNA (pDNA) by using polyplex (~70 μg pDNA/mg of hollow sphere) than that of self-assembled ELP particles and demonstrated controlled release triggered by protease and elastase. Moreover, polyplex-loaded hollow spheres showed better cell viability than polyplex alone and yielded higher luciferase expression by providing protection against endosomal degradation. Overall, the monodispersed, tunable hollow spheres with a capability of post-functionalization can provide an exciting new opportunity for use in a range of therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Van der Waals MoS2/VO2 heterostructure junction with tunable rectifier behavior and efficient photoresponse.

PubMed

Oliva, Nicoló; Casu, Emanuele Andrea; Yan, Chen; Krammer, Anna; Rosca, Teodor; Magrez, Arnaud; Stolichnov, Igor; Schueler, Andreas; Martin, Olivier J F; Ionescu, Adrian Mihai

2017-10-27

Junctions between n-type semiconductors of different electron affinity show rectification if the junction is abrupt enough. With the advent of 2D materials, we are able to realize thin van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures based on a large diversity of materials. In parallel, strongly correlated functional oxides have emerged, having the ability to show reversible insulator-to-metal (IMT) phase transition by collapsing their electronic bandgap under a certain external stimulus. Here, we report for the first time the electronic and optoelectronic characterization of ultra-thin n-n heterojunctions fabricated using deterministic assembly of multilayer molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2 ) on a phase transition material, vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ). The vdW MoS 2 /VO 2 heterojunction combines the excellent blocking capability of an n-n junction with a high conductivity in on-state, and it can be turned into a Schottky rectifier at high applied voltage or at temperatures higher than 68 °C, exploiting the metal state of VO 2 . We report tunable diode-like current rectification with a good diode ideality factor of 1.75 and excellent conductance swing of 120 mV/dec. Finally, we demonstrate unique tunable photosensitivity and excellent junction photoresponse in the 500/650 nm wavelength range.

Synthesis of nano-TiO2 photocatalysts with tunable Fe doping concentration from Ti-bearing tailings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sui, Yulei; Liu, Qingxia; Jiang, Tao; Guo, Yufeng

2018-01-01

In this work, highly pure nano-TiO2 photocatalysts with varying Fe doping concentration were successfully synthesized from low-cost Ti-bearing tailings by an acidolysis-hydrothermal route. The effects of H2SO4 concentration, leaching temperature, acid/tailings ratio and leaching time on the recovery of TiO2 from the tailings were investigated. Synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, EDS, XPS, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The results showed that the material prepared is characteristic anatase with the average size of 20 nm and the Fe doping concentration in the synthesized nano-TiO2 is tunable. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized nano-TiO2 photocatalyst was also evaluated by the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under visible light and UV light irradiation. Our study demonstrates a low-cost approach to synthesize highly efficient and visible light responsive catalysts.

Widely tunable and monochromatic terahertz difference frequency generation with organic crystal 2-(3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dime-thylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Pengxiang; Zhang, Xinyuan; Yan, Chao; Xu, Degang; Li, Yin; Shi, Wei; Zhang, Guochun; Zhang, Xinzheng; Yao, Jianquan; Wu, Yicheng

2016-01-01

We report an experimental study on widely tunable terahertz (THz) wave difference frequency generation (DFG) with hydrogen-bonded crystals 2-(3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dime-thylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile (OH1). The organic crystals were pumped by a ˜1.3 μm double-pass KTiOPO4 optical parametric oscillator. A tuning range of 0.02-20 THz was achieved. OH1 crystals offer a long effective interaction length (also high output) for the generation below 3 THz, owing to the low absorption and favorable phase-matching. The highest energy of 507 nJ/pulse was generated at 1.92 THz with a 1.89-mm-thick crystal. Comprehensive explanations were provided, on the basis of theoretical calculations. Cascading phenomenon during the DFG process was demonstrated. The photon conversion efficiency could reach 2.9%.

Widely tunable and monochromatic terahertz difference frequency generation with organic crystal 2-(3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dime-thylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Pengxiang; The Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics and TEDA Applied Physics Institute, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071; Zhang, Xinyuan

2016-01-04

We report an experimental study on widely tunable terahertz (THz) wave difference frequency generation (DFG) with hydrogen-bonded crystals 2-(3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dime-thylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile (OH1). The organic crystals were pumped by a ∼1.3 μm double-pass KTiOPO{sub 4} optical parametric oscillator. A tuning range of 0.02–20 THz was achieved. OH1 crystals offer a long effective interaction length (also high output) for the generation below 3 THz, owing to the low absorption and favorable phase-matching. The highest energy of 507 nJ/pulse was generated at 1.92 THz with a 1.89-mm-thick crystal. Comprehensive explanations were provided, on the basis of theoretical calculations. Cascading phenomenon during the DFG process wasmore » demonstrated. The photon conversion efficiency could reach 2.9%.« less

Tunable Molecular-Scale Materials for Catalyzing the Low-Overpotential Electrochemical Conversion of CO2.

PubMed

Rosen, Brian A; Hod, Idan

2018-04-25

Electrochemical CO 2 reduction provides a clean and viable alternative for mitigating the environmental aspects of global greenhouse gas emissions. To date, the simultaneous goals of CO 2 reduction at high selectivity and activity have yet to be achieved. Here, the importance of engineering both sides of the electrode-electrolyte interface as a rational strategy for achieving this milestone is highlighted. An emphasis is placed on researchers contributing to the design of solid electrodes based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and electrolytes based on room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). Future research geared toward optimizing the electrode-electrolyte interface for efficient and selective CO 2 reduction can be achieved by understanding the structure of newly designed RTILs at the electrified interface, as well as structure-activity relationships in highly tunable MOF platforms. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Benzobisoxazole cruciforms: A tunable, cross-conjugated platform for the generation of deep blue OLED materials

DOE PAGES

Chavez, III, Ramiro; Cai, Min; Tlach, Brian; ...

2016-01-20

Four new cross-conjugated small molecules based on a central benzo[1,2-d:4,5-d']bisoxazole moiety possessing semi-independently tunable HOMO and LUMO levels were synthesized and the properties of these materials were evaluated experimentally and theoretically. The molecules were thermally stable with 5% weight loss occurring well above 350 °C. The cruciforms all exhibited blue emission in solution ranging from 433–450 nm. Host–guest OLEDs fabricated from various concentrations of these materials using the small molecule host 4,4'-bis(9-carbazolyl)-biphenyl (CBP) exhibited deep blue-emission with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.17, 0.05 ≤ y ≤ 0.11), and maximum luminance efficiencies as highmore » as ~2 cd A–1. Lastly, these results demonstrate the potential of benzobisoxazole cruciforms as emitters for developing high-performance deep blue OLEDs.« less

Third-harmonic generation in tunable nonlinear hyperbolic metamaterial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wicharn, Surawut; Buranasiri, Prathan

2018-03-01

In this research, a third-harmonic generation (THG) in a tunable nonlinear hyperbolic metamaterial (TNHM) has been investigated numerically. The TNHM is consisted of periodically arranging of multilayered graphene layers system for controlled optical properties purpose, and ordinary nonlinear dielectric layer. The possibility of TNHM permittivity dispersion controlled by number of graphene layers and external bias voltage to graphene layers was satisfied, then the structure has created the nearly perfect phase-matching scheme based on epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) behavior of the nonlinear medium. Finally, the optimal designed TNHM structure with sufficient bias voltage have given the forwardand backward-direction TH pulses, which the backward-forward TH intensity ratio is closely unity. The THG conversion efficiencies have been maximized after increasing the pumping level to 800 MW/cm2 . From this study, the optimal designed TNHM can be applied as a bi-directional nonlinear frequency converters in nanophotonic systems.

A new class of tunable hypersonic phononic crystals based on polymer-tethered colloids.

PubMed

Alonso-Redondo, E; Schmitt, M; Urbach, Z; Hui, C M; Sainidou, R; Rembert, P; Matyjaszewski, K; Bockstaller, M R; Fytas, G

2015-09-22

The design and engineering of hybrid materials exhibiting tailored phononic band gaps are fundamentally relevant to innovative material technologies in areas ranging from acoustics to thermo-optic devices. Phononic hybridization gaps, originating from the anti-crossing between local resonant and propagating modes, have attracted particular interest because of their relative robustness to structural disorder and the associated benefit to 'manufacturability'. Although hybridization gap materials are well known, their economic fabrication and efficient control of the gap frequency have remained elusive because of the limited property variability and expensive fabrication methodologies. Here we report a new strategy to realize hybridization gap materials by harnessing the 'anisotropic elasticity' across the particle-polymer interface in densely polymer-tethered colloidal particles. Theoretical and Brillouin scattering analysis confirm both the robustness to disorder and the tunability of the resulting hybridization gap and provide guidelines for the economic synthesis of new materials with deliberately controlled gap position and width frequencies.

Thermochromic halide perovskite solar cells.

PubMed

Lin, Jia; Lai, Minliang; Dou, Letian; Kley, Christopher S; Chen, Hong; Peng, Fei; Sun, Junliang; Lu, Dylan; Hawks, Steven A; Xie, Chenlu; Cui, Fan; Alivisatos, A Paul; Limmer, David T; Yang, Peidong

2018-03-01

Smart photovoltaic windows represent a promising green technology featuring tunable transparency and electrical power generation under external stimuli to control the light transmission and manage the solar energy. Here, we demonstrate a thermochromic solar cell for smart photovoltaic window applications utilizing the structural phase transitions in inorganic halide perovskite caesium lead iodide/bromide. The solar cells undergo thermally-driven, moisture-mediated reversible transitions between a transparent non-perovskite phase (81.7% visible transparency) with low power output and a deeply coloured perovskite phase (35.4% visible transparency) with high power output. The inorganic perovskites exhibit tunable colours and transparencies, a peak device efficiency above 7%, and a phase transition temperature as low as 105 °C. We demonstrate excellent device stability over repeated phase transition cycles without colour fade or performance degradation. The photovoltaic windows showing both photoactivity and thermochromic features represent key stepping-stones for integration with buildings, automobiles, information displays, and potentially many other technologies.

Graphene patterns supported terahertz tunable plasmon induced transparency.

PubMed

He, Xiaoyong; Liu, Feng; Lin, Fangting; Shi, Wangzhou

2018-04-16

The tunable plasmonic induced transparency has been theoretically investigated based on graphene patterns/SiO 2 /Si/polymer multilayer structure in the terahertz regime, including the effects of graphene Fermi level, structural parameters and operation frequency. The results manifest that obvious Fano peak can be observed and efficiently modulated because of the strong coupling between incident light and graphene pattern structures. As Fermi level increases, the peak amplitude of Fano resonance increases, and the resonant peak position shifts to high frequency. The amplitude modulation depth of Fano curves is about 40% on condition that the Fermi level changes in the scope of 0.2-1.0 eV. With the distance between cut wire and double semi-circular patterns increases, the peak amplitude and figure of merit increases. The results are very helpful to develop novel graphene plasmonic devices (e.g. sensors, modulators, and antenna) and find potential applications in the fields of biomedical sensing and wireless communications.

Tunable long persistent luminescence in the second near-infrared window via crystal field control.

PubMed

Nie, Jianmin; Li, Yang; Liu, Shanshan; Chen, Qiuqun; Xu, Qi; Qiu, Jianrong

2017-09-29

Construction of an active composite as a biomarker with deeper tissue penetration and higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is of great importance for the application in bioimaging. Here, we report a strategy for tuning the emission bandwidth and intensity via crystal field control in long persistent phosphors (LPPs). Ni 2+ -doped Zn 1+y Sn y Ga 2-x-2y O 4 phosphors, with a tunable emission band peaking from 1270 to 1430 nm in the second near-infrared (NIR) window, have been successfully prepared. Such featured materials have the advantages of low absorption and scattering as well as more efficient tissue penetration. The emission spectra can be controlled by tailoring the local crystal field around the activator precisely via substitution of Zn and Sn for Ga. Moreover, with high resolution and weak light disturbance, these developed multi-band afterglow phosphors exhibit great application potential in advanced optical imaging.

Aperiodic nanoplasmonic devices for directional colour filtering and sensing.

PubMed

Davis, Matthew S; Zhu, Wenqi; Xu, Ting; Lee, Jay K; Lezec, Henri J; Agrawal, Amit

2017-11-07

Exploiting the wave-nature of light in its simplest form, periodic architectures have enabled a panoply of tunable optical devices with the ability to perform useful functions such as filtering, spectroscopy, and multiplexing. Here, we remove the constraint of structural periodicity to enhance, simultaneously, the performance and functionality of passive plasmonic devices operating at optical frequencies. By using a physically intuitive, first-order interference model of plasmon-light interactions, we demonstrate a simple and efficient route towards designing devices with flexible, multi-spectral optical response, fundamentally not achievable using periodic architectures. Leveraging this approach, we experimentally implement ultra-compact directional light-filters and colour-sorters exhibiting angle- or spectrally-tunable optical responses with high contrast, and low spectral or spatial crosstalk. Expanding the potential of aperiodic systems to implement tailored spectral and angular responses, these results hint at promising applications in solar-energy harvesting, optical signal multiplexing, and integrated sensing.

Thermochromic halide perovskite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jia; Lai, Minliang; Dou, Letian; Kley, Christopher S.; Chen, Hong; Peng, Fei; Sun, Junliang; Lu, Dylan; Hawks, Steven A.; Xie, Chenlu; Cui, Fan; Alivisatos, A. Paul; Limmer, David T.; Yang, Peidong

2018-03-01

Smart photovoltaic windows represent a promising green technology featuring tunable transparency and electrical power generation under external stimuli to control the light transmission and manage the solar energy. Here, we demonstrate a thermochromic solar cell for smart photovoltaic window applications utilizing the structural phase transitions in inorganic halide perovskite caesium lead iodide/bromide. The solar cells undergo thermally-driven, moisture-mediated reversible transitions between a transparent non-perovskite phase (81.7% visible transparency) with low power output and a deeply coloured perovskite phase (35.4% visible transparency) with high power output. The inorganic perovskites exhibit tunable colours and transparencies, a peak device efficiency above 7%, and a phase transition temperature as low as 105 °C. We demonstrate excellent device stability over repeated phase transition cycles without colour fade or performance degradation. The photovoltaic windows showing both photoactivity and thermochromic features represent key stepping-stones for integration with buildings, automobiles, information displays, and potentially many other technologies.

Continuously tunable nucleic acid hybridization probes.

PubMed

Wu, Lucia R; Wang, Juexiao Sherry; Fang, John Z; Evans, Emily R; Pinto, Alessandro; Pekker, Irena; Boykin, Richard; Ngouenet, Celine; Webster, Philippa J; Beechem, Joseph; Zhang, David Yu

2015-12-01

In silico-designed nucleic acid probes and primers often do not achieve favorable specificity and sensitivity tradeoffs on the first try, and iterative empirical sequence-based optimization is needed, particularly in multiplexed assays. We present a novel, on-the-fly method of tuning probe affinity and selectivity by adjusting the stoichiometry of auxiliary species, which allows for independent and decoupled adjustment of the hybridization yield for different probes in multiplexed assays. Using this method, we achieved near-continuous tuning of probe effective free energy. To demonstrate our approach, we enforced uniform capture efficiency of 31 DNA molecules (GC content, 0-100%), maximized the signal difference for 11 pairs of single-nucleotide variants and performed tunable hybrid capture of mRNA from total RNA. Using the Nanostring nCounter platform, we applied stoichiometric tuning to simultaneously adjust yields for a 24-plex assay, and we show multiplexed quantitation of RNA sequences and variants from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples.

Aqueous synthesis of high bright and tunable near-infrared AgInSe2-ZnSe quantum dots for bioimaging.

PubMed

Che, Dongchen; Zhu, Xiaoxu; Wang, Hongzhi; Duan, Yourong; Zhang, Qinghong; Li, Yaogang

2016-02-01

Efficient synthetic methods for near-infrared quantum dots with good biophysical properties as bioimaging agents are urgently required. In this work, a simple and fast synthesis of highly luminescent, near-infrared AgInSe2-ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) with tunable emissions in aqueous media is reported. This method avoids high temperature and pressure and organic solvents to directly generate water-dispersible AgInSe2-ZnSe QDs. The photoluminescence emission peak of the AgInSe2-ZnSe QDs ranged from 625 to 940nm, with quantum yields up to 31%. The AgInSe2-ZnSe QDs with high quantum yield, near-infrared and low cytotoxic could be used as good cell labels, showing great potential applications in bio-imaging. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An electrically tunable plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array.

PubMed

Lei, Yu; Tong, Qing; Zhang, Xinyu; Sang, Hongshi; Ji, An; Xie, Changsheng

2015-05-01

Plenoptic cameras generally employ a microlens array positioned between the main lens and the image sensor to capture the three-dimensional target radiation in the visible range. Because the focal length of common refractive or diffractive microlenses is fixed, the depth of field (DOF) is limited so as to restrict their imaging capability. In this paper, we propose a new plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array (LCMLA) with electrically tunable focal length. The developed LCMLA is fabricated by traditional photolithography and standard microelectronic techniques, and then, its focusing performance is experimentally presented. The fabricated LCMLA is directly integrated with an image sensor to construct a prototyped LCMLA-based plenoptic camera for acquiring raw radiation of targets. Our experiments demonstrate that the focused region of the LCMLA-based plenoptic camera can be shifted efficiently through electrically tuning the LCMLA used, which is equivalent to the extension of the DOF.

An electrically tunable plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lei, Yu; School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074; Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074

2015-05-15

Plenoptic cameras generally employ a microlens array positioned between the main lens and the image sensor to capture the three-dimensional target radiation in the visible range. Because the focal length of common refractive or diffractive microlenses is fixed, the depth of field (DOF) is limited so as to restrict their imaging capability. In this paper, we propose a new plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array (LCMLA) with electrically tunable focal length. The developed LCMLA is fabricated by traditional photolithography and standard microelectronic techniques, and then, its focusing performance is experimentally presented. The fabricated LCMLA is directly integrated withmore » an image sensor to construct a prototyped LCMLA-based plenoptic camera for acquiring raw radiation of targets. Our experiments demonstrate that the focused region of the LCMLA-based plenoptic camera can be shifted efficiently through electrically tuning the LCMLA used, which is equivalent to the extension of the DOF.« less

Frequency-tunable continuous-wave terahertz sources based on GaAs plasmonic photomixers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Shang-Hua; Jarrahi, Mona; Electrical Engineering Department, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095

2015-09-28

We present frequency-tunable, continuous-wave terahertz sources based on GaAs plasmonic photomixers, which offer high terahertz radiation power levels at 50% radiation duty cycle. The use of plasmonic contact electrodes enhances photomixer quantum efficiency while maintaining its ultrafast operation by concentrating a large number of photocarriers in close proximity to the device contact electrodes. Additionally, the relatively high thermal conductivity and high resistivity of GaAs allow operation under high optical pump power levels and long duty cycles without reaching the thermal breakdown limit of the photomixer. We experimentally demonstrate continuous-wave terahertz radiation with a radiation frequency tuning range of more thanmore » 2 THz and a record-high radiation power of 17 μW at 1 THz through plasmonic photomixers fabricated on a low temperature grown GaAs substrate at 50% radiation duty cycle.« less

New dynamic silicon photonic components enabled by MEMS technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Errando-Herranz, Carlos; Edinger, Pierre; Colangelo, Marco; Björk, Joel; Ahmed, Samy; Stemme, Göran; Niklaus, Frank; Gylfason, Kristinn B.

2018-02-01

Silicon photonics is the study and application of integrated optical systems which use silicon as an optical medium, usually by confining light in optical waveguides etched into the surface of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The term microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) refers to the technology of mechanics on the microscale actuated by electrostatic actuators. Due to the low power requirements of electrostatic actuation, MEMS components are very power efficient, making them well suited for dense integration and mobile operation. MEMS components are conventionally also implemented in silicon, and MEMS sensors such as accelerometers, gyros, and microphones are now standard in every smartphone. By combining these two successful technologies, new active photonic components with extremely low power consumption can be made. We discuss our recent experimental work on tunable filters, tunable fiber-to-chip couplers, and dynamic waveguide dispersion tuning, enabled by the marriage of silicon MEMS and silicon photonics.

Hierarchical Macro-meso-microporous ZSM-5 Zeolite Hollow Fibers With Highly Efficient Catalytic Cracking Capability

PubMed Central

Liu, Jia; Jiang, Guiyuan; Liu, Ying; Di, Jiancheng; Wang, Yajun; Zhao, Zhen; Sun, Qianyao; Xu, Chunming; Gao, Jinsen; Duan, Aijun; Liu, Jian; Wei, Yuechang; Zhao, Yong; Jiang, Lei

2014-01-01

Zeolite fibers have attracted growing interest for a range of new applications because of their structural particularity while maintaining the intrinsic performances of the building blocks of zeolites. The fabrication of uniform zeolite fibers with tunable hierarchical porosity and further exploration of their catalytic potential are of great importance. Here, we present a versatile and facile method for the fabrication of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite fibers with macro-meso-microporosity by coaxial electrospinning. Due to the synergistic integration of the suitable acidity and the hierarchical porosity, high yield of propylene and excellent anti-coking stability were demonstrated on the as-prepared ZSM-5 hollow fibers in the catalytic cracking reaction of iso-butane. This work may also provide good model catalysts with uniform wall thickness and tunable porosity for studying a series of important catalytic reactions. PMID:25450726

Tunable cavity coupling of the zero phonon line of a nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, S.; Dolan, P. R.; Grange, T.; Trichet, A. A. P.; Hornecker, G.; Chen, Y. C.; Weng, L.; Hughes, G. M.; Watt, A. A. R.; Auffèves, A.; Smith, J. M.

2015-12-01

We demonstrate the tunable enhancement of the zero phonon line of a single nitrogen-vacancy colour centre in diamond at cryogenic temperature. An open cavity fabricated using focused ion beam milling provides mode volumes as small as 1.24 μm3 (4.7 {λ }3) and quality factor Q≃ 3000. In situ tuning of the cavity resonance is achieved with piezoelectric actuators. At optimal coupling to a TEM00 cavity mode, the signal from individual zero phonon line transitions is enhanced by a factor of 6.25 and the overall emission rate of the NV- centre is increased by 40% compared with that measured from the same centre in the absence of cavity field confinement. This result represents a step forward in the realisation of efficient spin-photon interfaces and scalable quantum computing using optically addressable solid state spin qubits.

An electrically tunable plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Yu; Tong, Qing; Zhang, Xinyu; Sang, Hongshi; Ji, An; Xie, Changsheng

2015-05-01

Plenoptic cameras generally employ a microlens array positioned between the main lens and the image sensor to capture the three-dimensional target radiation in the visible range. Because the focal length of common refractive or diffractive microlenses is fixed, the depth of field (DOF) is limited so as to restrict their imaging capability. In this paper, we propose a new plenoptic camera using a liquid crystal microlens array (LCMLA) with electrically tunable focal length. The developed LCMLA is fabricated by traditional photolithography and standard microelectronic techniques, and then, its focusing performance is experimentally presented. The fabricated LCMLA is directly integrated with an image sensor to construct a prototyped LCMLA-based plenoptic camera for acquiring raw radiation of targets. Our experiments demonstrate that the focused region of the LCMLA-based plenoptic camera can be shifted efficiently through electrically tuning the LCMLA used, which is equivalent to the extension of the DOF.

Alternative generation of well-aligned uniform lying helix texture in a cholesteric liquid crystal cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Chia-Hua; Wu, Po-Chang; Lee, Wei

2017-10-01

This work demonstrates a simple approach for obtaining a well-aligned uniform lying helix (ULH) texture and a tri-bistable feature at ambient temperature in a typical 90°-twisted cell filled with a short-pitch cholesteric liquid crystal. This ULH texture is obtained at room temperature from initially field-induced helix-free homeotropic state by gradually decreasing the applied voltage. Depending on the way and rate of reducing the voltage, three stable states (i.e., Grandjean planar, focal conic, and ULH) are generated and switching between any two of them is realized. Moreover, the electrical operation of the cell in the ULH state enables the tunability in phase retardation via the deformation of the ULH. The observations made in this work may be useful for applications such as tunable phase modulators and energy-efficient photonic devices.

Real-time label-free quantitative fluorescence microscopy-based detection of ATP using a tunable fluorescent nano-aptasensor platform.

PubMed

Shrivastava, Sajal; Sohn, Il-Yung; Son, Young-Min; Lee, Won-Il; Lee, Nae-Eung

2015-12-14

Although real-time label-free fluorescent aptasensors based on nanomaterials are increasingly recognized as a useful strategy for the detection of target biomolecules with high fidelity, the lack of an imaging-based quantitative measurement platform limits their implementation with biological samples. Here we introduce an ensemble strategy for a real-time label-free fluorescent graphene (Gr) aptasensor platform. This platform employs aptamer length-dependent tunability, thus enabling the reagentless quantitative detection of biomolecules through computational processing coupled with real-time fluorescence imaging data. We demonstrate that this strategy effectively delivers dose-dependent quantitative readouts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration on chemical vapor deposited (CVD) Gr and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) surfaces, thereby providing cytotoxicity assessment. Compared with conventional fluorescence spectrometry methods, our highly efficient, universally applicable, and rational approach will facilitate broader implementation of imaging-based biosensing platforms for the quantitative evaluation of a range of target molecules.

A Review of Tunable Wavelength Selectivity of Metamaterials in Near-Field and Far-Field Radiative Thermal Transport

PubMed Central

Tian, Yanpei; Ricci, Matt; Hyde, Mikhail; Gregory, Otto; Zheng, Yi

2018-01-01

Radiative thermal transport of metamaterials has begun to play a significant role in thermal science and has great engineering applications. When the key features of structures become comparable to the thermal wavelength at a particular temperature, a narrowband or wideband of wavelengths can be created or shifted in both the emission and reflection spectrum of nanoscale metamaterials. Due to the near-field effect, the phenomena of radiative wavelength selectivity become significant. These effects show strong promise for applications in thermophotovoltaic energy harvesting, nanoscale biosensing, and increased energy efficiency through radiative cooling in the near future. This review paper summarizes the recent progress and outlook of both near-field and far-field radiative heat transfer, different design structures of metamaterials, applications of unique thermal and optical properties, and focuses especially on exploration of the tunable radiative wavelength selectivity of nano-metamaterials. PMID:29786650

Design of tunable thermo-optic C-band filter based on coated silicon slab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinhas, Hadar; Malka, Dror; Danan, Yossef; Sinvani, Moshe; Zalevsky, Zeev

2018-03-01

Optical filters are required to have narrow band-pass filtering in the spectral C-band for applications such as signal tracking, sub-band filtering or noise suppression. These requirements lead to a variety of filters such as Mach-Zehnder interferometer inter-leaver in silica, which offer thermo-optic effect for optical switching, however, without proper thermal and optical efficiency. In this paper we propose tunable thermo-optic filtering device based on coated silicon slab resonator with increased Q-factor for the C-band optical switching. The device can be designed either for long range wavelength tuning of for short range with increased wavelength resolution. Theoretical examination of the thermal parameters affecting the filtering process is shown together with experimental results. Proper channel isolation with an extinction ratio of 20dBs is achieved with spectral bandpass width of 0.07nm.

[Study on remote sensing of methane leakage using a tunable diode laser].

PubMed

Fan, Hong; Gao, Xiao-Ming; Bao, Jian; Wang, Xia; Huang, Teng; Huang, Wei; Cao, Zhen-Song; Zhang, Wei-Jun

2006-08-01

The leak of natural gas is not only an economic loss, but also the fountain of danger. Conventional detection techniques of natural gas pipe leak have low efficiency and slow respond time, therefore, it is difficult for them to suit practice application. Optical sensors based on NIR tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy were widely used because of high sensitivity, small volume and less maintenance. In the present paper, a portable remote sensor of natural gas pipeline leak was reported. The sensor used a ratio of second to first harmonic signals as calibration method, and the results show a good consistency between the concentrations and the ratios of second to first harmonic signals. The effect of different topographic scattering targets on the ratio detection was measured and analyzed. The results show that the ratio of second to first harmonic signals can be used in practical application.

Airborne Measurements of Formaldehyde Employing a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectrometer During TRACE-P

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fried, Alan; Drummond, James

2003-01-01

This final report summarizes the progress achieved over the entire 3-year proposal period including two extensions spanning 1 year. These activities include: 1) Preparation for and participation in the NASA 2001 TRACE-P campaign using our airborne tunable diode laser system to acquire measurements of formaldehyde (CH2O); 2) Comprehensive data analysis and data submittal to the NASA archive; 3) Follow up data interpretation working with NASA modelers to place our ambient CH2O measurements into a broader photochemical context; 4) Publication of numerous JGR papers using this data; 5) Extensive follow up laboratory tests on the selectivity and efficiency of our CH20 scrubbing system; and 6) An extensive follow up effort to assess and study the mechanical stability of our entire optical system, particularly the multipass absorption cell, with aircraft changes in cabin pressure.

Moth eye-inspired anti-reflective surfaces for improved IR optical systems & visible LEDs fabricated with colloidal lithography and etching.

PubMed

Chan, Lesley W; Morse, Daniel E; Gordon, Michael J

2018-05-08

Near- and sub-wavelength photonic structures are used by numerous organisms (e.g. insects, cephalopods, fish, birds) to create vivid and often dynamically-tunable colors, as well as create, manipulate, or capture light for vision, communication, crypsis, photosynthesis, and defense. This review introduces the physics of moth eye (ME)-like, biomimetic nanostructures and discusses their application to reduce optical losses and improve efficiency of various optoelectronic devices, including photodetectors, photovoltaics, imagers, and light emitting diodes. Light-matter interactions at structured and heterogeneous surfaces over different length scales are discussed, as are the various methods used to create ME-inspired surfaces. Special interest is placed on a simple, scalable, and tunable method, namely colloidal lithography with plasma dry etching, to fabricate ME-inspired nanostructures in a vast suite of materials. Anti-reflective surfaces and coatings for IR devices and enhancing light extraction from visible light emitting diodes are highlighted.

Large Scale Synthesis and Light Emitting Fibers of Tailor-Made Graphene Quantum Dots

PubMed Central

Park, Hun; Hyun Noh, Sung; Hye Lee, Ji; Jun Lee, Won; Yun Jaung, Jae; Geol Lee, Seung; Hee Han, Tae

2015-01-01

Graphene oxide (GO), which is an oxidized form of graphene, has a mixed structure consisting of graphitic crystallites of sp2 hybridized carbon and amorphous regions. In this work, we present a straightforward route for preparing graphene-based quantum dots (GQDs) by extraction of the crystallites from the amorphous matrix of the GO sheets. GQDs with controlled functionality are readily prepared by varying the reaction temperature, which results in precise tunability of their optical properties. Here, it was concluded that the tunable optical properties of GQDs are a result of the different fraction of chemical functionalities present. The synthesis approach presented in this paper provides an efficient strategy for achieving large-scale production and long-time optical stability of the GQDs, and the hybrid assembly of GQD and polymer has potential applications as photoluminescent fibers or films. PMID:26383257

Trivalent cerium coped crystals as tunable laser systems: two bad apples

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamilton, D.S.

1985-01-01

The 5d-4f transitions of trivalent doped crystals have broad emission bands with large oscillator strengths and near unity quantum efficiency. These characteristics make cerium systems strong candidates for tunable solid state lasers. However, two such cerium crystals will probably never lase. The first is Ce/sup 3 +/:YAG where a strong excited state absorption quenches the lasing transition. Our recent measurements have indicated that the excited state absorption terminates in the YAG conduction band with a peak cross section of 1.0 x 10/sup -17/ cm/sup 2/ at 700 nm. Some of the general features of impurity ion to band spectra aremore » discussed. The second system is Ce/sup 3 +/:CaF/sub 2/ where a uv pump induced photochromic center is produced following excitation of the cerium ions. The initial measurements of cerium related transient absorptions in Ce/sup 3 +/:YLF are also presented.« less

Robust nano-fabrication of an integrated platform for spin control in a tunable microcavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogdanović, Stefan; Liddy, Madelaine S. Z.; van Dam, Suzanne B.; Coenen, Lisanne C.; Fink, Thomas; Lončar, Marko; Hanson, Ronald

2017-12-01

Coupling nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds to optical cavities is a promising way to enhance the efficiency of diamond-based quantum networks. An essential aspect of the full toolbox required for the operation of these networks is the ability to achieve the microwave control of the electron spin associated with this defect within the cavity framework. Here, we report on the fabrication of an integrated platform for the microwave control of an NV center electron spin in an open, tunable Fabry-Pérot microcavity. A critical aspect of the measurements of the cavity's finesse reveals that the presented fabrication process does not compromise its optical properties. We provide a method to incorporate a thin diamond slab into the cavity architecture and demonstrate the control of the NV center spin. These results show the promise of this design for future cavity-enhanced NV center spin-photon entanglement experiments.

Novel Electrically Tunable Microwave Solenoid Inductor and Compact Phase Shifter Utilizing Permaloy and PZT Thin Films

DOE PAGES

Wang, Tengxing; Jiang, Wei; Divan, Ralu; ...

2017-08-03

A Permalloy (Py) thin film enabled tunable 3-D solenoid inductor is designed and fabricated. The special configuration of magnetic core is discussed and by selectively patterning Py thin film, the proposed tunable inductor can work at frequency up to several GHz range. The inductance of the solenoid inductor can be electrically tuned by dc current and the tunability is above 10%. Utilizing the implemented Py enabled tunable solenoid inductor and Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) thin film enabled metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor, a compact fully electrically tunable lumped elements phase shifter is achieved. The tunable phase shifter has both inductive and capacitivemore » tunability and the dual tunability significantly improves the tuning range and design flexibility. Moreover, the dual tunability is able to retain the equivalent characteristic impedance of the device in the process of the phase being tuned. Here, the phase of the device can be tuned by fully electrical methods and when dc current and dc voltage are provided, the length normalized phase tunability is up to 210°/cm« less

Tunable negative differential resistance in planar graphene superlattice resonant tunneling diode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sattari-Esfahlan, S. M.; Fouladi-Oskuei, J.; Shojaei, S.

2017-04-01

Here, we study the negative differential resistance (NDR) of Dirac electrons in biased planar graphene superlattice (PGSL) and investigate the transport characteristics by adopted transfer matrix method within Landauer-Buttiker formalism. Our model device is based on one-dimensional Kronig-Penney type electrostatic potential in monolayer graphene deposited on a substrate, where the bias voltage is applied by two electrodes in the left and right. At Low bias voltages, we found that NDR appears due to breaking of minibands to Wannier-Stark ladders (WSLs). At the critical bias voltage, delocalization appeared by WS states leads to tunneling peak current in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. With increasing bias voltage, crossing of rungs from various WSL results in multi-peak NDR. The results demonstrate that the structure parameters like barrier/well thickness and barrier height have remarkable effect on I-V characteristics of PGSL. In addition, Dirac gap enhances peak to valley (PVR) value due to suppressing Klein tunneling. Our results show that the tunable PVR in PGSL resonant tunneling diode can be achievable by structure parameters engineering. NDR at ultra-low bias voltages, such as 100 mV, with giant PVR of 20 is obtained. In our device, the multiple same NDR peaks with ultra-low bias voltage provide promising prospect for multi-valued memories and the low power nanoelectronic tunneling devices.

Wide Tunability of Magnetron Sputtered Titanium Nitride and Titanium Oxynitride for Plasmonic Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zgrabik, Christine Michelle

Transition metal nitrides have recently garnered much interest as alternative materials for robust plasmonic device architecture including potential applications in solar absorbers, photothermal medical therapy, and heat-assisted magnetic recording. Titanium nitride (TiN) is one such potential candidate. One advantage of the transition metal nitrides is that their optical properties are tunable according to the deposition conditions. The controlled achievement of tunability, however, is also a challenge. Although the formation of TiN has been the subject of numerous previous studies, a thorough analysis of the deposition parameters necessary to form metallic TiN films optimized for plasmonic applications had not been demonstrated. Similarly, such TiN films had not been subjected to detailed optical measurements which could be used in FDTD device simulations to optimize plasmonic device designs. To be able to design, simulate and build robust and optimal device structures, in this work a systematic and thorough examination of the effect of varied substrates, temperatures, and reactive gas compositions on magnetron sputtered TiN was conducted. In addition, the effects of application of an additional substrate bias were studied. The resulting optical properties at visible to near-infrared frequencies were the focus of this thesis. The optical properties of each film were measured via spectroscopic ellipsometry with more "metallic" films demonstrating a larger negative value of the real part of the permittivity. These optical measurements were correlated with both the films' deposition conditions and microstructural measurements including x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements; the different deposition conditions resulted in TiN and TiOxNy films with widely tunable optical responses. By sputtering under different conditions, the value of the real part of the permittivity was tuned from small positive values, through small and moderate negative values, and finally all of the way to large negative values which are comparable to those measured in gold. It was determined that both the chemical composition as well as the film crystallinity had a significant effect on the resulting properties with the most metallic films in general exhibiting a Ti:N ratio close to 1:1, low oxygen incorporation, more N bound as TiN rather than in oxynitride form, and better crystallinity. Increased substrate temperature in general increased the metallic character while application of a substrate bias reduced crystalline order, however also reduced oxygen incorporation and allowed for deposition of metallic TiN at room temperature. The close lattice match of TiN and MgO allowed for heteroepitaxial growth on this substrate under carefully controlled conditions. Finally, to demonstrate the viability of the optimized TiN thin films for plasmonic applications, three benchmark plasmonic structures were simulated using the measured, optimized optical properties including a plasmonic grating coupler, infrared nanoantennas, and a nanopyramidal array. The devices were successfully fabricated and preliminary measurements show promise for plasmonic applications for example in solar conversion and photothermal medical therapy.

Photofunctional triplet excited states of cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes: beyond electroluminescence.

PubMed

You, Youngmin; Nam, Wonwoo

2012-11-07

The development of cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes has enabled important breakthroughs in electroluminescence because such complexes permit the efficient population of triplet excited states that give rise to luminescent transitions. The triplet states of Ir(III) complexes are advantageous over those of other transition metal complexes in that their electronic transitions and charge-transfer characteristics are tunable over wide ranges. These favorable properties suggest that Ir(III) complexes have significant potential in a variety of photofunctions other than electroluminescence. In this critical review, we describe recent photonic applications of novel Ir(III) complexes. Ir(III) complexes have been shown to affect the exciton statistics in the active layers of organic photovoltaic cells, thereby improving the photon-to-current conversion efficiencies. Nonlinear optical applications that take advantage of the strong charge-transfer properties of triplet transitions are also discussed. The tunability of the electrochemical potentials facilitates the development of efficient photocatalysis in the context of water photolysis or organic syntheses. The photoredox reactivities of Ir(III) complexes have been employed in studies of charge migration along DNA chains. The photoinduced cytotoxicity of Ir(III) complexes on live cells suggests that the complexes may be useful in photodynamic therapy. Potential biological applications of the complexes include phosphorescence labeling and sensing. Intriguing platforms based on cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes potentially provide novel protein tagging and ratiometric detection. We envision that future research into the photofunctionality of Ir(III) complexes will provide important breakthroughs in a variety of photonic applications.

Modeling and analyzing cascading dynamics of the Internet based on local congestion information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Qian; Nie, Jianlong; Zhu, Zhiliang; Yu, Hai; Xue, Yang

2018-06-01

Cascading failure has already become one of the vital issues in network science. By considering realistic network operational settings, we propose the congestion function to represent the congested extent of node and construct a local congestion-aware routing strategy with a tunable parameter. We investigate the cascading failures on the Internet triggered by deliberate attacks. Simulation results show that the tunable parameter has an optimal value that makes the network achieve a maximum level of robustness. The robustness of the network has a positive correlation with tolerance parameter, but it has a negative correlation with the packets generation rate. In addition, there exists a threshold of the attacking proportion of nodes that makes the network achieve the lowest robustness. Moreover, by introducing the concept of time delay for information transmission on the Internet, we found that an increase of the time delay will decrease the robustness of the network rapidly. The findings of the paper will be useful for enhancing the robustness of the Internet in the future.

Digital control of diode laser for atmospheric spectroscopy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzies, R. T.; Rutledge, C. W. (Inventor)

1985-01-01

A system is described for remote absorption spectroscopy of trace species using a diode laser tunable over a useful spectral region of 50 to 200 cm(-1) by control of diode laser temperature over range from 15 K to 100 K, and tunable over a smaller region of typically 0.1 to 10 cm(-1) by control of the diode laser current over a range from 0 to 2 amps. Diode laser temperature and current set points are transmitted to the instrument in digital form and stored in memory for retrieval under control of a microprocessor during measurements. The laser diode current is determined by a digital to analog converter through a field effect transistor for a high degree of ambient temperature stability, while the laser diode temperature is determined by set points entered into a digital to analog converter under control of the microprocessor. Temperature of the laser diode is sensed by a sensor diode to provide negative feedback to the temperature control circuit that responds to the temperature control digital to analog converter.

Tunable optical response at the plasmon-polariton frequency in dielectric-graphene-metamaterial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calvo-Velasco, D. M.; Porras-Montenegro, N.

2018-04-01

By using the scattering matrix formalism, it is studied the optical properties of one dimensional photonic crystals made of multiple layers of dielectric and uniaxial anisotropic single negative electric metamaterial with Drude type responses, with inclusions of graphene in between the dielectric-dielectric interfaces (DGMPC). The transmission spectra for transverse electric (TE) and magnetic (TM) polarization are presented as a function of the incidence angle, the graphene chemical potential, and the metamaterial plasma frequencies. It is found for the TM polarization the tunability of the DGMPC optical response with the graphene chemical potential, which can be observed by means of transmission or reflexion bands around the metamaterial plasmon-polariton frequency, with bandwidths depending on both the incidence angle and the metamaterial plasma frequency. Also, the transmission band is observed when losses in the metamaterial slabs are considered for finite systems. The conditions for the appearance of these bands are shown analytically. We consider this work contributes to open new possibilities to the design of photonic devices with DGMPCs.

Robust and tunable circadian rhythms from differentially sensitive catalytic domains

PubMed Central

Phong, Connie; Markson, Joseph S.; Wilhoite, Crystal M.; Rust, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Circadian clocks are ubiquitous biological oscillators that coordinate an organism’s behavior with the daily cycling of the external environment. To ensure synchronization with the environment, the period of the clock must be maintained near 24 h even as amplitude and phase are altered by input signaling. We show that, in a reconstituted circadian system from cyanobacteria, these conflicting requirements are satisfied by distinct functions for two domains of the central clock protein KaiC: the C-terminal autokinase domain integrates input signals through the ATP/ADP ratio, and the slow N-terminal ATPase acts as an input-independent timer. We find that phosphorylation in the C-terminal domain followed by an ATPase cycle in the N-terminal domain is required to form the inhibitory KaiB•KaiC complexes that drive the dynamics of the clock. We present a mathematical model in which this ATPase-mediated delay in negative feedback gives rise to a compensatory mechanism that allows a tunable phase and amplitude while ensuring a robust circadian period. PMID:23277568

Synchronization of tunable asymmetric square-wave pulses in delay-coupled optoelectronic oscillators.

PubMed

Martínez-Llinàs, Jade; Colet, Pere; Erneux, Thomas

2015-03-01

We consider a model for two delay-coupled optoelectronic oscillators under positive delayed feedback as prototypical to study the conditions for synchronization of asymmetric square-wave oscillations, for which the duty cycle is not half of the period. We show that the scenario arising for positive feedback is much richer than with negative feedback. First, it allows for the coexistence of multiple in- and out-of-phase asymmetric periodic square waves for the same parameter values. Second, it is tunable: The period of all the square-wave periodic pulses can be tuned with the ratio of the delays, and the duty cycle of the asymmetric square waves can be changed with the offset phase while the total period remains constant. Finally, in addition to the multiple in- and out-of-phase periodic square waves, low-frequency periodic asymmetric solutions oscillating in phase may coexist for the same values of the parameters. Our analytical results are in agreement with numerical simulations and bifurcation diagrams obtained by using continuation techniques.

Tunable signal processing in synthetic MAP kinase cascades.

PubMed

O'Shaughnessy, Ellen C; Palani, Santhosh; Collins, James J; Sarkar, Casim A

2011-01-07

The flexibility of MAPK cascade responses enables regulation of a vast array of cell fate decisions, but elucidating the mechanisms underlying this plasticity is difficult in endogenous signaling networks. We constructed insulated mammalian MAPK cascades in yeast to explore how intrinsic and extrinsic perturbations affect the flexibility of these synthetic signaling modules. Contrary to biphasic dependence on scaffold concentration, we observe monotonic decreases in signal strength as scaffold concentration increases. We find that augmenting the concentration of sequential kinases can enhance ultrasensitivity and lower the activation threshold. Further, integrating negative regulation and concentration variation can decouple ultrasensitivity and threshold from the strength of the response. Computational analyses show that cascading can generate ultrasensitivity and that natural cascades with different kinase concentrations are innately biased toward their distinct activation profiles. This work demonstrates that tunable signal processing is inherent to minimal MAPK modules and elucidates principles for rational design of synthetic signaling systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chaotic dynamics in nanoscale NbO2 Mott memristors for analogue computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Suhas; Strachan, John Paul; Williams, R. Stanley

2017-08-01

At present, machine learning systems use simplified neuron models that lack the rich nonlinear phenomena observed in biological systems, which display spatio-temporal cooperative dynamics. There is evidence that neurons operate in a regime called the edge of chaos that may be central to complexity, learning efficiency, adaptability and analogue (non-Boolean) computation in brains. Neural networks have exhibited enhanced computational complexity when operated at the edge of chaos, and networks of chaotic elements have been proposed for solving combinatorial or global optimization problems. Thus, a source of controllable chaotic behaviour that can be incorporated into a neural-inspired circuit may be an essential component of future computational systems. Such chaotic elements have been simulated using elaborate transistor circuits that simulate known equations of chaos, but an experimental realization of chaotic dynamics from a single scalable electronic device has been lacking. Here we describe niobium dioxide (NbO2) Mott memristors each less than 100 nanometres across that exhibit both a nonlinear-transport-driven current-controlled negative differential resistance and a Mott-transition-driven temperature-controlled negative differential resistance. Mott materials have a temperature-dependent metal-insulator transition that acts as an electronic switch, which introduces a history-dependent resistance into the device. We incorporate these memristors into a relaxation oscillator and observe a tunable range of periodic and chaotic self-oscillations. We show that the nonlinear current transport coupled with thermal fluctuations at the nanoscale generates chaotic oscillations. Such memristors could be useful in certain types of neural-inspired computation by introducing a pseudo-random signal that prevents global synchronization and could also assist in finding a global minimum during a constrained search. We specifically demonstrate that incorporating such memristors into the hardware of a Hopfield computing network can greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of converging to a solution for computationally difficult problems.

Highly-stretchable 3D-architected Mechanical Metamaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Yanhui; Wang, Qiming

2016-09-01

Soft materials featuring both 3D free-form architectures and high stretchability are highly desirable for a number of engineering applications ranging from cushion modulators, soft robots to stretchable electronics; however, both the manufacturing and fundamental mechanics are largely elusive. Here, we overcome the manufacturing difficulties and report a class of mechanical metamaterials that not only features 3D free-form lattice architectures but also poses ultrahigh reversible stretchability (strain > 414%), 4 times higher than that of the existing counterparts with the similar complexity of 3D architectures. The microarchitected metamaterials, made of highly stretchable elastomers, are realized through an additive manufacturing technique, projection microstereolithography, and its postprocessing. With the fabricated metamaterials, we reveal their exotic mechanical behaviors: Under large-strain tension, their moduli follow a linear scaling relationship with their densities regardless of architecture types, in sharp contrast to the architecture-dependent modulus power-law of the existing engineering materials; under large-strain compression, they present tunable negative-stiffness that enables ultrahigh energy absorption efficiencies. To harness their extraordinary stretchability and microstructures, we demonstrate that the metamaterials open a number of application avenues in lightweight and flexible structure connectors, ultraefficient dampers, 3D meshed rehabilitation structures and stretchable electronics with designed 3D anisotropic conductivity.

Highly-stretchable 3D-architected Mechanical Metamaterials.

PubMed

Jiang, Yanhui; Wang, Qiming

2016-09-26

Soft materials featuring both 3D free-form architectures and high stretchability are highly desirable for a number of engineering applications ranging from cushion modulators, soft robots to stretchable electronics; however, both the manufacturing and fundamental mechanics are largely elusive. Here, we overcome the manufacturing difficulties and report a class of mechanical metamaterials that not only features 3D free-form lattice architectures but also poses ultrahigh reversible stretchability (strain > 414%), 4 times higher than that of the existing counterparts with the similar complexity of 3D architectures. The microarchitected metamaterials, made of highly stretchable elastomers, are realized through an additive manufacturing technique, projection microstereolithography, and its postprocessing. With the fabricated metamaterials, we reveal their exotic mechanical behaviors: Under large-strain tension, their moduli follow a linear scaling relationship with their densities regardless of architecture types, in sharp contrast to the architecture-dependent modulus power-law of the existing engineering materials; under large-strain compression, they present tunable negative-stiffness that enables ultrahigh energy absorption efficiencies. To harness their extraordinary stretchability and microstructures, we demonstrate that the metamaterials open a number of application avenues in lightweight and flexible structure connectors, ultraefficient dampers, 3D meshed rehabilitation structures and stretchable electronics with designed 3D anisotropic conductivity.

Improved Efficient Routing Strategy on Scale-Free Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zhong-Yuan; Liang, Man-Gui

Since the betweenness of nodes in complex networks can theoretically represent the traffic load of nodes under the currently used routing strategy, we propose an improved efficient (IE) routing strategy to enhance to the network traffic capacity based on the betweenness centrality. Any node with the highest betweenness is susceptible to traffic congestion. An efficient way to improve the network traffic capacity is to redistribute the heavy traffic load from these central nodes to non-central nodes, so in this paper, we firstly give a path cost function by considering the sum of node betweenness with a tunable parameter β along the actual path. Then, by minimizing the path cost, our IE routing strategy achieved obvious improvement on the network transport efficiency. Simulations on scale-free Barabási-Albert (BA) networks confirmed the effectiveness of our strategy, when compared with the efficient routing (ER) and the shortest path (SP) routing.

Photoionization Efficiencies of Five Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

DOE PAGES

Johansson, K. Olof; Campbell, Matthew F.; Elvati, Paolo; ...

2017-05-18

We have measured photoionization-efficiency curves for pyrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, perylene, and coronene in the photon energy range of 7.5-10.2 eV and derived their photoionization cross-section curves in this energy range. All measurements were performed using tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation generated at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The VUV radiation was used for photoionization, and detection was performed using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. We measured the photoionization efficiency of 2,5-dimethylfuran simultaneously with those of pyrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, perylene, and coronene to obtain references of the photon flux during each measurement from the known photoionization cross-sectionmore » curve of 2,5- dimethylfuran.« less

Broadly tunable thin-film intereference coatings: active thin films for telecom applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domash, Lawrence H.; Ma, Eugene Y.; Lourie, Mark T.; Sharfin, Wayne F.; Wagner, Matthias

2003-06-01

Thin film interference coatings (TFIC) are the most widely used optical technology for telecom filtering, but until recently no tunable versions have been known except for mechanically rotated filters. We describe a new approach to broadly tunable TFIC components based on the thermo-optic properties of semiconductor thin films with large thermo-optic coefficients 3.6X10[-4]/K. The technology is based on amorphous silicon thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a process adapted for telecom applications from its origins in the flat-panel display and solar cell industries. Unlike MEMS devices, tunable TFIC can be designed as sophisticated multi-cavity, multi-layer optical designs. Applications include flat-top passband filters for add-drop multiplexing, tunable dispersion compensators, tunable gain equalizers and variable optical attenuators. Extremely compact tunable devices may be integrated into modules such as optical channel monitors, tunable lasers, gain-equalized amplifiers, and tunable detectors.

Laser excitation dynamics of argon metastables generated in atmospheric pressure flows by microwave frequency microplasma arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rawlins, W. T.; Galbally-Kinney, K. L.; Davis, S. J.; Hoskinson, A. R.; Hopwood, J. A.

2014-03-01

The optically pumped rare-gas metastable laser is a chemically inert analogue to diode-pumped alkali (DPAL) and alkali-exciplex (XPAL) laser systems. Scaling of these devices requires efficient generation of electronically excited metastable atoms in a continuous-wave electric discharge in flowing gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure. This paper describes initial investigations of the use of linear microwave micro-discharge arrays to generate metastable rare-gas atoms at atmospheric pressure in optical pump-and-probe experiments for laser development. Power requirements to ignite and sustain the plasma at 1 atm are low, <30 W. We report on the laser excitation dynamics of argon metastables, Ar (4s, 1s5) (Paschen notation), generated in flowing mixtures of Ar and He at 1 atm. Tunable diode laser absorption measurements indicate Ar(1s5) concentrations near 3 × 1012 cm-3 at 1 atm. The metastables are optically pumped by absorption of a focused beam from a continuous-wave Ti:S laser, and spectrally selected fluorescence is observed with an InGaAs camera and an InGaAs array spectrometer. We observe the optical excitation of the 1s5-->2p9 transition at 811.5 nm and the corresponding laser-induced fluorescence on the 2p10-->1s5 transition at 912.3 nm; the 2p10 state is efficiently populated by collisional energy transfer from 2p9. Using tunable diode laser absorption/gain spectroscopy, we observe small-signal gains of ~1 cm-1 over a 1.9 cm path. We also observe stable, continuous-wave laser oscillation at 912.3 nm, with preliminary optical efficiency ~55%. These results are consistent with efficient collisional coupling within the Ar(4s) manifold.

Coaxial multishell nanowires with high-quality electronic interfaces and tunable optical cavities for ultrathin photovoltaics.

PubMed

Kempa, Thomas J; Cahoon, James F; Kim, Sun-Kyung; Day, Robert W; Bell, David C; Park, Hong-Gyu; Lieber, Charles M

2012-01-31

Silicon nanowires (NWs) could enable low-cost and efficient photovoltaics, though their performance has been limited by nonideal electrical characteristics and an inability to tune absorption properties. We overcome these limitations through controlled synthesis of a series of polymorphic core/multishell NWs with highly crystalline, hexagonally-faceted shells, and well-defined coaxial (p/n) and p/intrinsic/n (p/i/n) diode junctions. Designed 200-300 nm diameter p/i/n NW diodes exhibit ultralow leakage currents of approximately 1 fA, and open-circuit voltages and fill-factors up to 0.5 V and 73%, respectively, under one-sun illumination. Single-NW wavelength-dependent photocurrent measurements reveal size-tunable optical resonances, external quantum efficiencies greater than unity, and current densities double those for silicon films of comparable thickness. In addition, finite-difference-time-domain simulations for the measured NW structures agree quantitatively with the photocurrent measurements, and demonstrate that the optical resonances are due to Fabry-Perot and whispering-gallery cavity modes supported in the high-quality faceted nanostructures. Synthetically optimized NW devices achieve current densities of 17 mA/cm(2) and power-conversion efficiencies of 6%. Horizontal integration of multiple NWs demonstrates linear scaling of the absolute photocurrent with number of NWs, as well as retention of the high open-circuit voltages and short-circuit current densities measured for single NW devices. Notably, assembly of 2 NW elements into vertical stacks yields short-circuit current densities of 25 mA/cm(2) with a backside reflector, and simulations further show that such stacking represents an attractive approach for further enhancing performance with projected efficiencies of > 15% for 1.2 μm thick 5 NW stacks.

Tunable thermal expansion in framework materials through redox intercalation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Jun; Gao, Qilong; Sanson, Andrea

Thermal expansion properties of solids are of fundamental interest and control of thermal expansion is important for practical applications but can be difficult to achieve. Many framework type materials show negative thermal expansion when internal cages are empty but positive thermal expansion when additional atoms or molecules fill internal voids present, offering a potential route for control. Here we show that redox intercalation offers an effective method to control thermal expansion from positive to zero to negative by insertion of Li ions into the simple negative thermal expansion framework material ScF 3, doped with 10% Fe to enable reduction. Themore » small concentration of intercalated Li ions has a strong influence through steric hindrance of transverse fluoride ion vibrations, which directly controls the thermal expansion. As a result, redox intercalation of guest ions is thus likely to be a general and effective method for controlling thermal expansion in the many known framework materials with phonon-driven negative thermal expansion.« less

Tunable thermal expansion in framework materials through redox intercalation

DOE PAGES

Chen, Jun; Gao, Qilong; Sanson, Andrea; ...

2017-02-09

Thermal expansion properties of solids are of fundamental interest and control of thermal expansion is important for practical applications but can be difficult to achieve. Many framework type materials show negative thermal expansion when internal cages are empty but positive thermal expansion when additional atoms or molecules fill internal voids present, offering a potential route for control. Here we show that redox intercalation offers an effective method to control thermal expansion from positive to zero to negative by insertion of Li ions into the simple negative thermal expansion framework material ScF 3, doped with 10% Fe to enable reduction. Themore » small concentration of intercalated Li ions has a strong influence through steric hindrance of transverse fluoride ion vibrations, which directly controls the thermal expansion. As a result, redox intercalation of guest ions is thus likely to be a general and effective method for controlling thermal expansion in the many known framework materials with phonon-driven negative thermal expansion.« less

Quasi-cw 20-W tunable 1-sec pulse CO/sub 2/ laser for optical pumping

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharp, L.E.; Barkley, H.J.

1984-05-01

A four-section CO/sub 2/ laser is described which can produce 20 W in fundamental mode during a 1-sec pulse with a frequency tuning range of +- 300 MHz. It operates at 200-Torr pressure using sonic axial flow to inhibit the discharge column from filamenting. The input power density is 598 W cm/sup -3/ corresponding to an efficiency of 2%.

Organic Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cell Efficiency Improvement By Employing Au Nanocluster

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-14

ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: Poly( 3,4-ethyllenedioxythiophene):poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), a P-type organic polymer is frequently...Addition of small volume percentage of organic additives such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has a positive effect on the conductivity of this polymer . In...Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 hybrid solar cell, tunable conductivity, organic polymer , heterojunction, nanocluster

Improved Design Concepts for Millimeter Wave Power Sources

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-14

depicted in Gun current 14 A Fig. 6 (see also Fig. 2). This is a helical mode launcaer. similar to those used in conventional helix TWTs . The helix ... broadband gyro- TWT amplifiers, magnetically tunable gyro-BWAs, and phase-locked inverted gyro-twystron. The realization of high efficiency and stable...inverted gyto-twistron, known as the phigtron. The phigtron combines a subharmonic gyro- TWT amplifier input sectioq with a gyroklystron type output

Phase conversion from hexagonal CuS(y)Se(1-y) to cubic Cu(2-x)S(y)Se(1-y): composition variation, morphology evolution, optical tuning, and solar cell applications.

PubMed

Xu, Jun; Yang, Xia; Yang, Qingdan; Zhang, Wenjun; Lee, Chun-Sing

2014-09-24

In this work, we report a simple and low-temperature approach for the controllable synthesis of ternary Cu-S-Se alloys featuring tunable crystal structures, compositions, morphologies, and optical properties. Hexagonal CuS(y)Se(1-y) nanoplates and face centered cubic (fcc) Cu(2-x)S(y)Se(1-y) single-crystal-like stacked nanoplate assemblies are synthesized, and their phase conversion mechanism is well investigated. It is found that both copper content and chalcogen composition (S/Se atomic ratio) of the Cu-S-Se alloys are tunable during the phase conversion process. Formation of the unique single-crystal-like stacked nanoplate assemblies is resulted from oriented stacking coupled with the Ostwald ripening effect. Remarkably, optical tuning for continuous red shifts of both the band-gap absorption and the near-infrared localized surface plasmon resonance are achieved. Furthermore, the novel Cu-S-Se alloys are utilized for the first time as highly efficient counter electrodes (CEs) in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs), showing outstanding electrocatalytic activity for polysulfide electrolyte regeneration and yielding a 135% enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) as compared to the noble metal Pt counter electrode.

Tunable optical limiting optofluidic device filled with graphene oxide dispersion in ethanol

PubMed Central

Fang, Chaolong; Dai, Bo; Hong, Ruijin; Tao, Chunxian; Wang, Qi; Wang, Xu; Zhang, Dawei; Zhuang, Songlin

2015-01-01

An optofluidic device with tunable optical limiting property is proposed and demonstrated. The optofluidic device is designed for adjusting the concentration of graphene oxide (GO) in the ethanol solution and fabricated by photolithography technique. By controlling the flow rate ratio of the injection, the concentration of GO can be precisely adjusted so that the optical nonlinearity can be changed. The nonlinear optical properties and dynamic excitation relaxation of the GO/ethanol solution are investigated by using Z-scan and pump-probe measurements in the femtosecond regime within the 1.5 μm telecom band. The GO/ethanol solution presents ultrafast recovery time. Besides, the optical limiting property is in proportion to the concentration of the solution. Thus, the threshold power and the saturated power of the optical limiting property can be simply and efficiently manipulated by controlling the flow rate ratio of the injection. Furthermore, the amplitude regeneration is demonstrated by employing the proposed optofluidic device. The signal quality of intensity-impaired femtosecond pulse is significantly improved. The optofluidic device is compact and has long interaction length of optical field and nonlinear material. Heat can be dissipated in the solution and nonlinear material is isolated from other optical components, efficiently avoiding thermal damage and mechanical damage. PMID:26477662

Flatland Photonics: Circumventing Diffraction with Planar Plasmonic Architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dionne, Jennifer Anne

On subwavelength scales, photon-matter interactions are limited by diffraction. The diffraction limit restricts the size of optical devices and the resolution of conventional microscopes to wavelength-scale dimensions, severely hampering our ability to control and probe subwavelength-scale optical phenomena. Circumventing diffraction is now a principle focus of integrated nanophotonics. Surface plasmons provide a particularly promising approach to sub-diffraction-limited photonics. Surface plasmons are hybrid electron-photon modes confined to the interface between conductors and transparent materials. Combining the high localization of electronic waves with the propagation properties of optical waves, plasmons can achieve extremely small mode wavelengths and large local electromagnetic field intensities. Through their unique dispersion, surface plasmons provide access to an enormous phase space of refractive indices and propagation constants that can be readily tuned with material or geometry. In this thesis, we explore both the theory and applications of dispersion in planar plasmonic architectures. Particular attention is given to the modes of metallic core and plasmon slot waveguides, which can span positive, near-zero, and even negative indices. We demonstrate how such basic plasmonic geometries can be used to develop a suite of passive and active plasmonic components, including subwavelength waveguides, color filters, negative index metamaterials, and optical MOS field effect modulators. Positive index modes are probed by near- and far-field techniques, revealing plasmon wavelengths as small as one-tenth of the excitation wavelength. Negative index modes are characterized through direct visualization of negative refraction. By fabricating prisms comprised of gold, silicon nitride, and silver multilayers, we achieve the first experimental demonstration of a negative index material at visible frequencies, with potential applications for sub-diffraction-limited microscopy and electromagnetic cloaking. We exploit this tunability of complex plasmon mode indices to create a compact metal-oxide-Si (MOS) field effect plasmonic modulator (or plasMOStor). By transforming the MOS gate oxide into an optical channel, amplitude modulation depths of 11.2 dB are achieved in device volumes as small as one one-fifth of a cubic wavelength. Our results indicate the accessibility of tunable refractive indices over a wide frequency band, facilitating design of a new materials class with extraordinary optical properties and applications.

Efficient hydrogen isotopologues separation through a tunable potential barrier: The case of a C2N membrane.

PubMed

Qu, Yuanyuan; Li, Feng; Zhao, Mingwen

2017-05-03

Isotopes separation through quantum sieving effect of membranes is quite promising for industrial applications. For the light hydrogen isotopologues (eg. H 2 , D 2 ), the confinement of potential wells in porous membranes to isotopologues was commonly regarded to be crucial for highly efficient separation ability. Here, we demonstrate from first-principles that a potential barrier is also favorable for efficient hydrogen isotopologues separation. Taking an already-synthesized two-dimensional carbon nitride (C 2 N-h2D) as an example, we predict that the competition between quantum tunneling and zero-point-energy (ZPE) effects regulated by the tensile strain leads to high selectivity and permeance. Both kinetic quantum sieving and equilibrium quantum sieving effects are considered. The quantum effects revealed in this work offer a prospective strategy for highly efficient hydrogen isotopologues separation.

Shear-mediated contributions to the effective properties of soft acoustic metamaterials including negative index

PubMed Central

Forrester, Derek Michael; Pinfield, Valerie J.

2015-01-01

Here we show that, for sub-wavelength particles in a fluid, viscous losses due to shear waves and their influence on neighbouring particles significantly modify the effective acoustic properties, and thereby the conditions at which negative acoustic refraction occurs. Building upon earlier single particle scattering work, we adopt a multiple scattering approach to derive the effective properties (density, bulk modulus, wavenumber). We show,through theoretical prediction, the implications for the design of “soft” (ultrasonic) metamaterials based on locally-resonant sub-wavelength porous rubber particles, through selection of particle size and concentration, and demonstrate tunability of the negative speed zones by modifying the viscosity of the suspending medium. For these lossy materials with complex effective properties, we confirm the use of phase angles to define the backward propagation condition in preference to “single-” and “double-negative” designations. PMID:26686414

Locally resonant sonic materials

PubMed

Liu; Zhang; Mao; Zhu; Yang; Chan; Sheng

2000-09-08

We have fabricated sonic crystals, based on the idea of localized resonant structures, that exhibit spectral gaps with a lattice constant two orders of magnitude smaller than the relevant wavelength. Disordered composites made from such localized resonant structures behave as a material with effective negative elastic constants and a total wave reflector within certain tunable sonic frequency ranges. A 2-centimeter slab of this composite material is shown to break the conventional mass-density law of sound transmission by one or more orders of magnitude at 400 hertz.

High-Power, Widely-Tunable Cr2+:ZnSe Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-01

Z-cavity to compensate for the increasing astigmatism from the Brewster - angle thermal lens in the gain element. However, it should be noted that the...crystal at Brewster’s angle carries with it some negative astigmatism effects which are compounded by thermal lensing in the crystal which is now at an...respect to physical properties [13, 14]. Power scaling of chromium lasers has long been hampered by the problem of thermal lensing due to the high thermo

Widely tunable Tm-doped mode-locked all-fiber laser

PubMed Central

Yan, Zhiyu; Sun, Biao; Li, Xiaohui; Luo, Jiaqi; Shum, Perry Ping; Yu, Xia; Zhang, Ying; Wang, Qi Jie

2016-01-01

We demonstrated a widely tunable Tm-doped mode-locked all-fiber laser, with the widest tunable range of 136 nm, from 1842 to 1978 nm. Nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) technique is employed to enable mode-locking and the wavelength-tunable operation. The widely tunable range attributes to the NPE-induced transmission modulation and bidirectional pumping mechanism. Such kind of tunable mode-locked laser can find various applications in optical communications, spectroscopy, time-resolved measurement, and among others. PMID:27263655

Negative inductance SQUID qubit operating in a quantum regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, W. Y.; Su, F. F.; Xu, H. K.; Li, Z. Y.; Tian, Ye; Zhu, X. B.; Lu, Li; Han, Siyuan; Zhao, S. P.

2018-04-01

Two-junction SQUIDs with negative mutual inductance between their two arms, called nSQUIDs, have been proposed for significantly improving quantum information transfer but their quantum nature has not been experimentally demonstrated. We have designed, fabricated, and characterized superconducting nSQUID qubits. Our results provide clear evidence of the quantum coherence of the device, whose properties are well described by theoretical calculations using parameters determined from spectroscopic measurement. In addition to their future application for fast quantum information transfer, the nSQUID qubits exhibit rich characteristics in their tunable two-dimensional (2D) potentials, energy levels, wave function symmetries, and dipole matrix elements, which are essential to the study of a wide variety of macroscopic quantum phenomena such as tunneling in 2D potential landscapes.

Waveguide studies for FOM FEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Best, Robert W.; Urbanus, Wim H.; Verhoeven, Toon (A.)G. A.; Jerby, Eli; Ganzel, Ronit

1993-07-01

A 1 MW cw 200 GHz tunable efficient free electron maser is being designed at the FOM Institute for application in magnetic fusion research. In this paper several waveguide types are considered, including open waveguides. Computer simulations of the amplification and guiding of the mm wave in the undulator are reported. The simulation code is G3DH, written by E. Jerby, which solves a matrix dispersion relation. Gain vs frequency curves are shown. Efficiency calculations indicate that some tapering is needed to reach the desired 1 MW mm wavepower. Simulations of a tapered undulator are presented by Caplan, and overview of the FOM FEM is given by Urbanus et al. at this conference.

Efficient ionisation of calcium, strontium and barium by resonant laser pumping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skinner, C. H.

1980-01-01

Efficient ionization has been observed when an atomic vapor of strontium, barium or calcium was illuminated with a long pulse tunable laser at the frequency of the atomic resonance line. The variation in the degree of ionization with neutral density and laser intensity has been measured using the 'hook' method. The maximum ionization observed was 94%. Excited state populations were measured yielding an excitation temperature (depending on exact experimental conditions) in the region of 0.4 eV. The decay of ion density after the laser pulse was monitored and the recombination coefficients determined. The results are interpreted in terms of an electron heating model.

Next-generation organic photovoltaics based on non-fullerene acceptors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Pei; Li, Gang; Zhan, Xiaowei; Yang, Yang

2018-03-01

Over the past three years, a particularly exciting and active area of research within the field of organic photovoltaics has been the use of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). Compared with fullerene acceptors, NFAs possess significant advantages including tunability of bandgaps, energy levels, planarity and crystallinity. To date, NFA solar cells have not only achieved impressive power conversion efficiencies of 13-14%, but have also shown excellent stability compared with traditional fullerene acceptor solar cells. This Review highlights recent progress on single-junction and tandem NFA solar cells and research directions to achieve even higher efficiencies of 15-20% using NFA-based organic photovoltaics are also proposed.

Design and Fabrication of Tunable Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Leming

In this dissertation, we first reviewed the naturally occurring nanoparticles and their limitations (Chapter 1). We then discussed the need and the parameters to design and fabricate bio-inspired tunable nanoparticles for wound healing, Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis and progression monitoring. Tunable nanoparticles enhanced adhesive was inspired from the self-assembly processes, nanocomposite and chemical structures. Fluorescent peptide nanoparticles were inspired from the biological peptide self-assembly and naturally occurring fluorescent proteins. Then we reported the development of an in situ synthesis approach for fabricating tunable nanoparticle enhanced adhesives inspired from the strong adhesive produced by English ivy in Chapter 2. Special attention was given to tunable features of the adhesive produced by the biological process. Parameters that may be used to tune properties of the adhesive were proposed. To illustrate and validate the proposed approach, an experimental platform was presented for fabricating tunable chitosan adhesive enhanced by Au nanoparticles synthesized in situ. This study contributes to a bio-inspired approach for in situ synthesis of tunable nanocomposite adhesives by mimicking the natural biological processes of ivy adhesive synthesis. Using a bio-inspired approach, we synthesized adhesive hydrogels comprised of sodium alginate, gum arabic, and calcium ions to mimic the properties of the natural sundew-derived adhesive hydrogels in Chapter 3. We then characterized and showed that these sundew-inspired hydrogels promote wound healing through their superior adhesive strength, nanostructure, and resistance to shearing; when compared to other hydrogels in vitro. In vivo, sundew-inspired hydrogels promoted a "suturing" effect to wound sites; which was demonstrated by enhanced wound closure following topical application of the hydrogels. In combination with mouse adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs), and compared to other therapeutic biomaterials, the sundew-inspired hydrogels demonstrated superior wound healing capabilities. Collectively, our studies show that sundew-inspired hydrogels contain ideal properties that promote wound healing and suggest that sundew-inspired-ADSCs combination therapy is an efficacious approach for treating wounds without eliciting noticeable toxicity or inflammation. While tremendous efforts have been spent in investigating scalable approaches for fabricating nanoparticles, less progress has been made in scalable synthesizing cyclic peptide nanoparticles and nanotubes, despite their great potential for broader biomedical applications. In Chapter 4, tunable synthesis of self-assembled cyclic peptide nanotubes and nanoparticles using three different methods, phase equilibrium, pH-driven, and pH-sensitive methods were proposed and investigated. The goal is for scalable nano-manufacturing of cyclic peptide nanoparticles and nanotubes with different sizes in large quality by controlling multiple process parameters. The dimensions of self-assembled nanostructures were found to be strongly influenced by the cyclic peptides concentration, side chains modification, pH value, reaction time, stirring intensity, and sonication time. This study proposed an overall strategy to integrate all the parameters to achieve optimal synthesis outputs. AD is associated with the accumulation of insoluble forms of amyloid-beta (Abeta) in plaques in extracellular spaces, as well as in the walls of blood vessels, and aggregation of microtubule protein tau in neurofibrillary tangles in neurons. In Chapter 5, we designed and synthesized a series of fluorescent cyclic peptide nanoparticles that can be used to detect Abeta aggregates in both the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum, which were obtained from healthy people and AD patients in different disease stages. Our experimental studies indicate that the fluorescence intensities and wavelengths generated from the interactions between the negatively charged fluorescent cyclic peptide nanoparticles and Abeta aggregates in both the CSF and serum changed with disease status, as compared to healthy individuals. The morphological and cytotoxicity studies demonstrated a potential inhibitory effect of the negatively charged nanoparticles on amyloid fibril growth. The underlying mechanisms leading to these changes are interpreted based on the aromatic, hydrophobic, and electrostatic interactions between c-PNPs and Abeta peptides. There is a critical need to diagnose and monitor the progression of AD using blood-based biomarkers. At present, it is believed that no single biomarker can be utilized to reliably detect AD. Combined biomarkers using multimodal techniques are highly sought after for AD diagnosis and progression monitoring. For this purpose, we developed a fluorescent peptide nanoparticles arrayed microfluidic chip that is capable of detecting multiple blood-based AD biomarkers simultaneously in Chapter 6. The concentration, aggregation stages, and Young's modulus of biomarkers could be analyzed by monitoring the changes of multimodal fluorescence intensity, nano-morphological, and nano-mechanical properties of the f-PNPs array. In this study, Abeta polypeptides and tau proteins were used to verify the proposed idea. To conclude, we demonstrate that how to design and fabrication of tunable nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Inspired from English ivy and sundew nanoadhesive, tunable nanoparticles enhanced adhesive hydrogels were prepared and validated for wound healing applications. Moreover, fluorescent peptide nanoparticles were designed, synthesized, characterized, and validated for AD diagnosis and progression monitoring. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

Tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers for use in the near infrared biological window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitsmiller, Vincent J.; Dummer, Matthew; Johnson, Klein; O'Sullivan, Thomas D.

2018-02-01

We present a near-infrared tunable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) based upon a unique electrothermally tunable microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) topside mirror designed for tissue imaging and sensing. At room temperature, the laser is tunable from 769-782nm with single mode CW output and a peak output power of 1.3mW. We show that the tunable VCSEL is suitable for use in frequency domain diffuse optical spectroscopy by measuring the optical properties of a tissue-simulating phantom over the tunable range. These results indicate that tunable VCSELs may be an attractive choice to enable high spectral resolution optical sensing in a wearable format.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cao, Peng -Fei; Li, Bingrui; Hong, Tao

Here, polymer membranes with the capability to process a massive volume of gas are especially attractive for practical applications of gas separation. Although much effort has been devoted to develop novel polymer membranes with increased selectivity, the overall gas-separation performance and lifetime of membrane are still negatively affected by the weak mechanical performance, low plasticization resistance and poor physical aging tolerance. Recently, elastic polymer membranes with tunable mechanical properties have been attracting significant attentions due to their tremendous potential applications. Herein, we report a series of urethanerich PDMS-based polymer networks (U-PDMS-NW) with improved mechanical performance for gas separation. The cross-linkmore » density of U-PDMS-NWs is tailored by varying the molecular weight ( M n) of PDMS. The U-PDMS-NWs show up to 400% elongation and tunable Young’s modulus (1.3–122.2 MPa), ultimate tensile strength (1.1–14.3 MPa), and toughness (0.7–24.9 MJ/m 3). All of the U-PDMS-NWs exhibit salient gas-separation performance with excellent thermal resistance and aging tolerance, high gas permeability (>100 Barrer), and tunable gas selectivity (up to α[ P CO2/ P N2] ≈ 41 and α[ P CO2/ P CH4] ≈ 16). With well-controlled mechanical properties and gas-separation performance, these U-PDMS-NW can be used as a polymermembrane platform not only for gas separation but also for other applications such as microfluidic channels and stretchable electronic devices.« less

A tunable single-monochromator Raman system based on the supercontinuum laser and tunable filters for resonant Raman profile measurements.

PubMed

Liu, X-L; Liu, H-N; Tan, P-H

2017-08-01

Resonant Raman spectroscopy requires that the wavelength of the laser used is close to that of an electronic transition. A tunable laser source and a triple spectrometer are usually necessary for resonant Raman profile measurements. However, such a system is complex with low signal throughput, which limits its wide application by scientific community. Here, a tunable micro-Raman spectroscopy system based on the supercontinuum laser, transmission grating, tunable filters, and single-stage spectrometer is introduced to measure the resonant Raman profile. The supercontinuum laser in combination with transmission grating makes a tunable excitation source with a bandwidth of sub-nanometer. Such a system exhibits continuous excitation tunability and high signal throughput. Its good performance and flexible tunability are verified by resonant Raman profile measurement of twisted bilayer graphene, which demonstrates its potential application prospect for resonant Raman spectroscopy.

Properties and Frequency Conversion of High-Brightness Diode-Laser Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boller, Klaus-Jochen; Beier, Bernard; Wallenstein, Richard

An overview of recent developments in the field of high-power, high-brightness diode-lasers, and the optically nonlinear conversion of their output into other wavelength ranges, is given. We describe the generation of continuous-wave (CW) laser beams at power levels of several hundreds of milliwatts to several watts with near-perfect spatial and spectral properties using Master-Oscillator Power-Amplifier (MOPA) systems. With single- or double-stage systems, using amplifiers of tapered or rectangular geometry, up to 2.85 W high-brightness radiation is generated at wavelengths around 810nm with AlGaAs diodes. Even higher powers, up to 5.2W of single-frequency and high spatial quality beams at 925nm, are obtained with InGaAs diodes. We describe the basic properties of the oscillators and amplifiers used. A strict proof-of-quality for the diode radiation is provided by direct and efficient nonlinear optical conversion of the diode MOPA output into other wavelength ranges. We review recent experiments with the highest power levels obtained so far by direct frequency doubling of diode radiation. In these experiments, 100mW single-frequency ultraviolet light at 403nm was generated, as well as 1W of single-frequency blue radiation at 465nm. Nonlinear conversion of diode radiation into widely tunable infrared radiation has recently yielded record values. We review the efficient generation of widely tunable single-frequency radiation in the infrared with diode-pumped Optical Parametric Oscillators (OPOs). With this system, single-frequency output radiation with powers of more than 0.5W was generated, widely tunable around wavelengths of 2.1,m and 1.65,m and with excellent spectral and spatial quality. These developments are clear indicators of recent advances in the field of high-brightness diode-MOPA systems, and may emphasize their future central importance for applications within a vast range of optical wavelengths.

Real-time label-free quantitative fluorescence microscopy-based detection of ATP using a tunable fluorescent nano-aptasensor platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivastava, Sajal; Sohn, Il-Yung; Son, Young-Min; Lee, Won-Il; Lee, Nae-Eung

2015-11-01

Although real-time label-free fluorescent aptasensors based on nanomaterials are increasingly recognized as a useful strategy for the detection of target biomolecules with high fidelity, the lack of an imaging-based quantitative measurement platform limits their implementation with biological samples. Here we introduce an ensemble strategy for a real-time label-free fluorescent graphene (Gr) aptasensor platform. This platform employs aptamer length-dependent tunability, thus enabling the reagentless quantitative detection of biomolecules through computational processing coupled with real-time fluorescence imaging data. We demonstrate that this strategy effectively delivers dose-dependent quantitative readouts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration on chemical vapor deposited (CVD) Gr and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) surfaces, thereby providing cytotoxicity assessment. Compared with conventional fluorescence spectrometry methods, our highly efficient, universally applicable, and rational approach will facilitate broader implementation of imaging-based biosensing platforms for the quantitative evaluation of a range of target molecules.Although real-time label-free fluorescent aptasensors based on nanomaterials are increasingly recognized as a useful strategy for the detection of target biomolecules with high fidelity, the lack of an imaging-based quantitative measurement platform limits their implementation with biological samples. Here we introduce an ensemble strategy for a real-time label-free fluorescent graphene (Gr) aptasensor platform. This platform employs aptamer length-dependent tunability, thus enabling the reagentless quantitative detection of biomolecules through computational processing coupled with real-time fluorescence imaging data. We demonstrate that this strategy effectively delivers dose-dependent quantitative readouts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration on chemical vapor deposited (CVD) Gr and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) surfaces, thereby providing cytotoxicity assessment. Compared with conventional fluorescence spectrometry methods, our highly efficient, universally applicable, and rational approach will facilitate broader implementation of imaging-based biosensing platforms for the quantitative evaluation of a range of target molecules. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr05839b

Efficient multicolor tunability of ultrasmall ternary-doped LaF3 nanoparticles: energy conversion and magnetic behavior.

PubMed

Shrivastava, Navadeep; Khan, L U; Vargas, J M; Ospina, Carlos; Coaquira, J A Q; Zoppellaro, Giorgio; Brito, H F; Javed, Yasir; Shukla, D K; Felinto, M C F C; Sharma, Surender K

2017-07-19

Luminescence-tunable multicolored LaF 3 :xCe 3+ ,xGd 3+ ,yEu 3+ (x = 5; y = 1, 5, 10, and 15 mol%) nanoparticles have been synthesized via a low cost polyol method. Powder X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies confirm the hexagonal phase of the LaF 3 :xCe 3+ ,xGd 3+ ,yEu 3+ nanophosphors with average sizes (oval shape) ranging from 5 to 7 nm. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses show the uniform distribution of Ce 3+ , Gd 3+ , and Eu 3+ dopants in the LaF 3 host matrix. The photoluminescence spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements guarantee the presence of Eu 2+ , corroborated through DC susceptibility measurements of the samples displaying paramagnetic behavior at 300 K, whereas weak ferromagnetic ordering is shown at 2 K. The non-radiative energy transfer processes from the 4f( 2 F 5/2 ) → 5d state (Ce 3+ ) to the intraconfigurational 4f excited levels of rare earth ions and simultaneous emissions in the visible region from the 4f 6 5d 1 (Eu 2+ ) and 5 D 0 (Eu 3+ ) emitting levels, leading to overlapped broad and narrow emission bands, have been proclaimed. The energy transfer mechanism proposes involvement of the Gd 3+ ion sub-lattice as the bridge and finally trapping by Eu 2+/3+ , upon excitation of the Ce 3+ ion. The calculation of experimental intensity parameters (Ω 2,4 ) has been discussed and the highest emission quantum efficiency (η = 85%) of the Eu 3+ ion for the y = 10 mol% sample is reported. The advantageous existence of the Eu 2+ /Eu 3+ ratio along with variously doped nanomaterials described in this work, results in tunable emission color in the blue-white-red regions, highlighting the potential application of the samples in solid-state lighting devices, scintillation devices, and multiplex detection.

Room temperature synthesis of Mn2+ doped ZnS d-dots and observation of tunable dual emission: Effects of doping concentration, temperature, and ultraviolet light illumination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kole, A. K.; Tiwary, C. S.; Kumbhakar, P.

2013-03-01

Mn2+ doped (0-50.0 molar %) ZnS d-dots have been synthesized in water medium by using an environment friendly low cost chemical technique. Tunable dual emission in UV and yellow-orange regions is achieved by tailoring the Mn2+ doping concentration in the host ZnS nanocrystal. The optimum doping concentration for achieving efficient photoluminescence (PL) emission is determined to be ˜1.10 (at. %) corresponding to 40.0 (molar %) of Mn2+ doping concentration used during synthesis. The mechanism of charge transfer from the host to the dopant leading to the intensity modulated tunable (594-610 nm) yellow-orange PL emission is straightforwardly understood as no capping agent is used. The temperature dependent PL emission measurements are carried out, viz., in 1.10 at. % Mn2+ doped sample and the experimental results are explained by using a theoretical PL emission model. It is found that the ratio of non-radiative to radiative recombination rates is temperature dependent and this phenomenon has not been reported, so far, in Mn2+ doped ZnS system. The colour tuning of the emitted light from the samples are evident from the calculated chromaticity coordinates. UV light irradiation for 150 min in 40.0 (molar %) Mn2+ doped sample shows an enhancement of 33% in PL emission intensity.

Gate-tunable carbon nanotube-MoS2 heterojunction p-n diode.

PubMed

Jariwala, Deep; Sangwan, Vinod K; Wu, Chung-Chiang; Prabhumirashi, Pradyumna L; Geier, Michael L; Marks, Tobin J; Lauhon, Lincoln J; Hersam, Mark C

2013-11-05

The p-n junction diode and field-effect transistor are the two most ubiquitous building blocks of modern electronics and optoelectronics. In recent years, the emergence of reduced dimensionality materials has suggested that these components can be scaled down to atomic thicknesses. Although high-performance field-effect devices have been achieved from monolayered materials and their heterostructures, a p-n heterojunction diode derived from ultrathin materials is notably absent and constrains the fabrication of complex electronic and optoelectronic circuits. Here we demonstrate a gate-tunable p-n heterojunction diode using semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and single-layer molybdenum disulfide as p-type and n-type semiconductors, respectively. The vertical stacking of these two direct band gap semiconductors forms a heterojunction with electrical characteristics that can be tuned with an applied gate bias to achieve a wide range of charge transport behavior ranging from insulating to rectifying with forward-to-reverse bias current ratios exceeding 10(4). This heterojunction diode also responds strongly to optical irradiation with an external quantum efficiency of 25% and fast photoresponse <15 μs. Because SWCNTs have a diverse range of electrical properties as a function of chirality and an increasing number of atomically thin 2D nanomaterials are being isolated, the gate-tunable p-n heterojunction concept presented here should be widely generalizable to realize diverse ultrathin, high-performance electronics and optoelectronics.