Two-dimensional numerical simulation of boron diffusion for pyramidally textured silicon

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

Ma, Fa-Jun, E-mail: Fajun.Ma@nus.edu.sg; Duttagupta, Shubham; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117576

2014-11-14

Multidimensional numerical simulation of boron diffusion is of great relevance for the improvement of industrial n-type crystalline silicon wafer solar cells. However, surface passivation of boron diffused area is typically studied in one dimension on planar lifetime samples. This approach neglects the effects of the solar cell pyramidal texture on the boron doping process and resulting doping profile. In this work, we present a theoretical study using a two-dimensional surface morphology for pyramidally textured samples. The boron diffusivity and segregation coefficient between oxide and silicon in simulation are determined by reproducing measured one-dimensional boron depth profiles prepared using different boronmore » diffusion recipes on planar samples. The established parameters are subsequently used to simulate the boron diffusion process on textured samples. The simulated junction depth is found to agree quantitatively well with electron beam induced current measurements. Finally, chemical passivation on planar and textured samples is compared in device simulation. Particularly, a two-dimensional approach is adopted for textured samples to evaluate chemical passivation. The intrinsic emitter saturation current density, which is only related to Auger and radiative recombination, is also simulated for both planar and textured samples. The differences between planar and textured samples are discussed.« less

Reliable solution processed planar perovskite hybrid solar cells with large-area uniformity by chloroform soaking and spin rinsing induced surface precipitation

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

Chern, Yann-Cherng; Wu, Hung-Ruei; Chen, Yen-Chu

2015-08-15

A solvent soaking and rinsing method, in which the solvent was allowed to soak all over the surface followed by a spinning for solvent draining, was found to produce perovskite layers with high uniformity on a centimeter scale and with much improved reliability. Besides the enhanced crystallinity and surface morphology due to the rinsing induced surface precipitation that constrains the grain growth underneath in the precursor films, large-area uniformity with film thickness determined exclusively by the rotational speed of rinsing spinning for solvent draining was observed. With chloroform as rinsing solvent, highly uniform and mirror-like perovskite layers of area asmore » large as 8 cm × 8 cm were produced and highly uniform planar perovskite solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 10.6 ± 0.2% as well as much prolonged lifetime were obtained. The high uniformity and reliability observed with this solvent soaking and rinsing method were ascribed to the low viscosity of chloroform as well as its feasibility of mixing with the solvent used in the precursor solution. Moreover, since the surface precipitation forms before the solvent draining, this solvent soaking and rinsing method may be adapted to spinless process and be compatible with large-area and continuous production. With the large-area uniformity and reliability for the resultant perovskite layers, this chloroform soaking and rinsing approach may thus be promising for the mass production and commercialization of large-area perovskite solar cells.« less

Surface tension and long range corrections of cylindrical interfaces

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

Bourasseau, E.; Malfreyt, P.; Ghoufi, A., E-mail: aziz.ghoufi@univ-rennes1.fr

2015-12-21

The calculation of the surface tension of curved interfaces has been deeply investigated from molecular simulation during this last past decade. Recently, the thermodynamic Test-Area (TA) approach has been extended to the calculation of surface tension of curved interfaces. In the case of the cylindrical vapour-liquid interfaces of water and Lennard-Jones fluids, it was shown that the surface tension was independent of the curvature of the interface. In addition, the surface tension of the cylindrical interface is higher than that of the planar interface. Molecular simulations of cylindrical interfaces have been so far performed (i) by using a shifted potential,more » (ii) by means of large cutoff without periodic boundary conditions, or (iii) by ignoring the long range corrections to the surface tension due to the difficulty to estimate them. Indeed, unlike the planar interfaces there are no available operational expressions to consider the tail corrections to the surface tension of cylindrical interfaces. We propose here to develop the long range corrections of the surface tension for cylindrical interfaces by using the non-exponential TA (TA2) method. We also extend the formulation of the Mecke-Winkelmann corrections initially developed for planar surfaces to cylindrical interfaces. We complete this study by the calculation of the surface tension of cylindrical surfaces of liquid tin and copper using the embedded atom model potentials.« less

The Visual Representation of 3D Object Orientation in Parietal Cortex

PubMed Central

Cowan, Noah J.; Angelaki, Dora E.

2013-01-01

An accurate representation of three-dimensional (3D) object orientation is essential for interacting with the environment. Where and how the brain visually encodes 3D object orientation remains unknown, but prior studies suggest the caudal intraparietal area (CIP) may be involved. Here, we develop rigorous analytical methods for quantifying 3D orientation tuning curves, and use these tools to the study the neural coding of surface orientation. Specifically, we show that single neurons in area CIP of the rhesus macaque jointly encode the slant and tilt of a planar surface, and that across the population, the distribution of preferred slant-tilts is not statistically different from uniform. This suggests that all slant-tilt combinations are equally represented in area CIP. Furthermore, some CIP neurons are found to also represent the third rotational degree of freedom that determines the orientation of the image pattern on the planar surface. Together, the present results suggest that CIP is a critical neural locus for the encoding of all three rotational degrees of freedom specifying an object's 3D spatial orientation. PMID:24305830

A Large-Surface-Area Boracite-Network-Topology Porous MOF Constructed from a Conjugated Ligand Exhibiting a High Hydrogen Uptake Capacity

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

Wang, Xi-Sen; Ma, Shengqian; Yuan, Daqiang

2009-01-01

A new porous metal-organic framework, PCN-20 with a twisted boracite net topology, was constructed based on a highly conjugated planar tricarboxylate ligand; PCN-20 possesses a large Langmuir surface area of over 4200 m(2)/g as well as demonstrates a high hydrogen uptake capacity of 6.2 wt % at 77 K and 50 bar.

Development of advanced micromirror arrays by flip-chip assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michalicek, M. Adrian; Bright, Victor M.

2001-10-01

This paper presents the design, commercial prefabrication, modeling and testing of advanced micromirror arrays fabricated using a novel, simple and inexpensive flip-chip assembly technique. Several polar piston arrays and rectangular cantilever arrays were fabricated using flip-chip assembly by which the upper layers of the array are fabricated on a separate chip and then transferred to a receiving module containing the lower layers. Typical polar piston arrays boast 98.3% active surface area, highly planarized surfaces, low address potentials compatible with CMOS electronics, highly standardized actuation between devices, and complex segmentation of mirror surfaces which allows for custom aberration configurations. Typical cantilever arrays boast large angles of rotation as well as an average surface planarity of only 1.779 nm of RMS roughness across 100 +m mirrors. Continuous torsion devices offer stable operation through as much as six degrees of rotation while binary operation devices offer stable activated positions with as much as 20 degrees of rotation. All arrays have desirable features of costly fabrication services like five structural layers and planarized mirror surfaces, but are prefabricated in the less costly MUMPs process. Models are developed for all devices and used to compare empirical data.

Improved Design of Optical MEMS Using the SUMMiT Fabrication Process

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

Michalicek, M.A.; Comtois, J.H.; Barron, C.C.

This paper describes the design and fabrication of optical Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) devices using the Sandia Ultra planar Multilevel MEMS Technology (SUMMiT) fabrication process. This state of the art process, offered by Sandia National Laboratories, provides unique and very advantageous features which make it ideal for optical devices. This enabling process permits the development of micromirror devices with near ideal characteristics which have previously been unrealizable in standard polysilicon processes. This paper describes such characteristics as elevated address electrodes, individual address wiring beneath the device, planarized mirror surfaces, unique post-process metallization, and the best active surface area to date.

A novel form of epithelial wound healing of the embryonic epidermis.

PubMed

Armstrong, Margaret T; Turlo, Kirsten; Elges, Chris J; Dayton, Sarah M; Lee, Janet; Armstrong, Peter B

2006-08-01

The embryonic epidermis of amniotes is a two-cell layer sheet with a periderm positioned superficial to the basal cell layer which, itself, attaches apically to the basal surface of the periderm and basally to the basal lamina. The presence of the periderm is essential to maintain the basal layer as a two-dimensional monolayer. Wounds to the epidermis that remove selectively just the periderm are healed by a stacking of the basal layer cells that constitute the wound bed. Basal cell stacking involves the desertion of the basal lamina by many of the cells so as to increase their contact area with other basal layer cells. This suggests that a preferential adhesion to the planar basal lamina is not important for the monolayered organization of the basal layer but, instead, association with inner surface of the planar periderm is the principal process that maintains the basal layer as a monolayer. The conversion of the basal layer from monolayer to multilayer during wound healing diminishes its planar area, resulting in movement of the wound borders toward the center of the wound. This is a novel scenario for wound healing.

Effects of captopril, losartan, and nifedipine on cell hypertrophy of cultured vascular smooth muscle from hypertensive Ren-2 transgenic rats

PubMed Central

Peiró, Concepción; Llergo, José L; Angulo, Javier; López-Novoa, José M; Rodríguez-López, Ana; Rodríguez-Mañas, Leocadio; Sánchez-Ferrer, Carlos F

1997-01-01

We hypothesized that tissular renin-angotensin system (RAS) induces vascular hypertrophy in hypertensive Ren-2 transgenic rats (TGR; strain name TGR(mRen2)L27). This assumption was tested in cell cultures of vascular smooth muscle (VSMC) from both hypertensive TGR and control normotensive Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Planar cell surface area, protein synthesis, and protein content per cell were studied, the role for locally produced angiotensin II (AII) was evaluated and the possible pharmacological interference by different drugs was analysed. By use of radioimmunoassay techniques, AII could be determined in TGR cultures (10.25±0.12 pg per 107 cells) while it could not be detected in SD ones. Under serum-free conditions, VSMC from hypertensive TGR were hypertrophic when compared to SD VSMC, as they presented a higher protein content per cell (335±18 and 288±7 pg per cell respectively; P<0.05) and increased mean planar cell surface area, as determined by image analysis (4,074±238 and 4,764±204 μm2, respectively; P<0.05). When exogenously added to cultured SD and TGR VSMC, AII (100 pM to 1 μM) promoted protein synthesis and protein content in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting DNA synthesis. Maximal effects were observed at 100 nM. At this concentration, AII effectively increased planar cell surface area in both SD and TGR cultures by ∼20%. Treatment of TGR cultures, in the absence of exogenous AII, with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril or the angiotensin AT1 receptors antagonist losartan (100 nM to 10 μM) reduced planar cell surface area in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, both captopril and losartan (10 μM), decreased protein synthesis by ∼15%. Treatment of SD VSMC, in the absence of exogenous AII, with both captopril and losartan had no effect either on planar cell surface area or protein synthesis. Treatment with the Ca2+ antagonist nifedipine (100 nM to 10 μM) reduced cell size in both SD and TGR cultures. Maximal cell reduction reached by nifedipine averaged 906±58 and 1,292±57 μm2, in SD and TGR, respectively (P<0.05). In addition, nifedipine, nitrendipine and nisoldipine (all at 10 μM) decreased protein synthesis in both cell types by 15–25%. We concluded that cultured VSMC from TGR are hypertrophic in comparison with those from SD. This cell hypertrophy can be the consequence of the expression of the transgene Ren-2 that activates a tissular RAS and locally produces AII, which acts in a paracrine, autocrine, or intracrine manner. Cell hypertrophy in TGR cultures could be selectively reduced by RAS blockade, while nifedipine decreased cell size and protein synthesis in both hypertrophic and non hypertrophic cells. PMID:9257925

Solar collector

DOEpatents

Wilhelm, W.G.

The invention pertains to a flat plate collector that employs high performance thin films. The solar collector of this invention overcomes several problems in this field, such as excessive hardware, cost and reliability, and other prior art drawbacks outlined in the specification. In the preferred form, the apparatus features a substantially rigid planar frame. A thin film window is bonded to one planar side of the frame. An absorber of laminate construction is comprised of two thin film layers that are sealed perimetrically. The layers define a fluid-tight planar envelope of large surface area to volume through which a heat transfer fluid flows. Absorber is bonded to the other planar side of the frame. The thin film construction of the absorber assures substantially full envelope wetting and thus good efficiency. The window and absorber films stress the frame adding to the overall strength of the collector.

Using Combination of Planar and Height Features for Detecting Built-Up Areas from High-Resolution Stereo Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, F.; Cai, X.; Tan, W.

2017-09-01

Within-class spectral variation and between-class spectral confusion in remotely sensed imagery degrades the performance of built-up area detection when using planar texture, shape, and spectral features. Terrain slope and building height are often used to optimize the results, but extracted from auxiliary data (e.g. LIDAR data, DSM). Moreover, the auxiliary data must be acquired around the same time as image acquisition. Otherwise, built-up area detection accuracy is affected. Stereo imagery incorporates both planar and height information unlike single remotely sensed images. Stereo imagery acquired by many satellites (e.g. Worldview-4, Pleiades-HR, ALOS-PRISM, and ZY-3) can be used as data source of identifying built-up areas. A new method of identifying high-accuracy built-up areas from stereo imagery is achieved by using a combination of planar and height features. The digital surface model (DSM) and digital orthophoto map (DOM) are first generated from stereo images. Then, height values of above-ground objects (e.g. buildings) are calculated from the DSM, and used to obtain raw built-up areas. Other raw built-up areas are obtained from the DOM using Pantex and Gabor, respectively. Final high-accuracy built-up area results are achieved from these raw built-up areas using the decision level fusion. Experimental results show that accurate built-up areas can be achieved from stereo imagery. The height information used in the proposed method is derived from stereo imagery itself, with no need to require auxiliary height data (e.g. LIDAR data). The proposed method is suitable for spaceborne and airborne stereo pairs and triplets.

Planar spatial correlations, anisotropy, and specific surface area of stationary random porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berryman, James G.

1998-02-01

An earlier result of the author showed that an anisotropic spatial correlation function of a random porous medium could be used to compute the specific surface area when it is stationary as well as anisotropic by first performing a three-dimensional radial average and then taking the first derivative with respect to lag at the origin. This result generalized the earlier result for isotropic porous media of Debye et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 28, 679 (1957)]. The present article provides more detailed information about the use of spatial correlation functions for anisotropic porous media and in particular shows that, for stationary anisotropic media, the specific surface area can be related to the derivative of the two-dimensional radial average of the correlation function measured from cross sections taken through the anisotropic medium. The main concept is first illustrated using a simple pedagogical example for an anisotropic distribution of spherical voids. Then, a general derivation of formulas relating the derivative of the planar correlation functions to surface integrals is presented. When the surface normal is uniformly distributed (as is the case for any distribution of spherical voids), our formulas can be used to relate a specific surface area to easily measurable quantities from any single cross section. When the surface normal is not distributed uniformly (as would be the case for an oriented distribution of ellipsoidal voids), our results show how to obtain valid estimates of specific surface area by averaging measurements on three orthogonal cross sections. One important general observation for porous media is that the surface area from nearly flat cracks may be underestimated from measurements on orthogonal cross sections if any of the cross sections happen to lie in the plane of the cracks. This result is illustrated by taking the very small aspect ratio (penny-shaped crack) limit of an oblate spheroid, but holds for other types of flat surfaces as well.

Planar spatial correlations, anisotropy, and specific surface area of stationary random porous media

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

Berryman, J.G.

1998-02-01

An earlier result of the author showed that an anisotropic spatial correlation function of a random porous medium could be used to compute the specific surface area when it is stationary as well as anisotropic by first performing a three-dimensional radial average and then taking the first derivative with respect to lag at the origin. This result generalized the earlier result for isotropic porous media of Debye {ital et al.} [J. Appl. Phys. {bold 28}, 679 (1957)]. The present article provides more detailed information about the use of spatial correlation functions for anisotropic porous media and in particular shows that,more » for stationary anisotropic media, the specific surface area can be related to the derivative of the two-dimensional radial average of the correlation function measured from cross sections taken through the anisotropic medium. The main concept is first illustrated using a simple pedagogical example for an anisotropic distribution of spherical voids. Then, a general derivation of formulas relating the derivative of the planar correlation functions to surface integrals is presented. When the surface normal is uniformly distributed (as is the case for any distribution of spherical voids), our formulas can be used to relate a specific surface area to easily measurable quantities from any single cross section. When the surface normal is not distributed uniformly (as would be the case for an oriented distribution of ellipsoidal voids), our results show how to obtain valid estimates of specific surface area by averaging measurements on three orthogonal cross sections. One important general observation for porous media is that the surface area from nearly flat cracks may be underestimated from measurements on orthogonal cross sections if any of the cross sections happen to lie in the plane of the cracks. This result is illustrated by taking the very small aspect ratio (penny-shaped crack) limit of an oblate spheroid, but holds for other types of flat surfaces as well.« less

Critique of Sikkink and Keane's comparison of surface fuel sampling techniques

Treesearch

Clinton S. Wright; Roger D. Ottmar; Robert E. Vihnanek

2010-01-01

The 2008 paper of Sikkink and Keane compared several methods to estimate surface fuel loading in western Montana: two widely used inventory techniques (planar intersect and fixed-area plot) and three methods that employ photographs as visual guides (photo load, photoload macroplot and photo series). We feel, however, that their study design was inadequate to evaluate...

Development of a large-area planar surface-wave plasma source with a cavity launcher driven by a 915 MHz UHF wave

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Xijiang; Kunii, Kazuki; Liang, Rongqing; Nagatsu, Masaaki

2013-04-01

A large-area planar surface-wave plasma (SWP) source driven by a 915 MHz ultrahigh frequency (UHF) wave was developed. To avoid using large, thick dielectric plates as vacuum windows, we propose a cavity launcher consisting of a cylindrical cavity with several small quartz discs at the bottom. Three types of launchers with quartz discs located at different positions were tested to compare their plasma production efficiencies and spatial distributions of electron density. With the optimum launcher, large-area plasma discharges with a radial uniformity within ±10% were obtained in a radius of about 25-30 cm in Ar gas at 8 Pa for incident power in the range 0.5-2.5 kW. The maximum electron density and temperature were approximately (0.95-1.1) × 1011 cm-3 and 1.9-2.0 eV, respectively, as measured by a Langmuir probe located 24 cm below the bottom of the cavity launcher. Using an Ar/NH3 SWP with the optimum launcher, we demonstrated large-area amino-group surface modification of polyurethane sheets. Experimental results indicated that a uniform amino-group modification was achieved over a radius of approximately 40 cm, which is slightly larger than the radial uniformity of the electron density distribution.

Harvesting water wave energy by asymmetric screening of electrostatic charges on a nanostructured hydrophobic thin-film surface.

PubMed

Zhu, Guang; Su, Yuanjie; Bai, Peng; Chen, Jun; Jing, Qingshen; Yang, Weiqing; Wang, Zhong Lin

2014-06-24

Energy harvesting from ambient water motions is a desirable but underexplored solution to on-site energy demand for self-powered electronics. Here we report a liquid-solid electrification-enabled generator based on a fluorinated ethylene propylene thin film, below which an array of electrodes are fabricated. The surface of the thin film is charged first due to the water-solid contact electrification. Aligned nanowires created on the thin film make it hydrophobic and also increase the surface area. Then the asymmetric screening to the surface charges by the waving water during emerging and submerging processes causes the free electrons on the electrodes to flow through an external load, resulting in power generation. The generator produces sufficient output power for driving an array of small electronics during direct interaction with water bodies, including surface waves and falling drops. Polymer-nanowire-based surface modification increases the contact area at the liquid-solid interface, leading to enhanced surface charging density and thus electric output at an efficiency of 7.7%. Our planar-structured generator features an all-in-one design without separate and movable components for capturing and transmitting mechanical energy. It has extremely lightweight and small volume, making it a portable, flexible, and convenient power solution that can be applied on the ocean/river surface, at coastal/offshore areas, and even in rainy places. Considering the demonstrated scalability, it can also be possibly used in large-scale energy generation if layers of planar sheets are connected into a network.

Apparatus for checking the direction of polarization of shear-wave ultrasonic transducers

DOEpatents

Karplus, Henry H. B.

1980-01-01

An apparatus for checking the direction of polarization of shear-wave ultrasonic transducers comprises a first planar surface for mounting the shear-wave transducer, a second planar surface inclined at a predetermined angle to the first surface to generate longitudinal waves by mode conversion, and a third planar surface disposed at a second predetermined angle to the first for mounting a longitudinal-wave ultrasonic transducer. In an alternate embodiment, two second planar surfaces at the predetermined angle are placed at an angle to each other. The magnitude of the shear wave is a function of the angle between the direction of polarization of the transducer and the mode-conversion surface.

Apparatus for checking the direction of polarization of shear-wave ultrasonic transducers

DOEpatents

Karplus, H.H.B.; Forster, G.A.

An apparatus for checking the direction of polarization of shear-wave ultrasonic transducers comprises a first planar surface for mounting the shear-wave transducer, a second planar surface inclined at a predetermined angle to the first surface to generate longitudinal waves by mode conversion, and a third planar surface disposed at a second predetermined angle to the first for mounting a longitudinal-wave ultransonic transducer. In an alternate embodiment, two second planar surfaces at the predetermined angle are placed at an angle to each other. The magnitude of the shear wave is a function of the angle between the direction of polarization of the transducer and the mode-conversion surface.

Stacked multilayers of alternating reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes for planar supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Geon Dae; Joo, Ji Bong; Yin, Yadong

2013-11-01

A simple layer-by-layer approach has been developed for constructing 2D planar supercapacitors of multi-stacked reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. This sandwiched 2D architecture enables the full utilization of the maximum active surface area of rGO nanosheets by using a CNT layer as a porous physical spacer to enhance the permeation of a gel electrolyte inside the structure and reduce the agglomeration of rGO nanosheets along the vertical direction. As a result, the stacked multilayers of rGO and CNTs are capable of offering higher output voltage and current production.A simple layer-by-layer approach has been developed for constructing 2D planar supercapacitors of multi-stacked reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. This sandwiched 2D architecture enables the full utilization of the maximum active surface area of rGO nanosheets by using a CNT layer as a porous physical spacer to enhance the permeation of a gel electrolyte inside the structure and reduce the agglomeration of rGO nanosheets along the vertical direction. As a result, the stacked multilayers of rGO and CNTs are capable of offering higher output voltage and current production. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, SEM and TEM images and additional electrochemical data. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr04339h

Cold plasma decontamination using flexible jet arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konesky, Gregory

2010-04-01

Arrays of atmospheric discharge cold plasma jets have been used to decontaminate surfaces of a wide range of microorganisms quickly, yet not damage that surface. Its effectiveness in decomposing simulated chemical warfare agents has also been demonstrated, and may also find use in assisting in the cleanup of radiological weapons. Large area jet arrays, with short dwell times, are necessary for practical applications. Realistic situations will also require jet arrays that are flexible to adapt to contoured or irregular surfaces. Various large area jet array prototypes, both planar and flexible, are described, as is the application to atmospheric decontamination.

Shuttle-launch triangular space station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, W. C. (Inventor); Berka, R. B. (Inventor); Kavanaugh, C. (Inventor); Nagy, K. (Inventor); Parish, R. C. (Inventor); Schliesing, J. A. (Inventor); Smith, P. D. (Inventor); Stebbins, F. J. (Inventor); Wesselski, C. J. (Inventor)

1986-01-01

A triangular space station deployable in orbit is described. The framework is comprized of three trusses, formed of a pair of generally planar faces consistine of foldable struts. The struts expand and lock into rigid structural engagement forming a repetition of equilater triangles and nonfolding diagonal struts interconnecting the two faces. The struts are joined together by node fittings. The framework can be packaged into a size and configuration transportable by a space shuttle. When deployed, the framework provides a large work/construction area and ample planar surface area for solar panels and thermal radiators. A plurity of modules are secured to the framework and then joined by tunnels to make an interconnected modular display. Thruster units for the space station orientation and altitude maintenance are provided.

Ultrathin two-dimensional MnO2/graphene hybrid nanostructures for high-performance, flexible planar supercapacitors.

PubMed

Peng, Lele; Peng, Xu; Liu, Borui; Wu, Changzheng; Xie, Yi; Yu, Guihua

2013-05-08

Planar supercapacitors have recently attracted much attention owing to their unique and advantageous design for 2D nanomaterials based energy storage devices. However, improving the electrochemical performance of planar supercapacitors still remains a great challenge. Here we report for the first time a novel, high-performance in-plane supercapacitor based on hybrid nanostructures of quasi-2D ultrathin MnO2/graphene nanosheets. Specifically, the planar structures based on the δ-MnO2 nanosheets integrated on graphene sheets not only introduce more electrochemically active surfaces for absorption/desorption of electrolyte ions, but also bring additional interfaces at the hybridized interlayer areas to facilitate charge transport during charging/discharging processes. The unique structural design for planar supercapacitors enables great performance enhancements compared to graphene-only devices, exhibiting high specific capacitances of 267 F/g at current density of 0.2 A/g and 208 F/g at 10 A/g and excellent rate capability and cycling stability with capacitance retention of 92% after 7000 charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, the high planar malleability of planar supercapacitors makes possible superior flexibility and robust cyclability, yielding capacitance retention over 90% after 1000 times of folding/unfolding. Ultrathin 2D nanomaterials represent a promising material platform to realize highly flexible planar energy storage devices as the power back-ups for stretchable/flexible electronic devices.

Ge nanopillar solar cells epitaxially grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

PubMed Central

Kim, Youngjo; Lam, Nguyen Dinh; Kim, Kangho; Park, Won-Kyu; Lee, Jaejin

2017-01-01

Radial junction solar cells with vertically aligned wire arrays have been widely studied to improve the power conversion efficiency. In this work, we report the first Ge nanopillar solar cell. Nanopillar arrays are selectively patterned on p-type Ge (100) substrates using nanosphere lithography and deep reactive ion etching processes. Nanoscale radial and planar junctions are realized by an n-type Ge emitter layer which is epitaxially grown by MOCVD using isobutylgermane. In situ epitaxial surface passivation is employed using an InGaP layer to avoid high surface recombination rates and Fermi level pinning. High quality n-ohmic contact is realized by protecting the top contact area during the nanopillar patterning. The short circuit current density and the power conversion efficiency of the Ge nanopillar solar cell are demonstrated to be improved up to 18 and 30%, respectively, compared to those of the Ge solar cell with a planar surface. PMID:28209964

Large area planar stanene epitaxially grown on Ag(1 1 1)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuhara, Junji; Fujii, Yuya; Nishino, Kazuki; Isobe, Naoki; Nakatake, Masashi; Xian, Lede; Rubio, Angel; Le Lay, Guy

2018-04-01

Artificial post-graphene elemental 2D materials have received much attention recently. Especially, stanene, the tin analogue of graphene, is expected to be a robust 2D topological insulator, even above room temperature. We have grown epitaxial 2D stanene on a Ag(1 1 1) single crystal template and determined its crystalline structure synergetically by scanning tunneling microscopy, high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy, and advanced first principles calculations. From the STM images, we show that stanene forms a nearly planar structure in large domains. A detailed core-level spectroscopy analysis as well as DFT calculations reveal that the stanene sheet lays over an ordered 2D Ag2Sn surface alloy, but not directly on a bulk-terminated Ag(1 1 1) surface. The electronic structure exhibits a characteristic 2D band with parabolic dispersion due to the non-negligible interaction with the underlying surface alloy.

Planar fuel cell utilizing nail current collectors for increased active surface area

DOEpatents

George, Thomas J.; Meacham, G. B. Kirby

2002-03-26

A plurality of nail current collector members are useful in the gas flow passages of an electrochemical device to optimize the active surfaces of the device and to provide structural support. In addition, the thicknesses of cathode and anode layers within the electrochemical device are varied according to current flow through the device to reduce resistance and increase operating efficiency.

Planar fuel cell utilizing nail current collectors for increased active surface area

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

George, Thomas J.; Meacham, G.B. Kirby

1999-11-26

A plurality of nail current collector members are useful in the gas flow passages of an electrochemical device to optimize the active surfaces of the device and to provide structural support. In addition, the thicknesses of cathode and anode layers within the electrochemical device are varied according to current flow through the device to reduce resistance and increase operating efficiency.

The planar multijunction cell - A new solar cell for earth and space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, J. C., Jr.; Chai, A.-T.; Goradia, C.

1980-01-01

A new family of high-voltage solar cells, called the planar multijunction (PMJ) cell is being developed. The new cells combine the attractive features of planar cells with conventional or interdigitated back contacts and the vertical multijunction (VMJ) solar cell. The PMJ solar cell is internally divided into many voltage-generating regions, called unit cells, which are internally connected in series. The key to obtaining reasonable performance from this device was the separation of top surface field regions over each active unit cell area. Using existing solar cell fabricating methods, output voltages in excess of 20 volts per linear centimeter are possible. Analysis of the new device is complex, and numerous geometries are being studied which should provide substantial benefits in both normal sunlight usage as well as with concentrators.

Inkjet-based adaptive planarization (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singhal, Shrawan; Grigas, Michelle M.; Khusnatdinov, Niyaz; Sreenivasan, Srinivasan V.

2017-03-01

Planarization is a critical unit step in the lithography process because it enables patterning of surfaces with versatile pattern density without compromising on the stringent planarity and depth-of-focus requirements. In addition to nanoscale pattern density variation, parasitics such as pre-existing wafer topography, can corrupt the desired process output after planarization. The topography of any surface can be classified in three broad categories, depending upon the amplitude and spatial wavelength of the same [1], [2]: (i) nominal shape, (ii) nanotopography and (iii) roughness. The nominal shape is given by the largest spatial wavelengths, typically < 20mm. For spatial length scales of 1-20mm, height variations at this spatial wavelength range are classified as nanotopography. Roughness usually has lower spatial wavelengths. While the nominal shape of a substrate surface is usually decided by the nature of wafer preparation and the tooling and chucking infrastructure used in the same, roughness is usually mitigated by standard polishing techniques. It is the intermediate nanotopography that is probably the most critical surface topography parameter. This is because most traditional polishing techniques cannot selectively address pre-existing substrate topography, without introducing a parasitic signature at the scale of nanotopography. Moreover, fields with pattern density variation typically also have length scales that are commensurate with nanotopography. It is thus instructive to summarize existing planarization technology to understand current limitations. Spin on Glass and Etch back is one technique used for micron scale device manufacturing [3]. As the name implies, a glass dielectric is spin-coated on the substrate followed by etching in a chemistry that ensures equal etching rates for both the sacrificial glass and the underlying film or substrate material. Photoresists may also be used instead of glass. However, the global planarity that can be achieved by this technique is limited. Also, planarization over a large isolated topographical feature has been studied for the reverse-tone Jet-and-Flash Imprint Lithography process, also known as JFIL-R [4]. This relies on surface tension and capillary effects to smoothen a spin-coated Si containing film that can be etched to obtain a smooth profile. To meet the stringent requirement of planarity in submicron device technologies Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is the most widely used planarization technology [5], [6]. It uses a combination of abrasive laden chemical slurry and a mechanical pad for achieving planar profiles. The biggest concern with CMP is the dependence of material removal rate on the pattern density of material, leading to the formation of a step between the high density and low-density. The step shows up as a long-range thickness variation in the planarized film, similar in scale to pre-existing substrate topography that should have been polished away. Preventive techniques like dummy fill and patterned resist can be used to reduce the variation in pattern density. These techniques increase the complexity of the planarization process and significantly limit the device design flexibility. Contact Planarization (CP) has also been reported as an alternative to the CMP processing [7], [8]. A substrate is spin coated with a photo curable material and pre baked to remove residual solvent. An ultra-flat surface or an optical flat is pressed on the spin-coated wafer. The material is forced to reflow. Pressure is used to spread out material evenly and achieve global planarization. The substrate is then exposed to UV radiation to harden the photo curable material. Although attractive, this process is not adaptive as it does not account for differences in surface topography of the wafer and the optical flat, nor can it address all the parasitics that arise during the process itself. The optical flat leads to undesirable planarization of even the substrate nominal shape and nanotopography, which corrupts the final film thickness profile. Hence, it becomes extremely difficult to eliminate this signature to a desirable extent without introducing other parasitic signatures. An example of this is shown in Figure 1. In this paper, a novel adaptive planarization process has been presented that potentially addresses the problems associated with planarization of varying pattern density, even in the presence of pre-existing substrate topography [9]. This process is called Inkjet-enabled Adaptive Planarization (IAP). The IAP process uses an inverse optimization scheme, built around a validated fluid mechanics-based forward model [10], that takes the pre-existing substrate topography and pattern layout as inputs. It then generates an inkjet drop pattern with a material distribution that is correlated with the desired planarization film profile. This allows a contiguous film to be formed with the desired thickness variation to cater to the topography and any parasitic signatures caused by the pattern layout. This film is formed by the coercing action of a compliant superstrate, which forces the drops to spread and merge and eliminates any bubble trapping. Then, the film is cured using blanket UV exposure and the superstrate separated to reveal the desired planarized film. The use of an inverse optimization algorithm allows substrate topography to be addressed adaptively. In other words, the algorithm can generate a drop pattern that does not disturb the pre-existing substrate topography substantially, but only caters to the pattern density variation. This process has potential advantages over other planarization techniques because of its adaptive nature. Hence, the IAP process can cater to substrates of varying topographies and pattern densities by changing the inkjetted material distribution, without any changes in hardware. The IAP process can also address pre-existing substrate topography selectively by conforming to the nominal shape while planarizing over the pattern layout. A schematic of the IAP process is shown in Figure 2. The goal of this paper is to present some preliminary results from the IAP process. A test pattern layout has been generated with the help of photolithography, and is shown in Figure 3. For the purpose of this trial, the nanoscale features have not been patterned, as it is expected that the planarization process will be blind to their presence. Thus, areas with nanoscale patterns have been patterned as a single feature of SiO2 with height equal to 100 nm. These features are adjacent to pattern-less areas, thus marking a drastic change in pattern density. As can be seen in Figure 4, the smallest length scale across which pattern density changes, is 70 microns. The goal of the IAP process is to be able to planarize this pattern with a film that conforms to pre-existing substrate topography. The targeted planarity of the film is 95% 3sigma, while the targeted film thickness at the tallest feature is less than 30 nm. In another trial, the inverse tone of the same layout will also be tested. This pattern has features of height equal to 100 nm where the previous pattern did not. The targeted metrics for the inverse layout are the same as the nominal layout.

Process Of Bonding A Metal Brush Structure To A Planar Surface Of A Metal Substrate

DOEpatents

Slattery, Kevin T.; Driemeyer, Daniel E.; Wille; Gerald W.

1999-11-02

Process for bonding a metal brush structure to a planar surface of a metal substrate in which an array of metal rods are retained and immobilized at their tips by a common retention layer formed of metal, and the brush structure is then joined to a planar surface of a metal substrate via the retention layer.

Design and Characterization of Next-Generation Micromirrors Fabricated in a Four-Level, Planarized Surface-Micromachined Polycrystalline Silicon Process

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

Michalicek, M.A.; Comtois, J.H.; Barron, C.C.

This paper describes the design and characterization of several types of micromirror devices to include process capabilities, device modeling, and test data resulting in deflection versus applied potential curves. These micromirror devices are the first to be fabricated in the state-of-the-art four-level planarized polysilicon process available at Sandia National Laboratories known as the Sandia Ultra-planar Multi-level MEMS Technology (SUMMiT). This enabling process permits the development of micromirror devices with near-ideal characteristics which have previously been unrealizable in standard three-layer polysilicon processes. This paper describes such characteristics as elevated address electrodes, individual address wiring beneath the device, planarized mirror surfaces usingmore » Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), unique post-process metallization, and the best active surface area to date. This paper presents the design, fabrication, modeling, and characterization of several variations of Flexure-Beam (FBMD) and Axial-Rotation Micromirror Devices (ARMD). The released devices are first metallized using a standard sputtering technique relying on metallization guards and masks that are fabricated next to the devices. Such guards are shown to enable the sharing of bond pads between numerous arrays of micromirrors in order to maximize the number of on-chip test arrays. The devices are modeled and then empirically characterized using a laser interferometer setup located at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Unique design considerations for these devices and the process are also discussed.« less

White emission from non-planar InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs grown on GaN template with truncated hexagonal pyramids.

PubMed

Lee, Ming-Lun; Yeh, Yu-Hsiang; Tu, Shang-Ju; Chen, P C; Lai, Wei-Chih; Sheu, Jinn-Kong

2015-04-06

Non-planar InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures are grown on a GaN template with truncated hexagonal pyramids (THPs) featuring c-plane and r-plane surfaces. The THP array is formed by the regrowth of the GaN layer on a selective-area Si-implanted GaN template. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the InGaN/GaN epitaxial layers regrown on the THPs exhibit different growth rates and indium compositions of the InGaN layer between the c-plane and r-plane surfaces. Consequently, InGaN/GaN MQW light-emitting diodes grown on the GaN THP array emit multiple wavelengths approaching near white light.

Stacked multilayers of alternating reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes for planar supercapacitors.

PubMed

Moon, Geon Dae; Joo, Ji Bong; Yin, Yadong

2013-12-07

A simple layer-by-layer approach has been developed for constructing 2D planar supercapacitors of multi-stacked reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. This sandwiched 2D architecture enables the full utilization of the maximum active surface area of rGO nanosheets by using a CNT layer as a porous physical spacer to enhance the permeation of a gel electrolyte inside the structure and reduce the agglomeration of rGO nanosheets along the vertical direction. As a result, the stacked multilayers of rGO and CNTs are capable of offering higher output voltage and current production.

Thin film absorber for a solar collector

DOEpatents

Wilhelm, William G.

1985-01-01

This invention pertains to energy absorbers for solar collectors, and more particularly to high performance thin film absorbers. The solar collectors comprising the absorber of this invention overcome several problems seen in current systems, such as excessive hardware, high cost and unreliability. In the preferred form, the apparatus features a substantially rigid planar frame with a thin film window bonded to one planar side of the frame. An absorber in accordance with the present invention is comprised of two thin film layers that are sealed perimetrically. In a preferred embodiment, thin film layers are formed from a metal/plastic laminate. The layers define a fluid-tight planar envelope of large surface area to volume through which a heat transfer fluid flows. The absorber is bonded to the other planar side of the frame. The thin film construction of the absorber assures substantially full envelope wetting and thus good efficiency. The window and absorber films stress the frame adding to the overall strength of the collector.

Solar collector

DOEpatents

Wilhelm, William G.

1982-01-01

The field of this invention is solar collectors, and more particularly, the invention pertains to a flat plate collector that employs high performance thin films. The solar collector of this invention overcomes several problems in this field, such as excessive hardware, cost and reliability, and other prior art drawbacks outlined in the specification. In the preferred form, the apparatus features a substantially rigid planar frame (14). A thin film window (42) is bonded to one planar side of the frame. An absorber (24) of laminate construction is comprised of two thin film layers (24a, 24b) that are sealed perimetrically. The layers (24a, 24b) define a fluid-tight planar envelope (24c) of large surface area to volume through which a heat transfer fluid flows. Absorber (24) is bonded to the other planar side of the frame. The thin film construction of the absorber assures substantially full envelope wetting and thus good efficiency. The window and absorber films stress the frame adding to the overall strength of the collector.

Enhancement of surface area and wettability properties of boron doped diamond by femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structuring

DOE PAGES

Granados, Eduardo; Calderon, Miguel Martinez; Krzywinski, Jacek; ...

2017-08-28

We demonstrate the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) in boron-doped diamond (BDD) by irradiation with femtosecond near-IR laser pulses. The results show that the obtained LIPSS are perpendicular to the laser polarization, and the ripple periodicity is on the order of half of the irradiation wavelength. The surface structures and their electrochemical properties were characterized using Raman micro-spectroscopy, in combination with scanning electron and atomic force microscopies. The textured BDD surface showed a dense and large surface area with no change in its structural characteristics. The effective surface area of the textured BDD electrode was approximately 50% largermore » than that of a planar substrate, while wetting tests showed that the irradiated area becomes highly hydrophilic. Lastly, our results indicate that LIPSS texturing of BDD is a straightforward and simple technique for enhancing the surface area and wettability properties of the BDD electrodes, which could enable higher current efficiency and lower energy consumption in the electrochemical oxidation of toxic organics.« less

Enhancement of surface area and wettability properties of boron doped diamond by femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structuring

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

Granados, Eduardo; Calderon, Miguel Martinez; Krzywinski, Jacek

We demonstrate the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) in boron-doped diamond (BDD) by irradiation with femtosecond near-IR laser pulses. The results show that the obtained LIPSS are perpendicular to the laser polarization, and the ripple periodicity is on the order of half of the irradiation wavelength. The surface structures and their electrochemical properties were characterized using Raman micro-spectroscopy, in combination with scanning electron and atomic force microscopies. The textured BDD surface showed a dense and large surface area with no change in its structural characteristics. The effective surface area of the textured BDD electrode was approximately 50% largermore » than that of a planar substrate, while wetting tests showed that the irradiated area becomes highly hydrophilic. Lastly, our results indicate that LIPSS texturing of BDD is a straightforward and simple technique for enhancing the surface area and wettability properties of the BDD electrodes, which could enable higher current efficiency and lower energy consumption in the electrochemical oxidation of toxic organics.« less

Nano-textured fluidic biochip as biological filter for selective survival of neuronal cells.

PubMed

Han, Hsieh-Cheng; Lo, Hung-Chun; Wu, Chia-Yu; Chen, Kuei-Hsien; Chen, Li-Chyong; Ou, Keng-Liang; Hosseinkhani, Hossein

2015-06-01

This is an innovative study to engineer biological filter to evaluate the effect of template surface structure and physiochemical properties that can be used for wide variety of applications in biological, health care as well as environmental protection. Specifically, planar silicon (Si) wafer and arrayed Si nano-tips (SiNT) templates were fabricated and coated with gold for various lengths of time to study the effect of surface charge, surface roughness, and hydrophilicity on biological activity of rat pheochromocytoma cell lines PC12. The initial growth and proliferation of PC12 cells on Si and SiNT templates showed an antipathy for the ultra-sharp SiNTs templates. In contrast, the same cells demonstrated a preferable adherence to and proliferation on planar Si templates, resulting in higher cell densities by three orders of magnitude than those on SiNT templates. It is hypothesized that SiNTs array does generate nano-fluidic effect such that the effective contact region for aqueous solution on SiNTs is lower than that on planar Si templates, thus decreasing adsorbable area for cell viability and survival. Moreover, the effect of the gold coating on cell number density was analyzed in terms of the surface roughness, zeta potential and wetting properties of the templates. It was determined that surface charge, as measured by the zeta potential, strongly correlated with the trend observed in the surface cell density, whereas no such correlation was observed for surface roughness or wetting properties in the ranges of our experiment conditions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Electrolytic Cell For Production Of Aluminum Employing Planar Anodes.

DOEpatents

Barnett, Robert J.; Mezner, Michael B.; Bradford, Donald R

2004-10-05

A method of producing aluminum in an electrolytic cell containing alumina dissolved in an electrolyte, the method comprising providing a molten salt electrolyte having alumina dissolved therein in an electrolytic cell. A plurality of anodes and cathodes having planar surfaces are disposed in a generally vertical orientation in the electrolyte, the anodes and cathodes arranged in alternating or interleaving relationship to provide anode planar surfaces disposed opposite cathode planar surfaces, the anode comprised of carbon. Electric current is passed through anodes and through the electrolyte to the cathodes depositing aluminum at the cathodes and forming carbon containing gas at the anodes.

Multiple Optical Traps with a Single-Beam Optical Tweezer Utilizing Surface Micromachined Planar Curved Grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuo, Ju-Nan; Chen, Kuan-Yu

2010-11-01

In this paper, we present a single-beam optical tweezer integrated with a planar curved diffraction grating for microbead manipulation. Various curvatures of the surface micromachined planar curved grating are systematically investigated. The planar curved grating was fabricated using multiuser micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) processes (MUMPs). The angular separation and the number of diffracted orders were determined. Experimental results indicate that the diffraction patterns and curvature of the planar curved grating are closely related. As the curvature of the planar curved grating increases, the vertical diffraction angle increases, resulting in the strip patterns of the planar curved grating. A single-beam optical tweezer integrated with a planar curved diffraction grating was developed. We demonstrate a technique for creating multiple optical traps from a single laser beam using the developed planar curved grating. The strip patterns of the planar curved grating that resulted from diffraction were used to trap one row of polystyrene beads.

Focusing corner cube

DOEpatents

Monjes, J.A.

1985-09-12

This invention retortreflects and focuses a beam of light. The invention comprises a modified corner cube reflector wherein one reflective surface is planar, a second reflective surface is spherical, and the third reflective surface may be planar or convex cylindrical.

Simulation, design and fabrication of a planar micro thermoelectric generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelegrini, S.; Adami, A.; Collini, C.; Conci, P.; Lorenzelli, L.; Pasa, A. A.

2013-05-01

This study describes the design, simulation, and micro fabrication of a micro thermoelectric generator (μTEG) based on planar technology using constantan (CuNi) and copper (Cu) thermocouples deposited electrochemically (ECD) on silicon substrate. The present thin film technology can be manufactured into large area and also on flexible substrate with low cost of production and can be used to exploit waste heat from equipments or hot surfaces in general. In the current implementation, the silicon structure has been designed and optimized with analytical models and FE simulations in order to exploit the different thermal conductivity of silicon and air gaps to produce the maximum temperature difference on a planar surface. The results showed that a temperature difference of 10K across the structure creates a temperature difference of 5.3K on the thermocouples, thus providing an efficiency of thermal distribution up to 55%, depending on the heat convection at the surface. Efficiency of module has been experimentally tested under different working condition, showing the dependence of module output on the external heat exchange (natural and forced convection). Maximum generated potential at 6m/s airflow is 5.7V/m2 K and thermoelectric efficiency is 1.9μW K-2 m-2.

Principal curvatures and area ratio of propagating surfaces in isotropic turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Tianhang; You, Jiaping; Yang, Yue

2017-10-01

We study the statistics of principal curvatures and the surface area ratio of propagating surfaces with a constant or nonconstant propagating velocity in isotropic turbulence using direct numerical simulation. Propagating surface elements initially constitute a plane to model a planar premixed flame front. When the statistics of evolving propagating surfaces reach the stationary stage, the statistical profiles of principal curvatures scaled by the Kolmogorov length scale versus the constant displacement speed scaled by the Kolmogorov velocity scale collapse at different Reynolds numbers. The magnitude of averaged principal curvatures and the number of surviving surface elements without cusp formation decrease with increasing displacement speed. In addition, the effect of surface stretch on the nonconstant displacement speed inhibits the cusp formation on surface elements at negative Markstein numbers. In order to characterize the wrinkling process of the global propagating surface, we develop a model to demonstrate that the increase of the surface area ratio is primarily due to positive Lagrangian time integrations of the area-weighted averaged tangential strain-rate term and propagation-curvature term. The difference between the negative averaged mean curvature and the positive area-weighted averaged mean curvature characterizes the cellular geometry of the global propagating surface.

Automated Coarse Registration of Point Clouds in 3d Urban Scenes Using Voxel Based Plane Constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Y.; Boerner, R.; Yao, W.; Hoegner, L.; Stilla, U.

2017-09-01

For obtaining a full coverage of 3D scans in a large-scale urban area, the registration between point clouds acquired via terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is normally mandatory. However, due to the complex urban environment, the automatic registration of different scans is still a challenging problem. In this work, we propose an automatic marker free method for fast and coarse registration between point clouds using the geometric constrains of planar patches under a voxel structure. Our proposed method consists of four major steps: the voxelization of the point cloud, the approximation of planar patches, the matching of corresponding patches, and the estimation of transformation parameters. In the voxelization step, the point cloud of each scan is organized with a 3D voxel structure, by which the entire point cloud is partitioned into small individual patches. In the following step, we represent points of each voxel with the approximated plane function, and select those patches resembling planar surfaces. Afterwards, for matching the corresponding patches, a RANSAC-based strategy is applied. Among all the planar patches of a scan, we randomly select a planar patches set of three planar surfaces, in order to build a coordinate frame via their normal vectors and their intersection points. The transformation parameters between scans are calculated from these two coordinate frames. The planar patches set with its transformation parameters owning the largest number of coplanar patches are identified as the optimal candidate set for estimating the correct transformation parameters. The experimental results using TLS datasets of different scenes reveal that our proposed method can be both effective and efficient for the coarse registration task. Especially, for the fast orientation between scans, our proposed method can achieve a registration error of less than around 2 degrees using the testing datasets, and much more efficient than the classical baseline methods.

Electric Motor Thermal Management Research: Annual Progress Report

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

Bennion, Kevin S.

Past work in the area of active convective cooling provided data on the average convective heat transfer coefficients of circular orifice automatic transmission fluid (ATF) jets impinging on stationary targets intended to represent the wire bundle surface of the motor end-winding. Work during FY16 focused on the impact of alternative jet geometries that could lead to improved cooling over a larger surface of the motor winding. Results show that the planar jet heat transfer coefficients over a small (12.7-mm-diameter) target surface are not too much lower than for the circular orifice jet in which all of the ATF from themore » jet impinges on the target surface. The planar jet has the potential to achieve higher heat transfer over a larger area of the motor end winding. A new test apparatus was constructed to measure the spatial dependence of the heat transfer relative to the jet nozzle over a larger area representative of a motor end-winding. The tested planar flow geometry has the potential to provide more uniform cooling over the full end-winding surface versus the conventional jet configuration. The data will be used by motor designers to develop thermal management strategies to improve motor power density. Work on passive thermal design in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to measure the thermal conductivity of wire bundle samples representative of end-winding and slot-winding materials was completed. Multiple measurement techniques were compared to determine which was most suitable for measuring composite wire bundle samples. NREL used a steady-state thermal resistance technique to measure the direction-dependent thermal conductivity. The work supported new interactions with industry to test new materials and reduce passive-stack thermal resistance in motors, leading to motors with increased power density. NREL collaborated with Ames Laboratory in the area of material characterization. The work focused on measuring the transverse rupture strength of new magnet materials developed at Ames. The impact of the improved transverse rupture strength is a mechanically stronger magnet that is easier for manufacturers to implement into motor designs. The thermal conductivity of the new magnet materials was also measured in comparison to two commercially available AlNiCo magnet materials. The impact of the thermal conductivity of the magnet material will need to be analyzed in the context of a motor application.« less

Ion-beam-induced planarization, densification, and exfoliation of low-density nanoporous silica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kucheyev, S. O.; Shin, S. J.

2017-09-01

Planarization of low-density nanoporous solids is challenging. Here, we demonstrate that ion bombardment to doses of ˜1015 cm-2 results in significant smoothing of silica aerogels, yielding mirror-like surfaces after metallization. The surface smoothing efficiency scales with the ion energy loss component leading to local lattice heating. Planarization is accompanied by sub-surface monolith densification, resulting in surface exfoliation with increasing ion dose. These findings have implications for the fabrication of graded-density nanofoams, aerogel-based lightweight optical components, and meso-origami.

Carbon Nanotube Tower-Based Supercapacitor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyyappan, Meyya (Inventor)

2012-01-01

A supercapacitor system, including (i) first and second, spaced apart planar collectors, (ii) first and second arrays of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) towers or single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) towers, serving as electrodes, that extend between the first and second collectors where the nanotube towers are grown directly on the collector surfaces without deposition of a catalyst and without deposition of a binder material on the collector surfaces, and (iii) a porous separator module having a transverse area that is substantially the same as the transverse area of at least one electrode, where (iv) at least one nanotube tower is functionalized to permit or encourage the tower to behave as a hydrophilic structure, with increased surface wettability.

Alignment of smectic mesogens over engineered surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandran, Achu; Joshi, Tilak; Khanna, P. K.; Mehta, Dalip. S.; Haranath, D.; Biradar, Ashok M.

2017-07-01

The alignment of smectic C* liquid crystals (LCs) has been manipulated over and near different surfaces such as bare glass, indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass, patterned glass, and near spacers. The LC sample cell is made of one ITO coated glass plate and other having striped ITO with a Mylar spacer maintaining a finite cell gap between them. Laser scribing is used to make striped ITO, while the scribed area results in the formation of the patterned glass surface. The geometry of the cell is such that overlapped ITO lie in the middle and spacers are placed in the two extreme corners of the cell. The alignment of LC is found to be homeotropic over the ITO coated glass, while it is planar near the spacer. Interestingly, a transition from homeotropic to planar is observed while moving away from the middle towards either corner of the cell. The origin of both types of alignment in the same cell has been explained by considering the difference in the surface energy of different surfaces. This work renders new advancement towards the manipulation of LC alignment using different surfaces and interfaces for advanced electro-optical and photonic devices based on LCs.

Gamma ray detector modules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Capote, M. Albert (Inventor); Lenos, Howard A. (Inventor)

2009-01-01

A radiation detector assembly has a semiconductor detector array substrate of CdZnTe or CdTe, having a plurality of detector cell pads on a first surface thereof, the pads having a contact metallization and a solder barrier metallization. An interposer card has planar dimensions no larger than planar dimensions of the semiconductor detector array substrate, a plurality of interconnect pads on a first surface thereof, at least one readout semiconductor chip and at least one connector on a second surface thereof, each having planar dimensions no larger than the planar dimensions of the interposer card. Solder columns extend from contacts on the interposer first surface to the plurality of pads on the semiconductor detector array substrate first surface, the solder columns having at least one solder having a melting point or liquidus less than 120 degrees C. An encapsulant is disposed between the interposer circuit card first surface and the semiconductor detector array substrate first surface, encapsulating the solder columns, the encapsulant curing at a temperature no greater than 120 degrees C.

Dynamical analysis of surface-insulated planar wire array Z-pinches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yang; Sheng, Liang; Hei, Dongwei; Li, Xingwen; Zhang, Jinhai; Li, Mo; Qiu, Aici

2018-05-01

The ablation and implosion dynamics of planar wire array Z-pinches with and without surface insulation are compared and discussed in this paper. This paper first presents a phenomenological model named the ablation and cascade snowplow implosion (ACSI) model, which accounts for the ablation and implosion phases of a planar wire array Z-pinch in a single simulation. The comparison between experimental data and simulation results shows that the ACSI model could give a fairly good description about the dynamical characteristics of planar wire array Z-pinches. Surface insulation introduces notable differences in the ablation phase of planar wire array Z-pinches. The ablation phase is divided into two stages: insulation layer ablation and tungsten wire ablation. The two-stage ablation process of insulated wires is simulated in the ACSI model by updating the formulas describing the ablation process.

Center for Advanced Sensors, Year One Funding (FY2005)

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-30

on a plane and located near a planar wall. The box is a tank-sized box and the wall can represent a building or a tree line, depending on what...antenna is needed to geometrically couple the large spot to the small detector. As in all focal plane arrays, surface area is required to route...area at the antennae plane . Current antenna implementations for focal plane arrays emphasize frequency independent and modifications of frequency

Partially segmented deformable mirror

DOEpatents

Bliss, E.S.; Smith, J.R.; Salmon, J.T.; Monjes, J.A.

1991-05-21

A partially segmented deformable mirror is formed with a mirror plate having a smooth and continuous front surface and a plurality of actuators to its back surface. The back surface is divided into triangular areas which are mutually separated by grooves. The grooves are deep enough to make the plate deformable and the actuators for displacing the mirror plate in the direction normal to its surface are inserted in the grooves at the vertices of the triangular areas. Each actuator includes a transducer supported by a receptacle with outer shells having outer surfaces. The vertices have inner walls which are approximately perpendicular to the mirror surface and make planar contacts with the outer surfaces of the outer shells. The adhesive which is used on these contact surfaces tends to contract when it dries but the outer shells can bend and serve to minimize the tendency of the mirror to warp. 5 figures.

Partially segmented deformable mirror

DOEpatents

Bliss, Erlan S.; Smith, James R.; Salmon, J. Thaddeus; Monjes, Julio A.

1991-01-01

A partially segmented deformable mirror is formed with a mirror plate having a smooth and continuous front surface and a plurality of actuators to its back surface. The back surface is divided into triangular areas which are mutually separated by grooves. The grooves are deep enough to make the plate deformable and the actuators for displacing the mirror plate in the direction normal to its surface are inserted in the grooves at the vertices of the triangular areas. Each actuator includes a transducer supported by a receptacle with outer shells having outer surfaces. The vertices have inner walls which are approximately perpendicular to the mirror surface and make planar contacts with the outer surfaces of the outer shells. The adhesive which is used on these contact surfaces tends to contract when it dries but the outer shells can bend and serve to minimize the tendency of the mirror to warp.

Tortuous path chemical preconcentrator

DOEpatents

Manginell, Ronald P.; Lewis, Patrick R.; Adkins, Douglas R.; Wheeler, David R.; Simonson, Robert J.

2010-09-21

A non-planar, tortuous path chemical preconcentrator has a high internal surface area having a heatable sorptive coating that can be used to selectively collect and concentrate one or more chemical species of interest from a fluid stream that can be rapidly released as a concentrated plug into an analytical or microanalytical chain for separation and detection. The non-planar chemical preconcentrator comprises a sorptive support structure having a tortuous flow path. The tortuosity provides repeated twists, turns, and bends to the flow, thereby increasing the interfacial contact between sample fluid stream and the sorptive material. The tortuous path also provides more opportunities for desorption and readsorption of volatile species. Further, the thermal efficiency of the tortuous path chemical preconcentrator is comparable or superior to the prior non-planar chemical preconcentrator. Finally, the tortuosity can be varied in different directions to optimize flow rates during the adsorption and desorption phases of operation of the preconcentrator.

Compact cladding-pumped planar waveguide amplifier and fabrication method

DOEpatents

Bayramian, Andy J.; Beach, Raymond J.; Honea, Eric; Murray, James E.; Payne, Stephen A.

2003-10-28

A low-cost, high performance cladding-pumped planar waveguide amplifier and fabrication method, for deployment in metro and access networks. The waveguide amplifier has a compact monolithic slab architecture preferably formed by first sandwich bonding an erbium-doped core glass slab between two cladding glass slabs to form a multi-layer planar construction, and then slicing the construction into multiple unit constructions. Using lithographic techniques, a silver stripe is deposited and formed at a top or bottom surface of each unit construction and over a cross section of the bonds. By heating the unit construction in an oven and applying an electric field, the silver stripe is then ion diffused to increase the refractive indices of the core and cladding regions, with the diffusion region of the core forming a single mode waveguide, and the silver diffusion cladding region forming a second larger waveguide amenable to cladding pumping with broad area diodes.

Study of curved and planar frequency-selective surfaces with nonplanar illumination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caroglanian, Armen; Webb, Kevin J.

1991-01-01

A locally planar technique (LPT) is investigated for determining the forward-scattered field from a generally shaped inductive frequency-selective surface (FSS) with nonplanar illumination. The results of an experimental study are presented to assess the LPT accuracy. The effects of a nonplanar incident field are determined by comparing the LPT numerical results with a series of experiments with the feed source placed at varying distances from the planar FSS. The limitations of the LPT model due to surface curvature are investigated in an experimental study of the scattered fields from a set of hyperbolic cylinders of different curvatures. From these comparisons, guidelines for applying the locally planar technique are developed.

Planar regions of GaAs (001) prepared by Ga droplet motion

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

Zheng, Changxi, E-mail: changxi.zheng@monash.edu; Tang, Wen-Xin; Jesson, David E., E-mail: jessonDE@cardiff.ac.uk

2016-07-15

The authors describe a simple method for obtaining planar regions of GaAs (001) suitable for surface science studies. The technique, which requires no buffer layer growth, atomic hydrogen source, or the introduction of As flux, employs controllable Ga droplet motion to create planar trail regions during Langmuir evaporation. Low-energy electron microscopy/diffraction techniques are applied to monitor the droplet motion and characterize the morphology and the surface reconstruction. It is found that the planar regions exhibit atomic flatness at the level of a high-quality buffer layer.

Multi-projector auto-calibration and placement optimization for non-planar surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dong; Xie, Jinghui; Zhao, Lu; Zhou, Lijing; Weng, Dongdong

2015-10-01

Non-planar projection has been widely applied in virtual reality and digital entertainment and exhibitions because of its flexible layout and immersive display effects. Compared with planar projection, a non-planar projection is more difficult to achieve because projector calibration and image distortion correction are difficult processes. This paper uses a cylindrical screen as an example to present a new method for automatically calibrating a multi-projector system in a non-planar environment without using 3D reconstruction. This method corrects the geometric calibration error caused by the screen's manufactured imperfections, such as an undulating surface or a slant in the vertical plane. In addition, based on actual projection demand, this paper presents the overall performance evaluation criteria for the multi-projector system. According to these criteria, we determined the optimal placement for the projectors. This method also extends to surfaces that can be parameterized, such as spheres, ellipsoids, and paraboloids, and demonstrates a broad applicability.

Measuring distance “as the horse runs”: Cross-scale comparison of terrain-based metrics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Ghandehari, M; Leyk, S; Stanislawski, Larry V.; Brantley, M E; Qiang, Yi

2016-01-01

Distance metrics play significant roles in spatial modeling tasks, such as flood inundation (Tucker and Hancock 2010), stream extraction (Stanislawski et al. 2015), power line routing (Kiessling et al. 2003) and analysis of surface pollutants such as nitrogen (Harms et al. 2009). Avalanche risk is based on slope, aspect, and curvature, all directly computed from distance metrics (Gutiérrez 2012). Distance metrics anchor variogram analysis, kernel estimation, and spatial interpolation (Cressie 1993). Several approaches are employed to measure distance. Planar metrics measure straight line distance between two points (“as the crow flies”) and are simple and intuitive, but suffer from uncertainties. Planar metrics assume that Digital Elevation Model (DEM) pixels are rigid and flat, as tiny facets of ceramic tile approximating a continuous terrain surface. In truth, terrain can bend, twist and undulate within each pixel.Work with Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) data or High Resolution Topography to achieve precise measurements present challenges, as filtering can eliminate or distort significant features (Passalacqua et al. 2015). The current availability of lidar data is far from comprehensive in developed nations, and non-existent in many rural and undeveloped regions. Notwithstanding computational advances, distance estimation on DEMs has never been systematically assessed, due to assumptions that improvements are so small that surface adjustment is unwarranted. For individual pixels inaccuracies may be small, but additive effects can propagate dramatically, especially in regional models (e.g., disaster evacuation) or global models (e.g., sea level rise) where pixels span dozens to hundreds of kilometers (Usery et al 2003). Such models are increasingly common, lending compelling reasons to understand shortcomings in the use of planar distance metrics. Researchers have studied curvature-based terrain modeling. Jenny et al. (2011) use curvature to generate hierarchical terrain models. Schneider (2001) creates a ‘plausibility’ metric for DEM-extracted structure lines. d’Oleire- Oltmanns et al. (2014) adopt object-based image processing as an alternative to working with DEMs; acknowledging the pre-processing involved in converting terrain into an object model is computationally intensive, and likely infeasible for some applications.This paper compares planar distance with surface adjusted distance, evolving from distance “as the crow flies” to distance “as the horse runs”. Several methods are compared for DEMs spanning a range of resolutions for the study area and validated against a 3 meter (m) lidar data benchmark. Error magnitudes vary with pixel size and with the method of surface adjustment. The rate of error increase may also vary with landscape type (terrain roughness, precipitation regimes and land settlement patterns). Cross-scale analysis for a single study area is reported here. Additional areas will be presented at the conference.

Support assembly having three dimension position adjustment capabilities

DOEpatents

Cutburth, Ronald W.; House, F. Allen

1987-01-01

An assembly for supporting an apparatus such as a microscope or laser to and against a planar surface is disclosed herein. This apparatus includes three specific arrangements for adjusting the positions of three segments of the apparatus so as to adjust the position of the overall apparatus with respect to the planar surface in the x-, y-and z-directions, where the x-direction and the y-direction are both parallel with the planar surface and perpendicular to one another and where the z-direction is perpendicular to the planar surface and the x-and y-directions. Each of two of the three arrangements includes its own means for providing x-, y- and z-adjustments (which includes rotation in the x, y plane) while it is only necessary for the third arrangement to provide adjustments in the z-direction.

An Optoelectronics Research Center

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-08

compared with a -2 mm wide slab, -200 nrn thick silicon (SOl) top-only-gate planar MOSFET with otherwise similar doping profiles, gate length and...acoustic phonons, impurity doping profile and surface roughness influences the transport process in the channel regions. The electron mobility in the...application areas including: nanoscale epitaxial growth for semiconductor heterostructures; nanofluidics for biological separations; nanomagnetics for

A comparison of five sampling techniques to estimate surface fuel loading in montane forests

Treesearch

Pamela G. Sikkink; Robert E. Keane

2008-01-01

Designing a fuel-sampling program that accurately and efficiently assesses fuel load at relevant spatial scales requires knowledge of each sample method's strengths and weaknesses.We obtained loading values for six fuel components using five fuel load sampling techniques at five locations in western Montana, USA. The techniques included fixed-area plots, planar...

Nanohelices from planar polymer self-assembled in carbon nanotubes

PubMed Central

Fu, Hongjin; Xu, Shuqiong; Li, Yunfang

2016-01-01

The polymer possessing with planar structure can be activated and guided to encapsulate the inner space of SWNT and form a helix through van der Waals interaction and the π-π stacking effect between the polymer and the inner surface of SWNT. The SWNT size, the nanostructure and flexibility of polymer chain are all determine the final structures. The basic interaction between the polymer and the nanotubes is investigated, and the condition and mechanism of the helix-forming are explained particularly. Hybrid polymers improve the ability of the helix formation. This study provides scientific basis for fabricating helical polymers encapsulated in SWNTs and eventually on their applications in various areas. PMID:27440493

An incremental double-layer capacitance of a planar nano gap and its application in cardiac-troponin T detection.

PubMed

Hsueh, Hsiao-Ting; Lin, Chih-Ting

2016-05-15

Surface potential is one of the most important properties at solid-liquid interfaces. It can be modulated by the voltage applied on the electrode or by the surface properties. Hence, surface potential is a good indicator for surface modifications, such as biomolecular bindings. In this work, we proposed a planar nano-gap structure for surface-potential difference monitoring. Based on the proposed architecture, the variance of surface-potential difference can be determined by electrical double layer capacitance (EDLC) between the nano-gap electrodes. Using cyclic voltammetry method, in this work, we demonstrated a relationship between surface potential and EDLC by chemically modifying surface properties. Finally, we also showed the proposed planar nano-gap device provides the capability for cardiac-troponin T (cTnT) measurements with co-existed 10 µg/ml BSA interference. The detection dynamic range is from 100 pg/ml to 1 µg/ml. Based on experimental results and extrapolation, the detection limit is less than 100 pg/ml in diluted PBS buffer (0.01X PBS). These results demonstrated the planar nano-gap architecture having potentials on biomolecular detection through monitoring of surface-potential variation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Triple bar, high efficiency mechanical sealer

DOEpatents

Pak, Donald J.; Hawkins, Samantha A.; Young, John E.

2013-03-19

A clamp with a bottom clamp bar that has a planar upper surface is provided. The clamp may also include a top clamp bar connected to the bottom clamp bar, and a pressure distribution bar between the top clamp bar and the bottom clamp bar. The pressure distribution bar may have a planar lower surface in facing relation to the upper surface of the bottom clamp bar. An object is capable of being disposed in a clamping region between the upper surface and the lower surface. The width of the planar lower surface may be less than the width of the upper surface within the clamping region. Also, the pressure distribution bar may be capable of being urged away from the top clamp bar and towards the bottom clamp bar.

Dolomitization and neomorphism of Mississippian (Visean) upper debolt formation, Blueberry field, northeastern British Columbia: Geologic, petrologic, and chemical evidence

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

Durocher, S.; Al-Aasm, I.S.

1997-06-01

Petrographic, chemical, and isotopic studies of the Mississippian (Visean) upper Debolt Formation in the Blueberry field, British Columbia, Canada, reveal that dolomitization was the result of several diagenetic events and that neomorphic alteration of these dolomites significantly modified their original chemical signatures. These studies also demonstrate how tectonics play an important role in controlling and modifying reservoir dolomites in the area. Petrographic investigations have documented two early dolomite phases, (1) early matrix dolomite and (2) pervasive dolomite, and two later generations, (3) coarse cement and (4) pseudomorphic replacement of crinoids. Early matrix dolomite occurs as small (average 25 {mu}m) subhedralmore » to euhedral crystals that replace the matrix of carbonate mudstones, wackestones, and packstones. Petrographic evidence suggests that early matrix dolomite had a relatively early, precompaction origin, possibly from marine fluids. However, geochemical evidence indicates that later fluids have altered their original geochemical signatures. Pervasive dolomite, which forms the reservoir intercrystalline porosity, occurs with planar-s and planar-e textures. Planar-s crystals typically have a dirty appearance and exhibit homogeneous dull brown/red cathodoluminescence colors. Planar-e crystals may appear with a cloudy core and a clear rim, and under cathodoluminescence display an irregular dull brown/red core and a thin, bright red rim. Due to the spatial distribution pattern of pervasive dolomite with respect to the overlying unconformity surface, its paleogeographic distribution and close temporal relationship with meteoric diagenetic events, pervasive dolomite formed from a mixture of seawater and meteoric fluids. However, alteration of their primary chemistry by later fluids is indicated by their depleted {delta}{sup 18}O values and radiogenic {sup 87}Sr/{sup 86}Sr ratios.« less

Dynamics of collision of a vortex ring and a planar surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McErlean, Michael; Krane, Michael; Fontaine, Arnold

2008-11-01

The dynamics of the impact between a vortex ring and a planar surface is presented. The vortex rings, generated by piston injection of a slug of water into a quiescent water tank, collide with a surface oriented normally to the ring's direction of travel. The time evolution of both the force imparted to a planar surface and the wall pressure are presented. These are supplemented by DPIV measurements of the evolution of ring strength and structure, before and during impact. The relation between changes in ring structure during collision and the waveforms of impact force and wall pressure will be discussed.

A high figure of merit localized surface plasmon sensor based on a gold nanograting on the top of a gold planar film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zu-Yin; Wang, Li-Na; Hu, Hai-Feng; Li, Kang-Wen; Ma, Xun-Peng; Song, Guo-Feng

2013-10-01

We investigate the sensitivity and figure of merit (FOM) of a localized surface plasmon (LSP) sensor with gold nanograting on the top of planar metallic film. The sensitivity of the localized surface plasmon sensor is 317 nm/RIU, and the FOM is predicted to be above 8, which is very high for a localized surface plasmon sensor. By employing the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method, we analyze the distribution of the magnetic field and find that the sensing property of our proposed system is attributed to the interactions between the localized surface plasmon around the gold nanostrips and the surface plasmon polarition on the surface of the gold planar metallic film. These findings are important for developing high FOM localized surface plasmon sensors.

Optical fiber head for providing lateral viewing

DOEpatents

Everett, Matthew J.; Colston, Billy W.; James, Dale L.; Brown, Steve; Da Silva, Luiz

2002-01-01

The head of an optical fiber comprising the sensing probe of an optical heterodyne sensing device includes a planar surface that intersects the perpendicular to axial centerline of the fiber at a polishing angle .theta.. The planar surface is coated with a reflective material so that light traveling axially through the fiber is reflected transverse to the fiber's axial centerline, and is emitted laterally through the side of the fiber. Alternatively, the planar surface can be left uncoated. The polishing angle .theta. must be no greater than 39.degree. or must be at least 51.degree.. The emitted light is reflected from adjacent biological tissue, collected by the head, and then processed to provide real-time images of the tissue. The method for forming the planar surface includes shearing the end of the optical fiber and applying the reflective material before removing the buffer that circumscribes the cladding and the core.

High Surface Area Dendrite Nanoelectrodes for Electrochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesbitt, Nathan; Glover, Jennifer; Goyal, Saurabh; Simidjiysky, Svetoslav; Naughton, Michael

2014-03-01

Solution-based electrodeposition of metal using a low ion concentration, surface passivation agents, and/or electrochemical crystal conditioning has allowed for the formation of high surface area metal electrodes, useful for Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical sensors. Additionally, high frequency electrical oscillations have been used to electrically connect co-planar electrodes, a process called directed electrochemical nanowire assembly (DENA). These approaches aim to control the crystal face that metal atoms in solution will nucleate onto, thus causing anisotropic growth of metal crystals. However, DENA has not been used to create high surface area electrodes, and no study has been conducted on the effect of micron-scale surface topography on the initial nucleation of metal crystals on the electrode surface. When DENA is used to create a high surface area electrode, such a texture has a strong impact on the subsequent topography of the three dimensional dendritic structures by limiting the areal density of crystals on the electrode surface. Such structures both demonstrate unique physics concerning the nucleation of metal dendrites, and offer a unique and highly facile fabrication method of high surface area electrodes, useful for chemical and biological sensing. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. (DGE-1258923).

Well-Defined Nanostructured, Single-Crystalline TiO2 Electron Transport Layer for Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Choi, Jongmin; Song, Seulki; Hörantner, Maximilian T; Snaith, Henry J; Park, Taiho

2016-06-28

An electron transporting layer (ETL) plays an important role in extracting electrons from a perovskite layer and blocking recombination between electrons in the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and holes in the perovskite layers, especially in planar perovskite solar cells. Dense TiO2 ETLs prepared by a solution-processed spin-coating method (S-TiO2) are mainly used in devices due to their ease of fabrication. Herein, we found that fatal morphological defects at the S-TiO2 interface due to a rough FTO surface, including an irregular film thickness, discontinuous areas, and poor physical contact between the S-TiO2 and the FTO layers, were inevitable and lowered the charge transport properties through the planar perovskite solar cells. The effects of the morphological defects were mitigated in this work using a TiO2 ETL produced from sputtering and anodization. This method produced a well-defined nanostructured TiO2 ETL with an excellent transmittance, single-crystalline properties, a uniform film thickness, a large effective area, and defect-free physical contact with a rough substrate that provided outstanding electron extraction and hole blocking in a planar perovskite solar cell. In planar perovskite devices, anodized TiO2 ETL (A-TiO2) increased the power conversion efficiency by 22% (from 12.5 to 15.2%), and the stabilized maximum power output efficiency increased by 44% (from 8.9 to 12.8%) compared with S-TiO2. This work highlights the importance of the ETL geometry for maximizing device performance and provides insights into achieving ideal ETL morphologies that remedy the drawbacks observed in conventional spin-coated ETLs.

Dimpled/grooved face on a fuel injection nozzle body for flame stabilization and related method

DOEpatents

Uhm, Jong Ho; Johnson, Thomas Edward; Kim, Kwanwoo; Zuo, Baifang

2013-08-20

A fuel injection head for a fuel nozzle used in a gas turbine combustor includes a substantially hollow body formed with an upstream end face, a downstream end face and a peripheral wall extending therebetween. A plurality of pre-mix tubes or passages extend axially through the hollow body with inlets at the upstream end face and outlets at the downstream end face. An exterior surface of the downstream end face is formed with three-dimensional surface features that increase a total surface area of the exterior surface as compared to a substantially flat, planar downstream end face.

Low-resistance gateless high electron mobility transistors using three-dimensional inverted pyramidal AlGaN/GaN surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

So, Hongyun; Senesky, Debbie G.

2016-01-01

In this letter, three-dimensional gateless AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were demonstrated with 54% reduction in electrical resistance and 73% increase in surface area compared with conventional gateless HEMTs on planar substrates. Inverted pyramidal AlGaN/GaN surfaces were microfabricated using potassium hydroxide etched silicon with exposed (111) surfaces and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition of coherent AlGaN/GaN thin films. In addition, electrical characterization of the devices showed that a combination of series and parallel connections of the highly conductive two-dimensional electron gas along the pyramidal geometry resulted in a significant reduction in electrical resistance at both room and high temperatures (up to 300 °C). This three-dimensional HEMT architecture can be leveraged to realize low-power and reliable power electronics, as well as harsh environment sensors with increased surface area.

Asymmetries in surface waves and reflection/transmission characteristics associated with topological insulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mackay, Tom G.; Chiadini, Francesco; Fiumara, Vincenzo; Scaglione, Antonio; Lakhtakia, Akhlesh

2017-08-01

Three numerical studies were undertaken involving the interactions of plane waves with topological insulators. In each study, the topologically insulating surface states of the topological insulator were represented through a surface admittance. Canonical boundary-value problems were solved for the following cases: (i) Dyakonov surface-wave propagation guided by the planar interface of a columnar thin film and an isotropic dielectric topological insulator; (ii) Dyakonov-Tamm surface-wave propagation guided by the planar interface of a structurally chiral material and an isotropic dielectric topological insulator; and (iii) reflection and transmission due to the planar interface of a topologically insulating columnar thin film and vacuum. The nonzero surface admittance resulted in asymmetries in the wave speeds and decay constants of the surface waves in studies (i) and (ii). The nonzero surface admittance resulted in asymmetries in the reflectances and transmittances in study (iii).

Locally Resolved Electron Emission Area and Unified View of Field Emission from Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films

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

Chubenko, Oksana; Baturin, Stanislav S.; Kovi, Kiran K.

One of the common problems in case of field emission from polycrystalline diamond films, which typically have uniform surface morphology, is uncertainty in determining exact location of electron emission sites across the surface. Although several studies have suggested that grain boundaries are the main electron emission source, it is not particularly clear what makes some sites emit more than the others. It is also practically unclear how one could quantify the actual electron emission area and therefore field emission current per unit area. In this paper we study the effect of actual, locally resolved, field emission (FE) area on electronmore » emission characteristics of uniform planar highly conductive nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond ((N)UNCD) field emitters. It was routinely found that field emission from as-grown planar (N)UNCD films is always confined to a counted number of discrete emitting centers across the surface which varied in size and electron emissivity. It was established that the actual FE area critically depends on the applied electric field, as well as that the actual FE area and the overall electron emissivity improve with sp2 fraction present in the film irrespectively of the original substrate roughness and morphology. To quantify the actual FE area and its dependence on the applied electric field, imaging experiments were carried out in a vacuum system in a parallel-plate configuration with a specialty anode phosphor screen. Electron emission micrographs were taken concurrently with I-V characteristics measurements. In addition, a novel automated image processing algorithm was developed to process extensive imaging datasets and calculate emission area per image. By doing so, it was determined that the emitting area was always significantly smaller than the FE cathode surface area. Namely, the actual FE area would change from 5×10-3 % to 1.5 % of the total cathode area with the applied electric field increased. Finally and most importantly, it was shown that when I-E curves as measured in the experiment were normalized by the field-dependent emission area, the resulting j-E curves demonstrated a strong kink and significant deviation from Fowler-Nordheim (FN) law, and eventually saturated at a current density of ~100 mA/cm2 . This value was nearly identical for all (N)UNCD films measured in this study, regardless of the substrate.« less

Achromatic illumination system for small targets

DOEpatents

Sigler, Robert D.

1979-01-01

A pair of light beams is directed to provide illumination that is substantially uniform from all directions on a small target by a system comprising a pair of corrector windows, a pair of planar reflecting surfaces, a pair of paraboloidal mirrors and a reflecting mirror cavity. The components are arranged so that each of the beams passes through a corrector and is reflected from the planar surface to the paraboloidal mirror, from which it is focused through a hole in the planar surface to the interior of the cavity. The surface of the interior portion of the cavity is shaped to reflect the focused beam three times before the focused reflected beam strikes the target.

Radiative flux from a planar multiple point source within a cylindrical enclosure reaching a coaxial circular plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tryka, Stanislaw

2007-04-01

A general formula and some special integral formulas were presented for calculating radiative fluxes incident on a circular plane from a planar multiple point source within a coaxial cylindrical enclosure perpendicular to the source. These formula were obtained for radiation propagating in a homogeneous isotropic medium assuming that the lateral surface of the enclosure completely absorbs the incident radiation. Exemplary results were computed numerically and illustrated with three-dimensional surface plots. The formulas presented are suitable for determining fluxes of radiation reaching planar circular detectors, collectors or other planar circular elements from systems of laser diodes, light emitting diodes and fiber lamps within cylindrical enclosures, as well as small biological emitters (bacteria, fungi, yeast, etc.) distributed on planar bases of open nontransparent cylindrical containers.

Effects of planar and non-planar driver-side mirrors on age-related discomfort-glare responses

PubMed Central

Lockhart, Thurmon E.; Atsumi, Bunji; Ghosh, Arka; Mekaroonreung, Haruetai; Spaulding, Jeremy

2010-01-01

In this study, we evaluated subjective nighttime discomfort-glare responses on three different types of planar and non-planar driver-side mirrors on two age groups. Fifty-six individuals (28 young [18–35 years] and 28 old [65 years and over]) participated in this experiment. Subjective discomfort-glare rating scores on three different types of driver-side mirrors were assessed utilizing De Boer's rating scale in a controlled nighttime driving environment (laboratory ambient illuminant level—l lux with headlight turned off). Three driver-side mirrors included planar “flat mirror”: radius of curvature 242650.92 mm, reflectivity 0.60114, and surface reflectance 0.60568; “curved mirror”: radius of curvature 1433.3 mm, reflectivity 0.21652, and surface reflectance 0.58092; “blue mirror”: radius of curvature 1957.1 mm, reflectivity 0.25356, and surface reflectance 0.54585. The results indicated that with the same glare level (as measured by angle of incidence and illuminance in front of the eyes), older adults reported worse feelings of glare than their younger counterparts. Furthermore, the results indicated that both young and older adults reported worse feelings of glare for planar driver-side mirror than non-planar driver-side mirrors. These results suggest that older adults' criterion of discomfort-glare is more sensitive than their younger counterparts, and importantly, the non-planar driver-side mirrors can be beneficial in terms of reducing nighttime discomfort-glare for both the young and the elderly. PMID:20582252

Superwetting and aptamer functionalized shrink-induced high surface area electrochemical sensors.

PubMed

Hauke, A; Kumar, L S Selva; Kim, M Y; Pegan, J; Khine, M; Li, H; Plaxco, K W; Heikenfeld, J

2017-08-15

Electrochemical sensing is moving to the forefront of point-of-care and wearable molecular sensing technologies due to the ability to miniaturize the required equipment, a critical advantage over optical methods in this field. Electrochemical sensors that employ roughness to increase their microscopic surface area offer a strategy to combatting the loss in signal associated with the loss of macroscopic surface area upon miniaturization. A simple, low-cost method of creating such roughness has emerged with the development of shrink-induced high surface area electrodes. Building on this approach, we demonstrate here a greater than 12-fold enhancement in electrochemically active surface area over conventional electrodes of equivalent on-chip footprint areas. This two-fold improvement on previous performance is obtained via the creation of a superwetting surface condition facilitated by a dissolvable polymer coating. As a test bed to illustrate the utility of this approach, we further show that electrochemical aptamer-based sensors exhibit exceptional signal strength (signal-to-noise) and excellent signal gain (relative change in signal upon target binding) when deployed on these shrink electrodes. Indeed, the observed 330% gain we observe for a kanamycin sensor is 2-fold greater than that seen on planar gold electrodes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Acoustic propagation operators for pressure waves on an arbitrarily curved surface in a homogeneous medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yimin; Verschuur, Eric; van Borselen, Roald

2018-03-01

The Rayleigh integral solution of the acoustic Helmholtz equation in a homogeneous medium can only be applied when the integral surface is a planar surface, while in reality almost all surfaces where pressure waves are measured exhibit some curvature. In this paper we derive a theoretically rigorous way of building propagation operators for pressure waves on an arbitrarily curved surface. Our theory is still based upon the Rayleigh integral, but it resorts to matrix inversion to overcome the limitations faced by the Rayleigh integral. Three examples are used to demonstrate the correctness of our theory - propagation of pressure waves acquired on an arbitrarily curved surface to a planar surface, on an arbitrarily curved surface to another arbitrarily curved surface, and on a spherical cap to a planar surface, and results agree well with the analytical solutions. The generalization of our method for particle velocities and the calculation cost of our method are also discussed.

An energy-based equilibrium contact angle boundary condition on jagged surfaces for phase-field methods.

PubMed

Frank, Florian; Liu, Chen; Scanziani, Alessio; Alpak, Faruk O; Riviere, Beatrice

2018-08-01

We consider an energy-based boundary condition to impose an equilibrium wetting angle for the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes phase-field model on voxel-set-type computational domains. These domains typically stem from μCT (micro computed tomography) imaging of porous rock and approximate a (on μm scale) smooth domain with a certain resolution. Planar surfaces that are perpendicular to the main axes are naturally approximated by a layer of voxels. However, planar surfaces in any other directions and curved surfaces yield a jagged/topologically rough surface approximation by voxels. For the standard Cahn-Hilliard formulation, where the contact angle between the diffuse interface and the domain boundary (fluid-solid interface/wall) is 90°, jagged surfaces have no impact on the contact angle. However, a prescribed contact angle smaller or larger than 90° on jagged voxel surfaces is amplified. As a remedy, we propose the introduction of surface energy correction factors for each fluid-solid voxel face that counterbalance the difference of the voxel-set surface area with the underlying smooth one. The discretization of the model equations is performed with the discontinuous Galerkin method. However, the presented semi-analytical approach of correcting the surface energy is equally applicable to other direct numerical methods such as finite elements, finite volumes, or finite differences, since the correction factors appear in the strong formulation of the model. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Positioning of the sensor cell on the sensing area using cell trapping pattern in incubation type planar patch clamp biosensor.

PubMed

Wang, Zhi-Hong; Takada, Noriko; Uno, Hidetaka; Ishizuka, Toru; Yawo, Hiromu; Urisu, Tsuneo

2012-08-01

Positioning the sensor cell on the micropore of the sensor chip and keeping it there during incubation are problematic tasks for incubation type planar patch clamp biosensors. To solve these problems, we formed on the Si sensor chip's surface a cell trapping pattern consisting of a lattice pattern with a round area 5 μm deep and with the micropore at the center of the round area. The surface of the sensor chip was coated with extra cellular matrix collagen IV, and HEK293 cells on which a chimera molecule of channel-rhodopsin-wide-receiver (ChR-WR) was expressed, were then seeded. We examined the effects of this cell trapping pattern on the biosensor's operation. In the case of a flat sensor chip without a cell trapping pattern, it took several days before the sensor cell covered the micropore and formed an almost confluent state. As a result, multi-cell layers easily formed and made channel current measurements impossible. On the other hand, the sensor chip with cell trapping pattern easily trapped cells in the round area, and formed the colony consisted of the cell monolayer covering the micropore. A laser (473 nm wavelength) induced channel current was observed from the whole cell arrangement formed using the nystatin perforation technique. The observed channel current characteristics matched measurements made by using a pipette patch clamp. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Radiative heat transfer exceeding the blackbody limit between macroscale planar surfaces separated by a nanosize vacuum gap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardi, Michael P.; Milovich, Daniel; Francoeur, Mathieu

2016-09-01

Using Rytov's fluctuational electrodynamics framework, Polder and Van Hove predicted that radiative heat transfer between planar surfaces separated by a vacuum gap smaller than the thermal wavelength exceeds the blackbody limit due to tunnelling of evanescent modes. This finding has led to the conceptualization of systems capitalizing on evanescent modes such as thermophotovoltaic converters and thermal rectifiers. Their development is, however, limited by the lack of devices enabling radiative transfer between macroscale planar surfaces separated by a nanosize vacuum gap. Here we measure radiative heat transfer for large temperature differences (~120 K) using a custom-fabricated device in which the gap separating two 5 × 5 mm2 intrinsic silicon planar surfaces is modulated from 3,500 to 150 nm. A substantial enhancement over the blackbody limit by a factor of 8.4 is reported for a 150-nm-thick gap. Our device paves the way for the establishment of novel evanescent wave-based systems.

Wavefront Engineering with Phase Discontinuities: Designer Interfaces for High Performance Planar Optical Components

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-27

ABSTRACT The PI and his group opened up new directions of research: the generation of vector beams with metasurfaces that control amplitude, phase...and polarization of wavefronts, the detection of wavefronts using metasurfaces , new metasurfaces for controlling surface plasmon wavefronts and high...performance device applications of metasurfaces on graphene. In the vector beam area they generated radially polarized light with a single

Synthesis and characterization of amorphous yttrium oxide layers by metal organic chemical solution deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martynova, I.; Tsymbarenko, D.; Kamenev, A.; Kuzmina, N.; Kaul, A.

2014-02-01

The Solution Deposition Planarization method was successfully used for smoothing Ni-alloy tapes with initial surface roughness of 26.7 nm (on 40×40 μm2 area) and 12.6 nm (on 5×5 μm2 area). New precursor solutions were prepared from yttrium acetate and diethylenetriamine or ethylenediamine in MeOH and i-PrOH-alcohols with different viscosities. Using those solutions yttria films with the residual roughness Sa=0.4 nm (on 5×5 μm2 area) and Sa=7.6 nm (on 40×40 μm2 area) were deposited on the Ni-alloy tapes.

Geometrically induced surface polaritons in planar nanostructured metallic cavities

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

Davids, P. S.; Intravia, F; Dalvit, Diego A.

2014-01-14

We examine the modal structure and dispersion of periodically nanostructured planar metallic cavities within the scattering matrix formulation. By nanostructuring a metallic grating in a planar cavity, artificial surface excitations or spoof plasmon modes are induced with dispersion determined by the periodicity and geometric characteristics of the grating. These spoof surface plasmon modes are shown to give rise to new cavity polaritonic modes at short mirror separations that modify the density of modes in nanostructured cavities. The increased modal density of states form cavity polarirons have a large impact on the fluctuation induced electromagnetic forces and enhanced hear transfer atmore » short separations.« less

Precision Measurement of Phonon-Polaritonic Near-Field Energy Transfer between Macroscale Planar Structures Under Large Thermal Gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghashami, Mohammad; Geng, Hongyao; Kim, Taehoon; Iacopino, Nicholas; Cho, Sung Kwon; Park, Keunhan

2018-04-01

Despite its strong potentials in emerging energy applications, near-field thermal radiation between large planar structures has not been fully explored in experiments. Particularly, it is extremely challenging to control a subwavelength gap distance with good parallelism under large thermal gradients. This article reports the precision measurement of near-field radiative energy transfer between two macroscale single-crystalline quartz plates that support surface phonon polaritons. Our measurement scheme allows the precise control of a gap distance down to 200 nm in a highly reproducible manner for a surface area of 5 × 5 mm2 . We have measured near-field thermal radiation as a function of the gap distance for a broad range of thermal gradients up to ˜156 K , observing more than 40 times enhancement of thermal radiation compared to the blackbody limit. By comparing with theoretical prediction based on fluctuational electrodynamics, we demonstrate that such remarkable enhancement is owing to phonon-polaritonic energy transfer across a nanoscale vacuum gap.

Fabrication of hollow boron-doped diamond nanostructure via electrochemical corrosion of a tungsten oxide template.

PubMed

Lim, Young-Kyun; Lee, Eung-Seok; Lee, Choong-Hyun; Lim, Dae-Soon

2018-08-10

In the study, a hollow boron-doped diamond (BDD) nanostructure electrode is fabricated to increase the reactive surface area for electrochemical applications. Tungsten oxide nanorods are deposited on the silicon substrate as a template by the hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method. The template is coated with a 100 nm BDD layer deposited by HFCVD to form a core-shell nanostructure. The WO x core is finally electrochemically dissolved to form hollow BDD nanostructure. The fabricated hollow BDD nanostructure electrode is investigated via scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The specific surface areas of the electrodes were analyzed and compared by using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. Furthermore, cyclic voltammetry and chronocoulometry are used to investigate the electrochemical characteristics and the reactive surface area of the as-prepared hollow BDD nanostructure electrode. A hollow BDD nanostructure electrode exhibits a reactive area that is 15 times that of a planar BDD thin electrode.

Light extraction in planar light-emitting diode with nonuniform current injection: model and simulation.

PubMed

Khmyrova, Irina; Watanabe, Norikazu; Kholopova, Julia; Kovalchuk, Anatoly; Shapoval, Sergei

2014-07-20

We develop an analytical and numerical model for performing simulation of light extraction through the planar output interface of the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with nonuniform current injection. Spatial nonuniformity of injected current is a peculiar feature of the LEDs in which top metal electrode is patterned as a mesh in order to enhance the output power of light extracted through the top surface. Basic features of the model are the bi-plane computation domain, related to other areas of numerical grid (NG) cells in these two planes, representation of light-generating layer by an ensemble of point light sources, numerical "collection" of light photons from the area limited by acceptance circle and adjustment of NG-cell areas in the computation procedure by the angle-tuned aperture function. The developed model and procedure are used to simulate spatial distributions of the output optical power as well as the total output power at different mesh pitches. The proposed model and simulation strategy can be very efficient in evaluation of the output optical performance of LEDs with periodical or symmetrical configuration of the electrodes.

Enhanced and tunable electric dipole-dipole interactions near a planar metal film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Lei-Ming; Yao, Pei-Jun; Zhao, Nan; Sun, Fang-Wen

2017-08-01

We investigate the enhanced electric dipole-dipole interaction of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) supported by a planar metal film waveguide. By taking two nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center electric dipoles in diamond as an example, both the coupling strength and collective relaxation of two dipoles are studied with the numerical Green Function method. Compared to two-dipole coupling on a planar surface, metal film provides stronger and tunable coupling coefficients. Enhancement of the interaction between coupled NV center dipoles could have applications in both quantum information and energy transfer investigation. Our investigation provides systematic results for experimental applications based on a dipole-dipole interaction mediated with SPPs on a planar metal film.

Summing Feynman graphs by Monte Carlo: Planar ϕ3-theory and dynamically triangulated random surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boulatov, D. V.; Kazakov, V. A.

1988-12-01

New combinatorial identities are suggested relating the ratio of (n - 1)th and nth orders of (planar) perturbation expansion for any quantity to some average over the ensemble of all planar graphs of the nth order. These identities are used for Monte Carlo calculation of critical exponents γstr (string susceptibility) in planar ϕ3-theory and in the dynamically triangulated random surface (DTRS) model near the convergence circle for various dimensions. In the solvable case D = 1 the exact critical properties of the theory are reproduced numerically. After August 3, 1988 the address will be: Cybernetics Council, Academy of Science, ul. Vavilova 40, 117333 Moscow, USSR.

New high-efficiency silicon solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daud, T.; Crotty, G. T.

1985-01-01

A design for silicon solar cells was investigated as an approach to increasing the cell open-circuit voltage and efficiency for flat-plate terrestrial photovoltaic applications. This deviates from past designs, where either the entire front surface of the cell is covered by a planar junction or the surface is textured before junction formation, which results in an even greater (up to 70%) junction area. The heavily doped front region and the junction space charge region are potential areas of high recombination for generated and injected minority carriers. The design presented reduces junction area by spreading equidiameter dot junctions across the surface of the cell, spaced about a diffusion length or less from each other. Various dot diameters and spacings allowed variations in total junction area. A simplified analysis was done to obtain a first-order design optimization. Efficiencies of up to 19% can be obtained. Cell fabrication involved extra masking steps for selective junction diffusion, and made surface passivation a key element in obtaining good collection. It also involved photolithography, with line widths down to microns. A method is demonstrated for achieving potentially high open-circuit voltages and solar-cell efficiencies.

Adaptable Diffraction Gratings With Wavefront Transformation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iazikov, Dmitri; Mossberg, Thomas W.; Greiner, Christoph M.

2010-01-01

Diffraction gratings are optical components with regular patterns of grooves, which angularly disperse incoming light by wavelength. Traditional diffraction gratings have static planar, concave, or convex surfaces. However, if they could be made so that they can change the surface curvature at will, then they would be able to focus on particular segments, self-calibrate, or perform fine adjustments. This innovation creates a diffraction grating on a deformable surface. This surface could be bent at will, resulting in a dynamic wavefront transformation. This allows for self-calibration, compensation for aberrations, enhancing image resolution in a particular area, or performing multiple scans using different wavelengths. A dynamic grating gives scientists a new ability to explore wavefronts from a variety of viewpoints.

Enhancement in sample collection for the detection of MDMA using a novel planar SPME (PSPME) device coupled to ion mobility spectrometry (IMS).

PubMed

Gura, Sigalit; Guerra-Diaz, Patricia; Lai, Hanh; Almirall, José R

2009-07-01

Trace detection of illicit drugs challenges the scientific community to develop improved sensitivity and selectivity in sampling and detection techniques. Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is one of the prominent trace detectors for illicit drugs and explosives, mostly due to its portability, high sensitivity and fast analysis. Current sampling methods for IMS rely on wiping suspected surfaces or withdrawing air through filters to collect particulates. These methods depend greatly on the particulates being bound onto surfaces or having sufficient vapour pressure to be airborne. Many of these compounds are not readily available in the headspace due to their low vapour pressure. This research presents a novel SPME device for enhanced air sampling and shows the use of optimized IMS by genetic algorithms to target volatile markers and/or odour signatures of illicit substances. The sampling method was based on unique static samplers, planar substrates coated with sol-gel polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) nanoparticles, also known as planar solid-phase microextraction (PSPME). Due to its surface chemistry, high surface area and capacity, PSPME provides significant increases in sensitivity over conventional fibre SPME. The results show a 50-400 times increase in the detection capacity for piperonal, the odour signature of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The PSPME-IMS technique was able to detect 600 ng of piperonal in a 30 s extraction from a quart-sized can containing 5 MDMA tablets, while detection using fibre SPME-IMS was not attainable. In a blind study of six cases suspected to contain varying amounts of MDMA in the tablets, PSPME-IMS successfully detected five positive cases and also produced no false positives or false negatives. One positive case had minimal amounts of MDMA resulting in a false negative response for fibre SPME-IMS.

A magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy system using a microfluidically cryo-cooled planar coil.

PubMed

Koo, Chiwan; Godley, Richard F; Park, Jaewon; McDougall, Mary P; Wright, Steven M; Han, Arum

2011-07-07

We present the development of a microfluidically cryo-cooled planar coil for magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy. Cryogenically cooling radiofrequency (RF) coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the experiment. Conventional cryostats typically use a vacuum gap to keep samples to be imaged, especially biological samples, at or near room temperature during cryo-cooling. This limits how close a cryo-cooled coil can be placed to the sample. At the same time, a small coil-to-sample distance significantly improves the MR imaging capability due to the limited imaging depth of planar MR microcoils. These two conflicting requirements pose challenges to the use of cryo-cooling in MR microcoils. The use of a microfluidic based cryostat for localized cryo-cooling of MR microcoils is a step towards eliminating these constraints. The system presented here consists of planar receive-only coils with integrated cryo-cooling microfluidic channels underneath, and an imaging surface on top of the planar coils separated by a thin nitrogen gas gap. Polymer microfluidic channel structures fabricated through soft lithography processes were used to flow liquid nitrogen under the coils in order to cryo-cool the planar coils to liquid nitrogen temperature (-196 °C). Two unique features of the cryo-cooling system minimize the distance between the coil and the sample: (1) the small dimension of the polymer microfluidic channel enables localized cooling of the planar coils, while minimizing thermal effects on the nearby imaging surface. (2) The imaging surface is separated from the cryo-cooled planar coil by a thin gap through which nitrogen gas flows to thermally insulate the imaging surface, keeping it above 0 °C and preventing potential damage to biological samples. The localized cooling effect was validated by simulations, bench testing, and MR imaging experiments. Using this cryo-cooled planar coil system inside a 4.7 Tesla MR system resulted in an average image SNR enhancement of 1.47 ± 0.11 times relative to similar room-temperature coils. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

A Magnetic Resonance (MR) Microscopy System using a Microfluidically Cryo-Cooled Planar Coil

PubMed Central

Koo, Chiwan; Godley, Richard F.; Park, Jaewon; McDougall, Mary P.; Wright, Steven M.; Han, Arum

2011-01-01

We present the development of a microfluidically cryo-cooled planar coil for magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy. Cryogenically cooling radiofrequency (RF) coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the experiment. Conventional cryostats typically use a vacuum gap to keep samples to be imaged, especially biological samples, at or near room temperature during cryo-cooling. This limits how close a cryo-cooled coil can be placed to the sample. At the same time, a small coil-to-sample distance significantly improves the MR imaging capability due to the limited imaging depth of planar MR microcoils. These two conflicting requirements pose challenges to the use of cryo-cooling in MR microcoils. The use of a microfluidic based cryostat for localized cryo-cooling of MR microcoils is a step towards eliminating these constraints. The system presented here consists of planar receive-only coils with integrated cryo-cooling microfluidic channels underneath, and an imaging surface on top of the planar coils separated by a thin nitrogen gas gap. Polymer microfluidic channel structures fabricated through soft lithography processes were used to flow liquid nitrogen under the coils in order to cryo-cool the planar coils to liquid nitrogen temperature (−196°C). Two unique features of the cryo-cooling system minimize the distance between the coil and the sample: 1) The small dimension of the polymer microfluidic channel enables localized cooling of the planar coils, while minimizing thermal effects on the nearby imaging surface. 2) The imaging surface is separated from the cryo-cooled planar coil by a thin gap through which nitrogen gas flows to thermally insulate the imaging surface, keeping it above 0°C and preventing potential damage to biological samples. The localized cooling effect was validated by simulations, bench testing, and MR imaging experiments. Using this cryo-cooled planar coil system inside a 4.7 Tesla MR system resulted in an average image SNR enhancement of 1.47 ± 0.11 times relative to similar room-temperature coils. PMID:21603723

Ultra-high density diffraction grating

DOEpatents

Padmore, Howard A.; Voronov, Dmytro L.; Cambie, Rossana; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; Gullikson, Eric M.

2012-12-11

A diffraction grating structure having ultra-high density of grooves comprises an echellette substrate having periodically repeating recessed features, and a multi-layer stack of materials disposed on the echellette substrate. The surface of the diffraction grating is planarized, such that layers of the multi-layer stack form a plurality of lines disposed on the planarized surface of the structure in a periodical fashion, wherein lines having a first property alternate with lines having a dissimilar property on the surface of the substrate. For example, in one embodiment, lines comprising high-Z and low-Z materials alternate on the planarized surface providing a structure that is suitable as a diffraction grating for EUV and soft X-rays. In some embodiments, line density of between about 10,000 lines/mm to about 100,000 lines/mm is provided.

Developing a Novel Hydrogen Sponge with Ideal Binding Energy and High Surface Area for Practical Hydrogen Storage

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

Chung, T. C. Mike

This Phase I (5 quarters) research project was to examine the validity of a new class of boron-containing polymer (B-polymer) frameworks, serving as the adsorbents for the practical onboard H2 storage applications. Three B-polymer frameworks were synthesized and investigated, which include B-poly(butyenylstyrene) (B-PBS) framework (A), B-poly(phenyldiacetyene) (B-PPDA) framework (B), and B-poly(phenyltriacetylene) (B-PPTA) framework (C). They are 2-D polymer structures with the repeating cyclic units that spontaneously form open morphology and the B-doped (p-type) π-electrons delocalized surfaces. The ideal B-polymer framework shall exhibit open micropores (pore size in the range of 1-1.5nm) with high surface area (>3000 m 2/g), and themore » B-dopants in the conjugated framework shall provide high surface energy for interacting with H 2 molecules (an ideal H 2 binding energy in the range of 15-25 kJ/mol). The pore size distribution and H2 binding energy were investigated at both Penn State and NREL laboratories. So far, the experimental results show the successful synthesis of B-polymer frameworks with the relatively well-defined planar (2-D) structures. The intrinsically formed porous morphology exhibits a broad pore size distribution (in the range of 0.5-10 nm) with specific surface area (~1000 m 2/g). The miss-alignment between 2-D layers may block some micropore channels and limit gas diffusion throughout the entire matrix. In addition, the 2-D planar conjugated structure may also allow free π-electrons delocalization throughout the framework, which significantly reduces the acidity of B-moieties (electron-deficiency).The resulting 2-D B-polymer frameworks only exhibit a small increase of H 2 binding energy in the range of 8-9 KJ/mole (quite constant over the whole sorption range).« less

The influence of low-energy helium plasma on bubble formation in micro-engineered tungsten

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Edward; Nadvornick, Warren; Doerner, Russ; Ghoniem, Nasr M.

2018-04-01

Four different types of micro-engineered tungsten surfaces were exposed to low energy helium plasma, with a planar surface as control. These samples include two surfaces covered with uniform W-coated rhenium micro-pillars; one with cylindrical pillars 1 μm in diameter and 25 μm in height, and one with dendritic conical pillars 4-10 μm in diameter and 20 μm in height. Additionally, two samples with reticulated open-cell foam geometry, one at 45 pores per inch (PPI), and the other at 80 PPI were fabricated with Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). The samples were exposed to helium plasma at 30-100 eV ion energy, 823-1123 K temperature, and 5 × 1025 - 2 × 1026 m-2 ion fluence. It is shown that the formation of nanometer-scale tendrils (fuzz) on micro-engineered W surfaces is greatly reduced as compared to planar surfaces. This is attributed to more significant ion backscattering and the increased effective surface area that intercept incident ions in micro-engineered W. A 20% decrease in the average ion incident angle on pillar type surfaces leads to ∼30% decrease in bubble size, down to 30 nm in diameter. W fuzz was found to be absent from pillar sides due to high ion backscattering rates from pillar sides. In foam samples, 28% higher PPI is observed to have 24.7%-36.7% taller fuzz, and 17.0%-25.0% larger subsurface bubbles. These are found to be an order of magnitude smaller than those found in planar surfaces of similar environment. The helium bubble density was found to increase with ion energy in pillars, roughly from 8.2% to 48.4%, and to increase with increasing PPI, from 36.4% to 116.2%, and with bubble concentrations up to 9.1 × 1021 m-3. Geometric shadowing effects in or near surface ligaments are observed in all foam samples, with near absence of helium bubbles or fuzz in deeper layers of the foam.

Bioinspired fractal electrodes for solar energy storages.

PubMed

Thekkekara, Litty V; Gu, Min

2017-03-31

Solar energy storage is an emerging technology which can promote the solar energy as the primary source of electricity. Recent development of laser scribed graphene electrodes exhibiting a high electrical conductivity have enabled a green technology platform for supercapacitor-based energy storage, resulting in cost-effective, environment-friendly features, and consequent readiness for on-chip integration. Due to the limitation of the ion-accessible active porous surface area, the energy densities of these supercapacitors are restricted below ~3 × 10 -3  Whcm -3 . In this paper, we demonstrate a new design of biomimetic laser scribed graphene electrodes for solar energy storage, which embraces the structure of Fern leaves characterized by the geometric family of space filling curves of fractals. This new conceptual design removes the limit of the conventional planar supercapacitors by significantly increasing the ratio of active surface area to volume of the new electrodes and reducing the electrolyte ionic path. The attained energy density is thus significantly increased to ~10 -1  Whcm -3 - more than 30 times higher than that achievable by the planar electrodes with ~95% coulombic efficiency of the solar energy storage. The energy storages with these novel electrodes open the prospects of efficient self-powered and solar-powered wearable, flexible and portable applications.

Bioinspired fractal electrodes for solar energy storages

PubMed Central

Thekkekara, Litty V.; Gu, Min

2017-01-01

Solar energy storage is an emerging technology which can promote the solar energy as the primary source of electricity. Recent development of laser scribed graphene electrodes exhibiting a high electrical conductivity have enabled a green technology platform for supercapacitor-based energy storage, resulting in cost-effective, environment-friendly features, and consequent readiness for on-chip integration. Due to the limitation of the ion-accessible active porous surface area, the energy densities of these supercapacitors are restricted below ~3 × 10−3 Whcm−3. In this paper, we demonstrate a new design of biomimetic laser scribed graphene electrodes for solar energy storage, which embraces the structure of Fern leaves characterized by the geometric family of space filling curves of fractals. This new conceptual design removes the limit of the conventional planar supercapacitors by significantly increasing the ratio of active surface area to volume of the new electrodes and reducing the electrolyte ionic path. The attained energy density is thus significantly increased to ~10−1 Whcm−3- more than 30 times higher than that achievable by the planar electrodes with ~95% coulombic efficiency of the solar energy storage. The energy storages with these novel electrodes open the prospects of efficient self-powered and solar-powered wearable, flexible and portable applications. PMID:28361924

Fabrication and Characterization of a Nanocoax-Based Electrochemical Sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizal, Binod; Archibald, Michelle M.; Naughton, Jeffrey R.; Connolly, Timothy; Shepard, Stephen C.; Burns, Michael J.; Chiles, Thomas C.; Naughton, Michael J.

2014-03-01

We used an imprint lithography process to fabricate three dimensional electrochemical sensors comprising arrays of vertically-oriented coaxial electrodes, with the coax cores and shields serving as working and counter electrodes, respectively, and with nanoscale separation gaps.[2] Arrays of devices with different electrode gaps (coax annuli) were prepared, yielding increasing sensitivity with decreasing annulus thickness. A coax-based sensor with a 100 nm annulus was found to have sensitivity 100 times greater than that of a conventional planar sensor control, which had millimeter-scale electrode gap spacing. We suggest that this enhancement is due to an increase in the diffusion of molecules between electrodes, which improves the current per unit surface area compared to the planar device. Supported by NIH (National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).

InP nanopore arrays for photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation.

PubMed

Li, Qiang; Zheng, Maojun; Zhang, Bin; Zhu, Changqing; Wang, Faze; Song, Jingnan; Zhong, Miao; Ma, Li; Shen, Wenzhong

2016-02-19

We report a facile and large-scale fabrication of highly ordered one-dimensional (1D) indium phosphide (InP) nanopore arrays (NPs) and their application as photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production. These InP NPs exhibit superior PEC performance due to their excellent light-trapping characteristics, high-quality 1D conducting channels and large surface areas. The photocurrent density of optimized InP NPs is 8.9 times higher than that of planar counterpart at an applied potential of +0.3 V versus RHE under AM 1.5G illumination (100 mW cm(-2)). In addition, the onset potential of InP NPs exhibits 105 mV of cathodic shift relative to planar control. The superior performance of the nanoporous samples is further explained by Mott-Schottky and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy ananlysis.

Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of an Induction Planar Actuator with Different Secondaries—A Planar Driver Application for Metallic Surface Inspection

PubMed Central

Treviso, Felipe; Silveira, Marilia A.; Flores Filho, Aly F.; Dorrell, David G.

2016-01-01

This paper presents a study on an induction planar actuator concept. The device uses the same principles as a linear induction motor in which the interaction between a travelling magnetic field and a conducting surface produces eddy currents that leads to the generation of a thrust force and can result in movement over a metallic surface. This can benefit the inspection of metallic surfaces based on the driving platform provided by the induction planar actuator. Equations of the magnetic and electric fields are presented and, by means of these equations, the forces involved were calculated. The behaviour of thrust and normal forces was analysed through the equations and by numerical models, and compared with the results obtained by measurements on a device prototype built in the laboratory as part of the study. With relation to the surface under inspection that forms the secondary, three cases were analysed: (1) a double-layered secondary formed by aluminium and ferromagnetic slabs; (2) a single aluminium layer and (3) a single ferromagnetic layer. Theoretical and measured values of thrust and normal forces showed good correlation. PMID:27007377

Large area directly heated lanthanum hexaboride cathode structure having predetermined emission profile

DOEpatents

Leung, Ka-Ngo; Gordon, K.C.; Kippenhan, D.O.; Purgalis, P.; Moussa, D.; Williams, M.D.; Wilde, S.B.; West, M.W.

1987-10-16

A large area directly heated lanthanum hexaboride (LaB/sub 6/) cathode system is disclosed. The system comprises a LaB/sub 6/ cathode element generally circular in shape about a central axis. The cathode element has a head with an upper substantially planar emission surface, and a lower downwardly and an intermediate body portion which diminishes in cross-section from the head towards the base of the cathode element. A central rod is connected to the base of the cathode element and extends along the central axis. Plural upstanding spring fingers are urged against an outer peripheral contact surface of the head end to provide a mechanical and electrical connection to the cathode element. 7 figs

A pilot study comparing custom contoured and planar support surfaces for pressure ulcer risk over the heels for night time postural management using interface pressure mapping and discomfort scores.

PubMed

Hosking, J

2017-08-01

Custom contouring techniques are effective for reducing pressure ulcer risk in wheelchair seating. These techniques may assist the management of pressure ulcer risk during sleep for night time postural management. To investigate the effectiveness of custom contoured night time postural management components against planar support surfaces for pressure ulcer risk measures over the heels. Supine posture was captured from five healthy participants using vacuum consolidation and 3-dimensional laser scanning. Custom contoured abduction wedges were carved from polyurethane and chipped foams. Pressure mapping and the visual analog scale were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the contoured foams in reducing pressure and discomfort under the posterior heel against standard planar support surfaces. Custom contoured shapes significantly reduced interface pressures (p < 0.05) and discomfort scores (p < 0.05) when compared to planar support surfaces. Polyurethane foam was the most effective material but it did not differ significantly from chipped foam. Linear regression revealed a significant relationship between the Peak Pressure Index and discomfort scores (r = 0.997, p = 0.003). The findings of this pilot study suggested that custom contoured shapes were more effective than planar surfaces at reducing pressure ulcer risk surrogate measures over the posterior heels with polyurethane foam being the most effective material investigated. It is recommended that Evazote foam should not be used as a support surface material for night time postural management. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Site-Control of InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots with Indium-Assisted Deoxidation

PubMed Central

Hussain, Sajid; Pozzato, Alessandro; Tormen, Massimo; Zannier, Valentina; Biasiol, Giorgio

2016-01-01

Site-controlled epitaxial growth of InAs quantum dots on GaAs substrates patterned with periodic nanohole arrays relies on the deterministic nucleation of dots into the holes. In the ideal situation, each hole should be occupied exactly by one single dot, with no nucleation onto planar areas. However, the single-dot occupancy per hole is often made difficult by the fact that lithographically-defined holes are generally much larger than the dots, thus providing several nucleation sites per hole. In addition, deposition of a thin GaAs buffer before the dots tends to further widen the holes in the [110] direction. We have explored a method of native surface oxide removal by using indium beams, which effectively prevents hole elongation along [110] and greatly helps single-dot occupancy per hole. Furthermore, as compared to Ga-assisted deoxidation, In-assisted deoxidation is efficient in completely removing surface contaminants, and any excess In can be easily re-desorbed thermally, thus leaving a clean, smooth GaAs surface. Low temperature photoluminescence showed that inhomogeneous broadening is substantially reduced for QDs grown on In-deoxidized patterns, with respect to planar self-assembled dots. PMID:28773333

Liftings and stresses for planar periodic frameworks

PubMed Central

Borcea, Ciprian; Streinu, Ileana

2015-01-01

We formulate and prove a periodic analog of Maxwell’s theorem relating stressed planar frameworks and their liftings to polyhedral surfaces with spherical topology. We use our lifting theorem to prove deformation and rigidity-theoretic properties for planar periodic pseudo-triangulations, generalizing features known for their finite counterparts. These properties are then applied to questions originating in mathematical crystallography and materials science, concerning planar periodic auxetic structures and ultrarigid periodic frameworks. PMID:26973370

(Bio)Sensing Using Nanoparticle Arrays: On the Effect of Analyte Transport on Sensitivity.

PubMed

Lynn, N Scott; Homola, Jiří

2016-12-20

There has recently been an extensive amount of work regarding the development of optical, electrical, and mechanical (bio)sensors employing planar arrays of surface-bound nanoparticles. The sensor output for these systems is dependent on the rate at which analyte is transported to, and interacts with, each nanoparticle in the array. There has so far been little discussion on the relationship between the design parameters of an array and the interplay of convection, diffusion, and reaction. Moreover, current methods providing such information require extensive computational simulation. Here we demonstrate that the rate of analyte transport to a nanoparticle array can be quantified analytically. We show that such rates are bound by both the rate to a single NP and that to a planar surface (having equivalent size as the array), with the specific rate determined by the fill fraction: the ratio between the total surface area used for biomolecular capture with respect to the entire sensing area. We characterize analyte transport to arrays with respect to changes in numerous parameters relevant to experiment, including variation of the nanoparticle shape and size, packing density, flow conditions, and analyte diffusivity. We also explore how analyte capture is dependent on the kinetic parameters related to an affinity-based biosensor, and furthermore, we classify the conditions under which the array might be diffusion- or reaction-limited. The results obtained herein are applicable toward the design and optimization of all (bio)sensors based on nanoparticle arrays.

Surface thermodynamics of planar, cylindrical, and spherical vapour-liquid interfaces of water

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

Lau, Gabriel V.; Müller, Erich A.; Jackson, George

2015-03-21

The test-area (TA) perturbation approach has been gaining popularity as a methodology for the direct computation of the interfacial tension in molecular simulation. Though originally implemented for planar interfaces, the TA approach has also been used to analyze the interfacial properties of curved liquid interfaces. Here, we provide an interpretation of the TA method taking the view that it corresponds to the change in free energy under a transformation of the spatial metric for an affine distortion. By expressing the change in configurational energy of a molecular configuration as a Taylor expansion in the distortion parameter, compact relations are derivedmore » for the interfacial tension and its energetic and entropic components for three different geometries: planar, cylindrical, and spherical fluid interfaces. While the tensions of the planar and cylindrical geometries are characterized by first-order changes in the energy, that of the spherical interface depends on second-order contributions. We show that a greater statistical uncertainty is to be expected when calculating the thermodynamic properties of a spherical interface than for the planar and cylindrical cases, and the evaluation of the separate entropic and energetic contributions poses a greater computational challenge than the tension itself. The methodology is employed to determine the vapour-liquid interfacial tension of TIP4P/2005 water at 293 K by molecular dynamics simulation for planar, cylindrical, and spherical geometries. A weak peak in the curvature dependence of the tension is observed in the case of cylindrical threads of condensed liquid at a radius of about 8 Å, below which the tension is found to decrease again. In the case of spherical drops, a marked decrease in the tension from the planar limit is found for radii below ∼ 15 Å; there is no indication of a maximum in the tension with increasing curvature. The vapour-liquid interfacial tension tends towards the planar limit for large system sizes for both the cylindrical and spherical cases. Estimates of the entropic and energetic contributions are also evaluated for the planar and cylindrical geometries and their magnitudes are in line with the expectations of our simple analysis.« less

From air to clothing: characterizing the accumulation of semi-volatile organic compounds to fabrics in indoor environments.

PubMed

Saini, A; Okeme, J O; Mark Parnis, J; McQueen, R H; Diamond, M L

2017-05-01

Uptake kinetics of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) present indoors, namely phthalates and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), were characterized for cellulose-based cotton and rayon fabrics. Cotton and rayon showed similar accumulation of gas- and particle-phase SVOCs, when normalized to planar surface area. Accumulation was 3-10 times greater by rayon than cotton, when normalized to Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area which suggests that cotton could have a longer linear uptake phase than rayon. Linear uptake rates of eight consistently detected HFRs over 56 days of 0.35-0.92 m 3 /day.dm 2 planar surface area and mass transfer coefficients of 1.5-3.8 m/h were statistically similar for cotton and rayon and similar to those for uptake to passive air sampling media. These results suggest air-side controlled uptake and that, on average, 2 m 2 of clothing typically worn by a person would sequester the equivalent of the chemical content in 100 m 3 of air per day. Distribution coefficients between fabric and air (K') ranged from 6.5 to 7.7 (log K') and were within the range of partition coefficients measured for selected phthalates as reported in the literature. The distribution coefficients were similar for low molecular weight HFRs, and up to two orders of magnitude lower than the equilibrium partition coefficients estimated using the COSMO-RS model. Based on the COSMO-RS model, time to reach 95% of equilibrium for PBDEs between fabric and gas-phase compounds ranged from 0.1 to >10 years for low to high molecular weight HFRs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Silicon Dioxide Planarization: Impacts on Optical Coatings for High Energy Laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Travis E.

The work of this thesis is devoted to examining the impact of silicon dioxide (silica or SiO2) planarization on the optical properties and laser damage resistance of thin-film coatings. SiO2 planarization is a process to smooth out fluence limiting nodular defects within multilayer coatings for high-energy laser applications. Mitigating these defects will improve the power handling abilities and improve the lifetime of laser coatings. Presented here is a combination of work with the aim of evaluating the optical and laser damage properties of SiO2 planarization within single layers, bilayers, and multilayers. As compared to control (non-planarized) samples, a 2-3x increase in the thin-film absorption, which decreases with post-process annealing, was discovered for SiO2 planarized samples. This suggests that planarization creates oxygen-related defects which can be annealed out and little impurity implantation. Investigations of laser damage resistance were carried out at lambda = 1030nm and pulse durations of tau = 220ps and 9ps. The laser damage of single and bilayer coatings is known to be dependent on the substrate-coating interface and this is further evidenced within this thesis. This is because the effects of planarization are masked by the extrinsic laser damage processes within the single and bilayers. Slight change (< 15%) in the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) at 220ps and 9ps was observed for planarized single and bilayers. Depending on coating design, post-process annealing was shown to increase the LIDT by 10% to 75% at 220ps and 10% to 45% at 9ps. Although the fused silica substrate surface LIDT was shown to follow the √tau pulse scaling law for pulses above 10ps, the single and bilayer coatings do not follow this pulse scaling. The divergence from the √tau pulse scaling on the coatings suggests a variation in the laser damage initiation mechanisms between 220ps and 9ps. Multilayer high-reflecting (HR) mirrors with varying planarization design were also damage tested. A 6-7 J/cm2 LIDT, with 220ps, was observed for HR coatings with SiO2 planarization layers within high electric-field areas within the coating. However, SiO2 planarization at the substrate-coating interface, where the electric-field is minimal, and control (non-planarized) was shown to have a LIDT of 63 +/- 1.2 J/cm 2 and 21.5 +/- 0.5 J/cm2 for 220ps, respectively. At 9ps, the LIDT varied less than 90% difference between the various planarization designs. The substrate-coating planarization multilayer and control coating had an equal LIDT of 9.6 +/- .3 J/cm2 at 9ps.

Novel vertical silicon photodiodes based on salicided polysilicon trenched contacts

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

Kaminski, Yelena; TowerJazz Ltd. Migdal Haemek; Shauly, Eitan

2015-12-07

The classical concept of silicon photodiodes comprises of a planar design characterized by heavily doped emitters. Such geometry has low collection efficiency of the photons absorbed close to the surface. An alternative, promising, approach is to use a vertical design. Nevertheless, realization of such design is technologically challenged, hence hardly explored. Herein, a novel type of silicon photodiodes, based on salicided polysilicon trenched contacts, is presented. These contacts can be prepared up to 10 μm in depth, without showing any leakage current associated with the increase in the contact area. Consequently, the trenched photodiodes revealed better performance than no-trench photodiodes. Amore » simple two dimensional model was developed, allowing to estimate the conditions under which a vertical design has the potential to have better performance than that of a planar design. At large, the deeper the trench is, the better is the vertical design relative to the planar (up to 10 μm for silicon). The vertical design is more advantageous for materials characterized by short diffusion lengths of the carriers. Salicided polysilicon trenched contacts open new opportunities for the design of solar cells and image sensors. For example, these contacts may passivate high contact area buried contacts, by virtue of the conformity of polysilicon interlayer, thus lowering the via resistance induced recombination enhancement effect.« less

Effect of surface morphology on drag and roughness sublayer in flows over regular roughness elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Placidi, Marco; Ganapathisubramani, Bharathram

2014-11-01

The effects of systematically varied roughness morphology on bulk drag and on the spatial structure of turbulent boundary layers are examined by performing a series of wind tunnel experiments. In this study, rough surfaces consisting of regularly and uniformly distributed LEGO™ bricks are employed. Twelve different patterns are adopted in order to methodically examine the individual effects of frontal solidity (λF, frontal area of the roughness elements per unit wall-parallel area) and plan solidity (λP, plan area of roughness elements per unit wall-parallel area), on both the bulk drag and the turbulence structure. A floating element friction balance based on Krogstad & Efros (2010) was designed and manufactured to measure the drag generated by the different surfaces. In parallel, high resolution planar and stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was applied to investigate the flow features. This talk will focus on the effects of each solidity parameter on the bulk drag and attempt to relate the observed trends to the flow structures in the roughness sublayer. Currently at City University London.

Precision Measurement of Phonon-Polaritonic Near-Field Energy Transfer between Macroscale Planar Structures Under Large Thermal Gradients.

PubMed

Ghashami, Mohammad; Geng, Hongyao; Kim, Taehoon; Iacopino, Nicholas; Cho, Sung Kwon; Park, Keunhan

2018-04-27

Despite its strong potentials in emerging energy applications, near-field thermal radiation between large planar structures has not been fully explored in experiments. Particularly, it is extremely challenging to control a subwavelength gap distance with good parallelism under large thermal gradients. This article reports the precision measurement of near-field radiative energy transfer between two macroscale single-crystalline quartz plates that support surface phonon polaritons. Our measurement scheme allows the precise control of a gap distance down to 200 nm in a highly reproducible manner for a surface area of 5×5  mm^{2}. We have measured near-field thermal radiation as a function of the gap distance for a broad range of thermal gradients up to ∼156  K, observing more than 40 times enhancement of thermal radiation compared to the blackbody limit. By comparing with theoretical prediction based on fluctuational electrodynamics, we demonstrate that such remarkable enhancement is owing to phonon-polaritonic energy transfer across a nanoscale vacuum gap.

The planar cell polarity protein VANGL2 coordinates remodeling of the extracellular matrix.

PubMed

Williams, B Blairanne; Mundell, Nathan; Dunlap, Julie; Jessen, Jason

2012-07-01

Understanding how planar cell polarity (PCP) is established, maintained, and coordinated in migrating cell populations is an important area of research with implications for both embryonic morphogenesis and tumor cell invasion. We recently reported that the PCP protein Vang-like 2 (VANGL2) regulates the endocytosis and cell surface level of membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MMP14 or MT1-MMP). Here, we further discuss these findings in terms of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, cell migration, and zebrafish gastrulation. We also demonstrate that VANGL2 function impacts the focal degradation of ECM by human cancer cells including the formation or stability of invadopodia. Together, our findings implicate MMP14 as a downstream effector of VANGL2 signaling and suggest a model whereby the regulation of pericellular proteolysis is a fundamental aspect of PCP in migrating cells.

Multi-Functional, Micro Electromechanical Silicon Carbide Accelerometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okojie, Robert S. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A method of bulk manufacturing SiC sensors is disclosed and claimed. Materials other than SiC may be used as the substrate material. Sensors requiring that the SiC substrate be pierced are also disclosed and claimed. A process flow reversal is employed whereby the metallization is applied first before the recesses are etched into or through the wafer. Aluminum is deposited on the entire planar surface of the metallization. Photoresist is spun onto the substantially planar surface of the Aluminum which is subsequently masked (and developed and removed). Unwanted Aluminum is etched with aqueous TMAH and subsequently the metallization is dry etched. Photoresist is spun onto the still substantially planar surface of Aluminum and oxide and then masked (and developed and removed) leaving the unimidized photoresist behind. Next, ITO is applied over the still substantially planar surface of Aluminum, oxide and unimidized photoresist. Unimidized and exposed photoresist and ITO directly above it are removed with Acetone. Next, deep reactive ion etching attacks exposed oxide not protected by ITO. Finally, hot phosphoric acid removes the Al and ITO enabling wires to connect with the metallization. The back side of the SiS wafer may be also etched.

Multi-functional micro electromechanical devices and method of bulk manufacturing same

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okojie, Robert S. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A method of bulk manufacturing SiC sensors is disclosed and claimed. Materials other than SiC may be used as the substrate material. Sensors requiring that the SiC substrate be pierced are also disclosed and claimed. A process flow reversal is employed whereby the metallization is applied first before the recesses are etched into or through the wafer. Aluminum is deposited on the entire planar surface of the metallization. Photoresist is spun onto the substantially planar surface of the Aluminum which is subsequently masked (and developed and removed). Unwanted Aluminum is etched with aqueous TMAH and subsequently the metallization is dry etched. Photoresist is spun onto the still substantially planar surface of Aluminum and oxide and then masked (and developed and removed) leaving the unimidized photoresist behind. Next, ITO is applied over the still substantially planar surface of Aluminum, oxide and unimidized photoresist. Unimidized and exposed photoresist and ITO directly above it are removed with Acetone. Next, deep reactive ion etching attacks exposed oxide not protected by ITO. Finally, hot phosphoric acid removes the Al and ITO enabling wires to connect with the metallization. The back side of the SiC wafer may be also be etched.

Transparent selective illumination means suitable for use in optically activated electrical switches and optically activated electrical switches constructed using same

DOEpatents

Wilcox, R.B.

1991-09-10

A planar transparent light conducting means and an improved optically activated electrical switch made using the novel light conducting means are disclosed. The light conducting means further comprise light scattering means on one or more opposite planar surfaces thereof to transmit light from the light conducting means into adjacent media and reflective means on other surfaces of the light conducting means not containing the light scattering means. The optically activated electrical switch comprises at least two stacked photoconductive wafers, each having electrodes formed on both surfaces thereof, and separated by the planar transparent light conducting means. The light scattering means on the light conducting means face surfaces of the wafers not covered by the electrodes to transmit light from the light conducting means into the photoconductive wafers to uniformly illuminate and activate the switch. 11 figures.

Transparent selective illumination means suitable for use in optically activated electrical switches and optically activated electrical switches constructed using same

DOEpatents

Wilcox, Russell B.

1991-01-01

A planar transparent light conducting means and an improved optically activated electrical switch made using the novel light conducting means are disclosed. The light conducting means further comprise light scattering means on one or more opposite planar surfaces thereof to transmit light from the light conducting means into adjacent media and reflective means on other surfaces of the light conducting means not containing the light scattering means. The optically activated electrical switch comprises at least two stacked photoconductive wafers, each having electrodes formed on both surfaces thereof, and separated by the planar transparent light conducting means. The light scattering means on the light conducting means face surfaces of the wafers not covered by the electrodes to transmit light from the light conducting means into the photoconductive wafers to uniformly illuminate and activate the switch.

Characterizing hydrophobicity of amino acid side chains in a protein environment via measuring contact angle of a water nanodroplet on planar peptide network

PubMed Central

Zhu, Chongqin; Gao, Yurui; Li, Hui; Meng, Sheng; Li, Lei; Francisco, Joseph S.; Zeng, Xiao Cheng

2016-01-01

Hydrophobicity of macroscopic planar surface is conventionally characterized by the contact angle of water droplets. However, this engineering measurement cannot be directly extended to surfaces of proteins, due to the nanometer scale of amino acids and inherent nonplanar structures. To measure the hydrophobicity of side chains of proteins quantitatively, numerous parameters were developed to characterize behavior of hydrophobic solvation. However, consistency among these parameters is not always apparent. Herein, we demonstrate an alternative way of characterizing hydrophobicity of amino acid side chains in a protein environment by constructing a monolayer of amino acids (i.e., artificial planar peptide network) according to the primary and the β-sheet secondary structures of protein so that the conventional engineering measurement of the contact angle of a water droplet can be brought to bear. Using molecular dynamics simulations, contact angles θ of a water nanodroplet on the planar peptide network, together with excess chemical potentials of purely repulsive methane-sized Weeks−Chandler−Andersen solute, are computed. All of the 20 types of amino acids and the corresponding planar peptide networks are studied. Expectedly, all of the planar peptide networks with nonpolar amino acids are hydrophobic due to θ > 90°, whereas all of the planar peptide networks of the polar and charged amino acids are hydrophilic due to θ < 90°. Planar peptide networks of the charged amino acids exhibit complete-wetting behavior due to θ = 0°. This computational approach for characterization of hydrophobicity can be extended to artificial planar networks of other soft matter. PMID:27803319

Four pi calibration and modeling of a bare germanium detector in a cylindrical field source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewberry, R. A.; Young, J. E.

2012-05-01

In this paper we describe a 4π cylindrical field acquisition configuration surrounding a bare (unshielded, uncollimated) high purity germanium detector. We perform an efficiency calibration with a flexible planar source and model the configuration in the 4π cylindrical field. We then use exact calculus to model the flux on the cylindrical sides and end faces of the detector. We demonstrate that the model accurately represents the experimental detection efficiency compared to that of a point source and to Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP) calculations of the flux. The model sums over the entire source surface area and the entire detector surface area including both faces and the detector's cylindrical sides. Agreement between the model and both experiment and the MCNP calculation is within 8%.

Large area directly heated lanthanum hexaboride cathode structure having predetermined emission profile

DOEpatents

Leung, Ka-Ngo; Gordon, Keith C.; Kippenham, Dean O.; Purgalis, Peter; Moussa, David; Williams, Malcom D.; Wilde, Stephen B.; West, Mark W.

1989-01-01

A large area directly heated lanthanum hexaboride (LaB.sub.6) cathode system (10) is disclosed. The system comprises a LaB.sub.6 cathode element (11) generally circular in shape about a central axis. The cathode element (11) has a head (21) with an upper substantially planar emission surface (23), and a lower downwardly and an intermediate body portion (26) which diminishes in cross-section from the head (21) towards the base (22) of the cathode element (11). A central rod (14) is connected to the base (22) of the cathode element (11) and extends along the central axis. Plural upstanding spring fingers (37) are urged against an outer peripheral contact surface (24) of the head end (21) to provide a mechanical and electrical connection to the cathode element (11).

A sampling strategy to estimate the area and perimeter of irregularly shaped planar regions

Treesearch

Timothy G. Gregoire; Harry T. Valentine

1995-01-01

The length of a randomly oriented ray emanating from an interior point of a planar region can be used to unbiasedly estimate the region's area and perimeter. Estimators and corresponding variance estimators under various selection strategies are presented.

From Shoestring Rills to Dendritic River Networks: Documenting the Evolution of River Basins Towards Geometric Similarity Through Divide Migration, Stream Capture and Lateral Branching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beeson, H. W.; McCoy, S. W.; Willett, S.

2016-12-01

Erosional river networks dissect much of Earth's surface into drainage basins. Global scaling laws such as Hack's Law suggest that river basins trend toward a particular scale-invariant shape. While erosional instabilities arising from competition between advective and diffusive processes can explain why headwaters branch, the erosional mechanics linking larger scale network branching with evolution towards a characteristic river basin shape remain poorly constrained. We map river steepness and a proxy for the steady-state elevation of river networks, χ, in simulated and real landscapes with a large range in spatial scale (102 -106 m) but with similar inclined, planar surfaces at the time of incipient network formation. We document that the evolution from narrow rill-like networks to dendritic, leaf-shaped river basins follows from drainage area differences between catchments. These serve as instabilities that grow, leading to divide migration, stream capture, lateral branching and network reorganization. As Horton hypothesized, incipient networks formed down gradient on an inclined, planar surface have an unequal distribution of drainage area and nonuniformity in response times such that larger basins erode more rapidly and branch laterally via capture of adjacent streams with lower erosion rates. Positive feedback owing to increase in drainage area furthers the process of branching at the expense of neighboring rivers. We show that drainage area exchange and the degree of network reorganization has a significant effect on river steepness in the Dragon's Back Pressure Ridge, CA, the Sierra Nevada, CA, and the Rocky Mountain High Plains, USA. Similarly, metrics of basin shape reveal that basins are evolving from narrow basins towards more common leaf shapes. Our results suggest that divide migration and stream capture driven by erosional disequilibrium could be fundamental processes by which river basins reach their characteristic geometry and dendritic form.

On the kinematics of scalar iso-surfaces in turbulent flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blakeley, Brandon C.; Riley, James J.; Storti, Duane W.; Wang, Weirong

2017-11-01

The behavior of scalar iso-surfaces in turbulent flows is of fundamental interest and importance in a number of problems, e.g., the stoichiometric surface in non-premixed reactions, and the turbulent/non-turbulent interface in localized turbulent shear flows. Of particular interest here is the behavior of the average surface area per unit volume, Σ. We report on the use of direct numerical simulations and sophisticated surface tracking techniques to directly compute Σ and model its evolution. We consider two different scalar configurations in decaying, isotropic turbulence: first, the iso-surface is initially homogenous and isotropic in space, second, the iso-surface is initially planar. A novel method of computing integral properties from regularly-sampled values of a scalar function is leveraged to provide accurate estimates of Σ. Guided by simulation results, modeling is introduced from two perspectives. The first approach models the various terms in the evolution equation for Σ, while the second uses Rice's theorem to model Σ directly. In particular, the two principal effects on the evolution of Σ, i.e., the growth of the surface area due to local surface stretching, and the ultimate decay due to molecular destruction, are addressed.

Exploring proximity effects and large depth of field in helium ion beam lithography: large-area dense patterns and tilted surface exposure.

PubMed

Flatabø, Ranveig; Agarwal, Akshay; Hobbs, Richard; Greve, Martin M; Holst, Bodil; Berggren, Karl K

2018-07-06

Helium ion beam lithography (HIL) is an emerging nanofabrication technique. It benefits from a reduced interaction volume compared to that of an electron beam of similar energy, and hence reduced long-range scattering (proximity effect), higher resist sensitivity and potentially higher resolution. Furthermore, the small angular spread of the helium ion beam gives rise to a large depth of field. This should enable patterning on tilted and curved surfaces without the need of any additional adjustments, such as laser-auto focus. So far, most work on HIL has been focused on exploiting the reduced proximity effect to reach single-digit nanometer resolution, and has thus been concentrated on single-pixel exposures over small areas. Here we explore two new areas of application. Firstly, we investigate the proximity effect in large-area exposures and demonstrate HIL's capabilities in fabricating precise high-density gratings on large planar surfaces (100 μm × 100 μm, with pitch down to 35 nm) using an area dose for exposure. Secondly, we exploit the large depth of field by making the first HIL patterns on tilted surfaces (sample stage tilted 45°). We demonstrate a depth of field greater than 100 μm for a resolution of about 20 nm.

Ion-damage-free planarization or shallow angle sectioning of solar cells for mapping grain orientation and nanoscale photovoltaic properties

DOE PAGES

Kutes, Yasemin; Luria, Justin; Sun, Yu; ...

2017-04-11

Ion beam milling is the most common modern method for preparing specific features for microscopic analysis, even though concomitant ion implantation and amorphization remain persistent challenges, particularly as they often modify materials properties of interest. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), on the other hand, can mechanically mill specific nanoscale regions in plan-view without chemical or high energy ion damage, due to its resolution, directionality, and fine load control. As an example, AFM-nanomilling (AFM-NM) is implemented for top-down planarization of polycrystalline CdTe thin film solar cells, with a resulting decrease in the root mean square (RMS) roughness by an order of magnitude,more » even better than for a low incidence FIB polished surface. Subsequently AFM-based property maps reveal a substantially stronger contrast, in this case of the short-circuit current or open circuit voltage during light exposure. Furthermore, electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) imaging also becomes possible upon AFM-NM, enabling direct correlations between the local materials properties and the polycrystalline microstructure. Smooth shallow-angle cross-sections are demonstrated as well, based on targeted oblique milling. As expected, this reveals a gradual decrease in the average short-circuit current and maximum power as the underlying CdS and electrode layers are approached, but a relatively consistent open-circuit voltage through the diminishing thickness of the CdTe absorber. AFM-based nanomilling is therefore a powerful tool for material characterization, uniquely providing ion-damage free, selective area, planar smoothing or low-angle sectioning of specimens while preserving their functionality. This then enables novel, co-located advanced AFM measurements, EBSD analysis, and investigations by related techniques that are otherwise hindered by surface morphology or surface damage.« less

Ion-damage-free planarization or shallow angle sectioning of solar cells for mapping grain orientation and nanoscale photovoltaic properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kutes, Yasemin; Luria, Justin; Sun, Yu; Moore, Andrew; Aguirre, Brandon A.; Cruz-Campa, Jose L.; Aindow, Mark; Zubia, David; Huey, Bryan D.

2017-05-01

Ion beam milling is the most common modern method for preparing specific features for microscopic analysis, even though concomitant ion implantation and amorphization remain persistent challenges, particularly as they often modify materials properties of interest. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), on the other hand, can mechanically mill specific nanoscale regions in plan-view without chemical or high energy ion damage, due to its resolution, directionality, and fine load control. As an example, AFM-nanomilling (AFM-NM) is implemented for top-down planarization of polycrystalline CdTe thin film solar cells, with a resulting decrease in the root mean square (RMS) roughness by an order of magnitude, even better than for a low incidence FIB polished surface. Subsequent AFM-based property maps reveal a substantially stronger contrast, in this case of the short-circuit current or open circuit voltage during light exposure. Electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) imaging also becomes possible upon AFM-NM, enabling direct correlations between the local materials properties and the polycrystalline microstructure. Smooth shallow-angle cross-sections are demonstrated as well, based on targeted oblique milling. As expected, this reveals a gradual decrease in the average short-circuit current and maximum power as the underlying CdS and electrode layers are approached, but a relatively consistent open-circuit voltage through the diminishing thickness of the CdTe absorber. AFM-based nanomilling is therefore a powerful tool for material characterization, uniquely providing ion-damage free, selective area, planar smoothing or low-angle sectioning of specimens while preserving their functionality. This enables novel, co-located advanced AFM measurements, EBSD analysis, and investigations by related techniques that are otherwise hindered by surface morphology or surface damage.

Dragon Skin - How It Changed Body Armor Testing in the United States Army

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

flat front surface for accurate and consistent measurement of depression depths. After the clay has been worked into the rigid frame, the clay backing...material will be simultaneously conditioned for use in filling depressions created by the drop testing and building up areas to fit non-planar body...clay consistency shall be such that a depression of [redacted] in depth is obtained when a [redacted] cylindrical steel mass (see Figure 4

Heterogeneous nucleation on rough surfaces: Generalized Gibbs' approach.

PubMed

Abyzov, Alexander S; Schmelzer, Jürn W P; Davydov, Leonid N

2017-12-07

Heterogeneous nucleation (condensation) of liquid droplets from vapor (gas) on a defective solid surface is considered. The vapor is described by the van der Waals equation of state. The dependence of nucleating droplet parameters on droplet size is accounted for within the generalized Gibbs approach. As a surface defect, a conic void is taken. This choice allows us to simplify the analysis and at the same time to follow the main aspects of the influence of the surface roughness on the nucleation process. Similar to condensation on ideal planar surfaces, the contact angle and catalytic factor for heterogeneous nucleation on a rough surface depend on the degree of vapor overcooling. In the case of droplet formation on a hydrophilic surface of a conic void, the nucleation rate considerably increases in comparison with the condensation on a planar interface. In fact, the presence of a defect on the hydrophilic surface leads to a considerable shift of the spinodal towards lower supersaturation in comparison with heterogeneous nucleation on a planar interface. With the decrease in the void cone angle, the heterogeneous spinodal approaches the binodal, and the region of metastability is diminished at the expense of the instability region.

Bridge Crack Detection Using Multi-Rotary Uav and Object-Base Image Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rau, J. Y.; Hsiao, K. W.; Jhan, J. P.; Wang, S. H.; Fang, W. C.; Wang, J. L.

2017-08-01

Bridge is an important infrastructure for human life. Thus, the bridge safety monitoring and maintaining is an important issue to the government. Conventionally, bridge inspection were conducted by human in-situ visual examination. This procedure sometimes require under bridge inspection vehicle or climbing under the bridge personally. Thus, its cost and risk is high as well as labor intensive and time consuming. Particularly, its documentation procedure is subjective without 3D spatial information. In order cope with these challenges, this paper propose the use of a multi-rotary UAV that equipped with a SONY A7r2 high resolution digital camera, 50 mm fixed focus length lens, 135 degrees up-down rotating gimbal. The target bridge contains three spans with a total of 60 meters long, 20 meters width and 8 meters height above the water level. In the end, we took about 10,000 images, but some of them were acquired by hand held method taken on the ground using a pole with 2-8 meters long. Those images were processed by Agisoft PhotoscanPro to obtain exterior and interior orientation parameters. A local coordinate system was defined by using 12 ground control points measured by a total station. After triangulation and camera self-calibration, the RMS of control points is less than 3 cm. A 3D CAD model that describe the bridge surface geometry was manually measured by PhotoscanPro. They were composed of planar polygons and will be used for searching related UAV images. Additionally, a photorealistic 3D model can be produced for 3D visualization. In order to detect cracks on the bridge surface, we utilize object-based image analysis (OBIA) technique to segment the image into objects. Later, we derive several object features, such as density, area/bounding box ratio, length/width ratio, length, etc. Then, we can setup a classification rule set to distinguish cracks. Further, we apply semi-global-matching (SGM) to obtain 3D crack information and based on image scale we can calculate the width of a crack object. For spalling volume calculation, we also apply SGM to obtain dense surface geometry. Assuming the background is a planar surface, we can fit a planar function and convert the surface geometry into a DSM. Thus, for spalling area its height will be lower than the plane and its value will be negative. We can thus apply several image processing technique to segment the spalling area and calculate the spalling volume as well. For bridge inspection and UAV image management within a laboratory, we develop a graphic user interface. The major functions include crack auto-detection using OBIA, crack editing, i.e. delete and add cracks, crack attributing, 3D crack visualization, spalling area/volume calculation, bridge defects documentation, etc.

Colloidal silica films for high-capacity DNA arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glazer, Marc Irving

The human genome project has greatly expanded the amount of genetic information available to researchers, but before this vast new source of data can be fully utilized, techniques for rapid, large-scale analysis of DNA and RNA must continue to develop. DNA arrays have emerged as a powerful new technology for analyzing genomic samples in a highly parallel format. The detection sensitivity of these arrays is dependent on the quantity and density of immobilized probe molecules. We have investigated substrates with a porous, "three-dimensional" surface layer as a means of increasing the surface area available for the synthesis of oligonucleotide probes, thereby increasing the number of available probes and the amount of detectable bound target. Porous colloidal silica films were created by two techniques. In the first approach, films were deposited by spin-coating silica colloid suspensions onto flat glass substrates, with the pores being formed by the natural voids between the solid particles (typically 23nm pores, 35% porosity). In the second approach, latex particles were co-deposited with the silica and then pyrolyzed, creating films with larger pores (36 nm), higher porosity (65%), and higher surface area. For 0.3 mum films, enhancements of eight to ten-fold and 12- to 14-fold were achieved with the pure silica films and the films "templated" with polymer latex, respectively. In gene expression assays for up to 7,000 genes using complex biological samples, the high-capacity films provided enhanced signals and performed equivalently or better than planar glass on all other functional measures, confirming that colloidal silica films are a promising platform for high-capacity DNA arrays. We have also investigated the kinetics of hybridization on planar glass and high-capacity substrates. Adsorption on planar arrays is similar to ideal Langmuir-type adsorption, although with an "overshoot" at high solution concentration. Hybridization on high-capacity films is controlled by traditional adsorption (ka) and desorption (kd) coefficients, as well as morphology factors and transient binding interactions between the target and probes. The strength of the transient probe/target binding interactions are on the order of 5--7 DNA base pairs, which suggests the formation of nucleation or other metastable complexes, rather than fully-zippered duplexes.

Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Investigation of Growth Modifiers on Hydrate Crystal Surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Thomas; Hutter, Jeffrey L.; Lin, M.; King, H. E., Jr.

1998-03-01

Hydrates are crystals consisting of small molecules enclathrated within an ice-like water cage. Suppression of their growth is important in the oil industry. The presence of small quantities of specific polymers during hydrate crystallization can induce a transition from an octahedral to planar growth habit. This symmetry breaking is surprising because of the suppression of two 111 planes relative to the other six crystallographically equivalent faces. To better understand the surface effects leading to this behavior, we have studied the surface adsorption of these growth-modifing polymers onto the hydrate crytals using SANS. The total hydrate surface area, as measured by Porod scattering, increases in the presence of the growth modifier, but, no significant increase in polymer concentration on the crystal surfaces is found. Implications for possible growth mechanisms will be discussed.

Physics-Based Imaging Methods for Terahertz Nondestructive Evaluation Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kniffin, Gabriel Paul

Lying between the microwave and far infrared (IR) regions, the "terahertz gap" is a relatively unexplored frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum that exhibits a unique combination of properties from its neighbors. Like in IR, many materials have characteristic absorption spectra in the terahertz (THz) band, facilitating the spectroscopic "fingerprinting" of compounds such as drugs and explosives. In addition, non-polar dielectric materials such as clothing, paper, and plastic are transparent to THz, just as they are to microwaves and millimeter waves. These factors, combined with sub-millimeter wavelengths and non-ionizing energy levels, makes sensing in the THz band uniquely suited for many NDE applications. In a typical nondestructive test, the objective is to detect a feature of interest within the object and provide an accurate estimate of some geometrical property of the feature. Notable examples include the thickness of a pharmaceutical tablet coating layer or the 3D location, size, and shape of a flaw or defect in an integrated circuit. While the material properties of the object under test are often tightly controlled and are generally known a priori, many objects of interest exhibit irregular surface topographies such as varying degrees of curvature over the extent of their surfaces. Common THz pulsed imaging (TPI) methods originally developed for objects with planar surfaces have been adapted for objects with curved surfaces through use of mechanical scanning procedures in which measurements are taken at normal incidence over the extent of the surface. While effective, these methods often require expensive robotic arm assemblies, the cost and complexity of which would likely be prohibitive should a large volume of tests be needed to be carried out on a production line. This work presents a robust and efficient physics-based image processing approach based on the mature field of parabolic equation methods, common to undersea acoustics, seismology, and other areas of science and engineering. The method allows the generation of accurate 3D THz tomographic images of objects with irregular, non-planar surfaces using a simple planar scan geometry, thereby facilitating the integration of 3D THz imaging into mainstream NDE use.

Characterizing hydrophobicity of amino acid side chains in a protein environment via measuring contact angle of a water nanodroplet on planar peptide network.

PubMed

Zhu, Chongqin; Gao, Yurui; Li, Hui; Meng, Sheng; Li, Lei; Francisco, Joseph S; Zeng, Xiao Cheng

2016-11-15

Hydrophobicity of macroscopic planar surface is conventionally characterized by the contact angle of water droplets. However, this engineering measurement cannot be directly extended to surfaces of proteins, due to the nanometer scale of amino acids and inherent nonplanar structures. To measure the hydrophobicity of side chains of proteins quantitatively, numerous parameters were developed to characterize behavior of hydrophobic solvation. However, consistency among these parameters is not always apparent. Herein, we demonstrate an alternative way of characterizing hydrophobicity of amino acid side chains in a protein environment by constructing a monolayer of amino acids (i.e., artificial planar peptide network) according to the primary and the β-sheet secondary structures of protein so that the conventional engineering measurement of the contact angle of a water droplet can be brought to bear. Using molecular dynamics simulations, contact angles θ of a water nanodroplet on the planar peptide network, together with excess chemical potentials of purely repulsive methane-sized Weeks-Chandler-Andersen solute, are computed. All of the 20 types of amino acids and the corresponding planar peptide networks are studied. Expectedly, all of the planar peptide networks with nonpolar amino acids are hydrophobic due to θ [Formula: see text] 90°, whereas all of the planar peptide networks of the polar and charged amino acids are hydrophilic due to θ [Formula: see text] 90°. Planar peptide networks of the charged amino acids exhibit complete-wetting behavior due to θ [Formula: see text] 0°. This computational approach for characterization of hydrophobicity can be extended to artificial planar networks of other soft matter.

Simultaneous enhancement of Chlorella vulgaris growth and lipid accumulation through the synergy effect between light and nitrate in a planar waveguide flat-plate photobioreactor.

PubMed

Liao, Qiang; Sun, Yahui; Huang, Yun; Xia, Ao; Fu, Qian; Zhu, Xun

2017-11-01

Interval between adjacent planar waveguides and light intensity emitted from waveguide surface were the primary two factors affecting light distribution characteristics in the planar waveguide flat-plate photobioreactor (PW-PBR). In this paper, the synergy effect between light and nitrate in the PW-PBR was realized to simultaneously enhance microalgae growth and lipid accumulation. Under an interval of 10mm between adjacent planar waveguides, 100% of microalgae cells in regions between adjacent waveguides could be illuminated. Chlorella vulgaris growth and lipid accumulation were synchronously elevated as light intensities emitted from planar waveguide surface increasing. With an identical initial nitrate concentration of 18mM, the maximum lipid content (41.66% in dry biomass) and lipid yield (2200.25mgL -1 ) were attained under 560μmolm -2 s -1 , which were 86.82% and 133.56% higher relative to those obtained under 160μmolm -2 s -1 , respectively. The PW-PBR provides a promising way for microalgae lipid production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shape Effect in the Design of Nanowire Coated Microparticles as Transepithelial Drug Delivery Devices

PubMed Central

Uskoković, Vuk; Lee, Kunwoo; Lee, Phin Peng; Fischer, Kathleen E.; Desai, Tejal A.

2012-01-01

While the oral drug delivery route has traditionally been the most popular among patients, it is estimated that 90 % of therapeutic compounds possess oral bioavailability limitations. Thus, the development of novel drug carriers for more effective oral delivery of therapeutics is an important goal. Composite particles made by growing nanoscopic silicon wires from the surface of narrowly dispersed, microsized silica beads were previously shown to be able to: (a) adhere well onto the epithelium by interdigitating their nanowires with the apical microvilli; and (b) increase the permeability of Caco-2 cell monolayers with respect to small organic molecules in direct proportion to their concentration. A comparison between the effects of spherical and planar particle morphologies on the permeability of the epithelial cell layer in vitro and in vivo presented the subject of this study. Owing to their larger surface area, the planar particles exhibited a higher drug loading efficiency than their spherical counterparts, while simultaneously increasing the transepithelial permeation of a moderately sized model drug, insulin. The insulin elution profile for planar nanowire-coated particles displayed a continual increase in the cumulative amount of the released drug, approaching a constant release rate for 1 – 4 h period of the elution time. An immunohistochemical study confirmed the ability of planar silica particles coated with nanowires to loosen the tight junction of the epithelial cells to a greater extent than the spherical particles did, thus enabling a more facile transport of the drug across the epithelium. Transepithelial permeability tests conducted for model drugs ranging in size from 0.4 to 150 kDa yielded three categories of molecules depending on their permeation propensities. Insulin belonged to the category of molecules deliverable across the epithelium only with the assistance of nanowire-coated particles. Other groups of drugs, smaller and bigger, respectively, either did not need the carrier to permeate the epithelium or were not able to cross it even with the support from the nanowire-coated particles. Bioavailability of insulin orally administered to rabbits was also found to be increased when delivered in conjunction with the nanowire-coated planar particles. PMID:22900471

Object recognition and pose estimation of planar objects from range data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pendleton, Thomas W.; Chien, Chiun Hong; Littlefield, Mark L.; Magee, Michael

1994-01-01

The Extravehicular Activity Helper/Retriever (EVAHR) is a robotic device currently under development at the NASA Johnson Space Center that is designed to fetch objects or to assist in retrieving an astronaut who may have become inadvertently de-tethered. The EVAHR will be required to exhibit a high degree of intelligent autonomous operation and will base much of its reasoning upon information obtained from one or more three-dimensional sensors that it will carry and control. At the highest level of visual cognition and reasoning, the EVAHR will be required to detect objects, recognize them, and estimate their spatial orientation and location. The recognition phase and estimation of spatial pose will depend on the ability of the vision system to reliably extract geometric features of the objects such as whether the surface topologies observed are planar or curved and the spatial relationships between the component surfaces. In order to achieve these tasks, three-dimensional sensing of the operational environment and objects in the environment will therefore be essential. One of the sensors being considered to provide image data for object recognition and pose estimation is a phase-shift laser scanner. The characteristics of the data provided by this scanner have been studied and algorithms have been developed for segmenting range images into planar surfaces, extracting basic features such as surface area, and recognizing the object based on the characteristics of extracted features. Also, an approach has been developed for estimating the spatial orientation and location of the recognized object based on orientations of extracted planes and their intersection points. This paper presents some of the algorithms that have been developed for the purpose of recognizing and estimating the pose of objects as viewed by the laser scanner, and characterizes the desirability and utility of these algorithms within the context of the scanner itself, considering data quality and noise.

Vibrational spectra of individual millimeter-size membrane patches using miniature infrared waveguides.

PubMed Central

Plunkett, S E; Jonas, R E; Braiman, M S

1997-01-01

We have used miniature planar IR waveguides, consisting of Ge strips 30-50 microm thick and 2 mm wide, as evanescent-wave sensors to detect the mid-(IR) evanescent-wave absorbance spectra of small areas of biomolecular monolayers and multilayers. Examples include picomolar quantities of an integral transmembrane protein (bacteriorhodopsin) and lipid (dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine). IR bands due to the protein and lipid components of the plasma membrane of individual 1.5-mm-diameter devitellinized Xenopus laevis oocytes, submerged in buffer and sticking to the waveguide surface, were also detected. A significant improvement in sensitivity was observed, as compared to previous sizes and geometries of evanescent-wave sensors (e.g., commercially available internal reflection elements or tapered optical fibers). These measurements suggest the feasibility of using such miniature supported planar IR waveguides to observe structural changes in transmembrane proteins functioning in vivo in single cells. PMID:9336219

The planar cell polarity protein VANGL2 coordinates remodeling of the extracellular matrix

PubMed Central

Williams, B. Blairanne; Mundell, Nathan; Dunlap, Julie; Jessen, Jason

2012-01-01

Understanding how planar cell polarity (PCP) is established, maintained, and coordinated in migrating cell populations is an important area of research with implications for both embryonic morphogenesis and tumor cell invasion. We recently reported that the PCP protein Vang-like 2 (VANGL2) regulates the endocytosis and cell surface level of membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MMP14 or MT1-MMP). Here, we further discuss these findings in terms of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, cell migration, and zebrafish gastrulation. We also demonstrate that VANGL2 function impacts the focal degradation of ECM by human cancer cells including the formation or stability of invadopodia. Together, our findings implicate MMP14 as a downstream effector of VANGL2 signaling and suggest a model whereby the regulation of pericellular proteolysis is a fundamental aspect of PCP in migrating cells. PMID:23060953

Generalized Models for Rock Joint Surface Shapes

PubMed Central

Du, Shigui; Hu, Yunjin; Hu, Xiaofei

2014-01-01

Generalized models of joint surface shapes are the foundation for mechanism studies on the mechanical effects of rock joint surface shapes. Based on extensive field investigations of rock joint surface shapes, generalized models for three level shapes named macroscopic outline, surface undulating shape, and microcosmic roughness were established through statistical analyses of 20,078 rock joint surface profiles. The relative amplitude of profile curves was used as a borderline for the division of different level shapes. The study results show that the macroscopic outline has three basic features such as planar, arc-shaped, and stepped; the surface undulating shape has three basic features such as planar, undulating, and stepped; and the microcosmic roughness has two basic features such as smooth and rough. PMID:25152901

Infrared evanescent field sensing with quantum cascade lasers and planar silver halide waveguides.

PubMed

Charlton, Christy; Katzir, Abraham; Mizaikoff, Boris

2005-07-15

We demonstrate the first midinfrared evanescent field absorption measurements with an InGaAs/AlInAs/InP distributed feedback (DFB) quantum cascade laser (QCL) light source operated at room temperature coupled to a free-standing, thin-film, planar, silver halide waveguide. Two different analytes, each matched to the emission frequency of a QCL, were investigated to verify the potential of this technique. The emission of a 1650 cm(-1) QCL overlaps with the amide absorption band of urea, which was deposited from methanol solution, forming urea crystals at the waveguide surface after solvent evaporation. Solid urea was detected down to 80.7 microg of precipitate at the waveguide surface. The emission frequency of a 974 cm(-1) QCL overlaps with the CH3-C absorption feature of acetic anhydride. Solutions of acetic anhydride in acetonitrile have been detected down to a volume of 0.01 microL (10.8 microg) of acetic anhydride solution after deposition at the planar waveguide (PWG) surface. Free-standing, thin-film, planar, silver halide waveguides were produced by press-tapering heated, cylindrical, silver halide fiber segments to create waveguides with a thickness of 300-190 microm, a width of 3 mm, and a length of 35 mm. In addition, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) evanescent field absorption measurements with planar silver halide waveguides and transmission absorption QCL measurements verify the obtained results.

Si/InGaN core/shell hierarchical nanowire arrays and their photoelectrochemical properties.

PubMed

Hwang, Yun Jeong; Wu, Cheng Hao; Hahn, Chris; Jeong, Hoon Eui; Yang, Peidong

2012-03-14

Three-dimensional hierarchical nanostructures were synthesized by the halide chemical vapor deposition of InGaN nanowires on Si wire arrays. Single phase InGaN nanowires grew vertically on the sidewalls of Si wires and acted as a high surface area photoanode for solar water splitting. Electrochemical measurements showed that the photocurrent density with hierarchical Si/InGaN nanowire arrays increased by 5 times compared to the photocurrent density with InGaN nanowire arrays grown on planar Si (1.23 V vs RHE). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy showed that InGaN nanowires are stable after 15 h of illumination. These measurements show that Si/InGaN hierarchical nanostructures are a viable high surface area electrode geometry for solar water splitting. © 2012 American Chemical Society

In-plane pitch control of cholesteric liquid crystals by formation of artificial domains via patterned photopolymerization.

PubMed

Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Miura, Yusuke; Tokuoka, Kazuki; Suzuki, Satoshi; Fujii, Akihiko; Ozaki, Masanori

2008-11-10

A controlled helix pitch modulation in the in-plane direction of a planarly aligned cholesteric liquid crystal cell is demonstrated by using photopolymerizable cholesteric liquid crystals. By fabricating artificial domains with a closed volume via two-photon excitation laser-lithography, the degree of pitch modulation could be controlled by adjusting the surface area to volume ratio of the domain. A pitch modulation of over 60 nm was realized by designing the shape of the artificial domain.

Negative refraction and planar focusing based on parity-time symmetric metasurfaces.

PubMed

Fleury, Romain; Sounas, Dimitrios L; Alù, Andrea

2014-07-11

We introduce a new mechanism to realize negative refraction and planar focusing using a pair of parity-time symmetric metasurfaces. In contrast to existing solutions that achieve these effects with negative-index metamaterials or phase conjugating surfaces, the proposed parity-time symmetric lens enables loss-free, all-angle negative refraction and planar focusing in free space, without relying on bulk metamaterials or nonlinear effects. This concept may represent a pivotal step towards loss-free negative refraction and highly efficient planar focusing by exploiting the largely uncharted scattering properties of parity-time symmetric systems.

Method for atmospheric pressure reactive atom plasma processing for surface modification

DOEpatents

Carr, Jeffrey W [Livermore, CA

2009-09-22

Reactive atom plasma processing can be used to shape, polish, planarize and clean the surfaces of difficult materials with minimal subsurface damage. The apparatus and methods use a plasma torch, such as a conventional ICP torch. The workpiece and plasma torch are moved with respect to each other, whether by translating and/or rotating the workpiece, the plasma, or both. The plasma discharge from the torch can be used to shape, planarize, polish, and/or clean the surface of the workpiece, as well as to thin the workpiece. The processing may cause minimal or no damage to the workpiece underneath the surface, and may involve removing material from the surface of the workpiece.

Novel patterning of CdS / CdTe thin film with back contacts for photovoltaic application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ilango, Murugaiya Sridar; Ramasesha, Sheela K.

2018-04-01

The heterostructure of patterned CdS / CdTe thin films with back contact have been devised with electron beam lithography and fabricated using sputter deposition technique. The metallic contacts for n-CdS and p-CdTe are patterned such that both are placed at the bottom of the cell. This avoids losses due to contact shading and increases absorption in the window layer. Patterning of the device surface helps in increasing the junction area which can modulate the absorption of more number of photons due to total internal reflection. Computing the surface area between a planar and a patterned device has revealed 133% increase in the junction area. The physical and optical properties of the sputter-deposited CdS / CdTe layers are also presented. J- V characteristics of the solar cell showed the fill factor to be 25.9%, open circuit voltage to be 17 mV and short-circuit current density to be 113.68 A/m2. The increase in surface area is directly related to the increase in the short circuit current of the photovoltaic cell, which is observed from the results of simulated model in Atlas / Silvaco.

Effect of planar cuts' orientation on the perceived surface layout and object's shape.

PubMed

Bocheva, Nadejda

2009-07-01

The effect of the orientation of the cutting planes producing planar curves over the surface of an object on its perceived pose and shape was investigated for line drawings representing three-dimensional objects. The results suggest that the orientational flow produced by the surface curves introduces an apparent object rotation in depth and in the image plane and changes in its perceived elongation. The apparent location of the nearest points is determined by the points of maximal view-dependent unsigned curvature of the surface curves. The data are discussed in relation to the interaction of the shape-from-silhouette system and shape-from-contour system and its effect on the interpretation of the surface contours with respect to the surface geometry.

Heat transfer device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eaton, L. R. (Inventor)

1976-01-01

An improved heat transfer device particularly suited for use as an evaporator plate in a diffusion cloud chamber. The device is characterized by a pair of mutually spaced heat transfer plates, each being of a planar configuration, having a pair of opposed surfaces defining therebetween a heat pipe chamber. Within the heat pipe chamber, in contiguous relation with the pair of opposed surfaces, there is disposed a pair of heat pipe wicks supported in a mutually spaced relationship by a foraminous spacer of a planar configuration. A wick including a foraminous layer is contiguously related to the external surfaces of the heat transfer plates for uniformly wetting these surfaces.

Electrochemical properties of nanostructured porous gold electrodes in biofouling solutions.

PubMed

Patel, Jay; Radhakrishnan, Logudurai; Zhao, Bo; Uppalapati, Badharinadh; Daniels, Rodney C; Ward, Kevin R; Collinson, Maryanne M

2013-12-03

The effect of electrode porosity on the electrochemical response of redox active molecules (potassium ferricyanide, ruthenium(III) hexammine, and ferrocene methanol) in the presence of bovine serum albumin or fibrinogen was studied at macroporous (pore diameter: 1200 nm), hierarchical (1200/60 nm), and nanoporous (<50 nm) gold. These electrodes were prepared using standard templating or dealloying techniques, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) was utilized to evaluate the effect of protein adsorption on the electron transfer of the diffusing redox probes. Following exposure to albumin (or fibrinogen) under near neutral pH conditions, planar gold electrodes showed an immediate reduction in Faradaic peak current and increase in peak splitting for potassium ferricyanide. The rate at which the CV curves changed was highly dependent on the morphology of the electrode. For example, the time required for the Faradaic current to drop to one-half of its original value was 3, 12, and 38 min for planar gold, macroporous gold, and hierarchical gold, respectively. Remarkably, for nanoporous gold, only a few percent drop in the peak Faradaic current was observed after an hour in solution. A similar suppression in the voltammetry at planar gold was also noted for ruthenium hexammine at pH 3 after exposure to albumin for several hours. At nanoporous gold, no significant loss in response was observed. The order of performance of the electrodes as judged by their ability to efficiently transfer electrons in the presence of biofouling agents tracked porosity with the electrode having the smallest pore size and largest surface area, providing near ideal results. Nanoporous gold electrodes when immersed in serum or heparinized blood containing potassium ferricyanide showed ideal voltammetry while significant fouling was evident in the electrochemical response at planar gold. The small nanopores in this 3D open framework are believed to restrict the transport of large biomolecules, thus minimizing passivation of the inner surfaces while permitting access to small redox probes to efficiently exchange electrons.

How much does geometry of seismic sources matter in tsunami modeling? A sensitivity analysis for the Calabrian subduction interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonini, R.; Maesano, F. E.; Tiberti, M. M.; Romano, F.; Scala, A.; Lorito, S.; Volpe, M.; Basili, R.

2017-12-01

The geometry of seismogenic sources could be one of the most important factors concurring to control the generation and the propagation of earthquake-generated tsunamis and their effects on the coasts. Since the majority of potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes occur offshore, the corresponding faults are generally poorly constrained and, consequently, their geometry is often oversimplified as a planar fault. The rupture area of mega-thrust earthquakes in subduction zones, where most of the greatest tsunamis have occurred, extends for tens to hundreds of kilometers both down dip and along strike, and generally deviates from the planar geometry. Therefore, the larger the earthquake size is, the weaker the planar fault assumption become. In this work, we present a sensitivity analysis aimed to explore the effects on modeled tsunamis generated by seismic sources with different degrees of geometric complexities. We focused on the Calabrian subduction zone, located in the Mediterranean Sea, which is characterized by the convergence between the African and European plates, with rates of up to 5 mm/yr. This subduction zone has been considered to have generated some past large earthquakes and tsunamis, despite it shows only in-slab significant seismic activity below 40 km depth and no relevant seismicity in the shallower portion of the interface. Our analysis is performed by defining and modeling an exhaustive set of tsunami scenarios located in the Calabrian subduction and using different models of the subduction interface with increasing geometrical complexity, from a planar surface to a highly detailed 3D surface. The latter was obtained from the interpretation of a dense network of seismic reflection profiles coupled with the analysis of the seismicity distribution. The more relevant effects due to the inclusion of 3D complexities in the seismic source geometry are finally highlighted in terms of the resulting tsunami impact.

External-Compression Supersonic Inlet Design Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, John W.

2011-01-01

A computer code named SUPIN has been developed to perform aerodynamic design and analysis of external-compression, supersonic inlets. The baseline set of inlets include axisymmetric pitot, two-dimensional single-duct, axisymmetric outward-turning, and two-dimensional bifurcated-duct inlets. The aerodynamic methods are based on low-fidelity analytical and numerical procedures. The geometric methods are based on planar geometry elements. SUPIN has three modes of operation: 1) generate the inlet geometry from a explicit set of geometry information, 2) size and design the inlet geometry and analyze the aerodynamic performance, and 3) compute the aerodynamic performance of a specified inlet geometry. The aerodynamic performance quantities includes inlet flow rates, total pressure recovery, and drag. The geometry output from SUPIN includes inlet dimensions, cross-sectional areas, coordinates of planar profiles, and surface grids suitable for input to grid generators for analysis by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The input data file for SUPIN and the output file from SUPIN are text (ASCII) files. The surface grid files are output as formatted Plot3D or stereolithography (STL) files. SUPIN executes in batch mode and is available as a Microsoft Windows executable and Fortran95 source code with a makefile for Linux.

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

Checco, A.; Hofmann, T.; DiMasi, E.

The details of air nanobubble trapping at the interface between water and a nanostructured hydrophobic silicon surface are investigated using X-ray scattering and contact angle measurements. Large-area silicon surfaces containing hexagonally packed, 20 nm wide hydrophobic cavities provide ideal model surfaces for studying the morphology of air nanobubbles trapped inside cavities and its dependence on the cavity depth. Transmission small-angle X-ray scattering measurements show stable trapping of air inside the cavities with a partial water penetration of 5-10 nm into the pores, independent of their large depth variation. This behavior is explained by consideration of capillary effects and the cavitymore » geometry. For parabolic cavities, the liquid can reach a thermodynamically stable configuration - a nearly planar nanobubble meniscus - by partially penetrating into the pores. This microscopic information correlates very well with the macroscopic surface wetting behavior.« less

Pressure cell for investigations of solid-liquid interfaces by neutron reflectivity.

PubMed

Kreuzer, Martin; Kaltofen, Thomas; Steitz, Roland; Zehnder, Beat H; Dahint, Reiner

2011-02-01

We describe an apparatus for measuring scattering length density and structure of molecular layers at planar solid-liquid interfaces under high hydrostatic pressure conditions. The device is designed for in situ characterizations utilizing neutron reflectometry in the pressure range 0.1-100 MPa at temperatures between 5 and 60 °C. The pressure cell is constructed such that stratified molecular layers on crystalline substrates of silicon, quartz, or sapphire with a surface area of 28 cm(2) can be investigated against noncorrosive liquid phases. The large substrate surface area enables reflectivity to be measured down to 10(-5) (without background correction) and thus facilitates determination of the scattering length density profile across the interface as a function of applied load. Our current interest is on the stability of oligolamellar lipid coatings on silicon surfaces against aqueous phases as a function of applied hydrostatic pressure and temperature but the device can also be employed to probe the structure of any other solid-liquid interface.

Biologically Complex Planar Cell Plasma Membranes Supported on Polyelectrolyte Cushions Enhance Transmembrane Protein Mobility and Retain Native Orientation.

PubMed

Liu, Han-Yuan; Chen, Wei-Liang; Ober, Christopher K; Daniel, Susan

2018-01-23

Reconstituted supported lipid bilayers (SLB) are widely used as in vitro cell-surface models because they are compatible with a variety of surface-based analytical techniques. However, one of the challenges of using SLBs as a model of the cell surface is the limited complexity in membrane composition, including the incorporation of transmembrane proteins and lipid diversity that may impact the activity of those proteins. Additionally, it is challenging to preserve the transmembrane protein native orientation, function, and mobility in SLBs. Here, we leverage the interaction between cell plasma membrane vesicles and polyelectrolyte brushes to create planar bilayers from cell plasma membrane vesicles that have budded from the cell surface. This approach promotes the direct incorporation of membrane proteins and other species into the planar bilayer without using detergent or reconstitution and preserves membrane constituents. Furthermore, the structure of the polyelectrolyte brush serves as a cushion between the planar bilayer and rigid supporting surface, limiting the interaction of the cytosolic domains of membrane proteins with this surface. Single particle tracking was used to analyze the motion of GPI-linked yellow fluorescent proteins (GPI-YFP) and neon-green fused transmembrane P2X2 receptors (P2X2-neon) and shows that this platform retains over 75% mobility of multipass transmembrane proteins in its native membrane environment. An enzyme accessibility assay confirmed that the protein orientation is preserved and results in the extracellular domain facing toward the bulk phase and the cytosolic side facing the support. Because the platform presented here retains the complexity of the cell plasma membrane and preserves protein orientation and mobility, it is a better representative mimic of native cell surfaces, which may find many applications in biological assays aimed at understanding cell membrane phenomena.

Correlation between surface reconstruction and polytypism in InAs nanowire selective area epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ziyang; Merckling, Clement; Rooyackers, Rita; Richard, Olivier; Bender, Hugo; Mols, Yves; Vila, María; Rubio-Zuazo, Juan; Castro, Germán R.; Collaert, Nadine; Thean, Aaron; Vandervorst, Wilfried; Heyns, Marc

2017-12-01

The mechanism of widely observed intermixing of wurtzite and zinc-blende crystal structures in InAs nanowire (NW) grown by selective area epitaxy (SAE) is studied. We demonstrate that the crystal structure in InAs NW grown by SAE can be controlled using basic growth parameters, and wurtzitelike InAs NWs are achieved. We link the polytypic InAs NWs SAE to the reconstruction of the growth front (111)B surface. Surface reconstruction study of InAs (111) substrate and the following homoepitaxy experiment suggest that (111) planar defect nucleation is related to the (1 × 1) reconstruction of InAs (111)B surface. In order to reveal it more clearly, a model is presented to correlate growth temperature and arsenic partial pressure with InAs NW crystal structure. This model considers the transition between (1 × 1) and (2 × 2) surface reconstructions in the frame of adatom atoms adsorption/desorption, and the polytypism is thus linked to reconstruction quantitatively. The experimental data fit well with the model, which highly suggests that surface reconstruction plays an important role in the polytypism phenomenon in InAs NWs SAE.

Highly Efficient and Uniform 1 cm2 Perovskite Solar Cells with an Electrochemically Deposited NiOx Hole-Extraction Layer.

PubMed

Park, Ik Jae; Kang, Gyeongho; Park, Min Ah; Kim, Ju Seong; Seo, Se Won; Kim, Dong Hoe; Zhu, Kai; Park, Taiho; Kim, Jin Young

2017-06-22

Given that the highest certified conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC) already exceeds 22 %, which is even higher than that of the polycrystalline silicon solar cell, the significance of new scalable processes that can be utilized for preparing large-area devices and their commercialization is rapidly increasing. From this perspective, the electrodeposition method is one of the most suitable processes for preparing large-area devices because it is an already commercialized process with proven controllability and scalability. Here, a highly uniform NiO x layer prepared by electrochemical deposition is reported as an efficient hole-extraction layer of a p-i-n-type planar PSC with a large active area of >1 cm 2 . It is demonstrated that the increased surface roughness of the NiO x layer, achieved by controlling the deposition current density, facilitates the hole extraction at the interface between perovskite and NiO x , and thus increases the fill factor and the conversion efficiency. The electrochemically deposited NiO x layer also exhibits extremely uniform thickness and morphology, leading to highly efficient and uniform large-area PSCs. As a result, the p-i-n-type planar PSC with an area of 1.084 cm 2 exhibits a stable conversion efficiency of 17.0 % (19.2 % for 0.1 cm 2 ) without showing hysteresis effects. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Highly Efficient and Uniform 1 cm 2 Perovskite Solar Cells with an Electrochemically Deposited NiO x Hole-Extraction Layer

DOE PAGES

Park, Ik Jae; Kang, Gyeongho; Park, Min Ah; ...

2017-05-10

Here, given that the highest certified conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC) already exceeds 22%, which is even higher than that of the polycrystalline silicon solar cell, the significance of new scalable processes that can be utilized for preparing large-area devices and their commercialization is rapidly increasing. From this perspective, the electrodeposition method is one of the most suitable processes for preparing large-area devices because it is an already commercialized process with proven controllability and scalability. Here, a highly uniform NiO x layer prepared by electrochemical deposition is reported as an efficient hole-extraction layer of a p-i-n-typemore » planar PSC with a large active area of >1 cm 2. It is demonstrated that the increased surface roughness of the NiO x layer, achieved by controlling the deposition current density, facilitates the hole extraction at the interface between perovskite and NiO x, and thus increases the fill factor and the conversion efficiency. The electrochemically deposited NiO x layer also exhibits extremely uniform thickness and morphology, leading to highly efficient and uniform large-area PSCs. As a result, the p-i-n-type planar PSC with an area of 1.084 cm 2 exhibits a stable conversion efficiency of 17.0% (19.2% for 0.1 cm 2) without showing hysteresis effects.« less

Novel planar field emission of ultra-thin individual carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Song, Xuefeng; Gao, Jingyun; Fu, Qiang; Xu, Jun; Zhao, Qing; Yu, Dapeng

2009-10-07

In this work, we proposed and realized a new prototype of planar field emission device based on as-grown individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of a Si-SiO2 substrate. The anode, cathode and the CNT tip all lie on the same surface, so the electron emission is reduced from three-dimensional to two-dimensional. The benefits of such a design include usage of thinner CNT emitters, integrity with planar technology, stable construction, better heat dissipation, etc. A tip-to-tip field emission device was presented besides the tip-to-electrode one. Real-time, in situ observation of the planar field emission was realized in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Measurements showed that the minimum voltage for 10 nA field emission current was only 8.0 V and the maximum emission current density in an individual CNT emitter (1.0 nm in diameter) exceeded 5.7 x 10(8) A cm(-2). These results stand out in the comparison with recent works on individual CNT field emission, indicating that the planar devices based on ultra-thin individual CNTs are more competitive candidates for next-generation electron field emitters.

A Geometric Model for Specularity Prediction on Planar Surfaces with Multiple Light Sources.

PubMed

Morgand, Alexandre; Tamaazousti, Mohamed; Bartoli, Adrien

2018-05-01

Specularities are often problematic in computer vision since they impact the dynamic range of the image intensity. A natural approach would be to predict and discard them using computer graphics models. However, these models depend on parameters which are difficult to estimate (light sources, objects' material properties and camera). We present a geometric model called JOLIMAS: JOint LIght-MAterial Specularity, which predicts the shape of specularities. JOLIMAS is reconstructed from images of specularities observed on a planar surface. It implicitly includes light and material properties, which are intrinsic to specularities. This model was motivated by the observation that specularities have a conic shape on planar surfaces. The conic shape is obtained by projecting a fixed quadric on the planar surface. JOLIMAS thus predicts the specularity using a simple geometric approach with static parameters (object material and light source shape). It is adapted to indoor light sources such as light bulbs and fluorescent lamps. The prediction has been tested on synthetic and real sequences. It works in a multi-light context by reconstructing a quadric for each light source with special cases such as lights being switched on or off. We also used specularity prediction for dynamic retexturing and obtained convincing rendering results. Further results are presented as supplementary video material, which can be found on the Computer Society Digital Library at http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TVCG.2017.2677445.

Formation of highly planarized Ni-W electrodeposits for glass imprinting mold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasui, Manabu; Kaneko, Satoru; Kurouchi, Masahito; Ito, Hiroaki; Ozawa, Takeshi; Arai, Masahiro

2017-01-01

We confirmed that increasing the total metal concentration is effective for the planarization of Ni-W films and Ni-W nanopatterns formed with a uniform height and a 480 nm pitch. At the same time, the W content in Ni-W films decreased. We investigated the relationship between the planarization of Ni-W films and the W content in Ni-W films, and confirmed that increasing the total metal concentration is effective for the inhibition of hydrogen generation. We pointed to the inhibition of hydrogen gas generation as a cause of the planarization of Ni-W films, and the reduction in the hydrogen generation amount necessary for the deposition of W as a cause of the reduction in the W content in Ni-W films. In order to obtain a flat plating film with a high W content, it is necessary to generate an adequate amount of hydrogen on the surface of the cathode and to remove hydrogen gas from the cathode surface immediately.

[DNA complexes, formed on aqueous phase surfaces: new planar polymeric and composite nanostructures].

PubMed

Antipina, M N; Gaĭnutdinov, R V; Rakhnianskaia, A A; Sergeev-Cherenkov, A N; Tolstikhina, A L; Iurova, T V; Kislov, V V; Khomutov, G B

2003-01-01

The formation of DNA complexes with Langmuir monolayers of the cationic lipid octadecylamine (ODA) and the new amphiphilic polycation poly-4-vinylpyridine with 16% of cetylpyridinium groups (PVP-16) on the surface of an aqueous solution of native DNA of low ionic strength was studied. Topographic images of Langmuir-Blodgett films of DNA/ODA and DNA/PVP-16 complexes applied to micaceous substrates were investigated by the method of atomic force microscopy. It was found that films of the amphiphilic polycation have an ordered planar polycrystalline structure. The morphology of planar DNA complexes with the amphiphilic cation substantially depended on the incubation time and the phase state of the monolayer on the surface of the aqueous DNA solution. Complex structures and individual DNA molecules were observed on the surface of the amphiphilic monolayer. Along with quasi-linear individual bound DNA molecules, characteristic extended net-like structures and quasi-circular toroidal condensed conformations of planar DNA complexes were detected. Mono- and multilayer films of DNA/PVP-16 complexes were used as templates and nanoreactors for the synthesis of inorganic nanostructures via the binding of metal cations from the solution and subsequent generation of the inorganic phase. As a result, ultrathin polymeric composite films with integrated DNA building blocks and quasi-linear arrays of inorganic semiconductor (CdS) and iron oxide nanoparticles and nanowires were obtained. The nanostructures obtained were characterized by scanning probe microscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The methods developed are promising for investigating the mechanisms of structural organization and transformation in DNA and polyelectrolyte complexes at the gas-liquid interface and for the design of new extremely thin highly ordered planar polymeric and composite materials, films, and coatings with controlled ultrastructure for applications in nanoelectronics and nanobiotechnology.

First-order curvature corrections to the surface tension of multicomponent systems.

PubMed

Boltachev, Grey Sh; Baidakov, Vladimir G; Schmelzer, Jürn W P

2003-08-01

The dependence of surface tension on curvature is investigated for the case of an equilibrium phase coexistence in multicomponent systems. Employing Gibbs's method of description of heterogeneous systems, an equation is derived to determine the dependence of surface tension on curvature for widely arbitrary paths of variation of the independent thermodynamic parameters. It is supposed hereby merely that the temperature is kept constant and that the variations of the different molar fractions are such that the radius of the dividing surface varies monotonically in dependence on the change of the state parameters of the ambient phase along any of the chosen paths. In the analysis, an approach developed by Blokhuis and Bedeaux for one-component systems is utilized. It relies on the expansion of the surface free energy on curvature of the dividing surface. An equation is derived that connects the first-order correction term in the expansion with the interaction potential of the particles in the multicomponent solution and with the two-particle distribution functions in the planar interfacial layer between the two phases coexisting in equilibrium at planar interfaces. The connection of the first-order curvature correction to the surface tension and the first moment of the pressure tensor at a planar interface is analyzed as well.

Mode structure of planar optical antennas on dielectric substrates

DOE PAGES

Word, Robert C.; Konenkamp, Rolf

2016-08-08

Here, we report a numerical study, supported by photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), of sub-micron planar optical antennas on transparent substrate. We find these antennas generate intricate near-field spatial field distributions with odd and even numbers of nodes. We show that the field distributions are primarily superpositions of planar surface plasmon polariton modes confined to the metal/substrate interface. The mode structure provides opportunities for coherent switching and optical control in sub-micron volumes.

Three-dimensional curved grid finite-difference modelling for non-planar rupture dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhenguo; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Xiaofei

2014-11-01

In this study, we present a new method for simulating the 3-D dynamic rupture process occurring on a non-planar fault. The method is based on the curved-grid finite-difference method (CG-FDM) proposed by Zhang & Chen and Zhang et al. to simulate the propagation of seismic waves in media with arbitrary irregular surface topography. While keeping the advantages of conventional FDM, that is computational efficiency and easy implementation, the CG-FDM also is flexible in modelling the complex fault model by using general curvilinear grids, and thus is able to model the rupture dynamics of a fault with complex geometry, such as oblique dipping fault, non-planar fault, fault with step-over, fault branching, even if irregular topography exists. The accuracy and robustness of this new method have been validated by comparing with the previous results of Day et al., and benchmarks for rupture dynamics simulations. Finally, two simulations of rupture dynamics with complex fault geometry, that is a non-planar fault and a fault rupturing a free surface with topography, are presented. A very interesting phenomenon was observed that topography can weaken the tendency for supershear transition to occur when rupture breaks out at a free surface. Undoubtedly, this new method provides an effective, at least an alternative, tool to simulate the rupture dynamics of a complex non-planar fault, and can be applied to model the rupture dynamics of a real earthquake with complex geometry.

Automated AFM for small-scale and large-scale surface profiling in CMP applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zandiatashbar, Ardavan; Kim, Byong; Yoo, Young-kook; Lee, Keibock; Jo, Ahjin; Lee, Ju Suk; Cho, Sang-Joon; Park, Sang-il

2018-03-01

As the feature size is shrinking in the foundries, the need for inline high resolution surface profiling with versatile capabilities is increasing. One of the important areas of this need is chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. We introduce a new generation of atomic force profiler (AFP) using decoupled scanners design. The system is capable of providing small-scale profiling using XY scanner and large-scale profiling using sliding stage. Decoupled scanners design enables enhanced vision which helps minimizing the positioning error for locations of interest in case of highly polished dies. Non-Contact mode imaging is another feature of interest in this system which is used for surface roughness measurement, automatic defect review, and deep trench measurement. Examples of the measurements performed using the atomic force profiler are demonstrated.

Overland flow connectivity on planar patchy hillslopes - modified percolation theory approaches and combinatorial model of urns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nezlobin, David; Pariente, Sarah; Lavee, Hanoch; Sachs, Eyal

2017-04-01

Source-sink systems are very common in hydrology; in particular, some land cover types often generate runoff (e.g. embedded rocks, bare soil) , while other obstruct it (e.g. vegetation, cracked soil). Surface runoff coefficients of patchy slopes/plots covered by runoff generating and obstructing covers (e.g., bare soil and vegetation) depend critically on the percentage cover (i.e. sources/sinks abundance) and decrease strongly with observation scale. The classic mathematical percolation theory provides a powerful apparatus for describing the runoff connectivity on patchy hillslopes, but it ignores strong effect of the overland flow directionality. To overcome this and other difficulties, modified percolation theory approaches can be considered, such as straight percolation (for the planar slopes), quasi-straight percolation and models with limited obstruction. These approaches may explain both the observed critical dependence of runoff coefficients on percentage cover and their scale decrease in systems with strong flow directionality (e.g. planar slopes). The contributing area increases sharply when the runoff generating percentage cover approaches the straight percolation threshold. This explains the strong increase of the surface runoff and erosion for relatively low values (normally less than 35%) of the obstructing cover (e.g., vegetation). Combinatorial models of urns with restricted occupancy can be applied for the analytic evaluation of meaningful straight percolation quantities, such as NOGA's (Non-Obstructed Generating Area) expected value and straight percolation probability. It is shown that the nature of the cover-related runoff scale decrease is combinatorial - the probability for the generated runoff to avoid obstruction in unit area decreases with scale for the non-trivial percentage cover values. The magnitude of the scale effect is found to be a skewed non-monotonous function of the percentage cover. It is shown that the cover-related scale effect becomes less prominent if the obstructing capacity decreases, as generally occurs during heavy rainfalls. The plot width have a moderate positive statistical effect on runoff and erosion coefficients, since wider patchy plots have, on average, a greater normalized contributing area and a higher probability to have runoff of a certain length. The effect of plot width depends by itself on the percentage cover, plot length, and compared width scales. The contributing area uncertainty brought about by cover spatial arrangement is examined, including its dependence on the percentage cover and scale. In general, modified percolation theory approaches and combinatorial models of urns with restricted occupancy may link between critical dependence of runoff on percentage cover, cover-related scale effect, and statistical uncertainty of the observed quantities.

Use of chemical mechanical polishing in micromachining

DOEpatents

Nasby, Robert D.; Hetherington, Dale L.; Sniegowski, Jeffry J.; McWhorter, Paul J.; Apblett, Christopher A.

1998-01-01

A process for removing topography effects during fabrication of micromachines. A sacrificial oxide layer is deposited over a level containing functional elements with etched valleys between the elements such that the sacrificial layer has sufficient thickness to fill the valleys and extend in thickness upwards to the extent that the lowest point on the upper surface of the oxide layer is at least as high as the top surface of the functional elements in the covered level. The sacrificial oxide layer is then polished down and planarized by chemical-mechanical polishing. Another layer of functional elements is then formed upon this new planarized surface.

Contact planarization of ensemble nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chia, A. C. E.; LaPierre, R. R.

2011-06-01

The viability of four organic polymers (S1808, SC200, SU8 and Cyclotene) as filling materials to achieve planarization of ensemble nanowire arrays is reported. Analysis of the porosity, surface roughness and thermal stability of each filling material was performed. Sonication was used as an effective method to remove the tops of the nanowires (NWs) to achieve complete planarization. Ensemble nanowire devices were fully fabricated and I-V measurements confirmed that Cyclotene effectively planarizes the NWs while still serving the role as an insulating layer between the top and bottom contacts. These processes and analysis can be easily implemented into future characterization and fabrication of ensemble NWs for optoelectronic device applications.

Contact planarization of ensemble nanowires.

PubMed

Chia, A C E; LaPierre, R R

2011-06-17

The viability of four organic polymers (S1808, SC200, SU8 and Cyclotene) as filling materials to achieve planarization of ensemble nanowire arrays is reported. Analysis of the porosity, surface roughness and thermal stability of each filling material was performed. Sonication was used as an effective method to remove the tops of the nanowires (NWs) to achieve complete planarization. Ensemble nanowire devices were fully fabricated and I-V measurements confirmed that Cyclotene effectively planarizes the NWs while still serving the role as an insulating layer between the top and bottom contacts. These processes and analysis can be easily implemented into future characterization and fabrication of ensemble NWs for optoelectronic device applications.

Detecting Planar Surfaces in Outdoor Urban Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

coplanar or parallel scene points and lines. Sturm and Maybank (18) perform 3D reconstruction given user-provided coplanarity, perpendicularity, and... Maybank , S. J. A method for intactive 3d reconstruction of piercewise planar objects from single images. in BMVC, 1999, 265–274 [19] Schaffalitzky, F

Enhanced ionic conductivity in planar sodium-β"-alumina electrolyte for electrochemical energy storage applications.

PubMed

La Rosa, Daniela; Monforte, Giuseppe; D'Urso, Claudia; Baglio, Vincenzo; Antonucci, Vincenzo; Aricò, Antonino S

2010-12-17

Solid Na-β"-Al₂O₃ electrolyte is prepared by a simple chemical route involving a pseudo-boehmite precursor and thermal treatment. Boehmite powder is used for manufacturing the planar electrolyte with appropriate bulk density after firing at 1500 °C. The structure, morphology, and surface properties of precursor powders and sintered electrolytes are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As shown by XRD and TEM analyses, nanometer-sized particles are obtained for the boehmite precursor and a pure crystallographic phase is achieved for the sintered electrolyte. SEM analysis of the cross-section indicates good sintering characteristics. XPS shows a higher Na/Al atomic ratio on the surface for the planar electrolyte compared to a commercial tubular electrolyte (0.57 vs. 0.46). Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) shows an Na/Al ratio in the bulk of 0.16, similar in the two samples. The ionic conductivity of the planar electrolyte is larger than that measured on a commercial tube of sodium-β"-alumina in a wide temperature range. At 350 °C, conductivity values of 0.5 S cm⁻¹ and 0.26 S cm⁻¹ are obtained for the planar electrolyte and the commercial tube, respectively. AC-impedance spectra show smaller grain boundary effects in the planar electrolyte than in the tubular electrolyte. These favorable properties may increase the perspectives for applying planar Na-β"-Al₂O₃ electrolytes in high-temperature batteries.

Surface Location In Scene Content Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, E. L.; Tio, J. B. K.; McPherson, C. A.; Hwang, J. J.

1981-12-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe techniques and algorithms for the location in three dimensions of planar and curved object surfaces using a computer vision approach. Stereo imaging techniques are demonstrated for planar object surface location using automatic segmentation, vertex location and relational table matching. For curved surfaces, the locations of corresponding 'points is very difficult. However, an example using a grid projection technique for the location of the surface of a curved cup is presented to illustrate a solution. This method consists of first obtaining the perspective transformation matrix from the images, then using these matrices to compute the three dimensional point locations of the grid points on the surface. These techniques may be used in object location for such applications as missile guidance, robotics, and medical diagnosis and treatment.

Flame surface statistics of constant-pressure turbulent expanding premixed flames

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Abhishek; Chaudhuri, Swetaprovo; Law, Chung K.

2014-04-01

In this paper we investigate the local flame surface statistics of constant-pressure turbulent expanding flames. First the statistics of local length ratio is experimentally determined from high-speed planar Mie scattering images of spherically expanding flames, with the length ratio on the measurement plane, at predefined equiangular sectors, defined as the ratio of the actual flame length to the length of a circular-arc of radius equal to the average radius of the flame. Assuming isotropic distribution of such flame segments we then convolute suitable forms of the length-ratio probability distribution functions (pdfs) to arrive at the corresponding area-ratio pdfs. It is found that both the length ratio and area ratio pdfs are near log-normally distributed and shows self-similar behavior with increasing radius. Near log-normality and rather intermittent behavior of the flame-length ratio suggests similarity with dissipation rate quantities which stimulates multifractal analysis.

Two-probe STM experiments at the atomic level.

PubMed

Kolmer, Marek; Olszowski, Piotr; Zuzak, Rafal; Godlewski, Szymon; Joachim, Christian; Szymonski, Marek

2017-11-08

Direct characterization of planar atomic or molecular scale devices and circuits on a supporting surface by multi-probe measurements requires unprecedented stability of single atom contacts and manipulation of scanning probes over large, nanometer scale area with atomic precision. In this work, we describe the full methodology behind atomically defined two-probe scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments performed on a model system: dangling bond dimer wire supported on a hydrogenated germanium (0 0 1) surface. We show that 70 nm long atomic wire can be simultaneously approached by two independent STM scanners with exact probe to probe distance reaching down to 30 nm. This allows direct wire characterization by two-probe I-V characteristics at distances below 50 nm. Our technical results presented in this work open a new area for multi-probe research, which can be now performed with precision so far accessible only by single-probe scanning probe microscopy (SPM) experiments.

Retention in porous layer pillar array planar separation platforms

DOE PAGES

Lincoln, Danielle R.; Lavrik, Nickolay V.; Kravchenko, Ivan I.; ...

2016-08-11

Here, this work presents the retention capabilities and surface area enhancement of highly ordered, high-aspect-ratio, open-platform, two-dimensional (2D) pillar arrays when coated with a thin layer of porous silicon oxide (PSO). Photolithographically prepared pillar arrays were coated with 50–250 nm of PSO via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and then functionalized with either octadecyltrichlorosilane or n-butyldimethylchlorosilane. Theoretical calculations indicate that a 50 nm layer of PSO increases the surface area of a pillar nearly 120-fold. Retention capabilities were tested by observing capillary-action-driven development under various conditions, as well as by running one-dimensional separations on varying thicknesses of PSO. Increasing the thicknessmore » of PSO on an array clearly resulted in greater retention of the analyte(s) in question in both experiments. In culmination, a two-dimensional separation of fluorescently derivatized amines was performed to further demonstrate the capabilities of these fabricated platforms.« less

Retention in porous layer pillar array planar separation platforms

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

Lincoln, Danielle R.; Lavrik, Nickolay V.; Kravchenko, Ivan I.

Here, this work presents the retention capabilities and surface area enhancement of highly ordered, high-aspect-ratio, open-platform, two-dimensional (2D) pillar arrays when coated with a thin layer of porous silicon oxide (PSO). Photolithographically prepared pillar arrays were coated with 50–250 nm of PSO via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and then functionalized with either octadecyltrichlorosilane or n-butyldimethylchlorosilane. Theoretical calculations indicate that a 50 nm layer of PSO increases the surface area of a pillar nearly 120-fold. Retention capabilities were tested by observing capillary-action-driven development under various conditions, as well as by running one-dimensional separations on varying thicknesses of PSO. Increasing the thicknessmore » of PSO on an array clearly resulted in greater retention of the analyte(s) in question in both experiments. In culmination, a two-dimensional separation of fluorescently derivatized amines was performed to further demonstrate the capabilities of these fabricated platforms.« less

Photo-responsive surface topology in chiral nematic media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Danqing; Bastiaansen, Cees W. M.; Toonder, Jaap. M. J.; Broer, Dirk J.

2012-03-01

We report on the design and fabrication of 'smart surfaces' that exhibit dynamic changes in their surface topology in response to exposure to light. The principle is based on anisotropic geometric changes of a liquid crystal network upon a change of the molecular order parameter. The photomechanical property of the coating is induced by incorporating an azobenzene moiety into the liquid crystal network. The responsive surface topology consists of regions with two different types of molecular order: planar chiral-nematic areas and homeotropic. Under flood exposure with 365 nm light the surfaces deform from flat to one with a surface relief. The height of the relief structures is of the order of 1 um corresponding to strain difference of around 20%. Furthermore, we demonstrate surface reliefs can form either convex or concave structures upon exposure to UV light corresponding to the decrease or increase molecular order parameter, respectively, related to the isomeric state of the azobenzene crosslinker. The reversible deformation to the initial flat state occurs rapidly after removing the light source.

Fabrication of Semiordered Nanopatterned Diamond-like Carbon and Titania Films for Blood Contacting Applications.

PubMed

Nandakumar, Deepika; Bendavid, Avi; Martin, Philip J; Harris, Kenneth D; Ruys, Andrew J; Lord, Megan S

2016-03-23

Biomaterials with the ability to interface with, but not activate, blood components are essential for a multitude of medical devices. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) and titania (TiO2) have shown promise for these applications; however, both support platelet adhesion and activation. This study explored the fabrication of nanostructured DLC and TiO2 thin film coatings using a block copolymer deposition technique that produced semiordered nanopatterns with low surface roughness (5-8 nm Rrms). These surfaces supported fibrinogen and plasma protein adsorption that predominantly adsorbed between the nanofeatures and reduced the overall surface roughness. The conformation of the adsorbed fibrinogen was altered on the nanopatterned surfaces as compared with the planar surfaces to reveal higher levels of the platelet binding region. Planar DLC and TiO2 coatings supported less platelet adhesion than nanopatterned DLC and TiO2. However, platelets on the nanopatterned DLC coatings were less spread indicating a lower level of platelet activation on the nanostructured DLC coatings compared with the planar DLC coatings. These data indicated that nanostructured DLC coatings may find application in blood contacting medical devices in the future.

Numerical and experimental study of curved and planar frequency selective surfaces with arbitrary illumination. M.S. Thesis - Maryland Univ., 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caroglanian, Armen

1991-01-01

A frequency selective surface (FSS) composed of apertures in a metallic sheet is known as the inductive FSS. The infinite inductive FSS theory is derived and the aperture fields are solved by a spectral domain formulation with method of moments solution. Both full domain and subsectional basis functions are studied. A locally planar technique (LPT) is used to determine the forward scattered field from a generally shaped inductive FSS with arbitrary illumination.

A cone-shaped 3D carbon nanotube probe for neural recording.

PubMed

Su, Huan-Chieh; Lin, Chia-Min; Yen, Shiang-Jie; Chen, Yung-Chan; Chen, Chang-Hsiao; Yeh, Shih-Rung; Fang, Weileun; Chen, Hsin; Yao, Da-Jeng; Chang, Yen-Chung; Yew, Tri-Rung

2010-09-15

A novel cone-shaped 3D carbon nanotube (CNT) probe is proposed as an electrode for applications in neural recording. The electrode consists of CNTs synthesized on the cone-shaped Si (cs-Si) tip by catalytic thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). This probe exhibits a larger CNT surface area with the same footprint area and higher spatial resolution of neural recording compared to planar-type CNT electrodes. An approach to improve CNT characteristics by O(2) plasma treatment to modify the CNT surface will be also presented. Electrochemical characterization of O(2) plasma-treated 3D CNT (OT-CNT) probes revealed low impedance per unit area (∼64.5 Ω mm(-2)) at 1 kHz and high specific capacitance per unit area (∼2.5 mF cm(-2)). Furthermore, the OT-CNT probes were employed to record the neural signals of a crayfish nerve cord. Our findings suggest that OT-CNT probes have potential advantages as high spatial resolution and superb electrochemical properties which are suitable for neural recording applications. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perfluorocyclobutane containing aromatic ether polymers as planarization materials for alternative magnetic media substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perettie, Donald J.; Judy, Jack; Chen, Qixu; Keirstead, Rick

1994-11-01

Perfluorocyclobutane aromatic ether polymers (PFCB) are being researched as planarization materials for alternative magnetic media substrates allowing smoother surfaces for lower head flying recording. The results of current work reported herein have shown that PFCB can be used to affect surfaces on canasite with R(sub A)'s less than 2 nm. In addition, magnetic media can be produced of a quality comparative to that obtained on standard NiP-coated Al as well as that produced on regular canasite with equivalent coercivities at about 1500-1600 Oe and squarenesses of 0.8 or better. In addition to the above magnetic properties the recording performance was excellent with signal-to-noise ratios of planarized media 3.5 dB higher than that on regular canasite.

NANOSTRUCTURED PLANAR WAVEGUIDE DEVICE FOR MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS COMPOUNDS IN WATER BY EVANESCENT SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY - PHASE I

EPA Science Inventory

Senspex, Inc. proposes to investigate a novel diagnostic tool based upon evanescent field planar waveguide sensing and complementary nanostructured mediated molecular vibration spectroscopy methods for rapid detection and analysis of hazardous biological and chemical targets i...

Reconstruction of shapes of near symmetric and asymmetric objects

DOEpatents

Pizlo, Zygmunt; Sawada, Tadamasa; Li, Yunfeng

2013-03-26

A system processes 2D images of 2D or 3D objects, creating a model of the object that is consistent with the image and as veridical as the perception of the 2D image by humans. Vertices of the object that are hidden in the image are recovered by using planarity and symmetry constraints. The 3D shape is recovered by maximizing 3D compactness of the recovered object and minimizing its surface area. In some embodiments, these two criteria are weighted by using the geometric mean.

Mixing, diffusion, and percolation in binary supported membranes containing mixtures of lipids and amphiphilic block copolymers.

PubMed

Gettel, Douglas L; Sanborn, Jeremy; Patel, Mira A; de Hoog, Hans-Peter; Liedberg, Bo; Nallani, Madhavan; Parikh, Atul N

2014-07-23

Substrate-mediated fusion of small polymersomes, derived from mixtures of lipids and amphiphilic block copolymers, produces hybrid, supported planar bilayers at hydrophilic surfaces, monolayers at hydrophobic surfaces, and binary monolayer/bilayer patterns at amphiphilic surfaces, directly responding to local measures of (and variations in) surface free energy. Despite the large thickness mismatch in their hydrophobic cores, the hybrid membranes do not exhibit microscopic phase separation, reflecting irreversible adsorption and limited lateral reorganization of the polymer component. With increasing fluid-phase lipid fraction, these hybrid, supported membranes undergo a fluidity transition, producing a fully percolating fluid lipid phase beyond a critical area fraction, which matches the percolation threshold for the immobile point obstacles. This then suggests that polymer-lipid hybrid membranes might be useful models for studying obstructed diffusion, such as occurs in lipid membranes containing proteins.

Simultaneous measurement of the surface temperature and the release of atomic sodium from a burning black liquor droplet

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

Saw, Woei L.; Nathan, Graham J.; School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide

2010-04-15

Simultaneous measurement of the concentration of released atomic sodium, swelling, surface and internal temperature of a burning black liquor droplet under a fuel lean and rich condition has been demonstrated. Two-dimensional two-colour optical pyrometry was employed to determine the distribution of surface temperature and swelling of a burning black liquor droplet while planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) was used to assess the temporal release of atomic sodium. The key findings of these studies are: (i) the concentration of atomic sodium released during the drying and devolatilisation stages was found to be correlated with the external surface area; and (ii) the insignificantmore » presence of atomic sodium during the char consumption stage shows that sodium release is suppressed by the lower temperature and by the high CO{sub 2} content in and around the particle. (author)« less

The interfacial structure of water droplets in a hydrophobic liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smolentsev, Nikolay; Smit, Wilbert J.; Bakker, Huib J.; Roke, Sylvie

2017-05-01

Nanoscopic and microscopic water droplets and ice crystals embedded in liquid hydrophobic surroundings are key components of aerosols, rocks, oil fields and the human body. The chemical properties of such droplets critically depend on the interfacial structure of the water droplet. Here we report the surface structure of 200 nm-sized water droplets in mixtures of hydrophobic oils and surfactants as obtained from vibrational sum frequency scattering measurements. The interface of a water droplet shows significantly stronger hydrogen bonds than the air/water or hexane/water interface and previously reported planar liquid hydrophobic/water interfaces at room temperature. The observed spectral difference is similar to that of a planar air/water surface at a temperature that is ~50 K lower. Supercooling the droplets to 263 K does not change the surface structure. Below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature, a single vibrational mode is present with a similar mean hydrogen-bond strength as for a planar ice/air interface.

Aerodynamic influence coefficient method using singularity splines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mercer, J. E.; Weber, J. A.; Lesferd, E. P.

1974-01-01

A numerical lifting surface formulation, including computed results for planar wing cases is presented. This formulation, referred to as the vortex spline scheme, combines the adaptability to complex shapes offered by paneling schemes with the smoothness and accuracy of loading function methods. The formulation employes a continuous distribution of singularity strength over a set of panels on a paneled wing. The basic distributions are independent, and each satisfied all the continuity conditions required of the final solution. These distributions are overlapped both spanwise and chordwise. Boundary conditions are satisfied in a least square error sense over the surface using a finite summing technique to approximate the integral. The current formulation uses the elementary horseshoe vortex as the basic singularity and is therefore restricted to linearized potential flow. As part of the study, a non planar development was considered, but the numerical evaluation of the lifting surface concept was restricted to planar configurations. Also, a second order sideslip analysis based on an asymptotic expansion was investigated using the singularity spline formulation.

Free energy surfaces for the interaction of D-glucose with planar aromatic groups in aqueous solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wohlert, Jakob; Schnupf, Udo; Brady, John W.

2010-10-01

Multidimensional potentials of mean force for the interactions in aqueous solution of both anomers of D-glucopyranose with two planar aromatic molecules, indole and para-methyl-phenol, have been calculated using molecular dynamics simulations with umbrella sampling and were subsequently used to estimate binding free energies. Indole and para-methyl-phenol serve as models for the side chains of the amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine, respectively. In all cases, a weak affinity between the glucose molecules and the flat aromatic surfaces was found. The global minimum for these interactions was found to be for the case when the pseudoplanar face of β-D-glucopyranose is stacked against the planar surfaces of the aromatic residues. The calculated binding free energies are in good agreement with both experiment and previous simulations. The multidimensional free energy maps suggest a mechanism that could lend kinetic stability to the complexes formed by sugars bound to sugar-binding proteins.

Optimum Particle Size for Gold-Catalyzed CO Oxidation

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The structure sensitivity of gold-catalyzed CO oxidation is presented by analyzing in detail the dependence of CO oxidation rate on particle size. Clusters with less than 14 gold atoms adopt a planar structure, whereas larger ones adopt a three-dimensional structure. The CO and O2 adsorption properties depend strongly on particle structure and size. All of the reaction barriers relevant to CO oxidation display linear scaling relationships with CO and O2 binding strengths as main reactivity descriptors. Planar and three-dimensional gold clusters exhibit different linear scaling relationship due to different surface topologies and different coordination numbers of the surface atoms. On the basis of these linear scaling relationships, first-principles microkinetics simulations were conducted to determine CO oxidation rates and possible rate-determining step of Au particles. Planar Au9 and three-dimensional Au79 clusters present the highest CO oxidation rates for planar and three-dimensional clusters, respectively. The planar Au9 cluster is much more active than the optimum Au79 cluster. A common feature of optimum CO oxidation performance is the intermediate binding strengths of CO and O2, resulting in intermediate coverages of CO, O2, and O. Both these optimum particles present lower performance than maximum Sabatier performance, indicating that there is sufficient room for improvement of gold catalysts for CO oxidation. PMID:29707098

Biomimetic surface patterning for long-term transmembrane access

PubMed Central

VanDersarl, Jules J.; Renaud, Philippe

2016-01-01

Here we present a planar patch clamp chip based on biomimetic cell membrane fusion. This architecture uses nanometer length-scale surface patterning to replicate the structure and function of membrane proteins, creating a gigaohm seal between the cell and a planar electrode array. The seal is generated passively during cell spreading, without the application of a vacuum to the cell surface. This interface can enable cell-attached and whole-cell recordings that are stable to 72 hours, and generates no visible damage to the cell. The electrodes can be very small (<5 μm) and closely packed, offering a high density platform for cellular measurement. PMID:27577519

Biomimetic surface patterning for long-term transmembrane access.

PubMed

VanDersarl, Jules J; Renaud, Philippe

2016-08-31

Here we present a planar patch clamp chip based on biomimetic cell membrane fusion. This architecture uses nanometer length-scale surface patterning to replicate the structure and function of membrane proteins, creating a gigaohm seal between the cell and a planar electrode array. The seal is generated passively during cell spreading, without the application of a vacuum to the cell surface. This interface can enable cell-attached and whole-cell recordings that are stable to 72 hours, and generates no visible damage to the cell. The electrodes can be very small (<5 μm) and closely packed, offering a high density platform for cellular measurement.

Use of chemical mechanical polishing in micromachining

DOEpatents

Nasby, R.D.; Hetherington, D.L.; Sniegowski, J.J.; McWhorter, P.J.; Apblett, C.A.

1998-09-08

A process for removing topography effects during fabrication of micromachines. A sacrificial oxide layer is deposited over a level containing functional elements with etched valleys between the elements such that the sacrificial layer has sufficient thickness to fill the valleys and extend in thickness upwards to the extent that the lowest point on the upper surface of the oxide layer is at least as high as the top surface of the functional elements in the covered level. The sacrificial oxide layer is then polished down and planarized by chemical-mechanical polishing. Another layer of functional elements is then formed upon this new planarized surface. 4 figs.

Terahertz plasmonic Bessel beamformer

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

Monnai, Yasuaki; Shinoda, Hiroyuki; Jahn, David

We experimentally demonstrate terahertz Bessel beamforming based on the concept of plasmonics. The proposed planar structure is made of concentric metallic grooves with a subwavelength spacing that couple to a point source to create tightly confined surface waves or spoof surface plasmon polaritons. Concentric scatterers periodically incorporated at a wavelength scale allow for launching the surface waves into free space to define a Bessel beam. The Bessel beam defined at 0.29 THz has been characterized through terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. This approach is capable of generating Bessel beams with planar structures as opposed to bulky axicon lenses and can be readily integratedmore » with solid-state terahertz sources.« less

Influence of boundary conditions on the existence and stability of minimal surfaces of revolution made of soap films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salkin, Louis; Schmit, Alexandre; Panizza, Pascal; Courbin, Laurent

2014-09-01

Because of surface tension, soap films seek the shape that minimizes their surface energy and thus their surface area. This mathematical postulate allows one to predict the existence and stability of simple minimal surfaces. After briefly recalling classical results obtained in the case of symmetric catenoids that span two circular rings with the same radius, we discuss the role of boundary conditions on such shapes, working with two rings having different radii. We then investigate the conditions of existence and stability of other shapes that include two portions of catenoids connected by a planar soap film and half-symmetric catenoids for which we introduce a method of observation. We report a variety of experimental results including metastability—an hysteretic evolution of the shape taken by a soap film—explained using simple physical arguments. Working by analogy with the theory of phase transitions, we conclude by discussing universal behaviors of the studied minimal surfaces in the vicinity of their existence thresholds.

Implementing and testing a panel-based method for modeling acoustic scattering from CFD input

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swift, S. Hales

Exposure of sailors to high levels of noise in the aircraft carrier deck environment is a problem that has serious human and economic consequences. A variety of approaches to quieting exhausting jets from high-performance aircraft are undergoing development. However, testing of noise abatement solutions at full-scale may be prohibitively costly when many possible nozzle treatments are under consideration. A relatively efficient and accurate means of predicting the noise levels resulting from engine-quieting technologies at personnel locations is needed. This is complicated by the need to model both the direct and the scattered sound field in order to determine the resultant spectrum and levels. While the direct sound field may be obtained using CFD plus surface integral methods such as the Ffowcs-Williams Hawkings method, the scattered sound field is complicated by its dependence on the geometry of the scattering surface--the aircraft carrier deck, aircraft control surfaces and other nearby structures. In this work, a time-domain boundary element method, or TD-BEM, (sometimes referred to in terms of source panels) is proposed and developed that takes advantage of and offers beneficial effects for the substantial planar components of the aircraft carrier deck environment and uses pressure gradients as its input. This method is applied to and compared with analytical results for planar surfaces, corners and spherical surfaces using an analytic point source as input. The method can also accept input from CFD data on an acoustic data surface by using the G1A pressure gradient formulation to obtain pressure gradients on the surface from the flow variables contained on the acoustic data surface. The method is also applied to a planar scattering surface characteristic of an aircraft carrier flight deck with an acoustic data surface from a supersonic jet large eddy simulation, or LES, as input to the scattering model. In this way, the process for modeling the complete sound field (assuming the availability of an acoustic data surface from a time-realized numerical simulation of the jet flow field) is outlined for a realistic group of source location, scattering surface location and observer locations. The method was able to successfully model planar cases, corners and spheres with a level of error that is low enough for some engineering purposes. Significant benefits were realized for fully planar surfaces including high parallelizability and avoidance of interaction between portions of the paneled boundary. When the jet large eddy simulation case was considered the method was able to capture a substantial portion of the spectrum including the peak frequency region and a majority of the spectral energy with good fidelity.

Interaction of acoustic levitation field with liquid reflecting surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Z. Y.; Xie, W. J.; Wei, B.

2010-01-01

Single-axis acoustic levitation of substances, such as foam, water, polymer, and aluminum, is achieved by employing various liquids as the sound reflectors. The interaction of acoustic levitation field with liquid reflecting surface is investigated theoretically by considering the deformation of the liquid surface under acoustic radiation pressure. Numerical calculations indicate that the deformation degree of the reflecting surface shows a direct proportion to the acoustic radiation power. Appropriate deformation is beneficial whereas excessive deformation is unfavorable to enhance the levitation capability. Typically, the levitation capability with water reflector is smaller than that with the concave rigid reflector but slightly larger than that with the planar rigid reflector at low emitter vibration intensity. Liquid reflectors with larger surface tension and higher density behave more closely to the planar rigid reflector.

Perpendicular Growth Characteristics of Cu-Sn Intermetallic Compounds at the Surface of 99Sn-1Cu/Cu Solder Interconnects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhiwen; Liu, Changqing; Wu, Yiping; An, Bing

2015-12-01

The growth of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) on the free surface of 99Sn-1Cu solder joints perpendicular to the interdiffusion direction has been investigated in this work. The specimens were specifically designed and polished to reveal a flat free surface at the solder/Cu interface for investigation. After aging at 175°C for progressively increased durations, the height of the perpendicular IMCs was examined and found to follow a parabolic law with aging duration that could be expressed as y = 0.11√ t, where t is the aging duration in hours and y is the height of the perpendicular IMCs in μm. For comparison, the planar growth of IMCs along the interdiffusion direction was also investigated in 99Sn-1Cu/Cu solder joints. After prolonged aging at 175°C, the thickness of the planar interfacial IMC layers also increased parabolically with aging duration and could be expressed as h_{{IMC}} = 0.27√ t + 4.6, where h is the thickness in μm and t is the time in hours. It was found that both the planar and perpendicular growth of the IMCs were diffusion-controlled processes, but the perpendicular growth of the IMCs was much slower than their planar growth due to the longer diffusion distance. It is proposed that Cu3Sn forms prior to the formation of Cu6Sn5 in the perpendicular IMCs, being the reverse order compared with the planar IMC growth.

a Voxel-Based Metadata Structure for Change Detection in Point Clouds of Large-Scale Urban Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gehrung, J.; Hebel, M.; Arens, M.; Stilla, U.

2018-05-01

Mobile laser scanning has not only the potential to create detailed representations of urban environments, but also to determine changes up to a very detailed level. An environment representation for change detection in large scale urban environments based on point clouds has drawbacks in terms of memory scalability. Volumes, however, are a promising building block for memory efficient change detection methods. The challenge of working with 3D occupancy grids is that the usual raycasting-based methods applied for their generation lead to artifacts caused by the traversal of unfavorable discretized space. These artifacts have the potential to distort the state of voxels in close proximity to planar structures. In this work we propose a raycasting approach that utilizes knowledge about planar surfaces to completely prevent this kind of artifacts. To demonstrate the capabilities of our approach, a method for the iterative volumetric approximation of point clouds that allows to speed up the raycasting by 36 percent is proposed.

Fabrication of Sb₂S₃ Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Embedded Photoelectrodes of Ag Nanowires-Au Nanoparticles Composite.

PubMed

Kim, Kang-Pil; Hwang, Dae-Kue; Woo, Sung-Ho; Kim, Dae-Hwan

2018-09-01

The Ag nanowire (NW) + Au nanoparticle (NP)-embedded TiO2 photoelectrodes were adopted for conventional planar TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells to improve the cell efficiency. Compared to conventional planar TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells, the Ag NW + Au NP/TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells exhibited an improvement of approximately 40% in the cell efficiency due to the significant increase in both Jsc and Voc. These enhanced Jsc and Voc were attributed to the increased surface area, charge-collection efficiency, and light absorption by embedding the Ag NWs + Au NPs composite. The Ag NW + Au NP/TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells showed the highest efficiency of 2.17%, demonstrating that the Ag NW + Au NP-embedded TiO2 photoelectrode was a suitable photoelectrode structure to improve the power conversion efficiency in the Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells.

On the behavior and stability of a liquid metal in quasi-planar electric contacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samuilov, S. D.

2016-06-01

The contacts between conductors formed under relatively low pressures can be treated as quasi-planar. Melting of the material of such contacts upon the passage of electric current is used in some technological processes, but the behavior of liquid in these conditions has not been analyzed. In this study, such an estimate was obtained for specific conditions appearing under electric-pulse compacting (briquetting) of metal shavings. Analysis of derived relations shows that this estimate is valid for any quasi-2D contacts upon passage of a pulsed current of duration from microseconds to milliseconds. It is shown that the spacing between contact surfaces decreases, the liquid metal is extruded in the lateral directions, and the area of the contact and its conductivity increase. Sausage-type magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability and overheating instability do not evolve in these conditions because the instability wavelength is larger than the rated thickness of the molten layer; screw MHD instability can appear in slower processes.

Fabrication and electrochemical properties of hemisphere structured 3D Li(Li0.2Mn0.54Co0.13Ni0.13)O2 cathode thin film for all-solid-state lithium battery.

PubMed

Yim, H; Kong, W Y; Yoon, S J; Kim, Y C; Choi, J W

2013-05-01

The Li[Li0.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13]O2 cathode thin films were deposited on planar, hemisphere, linked hemisphere, and isolated hemisphere structured Pt current collector thin films to investigate the effect of 3-dimensional (3-D) structure for the electrochemical properties of active cathode thin films. The films of linked hemisphere structure shows the highest initial discharge capacity of 140 microA h/cm2-microm which is better than those of planar (62 microA h/cm2-microm), hemisphere (94.6 microA h/cm2-microm), and isolated hemisphere (135 microA h/cm2-microm) films due to increase of surface area for cathode thin films. Linked hemisphere shows the biggest capacity and the best retention rate because 6 nanobridges of each hemisphere bring strong connection.

Direct Visualization of Planar Assembly of Plasmonic Nanoparticles Adjacent to Electrodes in Oscillatory Electric Fields.

PubMed

Ferrick, Adam; Wang, Mei; Woehl, Taylor J

2018-05-29

Electric field-directed assembly of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) has been widely adopted for fabricating functional thin films and nanostructured surfaces. While first-order electrokinetic effects on NPs are well-understood in terms of classical models, effects of second-order electrokinetics that involve induced surface charge are still poorly understood. Induced charge electroosmotic phenomena, such as electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow, have long been implicated in electric field-directed NP assembly with little experimental basis. Here, we use in situ dark-field optical microscopy and plasmonic NPs to directly observe the dynamics of planar assembly of colloidal NPs adjacent to a planar electrode in low-frequency (<1 kHz) oscillatory electric fields. We exploit the change in plasmonic NP color resulting from interparticle plasmonic coupling to visualize the assembly dynamics and assembly structure of silver NPs. Planar assembly of NPs is unexpected because of strong electrostatic repulsion between NPs and indicates that there are strong attractive interparticle forces oriented perpendicular to the electric field direction. A parametric investigation of the voltage- and frequency-dependent phase behavior reveals that planar NP assembly occurs over a narrow frequency range below which irreversible ballistic deposition occurs. Two key experimental observations are consistent with EHD flow-induced NP assembly: (1) NPs remain mobile during assembly and (2) electron microscopy observations reveal randomly close-packed planar assemblies, consistent with strong interparticle attraction. We interpret planar assembly in terms of EHD fluid flow and develop a scaling model that qualitatively agrees with the measured phase regions. Our results are the first direct in situ observations of EHD flow-induced NP assembly and shed light on long-standing unresolved questions concerning the formation of NP superlattices during electric field-induced NP deposition.

Trajectory Generation and Path Planning for Autonomous Aerobots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharma, Shivanjli; Kulczycki, Eric A.; Elfes, Alberto

2007-01-01

This paper presents global path planning algorithms for the Titan aerobot based on user defined waypoints in 2D and 3D space. The algorithms were implemented using information obtained through a planner user interface. The trajectory planning algorithms were designed to accurately represent the aerobot's characteristics, such as minimum turning radius. Additionally, trajectory planning techniques were implemented to allow for surveying of a planar area based solely on camera fields of view, airship altitude, and the location of the planar area's perimeter. The developed paths allow for planar navigation and three-dimensional path planning. These calculated trajectories are optimized to produce the shortest possible path while still remaining within realistic bounds of airship dynamics.

Symmetry breaking in tensor models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedetti, Dario; Gurau, Razvan

2015-11-01

In this paper we analyze a quartic tensor model with one interaction for a tensor of arbitrary rank. This model has a critical point where a continuous limit of infinitely refined random geometries is reached. We show that the critical point corresponds to a phase transition in the tensor model associated to a breaking of the unitary symmetry. We analyze the model in the two phases and prove that, in a double scaling limit, the symmetric phase corresponds to a theory of infinitely refined random surfaces, while the broken phase corresponds to a theory of infinitely refined random nodal surfaces. At leading order in the double scaling limit planar surfaces dominate in the symmetric phase, and planar nodal surfaces dominate in the broken phase.

Silver nanoparticles with planar twinned defects: effect of halides for precise tuning of plasmon resonance maxima from 400 to >900 nm.

PubMed

Cathcart, Nicole; Frank, Andrew J; Kitaev, Vladimir

2009-12-14

We studied effects of halides on morphology of planar twinned silver nanoparticles and demonstrated application of these effects to precisely tune silver surface plasmon resonance maxima in a broad vis-NIR range using a reliable two-stage modification protocol.

Micromolded PDMS planar electrode allows patch clamp electrical recordings from cells.

PubMed

Klemic, Kathryn G; Klemic, James F; Reed, Mark A; Sigworth, Fred J

2002-06-01

The patch clamp method measures membrane currents at very high resolution when a high-resistance 'gigaseal' is established between the glass microelectrode and the cell membrane (Pflugers Arch. 391 (1981) 85; Neuron 8 (1992) 605). Here we describe the first use of the silicone elastomer, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), for patch clamp electrodes. PDMS is an attractive material for patch clamp recordings. It has low dielectric loss and can be micromolded (Annu. Rev. Mat. Sci. 28 (1998) 153) into a shape that mimics the tip of the glass micropipette. Also, the surface chemistry of PDMS may be altered to mimic the hydrophilic nature of glass (J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 14 (1970) 2499; Annu. Rev. Mat. Sci. 28 (1998) 153), thereby allowing a high-resistance seal to a cell membrane. We present a planar electrode geometry consisting of a PDMS partition with a small aperture sealed between electrode and bath chambers. We demonstrate that a planar PDMS patch electrode, after oxidation of the elastomeric surface, permits patch clamp recording on Xenopus oocytes. Our results indicate the potential for high-throughput patch clamp recording with a planar array of PDMS electrodes.

Micro-Textured Black Silicon Wick for Silicon Heat Pipe Array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yee, Karl Y.; Sunada, Eric T.; Ganapathi, Gani B.; Manohara, Harish; Homyk, Andrew; Prina, Mauro

2013-01-01

Planar, semiconductor heat arrays have been previously proposed and developed; however, this design makes use of a novel, microscale black silicon wick structure that provides increased capillary pumping pressure of the internal working fluid, resulting in increased effective thermal conductivity of the device, and also enables operation of the device in any orientation with respect to the gravity vector. In a heat pipe, the efficiency of thermal transfer from the case to the working fluid is directly proportional to the surface area of the wick in contact with the fluid. Also, the primary failure mechanism for heat pipes operating within the temperature range of interest is inadequate capillary pressure for the return of fluid from the condenser to the wick. This is also what makes the operation of heat pipes orientation-sensitive. Thus, the two primary requirements for a good wick design are a large surface area and high capillary pressure. Surface area can be maximized through nanomachined surface roughening. Capillary pressure is largely driven by the working fluid and wick structure. The proposed nanostructure wick has characteristic dimensions on the order of tens of microns, which promotes menisci of very small radii. This results in the possibility of enormous pumping potential due to the inverse proportionality with radius. Wetting, which also enhances capillary pumping, can be maximized through growth of an oxide layer or material deposition (e.g. TiO2) to create a superhydrophilic surface.

Limitations of using a thermal imager for snow pit temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schirmer, M.; Jamieson, B.

2014-03-01

Driven by temperature gradients, kinetic snow metamorphism plays an import role in avalanche formation. When gradients based on temperatures measured 10 cm apart appear to be insufficient for kinetic metamorphism, faceting close to a crust can be observed. Recent studies that visualised small-scale (< 10 cm) thermal structures in a profile of snow layers with an infrared (IR) camera produced interesting results. The studies found melt-freeze crusts to be warmer or cooler than the surrounding snow depending on the large-scale gradient direction. However, an important assumption within these studies was that a thermal photo of a freshly exposed snow pit was similar enough to the internal temperature of the snow. In this study, we tested this assumption by recording thermal videos during the exposure of the snow pit wall. In the first minute, the results showed increasing gradients with time, both at melt-freeze crusts and artificial surface structures such as shovel scours. Cutting through a crust with a cutting blade or shovel produced small concavities (holes) even when the objective was to cut a planar surface. Our findings suggest there is a surface structure dependency of the thermal image, which was only observed at times during a strong cooling/warming of the exposed pit wall. We were able to reproduce the hot-crust/cold-crust phenomenon and relate it entirely to surface structure in a temperature-controlled cold laboratory. Concave areas cooled or warmed more slowly compared with convex areas (bumps) when applying temperature differences between snow and air. This can be explained by increased radiative and/or turbulent energy transfer at convex areas. Thermal videos suggest that such processes influence the snow temperature within seconds. Our findings show the limitations of using a thermal camera for measuring pit-wall temperatures, particularly during windy conditions, clear skies and large temperature differences between air and snow. At crusts or other heterogeneities, we were unable to create a sufficiently planar snow pit surface and non-internal gradients appeared at the exposed surface. The immediate adjustment of snow pit temperature as it reacts with the atmosphere complicates the capture of the internal thermal structure of a snowpack with thermal videos. Instead, the shown structural dependency of the IR signal may be used to detect structural changes of snow caused by kinetic metamorphism. The IR signal can also be used to measure near surface temperatures in a homogenous new snow layer.

A novel material screening platform for nanoporous gold-based neural electrodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapman, Christopher Abbott Reece

Neural-electrical interfaces have emerged in the past decades as a promising modality to facilitate the understanding of the electropathophysiology of neurological disorders as well as the normal functioning of the central nervous system, and enable the treatment of neurological defects through electrical stimulation or electrically-controlled drug delivery. However, chronically implanted electrodes face a myriad of design challenges, including their coupling to neural tissue (biocompatibility), small form factor requirement, and their electrical properties (maintaining a low electrical impedance). Planar electrode materials such as planar platinum and gold experience a large increase in electrical impedance when electrode dimensions are reduced to increase spatial resolution of neural recordings. A decrease in electrode surface area reduces the total capacitance of the electrode double layer resulting in an increase in electrode impedance. This high impedance can reduce the signal amplitude and increase the thermal noise, resulting in degradation of signal-to-noise ratio. Conventionally, this increase in electrical impedance at small electrode dimensions has been mitigated by coatings with rough morphologies such as platinum black, conducting polymers, and titanium nitride. Porous surfaces have high effective surface area enabling low impedance at small electrode dimensions. However, achieving long-term stability of cellular coupling to the electrode surface has remained difficult. Designing electrodes that can physically couple with neurons successfully and maintain low impedance at small electrode dimensions necessitates consideration of novel electrode coatings, such as carbon nanotubes and gold nanopillars. Another promising material, and focus of this proposal, is thin film nanoporous gold (np-Au). Nanoporous gold is a promising material for addressing these limitations because of its inherently large effective surface area allows for lower impedances at small form factors, and its modifiable surface morphology can be used to control cell-electrode coupling. Additionally, thin film nanoporous gold is fabricated by traditional microfabrication methods, and thus can be directly adopted by the current state-of-the-art neural electrode fabrication processes. All these properties make thin film nanoporous gold a promising candidate for use in neural electrode surfaces. This dissertation seeks to characterize both the morphological and the electrical response of neural cells to thin film nanoporous gold morphologies using an in vitro electrode morphology screening platform. The specific aims for this proposal are to: (i) develop a electrode morphology library that displays varying topographies to study structure-property relationships of thin film nanoporous gold and cellular response, (ii) characterize neural cell response to identified nanoporous gold topographies that reduce adverse tissue response in vitro, and (iii) develop an electrophysiology platform to characterize neural coupling to each identified nanoporous gold topography.

Fort McClellan, ammunition storage building 4404. Planar view of rear ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Fort McClellan, ammunition storage building 4404. Planar view of rear (west) side, view towards the east northeast without scale - Fort McClellan Ammunition Storage Area, Building No. 4404, Second Avenue (Magazine Road), Anniston, Calhoun County, AL

Interior planar view of doors to railroad platform at rear ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Interior planar view of doors to railroad platform at rear of ammunition storage building 4403, view towards the west westside with scale - Fort McClellan Ammunition Storage Area, Building No. 4403, Second Avenue (Magazine Road), Anniston, Calhoun County, AL

Test and Analysis of a Hyper-X Carbon-Carbon Leading Edge Chine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Russell W.; Sikora, Joseph G.; Lindell, Michael C.

2005-01-01

During parts production for the X43A Mach 10 hypersonic vehicle nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of a leading edge chine detected on imbedded delamination near the lower surface of the part. An ultimate proof test was conducted to verify the ultimate strength of this leading edge chine part. The ultimate proof test setup used a pressure bladder design to impose a uniform distributed pressure field over the bi-planar surface of the chine test article. A detailed description of the chine test article and experimental test setup is presented. Analysis results from a linear status model of the test article are also presented and discussed. Post-test inspection of the specimen revealed no visible failures or areas of delamination.

Carbonaceous thin film coating with Fe-N4 site for enhancement of dioxovanadium ion reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maruyama, Jun; Hasegawa, Takahiro; Iwasaki, Satoshi; Fukuhara, Tomoko; Orikasa, Yuki; Uchimoto, Yoshiharu

2016-08-01

It has been found that carbonaceous materials containing a transition metal coordinated by 4 nitrogens in the square-planar configuration (metal-N4 site) on the surface possessed a catalytic activity for various electrochemical reactions related to energy conversion and storage; i.e., oxygen reduction, hydrogen evolution, and quite recently, the electrode reactions in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB). The catalyst for the VRFB positive electrode discharge reaction, i.e., the dioxovanadium ion reduction, was formed by coating the surface of cup-stack carbon nanotubes with a carbonaceous thin film with the Fe-N4 site generated by the sublimation, deposition, and pyrolysis of iron phthalocyanine. In this study, the influence of the physical properties of the catalyst on the electrochemical reactions was investigated to optimize the coating. With an increase in the coating, the specific surface area increased, whereas the pore size decreased. The surface Fe concentration was increased in spite of the Fe aggregation inside the carbon matrix. The catalytic activity enhancement was achieved due to the increase in the specific surface area and the surface Fe concentration, but was lowered due to the decrease in the pore size, which was disadvantageous for the penetration of the electrolyte and the mass transfer.

FIBER AND INTEGRATED OPTICS: Reflection of electromagnetic radiation from a multilayer waveguide structure with an absorbing metal layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernushich, A. P.; Shkerdin, G. N.; Shukin, Yu M.

1992-10-01

The angular distribution of the reflection coefficient of an asymmetric multilayer planar structure containing a thin metal film and a planar optical waveguide has been found by accurate numerical calculations. There are resonances in the reflection coefficient associated with hybrid modes of the structure. The cases of strong and weak coupling of the surface polariton modes with the waveguide modes are discussed. The results of the numerical analysis agree with solutions of Maxwell's equations for a multilayer planar structure.

Background Oriented Schlieren Implementation in a Jet-Surface Interaction Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clem, Michelle M.; Brown, Clifford A.; Fagan, Amy

2013-01-01

Many current and future aircraft designs rely on the wing or other aircraft surfaces to shield the engine noise from observers on the ground. However the available data regarding how a planar surface interacts with a jet to shield and/or enhance the jet noise are currently limited. Therefore, the Jet-Surface Interaction Tests supported by NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program's Fixed Wing Project were undertaken to supply experimental data covering a wide range of surface geometries and positions interacting with high-speed jet flows in order to support the development of noise prediction methods. Phase 1 of the Test was conducted in the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory at NASA Glenn Research Center and consisted of validating noise prediction schemes for a round nozzle interacting with a planar surface. Phased array data and far-field acoustic data were collected for both the shielded and reflected sides of the surface. Phase 1 results showed that the broadband shock noise was greatly reduced by the surface when the jet was operated at the over-expanded condition, however, it was unclear whether this reduction was due a change in the shock cell structure by the surface. In the present study, Background Oriented Schlieren is implemented in Phase 2 of the Jet-Surface Interaction Tests to investigate whether the planar surface interacts with the high-speed jet ow to change the shock cell structure. Background Oriented Schlieren data are acquired for under-expanded, ideally-expanded, and over-expanded ow regimes for multiple axial and radial positions of the surface at three different plate lengths. These data are analyzed with far-field noise measurements to relate the shock cell structure to the broadband shock noise produced by a jet near a surface.

Fundamental and practical limits of planar tracking solar concentrators.

PubMed

Grede, Alex J; Price, Jared S; Giebink, Noel C

2016-12-26

Planar microtracking provides an alternate paradigm for solar concentration that offers the possibility of realizing high-efficiency embedded concentrating photovoltaic systems in the form factor of standard photovoltaic panels. Here, we investigate the thermodynamic limit of planar tracking optical concentrators and establish that they can, in principal, achieve the sine limit of their orientationally-tracked counterparts provided that the receiver translates a minimum distance set by the field of view half-angle. We develop a phase space methodology to optimize practical planar tracking concentrators and apply it to the design of a two surface, catadioptric system that operates with > 90% optical efficiency over a 140° field of view at geometric gains exceeding 1000×. These results provide a reference point for subsequent developments in the field and indicate that planar microtracking can achieve the high optical concentration ratio required in commercial concentrating photovoltaic systems.

Non-planar microfabricated gas chromatography column

DOEpatents

Lewis, Patrick R.; Wheeler, David R.

2007-09-25

A non-planar microfabricated gas chromatography column comprises a planar substrate having a plurality of through holes, a top lid and a bottom lid bonded to opposite surfaces of the planar substrate, and inlet and outlet ports for injection of a sample gas and elution of separated analytes. A plurality of such planar substrates can be aligned and stacked to provide a longer column length having a small footprint. Furthermore, two or more separate channels can enable multi-channel or multi-dimensional gas chromatography. The through holes preferably have a circular cross section and can be coated with a stationary phase material or packed with a porous packing material. Importantly, uniform stationary phase coatings can be obtained and band broadening can be minimized with the circular channels. A heating or cooling element can be disposed on at least one of the lids to enable temperature programming of the column.

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

Zhuang, Jinda; Ju, Y. Sungtaek, E-mail: just@seas.ucla.edu

One major challenge in incorporating flexible electronics or optoelectronics on curved surfaces is the requirement of significant stretchability. We report a tunable platform for incorporating flexible and yet non-stretching device layers on a hemisphere. In this configuration, an array of planar petals contractively maps onto the surface of an inflatable hemisphere through elastocapillary interactions mediated by an interface liquid. A mechanical model is developed to elucidate the dependence of the conformality of the petal structures on their elastic modulus and thickness and the liquid surface tension. The modeling results are validated against experimental results obtained using petal structures of differentmore » thicknesses, restoring elastic spring elements of different spring constants, and liquids with different surface tension coefficients. Our platform will enable facile integration of non-stretching electronic and optoelectronic components prepared using established planar fabrication techniques on tunable hemispherical surfaces.« less

Summary on several key techniques in 3D geological modeling.

PubMed

Mei, Gang

2014-01-01

Several key techniques in 3D geological modeling including planar mesh generation, spatial interpolation, and surface intersection are summarized in this paper. Note that these techniques are generic and widely used in various applications but play a key role in 3D geological modeling. There are two essential procedures in 3D geological modeling: the first is the simulation of geological interfaces using geometric surfaces and the second is the building of geological objects by means of various geometric computations such as the intersection of surfaces. Discrete geometric surfaces that represent geological interfaces can be generated by creating planar meshes first and then spatially interpolating; those surfaces intersect and then form volumes that represent three-dimensional geological objects such as rock bodies. In this paper, the most commonly used algorithms of the key techniques in 3D geological modeling are summarized.

Ultralow surface recombination velocity in InP nanowires probed by terahertz spectroscopy.

PubMed

Joyce, Hannah J; Wong-Leung, Jennifer; Yong, Chaw-Keong; Docherty, Callum J; Paiman, Suriati; Gao, Qiang; Tan, H Hoe; Jagadish, Chennupati; Lloyd-Hughes, James; Herz, Laura M; Johnston, Michael B

2012-10-10

Using transient terahertz photoconductivity measurements, we have made noncontact, room temperature measurements of the ultrafast charge carrier dynamics in InP nanowires. InP nanowires exhibited a very long photoconductivity lifetime of over 1 ns, and carrier lifetimes were remarkably insensitive to surface states despite the large nanowire surface area-to-volume ratio. An exceptionally low surface recombination velocity (170 cm/s) was recorded at room temperature. These results suggest that InP nanowires are prime candidates for optoelectronic devices, particularly photovoltaic devices, without the need for surface passivation. We found that the carrier mobility is not limited by nanowire diameter but is strongly limited by the presence of planar crystallographic defects such as stacking faults in these predominantly wurtzite nanowires. These findings show the great potential of very narrow InP nanowires for electronic devices but indicate that improvements in the crystallographic uniformity of InP nanowires will be critical for future nanowire device engineering.

Planar Embedding of Planar Graphs,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-02-01

Stanford University and supported by a Chaim Wcismann postdoctoral fellowship and DARPA contract MDAOO3-C-0102. Current address: Institute of ...rectilinear embeddings (both with and without cross - overs), using the bounding box area cost. He proved that a tree of vertices with maximum degree 4 can...be laid out without crossovers in an area that is linear in the number of edges (or vertices). He also showed how Ato get a such an embedding for any

Cascaded exciton energy transfer in a monolayer semiconductor lateral heterostructure assisted by surface plasmon polariton.

PubMed

Shi, Jinwei; Lin, Meng-Hsien; Chen, I-Tung; Mohammadi Estakhri, Nasim; Zhang, Xin-Quan; Wang, Yanrong; Chen, Hung-Ying; Chen, Chun-An; Shih, Chih-Kang; Alù, Andrea; Li, Xiaoqin; Lee, Yi-Hsien; Gwo, Shangjr

2017-06-26

Atomically thin lateral heterostructures based on transition metal dichalcogenides have recently been demonstrated. In monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, exciton energy transfer is typically limited to a short range (~1 μm), and additional losses may be incurred at the interfacial regions of a lateral heterostructure. To overcome these challenges, here we experimentally implement a planar metal-oxide-semiconductor structure by placing a WS 2 /MoS 2 monolayer heterostructure on top of an Al 2 O 3 -capped Ag single-crystalline plate. We find that the exciton energy transfer range can be extended to tens of microns in the hybrid structure mediated by an exciton-surface plasmon polariton-exciton conversion mechanism, allowing cascaded exciton energy transfer from one transition metal dichalcogenides region supporting high-energy exciton resonance to a different transition metal dichalcogenides region in the lateral heterostructure with low-energy exciton resonance. The realized planar hybrid structure combines two-dimensional light-emitting materials with planar plasmonic waveguides and offers great potential for developing integrated photonic and plasmonic devices.Exciton energy transfer in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides is limited to short distances. Here, Shi et al. fabricate a planar metal-oxide-semiconductor structure and show that exciton energy transfer can be extended to tens of microns, mediated by an exciton-surface-plasmon-polariton-exciton conversion mechanism.

Glaciers' 2D and 3D Area Changes in the Central Tianshan during 1989-2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Wang, X.

2017-12-01

Most glaciers in China lie in rugged mountainous environments and steep terrains. Common studies investigate glacier's projected area (2D Area) in a two-dimensional plane, which is much smaller than glacier's topographic surface area (3D Area). This study maps glacier outlines in the Central Tianshan Mountains from Landsat images in four periods of 1989, 2002, 2007 and 2015 by an object-based classification approach, compares the glaciers area differences from several resources and analyzes the 2D and 3D area changes in the four periods. This approach shows an accuracy of 86% when it validates by comparison of glaciers outline derived from Landsat and high spatial resolution GeoEye image. Our derived glaciers' clean ice outlines are comparable to those of the 2nd Chinese Glacier Inventory (CGI2), Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS), and the European Space Agency GlobCover product (ESA2.3). The ASTER GDEM data are utilized to establish a 3D model and examine glaciers' variations in different aspects, slope zones and elevation bands. Glaciers' 3D surface extents are 30% larger than their 2D planar areas in Central Tianshan. Glaciers' 3D area reduced by 481 km² from 1989 to 2015, being 27.3% larger than their 2D area reduction (378 km²), and most reductions occurred in the elevation bands of 4000-5000 m.

Constrained Quantum Mechanics: Chaos in Non-Planar Billiards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salazar, R.; Tellez, G.

2012-01-01

We illustrate some of the techniques to identify chaos signatures at the quantum level using as guiding examples some systems where a particle is constrained to move on a radial symmetric, but non-planar, surface. In particular, two systems are studied: the case of a cone with an arbitrary contour or "dunce hat billiard" and the rectangular…

Dynamics of collision of a vortex ring and a planar surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McErlean, Michael; Krane, Michael; Fontaine, Arnold

2009-11-01

The dynamics of the impact between a vortex ring and a planar surface orientated perpendicular to the direction of travel are presented. High Reynolds number vortex rings are injected into a quiescent tank of water using a piston-cylinder generator before colliding with a target at a long distance. Both the pressure at the stagnation point on the surface and the force imparted to the target by the ring impact are measured directly. The changes in both are related to the ring motion and deformation captured by high speed digital video, and DPIV measurements. These relations are used to develop a scaling law relation between impact force and vortex ring circulation, speed, and size.

A DNS study of the physical mechanisms associated with density ratio influence on turbulent burning velocity in premixed flames

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipatnikov, Andrei N.; Chomiak, Jerzy; Sabelnikov, Vladimir A.; Nishiki, Shinnosuke; Hasegawa, Tatsuya

2018-01-01

Data obtained in 3D direct numerical simulations of statistically planar, 1D weakly turbulent flames characterised by different density ratios σ are analysed to study the influence of thermal expansion on flame surface area and burning rate. Results show that, on the one hand, the pressure gradient induced within a flame brush owing to heat release in flamelets significantly accelerates the unburned gas that deeply intrudes into the combustion products in the form of an unburned mixture finger, thus causing large-scale oscillations of the burning rate and flame brush thickness. Under the conditions of the present simulations, the contribution of this mechanism to the creation of the flame surface area is substantial and is increased by σ, thus implying an increase in the burning rate by σ. On the other hand, the total flame surface areas simulated at σ = 7.53 and 2.5 are approximately equal. The apparent inconsistency between these results implies the existence of another thermal expansion effect that reduces the influence of σ on the flame surface area and burning rate. Investigation of the issue shows that the flow acceleration by the combustion-induced pressure gradient not only creates the flame surface area by pushing the finger tip into the products, but also mitigates wrinkling of the flame surface (the side surface of the finger) by turbulent eddies. The latter effect is attributed to the high-speed (at σ = 7.53) axial flow of the unburned gas, which is induced by the axial pressure gradient within the flame brush (and the finger). This axial flow acceleration reduces the residence time of a turbulent eddy in an unburned zone of the flame brush (e.g. within the finger). Therefore, the capability of the eddy for wrinkling the flamelet surface (e.g. the side finger surface) is weakened owing to a shorter residence time.

Free energy surface of two- and three-dimensional transitions of Au 12 nanoclusters obtained by ab initio metadynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santarossa, Gianluca; Vargas, Angelo; Iannuzzi, Marcella; Baiker, Alfons

2010-05-01

The description of the conformational space generated by metal nanoparticles is a fundamental issue for the study of their physicochemical properties. In this investigation, an exhaustive exploration and a unified view of the conformational space of a gold nanocluster is provided using a Au 12 cluster as an example. Such system is characterized by coexisting planar/quasiplanar and tridimensional conformations separated by high-energy barriers. The conformational space of Au 12 has been explored by means of Born-Oppenheimer ab initio metadynamics, i.e., a molecular dynamics simulation coupled with a history dependent potential to accelerate events that might occur on a long time scale compared to the time step used in the simulations (rare events). The sampled conformations have complex, in general not intuitive topologies that we have classified as planar/quasiplanar or tridimensional, belonging to different regions of the free energy surface. Three conformational free energy basins were identified, one for the planar/quasiplanar and two for the tridimensional structures. At thermodynamic equilibrium, the planar/quasi-planar and tridimensional conformations were found to coexist, to be fluxional and to be separated by high-free-energy barriers. The comparison between the free energy and the potential energy revealed the relevance of the entropic contribution in the equilibrium distribution of the conformations of the cluster.

Radial junction solar cells based on heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Haoting

The radial junction wire array structure was previously proposed as a solar cell geometry to separate the direction of carrier collection from the direction of light absorption, thereby circumventing the need to use high quality but expensive single crystal silicon (c-Si) material that has long minority carrier diffusion lengths. The Si radial junction structure can be realized by forming radial p-n junctions on Si pillar/wire arrays that have a diameter comparable to the minority carrier diffusion length. With proper design, the Si pillar arrays are also able to enhance light trapping and thereby increase the light absorption. However, the larger junction area and surface area on the pillar arrays compared to traditional planar junction Si solar cells makes it challenging to fabricate high performance devices due an in increase in surface defects. Therefore, effective surface passivation strategies are essential for radial junction devices. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using a heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) structure has previously been demonstrated as a very effective surface passivation layer for planar c-Si solar cells. It is therefore of interest to use a-Si:H in a HIT layer structure for radial p-n junction c-Si pillar array solar cells. This poses several challenges, however, including the need to fabricate ultra-thin a-Si:H layers conformally on high aspect ratio Si pillars, control the crystallinity at the a-Si:H/c-Si interface to yield a low interface state density and optimize the layer thicknesses, doping and contacts to yield high performance devices. This research in this thesis was aimed at developing the processing technology required to apply the HIT structure to radial junction Si pillar array solar cell devices and to evaluate the device characteristics. Initial studies focused on understanding the effects of process conditions on the growth rate and conformality of a-Si:H deposited by PECVD using SiH4 and H 2 on high aspect ratio trench structures. Experimentally, it was found that the a-Si:H growth rate increased with increasing SiH4 flow rate up to a point after which it saturated at a maximum growth rate. In addition, it was found that higher SiH4 flow rates resulted in improved thickness uniformity along the trenches. A model based on gas transport and surface reaction of SiH3 in trenches was developed and was used to explain the experimental results and predict conditions that would yield improved thickness uniformity. The knowledge gained in the PECVD deposition studies was then used to prepare HIT radial junction Si pillar array solar cell devices. Deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) was used to prepare Si pillar arrays on p-type (111) c-Si wafers. A process was developed to prepare n-type a-Si:H films from SiH 4 and H2, with PH3 as doping gas. Indium tin oxide (ITO) deposited by sputter deposition and Al-doped ZnO deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) were evaluated as transparent conductive top contacts to the n-type a-Si:H layer. By adjusting the SiH4/H2 gas flow ratio, intrinsic a-Si:H was grown on the c-Si surface without epitaxial micro-crystalline growth. Continuous and pulsed deposition modes were investigated for deposition of the intrinsic and n-type a-Si:H layers on the c-Si pillars. The measurements of device light performance shown that slightly lower short circuit current density (Jsc, 32 mA/cm2 to 35 mA/cm 2) but higher open circuit voltage (Voc, 0.56 V to .47 V) were obtained on the pulsed devices. As the result, higher efficiency (11.6%) was achieved on the pulsed devices (10.6% on the continuous device). The improved performance of the pulsed deposition devices was explained as arising from a higher SiH3 concentration in the initial plasma which lead to a more uniform layer thickness. Planar and radial junction Si wire array HIT solar cell devices were then fabricated and the device performance was compared. A series of p-type c-Si wafers with varying resistivity/doping density were used for this study in order to evaluate the effect of carrier diffusion length on device performance. The saturation current densities (J0) of the radial junction devices were consistently larger than that of the planar devices as a result of the larger junction area. Despite the increased leakage currents, the radial junction HIT cells exhibited similar Voc compared to the planar cells. In addition, at high doping densities (5˜1018 cm-3), the J sc (16.7mA/cm2) and collection efficiency (6.3%) of the radial junction devices was higher than that of comparable planar cells (J sc 12.7 mA/cm2 and efficiency 5.2%), demonstrating improved collection of photogenerated carriers in this geometry.

Systematic analysis of the scatter environment in clinical intra-operative high dose rate (IOHDR) brachytherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Moonseong

Most brachytherapy planning systems are based on a dose calculation algorithm that assumes an infinite scatter environment surrounding the target volume and applicator. In intra-operative high dose rate brachytherapy (IOHDR) where treatment catheters are typically laid either directly on a tumor bed or within applicators that may have little or no scatter material above them, the lack of scatter from one side of the applicator can result in serious underdosage during treatment. Therefore, full analyses of the physical processes such as the photoelectric effect, Rayleigh, and Compton scattering that contribute to dosimetric errors have to be investigated and documented to result in more accurate treatment delivery to patients undergoing IOHDR procedures. Monte Carlo simulation results showed the Compton scattering effect is about 40 times more probable than photoelectric effect for the treated areas of single source, 4 x 4, and 2 x 4 cm2. Also, the dose variations with and without photoelectric effect were 0.3 ˜ 0.7%, which are within the uncertainty in Monte Carlo simulations. Also, Monte Carlo simulation studies were done to verify the following experimental results for quantification of dosimetric errors in clinical IOHDR brachytherapy. The first experimental study was performed to quantify the inaccuracy in clinical dose delivery due to the incomplete scatter conditions inherent in IOHDR brachytherapy. Treatment plans were developed for 3 different treatment surface areas (4 x 4, 7 x 7, 12 x 12 cm2), each with prescription points located at 3 distances (0.5 cm, 1.0 cm, and 1.5 cm) from the source dwell positions. Measurements showed that the magnitude of the underdosage varies from about 8% to 13% of the prescription dose as the prescription depth is increased from 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm. This treatment error was found to be independent of the irradiated area and strongly dependent on the prescription distance. The study was extended to confirm the underdosage for various shape of treated area (especially, irregular shape), which can be applied in clinical cases. Treatment plans of 10 patients previously treated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, which had irregular shapes of treated areas, were used. In IOHDR brachytherapy, a 2-dimensional (2-D) planar geometry is typically used without considering the curved shape of target surfaces. In clinical cases, this assumption of the planar geometry may cause the serious dose delivery errors to target volumes. The second study was performed to investigate the dose errors to curved surfaces. Seven rectangular shaped plans (five for 1.0 cm and two for 0.5 cm prescription depth) and archived irregular shaped plans of 2 patients were analyzed. Cylindrical phantoms with six radii (ranged 1.35 to 12.5 cm) were used to simulate the treatment planning geometries, which were calculated in 2-D plans. Actual doses delivered to prescription points were over-estimated up to 15% on the concave side of curved applicators for all cylindrical phantoms with 1.0 cm prescription depth. Also, delivered doses decreased by up to 10% on the convex side of curved applicators for small treated areas (≤ 5catheters), but interestingly, any dose dependence was not shown with large treated areas. Our measurements have shown inaccuracy in dose delivery when the original planar treatment plan was delivered in a curved applicator setting. Dose errors arising due to the tumor curvature may be significant in a clinical set up and merit attention during planning.

Mechanism of amino acid interaction with silicon nitride surface during chemical mechanical planarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

America, William George

Chemical-Mechanical Planarization (CMP) has become an essential technology for making modern semiconductor devices. This technique was originally applied to overcome the depth of focus limitations of lithography tools during pattern development of metal and dielectric films. As features of the semiconductor device became smaller the lithographic process shifted to shorter exposure wavelengths and the useable depth of focus became smaller. The topography differences on the wafer's surface from all of the previous processing steps became greater than the exposure tools could properly project. CMP helped solve this problem by bringing the features of the wafer surface to the same plane. As semiconductor fabrication technology progressed further, CMP was applied to other areas of the process, including shallow trench isolation and metal line Damascene processing. In its simplest application, CMP polishes on features projecting upward and higher than the average surface. These projections experience more work and are polished faster. Given sufficient time the surface becomes essentially flat, on a micro-scale, and the lithographic projection tools has the same plane onto which to focus. Thus, the pattern is properly and uniformly exposed and subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE) steps are executed. This technique was initially applied to later steps in the wafer processing scheme to render a new flat surface at each metal layer. Building on this success, CMP has been applied to a broad range of steps in the wafer processing particularly where surface topography warrants and when RIE of dielectric or metallic films is not practical. CMP has seen its greatest application in semiconductor logic and memory devices and most recently, a Damascene processing for copper lines and shallow trench isolation. This pattern dependent CMP issue is explored in this thesis as it pertains primarily to shallow trench isolation CMP coupled with a highly selective slurry chemistry.

Diamond deposition using a planar radio frequency inductively coupled plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozeman, S. P.; Tucker, D. A.; Stoner, B. R.; Glass, J. T.; Hooke, W. M.

1995-06-01

A planar radio frequency inductively coupled plasma has been used to deposit diamond onto scratched silicon. This plasma source has been developed recently for use in large area semiconductor processing and holds promise as a method for scale up of diamond growth reactors. Deposition occurs in an annulus which coincides with the area of most intense optical emission from the plasma. Well-faceted diamond particles are produced when the substrate is immersed in the plasma.

Investigation of wall-bounded turbulence over regularly distributed roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Placidi, Marco; Ganapathisubramani, Bharathram

2012-11-01

The effects of regularly distributed roughness elements on the structure of a turbulent boundary layer are examined by performing a series of Planar (high resolution l+ ~ 30) and Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments in a wind tunnel. An adequate description of how to best characterise a rough wall, especially one where the density of roughness elements is sparse, is yet to be developed. In this study, rough surfaces consisting of regularly and uniformly distributed LEGO® blocks are used. Twelve different patterns are adopted in order to systematically examine the effects of frontal solidity (λf, frontal area of the roughness elements per unit wall-parallel area) and plan solidity (λp, plan area of roughness elements per unit wall-parallel area), on the turbulence structure. The Karman number, Reτ , is approximately 4000 across the different cases. Spanwise 3D vector fields at two different wall-normal locations (top of the canopy and within the log-region) are also compared to examine the spanwise homogeneity of the flow across different surfaces. In the talk, a detailed analysis of mean and rms velocity profiles, Reynolds stresses, and quadrant decomposition for the different patterns will be presented.

Holding characteristics of planar objects suspended by near-field acoustic levitation

PubMed

Matsuo; Koike; Nakamura; Ueha; Hashimoto

2000-03-01

The authors have found the acoustic levitation phenomenon where planar objects of 10 kg weight can be levitated near a vibration surface. This phenomenon has been studied for non-contact transportation. A circular planar object can be suspended without contacting a circular vibration plate. We have studied the holding force which acts horizontally on the levitated objects. The horizontal position of the object is stabilized by this force. In this paper, we discuss the effect of the radius of a levitated object, levitation distance, displacement amplitude of the vibration plate and the vibration mode on the suspending force.

3D reconstruction from multi-view VHR-satellite images in MicMac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rupnik, Ewelina; Pierrot-Deseilligny, Marc; Delorme, Arthur

2018-05-01

This work addresses the generation of high quality digital surface models by fusing multiple depths maps calculated with the dense image matching method. The algorithm is adapted to very high resolution multi-view satellite images, and the main contributions of this work are in the multi-view fusion. The algorithm is insensitive to outliers, takes into account the matching quality indicators, handles non-correlated zones (e.g. occlusions), and is solved with a multi-directional dynamic programming approach. No geometric constraints (e.g. surface planarity) or auxiliary data in form of ground control points are required for its operation. Prior to the fusion procedures, the RPC geolocation parameters of all images are improved in a bundle block adjustment routine. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated on two VHR (Very High Resolution)-satellite image datasets (Pléiades, WorldView-3) revealing its good performance in reconstructing non-textured areas, repetitive patterns, and surface discontinuities.

Transfer of chirality from light to a Disperse Red 1 molecular glass surface.

PubMed

Mazaheri, Leila; Lebel, Olivier; Nunzi, Jean-Michel

2017-12-01

Chiral structures and materials interact with light in well-documented ways, but light can also interact with achiral materials to generate chirality by inscribing its asymmetric configuration on photoresponsive materials, such as azobenzene derivatives. While it is thus possible to generate both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) chirality, 2D chirality is especially attractive because of its non-reciprocity. Herein, 2D chirality is induced on the surface of a glass-forming Disperse Red 1 derivative by irradiation with a single laser beam, yielding crossed spontaneous surface relief gratings with different pitches. Azimuth rotations up to 10° have been observed, and the absence of 3D chirality has been confirmed. This method thus allows generating non-reciprocal planar chiral objects by a simple, single irradiation process on a thin film of a material that can easily be processed over large areas or onto small objects.

Application of the Quadrupole Method for Simulation of Passive Thermography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winfree, William P.; Zalameda, Joseph N.; Gregory, Elizabeth D.

2017-01-01

Passive thermography has been shown to be an effective method for in-situ and real time nondestructive evaluation (NDE) to measure damage growth in a composite structure during cyclic loading. The heat generation by subsurface flaw results in a measurable thermal profile at the surface. This paper models the heat generation as a planar subsurface source and calculates the resultant temperature profile at the surface using a three dimensional quadrupole. The results of the model are compared to finite element simulations of the same planar sources and experimental data acquired during cyclic loading of composite specimens.

Effects of alignment layer thickness on the pretilt angle of liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, Jong-Ho; Zin, Wang-Cheol

2010-12-01

Mixture solutions of vertical- and planar-aligning polyimide precursors were coated on bare glass. The concentrations of the solutions were varied to control the thicknesses of the films. The resulting blend films were baked to induce imidization and then rubbed. The thicknesses (t) of the blend film and of the pure vertical-alignment film affected their surface energies; the pretilt angle can be fully controlled in the range 5.5°≤Θ0≤87° by adjusting t. The surface energy of pure planar-alignment layers was independent of t.

Strongly Confined Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons Waveguiding Enabled by Planar Staggered Plasmonic Waveguides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Longfang; Xiao, Yifan; Liu, Yanhui; Zhang, Liang; Cai, Guoxiong; Liu, Qing Huo

2016-12-01

We demonstrate a novel route to achieving highly efficient and strongly confined spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguides at subwavelength scale enabled by planar staggered plasmonic waveguides (PSPWs). The structure of these new waveguides consists of an ultrathin metallic strip with periodic subwavelength staggered double groove arrays supported by a flexible dielectric substrate, leading to unique staggered EM coupling and waveguiding phenomenon. The spoof SPP propagation properties, including dispersion relations and near field distributions, are numerically investigated. Furthermore, broadband coplanar waveguide (CPW) to planar staggered plasmonic waveguide (PSPW) transitions are designed to achieve smooth momentum matching and highly efficient spoof SPP mode conversion. By applying these transitions, a CPW-PSPW-CPW structure is designed, fabricated and measured to verify the PSPW’s propagation performance at microwave frequencies. The investigation results show the proposed PSPWs have excellent performance of deep subwavelength spoof SPPs confinement, long propagation length and low bend loss, as well as great design flexibility to engineer the propagation properties by adjusting their geometry dimensions and material parameters. Our work opens up a new avenue for development of various advanced planar integrated plasmonic devices and circuits in microwave and terahertz regimes.

Strongly Confined Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons Waveguiding Enabled by Planar Staggered Plasmonic Waveguides.

PubMed

Ye, Longfang; Xiao, Yifan; Liu, Yanhui; Zhang, Liang; Cai, Guoxiong; Liu, Qing Huo

2016-12-05

We demonstrate a novel route to achieving highly efficient and strongly confined spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguides at subwavelength scale enabled by planar staggered plasmonic waveguides (PSPWs). The structure of these new waveguides consists of an ultrathin metallic strip with periodic subwavelength staggered double groove arrays supported by a flexible dielectric substrate, leading to unique staggered EM coupling and waveguiding phenomenon. The spoof SPP propagation properties, including dispersion relations and near field distributions, are numerically investigated. Furthermore, broadband coplanar waveguide (CPW) to planar staggered plasmonic waveguide (PSPW) transitions are designed to achieve smooth momentum matching and highly efficient spoof SPP mode conversion. By applying these transitions, a CPW-PSPW-CPW structure is designed, fabricated and measured to verify the PSPW's propagation performance at microwave frequencies. The investigation results show the proposed PSPWs have excellent performance of deep subwavelength spoof SPPs confinement, long propagation length and low bend loss, as well as great design flexibility to engineer the propagation properties by adjusting their geometry dimensions and material parameters. Our work opens up a new avenue for development of various advanced planar integrated plasmonic devices and circuits in microwave and terahertz regimes.

Graphene-Like 2D Porous Carbon Nanosheets Derived from Cornstalk Pith for Energy Storage Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Kezheng; Niu, Qingyuan; Tang, Qiheng; Guo, Yaqing; Wang, Lizhen

2018-01-01

Biomass materials from different organisms or different parts (even different periods) of the same organism have different microscopic morphologies, hierarchical pore structures and even elemental compositions. Therefore, carbon materials inheriting the unique hierarchical microstructure of different biomass materials may exhibit significantly different electrochemical properties. Cornstalk pith and cornstalk skin (dried by freeze-drying) exhibit significantly different microstructures due to their different biological functions. The cornstalk skin-based carbon (S-carbon) exhibits a thick planar morphology, and the Barrett-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area is only about 332.07 m2 g-1. However, cornstalk pith-based carbon (P-carbon) exhibits a graphene-like 2D porous nanosheet structure with a rough, wrinkled morphology, and the BET surface area is about 805.17 m2 g-1. In addition, a P-carbon supercapacitor exhibits much higher specific capacitance and much better rate capability than an S-carbon supercapacitor in 6 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte.

Docking alignment system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monford, Leo G. (Inventor)

1990-01-01

Improved techniques are provided for alignment of two objects. The present invention is particularly suited for three-dimensional translation and three-dimensional rotational alignment of objects in outer space. A camera 18 is fixedly mounted to one object, such as a remote manipulator arm 10 of the spacecraft, while the planar reflective surface 30 is fixed to the other object, such as a grapple fixture 20. A monitor 50 displays in real-time images from the camera, such that the monitor displays both the reflected image of the camera and visible markings on the planar reflective surface when the objects are in proper alignment. The monitor may thus be viewed by the operator and the arm 10 manipulated so that the reflective surface is perpendicular to the optical axis of the camera, the roll of the reflective surface is at a selected angle with respect to the camera, and the camera is spaced a pre-selected distance from the reflective surface.

Improved docking alignment system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monford, Leo G. (Inventor)

1988-01-01

Improved techniques are provided for the alignment of two objects. The present invention is particularly suited for 3-D translation and 3-D rotational alignment of objects in outer space. A camera is affixed to one object, such as a remote manipulator arm of the spacecraft, while the planar reflective surface is affixed to the other object, such as a grapple fixture. A monitor displays in real-time images from the camera such that the monitor displays both the reflected image of the camera and visible marking on the planar reflective surface when the objects are in proper alignment. The monitor may thus be viewed by the operator and the arm manipulated so that the reflective surface is perpendicular to the optical axis of the camera, the roll of the reflective surface is at a selected angle with respect to the camera, and the camera is spaced a pre-selected distance from the reflective surface.

Summary on Several Key Techniques in 3D Geological Modeling

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Several key techniques in 3D geological modeling including planar mesh generation, spatial interpolation, and surface intersection are summarized in this paper. Note that these techniques are generic and widely used in various applications but play a key role in 3D geological modeling. There are two essential procedures in 3D geological modeling: the first is the simulation of geological interfaces using geometric surfaces and the second is the building of geological objects by means of various geometric computations such as the intersection of surfaces. Discrete geometric surfaces that represent geological interfaces can be generated by creating planar meshes first and then spatially interpolating; those surfaces intersect and then form volumes that represent three-dimensional geological objects such as rock bodies. In this paper, the most commonly used algorithms of the key techniques in 3D geological modeling are summarized. PMID:24772029

3-D World Modeling For An Autonomous Robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, M.; Pin, F. G.; Weisbin, C. R.

1987-01-01

This paper presents a methodology for a concise representation of the 3-D world model for a mobile robot, using range data. The process starts with the segmentation of the scene into "objects" that are given a unique label, based on principles of range continuity. Then the external surface of each object is partitioned into homogeneous surface patches. Contours of surface patches in 3-D space are identified by estimating the normal and curvature associated with each pixel. The resulting surface patches are then classified as planar, convex or concave. Since the world model uses a volumetric representation for the 3-D environment, planar surfaces are represented by thin volumetric polyhedra. Spherical and cylindrical surfaces are extracted and represented by appropriate volumetric primitives. All other surfaces are represented using the boolean union of spherical volumes (as described in a separate paper by the same authors). The result is a general, concise representation of the external 3-D world, which allows for efficient and robust 3-D object recognition.

Simulation of Tip-Sample Interaction in the Atomic Force Microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Good, Brian S.; Banerjea, Amitava

1994-01-01

Recent simulations of the interaction between planar surfaces and model Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) tips have suggested that there are conditions under which the tip may become unstable and 'avalanche' toward the sample surface. Here we investigate via computer simulation the stability of a variety of model AFM tip configurations with respect to the avalanche transition for a number of fcc metals. We perform Monte-Carlo simulations at room temperature using the Equivalent Crystal Theory (ECT) of Smith and Banerjea. Results are compared with recent experimental results as well as with our earlier work on the avalanche of parallel planar surfaces. Our results on a model single-atom tip are in excellent agreement with recent experiments on tunneling through mechanically-controlled break junctions.

Modeling and simulation of dynamics of a planar-motion rigid body with friction and surface contact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiaojun; Lv, Jing

2017-07-01

The modeling and numerical method for the dynamics of a planar-motion rigid body with frictional contact between plane surfaces were presented based on the theory of contact mechanics and the algorithm of linear complementarity problem (LCP). The Coulomb’s dry friction model is adopted as the friction law, and the normal contact forces are expressed as functions of the local deformations and their speeds in contact bodies. The dynamic equations of the rigid body are obtained by the Lagrange equation. The transition problem of stick-slip motions between contact surfaces is formulated and solved as LCP through establishing the complementary conditions of the friction law. Finally, a numerical example is presented as an example to show the application.

Security hologram foil labels with a design facilitating authenticity testing: effects of mechanical bending of substrates with the glued on holograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aubrecht, Ivo

2015-05-01

Optimal design of security holograms or diffractive optically variable image devices (DOVIDs) that would be complex enough to deter counterfeiters from attempts of mimicking but contains features readily recognizable by laymen has been addressed by many experts. This paper tries to discuss effects of mechanical bending of a flexible substrate to visual appearance of a glued-on foil DOVID. Initially plane, the DOVID is deformed to a convex- or concave-shaped curved surface. Theoretical analyses and experimental results assume the surface to be a cylindrical segment and concern rainbow-type surface-relief holograms that are recorded piecewise in a photoresist material, coated on planar and non-planar substrates.

Effective slip identities for viscous flow over arbitrary patterned surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamrin, Ken; Six, Pierre

2012-11-01

For a variety of applications, most recently microfluidics, the ability to control fluid motions using surface texturing has been an area of ongoing interest. In this talk, we will develop several identities relating to the construction of effective slip boundary conditions for patterned surfaces. The effective slip measures the apparent slip of a fluid layer flowing over a patterned surface when viewing the flow far from the surface. In specific, shear flows of tall fluid layers over periodic surfaces (surfaces perturbed from a planar no-slip boundary by height and/or hydrophobicity fluctuations) are governed by an effective slip matrix that relates the vector of far-field shear stress (applied to the top of the fluid layer) to the effective slip velocity vector that emerges from the flow. Of particular note, we will demonstrate several general rules that describe the effective slip matrix: (1) that the effective slip matrix is always symmetric, (2) that the effective slip over any hydrophobically striped surface implies a family of related results for slip over other striped surfaces, and (3) that when height or hydrophobicity fluctuations are small, the slip matrix can be approximated directly using a simple formula derived from the surface pattern.

Growth of porous anodized alumina on the sputtered aluminum films with 2D-3D morphology for high specific surface area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, M. W.; Chung, C. K.

2014-08-01

The porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with high-aspect-ratio pore channels is widely used as a template for fabricating nanowires or other one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures. The high specific surface area of AAO can also be applied to the super capacitor and the supporting substrate for catalysis. The rough surface could be helpful to enhance specific surface area but it generally results in electrical field concentration even to ruin AAO. In this article, the aluminum (Al) films with the varied 2D-3D morphology on Si substrates were prepared using magnetron sputtering at a power of 50 W-185 W for 1 h at a working pressure of 2.5 × 10-1 Pa. Then, AAO was fabricated from the different Al films by means of one-step hybrid pulse anodizing (HPA) between the positive 40 V and the negative -2 V (1 s:1 s) for 3 min in 0.3 M oxalic acid at a room temperature. The microstructure and morphology of Al films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope, respectively. Some hillocks formed at the high target power could be attributed to the grain texture growth in the normal orientation of Al(1 1 1). The 3D porous AAO structure which is different from the conventional 2D planar one has been successfully demonstrated using HPA on the film with greatly rough hillock-surface formed at the highest power of 185 W. It offers a potential application of the new 3D AAO to high specific surface area devices.

DLVO interaction energies between hollow spherical particles and collector surfaces

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The surface element integration technique was used to systematically study Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) interaction energies/forces between hollow spherical particles (HPs) and a planar surface or two intercepting half planes under different ionic strength conditions. The inner and outer ...

Stagnation point properties for non-continuum gaseous jet impinging at a flat plate surface from a planar exit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Chunpei

2013-10-01

In this paper, we investigate highly rarefied gaseous jet flows out of a planar exit and impinging at a normally set flat plate. Especially, we concentrate on the plate center stagnation point pressure and heat flux coefficients. For a specular reflective plate, the stagnation point pressure coefficient can be represented using two non-dimensional factors: the characteristic gas exit speed ratio S0 and the geometry ratio of H/L, where H is the planar exit semi-height and L is the center-to-center distance from the exit to the plate. For a diffuse reflective plate, the stagnation point pressure and heat flux coefficients involve an extra factor of T0/Tw, i.e., the ratio of exit gas temperature to the plate wall temperature. These results allow us to develop four diagrams, from which we can conveniently obtain the pressure and heat flux coefficients for the stagnation impingement point, at the collisionless flow limit. After normalization with these maximum coefficients, the pressure and heat flux coefficient distributions along the surface essentially degenerate to almost identical curves. As a result, with known plate surface pressure coefficient distributions and these diagrams, we can conveniently construct the heat flux coefficient distributions along the plate surface, and vice versa.

Development of a novel precision instrument for high-resolution simultaneous normal and shear force measurements between small planar samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundstrom, Troy; Clark, William; Jalili, Nader

2017-05-01

In the design and development of end effector pads for silicon wafer handling robots, it is imperative that the static friction/adhesion force properties of the pads with respect to a variety of planar surfaces be characterized. In this work, the overall design, calibration, and data acquisition procedure of an instrument developed for performing these measurements on small (<10 mm × 10 mm) planar samples is presented. This device was used to perform adhesion/maximum shear force measurements on polydimethylsiloxane, a silicon wafer, and custom carbon nanotubes forest surfaces. The device was successfully able to measure an effective, mean profile adhesion force of 715 μN between a silicon wafer and a polydimethylsiloxane (2.768 × 10-6 m2) sample. In addition, a nonlinear maximum shear over normal force relationship was also measured between custom carbon nanotubes forest and the silicon wafer surfaces. The maximum shear over a normal force coefficient was found to decrease with increasing initial normal force. Currently, there are numerous devices for measuring normal/shear forces at the nano/micro- and macroscales; however, this device allows for the consistent measurement of these same types of forces on components with surface dimensions ranging from 0.1 mm to 10 mm.

Excitation of the Uller-Zenneck electromagnetic surface waves in the prism-coupled configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasheed, Mehran; Faryad, Muhammad

2017-08-01

A configuration to excite the Uller-Zenneck surface electromagnetic waves at the planar interfaces of homogeneous and isotropic dielectric materials is proposed and theoretically analyzed. The Uller-Zenneck waves are surface waves that can exist at the planar interface of two dissimilar dielectric materials of which at least one is a lossy dielectric material. In this paper, a slab of a lossy dielectric material was taken with lossless dielectric materials on both sides. A canonical boundary-value problem was set up and solved to find the possible Uller-Zenneck waves and waveguide modes. The Uller-Zenneck waves guided by the slab of the lossy dielectric material were found to be either symmetric or antisymmetric and transmuted into waveguide modes when the thickness of that slab was increased. A prism-coupled configuration was then successfully devised to excite the Uller-Zenneck waves. The results showed that the Uller-Zenneck waves are excited at the same angle of incidence for any thickness of the slab of the lossy dielectric material, whereas the waveguide modes can be excited when the slab is sufficiently thick. The excitation of Uller-Zenneck waves at the planar interfaces with homogeneous and all-dielectric materials can usher in new avenues for the applications for electromagnetic surface waves.

Edge effects on the fluttering characteristics of freely falling planar particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blay Esteban, Luis; Shrimpton, John; Ganapathisubramani, Bharathram

2018-06-01

The effect of particle edge geometry on the descent motion of freely falling planar particles is examined through experiments. Various planar particles, such as disk and polygons, with identical frontal areas (Ap) and different number of edges (or perimeter) are used. All particles are designed such that their values of Galileo number (G ) and dimensionless moment of inertia (I*) correspond to the previously identified fluttering regime of particle motion. Several modes of secondary motion are observed for the same particle and conditions, and these are not equally probable. This probability depends on the particle shape. Disks and heptagons were found to prefer a "planar zig-zag" behavior. These planar motions are composed of gliding sweeps and turning sections. As the number of sides in the polygon decreases, i.e., for hexagons and pentagons, the trajectory transitions to a more three-dimensional form. These trajectories were found to be restricted to one plane per swing, but the subsequent swings are in other planes. Further decrease in number of sides to a square results in the trajectories having a severe out-of-plane motion. These subregimes of particle motion within the fluttering regime are consistent with those reported for disks in previous studies. Based on this information, a length scale that accounts for the frontal area of the particles and its edge geometry (i.e., perimeter) is proposed. This length scale represents an approach to determine an equivalent disk for planar particles such that the phase diagram in the Reynolds number (Re) and dimensionless moment of inertia (I*) domain can be used to characterize the motion of planar particles with different frontal geometries. However, further experiments covering other domains of the regime map are needed to verify its universality.

Wetting Transition of Nonpolar Neutral Molecule System on a Neutral and Atomic Length Scale Roughness Substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Shiqi

2018-03-01

One recently proposed new method for accurately determining wetting temperature is applied to the wetting transition occurring in a single component nonpolar neutral molecule system near a neutral planar substrate with roughness produced by cosinusoidal modulation(s). New observations are summarized into five points: (i) for a planar substrate superimposed with one cosinusoidal modulation, with increasing of the periodicity length or the surface attraction force field, or decreasing of the amplitude, wetting temperature T_W drops accordingly and the three parameters show multiplication effect; moreover, both the periodicity length and amplitude effect curves display pole phenomena and saturation phenomena, and the T_W saturation occurs at small (for case of large amplitude) or large (for case of small amplitude) periodicity length side, respectively. (ii) In the case of the planar substrate superimposed with two cosinusoidal modulations with equal periodicity length, the initial phase difference is critical issue that influences the T_W, which decreases with the initial phase difference. (iii) In the case of the planar substrate superimposed with two cosinusoidal modulations with zero phase difference, change of the T_W with one periodicity length under the condition of another periodicity length unchanged is non-monotonous. (iv) When the parameters are chosen such that the T_W draws ever closer to the bulk critical temperature, wetting transition on the roughness substrate eventually does not occur. (v) The present microscopic calculation challenges traditional macroscopic theory by confirming that the atomic length scale roughness always renders the surface less hydrophilic and whereas the mesoscopical roughness renders the surface more hydrophilic. All of these observations summarized can be reasonably explained by the relative strength of the attraction actually enjoyed by the surface gas molecules to the attraction the gas molecules can get when in bulk.

Catadioptric planar compound eye with large field of view.

PubMed

Deng, Huaxia; Gao, Xicheng; Ma, Mengchao; Li, Yunyang; Li, Hang; Zhang, Jin; Zhong, Xiang

2018-05-14

The planar compound eye has the advantages of simple structure and no requirement for complex relay optical elements, but the field of view (FOV) is very difficult to expand. Overcoming the limitation of FOV, especially with simple structures, is a great challenge for the development of planar compound eyes. Different from the existing designs that only considering refraction, this article proposes a catadioptric planar compound eye based on the reflection and refraction to expand the FOV. In the proposed design, the incident light from a large angle is reflected into the lenslet array by two rotationally symmetric mirrors whose surface equations are optimized by mathematical and optical softwares. The FOV of the proposed catadioptric planar compound eye theoretically can reach 96.6°, which is much wider than the opening record of 70°. Moreover, no distortion of the imaging system can be obtained theoretically in this design. Simulation results show a linearity of better than 99% for the most of the incident angles. The verification experiments show that the FOV of the proposed device can reach 90.7° while the FOV of the corresponding planar compound eye without mirrors is 41.6°. The proposed catadioptric planar compound eye has the great potential in monitoring, detection and virtual reality since the FOV has been widen significantly.

Three-Dimensional Analysis of Syncytial-Type Cell Plates during Endosperm Cellularization Visualized by High Resolution Electron Tomography W⃞

PubMed Central

Otegui, Marisa S.; Mastronarde, David N.; Kang, Byung-Ho; Bednarek, Sebastian Y.; Staehelin, L. Andrew

2001-01-01

The three-dimensional architecture of syncytial-type cell plates in the endosperm of Arabidopsis has been analyzed at ∼6-nm resolution by means of dual-axis high-voltage electron tomography of high-pressure frozen/freeze-substituted samples. Mini-phragmoplasts consisting of microtubule clusters assemble between sister and nonsister nuclei. Most Golgi-derived vesicles appear connected to these microtubules by two molecules that resemble kinesin-like motor proteins. These vesicles fuse with each other to form hourglass-shaped intermediates, which become wide (∼45 nm in diameter) tubules, the building blocks of wide tubular networks. New mini-phragmoplasts also are generated de novo around the margins of expanding wide tubular networks, giving rise to new foci of cell plate growth, which later become integrated into the main cell plate. Spiral-shaped rings of the dynamin-like protein ADL1A constrict but do not fission the wide tubules at irregular intervals. These rings appear to maintain the tubular geometry of the network. The wide tubular network matures into a convoluted fenestrated sheet in a process that involves increases of 45 and 130% in relative membrane surface area and volume, respectively. The proportionally larger increase in volume appears to reflect callose synthesis. Upon fusion with the parental plasma membrane, the convoluted fenestrated sheet is transformed into a planar fenestrated sheet. This transformation involves clathrin-coated vesicles that reduce the relative membrane surface area and volume by ∼70%. A ribosome-excluding matrix encompasses the cell plate membranes from the fusion of the first vesicles until the onset of the planar fenestrated sheet formation. We postulate that this matrix contains the molecules that mediate cell plate assembly. PMID:11549762

High Aspect Ratio Semiconductor Heterojunction Solar Cells

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

Redwing, Joan; Mallouk, Tom; Mayer, Theresa

2013-05-17

The project focused on the development of high aspect ratio silicon heterojunction (HARSH) solar cells. The solar cells developed in this study consisted of high density vertical arrays of radial junction silicon microwires/pillars formed on Si substrates. Prior studies have demonstrated that vertical Si wire/pillar arrays enable reduced reflectivity and improved light trapping characteristics compared to planar solar cells. In addition, the radial junction structure offers the possibility of increased carrier collection in solar cells fabricated using material with short carrier diffusion lengths. However, the high junction and surface area of radial junction Si wire/pillar array devices can be problematicmore » and lead to increased diode leakage and enhanced surface recombination. This study investigated the use of amorphous hydrogenated Si in the form of a heterojunction-intrinsic-thin layer (HIT) structure as a junction formation method for these devices. The HIT layer structure has widely been employed to reduce surface recombination in planar crystalline Si solar cells. Consequently, it was anticipated that it would also provide significant benefits to the performance of radial junction Si wire/pillar array devices. The overall goals of the project were to demonstrate a HARSH cell with a HIT-type structure in the radial junction Si wire/pillar array configuration and to develop potentially low cost pathways to fabricate these devices. Our studies demonstrated that the HIT structure lead to significant improvements in the open circuit voltage (V oc>0.5) of radial junction Si pillar array devices compared to devices fabricated using junctions formed by thermal diffusion or low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). In addition, our work experimentally demonstrated that the radial junction structure lead to improvements in efficiency compared to comparable planar devices for devices fabricated using heavily doped Si that had reduced carrier diffusion lengths. Furthermore, we made significant advances in employing the bottom-up vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth technique for the fabrication of the Si wire arrays. Our work elucidated the effects of growth conditions and substrate pattern geometry on the growth of large area Si microwire arrays grown with SiCl4. In addition, we also developed a process to grow p-type Si nanowire arrays using aluminum as the catalyst metal instead of gold. Finally, our work demonstrated the feasibility of growing vertical arrays of Si wires on non-crystalline glass substrates using polycrystalline Si template layers. The accomplishments demonstrated in this project will pave the way for future advances in radial junction wire array solar cells.« less

On-Surface Synthesis and Characterization of Honeycombene Oligophenylene Macrocycles.

PubMed

Chen, Min; Shang, Jian; Wang, Yongfeng; Wu, Kai; Kuttner, Julian; Hilt, Gerhard; Hieringer, Wolfgang; Gottfried, J Michael

2017-01-24

We report the on-surface formation and characterization of [30]-honeycombene, a cyclotriacontaphenylene, which consists of 30 phenyl rings (C 180 H 120 ) and has a diameter of 4.0 nm. This shape-persistent, conjugated, and unsubstituted hexagonal hydrocarbon macrocycle was obtained by solvent-free synthesis on a silver (111) single-crystal surface, making solubility-enhancing alkyl side groups unnecessary. Side products include strained macrocycles with square, pentagonal, and heptagonal shape. The molecules were characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. On the Ag(111) surface, the macrocycles act as molecular quantum corrals and lead to the confinement of surface-state electrons inside the central cavity. The energy of the confined surface state correlates with the size of the macrocycle and is well described by a particle-in-the-box model. Tunneling spectroscopy suggests conjugation within the planar rings and reveals influences of self-assembly on the electronic structure. While the adsorbed molecules appear to be approximately planar, the free molecules have nonplanar conformation, according to DFT.

Fabrication of Out-of-Plane Electrodes for ACEO Pumps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senousy, Yehya; Harnett, Cindy

2012-02-01

This abstract reports the fabrication process of a novel AC Electrosmosis (ACEO) pump with out of plane asymmetric interdigitated electrodes. A self-folding technique is used to fabricate the electrodes, that depends on the strain mismatch between the tensile stressed film (metal layer) and the compressive stress film (oxidized silicon layer). The electrodes roll up with a well-defined radius of curvature in the range of 100-200 microns. Two different electrical signals are connected to alternating electrodes using an insulating silicon nitride barrier that allows circuits to cross over each other without shorting. Electroosmotic micropumps are essential for low-cost, power-efficient microfluidic lab-on-chip devices used in diverse application such as analytical probes, drug delivery systems and surgical tools. ACEO pumps have been developed to address the drawbacks of the DCEO pumps such as the faradic reaction and gas bubbles. The original ACEO microfluidic pump was created with planar arrays of asymmetric interdigitated electrodes at the bottom of the channel. This rolled-up tube design improves on the planar design by including the channel walls and ceiling in the active pumping surface area of the device.

Alternative Post-Processing on a CMOS Chip to Fabricate a Planar Microelectrode Array

PubMed Central

López-Huerta, Francisco; Herrera-May, Agustín L.; Estrada-López, Johan J.; Zuñiga-Islas, Carlos; Cervantes-Sanchez, Blanca; Soto, Enrique; Soto-Cruz, Blanca S.

2011-01-01

We present an alternative post-processing on a CMOS chip to release a planar microelectrode array (pMEA) integrated with its signal readout circuit, which can be used for monitoring the neuronal activity of vestibular ganglion neurons in newborn Wistar strain rats. This chip is fabricated through a 0.6 μm CMOS standard process and it has 12 pMEA through a 4 × 3 electrodes matrix. The alternative CMOS post-process includes the development of masks to protect the readout circuit and the power supply pads. A wet etching process eliminates the aluminum located on the surface of the p+-type silicon. This silicon is used as transducer for recording the neuronal activity and as interface between the readout circuit and neurons. The readout circuit is composed of an amplifier and tunable bandpass filter, which is placed on a 0.015 mm2 silicon area. The tunable bandpass filter has a bandwidth of 98 kHz and a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 87 dB. These characteristics of the readout circuit are appropriate for neuronal recording applications. PMID:22346681

Alternative post-processing on a CMOS chip to fabricate a planar microelectrode array.

PubMed

López-Huerta, Francisco; Herrera-May, Agustín L; Estrada-López, Johan J; Zuñiga-Islas, Carlos; Cervantes-Sanchez, Blanca; Soto, Enrique; Soto-Cruz, Blanca S

2011-01-01

We present an alternative post-processing on a CMOS chip to release a planar microelectrode array (pMEA) integrated with its signal readout circuit, which can be used for monitoring the neuronal activity of vestibular ganglion neurons in newborn Wistar strain rats. This chip is fabricated through a 0.6 μm CMOS standard process and it has 12 pMEA through a 4 × 3 electrodes matrix. The alternative CMOS post-process includes the development of masks to protect the readout circuit and the power supply pads. A wet etching process eliminates the aluminum located on the surface of the p+ -type silicon. This silicon is used as transducer for recording the neuronal activity and as interface between the readout circuit and neurons. The readout circuit is composed of an amplifier and tunable bandpass filter, which is placed on a 0.015 mm2 silicon area. The tunable bandpass filter has a bandwidth of 98 kHz and a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 87 dB. These characteristics of the readout circuit are appropriate for neuronal recording applications.

Nanostructured gold microelectrodes for extracellular recording from electrogenic cells.

PubMed

Brüggemann, D; Wolfrum, B; Maybeck, V; Mourzina, Y; Jansen, M; Offenhäusser, A

2011-07-01

We present a new biocompatible nanostructured microelectrode array for extracellular signal recording from electrogenic cells. Microfabrication techniques were combined with a template-assisted approach using nanoporous aluminum oxide to develop gold nanopillar electrodes. The nanopillars were approximately 300-400 nm high and had a diameter of 60 nm. Thus, they yielded a higher surface area of the electrodes resulting in a decreased impedance compared to planar electrodes. The interaction between the large-scale gold nanopillar arrays and cardiac muscle cells (HL-1) was investigated via focused ion beam milling. In the resulting cross-sections we observed a tight coupling between the HL-1 cells and the gold nanostructures. However, the cell membranes did not bend into the cleft between adjacent nanopillars due to the high pillar density. We performed extracellular potential recordings from HL-1 cells with the nanostructured microelectrode arrays. The maximal amplitudes recorded with the nanopillar electrodes were up to 100% higher than those recorded with planar gold electrodes. Increasing the aspect ratio of the gold nanopillars and changing the geometrical layout can further enhance the signal quality in the future.

Flexible and transparent gastric battery: energy harvesting from gastric acid for endoscopy application.

PubMed

Mostafalu, Pooria; Sonkusale, Sameer

2014-04-15

In this paper, we present the potential to harvest energy directly from the digestive system for powering a future wireless endoscopy capsule. A microfabricated electrochemical cell on flexible parylene film is proposed as a gastric battery. This electrochemical cell uses gastric juice as a source of unlimited electrolyte. Planar fabricated zinc [Zn] and palladium [Pd] electrodes serve as anode and cathode respectively. Due to planar geometry, no separator is needed. Moreover the annular structure of the electrodes provides lower distance between cathode and anode reducing the internal resistance. Both electrodes are biocompatible and parylene provides flexibility to the system. For a surface area of 15 mm(2), 1.25 mW is generated which is sufficient for most implantable endoscopy applications. Open circuit output voltage of this battery is 0.75 V. Since this gastric battery does not require any external electrolyte, it has low intrinsic weight, and since it is flexible and is made of biocompatible materials, it offers a promising solution for power in implantable applications. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

High-speed Particle Image Velocimetry Near Surfaces

PubMed Central

Lu, Louise; Sick, Volker

2013-01-01

Multi-dimensional and transient flows play a key role in many areas of science, engineering, and health sciences but are often not well understood. The complex nature of these flows may be studied using particle image velocimetry (PIV), a laser-based imaging technique for optically accessible flows. Though many forms of PIV exist that extend the technique beyond the original planar two-component velocity measurement capabilities, the basic PIV system consists of a light source (laser), a camera, tracer particles, and analysis algorithms. The imaging and recording parameters, the light source, and the algorithms are adjusted to optimize the recording for the flow of interest and obtain valid velocity data. Common PIV investigations measure two-component velocities in a plane at a few frames per second. However, recent developments in instrumentation have facilitated high-frame rate (> 1 kHz) measurements capable of resolving transient flows with high temporal resolution. Therefore, high-frame rate measurements have enabled investigations on the evolution of the structure and dynamics of highly transient flows. These investigations play a critical role in understanding the fundamental physics of complex flows. A detailed description for performing high-resolution, high-speed planar PIV to study a transient flow near the surface of a flat plate is presented here. Details for adjusting the parameter constraints such as image and recording properties, the laser sheet properties, and processing algorithms to adapt PIV for any flow of interest are included. PMID:23851899

The effect of cathode felt geometries on electrochemical characteristics of sodium sulfur (NaS) cells: Planar vs. tubular

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Goun; Park, Yoon-Cheol; Lee, Younki; Cho, Namung; Kim, Chang-Soo; Jung, Keeyoung

2016-09-01

Two sodium sulfur (NaS) cells, one with a planar design and the other with a tubular design, were subject to discharge-charge cycles in order to investigate the effect of cathode felt geometries on electrochemical characteristics of NaS cells. Their discharge-charge behaviors over 200 cycles were evaluated at the operation temperature of 350 °C with the current densities of 100 mA cm-2 for discharge and 80 mA cm-2 for charge. The results showed that the deviation from theoretical open circuit voltage changes of a planar cell was smaller than those of a tubular cell resulting in potential specific power loss reduction during operation. In order to understand the effect, a three dimensional statistically representative matrix for a cathode felt has been generated using experimentally measured data. It turns out that the area specific fiber number density in the outer side area of a tubular cathode felt is smaller than that of a planar felt resulting in occurrence of larger voltage drops via retarded convection of cathode melts during cell operation.

A flexible nanobrush pad for the chemical mechanical planarization of Cu/ultra-low-к materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Guiquan; Liu, Yuhong; Lu, Xinchun; Luo, Jianbin

2012-10-01

A new idea of polishing pad called flexible nanobrush pad (FNP) has been proposed for the low down pressure chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process of Cu/ultra-low-к materials. The FNP was designed with a surface layer of flexible brush-like nanofibers which can `actively' carry nanoscale abrasives in slurry independent of the down pressure. Better planarization performances including high material removal rate, good planarization, good polishing uniformity, and low defectivity are expected in the CMP process under the low down pressure with such kind of pad. The FNP can be made by template-assisted replication or template-based synthesis methods, which will be driven by the development of the preparation technologies for ordered nanostructure arrays. The present work would potentially provide a new solution for the Cu/ultra-low-к CMP process.

Reflected wavefront manipulation based on ultrathin planar acoustic metasurfaces

PubMed Central

Li, Yong; Liang, Bin; Gu, Zhong-ming; Zou, Xin-ye; Cheng, Jian-chun

2013-01-01

The introduction of metasurfaces has renewed the Snell's law and opened up new degrees of freedom to tailor the optical wavefront at will. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that the generalized Snell's law can be achieved for reflected acoustic waves based on ultrathin planar acoustic metasurfaces. The metasurfaces are constructed with eight units of a solid structure to provide discrete phase shifts covering the full 2π span with steps of π/4 by coiling up the space. By careful selection of the phase profiles in the transverse direction of the metasurfaces, some fascinating wavefront engineering phenomena are demonstrated, such as anomalous reflections, conversion of propagating waves into surface waves, planar aberration-free lens and nondiffracting Bessel beam generated by planar acoustic axicon. Our results could open up a new avenue for acoustic wavefront engineering and manipulations. PMID:23986034

Planar spoof plasmonic ultra-wideband filter based on low-loss and compact terahertz waveguide corrugated with dumbbell grooves.

PubMed

Zhou, Yong Jin; Yang, Bao Jia

2015-05-10

Although subwavelength planar terahertz (THz) plasmonic devices can be implemented based on planar spoof surface plasmons (SPs), they still suffer from a little high propagation loss. Here the dispersion and propagation characteristics of the spoof plasmonic waveguide composed of double metal strips corrugated with dumbbell shaped grooves have been investigated. It has been found that much lower propagation loss and longer propagation length can be achieved based on the waveguide compared with the conventional spoof plasmonic waveguide with rectangular grooves. Moreover, the waveguide can implement a decrease in size of about 22%. An ultra-wideband THz plasmonic filter for planar circuits has been demonstrated based on the proposed waveguide. The experimental verification at the microwave frequency has been conducted by scaling up the geometry size of the filter.

Triggering factor evolution and dynamic process simulation of the Formosa Highway dip-slope failure, northern Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Mei-Jen; Chiang, Yi-Lin; Chang, Ho-Shyang; Chang, Kuo-Jen

2013-04-01

Taiwan, due to the high seismicity and high annual rainfall, numerous landslides triggered every year and severe impacts affect the island. Accordingly, if the new-built construction does not take into account this threaten, tremendous disasters will occur. On April 25th 2010, Formosa Freeway dip-slope failure caused four deaths, resulted from artificial slope cutting and rock-bot supporting system weakening. This research integrates high resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and numerical simulation to evaluate the triggering mechanism and dynamic process of the landslide. First of all, to access the landslide geometry, the morphology of the event before and after landslide is constructed from high resolution DTM by means of aerial photos. The slid and the deposit volumes of the landslide are thus estimated accordingly. Only part of the surface of separation between slide block and slide slope is exposed. Based on the exposed planar strata/sliding surface, situated on the upper part of the slope, by means of extrapolating part of the plane to mimic the entire slide surface. From DTMs, the slide block is approximately 0.15 million cubic meters. The extrapolated planar surface serves as sliding surface for the numerical models. For numerical model preparation, the particle clusters produced by isotropic stress and the porosity are take into account. To ensure the production range should cover the entire slid mass from the source area, the particle clusters represent the slid block is been rotated, scaled and translated to the source area. Then, part of the particles are been eliminated if it is situated outside the upper and lower surface from the DTM before and after landslide. According to the geological map, the model of the particles to mimic the slide block can be divided into two parts: 1) the underneath interbedded sandstone and shale which may soften by water 2) the supposed upper layer composed of sandstone. Furthermore, set up a layer of particles to simulate ground anchor. The advantages of DTM collocate PFC3d are that real terrain can be represented on the model, and can be simulated the complete landslide process dynamically. Comparing with continuum mechanic analysis that only provides state of instability, but by using discrete element method it can provide the dynamical process of sliding include trajectory, velocity change, sliding distance and also accumulation patterns after landslide and know the affected areas from the disaster event. Results shows: 1) the peak and the residual frictional angle of the sliding surface should be small than 14 and 4 degree, respectively, in the condition of 30% effective resistance of rock-bolt remains. 2)The maximum sliding speed could be as high as 15.34 m/s, caused thus hazard event.

Microscale mass spectrometry systems, devices and related methods

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

Ramsey, John Michael

Mass spectrometry systems or assemblies therefore include an ionizer that includes at least one planar conductor, a mass analyzer with a planar electrode assembly, and a detector comprising at least one planar conductor. The ionizer, the mass analyzer and the detector are attached together in a compact stack assembly. The stack assembly has a perimeter that bounds an area that is between about 0.01 mm.sup.2 to about 25 cm.sup.2 and the stack assembly has a thickness that is between about 0.1 mm to about 25 mm.

Microscale mass spectrometry systems, devices and related methods

DOEpatents

Ramsey, John Michael

2016-06-21

Mass spectrometry systems or assemblies therefore include an ionizer that includes at least one planar conductor, a mass analyzer with a planar electrode assembly, and a detector comprising at least one planar conductor. The ionizer, the mass analyzer and the detector are attached together in a compact stack assembly. The stack assembly has a perimeter that bounds an area that is between about 0.01 mm.sup.2 to about 25 cm.sup.2 and the stack assembly has a thickness that is between about 0.1 mm to about 25 mm.

Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells Using Passivated Tin Oxide as an Electron Transport Layer.

PubMed

Lee, Yonghui; Lee, Seunghwan; Seo, Gabseok; Paek, Sanghyun; Cho, Kyung Taek; Huckaba, Aron J; Calizzi, Marco; Choi, Dong-Won; Park, Jin-Seong; Lee, Dongwook; Lee, Hyo Joong; Asiri, Abdullah M; Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja

2018-06-01

Planar perovskite solar cells using low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of the SnO 2 electron transporting layer (ETL), with excellent electron extraction and hole-blocking ability, offer significant advantages compared with high-temperature deposition methods. The optical, chemical, and electrical properties of the ALD SnO 2 layer and its influence on the device performance are investigated. It is found that surface passivation of SnO 2 is essential to reduce charge recombination at the perovskite and ETL interface and show that the fabricated planar perovskite solar cells exhibit high reproducibility, stability, and power conversion efficiency of 20%.

Numerical integration techniques for curved-element discretizations of molecule-solvent interfaces.

PubMed

Bardhan, Jaydeep P; Altman, Michael D; Willis, David J; Lippow, Shaun M; Tidor, Bruce; White, Jacob K

2007-07-07

Surface formulations of biophysical modeling problems offer attractive theoretical and computational properties. Numerical simulations based on these formulations usually begin with discretization of the surface under consideration; often, the surface is curved, possessing complicated structure and possibly singularities. Numerical simulations commonly are based on approximate, rather than exact, discretizations of these surfaces. To assess the strength of the dependence of simulation accuracy on the fidelity of surface representation, here methods were developed to model several important surface formulations using exact surface discretizations. Following and refining Zauhar's work [J. Comput.-Aided Mol. Des. 9, 149 (1995)], two classes of curved elements were defined that can exactly discretize the van der Waals, solvent-accessible, and solvent-excluded (molecular) surfaces. Numerical integration techniques are presented that can accurately evaluate nonsingular and singular integrals over these curved surfaces. After validating the exactness of the surface discretizations and demonstrating the correctness of the presented integration methods, a set of calculations are presented that compare the accuracy of approximate, planar-triangle-based discretizations and exact, curved-element-based simulations of surface-generalized-Born (sGB), surface-continuum van der Waals (scvdW), and boundary-element method (BEM) electrostatics problems. Results demonstrate that continuum electrostatic calculations with BEM using curved elements, piecewise-constant basis functions, and centroid collocation are nearly ten times more accurate than planar-triangle BEM for basis sets of comparable size. The sGB and scvdW calculations give exceptional accuracy even for the coarsest obtainable discretized surfaces. The extra accuracy is attributed to the exact representation of the solute-solvent interface; in contrast, commonly used planar-triangle discretizations can only offer improved approximations with increasing discretization and associated increases in computational resources. The results clearly demonstrate that the methods for approximate integration on an exact geometry are far more accurate than exact integration on an approximate geometry. A MATLAB implementation of the presented integration methods and sample data files containing curved-element discretizations of several small molecules are available online as supplemental material.

Electron heated target temperature measurements in petawatt laser experiments based on extreme ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopy.

PubMed

Ma, T; Beg, F N; MacPhee, A G; Chung, H-K; Key, M H; Mackinnon, A J; Patel, P K; Hatchett, S; Akli, K U; Stephens, R B; Chen, C D; Freeman, R R; Link, A; Offermann, D T; Ovchinnikov, V; Van Woerkom, L D

2008-10-01

Three independent methods (extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy, imaging at 68 and 256 eV) have been used to measure planar target rear surface plasma temperature due to heating by hot electrons. The hot electrons are produced by ultraintense laser-plasma interactions using the 150 J, 0.5 ps Titan laser. Soft x-ray spectroscopy in the 50-400 eV region and imaging at the 68 and 256 eV photon energies give a planar deuterated carbon target rear surface pre-expansion temperature in the 125-150 eV range, with the rear plasma plume averaging a temperature approximately 74 eV.

Novel electrostatic attraction from plasmon fluctuations

PubMed

Lau; Levine; Pincus

2000-05-01

In this Letter, we show that, at low temperatures, zero-point fluctuations of the plasmon modes of two mutually coupled 2D planar Wigner crystals give rise to a novel long-range attractive force. For the case where the distance d between two planar surfaces is large, this attractive force has an unusual power-law decay, which scales as d(-7/2), unlike other fluctuation-induced forces. Specifically, we note that its range is longer than the "standard" zero-temperature van der Waals interaction. This result may, in principle, be observed in bilayer electronic systems and provides insight into the nature of correlation effects for highly charged surfaces.

Control characteristics for wrap-around fins on cruise missiles configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sawyer, W. C.; Monta, W. J.; Carter, W. V.; Alexander, W. K.

1981-01-01

This paper presents selected results of a panel loads study conducted as part of the final phase of an extensive investigation of an air-breathing missile concept employing wrap-around aerodynamic surfaces. Typical results for M = 2.36 are presented for the fin load results, plus a brief review of basic results of the previously reported tests. Vapor screen results are also discussed. The present results indicate that the fin load characteristics are nearly identical for planar and curved fins having the same projected planform and would permit the use of planar-surface predictions for supersonic speeds in the preliminary design stages of missiles employing wrap-around curved fins.

Integrated Antenna/Solar Array Cell (IA/SAC) System for Flexible Access Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Ricard Q.; Clark, Eric B.; Pal, Anna Maria T.; Wilt, David M.; Mueller, Carl H.

2004-01-01

Present satellite communications systems normally use separate solar cells and antennas. Since solar cells generally account for the largest surface area of the spacecraft, co-locating the antenna and solar cells on the same substrate opens the possibility for a number of data-rate-enhancing communications link architecture that would have minimal impact on spacecraft weight and size. The idea of integrating printed planar antenna and solar array cells on the same surface has been reported in the literature. The early work merely attempted to demonstrate the feasibility by placing commercial solar cells besides a patch antenna. Recently, Integrating multiple antenna elements and solar cell arrays on the same surface was reported for both space and terrestrial applications. The application of photovoltaic solar cell in a planar antenna structure where the radiating patch antenna is replaced by a Si solar cell has been demonstrated in wireless communication systems (C. Bendel, J. Kirchhof and N. Henze, 3rd Would Photovotaic Congress, Osaka, Japan, May 2003). Based on a hybrid approach, a 6x1 slot array with circularly polarized crossdipole elements co-located on the same surface of the solar cells array has been demonstrated (S. Vaccaro, J. R. Mosig and P. de Maagt, IEEE Trans. Ant. and Propag., Vol. 5 1, No. 8, Aug. 2003). Amorphous silicon solar cells with about 5-10% efficiency were used in these demonstrations. This paper describes recent effort to integrate advanced solar cells with printed planar antennas. Compared to prior art, the proposed WSAC concept is unique in the following ways: 1) Active antenna element will be used to achieve dynamic beam steering; 2) High efficiency (30%) GaAs multi-junction solar cells will be used instead of Si, which has an efficiency of about 15%; 3) Antenna and solar cells are integrated on a common GaAs substrate; and 4) Higher data rate capability. The IA/SAC is designed to operate at X-band (8-12 GH) and higher frequencies Higher operating frequencies enable greater bandwidth and thus higher data transfer rates. The first phase of the effort involves the development of GaAs solar cell MIMs (Monolithically Integrated Module) with a single patch antenna on the opposite side of the substrate. Subsequent work will involve the integration of MIMs and antennas on the same side of the substrate. Results from the phase one efforts will be presented.

Simulation study on improving efficiencies of perovskite solar cell: Introducing nano textures on it

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Ziang; Sun, Shuren; Wang, Wei; Qin, Laixiang; Yan, Yu; Hou, Ruixiang; Qin, G. G.

2018-03-01

We report that the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the planar CH3NH3PbI3 solar cells (SCs) can be largely improved by fabricating nano textures on the SC surface. With the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, the ultimate efficiencies of the planar CH3NH3PbI3 SCs with two types of nano textures are investigated: the column-shaped nano hollow (CLNH) array and the cone-shaped nano hollow (CNNH) array. For the nano textured CH3NH3PbI3 SCs with photovoltaic layer depth in the range of 125 nm ∼ 500 nm, when the array period and filling fraction of the nano textures are optimized, in comparison with the planar ones, their PCE increased 42% ∼ 84% for the CLNH textured ones, and 52% ∼ 63% for the CNNH textured ones. As a conclusion, introduction of nano textures on the SC surface is a promising route for improving the PCEs of the perovskite SCs.

3-D Modeling of Planar Target-Mount Perturbation Experiments on OMEGA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, T. J. B.; Marshall, F. J.; Marozas, J. A.; Bonino, M. J.; Forties, R.; Goncharov, V. N.; Igumenshchev, I. V.; McKenty, P. W.; Smalyuk, V. A.

2008-11-01

OMEGA cryogenic targets are suspended in the target chamber using four spider silks attached to a C-shaped mount. The spider silks are typically composed of two entwined protein strands comparable to 1 μm in diameter. The silks and mount refract the incident laser light and cast shadows on the target surface. Experiments to measure the effects of the silks on target illumination have been performed in planar geometry using silks suspended parallel to a 20-μm-thick laser-driven target. The evolution of the surface perturbations introduced by the silks was measured using x-ray backlighting. The results of these experiments will be compared to simulations performed with DRACO, employing three-dimensional (3-D) planar hydrodynamics and a new 3-D refractive ray-trace package written specifically for this geometry. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion under Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC52-08NA28302.

Insight into Evolution, Processing and Performance of Multi-length-scale Structures in Planar Heterojunction Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Huang, Yu-Ching; Tsao, Cheng-Si; Cho, Yi-Ju; Chen, Kuan-Chen; Chiang, Kai-Ming; Hsiao, Sheng-Yi; Chen, Chang-Wen; Su, Chun-Jen; Jeng, U-Ser; Lin, Hao-Wu

2015-09-04

The structural characterization correlated to the processing control of hierarchical structure of planar heterojunction perovskite layer is still incomplete due to the limitations of conventional microscopy and X-ray diffraction. This present study performed the simultaneously grazing-incidence small-angle scattering and wide-angle scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS) techniques to quantitatively probe the hierarchical structure of the planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells. The result is complementary to the currently microscopic study. Correlation between the crystallization behavior, crystal orientation, nano- and meso-scale internal structure and surface morphology of perovskite film as functions of various processing control parameters is reported for the first time. The structural transition from the fractal pore network to the surface fractal can be tuned by the chloride percentage. The GISAXS/GIWAXS measurement provides the comprehensive understanding of concurrent evolution of the film morphology and crystallization correlated to the high performance. The result can provide the insight into formation mechanism and rational synthesis design.

Insight into Evolution, Processing and Performance of Multi-length-scale Structures in Planar Heterojunction Perovskite Solar Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yu-Ching; Tsao, Cheng-Si; Cho, Yi-Ju; Chen, Kuan-Chen; Chiang, Kai-Ming; Hsiao, Sheng-Yi; Chen, Chang-Wen; Su, Chun-Jen; Jeng, U.-Ser; Lin, Hao-Wu

2015-09-01

The structural characterization correlated to the processing control of hierarchical structure of planar heterojunction perovskite layer is still incomplete due to the limitations of conventional microscopy and X-ray diffraction. This present study performed the simultaneously grazing-incidence small-angle scattering and wide-angle scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS) techniques to quantitatively probe the hierarchical structure of the planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells. The result is complementary to the currently microscopic study. Correlation between the crystallization behavior, crystal orientation, nano- and meso-scale internal structure and surface morphology of perovskite film as functions of various processing control parameters is reported for the first time. The structural transition from the fractal pore network to the surface fractal can be tuned by the chloride percentage. The GISAXS/GIWAXS measurement provides the comprehensive understanding of concurrent evolution of the film morphology and crystallization correlated to the high performance. The result can provide the insight into formation mechanism and rational synthesis design.

Surface Plasmon Polariton-Assisted Long-Range Exciton Transport in Monolayer Semiconductor Lateral Heterostructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Jinwei; Lin, Meng-Hsien; Chen, Yi-Tong; Estakhri, Nasim Mohammadi; Tseng, Guo-Wei; Wang, Yanrong; Chen, Hung-Ying; Chen, Chun-An; Shih, Chih-Kang; Alã¹, Andrea; Li, Xiaoqin; Lee, Yi-Hsien; Gwo, Shangjr

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor heterostructures, i.e., atomically thin lateral heterostructures (LHSs) based on transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been demonstrated. In an optically excited LHS, exciton transport is typically limited to a rather short spatial range ( 1 micron). Furthermore, additional losses may occur at the lateral interfacial regions. Here, to overcome these challenges, we experimentally implement a planar metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure by placing a monolayer of WS2/MoS2 LHS on top of an Al2O3 capped Ag single-crystalline plate. We found that the exciton transport range can be extended to tens of microns. The process of long-range exciton transport in the MOS structure is confirmed to be mediated by an exciton-surface plasmon polariton-exciton conversion mechanism, which allows a cascaded energy transfer process. Thus, the planar MOS structure provides a platform seamlessly combining 2D light-emitting materials with plasmonic planar waveguides, offering great potential for developing integrated photonic/plasmonic functionalities.

N -Sm A -Sm C phase transitions probed by a pair of elastically bound colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

M, Muhammed Rasi; Zuhail, K. P.; Roy, Arun; Dhara, Surajit

2018-03-01

The competing effect of surface anchoring of dispersed microparticles and elasticity of nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals has been shown to stabilize a variety of topological defects. Here we study a pair of colloidal microparticles with homeotropic and planar surface anchoring across N -Sm A -Sm C phase transitions. We show that below the Sm A -Sm C phase transition the temperature dependence of interparticle separation (D ) of colloids with homeotropic anchoring shows a power-law behavior; D ˜(1-T /TA C) α , with an exponent α ≈0.5 . For colloids with planar surface anchoring the angle between the joining line of the centers of the two colloids and the far field director shows characteristic variation elucidating the phase transitions.

Electromagnetic acoustic transducer

DOEpatents

Alers, George A.; Burns, Jr., Leigh R.; MacLauchlan, Daniel T.

1988-01-01

A noncontact ultrasonic transducer for studying the acoustic properties of a metal workpiece includes a generally planar magnetizing coil positioned above the surface of the workpiece, and a generally planar eddy current coil between the magnetizing coil and the workpiece. When a large current is passed through the magnetizing coil, a large magnetic field is applied to the near-surface regions of the workpiece. The eddy current coil can then be operated as a transmitter by passing an alternating current therethrough to excite ultrasonic waves in the surface of the workpiece, or operated as a passive receiver to sense ultrasonic waves in the surface by measuring the output signal. The geometries of the two coils can be varied widely to be effective for different types of ultrasonic waves. The coils are preferably packaged in a housing which does not interfere with their operation, but protects them from a variety of adverse environmental conditions.

Growth and quantum transport properties of vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplate films on Si substrates.

PubMed

Li, Mingze; Wang, Zhenhua; Yang, Liang; Pan, Desheng; Li, Da; Gao, Xuan P A; Zhang, Zhidong

2018-08-03

Controlling the growth direction (planar versus vertical) and surface-to-bulk ratio can lead to lots of unique properties for two-dimensional layered materials. We report a simple method to fabricate continuous films of vertical Bi 2 Se 3 nanoplates on Si substrate and investigate the quantum transport properties of such films. In contrast to (001) oriented planar Bi 2 Se 3 nanoplate film, vertical Bi 2 Se 3 nanoplate films are enclosed by (015) facets, which possess high surface-to-bulk ratio that can enhance the quantum transport property of topological surface states. And by controlling the compactness of vertical Bi 2 Se 3 nanoplates, we realized an effective tuning of the weak antilocalization effect from topological surface states in Bi 2 Se 3 films. Our work paves a way for exploring the unique transport properties of this unconventional structure topological insulator film.

Aqueous gating of van der Waals materials on bilayer nanopaper.

PubMed

Bao, Wenzhong; Fang, Zhiqiang; Wan, Jiayu; Dai, Jiaqi; Zhu, Hongli; Han, Xiaogang; Yang, Xiaofeng; Preston, Colin; Hu, Liangbing

2014-10-28

In this work, we report transistors made of van der Waals materials on a mesoporous paper with a smooth nanoscale surface. The aqueous transistor has a novel planar structure with source, drain, and gate electrodes on the same surface of the paper, while the mesoporous paper is used as an electrolyte reservoir. These transistors are enabled by an all-cellulose paper with nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) on the top surface that leads to an excellent surface smoothness, while the rest of the microsized cellulose fibers can absorb electrolyte effectively. Based on two-dimensional van der Waals materials, including MoS2 and graphene, we demonstrate high-performance transistors with a large on-off ratio and low subthreshold swing. Such planar transistors with absorbed electrolyte gating can be used as sensors integrated with other components to form paper microfluidic systems. This study is significant for future paper-based electronics and biosensors.

Field-Induced and Thermal Electron Currents from Earthed Spherical Emitters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holgate, J. T.; Coppins, M.

2017-04-01

The theories of electron emission from planar surfaces are well understood, but they are not suitable for describing emission from spherical surfaces; their incorrect application to highly curved, nanometer-scale surfaces can overestimate the emitted current by several orders of magnitude. This inaccuracy is of particular concern for describing modern nanoscale electron sources, which continue to be modeled using the planar equations. In this paper, the field-induced and thermal currents are treated in a unified way to produce Fowler-Nordheim-type and Richardson-Schottky-type equations for the emitted current density from earthed nanoscale spherical surfaces. The limits of applicability of these derived expressions are considered along with the energy spectra of the emitted electrons. Within the relevant limits of validity, these equations are shown to reproduce the results of precise numerical calculations of the emitted current densities. The methods used here are adaptable to other one-dimensional emission problems.

Planar-Processed Polymer Transistors.

PubMed

Xu, Yong; Sun, Huabin; Shin, Eul-Yong; Lin, Yen-Fu; Li, Wenwu; Noh, Yong-Young

2016-10-01

Planar-processed polymer transistors are proposed where the effective charge injection and the split unipolar charge transport are all on the top surface of the polymer film, showing ideal device characteristics with unparalleled performance. This technique provides a great solution to the problem of fabrication limitations, the ambiguous operating principle, and the performance improvements in practical applications of conjugated-polymer transistors. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ultraviolet-ozone surface modification for non-wetting hole transport materials based inverted planar perovskite solar cells with efficiency exceeding 18%

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiuwen; Ma, Chunqing; Cheng, Yuanhang; Xie, Yue-Min; Yi, Xueping; Gautam, Bhoj; Chen, Shengmei; Li, Ho-Wa; Lee, Chun-Sing; So, Franky; Tsang, Sai-Wing

2017-08-01

Non-wetting hole transport materials (HTMs) have great potential in facilitating large-sized perovskite crystal growth and enhancing device stability by opposing moisture ingress, However, the severe non-wetting issue limits the wide application of these materials in low-temperature solution-processed inverted planar perovskite solar cells (PVSCs), and corresponding devices are rarely reported. Here, a facile ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) modification method is demonstrated to overcome this issue. By carefully controlling the UVO modification time, the surface wettability of poly-TPD can be tuned without affecting the bulk properties of the film, hence perovskite films with desired grain size and excellent coverage can be deposited via a one-step spin-coating method. Benefiting from the high-quality perovskite, well-matched energy level alignment and hydrophobic property of poly-TPD, the resulting PVSCs show a champion power conversion efficiency of 18.19% with significantly enhanced stability as compared to the PEDOT:PSS counterparts. Moreover, the UVO modification approach also demonstrates its validity when being extended to other hydrophobic HTMs. This work not only provides a general strategy to broaden the selection pool of HTMs for solution-processed inverted planar PVSCs, but also may triggers the exploration of more advanced strategies to make non-wetting HTMs applicable in solution-processed inverted planar PVSCs.

Shock-induced perturbation evolution in planar laser targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aglitskiy, Y.; Karasik, M.; Velikovich, A. L.; Serlin, V.; Weaver, J. L.; Kessler, T. J.; Schmitt, A. J.; Obenschain, S. P.; Metzler, N.; Oh, J.

2013-10-01

Experimental studies of hydrodynamic perturbation evolution triggered by a laser-driven shock wave in a planar target done on the KrF Nike laser facility are reported. The targets were made of solid plastic and/or plastic foam with single mode sinusoidal perturbation on the front or back surface or plastic/foam interface. Two specific cases are discussed. When a planar solid plastic target rippled at the front side is irradiated with a 350 ps long laser pulse, ablative Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) oscillation of its areal mass modulation amplitude is detected while the laser is on, followed by observed strong oscillations of the areal mass in the unsupported shock flow after the laser pulse ends. When the target is rippled at the rear side, the nature of the perturbation evolution after the shock breakout is determined by the strength of the laser-driven shock wave. At pressure below 1 Mbar shock interaction with rear-surface ripples produces planar collimated jets manifesting the development of a classical RM instability in a weakly compressible shocked fluid. At shock pressure ~ 8 Mbar sufficient for vaporizing the shocked target material we observed instead the strong areal mass oscillations characteristic of a rippled centered rarefaction wave. Work supported by US DOE, Defense Programs.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells nanorods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Weijian; Wen, Xiaoming; Latzel, Michael; Yang, Jianfeng; Huang, Shujuan; Shrestha, Santosh; Patterson, Robert; Christiansen, Silke; Conibeer, Gavin

2018-01-01

GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQW) is a promising material for high-efficiency solid-state lighting. Ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy is an important characterization technique for examining fundamental phenomena in semiconductor nanostructure with sub-picosecond resolution. In this study, ultrafast exciton and charge carrier dynamics in GaN/InGaN MQW planar layer and nanorod are investigated using femtosecond transient absorption (TA) techniques at room temperature. Here nanorods are fabricated by etching the GaN/InGaN MQW planar layers using nanosphere lithography and reactive ion etching. Photoluminescence efficiency of the nanorods have been proved to be much higher than that of the planar layers, but the mechanism of the nanorod structure improvement of PL efficiency is not adequately studied. By comparing the TA profile of the GaN/InGaN MQW planar layers and nanorods, the impact of surface states and nanorods lateral confinement in the ultrafast carrier dynamics of GaN/InGaN MQW is revealed. The nanorod sidewall surface states have a strong influence on the InGaN quantum well carrier dynamics. The ultrafast relaxation processes studied in this GaN/InGaN MQW nanostructure is essential for further optimization of device application.

Zinc oxide integrated area efficient high output low power wavy channel thin film transistor

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

Hanna, A. N.; Ghoneim, M. T.; Bahabry, R. R.

2013-11-25

We report an atomic layer deposition based zinc oxide channel material integrated thin film transistor using wavy channel architecture allowing expansion of the transistor width in the vertical direction using the fin type features. The experimental devices show area efficiency, higher normalized output current, and relatively lower power consumption compared to the planar architecture. This performance gain is attributed to the increased device width and an enhanced applied electric field due to the architecture when compared to a back gated planar device with the same process conditions.

A preliminary assessment of the impact of 2-D exhaust-nozzle geometry on the cruise range of a hypersonic aircraft with top-mounted ramjet propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vahl, W. A.; Weidner, J. P.

1980-01-01

A theoretical study of full length and shortened, two dimensional, isentropic, exhaust nozzles integrated with top mounted ramjet propulsion nacelles were conducted. Both symmetric and asymmetric contoured nozzles with a range of angular orientations were considered. Performance comparisons to determine optimum installations for a representative hypersonic vehicle at Mach 5 cruise conditions are presented on the basis of cruise range, propulsive specific impulse, inlet area requirements, and overall lift drag ratio. The effect of approximating the nozzle internal contours with planar surfaces and the determination of viscous and frozen flow effects are also presented.

Generalized non-local surface susceptibility model and Fresnel coefficients for the characterization of periodic metafilms with bianisotropic scatterers

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

Dimitriadis, Alexandros I., E-mail: aldimitr@ee.auth.gr; Kantartzis, Nikolaos V., E-mail: kant@auth.gr; Tsiboukis, Theodoros D., E-mail: tsibukis@auth.gr

2015-01-15

Highlights: •Formulas for E/M fields radiated by continuous surface polarization distributions. •Non-local effective surface susceptibility model for periodic metafilms. •Generalized reflection and transmission coefficients for an arbitrary metafilm. •Successful treatment of non-planar scatterer arrays and spatial dispersion effects. -- Abstract: A non-local surface susceptibility model for the consistent description of periodic metafilms formed by arbitrarily-shaped, electrically-small, bianisotropic scatterers is developed in this paper. The rigorous scheme is based on the point-dipole approximation technique and is valid for any polarization and propagation direction of an electromagnetic wave impinging upon the metafilm, unlike existing approaches whose applicability is practically confined to verymore » specific cases of incidence. Next, the universal form of the resulting surface susceptibility matrix is employed for the derivation of the generalized Fresnel coefficients for such surfaces, which enable the comprehensive interpretation of several significant, yet relatively unexamined, physical interactions. Essentially, these coefficients include eight distinct terms, corresponding to the co-polarized and cross-polarized reflection and transmission coefficients for the two orthogonal eigenpolarizations of a linearly-polarized incident plane wave. The above formulas are, then, utilized for the prediction of the scattering properties of metafilms with different planar and non-planar resonators, which are characterized via the featured model and two previously reported local ones. Their comparison with numerical simulation outcomes substantiates the merits of the proposed method, reveals important aspects of the underlying physics, and highlights the differences between the various modeling procedures.« less

Tribochemical investigation of microelectronic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulkarni, Milind Sudhakar

To achieve efficient planarization with reduced device dimensions in integrated circuits, a better understanding of the physics, chemistry, and the complex interplay involved in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is needed. The CMP process takes place at the interface of the pad and wafer in the presence of the fluid slurry medium. The hardness of Cu is significantly less than the slurry abrasive particles which are usually alumina or silica. It has been accepted that a surface layer can protect the Cu surface from scratching during CMP. Four competing mechanisms in materials removal have been reported: the chemical dissolution of Cu, the mechanical removal through slurry abrasives, the formation of thin layer of Cu oxide and the sweeping surface material by slurry flow. Despite the previous investigation of Cu removal, the electrochemical properties of Cu surface layer is yet to be understood. The motivation of this research was to understand the fundamental aspects of removal mechanisms in terms of electrochemical interactions, chemical dissolution, mechanical wear, and factors affecting planarization. Since one of the major requirements in CMP is to have a high surface finish, i.e., low surface roughness, optimization of the surface finish in reference to various parameters was emphasized. Three approaches were used in this research: in situ measurement of material removal, exploration of the electropotential activation and passivation at the copper surface and modeling of the synergistic electrochemical-mechanical interactions on the copper surface. In this research, copper polishing experiments were conducted using a table top tribometer. A potentiostat was coupled with this tribometer. This combination enabled the evaluation of important variables such as applied pressure, polishing speed, slurry chemistry, pH, materials, and applied DC potential. Experiments were designed to understand the combined and individual effect of electrochemical interactions as well as mechanical impact during polishing. Extensive surface characterization was performed with AFM, SEM, TEM and XPS. An innovative method for direct material removal measurement on the nanometer scale was developed and used. Experimental observations were compared with the theoretically calculated material removal rate values. The synergistic effect of all of the components of the process, which result in a better quality surface finish was quantitatively evaluated for the first time. Impressed potential during CMP proved to be a controlling parameter in the material removal mechanism. Using the experimental results, a model was developed, which provided a practical insight into the CMP process. The research is expected to help with electrochemical material removal in copper planarization with low-k dielectrics.

A Method for Imaging Oxygen Distribution and Respiration at a Microscopic Level of Resolution.

PubMed

Rolletschek, Hardy; Liebsch, Gregor

2017-01-01

Conventional oxygen (micro-) sensors assess oxygen concentration within a particular region or across a transect of tissue, but provide no information regarding its bidimensional distribution. Here, a novel imaging technology is presented, in which an optical sensor foil (i.e., the planar optode) is attached to the surface of the sample. The sensor converts a fluorescent signal into an oxygen value. Since each single image captures an entire area of the sample surface, the system is able to deduce the distribution of oxygen at a resolution level of few micrometers. It can be deployed to dynamically monitor oxygen consumption, thereby providing a detailed respiration map at close to cellular resolution. Here, we demonstrate the application of the imaging tool to developing plant seeds; the protocol is explained step by step and some potential pitfalls are discussed.

Rapid bespoke laser ablation of variable period grating structures using a digital micromirror device for multi-colored surface images.

PubMed

Heath, Daniel J; Mills, Ben; Feinaeugle, Matthias; Eason, Robert W

2015-06-01

A digital micromirror device has been used to project variable-period grating patterns at high values of demagnification for direct laser ablation on planar surfaces. Femtosecond laser pulses of ∼1  mJ pulse energy at 800 nm wavelength from a Ti:sapphire laser were used to machine complex patterns with areas of up to ∼1  cm² on thin films of bismuth telluride by dynamically modifying the grating period as the sample was translated beneath the imaged laser pulses. Individual ∼30 by 30 μm gratings were stitched together to form contiguous structures, which had diffractive effects clearly visible to the naked eye. This technique may have applications in marking, coding, and security features.

Snap evaporation of droplets on smooth topographies.

PubMed

Wells, Gary G; Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Élfego; Le Lirzin, Youen; Nourry, Anthony; Orme, Bethany V; Pradas, Marc; Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo

2018-04-11

Droplet evaporation on solid surfaces is important in many applications including printing, micro-patterning and cooling. While seemingly simple, the configuration of evaporating droplets on solids is difficult to predict and control. This is because evaporation typically proceeds as a "stick-slip" sequence-a combination of pinning and de-pinning events dominated by static friction or "pinning", caused by microscopic surface roughness. Here we show how smooth, pinning-free, solid surfaces of non-planar topography promote a different process called snap evaporation. During snap evaporation a droplet follows a reproducible sequence of configurations, consisting of a quasi-static phase-change controlled by mass diffusion interrupted by out-of-equilibrium snaps. Snaps are triggered by bifurcations of the equilibrium droplet shape mediated by the underlying non-planar solid. Because the evolution of droplets during snap evaporation is controlled by a smooth topography, and not by surface roughness, our ideas can inspire programmable surfaces that manage liquids in heat- and mass-transfer applications.

Chemical-mechanical polishing of recessed microelectromechanical devices

DOEpatents

Barron, Carole C.; Hetherington, Dale L.; Montague, Stephen

1999-01-01

A method is disclosed for micromachining recessed layers (e.g. sacrificial layers) of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device formed in a cavity etched into a semiconductor substrate. The method uses chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) with a resilient polishing pad to locally planarize one or more of the recessed layers within the substrate cavity. Such local planarization using the method of the present invention is advantageous for improving the patterning of subsequently deposited layers, for eliminating mechanical interferences between functional elements (e.g. linkages) of the MEMS device, and for eliminating the formation of stringers. After the local planarization of one or more of the recessed layers, another CMP step can be provided for globally planarizing the semiconductor substrate to form a recessed MEMS device which can be integrated with electronic circuitry (e.g. CMOS, BiCMOS or bipolar circuitry) formed on the surface of the substrate.

A flexible nanobrush pad for the chemical mechanical planarization of Cu/ultra-low-к materials

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

A new idea of polishing pad called flexible nanobrush pad (FNP) has been proposed for the low down pressure chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process of Cu/ultra-low-к materials. The FNP was designed with a surface layer of flexible brush-like nanofibers which can ‘actively’ carry nanoscale abrasives in slurry independent of the down pressure. Better planarization performances including high material removal rate, good planarization, good polishing uniformity, and low defectivity are expected in the CMP process under the low down pressure with such kind of pad. The FNP can be made by template-assisted replication or template-based synthesis methods, which will be driven by the development of the preparation technologies for ordered nanostructure arrays. The present work would potentially provide a new solution for the Cu/ultra-low-к CMP process. PMID:23110959

Chemical-mechanical polishing of recessed microelectromechanical devices

DOEpatents

Barron, C.C.; Hetherington, D.L.; Montague, S.

1999-07-06

A method is disclosed for micromachining recessed layers (e.g. sacrificial layers) of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device formed in a cavity etched into a semiconductor substrate. The method uses chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) with a resilient polishing pad to locally planarize one or more of the recessed layers within the substrate cavity. Such local planarization using the method of the present invention is advantageous for improving the patterning of subsequently deposited layers, for eliminating mechanical interferences between functional elements (e.g. linkages) of the MEMS device, and for eliminating the formation of stringers. After the local planarization of one or more of the recessed layers, another CMP step can be provided for globally planarizing the semiconductor substrate to form a recessed MEMS device which can be integrated with electronic circuitry (e.g., CMOS, BiCMOS or bipolar circuitry) formed on the surface of the substrate. 23 figs.

High reduction of interfacial charge recombination in colloidal quantum dot solar cells by metal oxide surface passivation.

PubMed

Chang, Jin; Kuga, Yuki; Mora-Seró, Iván; Toyoda, Taro; Ogomi, Yuhei; Hayase, Shuzi; Bisquert, Juan; Shen, Qing

2015-03-12

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells based on colloidal QDs and metal oxide nanowires (NWs) possess unique and outstanding advantages in enhancing light harvesting and charge collection in comparison to planar architectures. However, the high surface area of the NW structure often brings about a large amount of recombination (especially interfacial recombination) and limits the open-circuit voltage in BHJ solar cells. This problem is solved here by passivating the surface of the metal oxide component in PbS colloidal quantum dot solar cells (CQDSCs). By coating thin TiO2 layers onto ZnO-NW surfaces, the open-circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency have been improved by over 40% in PbS CQDSCs. Characterization by transient photovoltage decay and impedance spectroscopy indicated that the interfacial recombination was significantly reduced by the surface passivation strategy. An efficiency as high as 6.13% was achieved through the passivation approach and optimization for the length of the ZnO-NW arrays (device active area: 16 mm2). All solar cells were tested in air, and exhibited excellent air storage stability (without any performance decline over more than 130 days). This work highlights the significance of metal oxide passivation in achieving high performance BHJ solar cells. The charge recombination mechanism uncovered in this work could shed light on the further improvement of PbS CQDSCs and/or other types of solar cells.

The influence of surface contamination on the ion emission from nanosecond-pulsed laser ablation of Al and Cu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullah, S.; Dogar, A. H.; Qayyum, H.; Rehman, Z. U.; Qayyum, A.

2018-04-01

Ions emitted from planar Al and Cu targets irradiated with a 1064 nm pulsed laser were investigated with the help of a time-resolving Langmuir probe. It was found that the intensity of the ions emitted from a target area rapidly decreases with the increasing number of laser shots, and seems to reach saturation after about 10 laser shots. The saturated intensity of Al and Cu ions was approximately 0.1 and 0.3 times the intensity of the respective ions measured at the first laser shot, respectively. The higher target ion intensity for the first few shots is thought to be due to the enhanced ionization of target atoms by vacuum-ultraviolet radiations emitted from the thermally excited/ionized surface contaminants. The reduction of target ion intensity with an increasing number of laser shots thus indicates the removal of contaminants from the irradiated surface area. Laser-cleaned Al and Cu surfaces were then allowed to be recontaminated with residual vacuum gases and the ion intensity was measured at various time delays. The prolonged exposure of the cleaned target to vacuum residual gases completely restores the ion intensity. Regarding surface contaminants removal, laser shots of higher intensities were found to be more effective than a higher number of laser shots having lower intensities.

Measurement of six-degree-of-freedom planar motions by using a multiprobe surface encoder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xinghui; Shimizu, Yuki; Ito, Takeshi; Cai, Yindi; Ito, So; Gao, Wei

2014-12-01

A multiprobe surface encoder for optical metrology of six-degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) planar motions is presented. The surface encoder is composed of an XY planar scale grating with identical microstructures in X- and Y-axes and an optical sensor head. In the optical sensor head, three paralleled laser beams were used as laser probes. After being divided by a beam splitter, the three laser probes were projected onto the scale grating and a reference grating with identical microstructures, respectively. For each probe, the first-order positive and negative diffraction beams along the X- and Y-directions from the scale grating and from the reference grating superimposed with each other and four pieces of interference signals were generated. Three-DOF translational motions of the scale grating Δx, Δy, and Δz can be obtained simultaneously from the interference signals of each probe. Three-DOF angular error motions θX, θY, and θZ can also be calculated simultaneously from differences of displacement output variations and the geometric relationship among the three probes. A prototype optical sensor head was designed, constructed, and evaluated. Experimental results verified that this surface encoder could provide measurement resolutions of subnanometer and better than 0.1 arc sec for three-DOF translational motions and three-DOF angular error motions, respectively.

Surface topographical changes measured by phase-locked interferometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lauer, J. L.; Fung, S. S.

1984-01-01

An electronic optical laser interferometer capable of resolving depth differences of as low as 30 A and planar displacements of 6000 A was constructed to examine surface profiles of bearing surfaces without physical contact. Topological chemical reactivity was determined by applying a drop of dilute alcoholic hydrochloric acid and measuring the profile of the solid surface before and after application of this probe. Scuffed bearing surfaces reacted much faster than virgin ones but that bearing surfaces exposed to lubricants containing an organic chloride reacted much more slowly. The reactivity of stainless steel plates, heated in a nitrogen atmosphere to different temperatures, were examined later at ambient temperature. The change of surface contour as a result of the probe reaction followed Arrhenius-type relation with respect to heat treatment temperature. The contact area of the plate of a ball/plate sliding elastohydrodynamic contact run on trimethylopropane triheptanoate with or without additives was optically profiled periodically. As scuffing was approached, the change of profile within the contact region changed much more rapidly by the acid probe and assumed a constant high value after scuffing. A nonetching metallurgical phase was found in the scuff mark, which was apparently responsible for the high reactivity.

Quantifying the thickness of the electrical double layer neutralizing a planar electrode: the capacitive compactness.

PubMed

Guerrero-García, Guillermo Iván; González-Tovar, Enrique; Chávez-Páez, Martín; Kłos, Jacek; Lamperski, Stanisław

2017-12-20

The spatial extension of the ionic cloud neutralizing a charged colloid or an electrode is usually characterized by the Debye length associated with the supporting charged fluid in the bulk. This spatial length arises naturally in the linear Poisson-Boltzmann theory of point charges, which is the cornerstone of the widely used Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek formalism describing the colloidal stability of electrified macroparticles. By definition, the Debye length is independent of important physical features of charged solutions such as the colloidal charge, electrostatic ion correlations, ionic excluded volume effects, or specific short-range interactions, just to mention a few. In order to include consistently these features to describe more accurately the thickness of the electrical double layer of an inhomogeneous charged fluid in planar geometry, we propose here the use of the capacitive compactness concept as a generalization of the compactness of the spherical electrical double layer around a small macroion (González-Tovar et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2004, 120, 9782). To exemplify the usefulness of the capacitive compactness to characterize strongly coupled charged fluids in external electric fields, we use integral equations theory and Monte Carlo simulations to analyze the electrical properties of a model molten salt near a planar electrode. In particular, we study the electrode's charge neutralization, and the maximum inversion of the net charge per unit area of the electrode-molten salt system as a function of the ionic concentration, and the electrode's charge. The behaviour of the associated capacitive compactness is interpreted in terms of the charge neutralization capacity of the highly correlated charged fluid, which evidences a shrinking/expansion of the electrical double layer at a microscopic level. The capacitive compactness and its first two derivatives are expressed in terms of experimentally measurable macroscopic properties such as the differential and integral capacity, the electrode's surface charge density, and the mean electrostatic potential at the electrode's surface.

Molecular crowding of collagen: a pathway to produce highly-organized collagenous structures.

PubMed

Saeidi, Nima; Karmelek, Kathryn P; Paten, Jeffrey A; Zareian, Ramin; DiMasi, Elaine; Ruberti, Jeffrey W

2012-10-01

Collagen in vertebrate animals is often arranged in alternating lamellae or in bundles of aligned fibrils which are designed to withstand in vivo mechanical loads. The formation of these organized structures is thought to result from a complex, large-area integration of individual cell motion and locally-controlled synthesis of fibrillar arrays via cell-surface fibripositors (direct matrix printing). The difficulty of reproducing such a process in vitro has prevented tissue engineers from constructing clinically useful load-bearing connective tissue directly from collagen. However, we and others have taken the view that long-range organizational information is potentially encoded into the structure of the collagen molecule itself, allowing the control of fibril organization to extend far from cell (or bounding) surfaces. We here demonstrate a simple, fast, cell-free method capable of producing highly-organized, anistropic collagen fibrillar lamellae de novo which persist over relatively long-distances (tens to hundreds of microns). Our approach to nanoscale organizational control takes advantage of the intrinsic physiochemical properties of collagen molecules by inducing collagen association through molecular crowding and geometric confinement. To mimic biological tissues which comprise planar, aligned collagen lamellae (e.g. cornea, lamellar bone or annulus fibrosus), type I collagen was confined to a thin, planar geometry, concentrated through molecular crowding and polymerized. The resulting fibrillar lamellae show a striking resemblance to native load-bearing lamellae in that the fibrils are small, generally aligned in the plane of the confining space and change direction en masse throughout the thickness of the construct. The process of organizational control is consistent with embryonic development where the bounded planar cell sheets produced by fibroblasts suggest a similar confinement/concentration strategy. Such a simple approach to nanoscale organizational control of structure not only makes de novo tissue engineering a possibility, but also suggests a clearer pathway to organization for fibroblasts than direct matrix printing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Imaging fluorescence-correlation spectroscopy for measuring fast surface diffusion at liquid/solid interfaces.

PubMed

Cooper, Justin T; Harris, Joel M

2014-08-05

The development of techniques to probe interfacial molecular transport is important for understanding and optimizing surface-based analytical methods including surface-enhanced spectroscopies, biological assays, and chemical separations. Single-molecule-fluorescence imaging and tracking has been used to measure lateral diffusion rates of fluorescent molecules at surfaces, but the technique is limited to the study of slower diffusion, where molecules must remain relatively stationary during acquisition of an image in order to build up sufficient intensity in a spot to detect and localize the molecule. Although faster time resolution can be achieved by fluorescence-correlation spectroscopy (FCS), where intensity fluctuations in a small spot are related to the motions of molecules on the surface, long-lived adsorption events arising from surface inhomogeneity can overwhelm the correlation measurement and mask the surface diffusion of the moving population. Here, we exploit a combination of these two techniques, imaging-FCS, for measurement of fast interfacial transport at a model chromatographic surface. This is accomplished by rapid imaging of the surface using an electron-multiplied-charged-coupled-device (CCD) camera, while limiting the acquisition to a small area on the camera to allow fast framing rates. The total intensity from the sampled region is autocorrelated to determine surface diffusion rates of molecules with millisecond time resolution. The technique allows electronic control over the acquisition region, which can be used to avoid strong adsorption sites and thus minimize their contribution to the measured autocorrelation decay and to vary the acquisition area to resolve surface diffusion from adsorption and desorption kinetics. As proof of concept, imaging-FCS was used to measure surface diffusion rates, interfacial populations, and adsorption-desorption rates of 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3'3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine (DiI) on planar C18- and C1-modified surfaces.

Enhancement of white light OLED efficiency by combining both internal and external light extraction structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kao, I.-Ling; Ku, Chun-Neng; Chen, Yi-Ping; Lin, Ding-Zheng

2012-09-01

We proposed an internal nanostructure with a high reflective index planarization layer to solve the optical loss due to the reflective index mismatch between ITO and glass substrate. In our experiments, we found the electrical property of OLED device was significantly influenced by the internal nanostructures without planarization layer. Moreover, the internal extraction structure (IES) is not necessarily beneficial for light extraction. Therefore, we proposed a new substrate combine both internal and external extraction structure (EES) to extract trapping light. We successfully developed a high refractive index (N 1.7) planarization material with flat surface (RMS roughness < 2 nm), and improved about 70% device efficiency compared to traditional glass substrate.

Improved out-coupling efficiency of organic light emitting diodes fabricated on a TiO2 planarization layer with embedded Si oxide nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sung, Young Hoon; Jung, Pil-Hoon; Han, Kyung-Hoon; Kim, Yang Doo; Kim, Jang-Joo; Lee, Heon

2017-10-01

In order to increase the out-coupling efficiency of organic light emitting diodes, conical Si oxide nanostructures were formed on a glass substrate using nanoimprint lithography with hydrogen silsesquioxane. Then, the substrate was planarized with TiO2 nanoparticles. Since TiO2 nanoparticles have a higher refractive index than Si oxide, the surface of substrate is physically flat, but optically undulated in a manner that enables optical scattering and suppression of total internal reflection. Subsequently, OLEDs formed on a substrate with nanostructured Si oxide and a TiO2 planarization layer exhibit a 25% increase in out-coupling efficiency by suppressing total internal reflection.

Ultrathin planar hematite film for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting

DOE PAGES

Liu, Dong; Bierman, David M.; Lenert, Andrej; ...

2015-10-08

Hematite holds promise for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its stability, low-cost, abundance and appropriate bandgap. However, it suffers from a mismatch between the hole diffusion length and light penetration length. We have theoretically designed and characterized an ultrathin planar hematite/silver nanohole array/silver substrate photoanode. Due to the supported destructive interference and surface plasmon resonance, photons are efficiently absorbed in an ultrathin hematite film. In conclusion, compared with ultrathin hematite photoanodes with nanophotonic structures, this photoanode has comparable photon absorption but with intrinsically lower recombination losses due to its planar structure and promises to exceed the state-of-the-art photocurrent ofmore » hematite photoanodes.« less

Exact solution of three-dimensional transport problems using one-dimensional models. [in semiconductor devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misiakos, K.; Lindholm, F. A.

1986-01-01

Several parameters of certain three-dimensional semiconductor devices including diodes, transistors, and solar cells can be determined without solving the actual boundary-value problem. The recombination current, transit time, and open-circuit voltage of planar diodes are emphasized here. The resulting analytical expressions enable determination of the surface recombination velocity of shallow planar diodes. The method involves introducing corresponding one-dimensional models having the same values of these parameters.

Efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells employing graphene oxide as hole conductor.

PubMed

Wu, Zhongwei; Bai, Sai; Xiang, Jian; Yuan, Zhongcheng; Yang, Yingguo; Cui, Wei; Gao, Xingyu; Liu, Zhuang; Jin, Yizheng; Sun, Baoquan

2014-09-21

Graphene oxide (GO) is employed as a hole conductor in inverted planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells, and the devices with CH₃NH₃PbI₃-xClx as absorber achieve an efficiency of over 12%. The perovskite film grown on GO exhibits enhanced crystallization, high surface coverage ratio as well as preferred in-plane orientation of the (110) plane. Efficient hole extraction from the perovskite to GO is demonstrated.

Planar Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Research and Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-28

electrolyte membrane ( PEM ) fuel cells ", Applied Surface Sei., 227 (2004) 56-72. [10] Grujicic, M., and Chittajallu, K. M., "Optimization of the...cathode geometry in polymer electrolyte membrane ( PEM ) fuel cells ", Chem. Eng. Sei., 59 (2004) 5883-5895. 36 [11] Anderson, W.K., Newman, J.C., Whitfield...M., Djilali, N, Suleman, A., "Optimization of a planar self-breathing PEM fuel cell cathode", AIAA 2006-6917, 11th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary

Physical mechanism for flat-to-lenticular lens conversion in homogeneous liquid crystal cell with periodically undulated electrode.

PubMed

Na, Jun-Hee; Park, Seung Chul; Kim, Se-Um; Choi, Yoonseuk; Lee, Sin-Doo

2012-01-16

A convertible lenticular liquid crystal (LC) lens architecture is demonstrated using an index-matched planarization layer on a periodically undulated electrode for the homogeneous alignment of an LC. It is found that the in-plane component of the electric field by the undulated electrode plays a primary role in the flat-to-lens effect while the out-of-plane component contributes to the anchoring enhancement of the LC molecules in the surface layer. Our LC device having an index-matched planarization layer on the undulated electrode is capable of achieving the electrical tunability from the flat surface to the lenticular lens suitable for 2D/3D convertible displays.

Planar induction of convergence and extension of the neural plate by the organizer of Xenopus.

PubMed

Keller, R; Shih, J; Sater, A K; Moreno, C

1992-03-01

This paper demonstrates that convergence and extension within the neural plate of Xenopus laevis are regulated by planar inductive interactions with the adjacent Spemann organizer. The companion article (Keller et al.: Developmental Dynamics 193:199-217, 1992) showed that the prospective hindbrain and spinal cord occupy a very short and very wide area just above the Spemann organizer in the early gastrula and that these regions converge and extend greatly during gastrulation and neurulation, using a sequence of radial and mediolateral cell intercalations. In this article, we show that "planar" contact of these regions with the organizer at their vegetal edge until stage 11 is sufficient to induce convergence and extension, after which their convergence and extension become autonomous. Grafts of the organizer in planar contact with uninduced ectodermal tissues induce these ectodermal tissues to converge and extend by a planar inductive signal from the organizer. Labeling of the inducing or responding tissues confirms that only planar interactions occur. Neural convergence and extension are actually hindered in explants deliberately constructed so that vertical interactions occur. These results show unambiguously that the Spemann organizer induces the extraordinary and precocious convergence and extension movements of the Xenopus neural plate by planar interactions acting over short distances.

Organic light emitting diode with surface modification layer

DOEpatents

Basil, John D.; Bhandari, Abhinav; Buhay, Harry; Arbab, Mehran; Marietti, Gary J.

2017-09-12

An organic light emitting diode (10) includes a substrate (12) having a first surface (14) and a second surface (16), a first electrode (32), and a second electrode (38). An emissive layer (36) is located between the first electrode (32) and the second electrode (38). The organic light emitting diode (10) further includes a surface modification layer (18). The surface modification layer (18) includes a non-planar surface (30, 52).

Process for leveling film surfaces and products thereof

DOEpatents

Birkmire, R.W.; McCandless, B.E.

1990-03-20

Semiconductor films and photovoltaic devices prepared therefrom are provided wherein the semiconductor films have a specular surface with a texture less than about 0.25 micron greater than the average planar film surface and wherein the semiconductor films are surface modified by exposing the surface to an aqueous solution of bromine containing an acid or salt and continuing such exposure for a time sufficient to etch the surface. 8 figs.

Fluid injection microvalve

DOEpatents

Renzi, Ronald F.

2005-11-22

A microvalve for extracting small volume samples into analytical devices, e.g., high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) column, includes: a first body having a first interior surface and two or more outlet ports at the first interior surface that are in fluid communication with two or more first channels; a second body having a second interior surface and two or more inlet ports at the second interior surface that are in fluid communication with two or more second channels wherein the outlet ports of the first body are coaxial with the corresponding inlet ports of the second body such that there are at least two sets of coaxial port outlets and port inlets; a plate member, which has a substantially planar first mating surface and a substantially planar second mating surface, that is slidably positioned between the first interior surface and the second interior surface wherein the plate member has at least one aperture that traverses the height of the plate member, and wherein the aperture can be positioned to be coaxial with any of the at least two sets of coaxial port outlets and port inlets; and means for securing the first surface of the first body against the first mating surface and for securing the second surface of the second body against the second mating surface.

Polymeric amphiphile branching leads to rare nanodisc shaped planar self-assemblies.

PubMed

Qu, Xiaozhong; Omar, Leila; Le, Thi Bich Hang; Tetley, Laurence; Bolton, Katherine; Chooi, Kar Wai; Wang, Wei; Uchegbu, Ijeoma F

2008-09-16

Self-assembly is fundamental to the biological function of cells and the fabrication of nanomaterials. However, the origin of the shape of various self-assemblies, such as the shape of cells, is not altogether clear. Polymeric, oligomeric, or low molecular weight amphiphiles are a rich source of nanomaterials, and controlling their self-assembly is the route to tailored nanosystems with specific functionalities. Here, we provide direct evidence that a particular molecular architecture, polymeric branching, leads to a rare form of self-assembly, the planar nanodisc. Cholesterol containing self-assemblies formed from amphiphilic linear or branched cetyl poly(ethylenimine) (Mn approximately 1000 Da) or amphiphilic cetyl poly(propylenimine) dendrimer derivatives (Mn approximately 2000 Da) show that branching, by reducing the hydrophilic headgroup area, alters the shape of the self-assemblies transforming closed 60 nm spherical bilayer vesicles to rare 50 nm x 10 nm planar bilayer discs. Increasing the hydrophilic headgroup area, by the inclusion of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) moieties into the amphiphilic headgroup, transforms the planar discs to 100 nm spherical bilayer vesicles. This study provides insight into the key role played by molecular shape on molecular self-organization into rare nanodiscs.

High-resolution microcontact printing and transfer of massive arrays of microorganisms on planar and compartmentalized nanoporous aluminium oxide.

PubMed

Ingham, Colin; Bomer, Johan; Sprenkels, Ad; van den Berg, Albert; de Vos, Willem; van Hylckama Vlieg, Johan

2010-06-07

Handling microorganisms in high throughput and their deployment into miniaturized platforms presents significant challenges. Contact printing can be used to create dense arrays of viable microorganisms. Such "living arrays", potentially with multiple identical replicates, are useful in the selection of improved industrial microorganisms, screening antimicrobials, clinical diagnostics, strain storage, and for research into microbial genetics. A high throughput method to print microorganisms at high density was devised, employing a microscope and a stamp with a massive array of PDMS pins. Viable bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum, Esherichia coli), yeast (Candida albicans) and fungal spores (Aspergillus fumigatus) were deposited onto porous aluminium oxide (PAO) using arrays of pins with areas from 5 x 5 to 20 x 20 microm. Printing onto PAO with up to 8100 pins of 20 x 20 microm area with 3 replicates was achieved. Printing with up to 200 pins onto PAO culture chips (divided into 40 x 40 microm culture areas) allowed inoculation followed by effective segregation of microcolonies during outgrowth. Additionally, it was possible to print mixtures of C. albicans and spores of A. fumigatus with a degree of selectivity by capture onto a chemically modified PAO surface. High resolution printing of microorganisms within segregated compartments and on functionalized PAO surfaces has significant advantages over what is possible on semi-solid surfaces such as agar.

Molecular filter based planar Doppler velocimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, Gregory S.; Beutner, Thomas J.

1999-11-01

Molecular filter based diagnostics are continuing to gain popularity as a research tool for investigations in areas of aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and combustion. This class of diagnostics has gone by many terms including Filtered Rayleigh Scattering, Doppler Global Velocimetry, and Planar Doppler Velocimetry. The majority of this article reviews recent advances in Planar Doppler Velocimetry in measuring up to three velocity components over a planar region in a flowfield. The history of the development of these techniques is given with a description of typical systems, components, and levels of uncertainty in the measurement. Current trends indicate that uncertainties on the order of 1 m/s are possible with these techniques. A comprehensive review is also given on the application of Planar Doppler Velocimetry to laboratory flows, supersonic flows, and large scale subsonic wind tunnels. The article concludes with a description of future trends, which may simplify the technique, followed by a description of techniques which allow multi-property measurements (i.e. velocity, density, temperature, and pressure) simultaneously.

Revealing the planar chemistry of two-dimensional heterostructures at the atomic level.

PubMed

Chou, Harry; Ismach, Ariel; Ghosh, Rudresh; Ruoff, Rodney S; Dolocan, Andrei

2015-06-23

Two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals and their heterostructures are an intense area of study owing to their unique properties that result from structural planar confinement. Intrinsically, the performance of a planar vertical device is linked to the quality of its 2D components and their interfaces, therefore requiring characterization tools that can reveal both its planar chemistry and morphology. Here, we propose a characterization methodology combining (micro-) Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry to provide structural information, morphology and planar chemical composition at virtually the atomic level, aimed specifically at studying 2D vertical heterostructures. As an example system, a graphene-on-h-BN heterostructure is analysed to reveal, with an unprecedented level of detail, the subtle chemistry and interactions within its layer structure that can be assigned to specific fabrication steps. Such detailed chemical information is of crucial importance for the complete integration of 2D heterostructures into functional devices.

Tele-autonomous control involving contacts: The applications of a high precision laser line range sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volz, R. A.; Shao, L.; Walker, M. W.; Conway, L. A.

1989-01-01

The object localization algorithm based on line-segment matching is presented. The method is very simple and computationally fast. In most cases, closed-form formulas are used to derive the solution. The method is also quite flexible, because only few surfaces (one or two) need to be accessed (sensed) to gather necessary range data. For example, if the line-segments are extracted from boundaries of a planar surface, only parameters of one surface and two of its boundaries need to be extracted, as compared with traditional point-surface matching or line-surface matching algorithms which need to access at least three surfaces in order to locate a planar object. Therefore, this method is especially suitable for applications when an object is surrounded by many other work pieces and most of the object is very difficult, is not impossible, to be measured; or when not all parts of the object can be reached. The theoretical ground on how to use line range sensor to located an object was laid. Much work has to be done in order to be really useful.

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

Kirtley, John R., E-mail: jkirtley@stanford.edu; Rosenberg, Aaron J.; Palmstrom, Johanna C.

Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) microscopy has excellent magnetic field sensitivity, but suffers from modest spatial resolution when compared with other scanning probes. This spatial resolution is determined by both the size of the field sensitive area and the spacing between this area and the sample surface. In this paper we describe scanning SQUID susceptometers that achieve sub-micron spatial resolution while retaining a white noise floor flux sensitivity of ≈2μΦ{sub 0}/Hz{sup 1/2}. This high spatial resolution is accomplished by deep sub-micron feature sizes, well shielded pickup loops fabricated using a planarized process, and a deep etch step that minimizes themore » spacing between the sample surface and the SQUID pickup loop. We describe the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of these sensors. Although sub-micron spatial resolution has been achieved previously in scanning SQUID sensors, our sensors not only achieve high spatial resolution but also have integrated modulation coils for flux feedback, integrated field coils for susceptibility measurements, and batch processing. They are therefore a generally applicable tool for imaging sample magnetization, currents, and susceptibilities with higher spatial resolution than previous susceptometers.« less

Electromagnetic properties of material coated surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beard, L.; Berrie, J.; Burkholder, R.; Dominek, A.; Walton, E.; Wang, N.

1989-01-01

The electromagnetic properties of material coated conducting surfaces were investigated. The coating geometries consist of uniform layers over a planar surface, irregularly shaped formations near edges and randomly positioned, electrically small, irregularly shaped formations over a surface. Techniques to measure the scattered field and constitutive parameters from these geometries were studied. The significance of the scattered field from these geometries warrants further study.

Investigations of Optical Properties of Active Regions in Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers Grown by MBE

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-06-03

Molecular beam epitaxy ; Planar microcavities; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers 1... Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers Grown by MBE DISTRIBUTION: Approved for public release, distribution unlimited This paper is part of the...S-581 83 Linkiping, Sweden Abstract The design of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers ( VCSELs ) needs proper tuning of many

Area-Selective Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Oxides on Noble Metals through Catalytic Oxygen Activation

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Area-selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) is envisioned to play a key role in next-generation semiconductor processing and can also provide new opportunities in the field of catalysis. In this work, we developed an approach for the area-selective deposition of metal oxides on noble metals. Using O2 gas as co-reactant, area-selective ALD has been achieved by relying on the catalytic dissociation of the oxygen molecules on the noble metal surface, while no deposition takes place on inert surfaces that do not dissociate oxygen (i.e., SiO2, Al2O3, Au). The process is demonstrated for selective deposition of iron oxide and nickel oxide on platinum and iridium substrates. Characterization by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry, transmission electron microscopy, scanning Auger electron spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms a very high degree of selectivity, with a constant ALD growth rate on the catalytic metal substrates and no deposition on inert substrates, even after 300 ALD cycles. We demonstrate the area-selective ALD approach on planar and patterned substrates and use it to prepare Pt/Fe2O3 core/shell nanoparticles. Finally, the approach is proposed to be extendable beyond the materials presented here, specifically to other metal oxide ALD processes for which the precursor requires a strong oxidizing agent for growth. PMID:29503508

Reconstructing the vibro-acoustic quantities on a highly non-spherical surface using the Helmholtz equation least squares method.

PubMed

Natarajan, Logesh Kumar; Wu, Sean F

2012-06-01

This paper presents helpful guidelines and strategies for reconstructing the vibro-acoustic quantities on a highly non-spherical surface by using the Helmholtz equation least squares (HELS). This study highlights that a computationally simple code based on the spherical wave functions can produce an accurate reconstruction of the acoustic pressure and normal surface velocity on planar surfaces. The key is to select the optimal origin of the coordinate system behind the planar surface, choose a target structural wavelength to be reconstructed, set an appropriate stand-off distance and microphone spacing, use a hybrid regularization scheme to determine the optimal number of the expansion functions, etc. The reconstructed vibro-acoustic quantities are validated rigorously via experiments by comparing the reconstructed normal surface velocity spectra and distributions with the benchmark data obtained by scanning a laser vibrometer over the plate surface. Results confirm that following the proposed guidelines and strategies can ensure the accuracy in reconstructing the normal surface velocity up to the target structural wavelength, and produce much more satisfactory results than a straight application of the original HELS formulations. Experiment validations on a baffled, square plate were conducted inside a fully anechoic chamber.

Cell adhesion and guidance by micropost-array chemical sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pantano, Paul; Quah, Soo-Kim; Danowski, Kristine L.

2002-06-01

An array of ~50,000 individual polymeric micropost sensors was patterned across a glass coverslip by a photoimprint lithographic technique. Individual micropost sensors were ~3-micrometers tall and ~8-micrometers wide. The O2-sensitive micropost array sensors (MPASs) comprised a ruthenium complex encapsulated in a gas permeable photopolymerizable siloxane. The pH-sensitive MPASs comprised a fluorescein conjugate encapsulated in a photocrosslinkable poly(vinyl alcohol)-based polymer. PO2 and pH were quantitated by acquiring MPAS luminescence images with an epifluorescence microscope/charge coupled device imaging system. O2-sensitive MPASs displayed linear Stern-Volmer quenching behavior with a maximum Io/I of ~8.6. pH-sensitive MPASs displayed sigmoidal calibration curves with a pKa of ~5.8. The adhesion of undifferentiated rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells across these two polymeric surface types was investigated. The greatest PC12 cell proliferation and adhesion occurred across the poly(vinyl alcohol)-based micropost arrays relative to planar poly(vinyl alcohol)-based surfaces and both patterned and planar siloxane surfaces. An additional advantage of the patterned MPAS layers relative to planar sensing layers was the ability to direct the growth of biological cells. Preliminary data is presented whereby nerve growth factor-differentiated PC12 cells grew neurite-like processes that extended along paths defined by the micropost architecture.

Hybrid silicon honeycomb/organic solar cells with enhanced efficiency using surface etching.

PubMed

Liu, Ruiyuan; Sun, Teng; Liu, Jiawei; Wu, Shan; Sun, Baoquan

2016-06-24

Silicon (Si) nanostructure-based photovoltaic devices are attractive for their excellent optical and electrical performance, but show lower efficiency than their planar counterparts due to the increased surface recombination associated with the high surface area and roughness. Here, we demonstrate an efficiency enhancement for hybrid nanostructured Si/polymer solar cells based on a novel Si honeycomb (SiHC) structure using a simple etching method. SiHC structures are fabricated using a combination of nanosphere lithography and plasma treatment followed by a wet chemical post-etching. SiHC has shown superior light-trapping ability in comparison with the other Si nanostructures, along with a robust structure. Anisotropic tetramethylammonium hydroxide etching not only tunes the final surface morphologies of the nanostructures, but also reduces the surface roughness leading to a lower recombination rate in the hybrid solar cells. The suppressed recombination loss, benefiting from the reduced surface-to-volume ratio and roughness, has resulted in a high open-circuit voltage of 600 mV, a short-circuit current of 31.46 mA cm(-2) due to the light-trapping ability of the SiHCs, and yields a power conversion efficiency of 12.79% without any other device structure optimization.

Modeling of Graphene Planar Grating in the THz Range by the Method of Singular Integral Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaliberda, Mstislav E.; Lytvynenko, Leonid M.; Pogarsky, Sergey A.

2018-04-01

Diffraction of the H-polarized electromagnetic wave by the planar graphene grating in the THz range is considered. The scattering and absorption characteristics are studied. The scattered field is represented in the spectral domain via unknown spectral function. The mathematical model is based on the graphene surface impedance and the method of singular integral equations. The numerical solution is obtained by the Nystrom-type method of discrete singularities.

Modular multi-element high energy particle detector

DOEpatents

Coon, D.D.; Elliott, J.P.

1990-01-02

Multi-element high energy particle detector modules comprise a planar heavy metal carrier of tungsten alloy with planar detector units uniformly distributed over one planar surface. The detector units are secured to the heavy metal carrier by electrically conductive adhesive so that the carrier serves as a common ground. The other surface of each planar detector unit is electrically connected to a feedthrough electrical terminal extending through the carrier for front or rear readout. The feedthrough electrical terminals comprise sockets at one face of the carrier and mating pins projecting from the other face, so that any number of modules may be plugged together to create a stack of modules of any desired number of radiation lengths. The detector units each comprise four, preferably rectangular, p-i-n diode chips arranged around the associated feedthrough terminal to form a square detector unit providing at least 90% detector element coverage of the carrier. Integral spacers projecting from the carriers extend at least partially along the boundaries between detector units to space the p-i-n diode chips from adjacent carriers in a stack. The spacers along the perimeters of the modules are one-half the width of the interior spacers so that when stacks of modules are arranged side by side to form a large array of any size or shape, distribution of the detector units is uniform over the entire array. 5 figs.

Modular multi-element high energy particle detector

DOEpatents

Coon, Darryl D.; Elliott, John P.

1990-01-02

Multi-element high energy particle detector modules comprise a planar heavy metal carrier of tungsten alloy with planar detector units uniformly distributed over one planar surface. The detector units are secured to the heavy metal carrier by electrically conductive adhesive so that the carrier serves as a common ground. The other surface of each planar detector unit is electrically connected to a feedthrough electrical terminal extending through the carrier for front or rear readout. The feedthrough electrical terminals comprise sockets at one face of the carrier and mating pins porjecting from the other face, so that any number of modules may be plugged together to create a stack of modules of any desired number of radiation lengths. The detector units each comprise four, preferably rectangular, p-i-n diode chips arranged around the associated feedthrough terminal to form a square detector unit providing at least 90% detector element coverage of the carrier. Integral spacers projecting from the carriers extend at least partially along the boundaries between detector units to space the p-i-n diode chips from adjacent carriers in a stack. The spacers along the perimeters of the modules are one-half the width of the interior spacers so that when stacks of modules are arranged side by side to form a large array of any size or shape, distribution of the detector units is uniform over the entire array.

Improved fill factor in inverted planar perovskite solar cells with zirconium acetate as the hole-and-ion-blocking layer.

PubMed

Zhang, Xuewen; Liang, Chunjun; Sun, Mengjie; Zhang, Huimin; Ji, Chao; Guo, Zebang; Xu, Yajun; Sun, Fulin; Song, Qi; He, Zhiqun

2018-03-14

Planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained great interest due to their low-temperature solution preparation and simple process. In inverted planar PSCs, an additional buffer layer is usually needed on the top of the PCBM electron-transport layer (ETL) to enhance the device performance. In this work, we used a new buffer layer, zirconium acetate (Zr(Ac) 4 ). The inclusion of the Zr(Ac) 4 buffer layer leads to the increase of FF from ∼68% to ∼79% and PCE from ∼14% to ∼17% in the planar PSCs. The UPS measurement indicates that the Zr(Ac) 4 layer has a low HOMO level of -8.2 eV, indicating that the buffer layer can act as a hole-blocking layer. Surface morphology and surface chemistry investigations reveal that the elements I, MA and Pb can diffuse across the PCBM ETL, damaging the device performance. The covering Zr(Ac) 4 molecules fill in the pinholes of the PCBM layer and effectively block the ions/molecules of the perovskite from diffusion across the ETL. The resulting more robust PCBM/Zr(Ac) 4 ETL leads to weaker ionic charge accumulation and lower diode leakage current. The double role of hole-and-ion blocking of the Zr(Ac) 4 layer explains the improved FF and PCE in the PSCs.

Optical absorption enhancement in NH2CH=NH2PbI3 lead halide perovskite solar cells with nanotextures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Ziang; Sun, Shuren; Xie, Xixi; Hou, Ruixiang; Xu, Wanjin; Li, Yanping; Qin, G. G.

2018-01-01

This article reports, for the first time to our knowledge, that the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of planar NH2CH=NH2PbI3 (FAPbI3) lead halide perovskite solar cells (SCs) can be largely improved by fabricating nanotextures on the SC surface. Four kinds of nanotextures are investigated and compared with each other: column hollow (CLH) nanoarrays, cone hollow (CNH) nanoarrays, square prism hollow (SPH) nanoarrays, and pyramid hollow (PYH) nanoarrays. Compared with the PCEs of the planar SCs with the same layer depth d, it is found that when d is in the range of 125-500 nm and when the array period, as well as the filling fraction of the nanotexture, are optimized, the ultimate efficiency increased 29%-50% for the CLH and SPH textured FAPbI3 SCs relative to the planar ones, and 20%-41% for the CNH and PYH textured FAPbI3 SCs relative to the planar ones. When d < 250 nm, the optimized ultimate efficiencies of the CLH and SPH textured FAPbI3 SCs with optimized nanotextures are higher than those of the CNH and PYH ones, and vice versa. The reasons why fabricating nanotextures on SC surfaces can largely improve the PCE of the FAPbI3 SCs are discussed.

A new method suitable for calculating accurately wetting temperature over a wide range of conditions: Based on the adaptation of continuation algorithm to classical DFT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Shiqi

2017-11-01

A new scheme is put forward to determine the wetting temperature (Tw) by utilizing the adaptation of arc-length continuation algorithm to classical density functional theory (DFT) used originally by Frink and Salinger, and its advantages are summarized into four points: (i) the new scheme is applicable whether the wetting occurs near a planar or a non-planar surface, whereas a zero contact angle method is considered only applicable to a perfectly flat solid surface, as demonstrated previously and in this work, and essentially not fit for non-planar surface. (ii) The new scheme is devoid of an uncertainty, which plagues a pre-wetting extrapolation method and originates from an unattainability of the infinitely thick film in the theoretical calculation. (iii) The new scheme can be similarly and easily applied to extreme instances characterized by lower temperatures and/or higher surface attraction force field, which, however, can not be dealt with by the pre-wetting extrapolation method because of the pre-wetting transition being mixed with many layering transitions and the difficulty in differentiating varieties of the surface phase transitions. (iv) The new scheme still works in instance wherein the wetting transition occurs close to the bulk critical temperature; however, this case completely can not be managed by the pre-wetting extrapolation method because near the bulk critical temperature the pre-wetting region is extremely narrow, and no enough pre-wetting data are available for use of the extrapolation procedure.

Technology of silicon charged-particle detectors developed at the Institute of Electron Technology (ITE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wegrzecka, Iwona; Panas, Andrzej; Bar, Jan; Budzyński, Tadeusz; Grabiec, Piotr; Kozłowski, Roman; Sarnecki, Jerzy; Słysz, Wojciech; Szmigiel, Dariusz; Wegrzecki, Maciej; Zaborowski, Michał

2013-07-01

The paper discusses the technology of silicon charged-particle detectors developed at the Institute of Electron Technology (ITE). The developed technology enables the fabrication of both planar and epiplanar p+-ν-n+ detector structures with an active area of up to 50 cm2. The starting material for epiplanar structures are silicon wafers with a high-resistivity n-type epitaxial layer ( ν layer - ρ < 3 kΩcm) deposited on a highly doped n+-type substrate (ρ< 0,02Ωcm) developed and fabricated at the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology. Active layer thickness of the epiplanar detectors (νlayer) may range from 10 μm to 150 μm. Imported silicon with min. 5 kΩcm resistivity is used to fabricate planar detectors. Active layer thickness of the planar detectors (ν) layer) may range from 200 μm to 1 mm. This technology enables the fabrication of both discrete and multi-junction detectors (monolithic detector arrays), such as single-sided strip detectors (epiplanar and planar) and double-sided strip detectors (planar). Examples of process diagrams for fabrication of the epiplanar and planar detectors are presented in the paper, and selected technological processes are discussed.

Design, fabrication, and performance analysis of GaN vertical electron transistors with a buried p/n junction

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

Yeluri, Ramya, E-mail: ramyay@ece.ucsb.edu; Lu, Jing; Keller, Stacia

2015-05-04

The Current Aperture Vertical Electron Transistor (CAVET) combines the high conductivity of the two dimensional electron gas channel at the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction with better field distribution offered by a vertical design. In this work, CAVETs with buried, conductive p-GaN layers as the current blocking layer are reported. The p-GaN layer was regrown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition and the subsequent channel regrowth was done by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy to maintain the p-GaN conductivity. Transistors with high ON current (10.9 kA/cm{sup 2}) and low ON-resistance (0.4 mΩ cm{sup 2}) are demonstrated. Non-planar selective area regrowth is identified as the limiting factormore » to transistor breakdown, using planar and non-planar n/p/n structures. Planar n/p/n structures recorded an estimated electric field of 3.1 MV/cm, while non-planar structures showed a much lower breakdown voltage. Lowering the p-GaN regrowth temperature improved breakdown in the non-planar n/p/n structure. Combining high breakdown voltage with high current will enable GaN vertical transistors with high power densities.« less

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

Kutes, Yasemin; Luria, Justin; Sun, Yu

Ion beam milling is the most common modern method for preparing specific features for microscopic analysis, even though concomitant ion implantation and amorphization remain persistent challenges, particularly as they often modify materials properties of interest. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), on the other hand, can mechanically mill specific nanoscale regions in plan-view without chemical or high energy ion damage, due to its resolution, directionality, and fine load control. As an example, AFM-nanomilling (AFM-NM) is implemented for top-down planarization of polycrystalline CdTe thin film solar cells, with a resulting decrease in the root mean square (RMS) roughness by an order of magnitude,more » even better than for a low incidence FIB polished surface. Subsequently AFM-based property maps reveal a substantially stronger contrast, in this case of the short-circuit current or open circuit voltage during light exposure. Furthermore, electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) imaging also becomes possible upon AFM-NM, enabling direct correlations between the local materials properties and the polycrystalline microstructure. Smooth shallow-angle cross-sections are demonstrated as well, based on targeted oblique milling. As expected, this reveals a gradual decrease in the average short-circuit current and maximum power as the underlying CdS and electrode layers are approached, but a relatively consistent open-circuit voltage through the diminishing thickness of the CdTe absorber. AFM-based nanomilling is therefore a powerful tool for material characterization, uniquely providing ion-damage free, selective area, planar smoothing or low-angle sectioning of specimens while preserving their functionality. This then enables novel, co-located advanced AFM measurements, EBSD analysis, and investigations by related techniques that are otherwise hindered by surface morphology or surface damage.« less

Fundamental Study on the Fabrication of Inverted Planar Perovskite Solar Cells Using Two-Step Sequential Substrate Vibration-Assisted Spray Coating (2S-SVASC).

PubMed

Zabihi, Fatemeh; Ahmadian-Yazdi, Mohammad-Reza; Eslamian, Morteza

2016-12-01

In this paper, a scalable and fast process is developed and employed for the fabrication of the perovskite light harvesting layer in inverted planar heterojunction solar cell (FTO/PEDOT:PSS/CH3NH3PbI3-x Cl x /PCBM/Al). Perovskite precursor solutions are sprayed onto an ultrasonically vibrating substrate in two sequential steps via a process herein termed as the two-step sequential substrate vibration-assisted spray coating (2S-SVASC). The gentle imposed ultrasonic vibration on the substrate promotes droplet spreading and coalescence, surface wetting, evaporation, mixing of reagents, and uniform growth of perovskite nanocrystals. The role of the substrate temperature, substrate vibration intensity, and the time interval between the two sequential sprays are studied on the roughness, coverage, and crystalline structure of perovskite thin films. We demonstrate that a combination of a long time interval between spraying of precursor solutions (15 min), a high substrate temperature (120 °C), and a mild substrate vibration power (5 W) results in a favorable morphology and surface quality. The characteristics and performance of prepared perovskite thin films made via the 2S-SVASC technique are compared with those of the co-sprayed perovskite thin films. The maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.08 % on a 0.3-cm(2) active area is obtained for the device made via the scalable 2S-SVASC technique.

A Detailed Study of Debris Flow Source Areas in the Northern Colorado Front Range.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arana-Morales, A.; Baum, R. L.; Godt, J.

2014-12-01

Nearly continuous, heavy rainfall occurred during 9-13 September 2013 causing flooding and widespread landslides and debris flows in the northern Colorado Front Range. Whereas many recent studies have identified erosion as the most common process leading to debris flows in the mountains of Colorado, nearly all of the debris flows mapped in this event began as small, shallow landslides. We mapped the boundaries of 415 September 2013 debris flows in the Eldorado Springs and Boulder 7.5-minute quadrangles using 0.5-m-resolution satellite imagery. We characterized the landslide source areas of six debris flows in the field as part of an effort to identify what factors controlled their locations. Four were on a dip slope in sedimentary rocks in the Pinebrook Hills area, near Boulder, and the other two were in granitic rocks near Gross Reservoir. Although we observed no obvious geomorphic differences between the source areas and surrounding non-landslide areas, we noted several characteristics that the source areas all had in common. Slopes of the source areas ranged from 28° to 35° and most occurred on planar or slightly concave slopes that were vegetated with grass, small shrubs, and sparse trees. The source areas were shallow, irregularly shaped, and elongated downslope: widths ranged from 4 to 9 m, lengths from 6 to 40 m and depths ranged from 0.7 to 1.2 m. Colluvium was the source material for all of the debris flows and bedrock was exposed in the basal surface of all of the source areas. We observed no evidence for concentrated surface runoff upslope from the sources. Local curvature and roughness of bedrock and surface topography, and depth distribution and heterogeneity of the colluvium appear to have controlled the specific locations of these shallow debris-flow source areas. The observed distribution and characteristics of the source areas help guide ongoing efforts to model initiation of the debris flows.

Pulsed laser deposited ZnO film on side-polished fiber as a gas sensing element.

PubMed

Dikovska, Anna Og; Atanasov, Petar A; Stoyanchov, Toshko R; Andreev, Andrey T; Karakoleva, Elka I; Zafirova, Blagovesta S

2007-05-01

A simple sensor element consisting of a side-polished single-mode fiber and a planar metal oxide waveguide is described. The thin ZnO planar waveguide was produced on the polished fiber surface by pulsed laser deposition at optimized processing parameters. A measurement scheme for in situ control of the film thickness during the deposition process was developed and used. X-ray diffraction measurements and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure and the surface morphology of the planar waveguide, respectively. The numerical evaluation of the sensor sensitivity predicts the possibility to detect refractive index changes of less than 10(-4). Furthermore, preliminary gas sensor tests were performed by using a mixture of 1.5% butane diluted in N(2) and pure butane. A shift of the spectral position of the resonance points was observed from 3 to 5 s after gas exposure, which corresponds to refractive index changes of 3 x 10(-5) and 1.2 x 10(-3) for 1.5% butane and for pure butane, respectively.

Highly sensitive surface-scanning detector for the direct bacterial detection using magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuzhe; Horikawa, Shin; Chen, I.-Hsuan; Du, Songtao; Wikle, Howard C.; Suh, Sang-Jin; Chin, Bryan A.

2017-05-01

This paper demonstrates a highly sensitive surface-scanning detector used for magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors for the detection of Salmonella on the surface of a polyethylene (PE) food preparation surface. The design and fabrication methods of the new planar spiral coil are introduced. Different concentrations of Salmonella were measured on the surface of a PE board. The efficacy of Salmonella capture and detection is discussed.

Twisted surfaces with vanishing curvature in Galilean 3-space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dede, Mustafa; Ekici, Cumali; Goemans, Wendy; Ünlütürk, Yasin

In this work, we define twisted surfaces in Galilean 3-space. In order to construct these surfaces, a planar curve is subjected to two simultaneous rotations, possibly with different rotation speeds. The existence of Euclidean rotations and isotropic rotations leads to three distinct types of twisted surfaces in Galilean 3-space. Then we classify twisted surfaces in Galilean 3-space with zero Gaussian curvature or zero mean curvature.

The role of electrostatic charge in the adhesion of spherical particles onto planar surfaces in atmospheric systems

DOE PAGES

Kweon, Hyojin; Yiacoumi, Sotira Z.; Tsouris, Costas

2015-06-19

In this study, the influence of electrostatic charge on the adhesive force between spherical particles and planar surfaces in atmospheric systems was studied using atomic force microscopy. Electrical bias was applied to modify the surface charge, and it was found that application of a stronger positive bias to a particle induces a stronger total adhesive force. The sensitivity of the system to changes in the bias depended on the surface charge density. For larger-size particles, the contribution of the electrostatic force decreased, and the capillary force became the major contributor to the total adhesive force. The influence of water adsorptionmore » on the total adhesive force and, specifically, on the contribution of the electrostatic force depended on the hydrophobicity of interacting surfaces. For a hydrophilic surface, water adsorption either attenuated the surface charge or screened the effect of surface potential. An excessive amount of adsorbed water provided a path to surface charge leakage, which might cancel out the electrostatic force, leading to a reduction in the adhesive force. Theoretically calculated forces were comparable with measured adhesive forces except for mica which has a highly localized surface potential. The results of this study provide information on the behavior of charged colloidal particles in atmospheric systems.« less

TiO2 surface functionalization of COC based planar waveguide Bragg gratings for refractive index sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberger, M.; Girschikofsky, M.; Förthner, M.; Belle, S.; Rommel, M.; Frey, L.; Schmauss, B.; Hellmann, R.

2018-01-01

We demonstrate the applicability of a planar waveguide Bragg grating in cyclo-olefin copolymer (COC) for refractive index sensing. The polymer planar waveguide Bragg grating fabricated using a single writing step technique is coated with a high-index layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) leading to a distinct birefringence. This in turn results in the splitting of the Bragg reflection into two distinct Bragg wavelengths, which strongly differ regarding their refractive index sensitivities. Where one wavelength is only slightly affected by the ambient refractive index, the second Bragg peak shows a strong sensitivity. Furthermore, we investigate the temperature behaviour of the functionalized sensor and discuss it with respect to applications in refractive index sensing.

Customization of a generic 3D model of the distal femur using diagnostic radiographs.

PubMed

Schmutz, B; Reynolds, K J; Slavotinek, J P

2008-01-01

A method for the customization of a generic 3D model of the distal femur is presented. The customization method involves two steps: acquisition of calibrated orthogonal planar radiographs; and linear scaling of the generic model based on the width of a subject's femoral condyles as measured on the planar radiographs. Planar radiographs of seven intact lower cadaver limbs were obtained. The customized generic models were validated by comparing their surface geometry with that of CT-reconstructed reference models. The overall mean error was 1.2 mm. The results demonstrate that uniform scaling as a first step in the customization process produced a base model of accuracy comparable to other models reported in the literature.

Instrument and method for focusing x rays, gamma rays, and neutrons

DOEpatents

Smither, R.K.

1981-04-20

A crystal diffraction instrument is described which has an improved crystalline structure having a face for receiving a beam of photons or neutrons and diffraction planar spacing along that face with the spacing increasing progressively along the face to provide a decreasing Bragg angle and thereby increasing the usable area and acceptance angle. The increased planar spacing is provided by the use of a temperature differential across the crystalline structure, by assembling a plurality of crystalline structure with different compositions, by an individual crystalline structure with a varying composition and thereby a changing planar spacing along its face, and by combinations of these techniques.

Method for surface treatment of a cadmium zinc telluride crystal

DOEpatents

James, Ralph; Burger, Arnold; Chen, Kuo-Tong; Chang, Henry

1999-01-01

A method for treatment of the surface of a CdZnTe (CZT) crystal that reduces surface roughness (increases surface planarity) and provides an oxide coating to reduce surface leakage currents and thereby, improve resolution. A two step process is disclosed, etching the surface of a CZT crystal with a solution of lactic acid and bromine in ethylene glycol, following the conventional bromine/methanol etch treatment, and after attachment of electrical contacts, oxidizing the CZT crystal surface.

Areal Mass Oscillations in Planar Targets Due to Feedout: Theory and Simulations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velikovich, A. L.; Schmitt, A. J.; Karasik, M.; Obenschain, S. P.; Serlin, V.; Pawley, C. J.; Gardner, J. H.; Aglitskiy, Y.; Metzler, N.

2001-10-01

When a planar shock wave breaks out at a rippled rear surface of a laser-driven target, the lateral pressure gradient in a rippled rarefaction wave propagating back to the front surface causes a lateral mass redistribution that reverses the phase of mass variation. If the driving laser pulse has no foot, then the RT growth, starting when the rarefaction wave reaches the front surface, causes the second phase reversal of mass variation, and continues at the initial phase, as consistently observed in feedout experiments on Nike. A foot of the laser pulse can cause an early phase reversal of mass variation, making the strong shock wave driven by the main pulse interact with a density variation in a rippled rarefaction wave rather than with static rear surface ripples. Theory and simulations predict that this interaction can make the phase of mass variation reverse one or three times. Then the phase of the RT growing mode would be opposite to that of the initial mass variation.

Immunosensing by luminescence reduction in surface-modified microstructured SU-8

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eravuchira, Pinkie Jacob; Baranowska, Malgorzata; Eckstein, Chris; Díaz, Francesc; Llobet, Eduard; Marsal, Lluis F.; Ferré-Borrull, Josep

2017-01-01

SU-8, an epoxy based negative photoresist is extensively used as a structural material for the fabrication of microelectro-mechanical systems and in microelectronics technology. However, the possible applications of SU-8 for biosensing have not been explored much, mainly because of the photoluminescence SU-8 possesses in the near-UV and visible wavelength ranges which hinders fluorescent labelling of biorecognition events. In this study we demonstrate that photoluminescence of SU-8 can be employed itself as a sensing transduction parameter to produce a tool for immunosensing: the photoluminescence shows a systematic reduction upon modification of its surface chemistry, and in particular upon attachment of an antigen-antibody (aIgG-IgG) pair. We investigate the relation of the amount of reduction of photoluminescence on planar and microstructured surfaces, and we show that microstructuring leads to a higher reduction than a planar surface. Furthermore, we evaluated the dependence of photoluminescence reduction as a function of analyte concentration to prove that this magnitude can be applied to immunosensing.

Multi-scale silica structures for improved point of care detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Sophia; Lin, Lancy; Cho, Eunbyul; Pezzani, Gaston A. O.; Khine, Michelle

2017-03-01

The need for sensitive, portable diagnostic tests at the point of care persists. We report on a simple method to obtain improved detection of biomolecules by a two-fold mechanism. Silica (SiO2) is coated on pre-stressed thermoplastic shrink-wrap film. When the film retracts, the resulting micro- and nanostructures yield far-field fluorescence signal enhancements over their planar or wrinkled counterparts. Because the film shrinks by 95% in surface area, there is also a 20x concentration effect. The SiO2 structured substrate is therefore used for improved detection of labeled proteins and DNA hybridization via both fluorescent and bright field. Through optical characterization studies, we attribute the fluorescence signal enhancements of 100x to increased surface density and light scattering from the rough SiO2 structures. Combining with our open channel self-wicking microfluidics, we can achieve extremely low cost yet sensitive point of care diagnostics.

Origin of lunar light plains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, E. C. T.; Hodges, C. A.; Boyce, J. M.; Soderblom, L. A.

1975-01-01

In order to determine the origin of Cayley-type lunar light plains, their physical properties, distribution, and relative ages are examined from Apollo orbital and Lunar Orbiter photographs. The distribution and apparent age of the plains deposits and data on highly feldspathic breccias indicate that these superficial materials are neither locally derived nor part of the Imbrium ejecta. The existence of a planar facies of continuous ejecta at Orientale and in the ejecta blankets of small craters is demonstrated. The data and interpretation presented support the hypothesis that the surface and near-surface materials of some light plains, including those at the Apollo 16 site, are at least partly composed of ejecta from the Orientale basin and that the materials of many rugged areas, such as the Descartes highlands, are overlain by similar material. The possibility that some Cayley-type plains may have a different origin is not excluded.

Sub-50-nm self-assembled nanotextures for enhanced broadband antireflection in silicon solar cells.

PubMed

Rahman, Atikur; Ashraf, Ahsan; Xin, Huolin; Tong, Xiao; Sutter, Peter; Eisaman, Matthew D; Black, Charles T

2015-01-21

Materials providing broadband light antireflection have applications as highly transparent window coatings, military camouflage, and coatings for efficiently coupling light into solar cells and out of light-emitting diodes. In this work, densely packed silicon nanotextures with feature sizes smaller than 50 nm enhance the broadband antireflection compared with that predicted by their geometry alone. A significant fraction of the nanotexture volume comprises a surface layer whose optical properties differ substantially from those of the bulk, providing the key to improved performance. The nanotexture reflectivity is quantitatively well-modelled after accounting for both its profile and changes in refractive index at the surface. We employ block copolymer self-assembly for precise and tunable nanotexture design in the range of ~10-70 nm across macroscopic solar cell areas. Implementing this efficient antireflection approach in crystalline silicon solar cells significantly betters the performance gain compared with an optimized, planar antireflection coating.

Theoretical and experimental studies of hydrogen adsorption and desorption on Ir surfaces

DOE PAGES

Kaghazchi, Payam; Jacob, Timo; Chen, Wenhua; ...

2013-06-03

Here, we report adsorption and desorption of hydrogen on planar Ir(210) and faceted Ir(210), consisting of nanoscale {311} and (110) facets, by means of temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and density functional theory (DFT) in combination with the ab initio atomistic thermodynamics approach. TPD spectra show that only one H 2 peak is seen from planar Ir(210) at all coverages whereas a single H 2 peak is observed at around 440 K (F1) at fractional monolayer (ML) coverage and an additional H 2 peak appears at around 360 K (F2) at 1 ML coverage on faceted Ir(210), implying structure sensitivity inmore » recombination and desorption of hydrogen on faceted Ir(210) versus planar Ir(210), but no evidence is found for size effects in recombination and desorption of hydrogen on faceted Ir(210) for average facet sizes of 5-14 nm. Calculations indicate that H prefers to bind at the two-fold short-bridge sites of the Ir surfaces. In addition, we studied the stability of the Ir surfaces in the presence of hydrogen at different H coverages through surface free energy plots as a function of the chemical potential, which is also converted to a temperature scale. Moreover, the calculations revealed the origin of the two TPD peaks of H 2 from faceted Ir(210): F1 from desorption of H 2 on {311} facets while F2 from desorption of H 2 on (110) facets.« less

Conformal Robotic Stereolithography

PubMed Central

Stevens, Adam G.; Oliver, C. Ryan; Kirchmeyer, Matthieu; Wu, Jieyuan; Chin, Lillian; Polsen, Erik S.; Archer, Chad; Boyle, Casey; Garber, Jenna

2016-01-01

Abstract Additive manufacturing by layerwise photopolymerization, commonly called stereolithography (SLA), is attractive due to its high resolution and diversity of materials chemistry. However, traditional SLA methods are restricted to planar substrates and planar layers that are perpendicular to a single-axis build direction. Here, we present a robotic system that is capable of maskless layerwise photopolymerization on curved surfaces, enabling production of large-area conformal patterns and the construction of conformal freeform objects. The system comprises an industrial six-axis robot and a custom-built maskless projector end effector. Use of the system involves creating a mesh representation of the freeform substrate, generation of a triangulated toolpath with curved layers that represents the target object to be printed, precision mounting of the substrate in the robot workspace, and robotic photopatterning of the target object by coordinated motion of the robot and substrate. We demonstrate printing of conformal photopatterns on spheres of various sizes, and construction of miniature three-dimensional objects on spheres without requiring support features. Improvement of the motion accuracy and development of freeform toolpaths would enable construction of polymer objects that surpass the size and support structure constraints imparted by traditional SLA systems. PMID:29577062

Development of n+-in-p planar pixel quadsensor flip-chipped with FE-I4 readout ASICs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unno, Y.; Kamada, S.; Yamamura, K.; Yamamoto, H.; Hanagaki, K.; Hori, R.; Ikegami, Y.; Nakamura, K.; Takubo, Y.; Takashima, R.; Tojo, J.; Kono, T.; Nagai, R.; Saito, S.; Sugibayashi, K.; Hirose, M.; Jinnouchi, O.; Sato, S.; Sawai, H.; Hara, K.; Sato, Kz.; Sato, Kj.; Iwabuchi, S.; Suzuki, J.

2017-01-01

We have developed flip-chip modules applicable to the pixel detector for the HL-LHC. New radiation-tolerant n+-in-p planar pixel sensors of a size of four FE-I4 application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are laid out in a 6-in wafer. Variation in readout connection for the pixels at the boundary of ASICs is implemented in the design of quadsensors. Bump bonding technology is developed for four ASICs onto one quadsensor. Both sensors and ASICs are thinned to 150 μm before bump bonding, and are held flat with vacuum chucks. Using lead-free SnAg solder bumps, we encounter deficiency with large areas of disconnected bumps after thermal stress treatment, including irradiation. Surface oxidation of the solder bumps is identified as a critical source of this deficiency after bump bonding trials, using SnAg bumps with solder flux, indium bumps, and SnAg bumps with a newly-introduced hydrogen-reflow process. With hydrogen-reflow, we establish flux-less bump bonding technology with SnAg bumps, appropriate for mass production of the flip-chip modules with thin sensors and thin ASICs.

Planar integrated metasurfaces for highly-collimated terahertz quantum cascade lasers

PubMed Central

Liang, Guozhen; Dupont, Emmanuel; Fathololoumi, Saeed; Wasilewski, Zbigniew R.; Ban, Dayan; Liang, Hou Kun; Zhang, Ying; Yu, Siu Fung; Li, Lianhe H.; Davies, Alexander Giles; Linfield, Edmund H.; Liu, Hui Chun; Wang, Qi Jie

2014-01-01

We report planar integration of tapered terahertz (THz) frequency quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) with metasurface waveguides that are designed to be spoof surface plasmon (SSP) out-couplers by introducing periodically arranged SSP scatterers. The resulting surface-emitting THz beam profile is highly collimated with a divergence as narrow as ~4° × 10°, which indicates a good waveguiding property of the metasurface waveguide. In addition, the low background THz power implies a high coupling efficiency for the THz radiation from the laser cavity to the metasurface structure. Furthermore, since all the structures are in-plane, this scheme provides a promising platform where well-established surface plasmon/metasurface techniques can be employed to engineer the emitted beam of THz QCLs controllably and flexibly. More importantly, an integrated active THz photonic circuit for sensing and communication applications could be constructed by incorporating other optoelectronic devices such as Schottky diode THz mixers, and graphene modulators and photodetectors. PMID:25403796

Improvement of GaN light-emitting diodes with surface-treated Al-doped ZnO transparent Ohmic contacts by holographic photonic crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, W. F.; Liu, Z. G.; Xie, Y. N.; Cai, J. F.; Liu, S.; Gong, H.; Wu, Z. Y.

2012-06-01

This letter presents a holographic photonic crystal (H-PhC) Al-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent Ohmic contact layer on p-GaN to increase the light output of GaN-based LEDs without destroying the p-GaN. The operating voltage of the PhC LEDs at 20 mA was almost the same as that of the typical planar AZO LEDs. While the resultant PhC LED devices exhibited significant improvements in light extraction, up to 1.22 times that of planar AZO LEDs without PhC integration. Temperature dependence of the integrated photoluminescence intensity indicates that this improvement can be attributed to the increased extraction efficiency due to the surface modification. These results demonstrate that the surface-treated AZO layer by H-PhCs is suitable for fabricating high-brightness GaN-based LEDs.

Microphotonic devices for compact planar lightwave circuits and sensor systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardenas Gonzalez, Jaime

2005-07-01

Higher levels of integration in planar lightwave circuits and sensor systems can reduce fabrication costs and broaden viable applications for optical network and sensor systems. For example, increased integration and functionality can lead to sensor systems that are compact enough for easy transport, rugged enough for field applications, and sensitive enough even for laboratory applications. On the other hand, more functional and compact planar lightwave circuits can make optical networks components less expensive for the metro and access markets in urban areas and allow penetration of fiber to the home. Thus, there is an important area of opportunity for increased integration to provide low cost, compact solutions in both network components and sensor systems. In this dissertation, a novel splitting structure for microcantilever deflection detection is introduced. The splitting structure is designed so that its splitting ratio is dependent on the vertical position of the microcantilever. With this structure, microcantilevers sensitized to detect different analytes or biological agents can be integrated into an array on a single chip. Additionally, the integration of a depolarizer into the optoelectronic integrated circuit in an interferometric fiber optic gyroscope is presented as a means for cost reduction. The savings come in avoiding labor intensive fiber pigtailing steps by permitting batch fabrication of these components. In particular, this dissertation focuses on the design of the waveguides and polarization rotator, and the impact of imperfect components on the performance of the depolarizer. In the area of planar lightwave circuits, this dissertation presents the development of a fabrication process for single air interface bends (SAIBs). SAIBs can increase integration by reducing the area necessary to make a waveguide bend. Fabrication and measurement of a 45° SAIB with a bend efficiency of 93.4% for TM polarization and 92.7% for TE polarization are presented.

Planar array stack design aided by rapid prototyping in development of air-breathing PEMFC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chen-Yu; Lai, Wei-Hsiang; Weng, Biing-Jyh; Chuang, Huey-Jan; Hsieh, Ching-Yuan; Kung, Chien-Chih

The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most important research topics in the new and clean energy area. The middle or high power PEMFCs can be applied to the transportation or the distributed power system. But for the small power application, it is needed to match the power requirement of the product generally. On the other hand, the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is one of the most common type that researchers are interested in, but recently the miniature or the micro-PEMFCs attract more attention due to their advantages of high open circuit voltage and high power density. The objective of this study is to develop a new air-breathing planar array fuel cell stacked from 10 cells made by rapid prototyping technology which has potential for fast commercial design, low cost manufacturing, and even without converters/inverters for the system. In this paper, the main material of flow field plates is acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) which allows the fuel cell be mass-manufactured by plastic injection molding technology. The rapid prototyping technology is applied to construct the prototype and verify the practicability of the proposed stack design. A 10-cell air-breathing miniature PEMFC stack with a volume of 6 cm × 6 cm × 0.9 cm is developed and tested. Its segmented membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is designed with the active surface area of 1.3 cm × 1.3 cm in each individual MEA. The platinum loading at anode and cathode are 0.2 mg cm -2 and 0.4 mg cm -2, respectively. Results show that the peak power densities of the parallel connected and serial connected stack are 99 mW cm -2 at 0.425 V and 92 mW cm -2 at 4.25 V, respectively under the conditions of 70 °C relative saturated humidity (i.e., dew point temperature), ambient temperature and free convection air. Besides, the stack performance is increased under forced convection. If the cell surface air is blown by an electric fan, the peak power densities of parallel connected and serial connected stack are improved to 123 mW cm -2 at 0.425 V and 105 mW cm -2 at 5.25 V, respectively. The forced convection air can not only increases the oxygen diffusion rate at the air-breathing surface, but also enhance the uniformity of output voltage distribution. The performance obtained in this work reaches to the state-of-the-air of air-breathing planar PEMFC stack comparing to recent literatures. In this study, the different behavior of output performance at water-rich region and water-lean region is also discussed.

Compliant heterogeneous assemblies of micro-VCSELs as a new materials platform for integrated optoelectronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Dongseok; Lee, Sung-Min; Kwong, Anthony; Yoon, Jongseung

2015-03-01

Despite many unique advantages, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) have been available mostly on rigid, planar wafers over restricted areas, thereby limiting their usage for applications that can benefit from large-scale, programmable assemblies, hybrid integration with dissimilar materials and devices, or mechanically flexible constructions. Here, materials design and fabrication strategies that address these limitations of conventional VCSELs are presented. Specialized design of epitaxial materials and etching processes, together with printing-based deterministic assemblies and substrate thermal engineering, enabled defect-free release of microscale VCSELs and their device- and circuit-level implementation on non-native, flexible substrates with performance comparable to devices on the growth substrate.

Capillary Assembly of Colloids: Interactions on Planar and Curved Interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Iris B.; Sharifi-Mood, Nima; Stebe, Kathleen J.

2018-03-01

In directed assembly, small building blocks are assembled into an organized structure under the influence of guiding fields. Capillary interactions provide a versatile route for structure formation. Colloids adsorbed on fluid interfaces distort the interface, which creates an associated energy field. When neighboring distortions overlap, colloids interact to minimize interfacial area. Contact line pinning, particle shape, and surface chemistry play important roles in structure formation. Interface curvature acts like an external field; particles migrate and assemble in patterns dictated by curvature gradients. We review basic analysis and recent findings in this rapidly evolving literature. Understanding the roles of assembly is essential for tuning the mechanical, physical, and optical properties of the structure.

Protein adsorption/desorption and antibody binding stoichiometry on silicon interferometric biosensors examined with TOF-SIMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajos, Katarzyna; Budkowski, Andrzej; Petrou, Panagiota; Pagkali, Varvara; Awsiuk, Kamil; Rysz, Jakub; Bernasik, Andrzej; Misiakos, Konstantinos; Raptis, Ioannis; Kakabakos, Sotirios

2018-06-01

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry has been employed to examine, with biomolecular discrimination, sensing arm areas (20 μm × 600 μm) of integrated onto silicon chips Mach-Zehnder interferometers aiming to optimize their biofunctionalization with regard to indirect immunochemical (competitive) detection of ochratoxin A. Sensing areas are examined after: modification with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane, spotting of OTA-ovalbumin conjugate (probe) from solutions with different concentration, blocking with bovine serum albumin, reaction with OTA-specific mouse monoclonal antibody followed by goat anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody. Component mass loadings of all proteins involved in immunodetection are determined from TOF-SIMS micro-analysis combined with ellipsometry of planar surfaces. These data show that partial desorption of surface-bound probe and blocking protein takes place upon primary immunoreaction to a degree that depends on probe concentration in spotting solution. Taking into account this desorption, apparent binding stoichiometry of both antibodies in immune complexes formed onto chip surface is determined more accurately than the respective evaluation based on real-time sensor response. In addition, mass loadings for probe and secondary antibody is observed to saturate for optimum probe concentrations. Also, principal component analysis of TOF-SIMS data could resolve both immunoreactions and biofunctionalization and discriminate surfaces prepared with optimum probe concentrations from those prepared using suboptimum ones.

Gibbs–Thomson Effect in Planar Nanowires: Orientation and Doping Modulated Growth

DOE PAGES

Shen, Youde; Chen, Renjie; Yu, Xuechao; ...

2016-06-02

Epitaxy-enabled bottom-up synthesis of self-assembled planar nanowires via the vapor–liquid–solid mechanism is an emerging and promising approach toward large-scale direct integration of nanowire-based devices without postgrowth alignment. In this paper, by examining large assemblies of indium tin oxide nanowires on yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate, we demonstrate for the first time that the growth dynamics of planar nanowires follows a modified version of the Gibbs–Thomson mechanism, which has been known for the past decades to govern the correlations between thermodynamic supersaturation, growth speed, and nanowire morphology. Furthermore, the substrate orientation strongly influences the growth characteristics of epitaxial planar nanowires as opposed tomore » impact at only the initial nucleation stage in the growth of vertical nanowires. The rich nanowire morphology can be described by a surface-energy-dependent growth model within the Gibbs–Thomson framework, which is further modulated by the tin doping concentration. Our experiments also reveal that the cutoff nanowire diameter depends on the substrate orientation and decreases with increasing tin doping concentration. Finally, these results enable a deeper understanding and control over the growth of planar nanowires, and the insights will help advance the fabrication of self-assembled nanowire devices.« less

Gibbs-Thomson Effect in Planar Nanowires: Orientation and Doping Modulated Growth.

PubMed

Shen, Youde; Chen, Renjie; Yu, Xuechao; Wang, Qijie; Jungjohann, Katherine L; Dayeh, Shadi A; Wu, Tom

2016-07-13

Epitaxy-enabled bottom-up synthesis of self-assembled planar nanowires via the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism is an emerging and promising approach toward large-scale direct integration of nanowire-based devices without postgrowth alignment. Here, by examining large assemblies of indium tin oxide nanowires on yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate, we demonstrate for the first time that the growth dynamics of planar nanowires follows a modified version of the Gibbs-Thomson mechanism, which has been known for the past decades to govern the correlations between thermodynamic supersaturation, growth speed, and nanowire morphology. Furthermore, the substrate orientation strongly influences the growth characteristics of epitaxial planar nanowires as opposed to impact at only the initial nucleation stage in the growth of vertical nanowires. The rich nanowire morphology can be described by a surface-energy-dependent growth model within the Gibbs-Thomson framework, which is further modulated by the tin doping concentration. Our experiments also reveal that the cutoff nanowire diameter depends on the substrate orientation and decreases with increasing tin doping concentration. These results enable a deeper understanding and control over the growth of planar nanowires, and the insights will help advance the fabrication of self-assembled nanowire devices.

Cholesteric pitch transitions induced by mechanical strain.

PubMed

Lelidis, I; Barbero, G; Alexe-Ionescu, A L

2013-02-01

We investigate thickness and surface anchoring strength influence on pitch transitions in a planar cholesteric liquid crystal layer. The cholesteric-nematic transition is also investigated. We assume planar boundary conditions, with strong anchoring strength at one interface and weak anchoring strength at the other. The surface anchoring energy we consider to describe the deviation of the surface twist angle from the easy axis induced by a bulk deformation is a parabolic potential or Rapini and Papoular periodic potential, respectively. We show that under strain, all pitch transitions take place at a critical thickness that is equal to the quarter of the natural cholesteric pitch. The latter result does not depend on the anchoring strength, the particular surface potential, or material properties. The twist angle on the limiting surface characterized by weak anchoring varies with strain either by slipping and or in a discontinuous manner according to the thickness of the sample. The position of the bifurcation point depends only on the ratio of the extrapolation length over the layer thickness, but its value is model dependent. Multistability and multiplicity of the transition are discussed.

Quasi-optical theory of relativistic surface-wave oscillators with one-dimensional and two-dimensional periodic planar structures

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

Ginzburg, N. S.; Zaslavsky, V. Yu.; Institute of Applied Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences, 46 Ulyanov St., Nizhny Novgorod 603950

2013-11-15

Within the framework of a quasi-optical approach, we develop 2D and 3D self-consistent theory of relativistic surface-wave oscillators. Presenting the radiation field as a sum of two counter-propagating wavebeams coupled on a shallow corrugated surface, we describe formation of an evanescent slow wave. Dispersion characteristics of the evanescent wave following from this method are in good compliance with those found from the direct cst simulations. Considering excitation of the slow wave by a sheet electron beam, we simulate linear and nonlinear stages of interaction, which allows us to determine oscillation threshold conditions, electron efficiency, and output coupling. The transition frommore » the model of surface-wave oscillator operating in the π-mode regime to the canonical model of relativistic backward wave oscillator is considered. We also described a modified scheme of planar relativistic surface-wave oscillators exploiting two-dimensional periodic gratings. Additional transverse propagating waves emerging on these gratings synchronize the emission from a wide sheet rectilinear electron beam allowing realization of a Cherenkov millimeter-wave oscillators with subgigawatt output power level.« less

Topological surface states interacting with bulk excitations in the Kondo insulator SmB6 revealed via planar tunneling spectroscopy.

PubMed

Park, Wan Kyu; Sun, Lunan; Noddings, Alexander; Kim, Dae-Jeong; Fisk, Zachary; Greene, Laura H

2016-06-14

Samarium hexaboride (SmB6), a well-known Kondo insulator in which the insulating bulk arises from strong electron correlations, has recently attracted great attention owing to increasing evidence for its topological nature, thereby harboring protected surface states. However, corroborative spectroscopic evidence is still lacking, unlike in the weakly correlated counterparts, including Bi2Se3 Here, we report results from planar tunneling that unveil the detailed spectroscopic properties of SmB6 The tunneling conductance obtained on the (001) and (011) single crystal surfaces reveals linear density of states as expected for two and one Dirac cone(s), respectively. Quite remarkably, it is found that these topological states are not protected completely within the bulk hybridization gap. A phenomenological model of the tunneling process invoking interaction of the surface states with bulk excitations (spin excitons), as predicted by a recent theory, provides a consistent explanation for all of the observed features. Our spectroscopic study supports and explains the proposed picture of the incompletely protected surface states in this topological Kondo insulator SmB6.

Topological surface states interacting with bulk excitations in the Kondo insulator SmB6 revealed via planar tunneling spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Park, Wan Kyu; Sun, Lunan; Noddings, Alexander; Kim, Dae-Jeong; Fisk, Zachary; Greene, Laura H.

2016-01-01

Samarium hexaboride (SmB6), a well-known Kondo insulator in which the insulating bulk arises from strong electron correlations, has recently attracted great attention owing to increasing evidence for its topological nature, thereby harboring protected surface states. However, corroborative spectroscopic evidence is still lacking, unlike in the weakly correlated counterparts, including Bi2Se3. Here, we report results from planar tunneling that unveil the detailed spectroscopic properties of SmB6. The tunneling conductance obtained on the (001) and (011) single crystal surfaces reveals linear density of states as expected for two and one Dirac cone(s), respectively. Quite remarkably, it is found that these topological states are not protected completely within the bulk hybridization gap. A phenomenological model of the tunneling process invoking interaction of the surface states with bulk excitations (spin excitons), as predicted by a recent theory, provides a consistent explanation for all of the observed features. Our spectroscopic study supports and explains the proposed picture of the incompletely protected surface states in this topological Kondo insulator SmB6. PMID:27233936

Generalized Boussinesq-Scriven surface fluid model with curvature dissipation for liquid surfaces and membranes.

PubMed

Aguilar Gutierrez, Oscar F; Herrera Valencia, Edtson E; Rey, Alejandro D

2017-10-01

Curvature dissipation is relevant in synthetic and biological processes, from fluctuations in semi-flexible polymer solutions, to buckling of liquid columns, tomembrane cell wall functioning. We present a micromechanical model of curvature dissipation relevant to fluid membranes and liquid surfaces based on a parallel surface parameterization and a stress constitutive equation appropriate for anisotropic fluids and fluid membranes.The derived model, aimed at high curvature and high rate of change of curvature in liquid surfaces and membranes, introduces additional viscous modes not included in the widely used 2D Boussinesq-Scriven rheological constitutive equation for surface fluids.The kinematic tensors that emerge from theparallel surface parameterization are the interfacial rate of deformation and the surface co-rotational Zaremba-Jaumann derivative of the curvature, which are used to classify all possibledissipative planar and non-planar modes. The curvature dissipation function that accounts for bending, torsion and twist rates is derived and analyzed under several constraints, including the important inextensional bending mode.A representative application of the curvature dissipation model to the periodic oscillation in nano-wrinkled outer hair cells show how and why curvature dissipation decreases with frequency, and why the 100kHz frequency range is selected. These results contribute to characterize curvature dissipation in membranes and liquid surfaces. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Frontside-micromachined planar piezoresistive vibration sensor: Evaluating performance in the low frequency test range

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

Zhang, Lan; Lu, Jian, E-mail: jian-lu@aist.go.jp; Takagi, Hideki

2014-01-15

Using a surface piezoresistor diffusion method and front-side only micromachining process, a planar piezoresistive vibration sensor was successfully developed with a simple structure, lower processing cost and fewer packaging difficulties. The vibration sensor had a large sector proof mass attached to a narrow flexure. Optimization of the boron diffusion piezoresistor placed on the edge of the narrow flexure greatly improved the sensitivity. Planar vibration sensors were fabricated and measured in order to analyze the effects of the sensor dimensions on performance, including the values of flexure width and the included angle of the sector. Sensitivities of fabricated planar sensors ofmore » 0.09–0.46 mV/V/g were measured up to a test frequency of 60 Hz. The sensor functioned at low voltages (<3 V) and currents (<1 mA) with a high sensitivity and low drift. At low background noise levels, the sensor had performance comparable to a commercial device.« less

CH₃NH₃PbI₃-based planar solar cells with magnetron-sputtered nickel oxide.

PubMed

Cui, Jin; Meng, Fanping; Zhang, Hua; Cao, Kun; Yuan, Huailiang; Cheng, Yibing; Huang, Feng; Wang, Mingkui

2014-12-24

Herein we report an investigation of a CH3NH3PbI3 planar solar cell, showing significant power conversion efficiency (PCE) improvement from 4.88% to 6.13% by introducing a homogeneous and uniform NiO blocking interlayer fabricated with the reactive magnetron sputtering method. The sputtered NiO layer exhibits enhanced crystallization, high transmittance, and uniform surface morphology as well as a preferred in-plane orientation of the (200) plane. The PCE of the sputtered-NiO-based perovskite p-i-n planar solar cell can be further promoted to 9.83% when a homogeneous and dense perovskite layer is formed with solvent-engineering technology, showing an impressive open circuit voltage of 1.10 V. This is about 33% higher than that of devices using the conventional spray pyrolysis of NiO onto a transparent conducting glass. These results highlight the importance of a morphology- and crystallization-compatible interlayer toward a high-performance inverted perovskite planar solar cell.

1.5-μm high-average power laser amplifier using a Er,Yb:glass planar waveguide for coherent Doppler lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakimura, Takeshi; Watanabe, Yojiro; Ando, Toshiyuki; Kameyama, Shumpei; Asaka, Kimio; Tanaka, Hisamichi; Yanagisawa, Takayuki; Hirano, Yoshihito; Inokuchi, Hamaki

2012-11-01

We have developed a 1.5-μm eye-safe wavelength high average power laser amplifier using an Er,Yb:glass planar waveguide for coherent Doppler LIDAR. Large cooling surface of the planar waveguide enabled high average power pumping for Er,Yb:glass which has low thermal fracture limit. Nonlinear effects are suppressed by the large beam size which is designed by the waveguide thickness and the beam width of the planar direction. Multi-bounce optical path configuration and high-intensity pumping provide high-gain and high-efficient operation using three-level laser material. With pulsed operation, the maximum pulse energy of 1.9 mJ was achieved at the repetition rate of 4 kHz. Output average power of the amplified signal was 7.6W with the amplified gain of more than 20dB. This amplifier is suitable for coherent Doppler LIDAR to enhance the measurable range.

Planar oscillatory stirring apparatus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, Martin F. (Inventor)

1987-01-01

Apparatus (11) for applying planar oscillations to a container (13). Pressurized air (99) is supplied to a moveable slide plate (27) which employs arms (19) having an air bearing vent structure (29, 31) which allows the slide plate to float and to translate. The container (13) to be oscillated is secured to the upper surface of the slide plate (27). A motor (39) driven rotating eccentric shaft (59) loosely extends into a center hole bearing (37) of the slide plate (27) to cause the oscillations.

Nanowire and microwire fabrication technique and product

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

Sumant, Anirudha V.; Zach, Michael; Marten, Alan David

A continuous or semi-continuous process for fabricating nanowires or microwires makes use of the substantially planar template that may be moved through electrochemical solution to grow nanowires or microwires on exposed conductive edges on the surface of that template. The planar template allows fabrication of the template using standard equipment and techniques. Adhesive transfer may be used to remove the wires from the template and in one embodiment to draw a continuous wire from the template to be wound around the drum.

Highly-dispersive electromagnetic induced transparency in planar symmetric metamaterials.

PubMed

Lu, Xiqun; Shi, Jinhui; Liu, Ran; Guan, Chunying

2012-07-30

We propose, design and experimentally demonstrate highly-dispersive electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in planar symmetric metamaterials actively switched and controlled by angles of incidence. Full-wave simulation and measurement results show EIT phenomena, trapped-mode excitations and the associated local field enhancement of two symmetric metamaterials consisting of symmetrically split rings (SSR) and a fishscale (FS) metamaterial pattern, respectively, strongly depend on angles of incidence. The FS metamaterial shows much broader spectral splitting than the SSR metamaterial due to the surface current distribution variation.

Fine woody fuel particle diameters for improved planar intersect fuel loading estimates in Southern Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine forests

Treesearch

Emma Vakili; Chad M. Hoffman; Robert E. Keane

2016-01-01

Fuel loading estimates from planar intersect sampling protocols for fine dead down woody surface fuels require an approximation of the mean squared diameter (d2) of 1-h (0-0.63 cm), 10-h (0.63-2.54 cm), and 100-h (2.54-7.62 cm) timelag size classes. The objective of this study is to determine d2 in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests of New Mexico and Colorado,...

[Optical Design of Miniature Infrared Gratings Spectrometer Based on Planar Waveguide].

PubMed

Li, Yang-yu; Fang, Yong-hua; Li, Da-cheng; Liu, Yang

2015-03-01

In order to miniaturize an infrared spectrometer, we analyze the current optical design of miniature spectrometers and propose a method for designing a miniature infrared gratings spectrometer based on planar waveguide. Common miniature spectrometer uses miniature optical elements to reduce the size of system, which also shrinks the effective aperture. So the performance of spectrometer has dropped. Miniaturization principle of planar waveguide spectrometer is different from the principle of common miniature spectrometer. In planar waveguide spectrometer, the propagation of light is limited in a thin planar waveguide, which looks like the whole optical system is squashed flat. In the direction parallel to the planar waveguide, the light through the slit is collimated, dispersed and focused. And a spectral image is formed in the detector plane. This propagation of light is similar to the light in common miniature spectrometer. In the direction perpendicular to the planar waveguide, light is multiple reflected by the upper and lower surfaces of the planar waveguide and propagates in the waveguide. So the size of corresponding optical element could be very small in the vertical direction, which can reduce the size of the optical system. And the performance of the spectrometer is still good. The design method of the planar waveguide spectrometer can be separated into two parts, Czerny-Turner structure design and planar waveguide structure design. First, by using aberration theory an aberration-corrected (spherical aberration, coma, focal curve) Czerny-Turner structure is obtained. The operation wavelength range and spectral resolution are also fixed. Then, by using geometrical optics theory a planar waveguide structure is designed for reducing the system size and correcting the astigmatism. The planar waveguide structure includes a planar waveguide and two cylindrical lenses. Finally, they are modeled together in optical design software and are optimized as a whole. An infrared planar waveguide spectrometer is designed using this method. The operation wavelength range is 8 - 12 μm, the numerical aperture is 0.22, and the linear array detector contains 64 elements. By using Zemax software, the design is optimized and analyzed. The results indicate that the size of the optical system is 130 mm x 125 mm x 20 mm and the spectral resolution of spectrometer is 80 nm, which satisfy the requirements of design index. Thus it is this method that can be used for designing a miniature spectrometer without movable parts and sizes in the range of several cubic centimeters.

Broadband Ultrasonic Transducers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heyser, R. C.

1986-01-01

New geometry spreads out resonance region of piezoelectric crystal. In new transducer, crystal surfaces made nonparallel. One surface planar; other, concave. Geometry designed to produce nearly uniform response over a predetermined band of frequencies and to attenuate strongly frequencies outside band. Greater bandwidth improves accuracy of sonar and ultrasonic imaging equipment.

Fully integrated three-dimensional electrodes for electrochemical detection in microchips: fabrication, characterization, and applications.

PubMed

Pai, Rekha S; Walsh, Kevin M; Crain, Mark M; Roussel, Thomas J; Jackson, Douglas J; Baldwin, Richard P; Keynton, Robert S; Naber, John F

2009-06-15

A scalable and rather inexpensive solution to producing microanalytical systems with "on-chip" three-dimensional (3D) microelectrodes is presented in this study, along with applicability to practical electrochemical (EC) detection scenarios such as preconcentration and interferant removal. This technique to create high-aspect-ratio (as much as 4:1) gold microstructures in constrained areas involved the modification of stud bump geometry with microfabricated silicon molds via an optimized combination of temperature, pressure, and time. The microelectrodes that resulted consisted of an array of square pillars approximately 18 microm tall and 20 microm wide on each side, placed at the end of a microfabricated electrophoresis channel. This technique increased the active surface area of the microelectrodes by as much as a factor of 50, while mass transfer and, consequently, preconcentration collection efficiencies were increased to approximately 100%, compared to approximately 30% efficiency for planar nonmodified microelectrodes (samples that were used included the neurotransmitters dopamine and catechol). The 3D microelectrodes were used both in a stand-alone configuration, for direct EC detection of model catecholamine analytes, and, more interestingly, in dual electrode configurations for EC sample processing prior to detection downstream at a second planar electrode. In particular, the 3D electrodes were shown to be capable of performing coulometry or complete (100%) redox conversion of analyte species over a wide range of concentrations, from 4.3 microM to 4.4 mM, in either plug-flow or continuous-flow formats.

Geometric and boundary element method simulations of acoustic reflections from rough, finite, or non-planar surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rathsam, Jonathan

This dissertation seeks to advance the current state of computer-based sound field simulations for room acoustics. The first part of the dissertation assesses the reliability of geometric sound-field simulations, which are approximate in nature. The second part of the dissertation uses the rigorous boundary element method (BEM) to learn more about reflections from finite reflectors: planar and non-planar. Acoustical designers commonly use geometric simulations to predict sound fields quickly. Geometric simulation of reflections from rough surfaces is still under refinement. The first project in this dissertation investigates the scattering coefficient, which quantifies the degree of diffuse reflection from rough surfaces. The main result is that predicted reverberation time varies inversely with scattering coefficient if the sound field is nondiffuse. Additional results include a flow chart that enables acoustical designers to gauge how sensitive predicted results are to their choice of scattering coefficient. Geometric acoustics is a high-frequency approximation to wave acoustics. At low frequencies, more pronounced wave phenomena cause deviations between real-world values and geometric predictions. Acoustical designers encounter the limits of geometric acoustics in particular when simulating the low frequency response from finite suspended reflector panels. This dissertation uses the rigorous BEM to develop an improved low-frequency radiation model for smooth, finite reflectors. The improved low frequency model is suggested in two forms for implementation in geometric models. Although BEM simulations require more computation time than geometric simulations, BEM results are highly accurate. The final section of this dissertation uses the BEM to investigate the sound field around non-planar reflectors. The author has added convex edges rounded away from the source side of finite, smooth reflectors to minimize coloration of reflections caused by interference from boundary waves. Although the coloration could not be fully eliminated, the convex edge increases the sound energy reflected into previously nonspecular zones. This excess reflected energy is marginally audible using a standard of 20 dB below direct sound energy. The convex-edged panel is recommended for use when designers want to extend reflected energy spatially beyond the specular reflection zone of a planar panel.

Solar concentrator

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

Melchior, B.

1984-04-03

A solar concentrator comprises a solid block of a transparent material having a planar incident surface positioned to receive solar rays and, opposite this surface, a curved reflective surface so that the material of the block completely fills the space between these surfaces. At the incident surface an absorber is provided and the curvature of the reflective surface is such that it is at least partly parabolical and adapted to reflect solar rays traversing the body through the body again to the absorber.

Synthesis, Surface Studies, Composition and Structural Characterization of CdSe, Core/Shell, and Biologically Active Nanocrystals

PubMed Central

Rosenthal, Sandra J.; McBride, James; Pennycook, Stephen J.; Feldman, Leonard C.

2011-01-01

Nanostructures, with their very large surface to volume ratio and their non-planar geometry, present an important challenge to surface scientists. New issues arise as to surface characterization, quantification and interface formation. This review summarizes the current state of the art in the synthesis, composition, surface and interface control of CdSe nanocrystal systems, one of the most studied and useful nanostructures. PMID:21479151

Partially orthogonal resonators for magnetic resonance imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chacon-Caldera, Jorge; Malzacher, Matthias; Schad, Lothar R.

2017-02-01

Resonators for signal reception in magnetic resonance are traditionally planar to restrict coil material and avoid coil losses. Here, we present a novel concept to model resonators partially in a plane with maximum sensitivity to the magnetic resonance signal and partially in an orthogonal plane with reduced signal sensitivity. Thus, properties of individual elements in coil arrays can be modified to optimize physical planar space and increase the sensitivity of the overall array. A particular case of the concept is implemented to decrease H-field destructive interferences in planar concentric in-phase arrays. An increase in signal to noise ratio of approximately 20% was achieved with two resonators placed over approximately the same planar area compared to common approaches at a target depth of 10 cm at 3 Tesla. Improved parallel imaging performance of this configuration is also demonstrated. The concept can be further used to increase coil density.

Photocatalysis of Modified Transition Metal Oxide Surfaces

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

Batzill, Matthias

The goal of this project has been to establish a cause-effect relationship for photocatalytic activity variations of different structures of the same material; and furthermore gain fundamental understanding on modification of photocatalysts by compositional or surface modifications. The reasoning is that gaining atomic scale understanding of how surface and bulk modifications alter the photo reactivity will lead to design principles for next generation photocatalysts. As a prototypical photocatalyst the research focused on TiO 2 synthesized in well-defined single crystalline form to enable fundamental characterizations.We have obtained results in the following areas: (a) Preparation of epitaxial anatase TiO 2 samples bymore » pulsed laser deposition. (b) Comparison of hydrogen diffusion on different crystallographic surface. (c) Determining the stability of the TiO 2(011)-2x1 reconstruction upon interactions with adsorbates. (d) Characterization of adsorption and (thermal and photo) reaction of molecules with nitro-endgroups, (e) Exploring the possibility of modifying planar model photocatalyst surfaces with graphene to enable fundamental studies on reported enhanced photocatalytic activities of graphene modified transition metal oxides, (f) gained fundamental understanding on the role of crystallographic polymorphs of the same material for their photocatalytic activities.« less

Structure and coarsening at the surface of a dry three-dimensional aqueous foam.

PubMed

Roth, A E; Chen, B G; Durian, D J

2013-12-01

We utilize total-internal reflection to isolate the two-dimensional surface foam formed at the planar boundary of a three-dimensional sample. The resulting images of surface Plateau borders are consistent with Plateau's laws for a truly two-dimensional foam. Samples are allowed to coarsen into a self-similar scaling state where statistical distributions appear independent of time, except for an overall scale factor. There we find that statistical measures of side number distributions, size-topology correlations, and bubble shapes are all very similar to those for two-dimensional foams. However, the size number distribution is slightly broader, and the shapes are slightly more elongated. A more obvious difference is that T2 processes now include the creation of surface bubbles, due to rearrangement in the bulk, and von Neumann's law is dramatically violated for individual bubbles. But nevertheless, our most striking finding is that von Neumann's law appears to holds on average, namely, the average rate of area change for surface bubbles appears to be proportional to the number of sides minus six, but with individual bubbles showing a wide distribution of deviations from this average behavior.

Method for surface treatment of a cadmium zinc telluride crystal

DOEpatents

James, R.; Burger, A.; Chen, K.T.; Chang, H.

1999-08-03

A method for treatment of the surface of a CdZnTe (CZT) crystal is disclosed that reduces surface roughness (increases surface planarity) and provides an oxide coating to reduce surface leakage currents and thereby, improve resolution. A two step process is disclosed, etching the surface of a CZT crystal with a solution of lactic acid and bromine in ethylene glycol, following the conventional bromine/methanol etch treatment, and after attachment of electrical contacts, oxidizing the CZT crystal surface. 3 figs.

Optimal Mass Transport for Shape Matching and Comparison

PubMed Central

Su, Zhengyu; Wang, Yalin; Shi, Rui; Zeng, Wei; Sun, Jian; Luo, Feng; Gu, Xianfeng

2015-01-01

Surface based 3D shape analysis plays a fundamental role in computer vision and medical imaging. This work proposes to use optimal mass transport map for shape matching and comparison, focusing on two important applications including surface registration and shape space. The computation of the optimal mass transport map is based on Monge-Brenier theory, in comparison to the conventional method based on Monge-Kantorovich theory, this method significantly improves the efficiency by reducing computational complexity from O(n2) to O(n). For surface registration problem, one commonly used approach is to use conformal map to convert the shapes into some canonical space. Although conformal mappings have small angle distortions, they may introduce large area distortions which are likely to cause numerical instability thus resulting failures of shape analysis. This work proposes to compose the conformal map with the optimal mass transport map to get the unique area-preserving map, which is intrinsic to the Riemannian metric, unique, and diffeomorphic. For shape space study, this work introduces a novel Riemannian framework, Conformal Wasserstein Shape Space, by combing conformal geometry and optimal mass transport theory. In our work, all metric surfaces with the disk topology are mapped to the unit planar disk by a conformal mapping, which pushes the area element on the surface to a probability measure on the disk. The optimal mass transport provides a map from the shape space of all topological disks with metrics to the Wasserstein space of the disk and the pullback Wasserstein metric equips the shape space with a Riemannian metric. We validate our work by numerous experiments and comparisons with prior approaches and the experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of our proposed approach. PMID:26440265

Contact-free trans-pars-planar illumination enables snapshot fundus camera for nonmydriatic wide field photography.

PubMed

Wang, Benquan; Toslak, Devrim; Alam, Minhaj Nur; Chan, R V Paul; Yao, Xincheng

2018-06-08

In conventional fundus photography, trans-pupillary illumination delivers illuminating light to the interior of the eye through the peripheral area of the pupil, and only the central part of the pupil can be used for collecting imaging light. Therefore, the field of view of conventional fundus cameras is limited, and pupil dilation is required for evaluating the retinal periphery which is frequently affected by diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and other chorioretinal conditions. We report here a nonmydriatic wide field fundus camera employing trans-pars-planar illumination which delivers illuminating light through the pars plana, an area outside of the pupil. Trans-pars-planar illumination frees the entire pupil for imaging purpose only, and thus wide field fundus photography can be readily achieved with less pupil dilation. For proof-of-concept testing, using all off-the-shelf components a prototype instrument that can achieve 90° fundus view coverage in single-shot fundus images, without the need of pharmacologic pupil dilation was demonstrated.

The Study of 0.34 THz Monolithically Integrated Fourth Subharmonic Mixer Using Planar Schottky Barrier Diode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Xiaodong; Li, Qian; An, Ning; Wang, Wenjie; Deng, Xiaodong; Zhang, Liang; Liu, Haitao; Zeng, Jianping; Li, Zhiqiang; Tang, Hailing; Xiong, Yong-Zhong

2015-11-01

A planar Schottky barrier diode with the designed Schottky contact area of approximately 3 μm2 is developed on gallium arsenide (GaAs) material. The measurements of the developed planar Schottky barrier diode indicate that the zero-biased junction capacitance Cj0 is 11.0 fF, the parasitic series resistance RS is 3.0 Ω, and the cut off frequency fT is 4.8 THz. A monolithically integrated fourth subharmonic mixer with this diode operating at the radio frequency (RF) signal frequency of 0.34 THz with the chip area of 0.6 mm2 is implemented. The intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth is from DC to 40 GHz. The local oscillator (LO) bandwidth is 37 GHz from 60 to 97 GHz. The RF bandwidth is determined by the bandwidth of the on chip antenna, which is 28 GHz from 322 to 350 GHz. The measurements of the mixer demonstrated a conversion loss of approximately 51 dB.

Bedrock river networks of the Sierra Nevada, USA record westward tilting, large-scale drainage area loss, and distinct patterns and causes of stream incision between the northern and southern Sierra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beeson, H. W.; McCoy, S. W.

2017-12-01

The timing, rates, and spatial patterns of elevation change in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, has been the subject of vigorous debate with multiple lines of evidence supporting the contrasting hypotheses that (1) the Sierra has been topographically high throughout the Cenozoic and (2) that the range has experienced a pulse of late Cenozoic uplift. We combined 2-D landscape evolution modeling with topographic analysis of the Sierra Nevada to investigate whether river networks dissecting the range record a change in tectonic forcing during the late Cenozoic. Specifically, we quantify basin geometry, including its area-channel length scaling relationship, fluvial channel steepness, and the spatial distributions of knickzones. We show that, throughout the Sierra, short equilibrated reaches near the mountain front are consistent with an ongoing westward tilt. However, the disequilibrium forms of river profiles north of the Kaweah River reflect large-scale drainage area loss due to network beheading by the Sierra Frontal Fault and/or reestablishment of a fluvial network on an inclined planar surface. Despite these similarities along the length of the range, river network analysis reveals striking differences north and south of approximately 37° N. In the northern Sierra, topographic asymmetry of drainage divides and large differences in cross-divide steady-state elevation suggest mobile divides. Additionally, the broad distribution of normalized knickzone locations, variability in channel steepness and basin shape, and the prevalence of anomalous topology, narrow basins, unadjusted captured reaches, and wind gaps is consistent with large-scale drainage reorganization following incision into an inclined planar surface. In contrast, in the southern Sierra, drainage divides appear more stable and knickzone locations are tightly distributed. We suggest that, although the northern Sierra may currently be tilting westward, the presence of large knickzones and deeply incised valleys in the northern Sierra does not require a recent increase in uplift, but rather could largely reflect the reestablishment of a fluvial network after mid-late Miocene volcanism filled and smoothed preexisting topography. In contrast, it appears that the southern Sierras are responding to a pulse of localized rapid uplift.

Flow in a planar convergent-divergent nozzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotteda, V. M. K.; Mittal, S.

2017-05-01

Flow in a convergent-divergent nozzle is studied for pressure ratios (NPR) of 1-11 and exit-to-throat area ratios of 1.2 to 2.0. The unsteady compressible Navier-Stokes equations along with the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model are solved using a stabilized finite element method in two dimensions. Asymmetric flow is observed at moderate NPR. The side loads due to the flow asymmetry increase with increases in NPR and area ratio. Various flow regimes that are possible in the entire parameter space are identified. The introduction of boundary layer bleed results in steady and symmetric flow conditions at all NPR. Consequently, the nozzle does not experience a lateral force for any NPR. Application of bleed leads to a significant downstream shift in the shock location at low to moderate NPR. Compared to no-bleed, the nozzle experiences a loss of thrust in this regime. The thrust performance for {NPR} > 6 is, however, unaffected by bleed. The effect of nozzle geometry on the flow at various NPR is studied. Four different geometries with the same area ratio and nozzle length are considered. These geometries differ from each other in terms of the nozzle surface profile, including the discontinuity in slope of the surface. Barring some minor differences at low to moderate NPR, the flow is similar for all the geometries considered.

Chemical Interaction-Guided, Metal-Free Growth of Large-Area Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Silicon-Based Substrates.

PubMed

Behura, Sanjay; Nguyen, Phong; Debbarma, Rousan; Che, Songwei; Seacrist, Michael R; Berry, Vikas

2017-05-23

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an ideal platform for interfacing with two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials to reduce carrier scattering for high-quality 2D electronics. However, scalable, transfer-free growth of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) remains a challenge. Currently, h-BN-based 2D heterostructures require exfoliation or chemical transfer of h-BN grown on metals resulting in small areas or significant interfacial impurities. Here, we demonstrate a surface-chemistry-influenced transfer-free growth of large-area, uniform, and smooth h-BN directly on silicon (Si)-based substrates, including Si, silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ), and silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), via low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The growth rates increase with substrate electronegativity, Si < Si 3 N 4 < SiO 2 , consistent with the adsorption rates calculated for the precursor molecules via atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Under graphene with high grain density, this h-BN film acts as a polymer-free, planar-dielectric interface increasing carrier mobility by 3.5-fold attributed to reduced surface roughness and charged impurities. This single-step, chemical interaction guided, metal-free growth mechanism of h-BN for graphene heterostructures establishes a potential pathway for the design of complex and integrated 2D-heterostructured circuitry.

Rinse trough with improved flow

DOEpatents

O'Hern, Timothy J.; Grasser, Thomas W.

1998-01-01

Novel rinse troughs accomplish thorough uniform rinsing. The troughs are suitable for one or more essentially planar objects having substantially the same shape. The troughs ensure that each surface is rinsed uniformly. The new troughs provide uniform rinse fluid flow over the objects' surfaces to accomplish a more thorough rinse than prior art troughs.

Self-adaptive method for high frequency multi-channel analysis of surface wave method

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

When the high frequency multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) method is conducted to explore soil properties in the vadose zone, existing rules for selecting the near offset and spread lengths cannot satisfy the requirements of planar dominant Rayleigh waves for all frequencies of interest ...

Planar multijunction high voltage solar cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, J. C., Jr.; Chai, A. T.; Goradia, C.

1980-01-01

Technical considerations, preliminary results, and fabrication details are discussed for a family of high-voltage planar multi-junction (PMJ) solar cells which combine the attractive features of planar cells with conventional or interdigitated back contacts and the vertical multijunction (VMJ) solar cell. The PMJ solar cell is internally divided into many voltage-generating regions, called unit cells, which are internally connected in series. The key to obtaining reasonable performance from this device was the separation of top surface field regions over each active unit cell. Using existing solar cell fabricating methods, output voltages in excess of 20 volts per linear centimeter are possible. Analysis of the new device is complex, and numerous geometries are being studied which should provide substantial benefits in both normal sunlight usage as well as with concentrators.

Lead Acetate Based Hybrid Perovskite Through Hot Casting for Planar Heterojunction Solar Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Gwang Su; Choi, Won-Gyu; Na, Sungjae; Gökdemir, Fatma Pinar; Moon, Taeho

2018-03-01

Flawless coverage of a perovskite layer is essential in order to achieve realistic high-performance planar heterojunction solar cells. We present that high-quality perovskite layers can be efficiently formed by a novel hot casting route combined with MAI (CH3NH3I) and non-halide lead acetate (PbAc2) precursors under ambient atmosphere. Casting temperature is controlled to produce various perovskite microstructures and the resulted crystalline layers are found to be comprised of closely packed islands with a smooth surface structure. Lead acetate employed perovskite solar cells are fabricated using PEDOT:PSS and PCBM charge transporting layers, in p- i- n type planar architecture. Especially, the outstanding open-circuit voltage demonstrates the high crystallinity and dense coverage of the produced perovskite layers by this facile route.

Theory of third-order spectroscopic methods to extract detailed molecular orientational dynamics for planar surfaces and other uniaxial systems

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

Nishida, Jun; Fayer, Michael D., E-mail: fayer@stanford.edu

Functionalized organic monolayers deposited on planar two-dimensional surfaces are important systems for studying ultrafast orientational motions and structures of interfacial molecules. Several studies have successfully observed the orientational relaxation of functionalized monolayers by fluorescence depolarization experiments and recently by polarization-resolved heterodyne detected vibrational transient grating (HDTG) experiments. In this article we provide a model-independent theory to extract orientational correlation functions unique to interfacial molecules and other uniaxial systems based on polarization-resolved resonant third-order spectroscopies, such as pump-probe spectroscopy, HDTG spectroscopy, and fluorescence depolarization experiment. It will be shown (in the small beam-crossing angle limit) that five measurements are necessary tomore » completely characterize the monolayer's motions: I{sub ∥}(t) and I{sub ⊥}(t) with the incident beams normal to the surface, I{sub ∥}(t) and I{sub ⊥}(t) with a non-zero incident angle, and a time averaged linear dichroism measurement. Once these measurements are performed, two orientational correlation functions corresponding to in-plane and out-of-plane motions are obtained. The procedure is applicable not only for monolayers on flat surfaces, but any samples with uniaxial symmetry such as uniaxial liquid crystals and aligned planar bilayers. The theory is valid regardless of the nature of the actual molecular motions on interface. We then apply the general results to wobbling-in-a-cone model, in which molecular motions are restricted to a limited range of angles. Within the context of the model, the cone angle, the tilt of the cone relative to the surface normal, and the orientational diffusion constant can be determined. The results are extended to describe analysis of experiments where the beams are not crossing in the small angle limit.« less

Algorithm for ion beam figuring of low-gradient mirrors.

PubMed

Jiao, Changjun; Li, Shengyi; Xie, Xuhui

2009-07-20

Ion beam figuring technology for low-gradient mirrors is discussed. Ion beam figuring is a noncontact machining technique in which a beam of high-energy ions is directed toward a target workpiece to remove material in a predetermined and controlled fashion. Owing to this noncontact mode of material removal, problems associated with tool wear and edge effects, which are common in conventional contact polishing processes, are avoided. Based on the Bayesian principle, an iterative dwell time algorithm for planar mirrors is deduced from the computer-controlled optical surfacing (CCOS) principle. With the properties of the removal function, the shaping process of low-gradient mirrors can be approximated by the linear model for planar mirrors. With these discussions, the error surface figuring technology for low-gradient mirrors with a linear path is set up. With the near-Gaussian property of the removal function, the figuring process with a spiral path can be described by the conventional linear CCOS principle, and a Bayesian-based iterative algorithm can be used to deconvolute the dwell time. Moreover, the selection criterion of the spiral parameter is given. Ion beam figuring technology with a spiral scan path based on these methods can be used to figure mirrors with non-axis-symmetrical errors. Experiments on SiC chemical vapor deposition planar and Zerodur paraboloid samples are made, and the final surface errors are all below 1/100 lambda.

Facile and Scalable Fabrication of Highly Efficient Lead Iodide Perovskite Thin-Film Solar Cells in Air Using Gas Pump Method.

PubMed

Ding, Bin; Gao, Lili; Liang, Lusheng; Chu, Qianqian; Song, Xiaoxuan; Li, Yan; Yang, Guanjun; Fan, Bin; Wang, Mingkui; Li, Chengxin; Li, Changjiu

2016-08-10

Control of the perovskite film formation process to produce high-quality organic-inorganic metal halide perovskite thin films with uniform morphology, high surface coverage, and minimum pinholes is of great importance to highly efficient solar cells. Herein, we report on large-area light-absorbing perovskite films fabrication with a new facile and scalable gas pump method. By decreasing the total pressure in the evaporation environment, the gas pump method can significantly enhance the solvent evaporation rate by 8 times faster and thereby produce an extremely dense, uniform, and full-coverage perovskite thin film. The resulting planar perovskite solar cells can achieve an impressive power conversion efficiency up to 19.00% with an average efficiency of 17.38 ± 0.70% for 32 devices with an area of 5 × 2 mm, 13.91% for devices with a large area up to 1.13 cm(2). The perovskite films can be easily fabricated in air conditions with a relative humidity of 45-55%, which definitely has a promising prospect in industrial application of large-area perovskite solar panels.

Wetting properties of molecularly rough surfaces

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

Svoboda, Martin; Lísal, Martin, E-mail: lisal@icpf.cas.cz; Department of Physics, Institute of Science, J. E. Purkinje University, 400 96 Ústí n. Lab.

2015-09-14

We employ molecular dynamics simulations to study the wettability of nanoscale rough surfaces in systems governed by Lennard-Jones (LJ) interactions. We consider both smooth and molecularly rough planar surfaces. Solid substrates are modeled as a static collection of LJ particles arranged in a face-centered cubic lattice with the (100) surface exposed to the LJ fluid. Molecularly rough solid surfaces are prepared by removing several strips of LJ atoms from the external layers of the substrate, i.e., forming parallel nanogrooves on the surface. We vary the solid-fluid interactions to investigate strongly and weakly wettable surfaces. We determine the wetting properties bymore » measuring the equilibrium droplet profiles that are in turn used to evaluate the contact angles. Macroscopic arguments, such as those leading to Wenzel’s law, suggest that surface roughness always amplifies the wetting properties of a lyophilic surface. However, our results indicate the opposite effect from roughness for microscopically corrugated surfaces, i.e., surface roughness deteriorates the substrate wettability. Adding the roughness to a strongly wettable surface shrinks the surface area wet with the liquid, and it either increases or only marginally affects the contact angle, depending on the degree of liquid adsorption into the nanogrooves. For a weakly wettable surface, the roughness changes the surface character from lyophilic to lyophobic due to a weakening of the solid-fluid interactions by the presence of the nanogrooves and the weaker adsorption of the liquid into the nanogrooves.« less

Development of a simple MR-compatible vibrotactile stimulator using a planar-coil-type actuator.

PubMed

Kim, Hyung-Sik; Choi, Mi-Hyun; Chung, Yoon-Gi; Kim, Sung-Phil; Jun, Jae-Hoon; Park, Jang-Yeon; Yi, Jeong-Han; Park, Jong-Rak; Lim, Dae-Woon; Chung, Soon-Cheol

2013-06-01

For this study, we developed a magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible vibrotactile stimulator using a planar-coil-type actuator. The newly developed vibrotactile stimulator consists of three units: control unit, drive unit, and planar-coil-type actuator. The control unit controls frequency, intensity, time, and channel, and transfers the stimulation signals to the drive unit. The drive unit operates the planar-coil-type actuator in response to commands from the control unit. The planar-coil-type actuator, which uses a planar coil instead of conventional electric wire, generates vibrating stimulation through interaction of the current of the planar coil with the static magnetic field of the MR scanner. Even though the developed tactile stimulating system is small, simple, and inexpensive, it has a wide range of stimulation frequencies (20 ~ 400 Hz, at 40 levels) and stimulation intensities (0 ~ 7 V, at 256 levels). The stimulation intensity does not change due to frequency changes. Since the transient response time is a few microseconds, the stimulation time can be controlled on a scale of microseconds. In addition, this actuator has the advantages of providing highly repeatable stimulation, being durable, being able to assume various shapes, and having an adjustable contact area with the skin. The new stimulator operated stably in an MR environment without affecting the MR images. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we observed the brain activation changes resulting from stimulation frequency and intensity changes.

Atomic-scale planarization of 4H-SiC (0001) by combination of thermal oxidation and abrasive polishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Hui; Endo, Katsuyoshi; Yamamura, Kazuya

2013-09-01

Thermal oxidation (TO) and abrasive polishing were combined for atomic-scale planarization of 4H-SiC. It was found that the oxide/SiC interface was atomically flat regardless of the thickness of the oxide. The specimen prepared by TO was dipped in HF solution to remove the oxide. However, owing to the residual silicon oxycarbide (Si-C-O), the step/terrace structure of 4H-SiC could not be observed. Nanoindentation tests revealed that the hardness of Si-C-O was much lower than that of SiC. A thermally oxidized SiC surface was polished using CeO2 abrasives, which resulted in an atomically flat surface with a well-ordered two-bilayer step/terrace structure.

Lattice surgery on the Raussendorf lattice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herr, Daniel; Paler, Alexandru; Devitt, Simon J.; Nori, Franco

2018-07-01

Lattice surgery is a method to perform quantum computation fault-tolerantly by using operations on boundary qubits between different patches of the planar code. This technique allows for universal planar code computation without eliminating the intrinsic two-dimensional nearest-neighbor properties of the surface code that eases physical hardware implementations. Lattice surgery approaches to algorithmic compilation and optimization have been demonstrated to be more resource efficient for resource-intensive components of a fault-tolerant algorithm, and consequently may be preferable over braid-based logic. Lattice surgery can be extended to the Raussendorf lattice, providing a measurement-based approach to the surface code. In this paper we describe how lattice surgery can be performed on the Raussendorf lattice and therefore give a viable alternative to computation using braiding in measurement-based implementations of topological codes.

Numerical simulations of mounding and submerging flows of shear-thinning jets impinging in a container

DOE PAGES

Roberts, Scott A.; Rao, Rekha R.

2011-10-01

Continuous jets of non-Newtonian fluids impinging on a fluid surface exhibit instabilities from jet buckling and coiling at low Reynolds numbers to delayed die swell, mounding, and air entrainment at higher Reynolds numbers. Filling containers with complex fluids is an important process for many industries, where the need for high throughput requires operating at high Reynolds numbers. In this regime, air entrainment can produce a visually unappealing product, causing a major quality control issue. Just prior to the onset of air entrainment, however, there exists an ideal filling regime which we term “planar filling,” as it is characterized by amore » relatively flat free surface that maintains its shape over time. In this paper, we create a steady-state, 2-D axisymmetric finite element model to study the transition from planar filling to the onset of air entrainment in a container filling process with generalized-Newtonian fluids. We use this model to explore the operating window for Newtonian and shear-thinning (or, more generally, deformation-rate-thinning) fluids, demonstrating that the flow behavior is characterized by a balance between inertial, viscous, and gravitational forces, as characterized by the Reynolds and Froude numbers. A scaling analysis suggests that the relevant parameters for calculating these dimensionless numbers are located where the jet impacts the liquid surface, and simulations show that the transition from planar filling to air entrainment often occurs when Re ~ O(10). Our study found that the bottom and side surfaces of the container drastically influence this transition to entrainment, stabilizing the flow.« less

Large area thinned planar sensors for future high-luminosity-LHC upgrades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittig, T.; Lawerenz, A.; Röder, R.

2016-12-01

Planar hybrid silicon sensors are a well proven technology for past and current particle tracking detectors in HEP experiments. However, the future high-luminosity upgrades of the inner trackers at the LHC experiments pose big challenges to the detectors. A first challenge is an expected radiation damage level of up to 2ṡ 1016 neq/cm2. For planar sensors, one way to counteract the charge loss and thus increase the radiation hardness is to decrease the thickness of their active area. A second challenge is the large detector area which has to be built as cost-efficient as possible. The CiS research institute has accomplished a proof-of-principle run with n-in-p ATLAS-Pixel sensors in which a cavity is etched to the sensor's back side to reduce its thickness. One advantage of this technology is the fact that thick frames remain at the sensor edges and guarantee mechanical stability on wafer level while the sensor is left on the resulting thin membrane. For this cavity etching technique, no handling wafers are required which represents a benefit in terms of process effort and cost savings. The membranes with areas of up to ~ 4 × 4 cm2 and thicknesses of 100 and 150 μm feature a sufficiently good homogeneity across the whole wafer area. The processed pixel sensors show good electrical behaviour with an excellent yield for a suchlike prototype run. First sensors with electroless Ni- and Pt-UBM are already successfully assembled with read-out chips.

Graph-based surface reconstruction from stereo pairs using image segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleyer, Michael; Gelautz, Margrit

2005-01-01

This paper describes a novel stereo matching algorithm for epipolar rectified images. The method applies colour segmentation on the reference image. The use of segmentation makes the algorithm capable of handling large untextured regions, estimating precise depth boundaries and propagating disparity information to occluded regions, which are challenging tasks for conventional stereo methods. We model disparity inside a segment by a planar equation. Initial disparity segments are clustered to form a set of disparity layers, which are planar surfaces that are likely to occur in the scene. Assignments of segments to disparity layers are then derived by minimization of a global cost function via a robust optimization technique that employs graph cuts. The cost function is defined on the pixel level, as well as on the segment level. While the pixel level measures the data similarity based on the current disparity map and detects occlusions symmetrically in both views, the segment level propagates the segmentation information and incorporates a smoothness term. New planar models are then generated based on the disparity layers' spatial extents. Results obtained for benchmark and self-recorded image pairs indicate that the proposed method is able to compete with the best-performing state-of-the-art algorithms.

A hydrophilic polymer based microfluidic system with planar patch clamp electrode array for electrophysiological measurement from cells.

PubMed

Xu, Baojian; Ye, WeiWei; Zhang, Yu; Shi, JingYu; Chan, ChunYu; Yao, XiaoQiang; Yang, Mo

2014-03-15

This paper presents a microfluidic planar patch clamp system based on a hydrophilic polymer poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) for whole cell current recording. The whole chip is fabricated by UV-assisted molding method for both microfluidic channel structure and planar electrode partition. This hydrophilic patch clamp chip has demonstrated a relatively high gigaseal success rate of 44% without surface modification compared with PDMS based patch clamp devices. This chip also shows a capability of rapid intracellular and extracellular solution exchange with high stability of gigaseals. The capillary flow kinetic experiments demonstrate that the flow rates of PEGDA microfluidic channels are around two orders of magnitude greater than those for PDMS-glass channels with the same channel dimensions. This hydrophilic polymer based patch clamp chips have significant advantages over current PDMS elastomer based systems such as no need for surface modification, much higher success rate of cell gigaseals and rapid solution exchange with stable cell gigaseals. Our results indicate the potential of these devices to serve as useful tools for pharmaceutical screening and biosensing tasks. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experimental Investigation of the Electrothermal Instability on Planar Foil Ablation Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, Adam; Patel, Sonal; Yager-Elorriaga, David; Jordan, Nicholas; Gilgenbach, Ronald; Lau, Y. Y.

2014-10-01

The electrothermal instability (ETI) is an important early-time physical effect on pulsed power foil ablation experiments due to its ability to seed the destructive magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability. ETI occurs whenever electrical resistivity has temperature dependence; when resistivity increases with temperature, as with solid metal liners or foils, ETI forms striation structures perpendicular to current flow. These striations provide an initial perturbation for the MRT instability, which is the dominant late-time instability in planar foil ablations. The MAIZE linear transformer driver was used to drive current pulses of approximately 600 kA into 400 nm-thick aluminum foils in order to study ETI in planar geometry. Shadowgraph images of the aluminum plasmas were taken for multiple shots at various times within approximately 50 ns of current start. Fourier analysis extracted the approximate wavelengths of the instability structures on the plasma-vacuum interface. Surface metrology of pre-shot foils was performed to provide a comparison between surface roughness features and resulting plasma structure. This work was supported by US DoE. S.G. Patel and A.M. Steiner supported by NPSC funded by Sandia. D.A. Yager supported by NSF fellowship Grant # DGE 1256260.

Ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons using deep subwavelength planar structures

PubMed Central

Hu, Ming Zhe; Zhang, Hao Chi; Yin, Jia Yuan; Ding, Zhao; Liu, Jun Feng; Tang, Wen Xuan; Cui, Tie Jun

2016-01-01

Novel ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is proposed in the microwave frequency using deep subwavelength planar structures printed on thin and flexible dielectric substrate. The proposed planar SPPs waveguide is composed of two mirror-oriented metallic corrugated strips, which are further decorated with parallel-arranged slots in the main corrugated strips. This compound structure provides deep subwavelength field confinement as well as flexible parameters when employed as a plasmonic waveguide, which is potential to construct miniaturization. Using momentum and impedance matching technology, we achieve a smooth conversion between the proposed SPPs waveguide and the conventional transmission line. To verify the validity of the design, we fabricate a spoof SPPs filter, and the measured results illustrate excellent performance, in which the reflection coefficient is less than −10 dB within the −3 dB passband from 1.21 GHz to 7.21 GHz with the smallest insertion loss of 1.23 dB at 2.21 GHz, having very good agreements with numerical simulations. The ultra-wideband filter with low insertion loss and high transmission efficiency possesses great potential in modern communication systems. PMID:27883028

Ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons using deep subwavelength planar structures.

PubMed

Hu, Ming Zhe; Zhang, Hao Chi; Yin, Jia Yuan; Ding, Zhao; Liu, Jun Feng; Tang, Wen Xuan; Cui, Tie Jun

2016-11-24

Novel ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is proposed in the microwave frequency using deep subwavelength planar structures printed on thin and flexible dielectric substrate. The proposed planar SPPs waveguide is composed of two mirror-oriented metallic corrugated strips, which are further decorated with parallel-arranged slots in the main corrugated strips. This compound structure provides deep subwavelength field confinement as well as flexible parameters when employed as a plasmonic waveguide, which is potential to construct miniaturization. Using momentum and impedance matching technology, we achieve a smooth conversion between the proposed SPPs waveguide and the conventional transmission line. To verify the validity of the design, we fabricate a spoof SPPs filter, and the measured results illustrate excellent performance, in which the reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB within the -3 dB passband from 1.21 GHz to 7.21 GHz with the smallest insertion loss of 1.23 dB at 2.21 GHz, having very good agreements with numerical simulations. The ultra-wideband filter with low insertion loss and high transmission efficiency possesses great potential in modern communication systems.

A fast passive and planar liquid sample micromixer.

PubMed

Melin, Jessica; Gimenéz, Guillem; Roxhed, Niclas; van der Wijngaart, Wouter; Stemme, Göran

2004-06-01

A novel microdevice for passively mixing liquid samples based on surface tension and a geometrical mixing chamber is presented. Due to the laminar flow regime on the microscale, mixing becomes difficult if not impossible. We present a micromixer where a constantly changing time dependent flow pattern inside a two sample liquid plug is created as the plug simply passes through the planar mixer chamber. The device requires no actuation during mixing and is fabricated using a single etch process. The effective mixing of two coloured liquid samples is demonstrated.

Theory of multiple quantum dot formation in strained-layer heteroepitaxy

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

Du, Lin; Maroudas, Dimitrios, E-mail: maroudas@ecs.umass.edu

2016-07-11

We develop a theory for the experimentally observed formation of multiple quantum dots (QDs) in strained-layer heteroepitaxy based on surface morphological stability analysis of a coherently strained epitaxial thin film on a crystalline substrate. Using a fully nonlinear model of surface morphological evolution that accounts for a wetting potential contribution to the epitaxial film's free energy as well as surface diffusional anisotropy, we demonstrate the formation of multiple QD patterns in self-consistent dynamical simulations of the evolution of the epitaxial film surface perturbed from its planar state. The simulation predictions are supported by weakly nonlinear analysis of the epitaxial filmmore » surface morphological stability. We find that, in addition to the Stranski-Krastanow instability, long-wavelength perturbations from the planar film surface morphology can trigger a nonlinear instability, resulting in the splitting of a single QD into multiple QDs of smaller sizes, and predict the critical wavelength of the film surface perturbation for the onset of the nonlinear tip-splitting instability. The theory provides a fundamental interpretation for the observations of “QD pairs” or “double QDs” and other multiple QDs reported in experimental studies of epitaxial growth of semiconductor strained layers and sets the stage for precise engineering of tunable-size nanoscale surface features in strained-layer heteroepitaxy by exploiting film surface nonlinear, pattern forming phenomena.« less

Rinse trough with improved flow

DOEpatents

O`Hern, T.J.; Grasser, T.W.

1998-08-11

Novel rinse troughs accomplish thorough uniform rinsing. The troughs are suitable for one or more essentially planar objects having substantially the same shape. The troughs ensure that each surface is rinsed uniformly. The new troughs provide uniform rinse fluid flow over the objects` surfaces to accomplish a more thorough rinse than prior art troughs. 5 figs.

Bayesian techniques for surface fuel loading estimation

Treesearch

Kathy Gray; Robert Keane; Ryan Karpisz; Alyssa Pedersen; Rick Brown; Taylor Russell

2016-01-01

A study by Keane and Gray (2013) compared three sampling techniques for estimating surface fine woody fuels. Known amounts of fine woody fuel were distributed on a parking lot, and researchers estimated the loadings using different sampling techniques. An important result was that precise estimates of biomass required intensive sampling for both the planar intercept...

Determination of bulk diffusion lengths for angle-lapped semiconductor material via the scanning electron microscope: A theoretical analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vonroos, O.

1978-01-01

A standard procedure for the determination of the minority carrier diffusion length by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) consists in scanning across an angle-lapped surface of a P-N junction and measuring the resultant short circuit current I sub sc as a function of beam position. A detailed analysis of the I sub sc originating from this configuration is presented. It is found that, for a point source excitation, the I sub sc depends very simply on x, the variable distance between the surface and the junction edge. The expression for the I sub sc of a planar junction device is well known. If d, the constant distance between the plane of the surface of the semiconductor and the junction edge in the expression for the I of a planar junction is merely replaced by x, the variable distance of the corresponding angle-lapped junction, an expression results which is correct to within a small fraction of a percent as long as the angle between the surfaces, 2 theta sub 1, is smaller than 10 deg.

Shape analysis of corpus callosum in autism subtype using planar conformal mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Qing; Duan, Ye; Yin, Xiaotian; Gu, Xianfeng; Karsch, Kevin; Miles, Judith

2009-02-01

A number of studies have documented that autism has a neurobiological basis, but the anatomical extent of these neurobiological abnormalities is largely unknown. In this study, we aimed at analyzing highly localized shape abnormalities of the corpus callosum in a homogeneous group of autism children. Thirty patients with essential autism and twenty-four controls participated in this study. 2D contours of the corpus callosum were extracted from MR images by a semiautomatic segmentation method, and the 3D model was constructed by stacking the contours. The resulting 3D model had two openings at the ends, thus a new conformal parameterization for high genus surfaces was applied in our shape analysis work, which mapped each surface onto a planar domain. Surface matching among different individual meshes was achieved by re-triangulating each mesh according to a template surface. Statistical shape analysis was used to compare the 3D shapes point by point between patients with autism and their controls. The results revealed significant abnormalities in the anterior most and anterior body in essential autism group.

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

Ishihara, Hidetaka; Chen, Yen-Chang; De Marco, Nicholas

The tantalizing prospect of harnessing the unique properties of graphene crumpled nanostructures continues to fuel tremendous interest in energy storage and harvesting applications. However, the paper ball-like, hard texture, and closed-sphere morphology of current 3D graphitic nanostructure production not only constricts the conductive pathways but also limits the accessible surface area. Here, we report new insights into electrohydrodynamically-generated droplets as colloidal nanoreactors in that the stimuli-responsive nature of reduced graphene oxide can lead to the formation of crumpled nanostructures with a combination of open structures and doubly curved, saddle-shaped edges. In particular, the crumpled nanostructures dynamically adapt to non-spherical, polyhedralmore » shapes under continuous deposition, ultimately assembling into foam-like microstructures with a highly accessible surface area and spatially interconnected transport pathways. The implementation of such crumpled nanostructures as three-dimensional rear contacts for solar conversion applications realize benefits of a high aspect ratio, electrically addressable and energetically favorable interfaces, and substantial enhancement of both short-circuit currents and fill-factors compared to those made of planar graphene counterparts. Further, the 3D crumpled nanostructures may shed lights onto the development of effective electrocatalytic electrodes due to their open structure that simultaneously allows for efficient water flow and hydrogen escape.« less

Vascular stents with submicrometer-scale surface patterning realized via titanium deep reactive ion etching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gott, Shannon C.; Jabola, Benjamin A.; Rao, Masaru P.

2015-08-01

Herein, we report progress towards realization of vascular stents that will eventually provide opportunity for evaluating cellular response to rationally-designed, submicrometer-scale surface patterning in physiologically-relevant contexts, i.e. those that provide exposure to the complex multicellular milieu, flow-induced shear, and tissue-device interactions present in vivo. Specifically, using our novel titanium deep reactive ion etching technique (Ti DRIE), we discuss recent advances that have enabled: (a) fabrication of precisely-defined, grating-based surface patterns on planar Ti foils with minimum feature sizes as small as 0.15 μm (b) creation of cylindrical stents from micromachined planar Ti foils; and (c) integration of these processes to produce the first submicrometer-scale surface-patterned Ti stents that are compatible with conventional balloon catheter deployment techniques. We also discuss results from elastoplastic finite element simulations and preliminary mechanical testing of these devices to assess their mechanical performance. These efforts represent key steps towards our long-term goal of developing a new paradigm in stenting, where rationally-designed surface patterning provides a physical means for facilitating healing, and thus, improving outcomes in vascular intervention applications.

Method for Molding Planar Billet of Thermally Insulative Material Into Predetermined Non-Planar Shape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kolodziej, Paul (Inventor); Carroll, Joe A. (Inventor); Smith, Dane (Inventor)

1998-01-01

A method and apparatus is discussed for molding thermal protection system (TPS) tiles for spacecraft. The apparatus and method include a bottom mold member defining a mold surface shaped like a surface of the spacecraft, e.g., the nose cap of wing leading edge, sought to be thermally protected. A flat billet of TPS material is positioned over the periphery of the mold surface, and a hollow weight element that has a periphery configured like the periphery of the mold surface is positioned on the billet. The billet is then heated in accordance with a predetermined heating regime, and during the heating process the weight of the weight element causes the billet to deform to assume the shape of the mold surface. If desired, a TUFI coating is impregnated into the billet prior to heating, and the coating is sintered to the billet during heating. After heating, a composite matrix material, e.g., a graphite or fiberglass cloth which is impregnated with epoxy or polimide, is bonded to the now-shaped tile to support the tile. Silicone can then be impregnated into the now-formed tile to provide flexibility of the tile.

Wrinkled, wavelength-tunable graphene-based surface topographies for directing cell alignment and morphology

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhongying; Tonderys, Daniel; Leggett, Susan E.; Williams, Evelyn Kendall; Kiani, Mehrdad T.; Steinberg, Ruben Spitz; Qiu, Yang; Wong, Ian Y.; Hurt, Robert H.

2015-01-01

Textured surfaces with periodic topographical features and long-range order are highly attractive for directing cell-material interactions. They mimic physiological environments more accurately than planar surfaces and can fundamentally alter cell alignment, shape, gene expression, and cellular assembly into superstructures or microtissues. Here we demonstrate for the first time that wrinkled graphene-based surfaces are suitable as textured cell attachment substrates, and that engineered wrinkling can dramatically alter cell alignment and morphology. The wrinkled surfaces are fabricated by graphene oxide wet deposition onto pre-stretched elastomers followed by relaxation and mild thermal treatment to stabilize the films in cell culture medium. Multilayer graphene oxide films form periodic, delaminated buckle textures whose wavelengths and amplitudes can be systematically tuned by variation in the wet deposition process. Human and murine fibroblasts attach to these textured films and remain viable, while developing pronounced alignment and elongation relative to those on planar graphene controls. Compared to lithographic patterning of nanogratings, this method has advantages in the simplicity and scalability of fabrication, as well as the opportunity to couple the use of topographic cues with the unique conductive, adsorptive, or barrier properties of graphene materials for functional biomedical devices. PMID:25848137

Fabrication of planar waveguide in KNSBN crystal by swift heavy ion beam irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, Jing; Wang, Lei; Qin, Xifeng

2013-11-01

We report on the fabrication of the planar waveguides in the KNSBN crystal by using 17 MeV C5+ ions at a fluence of 2 × 1014 ions/cm2. After implantation, near surface regions of the crystal, there has a positive extraordinary refractive index (ne) change and the light inside the waveguides can propagate in a non-leaky manner. The two-dimensional modal profiles of the planar waveguides, measured by using the end-coupling arrangement, are in good agreement with the reconstructed modal distributions. The propagation loss for C5+ irradiated waveguide is ∼0.8 dB/cm at 633 nm and ∼0.72 dB/cm at 1064 nm. The waveguide gives good confinement of waveguide modes, which exhibits acceptable guiding qualities for potential applications in integrated optics.

A model for recovery of scrap monolithic uranium molybdenum fuel by electrorefining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Kleeck, Melissa A.

The goal of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors program (RERTR) is toreduce enrichment at research and test reactors, thereby decreasing proliferation risk at these facilities. A new fuel to accomplish this goal is being manufactured experimentally at the Y12 National Security Complex. This new fuel will require its own waste management procedure,namely for the recovery of scrap from its manufacture. The new fuel is a monolithic uraniummolybdenum alloy clad in zirconium. Feasibility tests were conducted in the Planar Electrode Electrorefiner using scrap U-8Mo fuel alloy. These tests proved that a uranium product could be recovered free of molybdenum from this scrap fuel by electrorefining. Tests were also conducted using U-10Mo Zr clad fuel, which confirmed that product could be recovered from a clad version of this scrap fuel at an engineering scale, though analytical results are pending for the behavior of Zr in the electrorefiner. A model was constructed for the simulation of electrorefining the scrap material produced in the manufacture of this fuel. The model was implemented on two platforms, Microsoft Excel and MatLab. Correlations, used in the model, were developed experimentally, describing area specific resistance behavior at each electrode. Experiments validating the model were conducted using scrap of U-10Mo Zr clad fuel in the Planar Electrode Electrorefiner. The results of model simulations on both platforms were compared to experimental results for the same fuel, salt and electrorefiner compositions and dimensions for two trials. In general, the model demonstrated behavior similar to experimental data but additional refinements are needed to improve its accuracy. These refinements consist of a function for surface area at anode and cathode based on charge passed. Several approximations were made in the model concerning areas of electrodes which should be replaced by a more accurate function describing these areas.

Application of the planar-scanning technique to the near-field dosimetry of millimeter-wave radiators.

PubMed

Zhao, Jianxun; Lu, Hongmin; Deng, Jun

2015-02-01

The planar-scanning technique was applied to the experimental measurement of the electric field and power flux density (PFD) in the exposure area close to the millimeter-wave (MMW) radiator. In the near-field region, the field and PFD were calculated from the plane-wave spectrum of the field sampled on a scan plane far from the radiator. The measurement resolution was improved by reducing the spatial interval between the field samples to a fraction of half the wavelength and implementing multiple iterations of the fast Fourier transform. With the reference to the results from the numerical calculation, an experimental evaluation of the planar-scanning measurement was made for a 50 GHz radiator. Placing the probe 1 to 3 wavelengths from the aperture of the radiator, the direct measurement gave the near-field data with significant differences from the numerical results. The planar-scanning measurement placed the probe 9 wavelengths away from the aperture and effectively reduced the maximum and averaged differences in the near-field data by 70.6% and 65.5%, respectively. Applied to the dosimetry of an open-ended waveguide and a choke ring antenna for 60 GHz exposure, the technique proved useful to the measurement of the PFD in the near-field exposure area of MMW radiators. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Microstructural Evolution of Fatigue Cracks in FCC Metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, David William

The microstructural evolution during fatigue crack propagation was investigated in a variety of planar and wavy slip FCC metals. The planar materials included Haynes 230, Nitronic 40, and 316 stainless steel, and the wavy materials included pure nickel and pure copper. Three different sets of experiments were performed to fully characterize the microstructural evolution. The first, performed on Haynes 230, mapped the strain field ahead a crack tip using digital image correlation and electron backscatter diffraction techniques. Focused ion beam (FIB) lift-out techniques were then utilized to extract transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples at specific distances from the crack tip. TEM investigations compared the measured strain to the microstructure. Overall, the strain measured via DIC and EBSD was only weakly correlated to the density of planar slip bands in the microstructure. The second set of experiments concerned the dislocation structure around crack tips. This set of experiments was performed on all the materials. The microstructure at arrested fatigue cracks on the free surface was compared to the microstructure found beneath striations on the fracture surfaces by utilizing FIB micromachining to create site-specific TEM samples. The evolved microstructure depended on the slip type. Strong agreement was found between the crack tip microstructure at the free surface and the fracture surface. In the planar materials, the microstructure in the plastic zone consisted of bands of dislocations or deformation twins, before transitioning to a refined sub-grain microstructure near the crack flank. The sub-grain structure extended 300-500 nm away from the crack flank in all the planar slip materials studied. In contrast, the bulk structure in the wavy slip material consisted of dislocation cells and did not transition to a different microstructure as the crack tip was approached. The strain in wavy slip was highest near the crack tip, as the misorientations between the dislocation cells increased and the cell size decreased as the crack flank was approached. The final set of experiments involved reloading the arrested crack tips in monotonic tension. This was performed on both the Haynes 230 and 316 stainless steel. This technique exposed the fracture surface and location of the arrested crack tip away from the free surface, allowing for a sample to be extracted via FIB micromachining and TEM evaluation of the microstructure. This permitted the crack tip microstructure to be investigated without exposing the microstructure to crack closure or free surface effects. These experiments confirmed what was inferred from the earlier experiments, namely that the banded structure was a product of the crack tip plastic zone and the refined structure was a product of the strain associated with crack advance. Overall the microstructural complexity presented in this work was much higher than would be predicted by current models of fatigue crack propagation. It is recommended that future models attempt to simulate interactions between the dislocations emitted during fatigue crack growth and the pre-existing microstructure to more accurately simulate the processes occurring at the crack tip during crack growth.

Recent modelling advances for ultrasonic TOFD inspections

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

Darmon, Michel; Ferrand, Adrien; Dorval, Vincent

The ultrasonic TOFD (Time of Flight Diffraction) Technique is commonly used to detect and characterize disoriented cracks using their edge diffraction echoes. An overview of the models integrated in the CIVA software platform and devoted to TOFD simulation is presented. CIVA allows to predict diffraction echoes from complex 3D flaws using a PTD (Physical Theory of Diffraction) based model. Other dedicated developments have been added to simulate lateral waves in 3D on planar entry surfaces and in 2D on irregular surfaces by a ray approach. Calibration echoes from Side Drilled Holes (SDHs), specimen echoes and shadowing effects from flaws canmore » also been modelled. Some examples of theoretical validation of the models are presented. In addition, experimental validations have been performed both on planar blocks containing calibration holes and various notches and also on a specimen with an irregular entry surface and allow to draw conclusions on the validity of all the developed models.« less

Three dimensional, multi-chip module

DOEpatents

Bernhardt, A.F.; Petersen, R.W.

1993-08-31

A plurality of multi-chip modules are stacked and bonded around the perimeter by sold-bump bonds to adjacent modules on, for instance, three sides of the perimeter. The fourth side can be used for coolant distribution, for more interconnect structures, or other features, depending on particular design considerations of the chip set. The multi-chip modules comprise a circuit board, having a planarized interconnect structure formed on a first major surface, and integrated circuit chips bonded to the planarized interconnect surface. Around the periphery of each circuit board, long, narrow dummy chips'' are bonded to the finished circuit board to form a perimeter wall. The wall is higher than any of the chips on the circuit board, so that the flat back surface of the board above will only touch the perimeter wall. Module-to-module interconnect is laser-patterned on the sides of the boards and over the perimeter wall in the same way and at the same time that chip to board interconnect may be laser-patterned.

Three dimensional, multi-chip module

DOEpatents

Bernhardt, Anthony F.; Petersen, Robert W.

1993-01-01

A plurality of multi-chip modules are stacked and bonded around the perimeter by sold-bump bonds to adjacent modules on, for instance, three sides of the perimeter. The fourth side can be used for coolant distribution, for more interconnect structures, or other features, depending on particular design considerations of the chip set. The multi-chip modules comprise a circuit board, having a planarized interconnect structure formed on a first major surface, and integrated circuit chips bonded to the planarized interconnect surface. Around the periphery of each circuit board, long, narrow "dummy chips" are bonded to the finished circuit board to form a perimeter wall. The wall is higher than any of the chips on the circuit board, so that the flat back surface of the board above will only touch the perimeter wall. Module-to-module interconnect is laser-patterned o the sides of the boards and over the perimeter wall in the same way and at the same time that chip to board interconnect may be laser-patterned.

Ultracompact Pseudowedge Plasmonic Lasers and Laser Arrays.

PubMed

Chou, Yu-Hsun; Hong, Kuo-Bin; Chang, Chun-Tse; Chang, Tsu-Chi; Huang, Zhen-Ting; Cheng, Pi-Ju; Yang, Jhen-Hong; Lin, Meng-Hsien; Lin, Tzy-Rong; Chen, Kuo-Ping; Gwo, Shangjr; Lu, Tien-Chang

2018-02-14

Concentrating light at the deep subwavelength scale by utilizing plasmonic effects has been reported in various optoelectronic devices with intriguing phenomena and functionality. Plasmonic waveguides with a planar structure exhibit a two-dimensional degree of freedom for the surface plasmon; the degree of freedom can be further reduced by utilizing metallic nanostructures or nanoparticles for surface plasmon resonance. Reduction leads to different lightwave confinement capabilities, which can be utilized to construct plasmonic nanolaser cavities. However, most theoretical and experimental research efforts have focused on planar surface plasmon polariton (SPP) nanolasers. In this study, we combined nanometallic structures intersecting with ZnO nanowires and realized the first laser emission based on pseudowedge SPP waveguides. Relative to current plasmonic nanolasers, the pseudowedge plasmonic lasers reported in our study exhibit extremely small mode volumes, high group indices, high spontaneous emission factors, and high Purell factors beneficial for the strong interaction between light and matter. Furthermore, we demonstrated that compact plasmonic laser arrays can be constructed, which could benefit integrated plasmonic circuits.

Sedimentary structures and textures of Rio Orinoco channel sands, Venezuela and Colombia

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKee, Edwin Dinwiddie

1989-01-01

Most sedimentary structures represented in sand bodies of the Rio Orinoco are tabular-planar cross-strata which, together with some wedge-planar cross-strata, are the products of sand-wave deposition. Locally, in areas of river meander where point bars characteristically form, trough structures forming festoon patterns are numerous. At a few localities, sets of nearly horizontal strata occur between tabular-planar sets and are interpreted to be the deposits of very fast currents of the upper flow regime; elsewhere, uncommon lenses and beds of silt, clay, or organic matter consisting of leaves and twigs, seem to be the result of quiet-water settling through gravity. By far the most common grain size represented in the tabular-planar and wedge-planar cross-strata of the sandwave deposits is medium sand (? - ? millimeter) as determined by screen analyses. Many samples, however, also contain moderate quantities of coarse or very coarse sand. Eolian dunes on top of the sand-wave deposits are dominantly fine grained. The river channel sands were determined to be largely moderately well sorted, although in some places they were mostly well sorted, and in others, mostly moderately sorted.

A preliminary characterization of the tensile and fatigue behavior of tungsten-fiber/Waspaloy-matrix composite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corner, Ralph E.; Lerch, Brad A.

1992-01-01

A microstructural study and a preliminary characterization of the room temperature tensile and fatigue behavior of a continuous, tungsten fiber, Waspaloy-matrix composite was conducted. A heat treatment was chosen that would allow visibility of planar slip if it occurred during deformation, but would not allow growth of the reaction zone. Tensile and fatigue tests showed that the failed specimens contained transverse cracks in the fibers. The cracks that occurred in the tensile specimen were observed at the fracture surface and up to approximately 4.0 mm below the fracture surface. The crack spacing remained constant along the entire length of the cracked fibers. Conversely, the cracks that occurred in the fatigue specimen were only observed in the vicinity of the fracture surface. In instances where two fiber cracks occurred in the same plane, the matrix often necked between the two cracked fibers. Large groups of slip bands were generated in the matrix near the fiber cracks. Slip bands in the matrix of the tensile specimen were also observed in areas where there were no fiber cracks, at distances greater than 4 mm from the fracture surface. This suggests that the matrix plastically flows before fiber cracking occurs.

Model-driven harmonic parameterization of the cortical surface: HIP-HOP.

PubMed

Auzias, G; Lefèvre, J; Le Troter, A; Fischer, C; Perrot, M; Régis, J; Coulon, O

2013-05-01

In the context of inter subject brain surface matching, we present a parameterization of the cortical surface constrained by a model of cortical organization. The parameterization is defined via an harmonic mapping of each hemisphere surface to a rectangular planar domain that integrates a representation of the model. As opposed to previous landmark-based registration methods we do not match folds between individuals but instead optimize the fit between cortical sulci and specific iso-coordinate axis in the model. This strategy overcomes some limitation to sulcus-based registration techniques such as topological variability in sulcal landmarks across subjects. Experiments on 62 subjects with manually traced sulci are presented and compared with the result of the Freesurfer software. The evaluation involves a measure of dispersion of sulci with both angular and area distortions. We show that the model-based strategy can lead to a natural, efficient and very fast (less than 5 min per hemisphere) method for defining inter subjects correspondences. We discuss how this approach also reduces the problems inherent to anatomically defined landmarks and open the way to the investigation of cortical organization through the notion of orientation and alignment of structures across the cortex.

Altered thyroid status in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) exposed to co-planar 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl.

PubMed

Brown, Scott B; Evans, Robert E; Vandenbyllardt, Lenore; Finnson, Ken W; Palace, Vince P; Kane, Andrew S; Yarechewski, Alvin Y; Muir, Derek C G

2004-03-30

Recent studies indicate that co-planar 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB) congeners or their metabolites may disrupt thyroid function in fishes. Although co-planar PCB have been detected at microgram per kilogram levels in fish from contaminated areas, few studies have examined mechanisms whereby, co-planar PCBs may alter thyroid function in fish. We treated immature lake trout by intraperitoneal (i.p.)-injection or dietary gavage with vehicle containing 0, 0.7, 1.2, 25 or 40 microg 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 126) per kgBW. Blood and tissue samples were collected at various times up to 61 weeks following exposure. The treatments produced sustained dose-dependent elevations of tissue (PCB 126) concentrations. Thyroid epithelial cell height (TECH), plasma thyroxine (T4) and 3,3',5-triiodo-l-thyronine (T3) concentrations, hepatic 5'-monodeiodinase, hepatic glucuronidation of T4 and T3, as well as plasma T4 kinetics and fish growth were analyzed. Exposure to the highest doses of PCB 126 caused increased TECH, plasma T4 dynamics and T4-glucuronidation (T4-G). PCB 126 did not affect 5'-monodeiodinase and T3-glucuronidation (T3-G) and there were no effects on fish growth or condition. Because T3 status and growth were unaffected, the thyroid system was able to compensate for the alterations caused by the PCB 126 exposure. It is clear that concentrations of co-planar PCBs similar to those found in predatory fish from contaminated areas in the Great Lakes are capable of enhancing metabolism of T4. These changes may be of significance when T4 requirements are high for other reasons (e.g. periods of rapid growth, warm temperatures, metamorphosis, and parr-smolt transformation).

Dynamic planar solid phase microextraction-ion mobility spectrometry for rapid field air sampling and analysis of illicit drugs and explosives.

PubMed

Guerra-Diaz, Patricia; Gura, Sigalit; Almirall, José R

2010-04-01

A preconcentration device that targets the volatile chemical signatures associated with illicit drugs and explosives (high and low) has been designed to fit in the inlet of an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS). This is the first reporting of a fast and sensitive method for dynamic sampling of large volumes of air using planar solid phase microextraction (PSPME) incorporating a high surface area for absorption of analytes onto a sol-gel polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating for direct thermal desorption into an IMS. This device affords high extraction efficiencies due to strong retention properties at ambient temperature, resulting in the detection of analyte concentrations in the parts per trillion range when as low as 3.5 L of air are sampled over the course of 10 s (absolute mass detection of less than a nanogram). Dynamic PSPME was used to sample the headspace over the following: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) tablets resulting in the detection of 12-40 ng of piperonal, high explosives (Pentolite) resulting in the detection of 0.6 ng of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and low explosives (several smokeless powders) resulting in the detection of 26-35 ng of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) and 11-74 ng of diphenylamine (DPA).

Calculation of Latitude and Longitude for Points on Perimeter of a Circle on a Sphere

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

Morris, Heidi E.

2015-08-14

This document describes the calculation of the Earth-Centered Earth Fixed (ECEF) coordinates for points lying on the perimeter of a circle. Here, the perimeter of the circle lies on the surface of the sphere and the center of the planar circle is below the surface. These coordinates are converted to latitude and longitude for mapping fields on the surface of the earth.

Angle-Dependent Atomic Force Microscopy Single-Chain Pulling of Adsorbed Macromolecules from Planar Surfaces Unveils the Signature of an Adsorption-Desorption Transition.

PubMed

Grebíková, Lucie; Whittington, Stuart G; Vancso, Julius G

2018-05-23

The adsorption-desorption behavior of polymer chains is at the heart of macromolecular surface science and technology. With the current developments in atomic force microscopy (AFM), it has now become possible to address the desorption problem from the perspective of a single macromolecule. Here, we report on desorption of single polymer chains on planar surfaces by AFM-based single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) as a function of the pulling angle with respect to the surface-normal direction. SMFS experiments were performed in water with various substrates using different polymers covalently attached to the AFM probe tip. End-grafting at the AFM tip was achieved by surface-initiated polymerization using initiator functionalized tips. We found that the desorption force increases with a decreasing pulling angle, i.e., an enhanced adhesion of the polymer chain was observed. The magnitude of the desorption force shows a weak angular dependence at pulling angles close to the surface normal. A significant increase of the force is observed at shallower pulling from a certain pulling angle. This behavior carries the signature of an adsorption-desorption transition. The angular dependence of the normalized desorption force exhibits a universal behavior. We compared and interpreted our results using theoretical predictions for single-chain adsorption-desorption transitions.

Angle-Dependent Atomic Force Microscopy Single-Chain Pulling of Adsorbed Macromolecules from Planar Surfaces Unveils the Signature of an Adsorption–Desorption Transition

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The adsorption–desorption behavior of polymer chains is at the heart of macromolecular surface science and technology. With the current developments in atomic force microscopy (AFM), it has now become possible to address the desorption problem from the perspective of a single macromolecule. Here, we report on desorption of single polymer chains on planar surfaces by AFM-based single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) as a function of the pulling angle with respect to the surface-normal direction. SMFS experiments were performed in water with various substrates using different polymers covalently attached to the AFM probe tip. End-grafting at the AFM tip was achieved by surface-initiated polymerization using initiator functionalized tips. We found that the desorption force increases with a decreasing pulling angle, i.e., an enhanced adhesion of the polymer chain was observed. The magnitude of the desorption force shows a weak angular dependence at pulling angles close to the surface normal. A significant increase of the force is observed at shallower pulling from a certain pulling angle. This behavior carries the signature of an adsorption–desorption transition. The angular dependence of the normalized desorption force exhibits a universal behavior. We compared and interpreted our results using theoretical predictions for single-chain adsorption–desorption transitions. PMID:29712430

Long-term growth rates and effects of bleaching in Acropora hyacinthus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, Zachary; Palumbi, Stephen R.

2018-03-01

Understanding the response of coral growth to natural variation in the environment, as well as to acute temperature stress under current and future climate change conditions, is critical to predicting the future health of coral reef ecosystems. As such, ecological surveys are beginning to focus on corals that live in high thermal stress environments to understand how future coral populations may adapt to climate change. We investigated the relationship between coral growth, thermal microhabitat, symbionts type, and thermal acclimatization of four species of the Acropora hyacinthus complex in back-reef lagoons in American Samoa. Coral growth was measured from August 2010 to April 2016 using horizontal planar area of coral colonies derived from photographs and in situ maximum width measurements. Despite marked intraspecific variation, we found that planar colony growth rates were significantly different among cryptic species. The highly heat tolerant A. hyacinthus variant "HE" increased in area an average of 2.9% month-1 (0.03 cm average mean radial extension month-1). By contrast, the three less tolerant species averaged 6.1% (0.07 cm average mean radial extension month-1). Planar growth rates were 40% higher on average in corals harboring Clade C versus Clade D symbiont types, although marked inter-colony variation in growth rendered this difference nonsignificant. Planar growth rates for all four species dropped to near zero following a 2015 bleaching event, independent of the visually estimated percent area of bleaching. Within 1 yr, growth rates recovered to previous levels, confirming previous studies that found sublethal effects of thermal stress on coral growth. Long-term studies of individual coral colonies provide an important tool to measure impacts of environmental change and allow integration of coral physiology, genetics, symbionts, and microclimate on reef growth patterns.

Development of low-ash, planar peat swamps in an alluvial-plain setting: The no. 5 Block beds (westphalian D) of southern West Virginia

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

Staub, J.R.; Richards, B.K.

1993-07-01

Coals from the No. 5 Block coal beds (Westphalian D) of the central Appalachian basin are noted for their blocky, dull character and their low ash and low sulfur content. The beds are multiple benched, with rock partings separating benches. Individual benches have limited lateral extent and, where thick, are dominated by bright, high-ash coal at the base and dull, low-ash coal in the upper parts. The duller coals contain more exinite-group and inertinite-group macerals than the brighter coals. These coal beds are encased in sandstone units dominated by fining-upward sequences. The overall depositional setting is an alluvial-plain environment withmore » northwest-flowing channels spaced approximately 20 km apart. The channels were flanked by clastic swamps about 7 km wide. Low-ash peat accumulated in areas of the flood plain most distant from the channels. These peat-accumulating swamps were about 8 km across. In a few instances low-frequency flood events introduced fine siliciclastic sediment into the peat swamps, depositing a thin layer of sediment on top of the peat. This sediment layer is thicker where the underlying coal is the thickest. These thick coal areas are topographically lower than surrounding coal areas. This relationship between coal thickness, parting thickness, and topography indicates that these peat swamps were planar at the time of deposition. Individual coal benches contain abundant preserved cellular tissue (telocollinite, semifusinite, and fusinite) at most locations, suggesting that robust vegetation was widespread in the swamps and that the morphology was planar. The high concentrations of exinite-group an inertinite-group macerals in the upper parts of benches resulted from selective decomposition and oxidation of the peat in subaerial and aquatic planar-swamp environments.« less

Low ash, planar peat swamp development in an alluvial plain setting: The No. 5 block beds of southern West Virginia

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

Staub, J.R.; Richards, B.K.

1992-01-01

Coals from the No. 5 Block beds (Westphalian D) are noted for their low ash and sulfur content. Beds are multiple benched, with rock partings separating individual benches. Benches have limited continuity and, where thick are dominated by bright, high ash coal at the base and dull, low ash coal in their upper portions. The duller coals contain more exinite and inertinite group macerals than the brighter coals. The depositional setting is an alluvial plain environment with channel systems separated by distances of about 20 km. The channel systems were flanked by clastic swamps for distances of up to 7more » km or more on either side. Areas of flood plain most distant from the channels were sites where peat accumulated and these zones were about 8 km across. High energy, low frequency flood events introduced fine grained sediment into the peat swamps resulting in thin layers of sediment being deposited on top of the peat. These sediment layers are thicker in areas where the underlying coal is the thickest. These thick coal areas are topographically negative. This relationship between coal and parting thickness and topography indicates that these peat swamps were low-lying or planar. Individual coal benches contain abundant amounts of preserved cellular tissue (telocollinite, semifusinite, fusinite) at most locations indicating that woody arborescent like vegetation was widespread in the swamps suggesting a planar morphology. The high concentrations of exinite and inertinite group macerals found in the upper portions of individual benches resulted from decomposition and oxidation of the peat in subaerial to aquatic planar swamp environments.« less

Retrograde resonance in the planar three-body problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, M. H. M.; Namouni, F.

2013-12-01

We continue the investigation of the dynamics of retrograde resonances initiated in Morais and Giuppone (Mon Notices R Astron Soc 424:52-64, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21151.x, 2012). After deriving a procedure to deduce the retrograde resonance terms from the standard expansion of the three-dimensional disturbing function, we concentrate on the planar problem and construct surfaces of section that explore phase-space in the vicinity of the main retrograde resonances (2/1, 1/1 and 1/2). In the case of the 1/1 resonance for which the standard expansion is not adequate to describe the dynamics, we develop a semi-analytic model based on numerical averaging of the unexpanded disturbing function, and show that the predicted libration modes are in agreement with the behavior seen in the surfaces of section.

Hydrodynamic growth and decay of planar shock waves

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

Piriz, A. R., E-mail: roberto.piriz@uclm.es; Sun, Y. B.; Tahir, N. A.

2016-03-15

A model for the hydrodynamic attenuation (growth and decay) of planar shocks is presented. The model is based on the approximate integration of the fluid conservation equations, and it does not require the heuristic assumptions used in some previous works. A key issue of the model is that the boundary condition on the piston surface is given by the retarded pressure, which takes into account the transit time of the sound waves between the piston and any position at the bulk of the shocked fluid. The model yields the shock pressure evolution for any given pressure pulse on the piston,more » as well as the evolution of the trajectories, velocities, and accelerations on the shock and piston surfaces. An asymptotic analytical solution is also found for the decay of the shock wave.« less

Automated generation of influence functions for planar crack problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sire, Robert A.; Harris, David O.; Eason, Ernest D.

1989-01-01

A numerical procedure for the generation of influence functions for Mode I planar problems is described. The resulting influence functions are in a form for convenient evaluation of stress-intensity factors for complex stress distributions. Crack surface displacements are obtained by a least-squares solution of the Williams eigenfunction expansion for displacements in a cracked body. Discrete values of the influence function, evaluated using the crack surface displacements, are curve fit using an assumed functional form. The assumed functional form includes appropriate limit-behavior terms for very deep and very shallow cracks. Continuous representation of the influence function provides a convenient means for evaluating stress-intensity factors for arbitrary stress distributions by numerical integration. The procedure is demonstrated for an edge-cracked strip and a radially cracked disk. Comparisons with available published results demonstrate the accuracy of the procedure.

Anion-π Catalysis on Fullerenes.

PubMed

López-Andarias, Javier; Frontera, Antonio; Matile, Stefan

2017-09-27

Anion-π interactions on fullerenes are about as poorly explored as the use of fullerenes in catalysis. However, strong exchange-correlation contributions and the localized π holes on their surface promise unique selectivities. To elaborate on this promise, tertiary amines are attached nearby. Dependent on their positioning, the resulting stabilization of anionic transition states on fullerenes is shown to accelerate disfavored enolate addition and exo Diels-Alder reactions enantioselectively. The found selectivities are consistent with computational simulations, particularly concerning the discrimination of differently planarized and charge-delocalized enolate tautomers by anion-π interactions. Enolate-π interactions on fullerenes are much shorter than standard π-π interactions and anion-π interactions on planar surfaces, and alternative cation-π interactions are not observed. These findings open new perspectives with regard to anion-π interactions in general and the use of carbon allotropes in catalysis.

Liners for ion transport membrane systems

DOEpatents

Carolan, Michael Francis; Miller, Christopher Francis

2010-08-10

Ion transport membrane system comprising (a) a pressure vessel comprising an interior, an exterior, an inlet, an inlet conduit, an outlet, and an outlet conduit; (b) a plurality of planar ion transport membrane modules disposed in the interior of the pressure vessel and arranged in series, each membrane module comprising mixed metal oxide ceramic material and having an interior region and an exterior region, wherein the inlet and the outlet of the pressure vessel are in flow communication with exterior regions of the membrane modules; (c) a gas manifold having an interior surface wherein the gas manifold is in flow communication with the interior region of each of the planar ion transport membrane modules and with the exterior of the pressure vessel; and (d) a liner disposed within any of the inlet conduit, the outlet conduit, and the interior surface of the gas manifold.

Ultra-miniaturization of a planar amperometric sensor targeting continuous intradermal glucose monitoring.

PubMed

Ribet, Federico; Stemme, Göran; Roxhed, Niclas

2017-04-15

An ultra-miniaturized electrochemical biosensor for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is presented. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the possibility of an overall reduction in sensor size to allow minimally invasive glucose monitoring in the interstitial fluid in the dermal region, in contrast to larger state-of-the-art systems, which are necessarily placed in the subcutaneous layer. Moreover, the reduction in size might be a key factor to improve the stability and reliability of transdermal sensors, due to the reduction of the detrimental foreign body reaction and of consequent potential failures. These advantages are combined with lower invasiveness and discomfort for patients. The realized device consists of a microfabricated three-electrode enzymatic sensor with a total surface area of the sensing portion of less than 0.04mm 2 , making it the smallest fully integrated planar amperometric glucose sensor area reported to date. The working electrode and counter electrode consist of platinum and are functionalized by drop casting of three polymeric membranes. The on-chip iridium oxide (IrOx) pseudo-reference electrode provides the required stability for measurements under physiological conditions. The device is able to dynamically and linearly measure glucose concentrations in-vitro over the relevant physiological range, while showing sufficient selectivity to known interfering species present in the interstitial fluid, with resolution and sensitivity (1.51nA/mM) comparable to that of state-of-art commercial CGM systems. This work can therefore enable less invasive and improved CGM in patients affected by diabetes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Realization of back-side heterogeneous hybrid III-V/Si DBR lasers for silicon photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durel, Jocelyn; Ferrotti, Thomas; Chantre, Alain; Cremer, Sébastien; Harduin, Julie; Bernabé, Stéphane; Kopp, Christophe; Boeuf, Frédéric; Ben Bakir, Badhise; Broquin, Jean-Emmanuel

2016-02-01

In this paper, the simulation, design and fabrication of a back-side coupling (BSC) concept for silicon photonics, which targets heterogeneous hybrid III-V/Si laser integration is presented. Though various demonstrations of a complete SOI integration of passive and active photonic devices have been made, they all feature multi-level planar metal interconnects, and a lack of integrated light sources. This is mainly due to the conflict between the need of planar surfaces for III-V/Si bonding and multiple levels of metallization. The proposed BSC solution to this topographical problem consists in fabricating lasers on the back-side of the Si waveguides using a new process sequence. The devices are based on a hybrid structure composed of an InGaAsP MQW active area and a Si-based DBR cavity. The emitted light wavelength is accordable within a range of 20 nm around 1.31μm thanks to thermal heaters and the laser output is fiber coupled through a Grating Coupler (GC). From a manufacturing point of view, the BSC approach provides not only the advantages of allowing the use of a thin-BOX SOI instead of a thick one; but it also shifts the laser processing steps and their materials unfriendly to CMOS process to the far back-end areas of fabrication lines. Moreover, aside from solving technological integration issues, the BSC concept offers several new design opportunities for active and passive devices (heat sink, Bragg gratings, grating couplers enhanced with integrated metallic mirrors, tapers…). These building boxes are explored here theoretically and experimentally.

Gravity Influences the Visual Representation of Object Tilt in Parietal Cortex

PubMed Central

Angelaki, Dora E.

2014-01-01

Sensory systems encode the environment in egocentric (e.g., eye, head, or body) reference frames, creating inherently unstable representations that shift and rotate as we move. However, it is widely speculated that the brain transforms these signals into an allocentric, gravity-centered representation of the world that is stable and independent of the observer's spatial pose. Where and how this representation may be achieved is currently unknown. Here we demonstrate that a subpopulation of neurons in the macaque caudal intraparietal area (CIP) visually encodes object tilt in nonegocentric coordinates defined relative to the gravitational vector. Neuronal responses to the tilt of a visually presented planar surface were measured with the monkey in different spatial orientations (upright and rolled left/right ear down) and then compared. This revealed a continuum of representations in which planar tilt was encoded in a gravity-centered reference frame in approximately one-tenth of the comparisons, intermediate reference frames ranging between gravity-centered and egocentric in approximately two-tenths of the comparisons, and in an egocentric reference frame in less than half of the comparisons. Altogether, almost half of the comparisons revealed a shift in the preferred tilt and/or a gain change consistent with encoding object orientation in nonegocentric coordinates. Through neural network modeling, we further show that a purely gravity-centered representation of object tilt can be achieved directly from the population activity of CIP-like units. These results suggest that area CIP may play a key role in creating a stable, allocentric representation of the environment defined relative to an “earth-vertical” direction. PMID:25339732

Investigation of Carbon-Polymer Structures with Embedded Fiber-Optic Bragg Gratings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grant, Joseph; Kaul, R.; Taylor, S.; Myers, G.; Sharma, A.

2003-01-01

Several Bragg-grating sensors fabricated within the same optical fiber are buried within multiple-ply carbon-epoxy planar and cylindrical structures. Effect of different orientation of fiber-sensors with respect to carbon fibers in the composite structure is investigated. This is done for both fabric and uni-tape material samples. Response of planar structures to axial and transverse strain up to 1 millistrain is investigated with distributed Bragg-grating sensors. Material properties like Young's Modulus and Poisson ratio is measured. A comparison is made between response measured by sensors in different ply-layers and those bonded on the surface. The results from buried fiber- sensors do not completely agree with surface bonded conventional strain gauges. A plausible explanation is given for observed differences. The planar structures are subjected to impacts with energies up to 10 ft-lb. Effect of this impact on the material stiffness is also investigated with buried fiber-optic Bragg sensors. The strain response of such optical sensors is also measured for cylindrical carbon-epoxy composite structures. The sensors are buried within the walls of the cylinder as well as surface bonded in both the axial as well as hoop directions. The response of these fiber-optic sensors is investigated by pressurizing the cylinder up to its burst pressure of around 1500 psi. This is done at both room temperature as well as cryogenic temperatures. The recorded response is compared with that from a conventional strain gauge.

Unique Three-Dimensional InP Nanopore Arrays for Improved Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production.

PubMed

Li, Qiang; Zheng, Maojun; Ma, Liguo; Zhong, Miao; Zhu, Changqing; Zhang, Bin; Wang, Faze; Song, Jingnan; Ma, Li; Shen, Wenzhong

2016-08-31

Ordered three-dimensional (3D) nanostructure arrays hold promise for high-performance energy harvesting and storage devices. Here, we report the fabrication of InP nanopore arrays (NPs) in unique 3D architectures with excellent light trapping characteristic and large surface areas for use as highly active photoelectrodes in photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen evolution devices. The ordered 3D NPs were scalably synthesized by a facile two-step etching process of (1) anodic etching of InP in neutral 3 M NaCl electrolytes to realize nanoporous structures and (2) wet chemical etching in HCl/H3PO4 (volume ratio of 1:3) solutions for removing the remaining top irregular layer. Importantly, we demonstrated that the use of neutral electrolyte of NaCl instead of other solutions, such as HCl, in anodic etching of InP can significantly passivate the surface states of 3D NPs. As a result, the maximum photoconversion efficiency obtained with ∼15.7 μm thick 3D NPs was 0.95%, which was 7.3 and 1.4 times higher than that of planar and 2D NPs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and photoluminescence analyses further clarified that the improved PEC performance was attributed to the enhanced charge transfer across 3D NPs/electrolyte interfaces, the improved charge separation at 3D NPs/electrolyte junction, and the increased PEC active surface areas with our unique 3D NP arrays.

A short walk in quantum probability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudson, Robin

2018-04-01

This is a personal survey of aspects of quantum probability related to the Heisenberg commutation relation for canonical pairs. Using the failure, in general, of non-negativity of the Wigner distribution for canonical pairs to motivate a more satisfactory quantum notion of joint distribution, we visit a central limit theorem for such pairs and a resulting family of quantum planar Brownian motions which deform the classical planar Brownian motion, together with a corresponding family of quantum stochastic areas. This article is part of the themed issue `Hilbert's sixth problem'.

Velocity Inversion In Cylindrical Couette Gas Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dongari, Nishanth; Barber, Robert W.; Emerson, David R.; Zhang, Yonghao; Reese, Jason M.

2012-05-01

We investigate a power-law probability distribution function to describe the mean free path of rarefied gas molecules in non-planar geometries. A new curvature-dependent model is derived by taking into account the boundary-limiting effects on the molecular mean free path for surfaces with both convex and concave curvatures. In comparison to a planar wall, we find that the mean free path for a convex surface is higher at the wall and exhibits a sharper gradient within the Knudsen layer. In contrast, a concave wall exhibits a lower mean free path near the surface and the gradients in the Knudsen layer are shallower. The Navier-Stokes constitutive relations and velocity-slip boundary conditions are modified based on a power-law scaling to describe the mean free path, in accordance with the kinetic theory of gases, i.e. transport properties can be described in terms of the mean free path. Velocity profiles for isothermal cylindrical Couette flow are obtained using the power-law model. We demonstrate that our model is more accurate than the classical slip solution, especially in the transition regime, and we are able to capture important non-linear trends associated with the non-equilibrium physics of the Knudsen layer. In addition, we establish a new criterion for the critical accommodation coefficient that leads to the non-intuitive phenomena of velocity-inversion. Our results are compared with conventional hydrodynamic models and direct simulation Monte Carlo data. The power-law model predicts that the critical accommodation coefficient is significantly lower than that calculated using the classical slip solution and is in good agreement with available DSMC data. Our proposed constitutive scaling for non-planar surfaces is based on simple physical arguments and can be readily implemented in conventional fluid dynamics codes for arbitrary geometric configurations.

Deposition and melting behaviors for formation of micro/nano structures from nanostructures with femtosecond pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Tong; Wang, Wenjun; Tao, Tao; Mei, Xuesong; Pan, Aifei

2018-04-01

This study reported the fabrication of a large area of micro/nano structures with different morphologies and sizes by the deposition of ablated material and melting of material on silicon through a line-shaped femtosecond laser beam irradiation. The evolution of micro/nano structures on the silicon surface was demonstrated with the laser fluence of 0.64 J/cm2. It was found that the melting of material was responsible for the formation of the micro-protrusions from laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs). Additionally, the deposition fell on the surface of the micro-protrusions in oblique incidence way, causing LIPSSs obscure and even invisible. As a consequence, those micro-protrusions gradually evolved into the micro-spikes with the ladder-like surface. Then, various laser fluences were applied to regulate the deposition and melting behaviors of silicon, to obtain the micro/nano structures with different morphologies and sizes. The formation mechanism of these micro/nano structures was analyzed. On this basis, the optical properties test showed that best anti-reflectivity was referred to the sample full of micro-spikes with the ladder-like surface, and the average reflectance has decreased from ∼38.17% of the planar silicon to∼4.75% in the waveband between 300 and 1000 nm.

Curvature Effect on the Capacitance of Electric Double Layers at Ionic Liquid/Onion-Like Carbon Interfaces

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

Feng, Guang; Jiang, Deen; Cummings, Peter T

Recent experiments have revealed that onion-like carbons (OLCs) offer high energy density and charging/discharging rates when used as the electrodes in supercapacitors. To understand the physical origin of this phenomenon, molecular dynamics simulations were performed for a room-temperature ionic liquid near idealized spherical OLCs with radii ranging from 0.356 to 1.223 nm. We find that the surface charge density increases almost linearly with the potential applied on electric double layers (EDLs) near OLCs. This leads to a nearly flat shape of the differential capacitance versus the potential, unlike the bell or camel shape observed on planar electrodes. Moreover, our simulationsmore » reveal that the capacitance of EDLs on OLCs increases with the curvature or as the OLC size decreases, in agreement with experimental observations. The curvature effect is explained by dominance of charge overscreening over a wide potential range and increased ion density per unit area of electrode surface as the OLC becomes smaller.« less

Stepwise molding, etching, and imprinting to form libraries of nanopatterned substrates.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhi; Cai, Yangjun; Liao, Wei-Ssu; Cremer, Paul S

2013-06-04

Herein, we describe a novel colloidal lithographic strategy for the stepwise patterning of planar substrates with numerous complex and unique designs. In conjunction with colloidal self-assembly, imprint molding, and capillary force lithography, reactive ion etching was used to create complex libraries of nanoscale features. This combinatorial strategy affords the ability to develop an exponentially increasing number of two-dimensional nanoscale patterns with each sequential step in the process. Specifically, dots, triangles, circles, and lines could be assembled on the surface separately and in combination with each other. Numerous architectures are obtained for the first time with high uniformity and reproducibility. These hexagonal arrays were made from polystyrene and gold features, whereby each surface element could be tuned from the micrometer size scale down to line widths of ~35 nm. The patterned area could be 1 cm(2) or even larger. The techniques described herein can be combined with further steps to make even larger libraries. Moreover, these polymer and metal features may prove useful in optical, sensing, and electronic applications.

Enhanced light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes with periodic textured SiO2 on Al-doped ZnO transparent conductive layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Zhao; Bingfeng, Fan; Yiting, Chen; Yi, Zhuo; Zhoujun, Pang; Zhen, Liu; Gang, Wang

2016-07-01

We report an effective enhancement in light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an Al-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent conductive layer by incorporating a top regular textured SiO2 layer. The 2 inch transparent through-pore anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane was fabricated and used as the etching mask. The periodic pore with a pitch of about 410 nm was successfully transferred to the surface of the SiO2 layer without any etching damages to the AZO layer and the electrodes. The light output power was enhanced by 19% at 20 mA and 56% at 100 mA compared to that of the planar LEDs without a patterned surface. This approach offers a technique to fabricate a low-cost and large-area regular pattern on the LED chip for achieving enhanced light extraction without an obvious increase of the forward voltage. ).

Wrapping a liquid drop with a thin elastic sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paulsen, Joseph; Démery, Vincent; Davidovitch, Benny; Santangelo, Chris; Russell, Thomas; Menon, Narayanan

2014-11-01

We study the wrapping of a liquid drop by an initially-planar ultrathin (~ 100 nm) circular sheet. These elastic sheets can completely relax compressive stresses by forming wrinkles. In the experiment, we find that when a small fraction of the drop is covered, the overall shape of the sheet (i.e. averaging over the wrinkles) is axisymmetric. As we shrink the drop further, the sheet develops radial folds that break the axisymmetry of the sheet and the drop. Our data are consistent with a model where the sheet selects the shape that minimizes the exposed liquid surface area. We thus identify a ``geometric wrapping'' regime, where the partially-wrapped shape depends only on the relative radii of the sheet and the drop; the global breaking of axisymmetry is independent of the elastic energy of the deformed sheet. This regime requires that bending energy is negligible compared to surface energy, in contrast to the ``capillary origami'' regime where the static shape of the drop comes from a balance of bending and capillary forces.

Evaporation-Induced Assembly of Quantum Dots into Nanorings

PubMed Central

Chen, Jixin; Liao, Wei-Ssu; Chen, Xin; Yang, Tinglu; Wark, Stacey E.; Son, Dong Hee; Batteas, James D.; Cremer, Paul S.

2011-01-01

Herein, we demonstrate the controlled formation of two-dimensional periodic arrays of ring-shaped nanostructures assembled from CdSe semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). The patterns were fabricated by using an evaporative templating method. This involves the introduction of an aqueous solution containing both quantum dots and polystyrene microspheres onto the surface of a planar hydrophilic glass substrate. The quantum dots became confined to the meniscus of the microspheres during evaporation, which drove ring assembly via capillary forces at the polystyrene sphere/glass substrate interface. The geometric parameters for nanoring formation could be controlled by tuning the size of the microspheres and the concentration of the QDs employed. This allowed hexagonal arrays of nanorings to be formed with thicknesses ranging from single dot necklaces to thick multilayer structures over surface areas of many square millimeters. Moreover, the diameter of the ring structures could be simultaneously controlled. A simple model was employed to explain the forces involved in the formation of nanoparticle nanorings. PMID:19206264

Planar edge Schottky barrier-tunneling transistors using epitaxial graphene/SiC junctions.

PubMed

Kunc, Jan; Hu, Yike; Palmer, James; Guo, Zelei; Hankinson, John; Gamal, Salah H; Berger, Claire; de Heer, Walt A

2014-09-10

A purely planar graphene/SiC field effect transistor is presented here. The horizontal current flow over one-dimensional tunneling barrier between planar graphene contact and coplanar two-dimensional SiC channel exhibits superior on/off ratio compared to conventional transistors employing vertical electron transport. Multilayer epitaxial graphene (MEG) grown on SiC(0001̅) was adopted as the transistor source and drain. The channel is formed by the accumulation layer at the interface of semi-insulating SiC and a surface silicate that forms after high vacuum high temperature annealing. Electronic bands between the graphene edge and SiC accumulation layer form a thin Schottky barrier, which is dominated by tunneling at low temperatures. A thermionic emission prevails over tunneling at high temperatures. We show that neglecting tunneling effectively causes the temperature dependence of the Schottky barrier height. The channel can support current densities up to 35 A/m.

Power module packaging with double sided planar interconnection and heat exchangers

DOEpatents

Liang, Zhenxian; Marlino, Laura D.; Ning, Puqi; Wang, Fei

2015-05-26

A double sided cooled power module package having a single phase leg topology includes two IGBT and two diode semiconductor dies. Each IGBT die is spaced apart from a diode semiconductor die, forming a switch unit. Two switch units are placed in a planar face-up and face-down configuration. A pair of DBC or other insulated metallic substrates is affixed to each side of the planar phase leg semiconductor dies to form a sandwich structure. Attachment layers are disposed on outer surfaces of the substrates and two heat exchangers are affixed to the substrates by rigid bond layers. The heat exchangers, made of copper or aluminum, have passages for carrying coolant. The power package is manufactured in a two-step assembly and heating process where direct bonds are formed for all bond layers by soldering, sintering, solid diffusion bonding or transient liquid diffusion bonding, with a specially designed jig and fixture.

CMOS chip planarization by chemical mechanical polishing for a vertically stacked metal MEMS integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hocheol; Miller, Michele H.; Bifano, Thomas G.

2004-01-01

In this paper we present the planarization process of a CMOS chip for the integration of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) metal mirror array. The CMOS chip, which comes from a commercial foundry, has a bumpy passivation layer due to an underlying aluminum interconnect pattern (1.8 µm high), which is used for addressing individual micromirror array elements. To overcome the tendency for tilt error in the CMOS chip planarization, the approach is to sputter a thick layer of silicon nitride at low temperature and to surround the CMOS chip with dummy silicon pieces that define a polishing plane. The dummy pieces are first lapped down to the height of the CMOS chip, and then all pieces are polished. This process produced a chip surface with a root-mean-square flatness error of less than 100 nm, including tilt and curvature errors.

Graphene as a transparent conducting and surface field layer in planar Si solar cells.

PubMed

Kumar, Rakesh; Mehta, Bodh R; Bhatnagar, Mehar; S, Ravi; Mahapatra, Silika; Salkalachen, Saji; Jhawar, Pratha

2014-01-01

This work presents an experimental and finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation-based study on the application of graphene as a transparent conducting layer on a planar and untextured crystalline p-n silicon solar cell. A high-quality monolayer graphene with 97% transparency and 350 Ω/□ sheet resistance grown by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition method was transferred onto planar Si cells. An increase in efficiency from 5.38% to 7.85% was observed upon deposition of graphene onto Si cells, which further increases to 8.94% upon SiO2 deposition onto the graphene/Si structure. A large increase in photon conversion efficiency as a result of graphene deposition shows that the electronic interaction and the presence of an electric field at the graphene/Si interface together play an important role in this improvement and additionally lead to a reduction in series resistance due to the conducting nature of graphene.

Alignment of nematic liquid crystals by inhomogeneous surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ong, Hiap Liew; Hurd, Alan J.; Meyer, Robert B.

1985-01-01

Variable oblique alignment of nematic liquid crystals has been achieved on microscopically inhomogeneous surfaces. The surfaces consist of small patches favoring vertical (homeotropic) alignment surrounded by a matrix favoring a planar alignment. The construction of these surfaces employs randomly distributed microscopic metal islands formed by certain metals as vapor-deposited films. Larger scale periodic patterns were made as well to verify the techniques. The results are interpreted in terms of a continuum elasticity theory and azimuthal degeneracy is also discussed.

Effects of GlidArc plasma treatment on metallic surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astanei, D.; Ursache, M.; Hnatiuc, E.; Stoica, I.; Hnatiuc, B.; Felea, C.

2016-12-01

This paper presents the GlidArc plasma effects on some metallic surfaces often used in dentistry: zirconium, titanium and nickel - chromium alloy plates. For the experiments performed, a GlidArc reactor with two planar electrodes has been used. During the tests, the gas flow has been kept constant while the treatment time and the distance between the plasma and the sample were modified. The surfaces were analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in order to determine the surface morphological modifications induced by the plasma treatment.

Negative measurement sensitivity values of planar capacitive imaging probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Xiaokang; Chen, Guoming; Li, Wei; Hutchins, David

2014-02-01

The measurement sensitivity distribution of planar capacitive imaging (CI) probes describes how effectively each region in the sensing area is contributing to the measured charge signal on the sensing electrode. It can be used to determine the imaging ability of a CI probe. It is found in previous work that, there are regions in the sensing area where the change of the charge output and the change of targeting physical parameter are of opposite trends. This opposite correlation implies that the measurement sensitivity values in such regions are negative. In this work, the cause of negative sensitivity is discussed. Experiments are also designed and performed so as to verify the existence of negative sensitivity and study the factors that may affect the negative sensitivity distributions.

Organimetallic Fluorescent Complex Polymers For Light Emitting Applications

DOEpatents

Shi, Song Q.; So, Franky

1997-10-28

A fluorescent complex polymer with fluorescent organometallic complexes connected by organic chain spacers is utilized in the fabrication of light emitting devices on a substantially transparent planar substrate by depositing a first conductive layer having p-type conductivity on the planar surface of the substrate, depositing a layer of a hole transporting and electron blocking material on the first conductive layer, depositing a layer of the fluorescent complex polymer on the layer of hole transporting and electron blocking material as an electron transporting emissive layer and depositing a second conductive layer having n-type conductivity on the layer of fluorescent complex polymer.

Squeezed-light generation in a nonlinear planar waveguide with a periodic corrugation

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

Perina, Jan Jr.; Haderka, Ondrej; Sibilia, Concita

Two-mode nonlinear interaction (second-harmonic and second-subharmonic generation) in a planar waveguide with a small periodic corrugation at the surface is studied. Scattering of the interacting fields on the corrugation leads to constructive interference that enhances the nonlinear process provided that all the interactions are phase matched. Conditions for the overall phase matching are found. Compared with a perfectly quasi-phase-matched waveguide, better values of squeezing as well as higher intensities are reached under these conditions. Procedure for finding optimum values of parameters for squeezed-light generation is described.

Design of a backlighting structure for very large-area luminaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, L.; Mäyrä, A.; Simonetta, M.; Benetti, G.; Tramonte, A.; Benedetti, M.; Randone, E. M.; Ylisaukko-Oja, A.; Keränen, K.; Facchinetti, T.; Giuliani, G.

2017-02-01

A novel approach for RGB semiconductor LED-based backlighting system is developed to satisfy the requirements of the Project LUMENTILE funded by the European Commission, whose scope is to develop a luminous electronic tile that is foreseen to be manufactured in millions of square meters each year. This unconventionally large-area surface of uniform, high-brightness illumination requires a specific optical design to keep a low production cost, while maintaining high optical extraction efficiency and a reduced thickness of the structure, as imposed by architectural design constraints. The proposed solution is based on a light-guiding layer to be illuminated by LEDs in edge configuration, or in a planar arrangement. The light guiding slab is finished with a reflective top interface and a diffusive or reflective bottom interface/layer. Patterning is used for both the top interface (punctual removal of reflection and generation of a light scattering centers) and for the bottom layer (using dark/bright printed pattern). Computer-based optimization algorithms based on ray-tracing are used to find optimal solutions in terms of uniformity of illumination of the top surface and overall light extraction efficiency. Through a closed-loop optimization process, that assesses the illumination uniformity of the top surface, the algorithm generates the desired optimized top and bottom patterns, depending on the number of LED sources used, their geometry, and the thickness of the guiding layer. Specific low-cost technologies to realize the patterning are discussed, with the goal of keeping the production cost of these very large-area luminaries below the value of 100$/sqm.

MUTAGENIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RIVER WATERS FLOWING THROUGH LARGE METROPOLITAN AREAS IN NORTH AMERICA

EPA Science Inventory

Mutagenic characteristics of river waters flowing through large metropolitan areas in North America

The hanging technique using blue rayon, which specifically adsorbs mutagens with multicyclic planar structures, has the advantages over most conventional methods of not havi...

30-100-GHz inductors and transformers for millimeter-wave (Bi)CMOS integrated circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dickson, T. O.; Lacroix, M.-A.; Boret, S.; Gloria, D.; Beerkens, R.; Voinigescu, S. P.

2005-01-01

Silicon planar and three-dimensional inductors and transformers were designed and characterized on-wafer up to 100 GHz. Self-resonance frequencies (SRFs) beyond 100 GHz were obtained, demonstrating for the first time that spiral structures are suitable for applications such as 60-GHz wireless local area network and 77-GHz automotive RADAR. Minimizing area over substrate is critical to achieving high SRF. A stacked transformer is reported with S21 of -2.5 dB at 50 GHz, and which offers improved performance and less area (30 μm × 30 μm) than planar transformers or microstrip couplers. A compact inductor model is described, along with a methodology for extracting model parameters from simulated or measured y-parameters. Millimeter-wave SiGe BiCMOS mixer and voltage-controlled-oscillator circuits employing spiral inductors are presented with better or comparable performance to previously reported transmission-line-based circuits.

Versatile large-mode-area femtosecond laser-written Tm:ZBLAN glass chip lasers.

PubMed

Lancaster, D G; Gross, S; Fuerbach, A; Heidepriem, H Ebendorff; Monro, T M; Withford, M J

2012-12-03

We report performance characteristics of a thulium doped ZBLAN waveguide laser that supports the largest fundamental modes reported in a rare-earth doped planar waveguide laser (to the best of our knowledge). The high mode quality of waveguides up to 45 um diameter (~1075 μm(2) mode-field area) is validated by a measured beam quality of M(2)~1.1 ± 0.1. Benefits of these large mode-areas are demonstrated by achieving 1.9 kW peak-power output Q-switched pulses. The 1.89 μm free-running cw laser produces 205 mW and achieves a 67% internal slope efficiency corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 161%. The 9 mm long planar chip developed for concept demonstration is rapidly fabricated by single-step optical processing, contains 15 depressed-cladding waveguides, and can operate in semi-monolithic or external cavity laser configurations.

High-Accuracy Near-Surface Large-Eddy Simulation with Planar Topography

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-03

Navier-Stokes equation, in effect randomizing the subfilter-scale (SFS) stress divergence. In the intervening years it has been discovered that this...surface stress models do introduce spurious effects that force deviations from LOTW at the first couple grid levels adjacent to the surface. Fig. 10 shows...SFS stress is sufficiently overwhelming to produce the overshoot. When the LES is moved into the HAZ so that the viscous effects causing the

Stacked thin layers of metaphase chromatin explain the geometry of chromosome rearrangements and banding.

PubMed

Daban, Joan-Ramon

2015-10-08

The three-dimensional organization of tightly condensed chromatin within metaphase chromosomes has been one of the most challenging problems in structural biology since the discovery of the nucleosome. This study shows that chromosome images obtained from typical banded karyotypes and from different multicolour cytogenetic analyses can be used to gain information about the internal structure of chromosomes. Chromatin bands and the connection surfaces in sister chromatid exchanges and in cancer translocations are planar and orthogonal to the chromosome axis. Chromosome stretching produces band splitting and even the thinnest bands are orthogonal and well defined, indicating that short stretches of DNA can occupy completely the chromosome cross-section. These observations impose strong physical constraints on models that attempt to explain chromatin folding in chromosomes. The thin-plate model, which consists of many stacked layers of planar chromatin perpendicular to the chromosome axis, is compatible with the observed orientation of bands, with the existence of thin bands, and with band splitting; it is also compatible with the orthogonal orientation and planar geometry of the connection surfaces in chromosome rearrangements. The results obtained provide a consistent interpretation of the chromosome structural properties that are used in clinical cytogenetics for the diagnosis of hereditary diseases and cancers.

NMR of thin layers using a meanderline surface coil

DOEpatents

Cowgill, Donald F.

2001-01-01

A miniature meanderline sensor coil which extends the capabilities of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to provide analysis of thin planar samples and surface layer geometries. The sensor coil allows standard NMR techniques to be used to examine thin planar (or curved) layers, extending NMRs utility to many problems of modern interest. This technique can be used to examine contact layers, non-destructively depth profile into films, or image multiple layers in a 3-dimensional sense. It lends itself to high resolution NMR techniques of magic angle spinning and thus can be used to examine the bonding and electronic structure in layered materials or to observe the chemistry associated with aging coatings. Coupling this sensor coil technology with an arrangement of small magnets will produce a penetrator probe for remote in-situ chemical analysis of groundwater or contaminant sediments. Alternatively, the sensor coil can be further miniaturized to provide sub-micron depth resolution within thin films or to orthoscopically examine living tissue. This thin-layer NMR technique using a stationary meanderline coil in a series-resonant circuit has been demonstrated and it has been determined that the flat meanderline geometry has about he same detection sensitivity as a solenoidal coil, but is specifically tailored to examine planar material layers, while avoiding signals from the bulk.

Analysis and design of planar and non-planar wings for induced drag minimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mortara, Karl W.; Straussfogel, Dennis M.; Maughmer, Mark D.

1992-01-01

The goal of the work reported herein is to develop and validate computational tools to be used for the design of planar and non-planar wing geometries for minimum induced drag. Because of the iterative nature of the design problem, it is important that, in addition to being sufficiently accurate for the problem at hand, these tools need to be reasonably fast and computationally efficient. Toward this end, a method of predicting induced drag in the presence of a free wake has been coupled with a panel method. The induced drag prediction technique is based on the application of the Kutta-Joukowski law at the trailing edge. Until now, the use of this method has not been fully explored and pressure integration and Trefftz-plane calculations favored. As is shown in this report, however, the Kutta-Joukowski method is able to give better results for a given amount of effort than the more commonly used techniques, particularly when relaxed wakes and non-planar wing geometries are considered. Using these methods, it is demonstrated that a reduction in induced drag can be achieved through non-planar wing geometries. It remains to determine what overall drag reductions are possible when the induced drag reduction is traded-off against increased wetted area. With the design methodology that is described herein, such trade studies can be performed in which the non-linear effects of the free wake are taken into account.

The planar shape of drumlins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spagnolo, Matteo; Clark, Chris D.; Hughes, Anna L. C.; Dunlop, Paul; Stokes, Chris R.

2010-12-01

The asymmetry of the planar shape of drumlins is an established paradigm in the literature and characterizes drumlins as resembling tear drops with a blunt (bullet-shaped) stoss end and a tapering (pointed) lee end. It is widely cited and never been seriously questioned. In this paper, the planar shape of 44,500 drumlins mapped in various regional settings from drumlin fields in North America and Northern Europe were objectively analysed by means of Geographic Information System tools. Two parameters were considered. The first (denoted here as Aspl) focuses on the relative position of the point of intersection between the axes of the maximum length and the maximum width. It is defined as the distance between the upstream (i.e. beginning of the drumlin) and the intersection point (measured along the longitudinal axis) divided by the entire length of the long axis. Results indicate that the intersection point of the majority of drumlins (64%) is very close to the longitudinal midpoint (0.33 < Aspl < 0.66). The second parameter ( Aspl _A) is defined as the ratio between the area of the upstream half of the drumlin to that of the entire drumlin. Results show that for most drumlins (81%), the upper half area is almost as large as the down-half (0.45 < Aspl _A < 0.55). Taken together, these results concordantly indicate that drumlin planar shape has a strong tendency to be longitudinally symmetric and that the long-established paradigm of their plan form is false.