Infrared digital reflective-holographic 3D shape measurements

We present a series of experiments to demonstrate digital holography on reflective objects at wavelength 10.6 μm of a CO₂ laser using a pyrocam array. Fresnel holograms of reflective objects are recorded by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We describe a method for improving the accuracy of the numerical reconstructions and for compensating the loss of resolution at longer wavelength by Fresnel reconstruction of digitally recorded infrared holograms.     

Micromachined high frequency PMN-PT/epoxy 1-3 composite ultrasonic annular array

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and performance of miniature micromachined high frequency PMN-PT/epoxy 1-3 composite ultrasonic annular arrays. The PMN-PT single crystal 1-3 composites were made with micromachining techniques. The area of a single crystal pillar was 9 × 9 μm. The width of the kerf among pillars was ∼5 μm and the kerfs were filled with a polymer. The composite thickness was 25 μm. A six-element annular transducer of equal element area of 0.2 mm² with 16 μm kerf widths between annuli was produced. The aperture size the array transducer is about 1.5 mm in diameter. A novel electrical interconnection strategy for high density array elements was implemented. After the transducer was attached to the electric connection board and packaged, the array transducer was tested in a pulse/echo arrangement, whereby the center frequency, bandwidth, two-way insertion loss (IL), and cross talk between adjacent elements were measured for each annulus. The center frequency was 50 MHz and −6 dB bandwidth was 90%. The average insertion loss was 19.5 dB at 50 MHz and the crosstalk between adjacent elements was about −35 dB. The micromachining techniques described in this paper are promising for the fabrication of other types of high frequency transducers, e.g. 1D and 2D arrays.     

Microfocus X-ray printed circuit board inspection system

In order to solve the problem of digital radiography for printed circuit board (PCB) defect inspection, a new inspection system for PCB defect inspection with high resolution X-ray is proposed and implemented in this paper. The influence of the focus size of X-ray source on imaging formation is analyzed to get the best geometrical magnification. Moreover, the relationship between the resolution of intensifier and geometrical magnification is presented by analyzing the performance of MCP-X intensifier, which results in calculating the comprehensive resolution of this system. The experiment result indicates that the measurements on defect character is achieved by inspection software, and the defect analysis accuracy on ball grid array (BGA) solder joint of circuit board achieves minimum resolution of 0.03 mm. As a result, this system succeeds in implementing invisible solder joint defect inspection on BGA.     

Hologram multiplexing in acrylamide hydrophilic photopolymers

Unslanted diffraction gratings are recorded in a 900 μm thick acrylamide photopolymer by means of peristrophic multiplexing. A solid state Nd:YAG (λ = 532 nm) laser is used as the recording beam, with a total incident intensity of 5 mW/cm², and a He-Ne laser as the reconstruction beam. The dye concentration in the photopolymer is optimized so that it does not limit the dynamic range. Nine holograms are recorded using constant exposure time scheduling and variable exposure time scheduling. From the results obtained it may be deduced that optimization of the dye allows us to work in the linear response region of the photopolymer and at the same time obtain high values of diffraction efficiency for each hologram. An exponential increase in exposure time as the number of holograms increases enables the values of diffraction efficiency to be homogenized with regard to the case of constant exposure scheduling. In this way, better use is made of the dynamic range of acrylamide hydrophilic photopolymer.     

An open-air infrasonic thermoacoustic engine

A low-frequency open-air thermoacoustic engine in a Helmholtz resonator has been constructed. Tests indicate that the system resonates in the Helmholtz mode for modest thermoacoustic stack temperature differences using stacks of varying type and pore size located within the neck of the Helmholtz resonator. The maximum acoustic pressure radiated from the open end of the resonator corresponds to 81 dB-SPL ref 20 μPa at a stack temperature difference of 185 K and an input electric power of 276 W. The system is well characterized by a numerical model of a representative stack.     

Enhanced near field mediated nanohole fabrication on silicon substrate by femtosecond laser pulse

Investigation of the process of nanohole formation on silicon surface mediated with near electromagnetic field enhancement in vicinity of gold particles is described. Gold nanospheres with diameters of 40, 80 and 200 nm are used. Irradiation of the samples with laser pulse at fluences below the ablation threshold for native Si surface, results in a nanosized surface modification. The nanostructure formation is investigated for the fundamental (λ = 800 nm, 100 fs) and the second harmonic (λ = 400 nm, 250 fs) of the laser radiation generated by ultrashort Ti:sapphire laser system. The near electric field distribution is analyzed by an Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation code. The properties of the produced morphological changes on the Si surface are found to depend strongly on the polarization and the wavelength of the laser irradiation. When the laser pulse is linearly polarized the produced nanohole shape is elongated in the E-direction of the polarization. The shape of the hole becomes symmetrical when the laser radiation is circularly polarized. The size of the ablated holes depends on the size of the gold particles, as the smallest holes are produced with the smallest particles. The variation of the laser fluence and the particle size gives possibility of fabricating structures with lateral dimensions ranging from 200 nm to below 40 nm. Explanation of the obtained results is given on the basis simulations of the near field properties using FDTD model and Mie's theory.     

Digital holographic imaging of aerosol particles in flight

This work describes the design and application of an apparatus to image aerosol particles using digital holography in a flow-through, contact-free manner. Particles in an aerosol stream are illuminated by a triggered, pulsed laser and the pattern produced by the interference of this light with that scattered by the particles is recorded by a digital camera. The recorded pattern constitutes a digital hologram from which an image of the particles is computationally reconstructed using a fast Fourier transform. This imaging is validated using a cluster of ragweed pollen particles. Examples involving mineral-dust aerosols demonstrate the technique's in situ imaging capability for complex-shaped particles over a size range of roughly 15-500 μm micrometers. The focusing-like character of the reconstruction process is demonstrated using a NaCl aerosol particle and is compared to a similar particle imaged with a conventional microscope.     

Comparison of the laser ablation process on Zn and Ti using pulsed digital holographic interferometry

Pulsed digital holographic interferometry has been used to compare the laser ablation process of a Q-switched Nd-YAG laser pulse (wavelength 1064 nm, pulse duration 12 ns) on two different metals (Zn and Ti) under atmospheric air pressure. Digital holograms were recorded for different time delays using collimated laser light (532 nm) passed through the volume along the target. Numerical data of the integrated refractive index field were calculated and presented as phase maps. Intensity maps were calculated from the recorded digital holograms and are used to calculate the attenuation of the probing laser beam by the ablated plume. The different structures of the plume, namely streaks normal to the surface for Zn in contrast to absorbing regions for Ti, indicates that different mechanisms of laser ablation could happen for different metals for the same laser settings and surrounding gas. At a laser fluence of 5 J/cm², phase explosion appears to be the ablation mechanism in case of Zn, while for Ti normal vaporization seems to be the dominant mechanism.     

Application of interference microscopy to the study of hologram build-up in LiNbO3 crystals

Interference microscopy was applied to direct microscopic observation of temporal evolution of phase holograms in LiNbO₃:Fe photorefractive crystals. First a hologram was recorded in the sample, and diffraction efficiency was monitored during hologram build-up using inactinic laser light. Thus kinetics of hologram build-up could be determined. The initial hologram was erased using white light. Then a series of write-erase cycles were performed with increasing exposure times. Holograms were observed by interference microscope after each exposure. The time elapsed between the exposure and the microscopic observation was negligible compared to the relaxation time of the hologram. The obtained temporal evolution of the grating profile gives a deeper insight into the physical mechanism of hologram formation in photorefractive materials than simple diffraction efficiency measurements. A congruently grown sample of LiNbO₃ doped with 10⁻³ mol/mol Fe in melting was studied by this method. Sample thickness was set to 300 μm to allow correct microscopic observation. Plane-wave holograms were recorded in the samples using an Ar-ion laser at λ = 488.0 nm of grating constants of 3, 6.5 and 8.8 μm.     

Null test of aspheric surface based on digital phase-shift interferometer

In order to implement the null test of aspheric surfaces as simply as that of spherical ones in a commercial digital phase-shift interferometer, computer generated holograms (CGHs) that are composed of a main CGH, which produces the ideal aspheric wavefront, and an alignment CGH, which aids in calibration, were utilized. The principle of testing aspheric surface in an interferometer with CGHs is explained and critical aspects in designing, fabricating and calibrating CGHs are discussed in detail. Error analysis of the experimental results demonstrated that the uncertainty of the testing system is better than λ/10 (λ=0.6328 μm).     

Digital Micro-mirror Device-based broadband optical image sensor for robust imaging applications

To the best of the authors' knowledge, presented for the first time is the design of a robust broadband optical image sensor using a Digital Micro-mirror Device (DMD). Electronic focus control of the imaging lens and full programmability of the spatial sampling aperture shape, size, and location on the DMD plane that mechanically scans the incident incoherent optical irradiance distribution lead to imaging smartness. Dual port single-point photo-detection design provides imaging operation robustness to the global light irradiance variations such as via environmental effects, e.g., moving clouds. As the Texas Instruments (TI) DMD can provide light modulation over 400 nm to 2500 nm wavelengths, visible, Near Infrared (NIR), and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) bands can be simultaneously processed to generate three independent band images via three point photo-detectors. A proof-of-concept experiment in the SWIR band at 1580 nm is conducted using an incoherent heart-shaped target that is sampled using the DMD imager set for a 68.4 μm side square moving pinhole. A 60 × 60 pixel image from the proposed imager produces a 0.94 cross-correlation peak when compared to an optically attenuated heart shape image produced by a near 9 μm pixel size phosphor coated Charge Coupled Device (CCD) imager. Using the dual-detection method, robust 633 nm visible light imaging of an Air Force (AF) Chart figure is successfully demonstrated for 3 Hz global light fluctuation. Applications for the proposed imager include optical sensing in the fields of astronomy, defense, medicine, and security.     

Strain rate sensitivity of ultra-fine and nanocrystaline metals and alloys

The mechanical behavior of metals and alloys is strongly related to grain size. In particular, the grain refining leads to the increase in yield strength in the ultra-fine grain (<1 μm) and nanocrystalline (<100 nm) regimes.Instrumented nanoindentation measurements allow a rapid evaluation of mechanical properties of materials, and the possibility to perform tests in a very wide range of loads. The strain rate sensitivity of ultra-fine and nanocrystalline metals can be derived by changing loading rates. The present paper presents the results on the strain rate sensitivity of ultra-fine grain metals produced by equa-channel angular pressing and nanocrystalline materials produced via electrodeposition. The results were obtained by systematic experiments performed at different loading rates (3, 30 and 300 mN/s) showing broad ranges of variations for the investigated metals. Also, the strain rate sensitivity of the studied materials was derived from the load vs. depth curves.     

Quantitative element mapping of Mg alloys by laser ablation ICP-MS and EPMA

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has been successfully applied to quantitatively map the lateral elemental distribution of trace elements in multi-phase magnesium-based alloys. A lateral resolution of 32 μm was achieved with limits of detection in the lower mg kg⁻¹ range for Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu in such materials. Quantification of elements by LA-ICP-MS was carried out using a sum normalization calibration procedure. Multi-element mappings of an area of 350 μm × 350 μm were performed by LA-ICP-MS and results for the main elements Mg, Al, and Zn were compared to electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) measurements of the same sample area. The agreement for Mg was 2.2% between the two techniques. The influences of the laser parameters, like repetition rate and laser spot size were studied and the conditions were optimized for single spot analysis to achieve high lateral resolution capabilities.     

Quasi-reciprocal reflective optical voltage sensor based on Pockels effect with digital closed-loop detection technique

A novel Pockels effect based optical voltage sensor (OVS) consisting of quasi-reciprocal reflective optical circuit is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. The quasi-reciprocal reflective optical circuit is realized so that a digital closed-loop detection technique adopted from fiber gyroscopes can be introduced to obtain the voltage-induced Pockels phase. Due to the digital closed-loop detection scheme, the proposed OVS is insensitive to the fluctuation of the light intensity and the dynamic range is independent of the half-wave voltage of the Pockels crystal compared to the conventional crystal bulk-type with the light intensity based detection scheme. A prototype of the proposed OVS is designed and evaluated. The calculated results of the electric field distribution show that the maximal measured voltage of the sensing element is up to 15 kV. The dc voltage from 0 to 3000 V and 50 Hz ac voltage from 0 to 5000 V are measured with good linearity. The proposed OVS achieves accuracy within ± 1% and ± 0.44% with the measured dc voltage above 800 V and ac voltage above 500 V, respectively. The influences of the alignment error in the sensing element on the measurement accuracy are also theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified.     

The origin of coercivity decrease in fine grained Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets

Microstructures of fine grained Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets that were produced by the pressless process were investigated to understand the origin of the sudden coercivity decrease below a certain grain size. The intrinsic coercivity is inversely proportional to ln D² with the highest coercivity of 17 kOe at D∼4.5 μm, below which the coercivity drops as the grain size decreases. We found that the degradation of the coercivity of the magnet with a grain size of 3 μm was mainly caused by the inhomogeneous distribution of fcc-Nd oxide whose volume fraction increased with respect to the dhcp Nd-rich phase.     

Surface morphologic and structural analysis of IR irradiated silver

The microstructural morphological changes in laser irradiated targets are investigated. Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, ∼12 ns nominal, 1.1 MW) is used to irradiate 4 N pure (99.99%) fine polished and annealed silver samples in ambient air and under vacuum ∼10⁻⁶ Torr. The laser spot size and power density at tight focus are 12 μm and 3×10¹¹ W/cm², respectively. SEM micrographs and X-ray diffractograms of the exposed and unexposed targets reveal the surface texture and structural changes, respectively. Amongst the ablation mechanisms involved, exfoliation and hydrodynamic sputtering are found to be dominant. Surface modifications appear in the form of craters and ripples formation. Heat is conducted non-uniformly through narrow channels at the surface. Thermal stresses induced by the laser do not disturb inter planar distance of the target. On the other hand irradiation causes significant variations in grain size and diffracted X-rays intensities.     

Analysis of multiplexed holograms stored in a thick PVA/AA photopolymer

Multiplexing many holograms in photopolymers over 500 μm thick poses many problems associated with Beer’s law. In fact, the commercial holographic films (Aprilis and Inphase for example) are around 300 μm thick. For this range of thickness of absorbent photopolymeric materials, the gratings are recorded using all the thickness of the layer. Since the optical thicknesses of the multiplexed gratings are similar, it is easy to obtain an optimized time schedule to maximize the capacity of the material. For large thicknesses, the different effective optical thickness of each hologram requires an accurate prediction of each effective optical thickness in order to determine the minimum separation necessary between two consecutive multiplexed holograms. In this study, we have checked the experimental utility of the schedule model presented in a previous study to predict the multiplexing process of many gratings in a PVA/acrylamide photopolymer.     

Lateral flow immunoassay using magnetoresistive sensors

Magnetic particles have been adapted for use as labels in biochemical lateral flow strip tests. Standard gold particle lateral flow assays are generally qualitative; however, with magnetic particles, quantitative results can be obtained by using electronic detection systems with giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. As described here, these small integrated sensor chips can detect the presence of magnetic labels in capture spots whose volume is approximately 150 μm×150 μm×150 μm. The range of linear detection is better than two orders of magnitude; the total range is up to four orders of magnitude. The system was demonstrated with both indirect and sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for protein detection of rabbit IgG and interferon-γ, respectively, achieving detection of 12 pg/ml protein. Ultimately, the goal is for the detector to be fully integrated into the lateral flow strip backing to form a single consumable item that is interrogated by a handheld electronic reader.     

Studies of the domain structure of anisotropic sintered SmCo5 permanent magnets

In this work, investigations of the magnetic microstructure of anisotropic sintered SmCo₅ permanent magnets with high coercivity have been made using the colloid-scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The magnets were produced by powder metallurgy (sintering) process and consisted of oriented grains with an average size of about 20 μm. They were studied in the thermally demagnetized state. Owing to the application of digital image recording, enhancement and analysis, high-quality images of the magnetic microstructure were obtained and analyzed not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. Improvements over previous results were achieved. The grains show the presence of magnetic domains, as expected. At the surface perpendicular to the alignment axis, the coarse domain structure in the form of a maze pattern with surface reverse spikes is observed. The main (maze) domains had typical widths 3–5 μm. The reverse spike domains were imaged as circles typically 1–2 μm in diameter or as elongated regions up to about 6 μm in length. Interestingly, in addition to the coarse maze domains and reverse spikes near the surface, a fine surface domain structure is revealed with MFM. The fine scale domains are found to be magnetized perpendicular to the surface and their occurrence is attributed to further reduction of the magnetostatic energy at the cost of a larger domain wall energy. On the surface parallel to the alignment axis, the main domains within individual grains are imaged as stripe domains with domain walls running approximately parallel to the alignment axis, while reverse spike domains are displayed in the form of triangular domains and occur near some grain boundaries, pores or precipitations. The magnetic alignment of grains was found to be good, but certainly not perfect. In most cases the domain structures within grains were independent of their neighbors, but in some cases (not so rare) observations indicated the existence of significant magnetostatic coupling between neighboring grains. The main and surface domain widths were determined by digital means using the stereologic method of Bodenberger and Hubert. Moreover, the domain wall energy and other intrinsic parameters for the studied magnets were determined.     

Intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy of platinum fluoride, PtF

Two vibrational bands of an electronic transition of PtF occurring at 11 940 cm⁻¹ and 12 496 cm⁻¹ were recorded and analyzed. These transitions are identified as the (0,0) and (1,0) bands of an [11.9] Ω = 3/2 − XΩ = 3/2 electronic transition. Gas phase PtF was produced in a copper hollow cathode lined with platinum foil using a trace amount of SF₆, and the spectrum was recorded at Doppler resolution by intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy. This work represents the first published spectroscopic data on PtF. Molecular constants for the ground and excited electronic states are presented.