One nanosecond photon correlation spectroscopy on smectic liquid crystal films

We have extended photon correlation spectroscopy down to a one-nanosecond time scale, and applied it to a study of layer undulations in freestanding smectic-A films of two cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals. Temporal correlations in the intensity of scattered light reveal an interesting combination of under- and overdamped modes. The underdamped mode is accurately described by a recently calculated correlation function of the smectic layer displacement, although its frequency and damping rate exhibit stronger dispersion at large optical wave vectors than expected from current dynamical models for smectic films.     

Sub- and superluminal propagation of intense pulses in media with saturated and reverse absorption

We develop models for the propagation of intense pulses in solid state media which can have either saturated absorption or reverse absorption. We model subluminal propagation in ruby and superluminal propagation in alexandrite as three and four level systems, respectively, coupled to Maxwell's equations. We present results well beyond the traditional pump-probe approach and explain the experiments of Bigelow et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 113903 (2003)]Science 301, 200 (2003)]] on solid state materials.     

Label Free Colorimetric Biosensing Using Nanoparticles

In this review article, we discuss a class of biosensors that exploit the change in the colorimetric properties of noble metal nanoparticles in response to biomolecular binding at their surface. Several sensor fabrication techniques as well as sensor configurations are discussed with an emphasis on their strengths and limitations. We conclude by presenting the future prospects and challenges for the successful transition of this technology from the laboratory to a commercial product.     

Random coil phosphorus chemical shift of deoxyribonucleic acids

Random coil phosphorus chemical shift has been studied using 16 17-nucleotide DNA sequences. Due to the presence of residual base stacking in these sequences, the temperature and sequence effects were investigated at 50 and 55 degrees C. The phosphorus chemical shifts of random coil DNA sequences have been found to be independent of temperature. Sequence effect analysis shows that the phosphorus chemical shift of a nucleotide in a random coil DNA sequence depends on both its 5'- and 3'-nearest neighbors. A trimer model has been used to establish the random coil 31P chemical shift prediction protocol which shows an accuracy of 0.02 ppm.     

Solution phase evolution of AuSe nanoalloys in Triton X-100 under UV-photoactivation

A solution phase UV-irradiation technique has been exploited to produce an AuSe nanoalloy through fusion of preformed Au (photoproduced) and Se (chemically prepared) in a micellar (TX-100) medium.     

Accelerated Bergman cyclization of porphyrinic-enediynes

The Bergman cyclization of simple diethynylporphyrinic-enediynes exhibits a double activation barrier to the formation of Bergman cyclized product. Addition of H-atom acceptor accelerates the formation of the picenoporphyrin, indicating that the second barrier is rate limiting.     

Diffusion and transport phenomena in a collisional magnetoplasma having both streaming and temperature anisotropy: Collisional kinetics

Boltzmann-transport equation is analytically solved for two-component magnetoplasma using Chapman-Enskog analysis to include collisional diffusion transport having anisotropies in both streaming velocity and temperature components. The modified collisional integrals are analytically solved with flux integrals and perturbed kinetic equation to arrive at drift diffusion velocity and resulting transport coefficients which are markedly affected by both streaming and temperature anisotropy. The early isotropic results are recovered in the limit V ₀ = 0 and T _‖ = T _⊥ which reduce to eqs (11.30) and (11.31) of [1] and eqs (2.7) and (2.13) of [2]. The electrical resistivity (η_⊥) diminishes sharply in fusion temperature limit kT _⊥ = 1 keV. The shape of the curves for both electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity is rectangular hyperbolic. However, for low thermal ratio (T _‖/T _⊥ < 1), the curves are raised up and for high thermal ratio (T _‖/T _⊥ > 1), they are lowered down the isotropic case (T _‖/T _⊥ > 1), showing comparatively diminished magnitudes of the quantities.      

AWG and EDFA based optical packet switch using feedback shared loop buffer memory

Optical packet switching provides high speed, data rate/format transparency, efficient use of bandwidth and flexibility. The major problem in the implementation of “all-optical” switching is contention which occurs when two or more packets arrive at the same time for the same destination. To resolve the contention, we have proposed an optical packet switch architecture based on WDM loop buffer memory in the feedback configuration. In that architecture, the contending packets are stored in a loop buffer module, and routed in the free time slots. The buffering duration in the recirculating loop is limited by a circulation limit. The analysis was been done to obtain the maximum number of allowed circulations. This paper proposes improved version of that optical packet switch architecture, to increase the number of maximum allowed circulations. The modification is done either by adding an extra erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in the original switch or by replacing the core space switch with arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). The performance analysis has been done by the simulations.     

Thin Nd:YAG slab laser pumped by lens duct coupled diode laser stacks

High power continuous wave operation of a diode face-pumped thin Nd:YAG slab laser is reported. A novel pumping geometry for a thin Nd:YAG slab using cylindrical lens duct coupled diode laser stacks is demonstrated. In a close-coupled resonator, a maximum laser output power of 260 W in multimode operation is obtained. This corresponds to a slope efficiency of 34% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 27%, respectively. In high-brightness operation, a polarized laser output of 70 W has been obtained with a beam quality factor close to 4 in both directions. The polarization contrast ratio is >100. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Pk; 42.60.By     

Spinning cone water film power meter for high-power CO2 lasers

A laser power meter based on water as an absorbing medium has been developed to measure multi-kilowatt CO₂ laser power with high sensitivity and accuracy. Water absorbs CO₂ laser radiation readily within a very thin layer. Though water has large thermal capacity, due to short absorption length, it could vapourize at high laser powers. In order to circumvent this problem, this power meter has a centre cone and a rapidly spinning water film as the calorimetric medium. The unique feature in this development is the centre cone, which diverges the beam and reduces the power density thus reduces the possibility of vapourization. This minimizes the error in measurements. Due to the rapidly moving fluid film, it exhibits fast response at low as well as high power levels.