The preparation of nanophase tungsten carbide powder with zeolite-X catalysts

The reduction–carburization of tungsten trioxide (WO₃) under carbon monoxide flow was studied in the temperature range of 300–750 °C. The reduction–carburization of WO₃ was improved by mechanically mixing with zeolite-HX, -NaX and -KX. The interaction between cation in zeolite-X and oxygen in WO₃ affected the improvement of the reduction–carburization of WO₃ to WC. Moreover, the improved reduction–carburization of WO₃ could lead to the decrease of reaction temperature. Because the particle size of WC is in contact with a reaction temperature, the nanophase WC can be prepared at low temperature. In particular, the particle size of WC was controlled by reaction temperature. The particle sizes of produced WC at 550, 650 and 700 °C were 25, 50 and 100 nm respectively.     

Effects of Si-doped GaAs layer on optical properties of InAs quantum dots

We have investigated the optical properties of InAs self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs) with the Si-doped GaAs barrier layer. Two types of samples are fabricated according to the position of the Si-doped GaAs layer. For type A samples the Si-doped GaAs layer is grown below the QDs, whereas for type B samples the Si-doped GaAs layer is grown above the QDs. For both types of samples the excited-state emissions caused by state filling are observed in photoluminescence (PL) spectra at high excitation power densities. The bandgap renormalization of QDs can be found from the shift of the PL peak energy. Particularly, for type A samples the Si atoms act as nucleation centers during the growth of InAs QDs on the Si-doped GaAs layer and affect the density and the size of the QDs. The Si-doped GaAs layer in type A samples has more effects on the properties of QDs, such as state filling and bandgap renormalization than those of type B samples.     

Ultrafast laser ablation of indium tin oxide thin films for organic light-emitting diode application

Ultrafast laser ablation of ITO thin film coated on the glass has been investigated as a function of laser fluence as well as the number of laser pulses. The ablation threshold of ITO thin film was found to be 0.07 J/cm² that is much lower than that of glass substrate (about 1.2–1.6 J/cm²), which leads to a selective ablation of ITO film without damage on glass substrate. The changes in the electrical resistance and morphology of ablated trench of ITO electrode were found to be strongly dependent on the processing conditions. We present the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) fabricated with ITO electrode patterned by ultrafast laser ablation.     

Optical properties of bulk Zn1−xCoxO magnetic semiconductors

Polycrystalline Zn_1−xCo_xO (x=0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15) oxides have been synthesized by solid state reaction via sintering ZnO and Co powders in open air. X-ray diffraction analyses using Rietveld refinement indicate that a stoichiometric single phase with a wurtzite-like structure was found in Zn_1−xCo_xO samples with x up to 0.10. The elemental mapping using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analyses presents a uniform distribution of Co. Optical transmittance measurements show that several extra absorption bands appear in the Co-doped ZnO, which is due to the transitions between the crystal-field-split 3d levels of tetrahedral Co²⁺ substituting Zn²⁺ ions. Raman measurements show that limited host lattice defects are induced by Co doping. Magnetization measurements reveal that the Co-doped ZnO samples are paramagnetic due to the absence of free carriers and in low temperature the dominant magnetic interaction is nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic.     

Advantages of Adaptive Speckle Filtering Prior to Application of Iterative Deconvolution Methods for Optical Coherent Tomography Imaging

The axial resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is closely related to the light source spectrum width. Unfortunately, most basic sources providing the required power for decent OCT image have narrow spectra, which generate a resolution loss. Assuming the OCT system is linear shift-invariant, we can consider the system output as the convolution of the theoretical signal with a system impulse response due to this spectrum narrowness. It becomes then possible to enhance this resolution through iterative deconvolution methods (IDM). However those methods have a significant drawback, as they usually significantly enhance speckle, which is another consequence of the source spectrum narrowness. To compensate this, we rely on preliminary speckle filtering, and especially the adaptative ones, which allow tackling the speckle without blurring the image. We first studied enhancement proposed by most popular IDMs on OCT images, and then the effect of preliminary adaptive speckle filtering (ASF) by different common adaptive methods. Then, among those methods, we combined Frost filter and Richardson-Lucy deconvolution in the appropriated way; this way we both enhanced resolution by 2 and reduced speckle (raising CNR from 0.7 to 1.3)     

MM-Wave Band Transversal Filter with Improved Spurious Characteristics

A spurious-suppressed transversal filter using the multiple-coupled line is proposed. The frequency characteristics of the multiple-coupled line are analyzed in detail. In order to compare the performances, the novel spurious-suppressed transversal filter using triple-coupled half-wavelength directional couplers is designed at 30 GHz. The spurious-suppression characteristics of the proposed transversal filter are verified by the full wave analysis and the measurement. The spurious response of the fabricated filter is effectively suppressed and the large attenuation is obtained in the stopband.     

A facile synthesis of simple alkaloids—synthesis of 2,3-polymethylene-4(3H)-quinazolinones and related alkaloids

An efficient procedure for preparation of the simple alkaloids, 2,3-polymethylene-4(3H)-quinazolinones, luotonin A, tryptanthrin, and rutaecarpine has been established by the reaction of lactam-HCl salts with POCl₃ followed by cyclization with methyl anthranilate.     

Native oxide buried InAlAs ridge waveguide laser diode

InAlAs wet thermal oxidation process was adopted to fabricate ridge waveguide laser diodes. First, applying the oxidation process on the whole etched surface of an InAlAs upper cladding layer, we formed a current blocking and optical confining layer of ridge waveguide laser diode. This is a self-aligned structure, which makes the laser diode fabrication steps much simpler and etching-depth control less important. Assessment of the fabricated laser diode revealed that current-voltage characteristics and slope efficiency did not worsen, and threshold current was reduced by the oxidation process. PACS 85.35.Be; 42.55.Px     

Bandgap engineering of self-assembled InAs quantum dots with a thin AlAs barrier

We investigate the effects of a thin AlAs layer with different position and thickness on the optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) by using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The energy level shift of InAs QD samples is observed by introducing the thin AlAs layer without any significant loss of the QD qualities. The emission peak from InAs QDs directly grown on the 4 monolayer (ML) AlAs layer is blueshifted from that of reference sample by 219 meV with a little increase in FWHM from 42–47 meV for ground state. In contrast, InAs QDs grown under the 4 ML AlAs layer have PL peak a little redshifted to lower energy by 17 meV. This result is related to the interdiffusion of Al atom at the InAs QDs caused by the annealing effect during growing of InAs QDs on AlAs layer.     

A strategy for choosing Gegenbauer reconstruction parameters for numerical stability

The Gegenbauer reconstruction method was first proposed in 1992, but in early studies no attempts were made to optimize the relevant parameters of this method. These parameters were allowed to grow proportionally with the number of nodes which, in many cases, resulted in exponential convergence for a selected range of the proportionality constants. Early studies also made clear that very large error bounds could be expected if these key parameters were not chosen carefully. Subsequent studies then pointed out that, although unrelated to the method’s analytically predictable domains of poor accuracy, round-off errors could also sabotage the method’s accuracy. The challenge of successfully implementing a Gegenbauer reconstruction then rests on understanding the performance trade-offs we can expect when choosing the key parameters in accordance with different objectives.In this study, we propose a new strategy for choosing optimal parameters in the Chebyshev-Gegenbauer reconstruction method, specifically to achieve numerical stability. This strategy is based on asymptotic analysis as well as minimization problems in one and two dimensions. The effectiveness of our approach, which could also be applied to a wider selection of polynomials is then illustrated with results from numerical experiments.