The electric field modulation by three-dimensional crack on fused silica subsurface

The main factor of laser-induced damage is the modulation to electromagnetic field of laser by the crack on the subsurface. In this paper, a three-dimensional crack model on the exit surface is presented. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is employed to simulate the electric field intensity distribution in the vicinity of crack on fused silica subsurface. The roles of the crack width, depth, length and the gradient angle in the modulation to the incident light field are analyzed in detail. Results show that the crack size plays an important role in the electric modulation. With the increasing depth and width, the peak value of maximal electric field intensity appears in fused silica. However, the maximal electric field intensity tends to be a constant when the crack length reaches 1 μm. Besides, the enhancement of light intensity becomes obvious when total internal reflection occurs in fused silica. Our calculated results provide an advisable theoretical criterion to the corresponding experiment.     

Photonic generation of microwave signals using dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber lasers

Photonic generation of microwave signals is demonstrated with a dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Microwave signal with a frequency of 21.07 GHz is obtained by aligning the reflection band of a uniform fiber Bragg grating to the two transmission peaks within a fiber Bragg grating-based Fabry-Perot filter. Stable dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode operation is guaranteed by means of the combined filtering effect of a saturable absorber and the Fabry-Perot filter. This approach provides an effective solution to the photonic generation of high-frequency microwave signals.     

Directional coupler design based on coupled cavity waveguides in photonic crystals

We propose a directional coupler design based on coupled cavity waveguide in photonic crystals. The plane wave expansion is used to give the dispersion of the coupled cavity waveguides and two parallel such waveguides. The couple length is got from the dispersion curves. Based on the research of the dispersion, we present a directional coupler and the transmission property is given. This structure is potentially important for highly efficient directional coupler in integrate optical circuit.     

The atom-photon entanglement of a two-level system embedded in double-band photonic band edge

The entanglement of a two-level atom with its spontaneously emitted photon embedded in double-band anisotropic photonic crystal has been investigated via the method of the quantum entropy. Different from the case in an isotropic crystal or in vacuum, the entanglement has symmetrical properties and much slower entanglement rate near the two band edges. Moreover, as a result of the atom-photon bound states by the virtue of the localization around the emitting atom, the degree of the entanglement gradually increases, achieves the maximum and then sharply reduces to zero on the boundary of forbidden band gap as the atomic frequency moves from the center of the band gap to either of the band edges.     

Improved surface-enhanced Raman scattering of patterned gold nanoparticles deposited on silicon nanoporous pillar arrays

Large-area silicon nanoporous pillar arrays (Si-NPA) uniformly coated with gold nanoparticles was synthesized, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering of rhodamine 6G adsorbed on these gold nanoparticles were studied and compared. It's found that Au/Si-NPA substrate has a significantly high Raman signal sensitivity and good homogeneity. These are attributed to gold nanoparticles with narrow particle-size distribution uniformly coated on the surface and to the enlarged specific surface area for adsorption of target molecules brought by the porous silicon pillars.     

Cotton fabric coated with nano TiO2-acrylate copolymer for photocatalytic self-cleaning by in-situ suspension polymerization

Two kinds of nano TiO₂-polyacrylate hybrid dispersions, TBM-w and TBM-e were synthesized by in-situ suspension polymerization and solution polymerization respectively, in order to fix the nano TiO₂ on fabrics. The photocatalytic self-cleaning fabrics have received much attention in recent years for its water-saving and environment-protection advantages. However, the fixation of the photocatalyst on fabrics is still a key problem that inhibits industrialization of these eco-friendly fabrics. The cotton fabric was treated by the two hybrid dispersions. The photocatalytic self-cleaning property was characterized. Infrared spectroscopy, burning loss test and thermogravimetry showed that some copolymer chains entangled with the nano TiO₂. Transmission electron microscope illustrated that there was a polymeric layer on the surface of nano TiO₂. The average diameter of TBM-w was smaller than that of TBM-e based on size analysis. The photocatalytic decoloration of the grape syrup indicated that the fabric with TiO₂-polymer hybrid had excellent self-cleaning property.     

Template-free synthesis of TS-1 zeolite film on tubular mullite support

The TS-1 film on tubular mullite support was prepared by secondary growth via template-free route using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and tetrabutyl orthotitanate (TBOT) as silica and titanium sources. The as-made films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). Continuous TS-1 seed layer was bonded tightly to the mullite substrates. After secondary growth in the template-free synthesis solution, intergrown TS-1 zeolite film with the typical MFI-type structure was formed on the outer surface of support. The Si atoms in zeolitic lattice were found to be isomorphously substituted by Ti atoms which existed only in tetrahedral coordination. The thickness of the obtained TS-1 zeolite film was less than 20 μm.     

Influence of thermal annealing duration of buffer layer on the crystalline quality of In0.82Ga0.18As grown on InP substrate by LP-MOCVD

In_0.82Ga_0.18As epilayers were grown on InP substrates using a two-step growth technique by LP-MOCVD. A homogeneous low-temperature (450 °C) In_0.82Ga_0.18As buffer layer was introduced to improve the crystalline quality of epilayers. The influence of low-temperature buffer layer deposition condition, such as thermal annealing duration, on the crystalline quality of the In_0.82Ga_0.18As epilayer was investigated. Double-crystal X-ray diffraction measurement, Hall measurement, and Raman scattering spectrum were used to evaluate the In_0.82Ga_0.18As epilayers. Atomic force microscope was used to study the surface morphology. It is found that the In_0.82Ga_0.18As epilayer, with buffer layer thermal annealing for 5 min, exhibits the best crystalline quality. The change of the surface morphology of the buffer layer after thermal annealing treatment was suggested to explain the phenomenon.     

A novel method for improving the adhesion strength of the electrodeposited Ni films in MEMS

Adhesion performance of MEMS materials is increasingly important with the widely use of miniaturized devices. This paper proposed a novel method for improving adhesion performance between electrodeposited Ni multi-layers. The new method is to treat the Ni substrate in nickel chloride plating solution by pulse reverse current technique before electrodeposition. The dense oxide film of Ni substrate can be removed effectively by this electrochemical method, meanwhile, the proper roughness of Ni substrate is in favor of epitaxial growth during electrodeposition. Moreover, the Ni film is electrodeposited by the new method with low stress and coarse crystal grain. Consequently, the adhesion performance of Ni films is improved dramatically. The experimental results show that the adhesion performance of Ni film electrodeposited by the new method is about 3 times that of by traditional method.     

Ultrasound-assisted anodization of aluminum in oxalic acid

Porous anodic alumina is an important nanoscale template for fabrication of various nanostructures. We report a new ultrasound-assisted anodization process in oxalic acid. Under the continuous irradiation of ultrasound, the one-step-anodized sample has a smooth and clean surface, and two-step-anodization brings ordered porous anodic alumina with higher growth rate of 52 μm/h. The ultrasound applied during the anodization can clean the surface and enhance the nanopore growth since it can accelerate the oxide dissolving on the electrolyte/oxide interface. The ultrasound-assisted anodization may be utilized for other anodizations.