Curvature investigation in tapered fibers and its application to sensing and mode conversion

Non-adiabatic tapered fibers are basic photonic components used in a wide range of applications. Here we investigate a way to increase their utility through the controllable bending of one of their tapered sections. The experiments carried out explain, for the first time, the mechanics of this approach showing how these tapers can be used to build more sensitive sensors. Their use as highly efficient mode converters is also discussed.     

Graphene and graphene like 2D graphitic carbon nitride: Electrochemical detection of food colorants and toxic substances in environment

Excessive consumption of substances such as food colorants, exposure to doses of metal ions, antibiotic residues and pesticides residues above maximum tolerance limit have a detrimental effect on human health. Hence in detecting these harmful substances, the development of sensitive, selective and convenient analytical tools is an essential step. Graphene and graphene like 2D graphitic carbon nitride have shown great promise in the development of electrochemical sensors for determining the levels of these substances in different samples. In this paper, graphene and graphene like 2D graphitic carbon nitride applications on the determination of various food colorants in foods and drinks such as azo dyes (tartrazine, allura red, amaranth, carmine and sunset yellow); metal ions contaminants, antibiotic and pesticide residues in the environment are reviewed.     

Autonomous system for data collection: Location and mapping issues in post-disaster environment

Disaster relief requires many resources. Depending on the circumstances of each event, it is important to rapidly choose the suitable means to respond to the emergency intervention. A brief review of the conditions and means demonstrated the usefulness of an autonomous stand-alone machine for these missions. If many techniques and technologies exist, their relevant combination to achieve such a system presents several challenges. This communication tries to outline the possible achievement of an autonomous vehicle under these particular circumstances. This paper focuses on the specific working conditions and welcomes future contributions from robotics and artificial intelligence.In the necessarily limited scope of this article, the authors focus on a particularly critical aspect: location. Indeed, this machine is intended to evolve in heterogeneous and dangerous environment and without any outside contacts that could last up to several days. This blackout, due to the propagation difficulties of electromagnetic waves in the ground, induces an independence of the localisation process and makes the use of any radio navigation support system (GNSS), most of the time, impossible. The knowledge of the position of the system, both for navigation of the autonomous system (Rover) and location of targets (victims buried under debris) must be able to be estimated without contributions from external systems. Inertial classical techniques, odometer, etc., have to be adapted to these conditions during a long period without external support. These techniques also have to take into account that energy optimisation requests the use of low-power processors. Consequently, only poor computing capacity is available on-board.The article starts with a presentation of the context of a post-disaster situation as well as the main missions of Search and Rescue (SaR). It is followed by the analysis of autonomous navigation located in a post-earthquake situation. We will then discuss means to determine the attitude of the autonomous system and its position. The interest of hybridisation with external systems – whenever possible –, will be evaluated with a view to correcting deviations suffered by the system during its mission. Finally, prospects and future work are presented.     

Sensitive chemically amplified electrochemical detection of ruthenium tris-(2,2′-bipyridine) on tin-doped indium oxide electrode

Optimized combination of chemical agents was selected for sensitive electrochemical detection of dissolved ruthenium tris-(2,2′-bipyridine) (Ru-bipy). The detection was based on the chemical amplification mechanism, in which the anodic current of a redox-active analyte was amplified by a sacrificial electron donor in solution. On indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, electrochemical reaction of the analyte was reversible, but that of the electron donor was greatly suppressed. Several transition metal complexes, such as ferrocene and tris-(2,2′-bipyridine) complexes of osmium, iron and ruthenium, were evaluated as model analyte. A correlation between the amplified current and the standard potential of the complex was observed, and Ru-bipy generated the largest current. A variety of organic bases, acids and zwitterions were assessed as potential electron donor. Sodium oxalate was found to produce the largest amplification factor. With Ru-bipy as the model analyte and oxalate as the electron donor, the analyte concentration curve was linear up to 50 μM, with a lower detection limit of approximately 50 nM. Preliminary work was presented in which a Ru-bipy derivative was attached to bovine serum albumin and detected electrochemically. Although the combination of Ru-bipy, oxalate and ITO electrode has been used before for electrochemiluminescent detection of Ru-bipy and oxalate, as well as electrochemical detection of oxalate, its utility in amplified voltammetric detection of Ru-bipy as a potential electrochemical label has not been reported previously.     

双涂层光纤应变传感器的理论与实验研究

对带有聚合物涂敷层和缓冲层的光纤应变传感器的力学特性进行了研究，建立了双涂层光纤与基体材料相互作用的线弹性理论模型.理论研究表明：在小半径近似条件下，双涂层光纤的力学传递特性决定于涂覆层和缓冲层的弹性模量的相对值；当缓冲层的弹性模量远大于涂覆层时，其作用可忽略.实验中，将光纤传感器埋入基体材料内部，利用白光干涉应变测量方法，对平均应变传递系数进行了实验研究.实验结果与理论仿真具有较好的一致性.     

Fiber torsion sensor demodulated by a high-birefringence fiber Bragg grating

A new high-birefringence (Hi-Bi) fiber torsion sensor demodulated by a Hi-Bi fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed in this study. The twisted Hi-Bi fiber sensor characteristics are analyzed using the Jones matrix. The intensity ratio from two reflected Bragg wavelengths is associated with the twist angle of the measured Hi-Bi fiber. It is found that the twist angle resolution is estimated at around 0.3° under ±0.1 dB readout from an optical spectrum analyzer if the polarization state of the light source is stable. The advantages of this new torsion sensor are: (1) insensitivity to intensity variations from the light source, (2) insensitivity to the torsion gauge length, and (3) absolute measurement in the twist angle. However, the polarization state of light in the proposed method needs to be controlled, and any birefringence change in the twisted Hi-Bi fiber needs to be prevented.     

An AFM, XPS and electrochemical study of molecular electroactive monolayers formed by wet chemistry functionalization of H-terminated Si(1 0 0) with vinylferrocene

Molecular electroactive monolayers have been produced from vinylferrocene (VFC) via light-assisted surface anchoring to H-terminated n- and p-Si(1 0 0) wafers prepared via wet chemistry, in a controlled atmosphere. The resulting Si-C bound hybrids have been characterized by means of XPS and AFM. Their performance as semiconductor functionalized electrodes and their surface composition have been followed by combining electrochemical and XPS measurements on the same samples, before and after use in an electrochemical cell. White-light photoactivated anchoring at short (1 h) exposure times has resulted in a mild route, with a very limited impact on the initial quality of the silicon substrate. In fact, the functionalized Si surface results negligibly oxidized, and the C/Fe atomic ratio is close to the value expected for the pure molecular species. The VFC/Si hybrids can be described as (η⁵-C₅H₅)Fe²⁺(η⁵-C₅H₄)-CH₂-CH₂-Si species, on the basis of XPS results. Electrochemical methods have been applied in order to investigate the role played by a robust, covalent Si-C anchoring mode towards substrate-molecule electronic communication, a crucial issue for a perspective development of molecular electronics devices. The response found from cyclic voltammograms for p-Si(1 0 0) functionalized electrodes, run in the dark and under illumination, has shown that the electron transfer is not limited by the number of charge carriers, confirming the occurrence of electron transfer via the Si valence band. The hybrids have shown a noticeable electrochemical stability and reversibility under cyclic voltammetry (cv), and the trend in peak current intensity vs. the scan rate was linear. The molecule-Si bond is preserved even after thousands of voltammetric cycles, although the surface coverage, evaluated from cv and XPS, decreases in the same sequence. An increasingly larger surface concentration of Fe³⁺ at the expenses of Fe²⁺ redox centers has been found at increasing number of cv’s, experimentally associated with the growth of silicon oxide. Surface SiO⁻ groups from deprotonated silanol termination, induced by the electrochemical treatments, are proposed as the associated counterions for the Fe³⁺ species. They could be responsible for the observed decrease in the electron transfer rate constant with electrode ageing.     

Fiber-Optic Chemical Sensor for Detection of NO2 Using Poly (3-Octylthiophene)

A fiber-optic chemical sensor (FOCS) for detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) molecules is reported. The FOCS presents an optropode structure because of the transmission properties of the sensitive material. The NO₂ FOCS is activated by using the semiconductor polymer: regioregular head-to-tail poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl). The operation wavelength of the sensor is 543.5 nm such that a simple LED and detector can be used for the design of this device. The sensor response decreases after each exposure, demonstrating the reduction in sensitivity as well as irreversibility lower than 5%. However, its properties such as rapid response, high selectivity, high sensitivity (0.43 ± 0.01 muW/ppm), hygroscopic properties, and its operation at room temperature make this kind of FOCS a good alternative for NO₂ toxic gas detection.     

Highly enantioselective fluorescent recognition of α-amino acid derivatives

Bisbinaphthyl-based macrocycles are found to carry out enantioselective fluorescent recognition of α-amino acid derivatives. It is observed that one enantiomer of a N-protected phenyl glycine can increase the fluorescence intensity of the binaphthyl fluorophores by over 4-fold but the other enantiomer does not cause much fluorescence enhancement. This highly enantioselective fluorescent response makes the binaphthyl macrocycles practically useful for the enantioselective fluorescent recognition of the amino acid substrate.     

Kinetic Studies of Electrochemical Oxidation of 1,3-Benzenedithiol

The electrochemical oxidation of 1, 3-benzenedithiol was investigated in a 0. 100 mol/L tetrabutylammonium perchlorate/acetonitrile electrolyte. The electrochemical techniques used were potential sweep, bulk electrolysis, rotating disc and the potential step method. The combination of the techniques yielded the number of electrons transferred per molecule, the reaction order, the transfer coefficient, the diffusion coefficient and concentration of dithiol anions, the standard heterogeneous rate constant as well as the formal potential and equilibrium constant of the preceeding dissociation reaction. This paper also illustrates the methods for studying the electrode kinetics of reactions which (a) involve a chemical reaction preceeding the electron-transfer process, (b) have insoluble polymer products, and (c) are totally irreversible.