Liquid crystal deposition on poled, single crystalline lithium niobate

For the purpose of elucidating the mechanisms for molecular organization at poled ferroelectric surfaces, single crystalline lithium niobate (LN), ‘Z-cut’ along the (0 0 0 1) plane, has been prepared and characterized and subsequently exposed to liquid crystal molecules. As a model system we chose to study the anchoring of 4-n-octyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) to LN. Liquid crystalline films are of interest because of their useful electronic and optical properties as well as chemical sensing attributes. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), surface contact angle measurements (CA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the surface of lithium niobate as well as the nature of 8CB films grown on the surface. Atomically flat LN surfaces were prepared as a support for monolayer thick, 8CB molecular domains. 8CB liquid crystal molecules were deposited by an ambient vaporization technique and the films were analyzed using XPS and CA. Understanding electrostatic anchoring mechanisms and thin film organization for this molecule on uniformly poled surfaces allows for a fuller appreciation of how molecular deposition of other polarizable molecules on periodically poled and patterned poled lithium niobate surfaces would occur.     

Low-temperature photoluminescence of 5CB liquid crystal

The photoluminescence spectra of the 4-n-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal have been investigated in detail at low temperatures 4.2-200 K, for the first time. The spectral data obtained are compared to the results of the luminescence study for the 5CB nematic phase at Т=300 K. The luminescence of the 5CB crystal state is characterized by emissions of both monomer and dimer structures. Besides, there are several energetically and conformationally non-equivalent types of monomers and dimers, and their amounts change with the temperature growth non-monotonously. The 5CB several crystal modifications, having different 5CB monomer and dimer conformers, have been found out below T=160 K. The 5CB crystal-crystal transition at Т=80 K is characterized with a total loss of the fine structure in the 5CB photoluminescence spectrum and a disappearance of the spectral band at 343 nm. At T=140 K, a new spectral band at 424 nm appears; it corresponds to the significantly overlapping 5CB dimers, its intensity grows under further heating. The present investigation gives a tool for the further characterization of the molecular alignments and changes in the 5CB molecular conformations, using the monomer and excimer fluorescence emissions as a probe. The conclusions made are confirmed by the IR-spectroscopy data, measured and analyzed for the 5CB in the same temperature region.     

Stochastic switching of subphthalocyanine arrays triggered by scanning tunneling microscopy

Single-molecular switching phenomena in monolayer arrays of subphthalocyanine adsorbed on Cu(1 0 0) surface were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) under ultrahigh vacuum. The molecules evaporated on the surface arranged in a square lattice taking the Cu(1 0 0)SubPc(5 × 5) epitaxy. During continuous STM imaging at fixed tunneling conditions the topography of the individual molecules spontaneously changed between the high and low states. This topographic change was attributed to orientational switching between the upward and downward adsorption of the axial Cl atom of the molecule on the Cu surface. Molecular energy calculations and statistical thermodynamic evaluation concluded that the tip-triggered disturbance in the close-packed molecular array induced the molecular rearrangement accompanied with the stochastic orientational switching.     

High repetition rate Q-switched microchip Nd:YVO4 laser with pulse duration as short as 1.1 ns

We have demonstrated a compact and an efficient passively Q-switched microchip Nd:YVO₄ laser by using a composite semiconductor absorber as well as an output coupler. The composite semiconductor absorber was composed of an LT (low-temperature grown) In_0.25Ga_0.75As absorber and a pure GaAs absorber. To our knowledge, it was the first demonstration of the special absorber for Q-switching operation of microchip lasers. Laser pulses with durations of 1.1 ns were generated with a 350 μm thick laser crystal and the repetition rate of the pulses was as high as 4.6 MHz. The average output power was 120 mW at the pump power of 700 mW. Pulse duration can be varied from 1.1 to 15.7 ns by changing the cavity length from 0.45 to 5 mm. Pulses with duration of 1.67 and 2.41 ns were also obtained with a 0.7 mm thick laser crystal and a 1 mm thick laser crystal, respectively.     

Dielectric and optical properties of polymer-liquid crystal composite

Dielectric properties of polymer-liquid crystal mixture, having constituent polymer, poly-butyl methacrylate (PBMA) and liquid crystal, cholesteryl nonanoate, are reported as a function of frequency and temperature. The measurement has been done in a temperature range of 300-375 K and frequency range of 100 Hz-10 MHz. The dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss shows significant changes with the addition of polymer molecules in liquid crystal. The significant feature of composite formation is that the pure liquid crystal and polymer do not show dielectric relaxation in the frequency range covered, while the composite shows relaxation peak at a particular frequency. The optical transmittance of pure liquid crystal and composite has also been measured and compared.     

Diode-pumped Nd:YVO4-Nd:CNGG crystals blue laser at 462 nm by intracavity sum-frequency-mixing

We report a laser architecture to obtain continuous-wave (cw) blue radiation at 462 nm. A 808 nm diode-pumped the Nd:YVO₄ crystal emitting at 914 nm. A part of the pump power was then absorbed by the Nd:YVO₄ crystal. The remaining was used to pump the Nd:CNGG crystal emitting at 935 nm. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 914 and 935 nm was then realized in a LiB₃O₅ (LBO) crystal to reach the blue radiation. We obtained a continuous-wave output power of 892 mW at 462 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 18.4 W at 808 nm.     

基于光子晶体马赫-曾德尔干涉仪的太赫兹开关及强度调制器

通过对二维正方晶格光子晶体线缺陷模色散曲线慢光特性的研究, 利用外电场对液晶分子取向的调控作用, 在填充液晶的正方晶格波导的马赫-曾德尔干涉仪结构中实现了开关和强度调制等功能. 利用平面波展开法计算了光子晶体波导的线缺陷模, 分析了液晶折射率的变化对缺陷模的影响. 计算表明, 液晶折射率仅改变了0.1, 线缺陷模有效折射率改变达0.168, 该特性可以更为有效地实现对相位的控制, 进而实现高消光比开关和强度调制功能, 这种高效的相位调节器件在集成光系统中将有很好的应用前景.     

Q-switched Nd lasers pumped directly into the F3/2 emitting level

The influence of the direct pumping into the ⁴F_3/2 emitting level on the output characteristics of continuous-wave (CW) pumped, passively or actively (acoustooptic, AO) Q-switched Nd lasers is discussed. In case of passive Q-switching by Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber (SA) crystal, the change of pumping wavelength from 0.81 μm into the highly-absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level to 0.88 μm into the ⁴F_3/2 level of Nd does not modify the energy of the Q-switch pulse, but increases the pulse repetition rate and the laser average power for the same absorbed pump power. This is demonstrated with 0.81 and 0.88 μm CW laser diode-pumped Nd:YAG and Nd-vanadate lasers with average output power in the watt-level range at 1.06 μm. The effect is explained by the control of passive Q-switching by the intracavity photon flux that is influenced by the pump wavelength and by the initial transmission of the SA crystal. On the other hand, it is discussed and experimentally proved that due to the possibility to control externally the frequency of switching, in case of the AO Q-switched Nd laser the change of the pump wavelength from 0.81 to 0.88 μm increases the pulse energy for a fixed frequency, leading to a corresponding increase of the average laser power.     

Ionic to electronic dominant conductivity in Al2(WO4)3 at high pressure and high temperature

Electrical conduction and crystal structure of Al₂(WO₄)₃ at 400 °C have been studied as a function of pressure up to 5.5 GPa using impedance methods and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction, respectively. AC impedance spectroscopy and DC polarization measurements reveal an ionic to electronic dominant transition in electrical conductivity at a pressure as low as 0.9 GPa. Conductivity increases with pressure and reaches a maximum at 4.0 GPa, where the conductivity value is 5 orders of magnitude greater than the 1 atm value. Upon decompression, the conductivity retains the maximum value until the sample is cooled at 0.5 GPa. The high pressure-temperature X-ray diffraction results show that the lattice parameters decrease as pressure increases and the crystal structure undergoes an orthorhombic to tetragonal-like transformation at a pressure ∼3.0 GPa. The change of conduction mechanism from ionic to electronic may be explained by means of pressure-induced valence change of W⁶⁺→W⁵⁺, which results in electron transfer between W⁵⁺-W⁶⁺ sites at high pressure.     

Study of the switching phenomena of TlGaS2 single crystals

Single crystals of TlGaS₂ were prepared by a special modified Bridgman technique and used to investigate the switching phenomena. The particular interest shown in switching studies of p-type TlGaS₂ compound is associated with the possibility of its uses as an effective switching and memory elements in electronic devices. The switching effect observed in such crystal shows a memory character. Using a crystal holder and cryostat we measured the switching phenomenon at different ambient conditions such as temperature, light illumination as well as sample thickness. Pronounced parameters for switching for sample of thickness 0.17 cm were determined from the experimental data such as threshold voltage V_th = 400 V, threshold current I_th = 37 μA, holding voltage V_h = 350 V, holding current I_h = 42.3 × 10⁻⁴ A, threshold power P_th = 1.48 × 10⁻² W, threshold field E_th = 196.429 V/cm as well as the ratio between the resistance in the off state R_OFF to the resistance in the conducting state R_ON as 130.253. The factors affecting these parameters have also been investigated.     

Adsorption of gaseous molecule within polyfluorinated surfactant/saponite hybrid compound

Adsorption behavior of gaseous molecules such as water vapor, nitrogen, and hydrogen within the interlayer of the hybrid compound composed of cationic polufluorinated surfactant, heptafluorobutanoylaminoethylhexadecyldimethylammonium bromide (C3F-S), and cation exchangeable clay, saponite, was studied by means of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The amount of adsorption of the gaseous molecules proportionally increased with the increase of the intercalated amount of C3F-S within the inorganic/organic hybrid compound. When the hybrid compound was dried before the gaseous adsorption, the dynamic response of the adsorption was very fast within 1 s, while it required a long time for ca. 10 h to plateau to a saturation level after an initial rapid increase followed by a slow decay of the QCM signal for the wet sample containing water (0.3 mmol/g-saponite). The dried hybrid compound, having C3F-S in the amount 4.3 equiv. against cation exchange capacity, adsorbed nitrogen (0.03 mmol/g-saponite), hydrogen (0.1 mmol/g-saponite), oxygen (0.03 mmol/g-saponite), ethylene (0.19 mmol/g-saponite) at 298 K, 101 kPa, respectively. The wet sample exhibited the gaseous adsorption with the larger amount: nitrogen (0.068 mmol/g-saponite), hydrogen (0.4 mmol/g-saponite), oxygen (0.067 mmol/g-saponite), and ethylene (0.24 mmol/g-saponite), respectively.     

Influence of substrate morphology on Pb growth

The crystallographic structure and morphology of Pb layers in their early stage of growth on Si(3 3 5) surface are studied with Reflection High Electron Energy Diffraction (RHEED) and specific resistivity techniques. The vicinal Si(3 3 5), with different surface morphology controlled by the amount of predeposited Au, was used as a substrate. Changes in the substrate morphology, from disordered step distribution through a perfectly ordered Si(3 3 5) to a hill-and-valley structure consisting of wide (1 1 1) terraces and high Miller index facets, cause switching between one- and two-dimensional growth of the Pb structures.     

Integrated photonic crystal spectrometers for sensing applications

A combination of negative refraction and diffraction compensation in a superprism-based photonic crystal structure is used to demonstrate a compact on-chip photonic crystal spectrometer. This structure provides strong dispersion and signal isolation, which are essential for forming an efficient and compact spectrometer. Performance of these spectrometers as spectral pattern detectors is discussed. The experimental results show that a PC structure with 80 μm × 220 μm dimension can locate a single spectral feature with better than 10 pm accuracy over a bandwidth of 50 nm around 1550 nm center wavelength at an output signal-to-noise ratio of 13 dB.     

Synthesis, growth and characterization of a new derivative 4-ethoxy-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium besylate monohydrate single crystal

A new organic material 4-ethoxy-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium besylate monohydrate, a derivative in the stilbazolium family, known for efficient nonlinear optical materials, has been synthesized for the first time. Employing the slow evaporation technique, optically transparent good quality single crystals of size 15 mm×10 mm×5 mm were grown from methanol. The cell dimensions obtained by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the crystal belongs to the monoclinic system. Functional groups of the grown crystal were identified from FTIR and NMR spectral analysis. UV−vis−NIR studies show that the crystal is transparent in the wavelength range 460-1100 nm. The thermal stability of the compound was determined by thermal analyses of the specimen.     

Dissociation of water molecule at three-fold oxygen coordinated V site on the InVO4 (0 0 1) surface

Water molecule adsorption properties at the surface of InVO₄ have been investigated using an ab initio molecular dynamics approach. It was found that the water molecules were adsorbed dissociatively to the three-fold oxygen coordinated V sites on the (0 0 1) surface. The dissociative adsorption energy was estimated to be 0.8-0.9 eV per molecule. The equilibrium distance between V and O of the hydroxyl -OH was almost the same as the V-O distance of tetrahedra VO₄ in the InVO₄ bulk crystal (1.7-1.8 Å).     

Low threshold, actively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 self-Raman laser and frequency doubled 588 nm yellow laser

We reported an actively Q-switched, intracavity Nd³⁺:YVO₄ self-Raman laser at 1176 nm with low threshold and high efficiency. From the extracavity frequency doubling by use of LBO nonlinear crystal, over 3.5 mW, 588 nm yellow laser is achieved. The maximum Raman laser output at is 182 mW with 1.8 W incident pump power. The threshold is only 370 mW at a pulse repetition frequency of 5 kHz. The optical conversion efficiency from incident to the Raman laser is 10%, and 1.9% from Raman laser to the yellow.     

Low-density carbon material modified with pyrolytic carbon

Here we report a physicochemical investigation of low-density carbon materials modified with pyrolytic carbon (PC). Exfoliated graphite (EG) obtained by nitrate expandable graphite thermal destruction was pressed into low-density graphite materials (LDGMs) with densities of 0.045-0.50 g/cm³ and saturated with PC by impact CVI technique. LDGM infiltration with PC leads to sample weight and density growth. The amount of deposited PC strictly depends on synthesis conditions. The maximum surface and volume deposition of PC occurred for samples with density of 0.05 g/cm³. XRD, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed that the deposited PC is of smooth laminar (SL) type. Composite thermal conductivity is about 2-3.5 Wt/m K.     

An experimental study of the properties of magnetoinductive waves in the presence of retardation

Magnetoinductive (MI) waves owe their existence to the magnetic coupling between metamaterial elements. First experiments confirming the existence of MI waves were carried out on capacitively loaded loops and Swiss Rolls about three orders of magnitude smaller than the operating wavelengths (5–15 m) so that the radiation effects did not play any significant role. In the present paper MI waves are studied experimentally on various types of split ring resonators of about 1 cm diameter operating in the microwave region between 1 and 2 GHz. Our results prove that retardation has a significant effect upon the propagation of MI waves.     

Growth and characterization of rocksalt MnS/GaAs epilayers by hot-wall epitaxy

Epitaxial growth characteristics of α-MnS on GaAs(1 0 0) substrates have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and double crystal rocking curve measurements. Growth of stoichiometric α-MnS films has been performed by hot-wall epitaxy using Mn and ZnS as a source of sulfur. The films on GaAs(1 0 0) at low substrate temperature exhibit multiphase crystal structures of zincblende and rocksalt, and the main structure is changed to rocksalt with increasing substrate temperature. Photoluminescence spectrum of the α-MnS epilayer at 5 K exhibits broad emission bands, which are attributed to Mn²⁺ ions. The band gap energy of the α-MnS epilayer at room temperature was also estimated to be about 3.3 eV by reflection.