Measurement of linear birefringence using a rotating-wave-plate Stokes polarimeter

In this study, a compact polarimeter is developed to measure the linear birefringence property of optical materials. The principal axis angle and the retardance are obtained by a simple signal-processing algorithm, which is derived via Stokes parameters extractions when using an incident light linearly polarized at 45°. There exists an absolute error of 0.0296° on average in the principal axis angle measurement and a relative error of 2.54% in the retardance measurement of a quarter-wave-plate sample with its principal axis ranging from −40° to 40°. The standard deviations for the principal axis angle and retardance measurements are determined to be 0.015° and 0.018°, respectively, while one standard deviation to the average value of the principal axis angle and retardance, respectively, are just 0.066% and 0.020% with high repeatability, and corresponding dynamic ranges of −45° to 45° and −180° to 180°, respectively. Consequently, the developed polarimeter has a potential in linear birefringence measurement, especially in the retardance measurement.     

Acceleration response spectrum for predicting floor vibration due to occupant walking

Annoying vibrations caused by occupant walking is an important serviceability problem for long-span floors. At the design stage the floor?s structural arrangement may frequently change to cater for the owner?s varying requirements. An efficient and accurate approach for predicting a floor?s acceleration response is thus of great significance. This paper presents a design-oriented acceleration response spectrum for calculating a floor?s response given the floor?s modal characteristics and a specified confidence level. 2204 measured footfall traces from 61 test subjects were used to generate 10 s peak root-mean-square acceleration response spectra, on which a piecewise mathematical representation is based. The proposed response spectrum consists of three main parts: the first harmonic plateau ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 Hz, the second harmonic plateau ranging from 3.0 to 5.0 Hz and the descending part going with frequencies from 5.0 to 10.0 Hz. The representative value of each plateau and the mathematical representation for the descending curve were determined statistically for different confidence levels. Furthermore, the effects of factors, such as floor span, occupant stride length, higher modes of vibration, boundary conditions and peak acceleration response, on the proposed spectrum have been investigated and a modification measure for each factor is suggested. A detailed application procedure for the proposed spectrum approach is presented and has been applied to four existing floors to predict their acceleration responses. Comparison between predicted and field measured responses shows that the measured accelerations of the four floors are generally close to or slightly higher than the predicted values for the 75 percent confidence level, but are all lower than the predicted values for the 95 percent confidence level. Therefore the suggested spectrum-based approach can be used for predicting a floor?s response subject to a single person walking.     

Signal processing efficiency of Doppler global velocimetry with laser frequency modulation

Novel Doppler global velocimeters using laser frequency modulation can optically measure flow velocity fields and offer promising perspectives, but so far unknown limits, for achieving low measurement uncertainties. One approach, e.g. is based on sinusoidal frequency modulation and a harmonic signal analysis. In order to determine the minimum achievable measurement uncertainty, the known theorem of Cramér and Rao is applied to a derived signal model, initially excluding the harmonic signal analysis. For a typical scattered light power of 1 nW and a desired temporal resolution of 16 ms, the calculated minimum velocity standard deviation amounts to 0.02 and 0.06 m/s for signal dependent (quantum shot) noise and signal independent (thermal and dark current) noise, respectively. It is subsequently investigated, how efficient the harmonic signal analysis extracts the Fisher information content. The ratio of the Cramér-Rao lower bound and the estimated measurement uncertainty, where the signal processing is taken into account, was found to be >75% in terms of standard deviations in the entire measurement range of about . For the challenge of measuring velocity fields in turbomachine flows (requirements: 5 kHz measurement rate, ≤1% statistical error, velocities (50-240) m/s), the presented results indicate a necessary minimum scattered light power of 1.5 nW, which seems feasible.     

Comparative study on the effect of annealing treatments on RTL mechanism in natural quartz from different origins

The behaviour of trap centres and luminescence centres has been investigated for fired and unfired natural quartz from bricks and sediments irradiated at 100 Gy and annealed at different temperatures in the range 350-700 °C. The annealing treatment affects thermoluminescence (TL) glow curve as various changes were observed. The higher sensitization occurred for an annealing in the region 550-600 °C. At this annealing temperature, it has been observed the emergence of two peaks arising at 96 and 180 °C. At lower annealing temperatures, these peaks are overlapped by the peaks localized at 90 and 195 °C, respectively. Concerning the fired quartz, the higher sensitization occurred for an annealing in the region 500-550 °C for peak temperature around 200 °C and an unusual desensitization for the peak temperature around 100 °C. The behaviour of the two types of quartz is analyzed regarding to their kinetic parameters and luminescence emission and compared to literature data.     

Luminescence and EPR studies of Eu doped BaAl12O19 blue light emitting phosphors

Europium doped BaAl₁₂O₁₉ powder phosphors have been synthesized by combustion process within few minutes. The phosphors have been characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, EPR and PL techniques. The EPR spectrum exhibits an intense resonance signal at g=1.96 characteristic of Eu²⁺ ions. In addition to this two weak resonance signals have been observed at g=2.28 and g=4.86. The population of the spin levels (N) for the resonance signal at g=1.96 is calculated as a function of temperature. By post-treating the phosphor at 1350 °C under a reducing atmosphere, it is observed that the population of spin levels has been increased five times. The excitation spectrum shows a peak at 326 nm with a shoulder at 290 nm. Upon excitation at 326 nm, the emission spectrum exhibits a well defined broad band with maximum at 444 nm emitting a blue light corresponding to 4f⁶5d→4f⁷ transition. The luminescence intensity also has been enhanced to 60% by post-treating the phosphor at 1350 °C under a reducing atmosphere.     

Effects of annealing temperature and method on structural and optical properties of TiO2 films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature

TiO₂ thin film was deposited on non-heated Si(1 0 0) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. The as-deposited films were annealed by a conventional thermal annealing (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 700 and 800 °C, and the effects of annealing temperature and method on optical properties of studied films were investigated by measuring the optical band gaps and FT-IR spectra. And we also compared the XRD patterns of the studied samples. The as-deposited film showed a mixed structure of anatase and brookite. Only rutile structures were found in samples annealed above 800 °C by CTA, while there are no special peaks except the weak brookite B(2 3 2) peak for the sample annealed at (or above) 800 °C by RTA. FT-IR spectra show the broad peaks due to Ti-O vibration mode in the range of 590-620 cm⁻¹ for the as-deposited film as well as samples annealed by both annealing methods at 700 °C. The studied samples all had the peaks from Si-O vibration mode, which seemed to be due to the reaction between TiO₂ and Si substrate, and the intensities of these peaks increased with increasing of annealing temperature. The optical band gap of the as-deposited film was 3.29 eV but it varied from 3.39 to 3.43 eV as the annealing temperature increased from 700 to 800 °C in the samples annealed by CTA. However, it varied from 3.38 to 3.32 eV as the annealing temperature increased from 700 to 800 °C by RTA.     

Dielectric properties of Bismuth Titanate (Bi4Ti3O12) synthesized using solution combustion route

Ferroelectric Bismuth Titanate (Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂) was prepared by solution combustion route with glycine as fuel. The single phase Bismuth Titanate was obtained after calcination at 800 °C, which was confirmed with the help of X-ray diffraction studies and EDS analysis. SEM micrographs of the calcined powders show agglomerated particles, which is typical of combustion synthesis. Behavior of dielectric constant and dielectric loss as a function of temperature of as prepared sample are reported here. Ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition occurs at the temperature T_c∼650 °C. Impedance studies were made in the frequency range from 1 KHz to 1 MHz. The semicircles observed in the complex impedance diagrams indicate deviation from the Debye behavior. Activation energy of the sample around T_c is found to be ∼0.35 eV and below T_c is ∼0.13 eV, which was calculated using the Arrhenius plots.     

The structure and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering

This paper seeks to determine the optimal settings for the deposition parameters, for TiO₂ thin film, prepared on non-alkali glass substrates, by direct current (dc) sputtering, using a ceramic TiO₂ target in an argon gas environment. An orthogonal array, the signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance are used to analyze the effect of the deposition parameters. Using the Taguchi method for design of a robust experiment, the interactions between factors are also investigated. The main deposition parameters, such as dc power (W), sputtering pressure (Pa), substrate temperature (°C) and deposition time (min), were optimized, with reference to the structure and photocatalytic characteristics of TiO₂. The results of this study show that substrate temperature and deposition time have the most significant effect on photocatalytic performance. For the optimal combination of deposition parameters, the (1 1 0) and (2 0 0) peaks of the rutile structure and the (2 0 0) peak of the anatase structure were observed, at 2θ ∼ 27.4°, 39.2° and 48°, respectively. The experimental results illustrate that the Taguchi method allowed a suitable solution to the problem, with the minimum number of trials, compared to a full factorial design. The adhesion of the coatings was also measured and evaluated, via a scratch test. Superior wear behavior was observed, for the TiO₂ film, because of the increased strength of the interface of micro-blasted tools.     

DMM及纳米颗粒添加剂对农用柴油机燃烧与排放性能的影响

本文通过在柴油中添加小比例二甲氧基甲烷(DMM)以及纳米氧化铝(Al2O3)颗粒研究一台小型农用柴油机的燃烧与排放特性.研究表明,随着柴油中DMM添加比例的增大,发动机燃烧特性参数如缸内压力、燃烧放热率及制动热效率得到明显地提升,着火延迟期以及CA50逐渐减小;排放方面HC和NOx增加,而CO和碳烟得到有效地抑制.燃油...     

Improved method of measuring pressure coupled response for composite solid propellants

Pressure coupled response is one of the main causes of combustion instability in the solid rocket motor. It is also a characteristic parameter for predicting the stability. The pressure coupled response function is usually measured by different methods to evaluate the performance of new propellant. Based on T-burner and “burning surface doubled and secondary attenuation”, an improved method for measuring the pressure coupled response of composite propellant is introduced in this article. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study has also been conducted to validate the method and to understand the pressure oscillation phenomenon in T-burner. Three rounds of tests were carried out on the same batch of aluminized AP/HTPB composite solid propellant. The experimental results show that the sample propellant had a high response function under the conditions of high pressure (~11.5 MPa) and low frequency (~140 Hz). The numerically predicted oscillation frequency and amplitude are consistent with the experimental results. One practical solid rocket motor using this sample propellant was found to experience pressure oscillation at the end of burning. This confirms that the sample propellant is prone to combustion instability. Finally, acoustic pressure distribution and phase difference in T-burner were analyzed. Both the experimental and numerical results are found to be associated with similar acoustic pressure distribution. And the phase difference analysis showed that the pressure oscillations at the head end of the T-burner are 180° out of phase from those in the aft end of the T-burner.     

Effects of forming gas annealing on LiNbO3 single crystals

Z-cut congruent LiNbO₃ single crystals were annealed in 95%N₂+5%H₂ at high temperatures. X-ray diffraction showed that 2θ of (0 0 0 6) peak is obviously reduced by 0.6° and 1.0° for the samples annealed at 600 and 900 °C, respectively. A new peak appears at the high-energy side of O 1s spectrum in X-ray photoelelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses, and the leakage current is greatly increased. It is proposed that hydrogen is incorporated in LiNbO₃ single crystals through forming gas annealing at temperatures up to 900 °C and exists in LiNbO₃ as a proton bound to an oxygen ion through O-H bond with its electron donated.     

A cylindrical standing wave ultrasonic motor using bending vibration transducer

A cylindrical standing wave ultrasonic motor using bending vibration transducer was proposed in this paper. The proposed stator contains a cylinder and a bending vibration transducer. The two combining sites between the cylinder and the transducer locate at the adjacent wave loops of bending vibration of the transducer and have a distance that equal to the half wave length of bending standing wave excited in the cylinder. Thus, the bending mode of the cylinder can be excited by the bending vibration of the transducer. Two circular cone type rotors are pressed in contact to the end rims of the teeth, and the preload between the rotors and stator is accomplished by a spring and nut system. The working principle of the proposed motor was analyzed. The motion trajectories of teeth were deduced. The stator was designed and analyzed with FEM. A prototype motor was fabricated and measured. Typical output of the prototype is no-load speed of 165 rpm and maximum torque of 0.45 N m at an exciting voltage of 200 V_rms.     

The influence of preparative parameters on the adhesion of alumina washcoats deposited on metallic supports

Well-adhered alumina washcoats on FeCrAl metallic supports were prepared using boehmite sols and alumina slurries. The microstructure and the surface performance of the washcoat/support were investigated by SEM, XRD, and ultrasonic vibration. The effects of the main preparative parameters on the coating adherence were studied. The optimal coating conditions are presented as follows: pre-oxidation of the metallic supports was performed at 900 °C for 10 h, the sol layer loadings were 2.0-6.6 wt.%, and the slurry layer loadings were less than 25.3 wt.%. The sol layer drying was performed at 30 °C for 1 h and that for the slurry layer the drying was performed at 120 °C for 2 h, and the coating calcining was performed at 900 °C for 2 h. The SEM photographs of coated samples show that alumina washcoats were well deposited on the metallic supports.     

Exact laser line-width requirements evaluation for optical PSK homodyne communication systems with Dither loop

The laser line-width required in PSK homodyne communication systems with Dither phase-locked loop receivers are exactly evaluated. It is shown that second-order phase-locked loops require at least 0.2 pW of signal power per every Hz of laser line-width (this number refers to the system with the detector responsivity 0.94 A/W, damping ratio 0.707, and the phase error standard deviation 10°). This signal power is used for phase locking, and is, therefore lost from the data receiver. This study for the first time shows the imperfect-phase-recovery-induced power penalty as a function of laser line-width. It can be estimated from the theoretical result that an optimal dither phase locked-loop receiver requires the laser line-width as Δυ ≤ 3.14 × 10⁻⁵ × R_b, where R_b is the system bit rate. This number refers to the system with power penalty of 1 dB at BER = 10⁻¹⁰.     

燃料敏感性对内燃机部分预混燃烧(PPC)光谱特性的影响研究

在一台光学发动机上,利用火焰高速成像技术和自发光光谱分析法,研究了燃料敏感性(S)为0和6时对发动机缸内火焰发展和燃烧发光光谱的影响。试验过程中,通过改变喷油时刻(SOI=-25,-15和-5°CA ATDC)使燃烧模式从部分预混燃烧过渡到传统柴油燃烧模式。通过使用正庚烷、异辛烷、乙醇混合燃料来改变燃料敏感性。结果表明,在PPC模式下(-25°CA ATDC),火焰发展过程是从近壁面区域开始着火,而后向燃烧室中心发展,即存在类似火焰传播过程,同时在燃烧室下部未燃区域也形成新的着火自燃点。敏感性对燃烧相位影响较大,对缸内燃烧火焰发展历程影响较小;高敏感性燃料OH和CH带状光谱出现的时刻推迟,表明高敏感性燃料高温反应过程推迟,且光谱强度更低,表明碳烟辐射强度减弱。在PPC到CDC之间的过渡区域(-15°CA ATDC),燃烧火焰发光更亮,燃烧反应速率比-25°CA ATDC时刻的反应速率更快。高、低敏感性燃料对缸压放热率的影响规律与-25°CA ATDC相近,此时的燃烧反应更剧烈,放热率更高,碳烟出现时刻更早。该喷油时刻下的光谱强度高于PPC模式下的光谱强度,说明此时的CO氧化反应与碳烟辐...     

Hybrid configuration of Sagnac and modal interferometer with high extinction ratio

A hybrid configuration of Sagnac and modal interferometer is proposed to obtain high extinction ratio (ER). Firstly, a modal interferometer based on core-offset splicing of three sections of single mode fiber is obtained through manually controlling the fusion parameters. Then the modal interferometer is inscribed into a Sagnac loop, which can obtain a higher ER by carefully adjusting the polarization controller (PC). There is about 10 dB extinction ratio higher than the modal interferometer. The higher the extinction ratio is, the sharper the bottom of waveform will be, so the wavelength shifts can be measured more accurately when sensing temperature, pressure or other parameters. The measured sensitivity of temperature is 48.67 pm/°C in the band of 1550 nm. It also can be applied in strain measurement, vibration measurement and so on.     

Advances in synthesis and characterization of LiMgBO3:Dy

The low Z polycrystalline LiMgBO₃:Dy³⁺ material has been successfully synthesized by novel solution combustion synthesis and studied for its luminescence characteristics. LiMgBO₃:Dy³⁺ material has shown promising TL sensitivity with a broad dosimetric glow peak at 154 °C. Near the tissue equivalent TL phosphor with Dy dopant has half of the TL sensitivity as compared to commercial TLD-100. The kinetic parameters i.e. trap depth or activation energy and frequency factor from the glow curve derived by using peak shape method. The main dosimetric characteristics such as dose response and fading effect are investigated. The state of dopant confirmed using photoluminescence spectra.     

A study on waviness induced vibration of ball bearings based on signal coherence theory

This paper focuses on the effects of waviness on vibration of ball bearings. An experimental analysis method is developed by adopting signal coherence theory of multiple-inputs/single-output (MISO) system. The inputs are waviness excitations of the inner and outer races, and the output is vibration response of the outer ring. Waviness excitation signals are first derived from the manufacturing deviations, and found to be strongly coherent in low frequency range. Virtual input signals are then introduced by the method of orthogonalization. In both cases of vibration acceleration and speed responses, the cumulated virtual input–output coherence function verifies that the first peak region of vibration spectrum is mainly induced by the waviness excitations. In order to distinguish the contributions of the inner and outer races, coherence functions of the virtual inputs with real inputs are calculated, and the results indicate that the outer race waviness contributes more to vibration than the inner race waviness does in the example. Further, a multi-body dynamic model is constructed and employed to frequency response analyses. It is discovered that the waviness induced spectral peak frequency is close to the natural frequency of bearing.     

Effects of annealing temperature on YAG:Ce synthesized by spray-drying method

In this report, YAG:Ce phosphors were synthesized by spray-drying method. The effects of annealing temperature on crystal structure, morphology and photoluminescence property (PL) of as-prepared samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and spectrofluorometer, respectively. The XRD patterns showed all the samples are in consistence with a single garnet phase, and the location of strongest peak shifts to smaller angle with increasing the annealing temperature. The SEM micrographs revealed the sample annealed at 1200 °C appears to be a spherical polycrystalline aggregate; as the samples were annealed at 1300?1400 °C, spherical grains obviously grow up; but the sample annealed at over 1400 °C forms an irregular bulk. The emission spectra of samples indicated the PL of samples annealed at 1200?1400 °C improve with increasing the annealing temperature because of the diffusion of Si⁴⁺ ions; whereas the PL of sample annealed at the temperature over 1400 °C decreases likely resulting from inflection effects of multiangular shape of grains. Therefore, the samples annealed at 1400 °C are suitable for gaining phosphor with high brightness and good morphology.     

Electro-optic Q-switched intracavity optical parametric oscillator at 1.53 μm based on KTiOAsO4

An eye-safe, high peak power optical parameter oscillator (OPO) intracavity pumped by electro-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is presented. This OPO is based on a 20 mm length KTiOAsO₄ crystal with non-critical phase matching (θ = 90°, ?=0°) cut. An aperture ∅3 mm acted as limiting diaphragm to get good beam quality of pumping laser. The output energy of 25 mJ at the signal wavelength 1.53 μm was obtained with repetition rate of 1 Hz. The highest peak power intensity was up to 88 MW/cm² with pulse width of 4 ns. Without diaphragm, the maximum output energy of 90 mJ was achieved with area of light spot (∅6 mm) four times larger, but the peak power intensity was lower.