A handheld mid-infrared methane sensor using a dual-step differential method for additive/multiplicative noise suppression

A miniature mid-infrared (mid-IR) methane (CH₄) sensor system was developed by employing a wide-band wire-source and a semi-ellipsoid multi-pass gas cell. A dual-step differential method instead of the traditional one-step differential method was adopted by this sensor to tune measuring range/zero point and to suppress the additive/multiplicative noise. This method included a first subtraction operation between the two output signals (including a detection signal and a reference signal) from the dual-channel detector and a second subtraction operation on the amplitudes of the first-subtraction signal and the reference signal, followed by a ratio operation between the amplitude of the second-subtraction signal and the reference signal. Detailed experiments were performed to assess the performance of the sensor system. The detection range is 0–50 k ppm, and as the concentration gets larger than 12 k ppm, the relative detection error falls into the range of −3% to +3%. The Allan deviation is about 4.65 ppm with an averaging time of 1 s, and such value can be further improved to 0.45 ppm with an averaging time of 124 s. Due to the cost-effective incandescence wire-source, the small-size ellipsoid multi-pass gas cell and the miniature structure of the sensor, the developed standalone device shows potential applications of CH₄ detection under coal-mine environment.     

A mid-infrared carbon monoxide sensor system using wideband absorption spectroscopy and a single-reflection spherical optical chamber

A mid-infrared carbon monoxide (CO) sensor system based on a dual-channel differential detection method was developed using a broadband light source in the 4.60 µm wavelength region and a single-reflection spherical optical chamber with ∼0.373 m absorption path length. CO detection was realized by targeting the wideband strong absorption lines within 4.55–4.65 µm. A dual-channel pyroelectric detector as well as a self-developed digital signal processor (DSP) based orthogonal lock-in amplifier was employed to process CO sensing signal. A minimum detection limit of ∼0.5 ppm in volume (ppmv) was achieved with a measurement time of 6 s, based on an Allan deviation analysis of the sensor system. The response time (1000 → 0 ppmv) was determined to be ∼7 s for the CO sensor operation. Due to the characteristics of low detection limit, fast response time and high cost performance, the proposed sensor has relatively good prospect in coal-mining operation.     

IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm used in heterodyne detection

In order to obtain better detection results of heterodyne, we used phase IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm to process the data which detected by laser heterodyne. Based on laser heterodyne interferometer, processing the data in the interferometer phase IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm from the signal to noise ratio, sampling rate, sampling rate, filter order and cutoff frequency, verify the effects of these system parameters to the phase precision, and choose the best parameters to obtain a better phase precision through experiment as: the signal to noise ratio is 25 dB, the IF signal frequency is 98.3 MHz, 98.5 MHz, 99.1 MHz, 99.5 MHz and 100 MHz, the sampling rate is 512–2048, the cutoff frequency and order of the filter are 0.11 and 40, respectively.     

Performance analysis of a swept-source optical coherence tomography system with a quadrature interferometer and optical amplification

A performance analysis of signal to noise ratio for an optical coherence tomography system with quadrature detection and a semiconductor optical amplifier in the sample arm is discussed. The results are compared and discussed in relation to a conventional OCT system (without optical amplification). An increase of the signal to noise ratio up to 14 dB at a depth of 0.5 mm is obtained compared to the system without the optical amplifier. Overall, an improvement was demonstrated for signal coming from deeper regions within the samples. Arterial plaque from a myocardial infarction-prone Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHLMI) rabbit is visualized and characterized using this system. Improvement of signal to noise ratio increases the penetration depth possible for OCT images, from 1 mm to 2 mm within the vessel wall of an artery. Preliminary results show that vulnerable plaque with fibrous cap, macrophage accumulations and calcification in the arterial tissue are measurable with this OCT system.     

Single tone and multi tone microwave over fiber communication system using direct detection method

In this paper, an analog microwave over fiber link for long haul distance based upon Rate Equation Laser is demonstrated. This system uses the advantage of high potential bandwidth of fiber in transmission of microwave signal. The interface of the two systems needs an up-conversion of microwave band into baseband (at which fiber operates). An Intensity Modulation Direct Detection (IMDD) technique is used to achieve this purpose. The Rate Equation laser is operated in a dynamic state, where its intensity oscillates at a microwave frequency that varies with the input signal fed by wave generator. This system can also use for two modulating tones. The frequency of the first tone is varied from 1 to 20 GHz and second is set at 5 GHz. A data signal of 10 Gbps is transmitted over long haul single mode fiber by single tone system. A very good bit error rate (BER) 10^?40 performances for 100 km and 25 km fiber link is achieved for both single tone and two tones respectively in proposed microwave over fiber communication system.     

Measurements and analysis of the acoustic signals produced by partial discharges in insulation oil

This paper focuses on the frequency analysis of acoustic signals produced by partial discharges (PDs) in insulation oil and the positioning of the PD occurrence for application in the diagnosis of oil-insulated transformers. Three types of electrode systems; the needle–plane, the plane–plane, and the wire–wire structures were assembled to simulate the partial discharge in insulation oil. A low-noise amplifier and a de-coupler were designed to detect the acoustic signal with high-sensitivity. The frequency ranges of the acoustic signal were 60–270 kHz in the needle–plane electrode system, 45–250 kHz in the plane–plane electrode system, and 50–180 kHz in the wire–wire electrode system. Their peak frequencies were 145 kHz, 118 kHz and 121 kHz, respectively.The position of the PD occurrence was calculated from the time difference of arrival (TOA) using three acoustic emission (AE) sensors. The position was found within a 1% error in the experimental set-up.     

A phase stable short pulse generator using a DPMZM and phase modulators for application in 160 GBaud DQPSK systems

A method of 40 GHz phase stable short pulses generation is experimentally demonstrated. It is based on a dual parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) driven by only one electrical sinusoidal clock and two cascaded phase modulators. The generated pulses are characterized with full-width-at-half-maximum pulse width of 1.9 ps, extinction ratio of 27 dB, timing jitter of 36 fs and signal to noise ratio over 30 dB. The high quality and phase stability of the pulses are further experimentally verified in a 4 × 40 GBaud differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) optical-time-division-multiplexing (OTDM) system.     

Distributed fiber sensing system with wide frequency response and accurate location

A distributed fiber sensing system merging Mach–Zehnder interferometer and phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (Φ-OTDR) is demonstrated for vibration measurement, which requires wide frequency response and accurate location. Two narrow line-width lasers with delicately different wavelengths are used to constitute the interferometer and reflectometer respectively. A narrow band Fiber Bragg Grating is responsible for separating the two wavelengths. In addition, heterodyne detection is applied to maintain the signal to noise rate of the locating signal. Experiment results show that the novel system has a wide frequency from 1 Hz to 50 MHz, limited by the sample frequency of data acquisition card, and a spatial resolution of 20 m, according to 200 ns pulse width, along 2.5 km fiber link.     

Gold nanoparticle-based signal augmentation of quartz crystal microbalance immunosensor measuring C-reactive protein

A biotinylated anti-rat C-reactive protein (CRP) antibody was ingeniously prepared by the reaction of the unmodified antibody with a water-soluble sulfosuccinimidyl-6-(biotinamido)hexanoate. The molar biotin incorporation of the resulting modified antibody was found as 5.82. A flow-type indirect-competitive quartz crystal microbalance immunosensor system was constructed with the sensor chip immobilized with 2 mg/mL CRP as the coating antigen. When 200 μL of the modified antibody having the concentration of 0.250 mg/mL was added with a streptavidin-coated gold nanoparticle (GNP) to the immunosensor system, the frequency shift obtained was 139.8 ± 0.3 Hz. Compared to the frequency shift of 91.1 ± 1.3 Hz found with the addition of the unmodified antibody only, the signal augmentation after GNP binding amounted to 53.4%, which resulted in sensitivity improvement of the current immunosensor.     

Optical millimeter-wave signal generation by frequency quadrupling using one dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator to overcome chromatic dispersion

We propose a novel approach to generate quadrupling-frequency optical millimeter-wave using a dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) in radio-over-fiber system. By properly adjusting the phase difference in the two modulation arms of MZM, the direct current (DC) bias, the modulation index and the gain of base-band signal, the quadrupling-frequency optical millimeter-wave with signal only carried by one second-order sideband is generated. As the signal is transmitted along the fiber, there is no time shift of the codes caused by chromatic dispersion. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the eye diagram keeps open and clear even when the quadrupling-frequency optical millimeter-wave are transmitted over 110 km and the power penalty is about 0.45 dB after fiber transmission distance of 60 km. Furthermore, due to another second-order sideband carrying no signals, a full duplex radio-over-fiber link based on wavelength reuse is also built to simplify the base station. The bidirectional 2.5 Gbit/s data is successfully transmitted over 40 km standard single mode fiber with less than 0.6 dB power penalty in the simulation.     

Coupled frequency-doubling optoelectronic oscillator based on polarization modulation and polarization multiplexing

A coupled frequency-doubling optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which is constructed based on the perfect combination of polarization modulation and polarization multiplexing. A fundamental microwave signal at 9.95 GHz or a frequency-doubled microwave signal at 19.9 GHz is generated with a wavelength-independent sidemode-suppression ratio (SMSR) as high as 78 dB obtained. The phase noise of the generated 19.9-GHz signal is ? 103.45 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz frequency offset, indicating a good short-term stability. The proposed scheme is simple and flexible, which can find applications in radars and wireless communications.     

10 Gb/s optical carrier distributed network with W-band (0.1 THz) short-reach wireless communication system

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) operated in W-band (75 GHz–0.11 THz) is of particular interests, since this frequency band can carry signals at much higher data rates. We demonstrate a 10 Gb/s optical carrier-distributed network with the wireless communication system. The mm-wave signal at carrier frequency of 0.1 THz is generated by a high speed near-ballistic uni-traveling carrier photodiode (NBUTC-PD) based transmitter (Tx), which is optically excited by optical short pulses. The optical pulse source is produced from a self-developed photonic mm-wave waveform generator (PMWG), which allows spectral line-by-line pulse shaping. Hence these optical pulses have high tolerance to fiber chromatic dispersion. The W-band 10 Gb/s wireless data is transmitted and received via a pair of horn antennas. The received 10 Gb/s data is envelope-detected and then used to drive an optical modulator at the remote antenna unit (RAU) to produce the upstream signal sending back to the central office (CO). 20 km single mode fiber (SMF) error free transmission is achieved. Analysis about the optimum repetition rate of the optical pulse source and the transmission performance of the upstream signal are also performed and discussed.     

56 dB Gain EYDFA with improved noise figure with dual-stage partial double pass configuration

An efficient erbium/ytterbium co-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) is demonstrated by using a dual-stage partial double pass structure with a band pass filter (BPF). The amplifier achieves the maximum small signal gain of 56 dB and the corresponding noise figure of 4.66 dB at 1536 nm with an input signal power and total pump power of ?50 dBm and 140 mW, respectively. Compared with a conventional single-stage amplifier, the maximum gain enhancement of 16.99 dB is obtained at 1544 nm with the corresponding noise figure is improved by 2 dB. The proposed amplifier structure only uses a single pump source with a partial double pass scheme to provide a high gain and dual-stage structure to provide the low noise figure.     

High LO-to-RF isolation 94 GHz coplanar monolithic down-converter for FMCW radar sensor applications

This paper presents a 94 GHz monolithic down-converter with low conversion loss and high local oscillator (LO)-to-RF isolation using the 0.1 μm T-gate metamorphic high electron-mobility transistor (MHEMT) technology. The down-converter consists of a one-stage amplifier and a single-balanced mixer based on the high-directivity tandem coupler structure using the air-bridge crossovers, thereby amplifying the RF signals and maximizing the LO-to-RF isolation by using an inherent S₁₂ isolation characteristic of the amplifier and good phase balance of the tandem coupler. The fabricated one-stage amplifier using a 30 μm × 2 MHEMT shows a small signal gain of 7 dB at 94 GHz. The single-balanced mixer comprising two 20 μm × 2 MHEMT Schottky diodes and the tandem coupler with an additional λ/4-length line exhibits the conversion loss less than 7.8 dB and the LO-to-RF isolation higher than 30 dB in a RF frequency range of 91–96 GHz. Two circuits designed both for a 50 Ω impedance system are integrated into the down-converter of a 2.6 × 2.5 mm² chip size, and it shows a low conversion loss of ∼1 dB at 94 GHz and excellent LO-to-RF isolation above 40 dB in a frequency range of 90–100 GHz. This is the best isolation among the W-band monolithic down-converters reported to date.     

In-situ formation of SiC nanocrystals by high temperature annealing of SiO2/Si under CO: A photoemission study

We have studied CO interaction with SiO₂/Si system at high temperature (~ 1100 °C) and 350 mbar by core-level photoemission. Even for short annealing time (5 min) the signal from Si2p and C1s core levels shows a clear change upon CO treatment. Shifted components are attributed to formation of SiC. This is confirmed by TEM imaging which further shows that the silicon carbide is in the form of nano-crystals of the 3C polytype. Photoemission spectroscopy moreover reveals the formation of silicon oxicarbide which could not be evidenced by other methods. Combining these results with previous Nuclear Resonance Profiling study gives a deeper insight into the mechanisms involved in the nanocrystals growth and especially for the reaction equation leading to SiC formation. We show that CO diffuses as a molecule through the silica layer and reacts with the silicon substrate according the following reaction: 4 CO + 4 Si → SiO₂ + 2SiC + SiO₂C₂.     

Accelerating MRI fat quantification using a signal model-based dictionary to assess gastric fat volume and distribution of fat fraction

To quantify intragastric fat volume and distribution with accelerated magnetic resonance (MR) imaging using signal model-based dictionaries (DICT) in comparison to conventional parallel imaging (CG-SENSE). This study was approved by the local ethics committee and written informed consent was obtained. Seven healthy subjects were imaged after intake of a lipid emulsion and data at three different time points during the gastric emptying process was acquired in order to cover a range of fat fractions. Fully sampled and prospectively undersampled image data at a reduction factor of 4 were acquired using a multi gradient echo sequence at 1.5T. Retrospectively and prospectively undersampled data were reconstructed with DICT and CG-SENSE. Image quality of the retrospectively undersampled data was assessed relative to the fully sampled reference using the root mean square error (RMSE). In order to assess the agreement of fat volumes and intragastric fat distribution, Bland-Altman analysis and linear regression were performed on the data. The RMSE in intragastric content (ΔRMSE = 0.10 ± 0.01, P < 0.001) decreased significantly with DICT relative to CG-SENSE. CG-SENSE overestimated fat volumes (bias 2.1 ± 1.3 mL; confidence limits 5.4 and − 1.1 mL) in comparison to the prospective DICT reconstruction (bias − 0.1 ± 0.7 mL; confidence limits 1.8 and − 2.0 mL). There was a good agreement in fat distribution between the images reconstructed by retrospective DICT and the reference images (regression slope: 1.01, R² = 0.961). Accelerating gastric MRI by integrating a dictionary-based signal model allows for improved image quality and increases accuracy of fat quantification during breathholds.     

Detection of influenza A virus using carbon nanotubes field effect transistor based DNA sensor

The carbon nanotubes field effect transistor (CNTFET) based DNA sensor was developed, in this paper, for detection of influenza A virus DNA. Number of factors that influence the output signal and analytical results were investigated. The initial probe DNA, decides the available DNA strands on CNTs, was 10 µM. The hybridization time for defined single helix was 120 min. The hybridization temperature was set at 30 °C to get a net change in drain current of the DNA sensor without altering properties of any biological compounds. The response time of the DNA sensor was less than one minute with a high reproducibility. In addition, the DNA sensor has a wide linear detection range from 1 pM to 10 nM, and a very low detection limit of 1 pM. Finally, after 7-month storage in 7.4 pH buffer, the output signal of DNA sensor recovered 97%.     

The oxidation of Fe(111)

The oxidation of Fe(111) was studied using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Oxidation of the crystal was found to be a very fast process, even at 200 K, and the Auger O signal saturation level is reached within ~ 50 × 10^? 6 mbar s. Annealing the oxidised surface at 773 K causes a significant decline in apparent surface oxygen concentration and produces a clear (6 × 6) LEED pattern, whereas after oxidation at ambient temperature no pattern was observed. STM results indicate that the oxygen signal was reduced due to the nucleation of large, but sparsely distributed oxide islands, leaving mainly the smooth (6 × 6) structure between the islands. The reactivity of the (6 × 6) layer towards methanol was investigated using temperature programmed desorption (TPD), which showed mainly decomposition to CO and CO₂, due to the production of formate intermediates on the surface. Interestingly, this removes the (6 × 6) structure by reduction, but it can be reformed from the sink of oxygen present in the large oxide islands simply by annealing at 773 K for a few minutes. The (6 × 6) appears to be a relatively stable, pseudo-oxide phase, that may be useful as a model oxide surface.     

A novel method for chromatic-dispersion monitoring

A novel method for chromatic-dispersion monitoring based on PM–AM conversion is presented. A nonlinear element (NLE) was used as phase-modulator to improve the monitoring performance. The method was investigated numerically and experimentally for 40-Gbit/s signals in NRZ/RZ and CSRZ formats. The monitoring range was enlarged to 1670 ps/nm, and the monitoring sensitivity was improved to 0.012 dB/(ps/nm) for the NRZ signal. The corresponding values for the RZ50 signal were 680 ps/nm and 0.0046 dB/(ps/nm), respectively, and, for the CSRZ signal, 620 ps/nm and 0.0092 dB/(ps/nm), respectively.     

Dependence on b-value of the direction-averaged diffusion-weighted imaging signal in brain

PurposeThe dependence of the direction-averaged diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) signal in brain was studied as a function of b-value in order to help elucidate the relationship between diffusion weighting and brain microstructure.MethodsHigh angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data were acquired from two human volunteers with 128 diffusion-encoding directions and six b-value shells ranging from 1000 to 6000 s/mm² in increments of 1000 s/mm². The direction-averaged signal was calculated for each shell by averaging over all diffusion-encoding directions, and the signal was plotted as a function of b-value for selected regions of interest. As a supplementary analysis, similar methods were also applied to retrospective DWI data obtained from the human connectome project (HCP), which includes b-values up to 10,000 s/mm².ResultsFor all regions of interest, a simple power law relationship accurately described the observed dependence of the direction-averaged signal as a function of the diffusion weighting. In white matter, the characteristic exponent was 0.56 ± 0.05, while in gray matter it was 0.88 ± 0.11. Comparable results were found with the HCP data.ConclusionThe direction-averaged DWI signal varies, to a good approximation, as a power of the b-value, for b-values between 1000 and 6000 s/mm². The exponents characterizing this power law behavior were markedly different for white and gray matter, indicative of sharply contrasting microstructural environments. These results may inform the construction of microstructural models used to interpret the DWI signal.