UV beam-assisted efficient formation of surface relief grating on azobenzene polymers

An efficient method is demonstrated to improve the formation of a surface relief grating (SRG) with a high amplitude. The SRG is realized by a two-beam interference technique (λ=532 nm) in an azobenzene side-chain copolymer. An UV laser beam (λ=355 nm), called assisting beam, was used to accelerate the photoisomerization process from cis-form to trans-form, resulting in a rapid cis-form ? trans-form cycle. This UV beam-assisted method allowed to increase the diffraction efficiency of the formed SRG as well as its depth. Stable gratings with modulation depth as high as 410 nm were obtained at room temperature with moderate laser power.     

Simulation of porous silicon formation and silicon epitaxy on its surface

Processes of porous silicon formation and silicon epitaxy on its surface are studied using the Monte Carlo method. The model for porous silicon formation under anode etching allows for non-uniformity of charge distribution over the silicon-electrolyte interface. Processes of diffusion, generation and recombination of holes, as well as dimensional quantization, are also considered. Gilmer's model, extended to the case of a rough surface, is used to study epitaxy. The structures obtained by simulations at different levels of doping of the crystal substrate and for various parameters (temperature, HF concentration, and anode current density) are presented. Analysis of nanoporous structures showed that the porosity changes with depth, and fractal dimensionality exists below 10 nm. It has been shown that epitaxy, developing by formation of metastable nuclei at the edges of pores, by their subsequent growth along the perimenter and by formation of a thin continuous overhanging layer, may be described within the framework of this model. Three-dimensional images of near-surface layers formed at different stages of epitaxy have been obtained. The dependence of the epitaxy kinetics on the amount of deposited silicon for different structure porosities has been revealed. Institute of Physics of Semiconductors, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 49–56, March, 1999.     

Laser-induced periodic surface structures on polymers for formation of gold nanowires and activation of human cells

Frequently observed coherent structures in laser-surface processing are ripples, also denoted as laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). For polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS), LIPSS can be induced by irradiation with linearly polarized ns-pulsed UV laser light. Under an angle of incidence of θ, their lateral period is close to the laser wavelength λ divided by (n _eff ? sinθ). Here, n _eff is the effective refractive index which is 1.32 and 1.23 for PET and PS, respectively. We describe potential applications of LIPSS for alignment and activation of human cells cultivated on polymer substrates, as well as for formation of separated gold nanowires which show pronounced surface plasmon resonances, e.g., at 775 nm for PET.     

Femtosecond excimer-laser-induced structure formation on polymers

Structure formation upon 500 fs 248 nm KrF-laser irradiation of PolyEthylene Terephthalate (PET) and PolyImide (PI) has been investigated. The results obtained with fs pulses have been compared to those with ns pulses.     

Direct femtosecond laser surface nano/microstructuring and its applications

This paper reviews a new field of direct femtosecond laser surface nano/microstructuring and its applications. Over the past few years, direct femtosecond laser surface processing has distinguished itself from other conventional laser ablation methods and become one of the best ways to create surface structures at nano‐ and micro‐scales on metals and semiconductors due to its flexibility, simplicity, and controllability in creating various types of nano/microstructures that are suitable for a wide range of applications. Significant advancements were made recently in applying this technique to altering optical properties of metals and semiconductors. As a result, highly absorptive metals and semiconductors were created, dubbed as the “black metals” and “black silicon”. Furthermore, various colors other than black have been created through structural coloring on metals. Direct femtosecond laser processing is also capable of producing novel materials with wetting properties ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic. In the extreme case, superwicking materials were created that can make liquids run vertically uphill against the gravity over an extended surface area. Though impressive scientific achievements have been made so far, direct femtosecond laser processing is still a young research field and many exciting findings are expected to emerge on its horizon.     

State-of-the-art surface acoustic wave linear motor and its future applications

Two merits of the surface acoustic wave (SAW) device are its high energy density and small size. However, the driving frequency is around 10 MHz or higher. In spite of the difficulties involved with high frequency, the high energy density is attractive for actuator applications. The SAW linear motor's no load speed and maximum output force were 1.1 m/s and 3.5 N using a silicon slider. The silicon slider dimensions were 4 x 4 x 0.3 mm3. We made a lot of 30 microns diameter projections on the silicon surface. The acceleration was 1000 m/s2. The SAW motor is expected to be a high speed, quick response, high resolution microactuator, and much more. High driving voltage was a problem. Our newly designed electrode proved that the driving voltage was reduced to less than 10 V to excite the traveling wave. For actual applications, the SAW device will be placed in a slider. This design is effective in terms of performance and cost. The nanotribology of the SAW motor is also an important and interesting subject.     

Regulating the surface of nanoceria and its applications in heterogeneous catalysis

Ceria (CeO₂) as a support, additive, and active component for heterogeneous catalysis has been demonstrated to have great catalytic performance, which includes excellent thermal structural stability, catalytic efficiency, and chemoselectivity. Understanding the surface properties of CeO₂ and the chemical reactions occurred on the corresponding interfaces is of great importance in the rational design of heterogeneous catalysts for various reactions. In general, the reversible Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ redox pair and the surface acid-base properties contribute to the superior intrinsic catalytic capability of CeO₂, and hence yield enhanced catalytic phenomenon in many reactions. Particularly, nanostructured CeO₂ is characterized by a large number of surface-bound defects, which are primarily oxygen vacancies, as the surface active catalytic sites. Many efforts have therefore been made to control the surface defects and properties of CeO₂ by various synthetic strategies and post-treatments. The present review provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in regulating the surface structure and composition of CeO₂ and its applications in catalysis.     

Nanosecond surface interferometry measurements on designed and commercial polymers

The effect of the ablation mechanism on surface morphology changes during an ablation process was studied by comparing three different polymers: a triazene polymer, a polyimide and poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) with nanosecond surface interferometry. The triazene polymer, for which only indications for a photochemical ablation mechanism had been detected in previous studies, revealed no surface swelling, which could be attributed to a thermal ablation mechanism. For polyimide, a photothermal ablation mechanism is usually used to describe the ablation process at irradiation wavelengths 248 nm. However, the interferometric measurements do not show any surface swelling, which would be a clear indication for a thermal ablation mechanism. A surface swelling was only detected for PMMA with irradiation at 248 nm and fluences below the threshold of permanent surface modification. The detected phase shift, which is proportional to the change of the film thickness and the refractive index, can be explained by the opposite signs of the thermal expansion coefficient and the thermal refractive-index coefficient. PACS 52.38.Mf; 42.87.Bg; 71.20.Rv     

Mesophase formation in lyotropic polymers

Summary The behaviour of polymers for which the mesomorphic property is primarily related to rigidity or partial rigidity of the chain backbone is discussed. The former part of the paper includes an outline of current theories, which describe the phase equilibria of both low-and high-molecular-weight mesogens in the undiluted and diluted states. In the latter part of the paper phase behaviours of rigid and semi-rigid polymers are briefly reviewed. Detailed phase diagrams are considered for the systems poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate/dimethylformamide and poly-p-benzamide/dimethylacetamide-LiCl. The correlations between experiments and theory are discussed. The mesomorphic behaviour of cellulose and its derivatives and ternary systems involving two rodlike solutes or mixtures of rodlike and random coiled polymers are also considered. Experimental results provide substantial confirmation for the theoretical predictions of mesophase formation in lyotropic polymers. Paper presented at the ?Meeting on Lyotropics and Related Fields”, held in Rende, Cosenza, September 13–18, 1982.     

Spectrum analysis of seismic surface waves and its applications in seismic landmine detection

In geophysics, spectrum analysis of surface waves (SASW) refers to a noninvasive method for soil characterization. However, the term spectrum analysis can be used in a wider sense to mean a method for determining and identifying various modes of seismic surface waves and their properties such as velocity, polarization, etc. Surface waves travel along the free boundary of a medium and can be easily detected with a transducer placed on the free surface of the boundary. A new method based on vector processing of space-time data obtained from an array of triaxial sensors is proposed to produce high-resolution, multimodal spectra from surface waves. Then individual modes can be identified in the spectrum and reconstructed in the space-time domain; also, reflected waves can be separated easily from forward waves in the spectrum domain. This new SASW method can be used for detecting and locating landmines by analyzing the reflected waves for resonance. Processing examples are presented for numerically generated data, experimental data collected in a laboratory setting, and field data.     

Structure formation in crystallizing ferroelectric polymers

The structure of ferroelectric copolymers of vinylidene fluoride with hexafluoropropylene is investigated using wide-angle x-ray diffraction. It is shown that the crystallization of extruded films of vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene copolymers brings about the formation of the nonpolar α modification and, possibly, the polar α_p modification. An increase in the hexafluoropropylene content in the copolymer leads to a decrease in the degree of perfection of the α (α_p) phase, on the one hand, and a reduction of its volume fraction, on the other hand.     

Fundamentals and applications of polymers designed for laser ablation

The ablation characteristics of various polymers were studied at low and high fluences for an irradiation wavelength of 308 nm. The polymers can be divided into three groups, i.e. polymers containing triazene groups, designed ester groups, and reference polymers, such as polyimide. The polymers containing the photochemically most active group (triazene) exhibit the lowest thresholds of ablation (as low as 25 mJ cm^-2) and the highest etch rates (e.g. 250 nm/pulse at 100 mJ cm^-2), followed by the designed polyesters and then polyimide. Neither the linear nor the effective absorption coefficients have a clear influence on the ablation characteristics. The different behavior of polyimide might be explained by a pronounced thermal part in the ablation mechanism. The laser-induced decomposition of the designed polymers was studied by nanosecond interferometry and shadowgraphy. The etching of the triazene polymer starts and ends with the laser pulse, indicating photochemical ablation. Shadowgraphy reveals mainly gaseous products and a pronounced shockwave in air. The designed polymers were tested for an application as the polymer fuel in laser plasma thrusters. Received: 21 October 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +41-56/3104-412, E-mail: thomas.lippert@psi.ch     

Depletion effects and loop formation in self-avoiding polymers

Langevin dynamics is employed to study the looping kinetics of self-avoiding polymers both in ideal and crowded solutions. A rich kinetics results from the competition of two crowding-induced effects: the depletion attraction and the enhanced viscous friction. For short chains, the enhanced friction slows down looping, while for longer chains, the depletion attraction renders it more frequent and persistent. We discuss the possible relevance of the findings for chromatin looping in living cells.     

Two-frequency mutual coherence function and its applications to pulse scattering by random rough surface

An analytic expression of the two-frequency mutual coherence function (MCF) was derived for a two-dimensional random rough surface. The scattered field was calculated by the Kirchhoff approximation, which is valid in the case that the radius of curvature of the surface is much larger than the incident wave length. The scattering problem of narrowband pulse was investigated to simplify the analytic expression of the two-frequency MCF. Numerical simulations show that the two-frequency MCF is greatly dependent on the root-mean-square (RMS) height, while less dependent on the correlation length. The analytic solutions were compared with the results of Monte Carlo simulation to assess the accuracy and computational efficiency. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60571058) and the National Defense Foundation of China (Grant No. 51403020505DZ0111)     

Periodic surface photoreliefs in glassy and hyperelastic polymers

The formation and degradation of periodic photoreliefs on the surface of polymer layers having significantly different glass-transition temperatures are investigated for various process activation temperatures. It is established that the main factor limiting the resolution of periodic relaxation photoreliefs at the surface of glassy polymer layers containing dimerizing anthracene derivatives is the presence of shear stresses. Their action is suppressed by the thermal decomposition of dimers, a process which gives rise to inverted reliefs of higher spatial frequencies. It is shown that the resolution can be enhanced by more than an order of magnitude by using a polymer matrix in the hyperelastic state. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 79–83 (August 1999)     

Measuring surface and bulk relaxation in glassy polymers

We present a comprehensive study of gold nanoparticle embedding into polystyrene (PS) surfaces at temperatures ranging from T _g + 8 K to T _g − 83 K and times as long as 10⁵ minutes. This range in times and temperatures allows the first concurrent observation of and differentiation between surface and bulk behavior in the 20nm region nearest the free surface of the polymer film. Of particular importance is the temperature region near the bulk glass transition temperature where both surface and bulk processes can be measured. The results indicate that for the case of PS, enhanced surface mobility only exists at temperatures near or below the bulk T _g value. The surface relaxation times are only weakly temperature dependent and near T _g , the enhanced mobility extends less than 10nm into the bulk of the film. The results suggest that both the concept of a “surface glass transition” and the use of glass transition temperatures to measure local mobility near interfaces may not universally apply to all polymers. The results can also be used to make a quantitative connection to molecular dynamics simulations of polymer films and surfaces.     

Studies on RFQ accelerators and its applications

Development activities of Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerators in China are presented.A 1 MeV O~+ RFQ and a 3.5 MeV ADS proton RFQ have been constructed.A novel separated function RFQ is under beam test, a 2 MeV D~+ RFQ is under construction and a CSNS RFQ is going to be constructed.The RFQ dynamics and the simultaneous dual beam acceleration with positive and negative ions were investigated and related codes were developed.The applications of RFQ will be further promoted in China.     

Studies on RFQ accelerators and its applications

Development activities of Radio Frequency Quadrupole （RFQ） accelerators in China are presented. A 1 MeV O＋ RFQ and a 3.5 MeV ADS proton RFQ have been constructed. A novel separated function RFQ is under beam test, a 2 MeV D＋ RFQ is under construction and a CSNS RFQ is going to be constructed. The RFQ dynamics and the simultaneous dual beam acceleration with positive and negative ions were investigated and related codes were developed. The applications of RFQ will be further promoted in China.