Molecular weight between entanglements for linear d-glucans

Dynamic viscoelasticity measurements were carried out for concentrated solutions of linear d-glucans in BmimCl to examine the effect of the linkage between repeating units of glucose on the rheological properties. The values of molecular weight between entanglements (M _e) were determined for four d-glucans: curdlan, pullulan, cellulose, and amylose. From the concentration dependence of M _e, the value of M _e in the molten state (M _e,melt) for each d-glucan was estimated as a material constant. The order of M _e,melt became cellulose?<?pullulan?<?curdlan?<?amylose, indicating that the linkage is actually influential in M _e,melt for the linear d-glucans. The relationship between M _e,melt and the molecular structure of the d-glucans were discussed assuming that the values of M _e,melt for the d-glucans primarily reflect the chain stiffness such as the characteristic ratio C _∞ on the analogy of synthetic polymers. Although the trend was not so clear, it was shown that N _unit is a decreasing function of C _∞ .     

Simple method for estimating shape functions of optical spectra

A simple method for estimating shape functions of optical spectra is proposed, based on the numerical correlation with an assumed optical spectrum composed of a central main rectangular component and two right-angled triangular wings on either side of the main component. The degrees of correlation between observed and assumed spectra were examined using spectral and coherence widths of those spectra and pulsewidths of Fourier-transform-limited pulses calculated from those spectra. By using this method, shape functions of output spectra from superluminescent diodes and a self-pulsating laser diode were evaluated in detail over a relatively wide injection current range beyond their rated currents.     

Entanglement properties of cellulose and amylose in an ionic liquid

Concentrated solutions of cellulose and amylose were prepared with an ionic liquid 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl), which was chosen as a good solvent for these polysaccharides. Dynamic viscoelasticity of the concentrated solutions was examined to obtain the molecular weight between entanglements, M_e. The value of M_e in the molten state (M_e,melt), a material constant that reflecting the entanglement properties, was determined for cellulose and amylose by extrapolating M_e to the “melt.” A marked difference in M_e,melt was found: 3.2 × 10³ for cellulose and 2.5 × 10⁴ for amylose. The value of M_e,melt for cellulose, which is composed of β‐(1,4) bonding of D ‐glucose units, is very close to those for polysaccharides with a random‐coil conformation such as agarose and gellan in BmimCl. The much larger M_e,melt for amylose can be attributed to the helical nature of the amylose chain, α‐(1,4)‐linked D ‐glucose units. The effect of concentration on the zero‐shear viscosity for the solutions of cellulose and amylose was also examined. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Influence of Nonlinear Gain Saturation on the Time-Bandwidth Product of Optical Pulse from a Gain-Switched Semiconductor Laser

It is found numerically that the time-bandwidth product (TBP) of optical pulse from a gain-switched semiconductor laser operating under a sufficient gain saturation condition increases monotonously with increasing modulation amplitude. This enhancement of the TBP becomes remarkable for longer-wavelength semiconductor lasers (1.3, 1.55 μm) having large value of the gain compression factor ε (∼ 10⁻²³ m³), making the pulse chirp estimation using the TBP difficult.     

Local chain mobility of gellan in aqueous systems studied by fluorescence depolarization

The local chain mobility of a gellan, an electrolyte polysaccharide, in aqueous systems was examined with respect to the effect of the temperature, the concentration of gellan (c(G)), and the concentration of added salt (c(S)). The relaxation time of local motion was estimated for fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled-gellan by the fluorescence depolarization technique, and the chain mobility was discussed. The relaxation time increased with decreasing temperature, in particular when accompanying the coil-helix transition due to the great difference in chain mobility between the coil and the helical conformations. The effect of c(G) was observed for gellan solutions even below the critical concentration of chain entanglement (2 wt.-%) for well-expanded nonelectrolyte polymers with size similar to that of the gellan. This suggests that the actual excluded volume of gellan is larger than that of nonelectrolyte polymers due to the electrostatic repulsion between segments. The relaxation time for 0.2 wt.-% systems of gellan in coil conformation is independent of c(S), whereas a c(S) dependence of the relaxation time is clearly observed for 0.5 wt.-% systems. The degree of expansion of the gellan chain is independent of the shielding effect of cations on the electrostatic repulsion between gellan segments due to the stiffness of gellan chain. On the other hand, the c(G) as well as the c(S) dependence of the chain mobility is clearly observed for gellan in the helical conformation, examined over the concentration range, probably due to the partial aggregation of helices induced by the attractive interaction between gellan segments.     

Combination probe for optically assisted ultrasonic velocity-change imaging aimed at detecting unstable blood vessel plaque

Optical Review - Blood vessel plaque with a large lipid core is at risk of becoming thrombus and is likely to induce acute heart disease. To prevent this, it is necessary to determine not only the...     

Optical Computed Tomography Based on Extraction of Quasi-Straight forward Propagating Photons Using Sum-Frequency Generation Technique

Aiming at the realization of optical computed tomography (optical CT), a compact system comprised of two cw-lasers and a detector was proposed for the extraction of quasi-straightforward propagating photons from scattered light transmitting through a scattering medium. The extraction ability of the system based on the sum-frequency generation technique was investigated using a standard scattering medium of Intralipid-10% aqueous solution and was found to be 78 dB in dynamic range. The optical CT image of absorbers placed in the scattering medium was successfully obtained with high contrast using the proposed system.     

Optical Computed Tomography Imaging of Absorbers in a Highly Scattering Medium by Detection of Photons Preserving Initial Polarization

A method utilizing light polarization was applied to take the projection data of absorbers in a highly scattering medium. The floor level of the projection data due to diffused light was significantly suppressed by detection of photons which preserved initial polarization. An optical computed tomgraphy image was reconstructed from the projection data taken by this method and exhibited higher spatial resolution than the image reconstructed from the projection data by conventional method.