Real-Time Measurement of Thin Film Thickness During Plasma Processing

An in situ single point two-color laser interferometer is used to monitor in real-time the thickness of thin transparent films during processing. The instantaneous change of film thickness is determined by comparing the measured laser reflection interference to that calculated by a model. The etch or deposition rates of the film are determined within 1–2 seconds. The film thickness is also determined in real-time from the phase difference of the reflected laser intensity between the two laser colors. Use of two-color laser interferometry improves the accuracy of the calculated etch or growth rates of the film considerably. Moreover, the two colors provide a clear distinction between film etching and deposition, which may often occur during the same process, and can not be determined by a single color interferometer. The uniformity of the film's etch or deposition rates across the substrate is monitored by an in situ full-wafer image interferometer. The combined use of these two sensors provide instantaneous information of the film thickness, etch or growth rates, as well as time averaged uniformity of the process rates. This diagnostic setup is very useful for process development and monitoring, which is also suitable for manufacturing environment, and can be used for real-time process control.     

Radiative properties of cirrus clouds in the infrared (8–13 μm) spectral region

Atmospheric radiation in the infrared (IR) 8–13 μm spectral region contains a wealth of information that is very useful for the retrieval of ice cloud properties from aircraft or space-borne measurements. To provide the scattering and absorption properties of nonspherical ice crystals that are fundamental to the IR retrieval implementation, we use the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to solve for the extinction efficiency, single-scattering albedo, and the asymmetry parameter of the phase function for ice crystals smaller than 40 μm. For particles larger than this size, the improved geometric optics method (IGOM) can be employed to calculate the asymmetry parameter with an acceptable accuracy, provided that we properly account for the inhomogeneity of the refracted wave due to strong absorption inside the ice particle. A combination of the results computed from the two methods provides the asymmetry parameter for the entire practical range of particle sizes between 1 and 10,000 μm over the wavelengths ranging from 8 to 13 μm. For the extinction and absorption efficiency calculations, several methods including the IGOM, Mie solution for equivalent spheres (MSFES), and the anomalous diffraction theory (ADT) can lead to a substantial discontinuity in comparison with the FDTD solutions for particle sizes on the order of 40 μm. To overcome this difficulty, we have developed a novel approach called the stretched scattering potential method (SSPM). For the IR 8–13 μm spectral region, we show that SSPM is a more accurate approximation than ADT, MSFES, and IGOM. The SSPM solution can be further refined numerically. Through a combination of the FDTD and SSPM, the extinction and absorption efficiencies are computed for hexagonal ice crystals with sizes ranging from 1 to 10,000 μm at 12 wavelengths between 8 and 13 μm.

Calculations of the cirrus bulk scattering and absorption properties are performed for 30 size distributions obtained from various field campaigns for midlatitude and tropical cirrus cloud systems. Ice crystals are assumed to be hexagonal columns randomly oriented in space. The bulk scattering properties are parameterized through the use of second-order polynomial functions for the extinction efficiency and the single-scattering albedo and a power-law expression for the asymmetry parameter. We note that the volume-normalized extinction coefficient can be separated into two parts: one is inversely proportional to effective size and is independent of wavelength, and the other is the wavelength-dependent effective extinction efficiency. Unlike conventional parameterization efforts, the present parameterization scheme is more accurate because only the latter part of the volume-normalized extinction coefficient is approximated in terms of an analytical expression. After averaging over size distribution, the single-scattering albedo is shown to decrease with an increase in effective size for wavelengths shorter than 10.0 μm whereas the opposite behavior is observed for longer wavelengths. The variation of the asymmetry parameter as a function of effective size is substantial when the effective size is smaller than 50 μm. For effective sizes larger than 100 μm, the asymmetry parameter approaches its asymptotic value. The results derived in this study can be useful to remote sensing studies of ice clouds involving IR window bands.     

Geometric structure in smooth dual and local Langlands conjecture

This expository paper first reviews some basic facts about p-adic fields, reductive p-adic groups, and the local Langlands conjecture. If G is a reductive p-adic group, then the smooth dual of G is the set of equivalence classes of smooth irreducible representations of G. The representations are on vector spaces over the complex numbers. In a canonical way, the smooth dual is the disjoint union of subsets known as the Bernstein components. According to a conjecture due to ABPS (Aubert–Baum–Plymen–Solleveld), each Bernstein component has a geometric structure given by an appropriate extended quotient. The paper states this ABPS conjecture and then indicates evidence for the conjecture, and its connection to the local Langlands conjecture.     

High-contrast chemical imaging with gated heterodyne coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy

A novel method is presented which substantially improves the signal-to-background ratio for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy. It exploits the fixed phase relation between pump, Stokes and CARS fields together with the strong phase coherence in supercontinua generated by femtosecond lasers. Three phase-locked optical parametric amplifiers are used for the realisation of heterodyne signal detection. Proper pulse timing yields a gating mechanism which nearly completely suppresses solvent background signals. PACS 42.65.Dr; 42.65.Hw; 42.65.Yj     

Sensitivity of Computational Rotor Dynamics Towards the Empirically Estimated Lubrication Gap Clearance of Foil Air Journal Bearings

This contribution is concerned with the computational analysis of a rigid rotor supported by means of two self-acting foil air journal bearings. Even though the overall equation system is thereby typically written in a nondimensional form, prior knowledge about realistic value ranges of occurring dimensionless numbers is required in order to parameterize and interpret such simulations correctly. Unlike all other quantities, the nominal lubrication gap clearance between the rotating journal and the undeformed foil structure is reported to be only poorly known. Thus, even in the light of an advanced understanding of the bearing rotor system's fundamental behavior, the quantitative reproduction and prediction of experimental results by means of computational analysis need to be viewed critically. In this study, the sensitivity of numerical results towards the assumed nominal lubrication gap clearance will be investigated. To this end, the stability of the system is considered and the characteristics of occasionally observed equilibrium points and limit cycles are addressed. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Enzyme activity measurement via spectral evolution profiling and PARAFAC

The recent advances in multi-way analysis provide new solutions to traditional enzyme activity assessment. In the present study enzyme activity has been determined by monitoring spectral changes of substrates and products in real time. The method relies on measurement of distinct spectral fingerprints of the reaction mixture at specific time points during the course of the whole enzyme catalyzed reaction and employs multi-way analysis to detect the spectral changes. The methodology is demonstrated by spectral evolution profiling of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectral fingerprints using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) for pectin lyase, glucose oxidase, and a cellulase preparation.     

Carrier-envelope phase fluctuations of amplified femtosecond pulses: characterization with a simple spatial interference setup

We demonstrate a direct and versatile scheme to determine the carrier-envelope phase fluctuations of tunable ultrashort optical pulses. The spatial interferogram between the high frequency components and the parametrically amplified and frequency doubled low frequency components of an octave broad white light continuum is measured for every single pulse. It directly reveals the carrier-envelope phase fluctuations of the pump pulses from the regenerative amplifier, as well as of the white light and the tunable pulses generated from it. PACS 42.25.Kb; 42.65.Yj; 42.65.Re