Modeling of astigmatic-elliptical beam shaping during fs-laser waveguide writing including beam truncation and diffraction effects

In this work, we report a model for accurately calculating the focal volumes corresponding to astigmatic elliptical beams used in fs-laser waveguide writing. The model is based on the use of the ABCD matrix formalism for the propagation of a Gaussian beam. The code includes the effects of propagation on the astigmatic elliptical beam, and the effects of beam truncation and diffraction at the entrance pupil of the focusing objective due to beam clipping when overfilling the pupil. The results predict that for a given astigmatism value and propagation distance it is possible to efficiently suppress the astigmatic focus closer to the surface. This explains previous experimental results where single structure waveguides with controllable aspect-ratio were fabricated using astigmatic-elliptical beams. Furthermore, we investigate the respective roles of astigmatism and beam propagation, as well as the strong impact of truncation and diffraction effects caused by clipping the beam at the pupil of the focusing optics. Finally, based on the results from our model, we present some practical considerations in terms of beam propagation and phase wrapping constraints.     

FEVS: A Functional Equivalence Verification Suite for High-Performance Scientific Computing

Scientific computing poses many challenges to formal verification, including the facts that typical programs: (1) are numerically-intensive, (2) are highly-optimized (often by hand), and (3) often employ parallelism in complex ways. Another challenge is specifying correctness. One approach is to provide a very simple, sequential version of an algorithm together with the optimized (possibly parallel) version. The goal is to show the two versions are functionally equivalent, or provide useful feedback when they are not. We present a new verification suite consisting of pairs of programs of this form. The suite can be used to evaluate and compare tools that verify functional equivalence. The programs are all in C and the parallel versions use the Message Passing Interface. They are simpler than codes used in practice, but are representative of real coding patterns (e.g., manager-worker parallelism, loop tiling) and present realistic challenges to current verification tools. The suite includes solvers for the 1-d and 2-d diffusion equations, Jacobi iteration schemes, Gaussian elimination, and N-body simulation.     

Certification of reference materials for ochratoxin A analysis in coffee and wine

Mycotoxins are important non-anthropogenic food and feed contaminants, which can be present on almost every agricultural commodity. Effective consumer protection therefore essentially depends on food surveillance by reliable quantitative analysis enabled by appropriate quality control. Certified (matrix) reference materials (CRMs) are versatile tools to support quality assurance. However, in the case of ochratoxin A (OTA), a hepato- and nephrotoxic mycotoxin, which is regulated in various foods, there is a lack of suitable CRMs. This lack has now been overcome by the development of two European Reference Materials (ERM^?) for the determination of OTA in roasted coffee (ERM^?-BD475) and red wine (ERM^?-BD476). This article discusses the material preparation process as well as the results of homogeneity and stability testing. Furthermore, the results of the in-house certification studies carried out at BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing are presented and discussed. Interlaboratory comparison studies involving selected expert laboratories with documented expertise in the field of mycotoxin analysis were conducted to confirm the certified values determined by BAM. The certified ochratoxin A values and their corresponding expanded uncertainties (k?=?2) were assigned in full compliance with the requirements of ISO Guide 35 and are as follows: (6.0?±?0.6)???g?kg^?1 for roasted coffee, ERM^?-BD475, and (0.52?±?0.11)???g?L^?1 for red wine, ERM^?-BD476.     

Co-continuity interval in immiscible polymer blends by dynamic mechanical spectroscopy in the molten and solid state

The work focuses on the detection of the co-continuity window in immiscible polymer blends. The purpose of the paper is to describe how rheological techniques can help to evaluate the composition range of the co-continuous morphology through the study of a particular system: PEO/PVDF-HFP. First, the blends were characterized by selective dissolution experiments and SEM observations. Then the ability of dynamic mechanical spectroscopy to detect the co-continuity was investigated in the melt and in the solid state. The evolution of the storage modulus of molten blends with their composition at a constant low frequency gives information about the co-continuity interval, especially as far as the onset of the continuity of the PEO phase is concerned. Then the immiscibility of the polymers and the continuity of PVDF-HFP as a function of blend composition have been highlighted by means of dynamic mechanical spectrometry below the melting point of PVDF-HFP. Comparison with results from classical methods shows fair agreement.This paper was presented at the first Annual European Rheology Conference (AERC) held in Guimarães, Portugal, September 11-13, 2003.     

The cantilever strip plate under torision, bending or flexure at infinity

A homogeneous, isotropic plate occupies the region 0x ₁, |x ₂|a, |x ₃|h, where the ratio h/a is sufficiently small so that the classical theory of thin plate bending applies. The short end of the plate at x ₁=0 is clamped while the long sides are free. This cantilever plate is now loaded at x ₁=+ by an applied twisting moment, by a bending moment or by flexure. Despite the fundamental nature of these problems, and the long history of thin plate theory, no solutions are to be found in the existing literature that will determine (for instance) the important unknown resultants V ₁, M ₁₁ at the clamped end x ₁=0. The main reason for this is that this combination of boundary conditions leads to severe oscillating singularities of the field in the corners (0, ±a). The fact that such singularities must exist is widely known, but we present here for the first time a method of solution that takes these singularities fully into account.Our numerical results show that the values of M ₁₁, V ₁ on x ₁=0 bear little resemblance to those of the corresponding Saint-Venant solutions, which do not fully satisfy the boundary conditions at the clamped end. Indeed, significantly large values of these resultants were found at points far enough from the corners so as to be relevant in actual engineering applications. Also of interest are certain weighted integrals of M ₁₁, V ₁ which we calculate. These constants determine the effect of the clamping at large distances (greater than 4a, say) from the cla,ped end. At such distances, the effect of the clamping is merely to impose an additional rigid body deflection on the plate.Finally, we consider the plate of finite length. Provided that the aspect ratio is 2 or more, we give accurate approximate solutions for the torsion, bending or flexure of a finite plate clamped at both ends.     

Evolution of material voids for highly anisotropic surface energy

In this paper we consider the evolution by surface diffusion of material voids in a linearly elastic solid, focusing on the evolution of voids with large surface energy anisotropy. It is well known that models for the time evolution of similar material surfaces can become mathematically ill-posed when the surface energy is highly anisotropic. In some cases, this ill-posedness has been associated with the formation of corners along the interface. Here the ill-posedness is removed through a regularization which incorporates higher order terms in the surface energy. Spectrally accurate numerical simulations are performed to calculate the steady-state solution branches and time-dependent evolution of voids, with a particular emphasis on inferring trends in the zero regularization (c→0) limit. For steady voids with large anisotropy we find that apparent corners form as c→0. In the presence of elastic stresses σ the limiting corner angles are most often found to differ from angles found on the (σ=0) Wulff shape. For large elastic stresses we find that steady solutions no longer exist; instead the void steadily lengthens via a filamenting instability referred to as tip streaming.     

O2‐mediated dehydrogenative amination of phenols

A method was developed for the direct dehydrogenative construction of C? N bonds between unprotected phenols and a series of cyclic anilines without resorting to any kind of metal activation of either substrate and without the use of halides. The resulting process relies on the exclusively organic activation of molecular oxygen and the subsequent oxidation of the aniline substrate. This allows the coupling of ubiquitous phenols, thus furnishing aminophenols through an atom‐economical and most sustainable dehydrogenative amination method. This new reactivity, which relies on the intrinsic organic reactivity of cumene in what can be seen as a modified Hock activation process of oxygen, is expected to have a large impact on the formation of C? N bonds in organic synthesis.     

Synthesis and Intracellular Redox Cycling of Natural Quinones and Their Analogues and Identification of Indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO) as Potential Target for Anticancer Activity

Natural quinones, often linked with cellular oxidation processes, exhibit pronounced biological activity. In particular, the structurally unique isothiazolonaphthoquinone aulosirazole, isolated from blue‐green alga, possesses selective antitumor cytotoxicity, although its mechanism of action is unknown. The first synthesis of aulosirazole uses a route centered upon a late‐stage regioselective Diels–Alder reaction. The structurally related natural product pronqodine A, an inhibitor of prostaglandin release, and analogues thereof, were also prepared for comparison. Biological evaluation of the compounds identified one potential target as the immunoregulatory enzyme indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO). The isothiazoloquinones are also efficient substrates for the human quinone reductase NQO1, and undergo intracellular NQO1‐dependent redox cycling resulting in the generation of reactive oxygen species, and at lower doses have the potential to alter the ratio of intracellular oxidized to reduced pyridine nucleotides.