Fabrication of pellicle beam splitters for optical bus application

The optical bus architecture for on-board applications requires a number of optical splitters with precise split ratios to route part of the input signal. Since hollow metal waveguide provides well collimated beams with very small gap loss, it opens the possibility of inserting discrete optical beam splitters (taps). The optical tap requires low excess loss, polarization insensitivity, temperature stability, minimized walk-off of the propagating beam, and cost effective manufacturing. By benefiting from the mature interference coating technology for polarization insensitivity and temperature stability, we design a pellicle beam splitter based on a static microelec tro-mechanical system (MEMS) and develop processes to fabricate pellicle splitters using wafer level bonding of silicon and glass substrates, with subsequent thinning to 20 μm. With the approaches described in this paper, we have demonstrated optical beam splitters with excess loss of less than 0.17 dB that operate at a data rate of 10 Gb/s showing a clean eye diagram while providing controlled split ratio and polarization insensitivity. We have demonstrated a high yielding MEMS based silicon processing platform which has the potential to provide a cost effective manufacturing solution for optical beam splitters.     

Development of multi-wavelength microsphere fibre laser system for potential sensor applications

A multi-wavelength microsphere laser system, using a chirped fibre Bragg grating and a microsphere resonator as wavelength-selective elements and a high dopant erbium doped fibre as the gain material, has been successfully demonstrated. The multi-wavelength generation of the laser system arises from both the microsphere whispering gallery mode selection and from the additional Raman scattering inside the microsphere cavity when the erbium laser is operating at resonance with the whispering gallery modes. Through an appropriate design and fabrication of a microsphere and of a fibre taper, a selective multi-wavelength fibre laser has been realized when the pump power is above threshold required. The laser output lines created have shown much narrower linewidths than those from conventional fibre lasers and these characteristics are particularly suitable for the range of sensor applications envisaged in the work.     

Exact decoherence dynamics of a single-mode optical field

We apply the influence-functional method of Feynman and Vernon to the study of a single-mode optical field that interacts with an environment at zero temperature. Using the coherent-state formalism of the path integral, we derive a generalized master equation for the single-mode optical field. Our analysis explicitly shows how non-Markovian effects manifest in the exact decoherence dynamics for different environmental correlation time scales. Remarkably, when these are equal to or greater than the time scale for significant change in the system, the interplay between the backaction-induced coherent oscillation and the dissipative effect of the environment causes the non-Markovian effect to have a significant impact not only on the short-time behavior but also on the long-time steady-state behavior of the system.     

Preparation and characterization of nanosized (Y,Bi)VO4:Eu and Y(V,P)O4:Eu red phosphors

Nanosized luminescent (Y,Bi)VO₄:Eu³⁺ and Y(V,P)O₄:Eu³⁺ were synthesized at low temperatures either by a coprecipitation method or by a hydrothermal method from aqueous solutions. The effect of Bi³⁺ ion or P⁵⁺ ion content in the lattice, annealing temperature effects on the crystal structure and the particle size, and the luminescence property of (Y,Bi)VO₄:Eu³⁺ and Y(V,P)O₄:Eu³⁺ nanoparticles were examined with a field-enhanced scanning electron microscopy, XRD, and a spectrofluorometer. The pristine YVO₄:Eu³⁺, (Y,Bi)VO₄:Eu³⁺, or Y(V,P)O₄:Eu³⁺ nanoparticles are 35-50 nm in size. The luminescence spectrum of the Eu³⁺ ion was used to probe its position in the crystal lattice. The dopant ions enter the same lattice sites in the nanocrystalline as in the corresponding bulk material, resulting similar spectral features between them. Photoluminescence intensity is weak for the pristine nanoparticles. Annealing the nanoparticles at temperatures up to 1000 °C results in the increased luminescence intensity (>80% of micrometer-sized phosphors) with the minimal particle growth and the improved particle crystallinity.     

Optimal warranty policies for systems with imperfect repair

We investigate a system whose basic warranty coverage is minimal repair up to a specified warranty length. An additional service is offered whereby first failure is restored up to the consumers’ chosen level of repair. The problem is studied under two system replacement strategies: periodic maintenance before and after warranty. It turns out that our model generalizes the model of Rinsaka and Sandoh [K. Rinsaka, H. Sandoh, A stochastic model with an additional warranty contract, Computers and Mathematics with Applications 51 (2006) 179–188] and the model of Yeh et al. [R.H. Yeh, M.Y. Chen, C.Y. Lin, Optimal periodic replacement policy for repairable products under free-repair warranty, European Journal of Operational Research 176 (2007) 1678–1686]. We derive the optimal maintenance period and optimal level of repair based on the structures of the cost function and failure rate function. We show that under certain assumptions, the optimal repair level for additional service is an increasing function of the replacement time. We provide numerical studies to verify some of our results.     

On the number of connected convex subgraphs of a connected acyclic digraph

A digraph D is connected if the underlying undirected graph of D is connected. A subgraph H of an acyclic digraph D is convex if there is no directed path between vertices of H which contains an arc not in H. We find the minimum and maximum possible number of connected convex subgraphs in a connected acyclic digraph of order n. Connected convex subgraphs of connected acyclic digraphs are of interest in the area of modern embedded processors technology.     

Quantitative real-time measurements of DNA hybridization with alkylated nonoxidized silicon nanowires in electrolyte solution

The quantitative, real-time detection of single-stranded oligonucleotides with silicon nanowires (SiNWs) in physiologically relevant electrolyte solution is demonstrated. Debye screening of the hybridization event is circumvented by utilizing electrostatically adsorbed primary DNA on an amine-terminated NW surface. Two surface functionalization chemistries are compared: an amine-terminated siloxane monolayer on the native SiO2 surface of the SiNW, and an amine-terminated alkyl monolayer grown directly on a hydrogen-terminated SiNW surface. The SiNWs without the native oxide exhibit improved solution-gated field-effect transistor characteristics and a significantly enhanced sensitivity to single-stranded DNA detection, with an accompanying 2 orders of magnitude improvement in the dynamic range of sensing. A model for the detection of analyte by SiNW sensors is developed and utilized to extract DNA-binding kinetic parameters. Those values are directly compared with values obtained by the standard method of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and demonstrated to be similar. The nanowires, however, are characterized by higher detection sensitivity. The implication is that SiNWs can be utilized to quantitate the solution-phase concentration of biomolecules at low concentrations. This work also demonstrates the importance of surface chemistry for optimizing biomolecular sensing with silicon nanowires.     

ε-Amino acids based on bicyclic skeleton: bicyclo[3.3.0]octane-5-amino-1-carboxylic acids

Tsc-protected ε-amino acids, bicyclo[3.3.0]octane-5-amino-1-carboxylic acids (1), ready to use in the solid-phase synthesis, are prepared from 4,4-diethylcarboxylic bicyclo[3.3.0]oct-2-enone (3), which is available in bulk from 2 through the catalytic Pauson-Khand reaction.     

Three‐dimensional visible‐light capsule enclosing perfect supersized darkness via antiresolution

Supersized darkness in three dimensions surrounded by all light in free space is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally in the visible regime. The object staying in the darkness is similar to staying in an empty light capsule because light just bypasses it by resorting to destructive interference. A binary‐optical system is designed and fabricated based on achieving antiresolution (AR), by which electromagnetic energy flux avoids and bends smoothly around a nearly perfect darkness region. AR remains an unexplored topic hitherto, in contrast to the super‐resolution for realizing high spatial resolution. This novel scheme replies on smearing out the point spread function and thus poses less stringent limitations upon the object's size and position since the created dark (zero‐field) area reach 8 orders of magnitude larger than λ² in cross‐sectional size. It functions very well with arbitrarily polarized beams in three dimensions, which is also frequency scalable in the whole electromagnetic spectrum.     

Optimization‐free superoscillatory lens using phase and amplitude masks

A superoscillatory focusing lens has been experimentally demonstrated by optimizing Fresnel zone plates (FZP), with limited physical insight as to how the lens feature contributes to the focal formation. It is therefore imperative to establish a generalized viable account for both FZP (amplitude mask) and binary optics (phase mask). Arbitrary superoscillatory spots can now be customized and realized by a realistic optical device, without using optimization. It is counterintuitively found that high spatial frequency with small amplitude and destructive interference are favorable in superfocusing of a superoscillation pattern. The inevitably high sidelobe is pushed 15λ away from the central subwavelength spot, resulting in significantly enlarged field of view for viable imaging applications. This work therefore not only reveals the explicit physical role of any given metallic/dielectric rings but also provides an alternative design roadmap of superresolution imaging. The robust method is readily applicable in superthin longitudinally polarized needle light, quantum physics and information theory.