Solid-state autocatalysis and oscillatory reactions in silicate glass systems

We report the first demonstration of autocatalysis and oscillatory behaviour in the solid-state where no decomposition process is involved. Our material system is solid-state silica glass impregnated with hydrogen. It is at the heart of photosensitivity in glass-based optical waveguides and devices, which have many applications including telecommunication devices, fibre lasers, and optical sensors. Consequently, the results reported here extend the engineering of chemical complexity to a previously uncharted area in materials science of particular relevance to photonic applications. Diagnosis is carried out optically, opening up a new approach to characterisation of such catalytic processes generally.     

Conditions for Equality of Hulls in the Calculus of Variations

We simplify and sharpen several results by K. Zhang concerning properties of quasiconvex hulls of sets and quasiconvex envelopes of their distance functions. The approach emphasizes the underlying geometry and in particular we show that K ^pc=K ^c implies K ^rc=K ^c if and only if min{m,n}≤ 2 thus answering a question raised in [Z2]. (Accepted January 24, 2000)?Published online August 21, 2000     

Poling effect of a charge-trapping layer in glass waveguides

Germanium-doped multi-layer waveguides containing a silicon oxy-nitride layer as a charge trapper are thermally poled in an air environment. Compared to the waveguides without the trapping layer, the induced linear electro-optic coefficient increases more than 20%. A comparable rise in the internal field is found. Our results demonstrate an optimization of the optical nonlinearity by shaping the built-in internal field with the charge-trapping layer. PACS 42.70.Ce; 42.82.Et; 42.70.Mp; 42.65.Wi     

Small molecules from spiders used as chemical probes

Spiders are important species in ecological systems and as major predators of insects they are endowed with a plethora of low-molecular-weight natural products having intriguing biological activities. The isolation and biological characterization of these entities are well established, however, only very recently have these compounds been used as templates for the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of synthetic analogues. In contrast, the investigation of compounds responsible for chemical communication between spiders is far less developed, but recently new light has been shed onto the area of pheromones and allomones from spiders. Herein, we recapitulate these recent results, put them into perspective with previous findings, and provide an outlook for future studies of these chemotypes.     

A device for extraction, manipulation and stretching of DNA from single human chromosomes

We describe the structure and operation of a micro/nanofluidic device in which individual metaphase chromosomes can be isolated and processed without being displaced during exchange of reagents. The change in chromosome morphology as a result of introducing protease into the device was observed by time-lapse imaging; pressure-driven flow was then used to shunt the chromosomal DNA package into a nanoslit. A long linear DNA strand (>1.3 Mbp) was seen to stretch out from the DNA package and along the length of the nanoslit. Delivery of DNA in its native metaphase chromosome package as well as the microfluidic environment prevented DNA from shearing and will be important for preparing ultra-long lengths of DNA for nanofluidic analysis.     

Bias-corrected Pearson estimating functions for Taylor’s power law applied to benthic macrofauna data

Estimation of Taylor’s power law for species abundance data may be performed by linear regression of the log empirical variances on the log means, but this method suffers from a problem of bias for sparse data. We show that the bias may be reduced by using a bias-corrected Pearson estimating function. Furthermore, we investigate a more general regression model allowing for site-specific covariates. This method may be efficiently implemented using a Newton scoring algorithm, with standard errors calculated from the inverse Godambe information matrix. The method is applied to a set of biomass data for benthic macrofauna from two Danish estuaries.     

Nanofiltering via integrated liquid core waveguides

We demonstrate and describe how nanoporous liquid core waveguides can exclude scattering particles, making them an ideal integrated platform for analysis of turbid solutions. Milk with 0.5% fat showed an optical propagation loss of 0.05?dB/mm at 633?nm in nanoporous waveguides compared to the 10.6?dB/mm loss in standard cuvette measurements. To examine the nanofiltering effect, waveguides were infiltrated with solutions containing Rhodamine B molecules (1?nm) and 22?nm red fluorescing polystyrene beads. With fluorescence spectroscopy we show that 22?nm beads are excluded, while Rhodamine B molecules penetrate the waveguides. This is further confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, also revealing a homogenous distribution of Rhodamine in the waveguide volume.     

Nanoimprinted distributed feedback lasers comprising TiO2 thin films: Design guidelines for high performance sensing

Design guidelines for optimizing the sensing performance of nanoimprinted second order distributed feedback dye lasers are presented. The guidelines are verified by experiments and simulations. The lasers, fabricated by UV‐nanoimprint lithography into Pyrromethene doped Ormocomp thin films on glass, have their sensor sensitivity enhanced by a factor of up to five via the evaporation of a titanium dioxide (TiO₂) waveguiding layer. The influence of the TiO₂ layer thickness on the device sensitivity is analyzed with a simple model that accurately predicts experimentally measured wavelength shifts induced by varied superstrate refractive indices. The superstrate refractive index is additionally shown to determine which of the possible waveguiding modes dominates for lasing, indicating a method to flexibly select the polarization of the laser. The detection limit of the sensor system is further discussed, finding an optimum at 7.5· 10⁻⁶ RIU. Wavelength changes caused by dye bleaching must be taken into account for long‐term measurements.