Experimental realization of an approximate partial transpose for photonic two-qubit systems

We report the first experimental realization of an approximate partial transpose for photonic two-qubit systems. The proposed scheme is based on the local operation on single copies of quantum states and classical communication, and therefore can be easily applied for other quantum information tasks within current technologies. Direct detection of entanglement, i.e., without performing quantum state tomography, using the partial transpose operation, is also demonstrated.     

Microstructural and mechanical analysis of Cu and Au interconnect on various bond pads

Effects of High Temperature Storage (HTS) and bonding toward microstructure change of intermetallic compound (IMC) at the wire bonding interface of 3 types of bond pad (Al, AlSiCu and NiPdAu) were presented in this paper. Optical and electron microscope analyses revealed that the IMC growth rate of samples under 175 and 200 °C HTS increased in the order of Al > AlSiCu > NiPdAu. Besides, higher HTS and bonding temperatures also promoted higher IMC thickness. The compositional study showed that higher HTS and bonding temperature developed rapid interdiffusion in bonding interface. In the mechanical ball shear test, a decrease of the shear force of Al and AlSiCu bond pads after 500 h HTS was believed due to poorly developed IMC at bonding interface. On the other hand, shear force degradation at 1000 h was due to excessive growth of IMC that in turn causes the formation of defects. For NiPdAu bond pad, increasing trend of shear force with HTS duration at 175 °C implied a good reliability of the Cu wire bonding. The rapid microscopic inspection on Cu wired Al bond pad under HTS 175 °C showed the IMC development from the periphery to the center of the ball bond. However, after 500 h voids started to develop until the crack was observed at 1000 h.     

Plasmonic effects in composite metal nanostructures for sensing applications

We have investigated numerically the plasmonic effect on a two-dimensional periodic array of metallic nanostructures. The unit cell of the array has an Ag nanosphere and nanorod pair formed in a single structure. Three-dimensional finite element method is used for the study on the sensing performance within the optical spectra. The study takes into account the influences of the structural and material parameters, the rotational angle of the metal nanostructure, the number of metal nanostructure per unit cell, and the localized surface plasmon resonances. The proposed nanostructures function as a refractive index sensor with a sensitivity of 400 nm/RIU (RIU is the refractive index unit), showing the characteristics of low transmittance (T?=?3.90%), high absorptance (A?=?94.5%), and near-zero reflectance (R?=?0.15%), could be achieved by a triangular arrangement of nanostructures within a unit cell. We also show how the tailoring of the structural parameters relates to the specific sensing schematics of the sensor.

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Graphical abstract x-y sectional plane of electric field intensity, electric force lines (pink lines), energy flows (green arrows) and surface charge density of type 2, corresponding to the surrounding testing medium of (a) n=1.00 and (b) n=1.33 around the PMNSs.

     

Laser induced copper electroless plating on polyimide with Q-switch Nd:YAG laser

The results of laser induced deposition of copper on polyimide substrate from copper electrolyte solution are reported. Unlike most work reported in the literatures where CW Ar⁺ lasers were used, a second harmonic (532 nm wavelength) Q-switch Nd:YAG laser was used for our experiments. The deposition process was conducted by laser-catalyzing of the polyimide surface and subsequent photothermal-accelerated reduction of copper-complex ions in an alkaline reducing environment. The characteristics of the deposited copper line were investigated in terms of laser beam scanning speed, and the number of scans. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the deposited copper were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDX). The optimum processing conditions have been identified. The copper deposit was found to adhere well to the substrate.     

Laser writing techniques for photomask fabrication using a femtosecond laser

Photomasks are the backbone of microfabrication industries. Currently they are fabricated by a lithographic process, which is very expensive and time consuming since it is a multi-step process. These issues can be addressed by fabricating photomasks by direct femtosecond laser writing, which is a single-step process and comparatively cheaper and faster than lithography. In this paper we discuss our investigations on the effect of two types of laser writing techniques, namely front- and rear-side laser writing, with regard to the feature size and the edge quality of a feature. It is proved conclusively that for the patterning of masks, front-side laser writing is a better technique than rear-side laser writing with regard to smaller feature size and better edge quality. Moreover the energy required for front-side laser writing is considerably lower than that for rear-side laser writing. Received: 22 May 2001 / Accepted: 14 September 2001 / Published online: 17 October 2001     

Hydrogen bonded rings,chains and lassos: the case of t-butyl alcohol clusters

Infrared OH stretching spectra of hydrogen bonded 2-methyl-propan-2-01 (t-butyl alcohol) clusters are investigated by ragout-jet FTIR spectroscopy. A spectral difference technique is used to discriminate approximately between neighbouring cluster sizes. Dimers, trimers and cyclic tetramers can be detected along with larger clusters, which exhibit a surprisingly structured vibrational fingerprint. Comparison is made to the spectra of related alcohols and to energetic and harmonic vibrational predictions from electronic structure calculations. The experimentally observed 32% increase in OH stretching wavenumber shift from methanol dimer to t-butyl alcohol dimer is reproduced at the HF/3-21G level (+ 33%). It is also qualitatively correct at the MP2/6-31 +G* level (+ l5%), whereas it has the wrong sign at the B3LYP/6-31+ G* level (5%) and is negligible at the HF/6-31+ G* level, disregarding anharmonic effects. The cyclic tetramer of t-butyl alcohol is found to be particularly stable due to a favourable updown alternation of the bulky t-butyl groups. Beyond the t-butyl alcohol tetramer, lasso structures are found to be energetically competitive with simple ring structures. A many-body decomposition shows that this is due to a reduced cooperativity in the sterically hindered pentamer ring. The resulting thermodynamic and kinetic relevance of cyclic tetramers is discussed.     

Long range relationship between Morse and Lennard–Jones potential energy functions

Arising from the use of the Morse function–which is well-known for its applicability for describing bonded interaction energy–in van der Waals systems, an attempt is made herein to express parameters of the Lennard–Jones potential function in terms of the Morse function to enable normalized comparison. In a departure from previous work where the parameter relationships enforce equal curvature at the minimum well-depth, the present approach replaces this rule with equal area above the curves for 1?≤?(r/R)?≤?∞. Results show good approximations of the Morse function to the Lennard–Jones curve and vice versa. Comparison with the previous relation for short range interaction shows that the present relations offer superior agreement with the Lennard–Jones function over a longer range. The conversion relations provide a cost-effective, less time-consuming and reasonably reliable method for obtaining Morse parameters from those of the Lennard–Jones function and vice versa.     

Spatial chaos aspects of laser-material interaction

In the past decade the understanding of stability and chaotic behaviour of nonlinear systems has made significant progress. Such systems include: structure of turbulence, oscillations in mechanical structures, multistable biological systems, etc. Laser machining is now an established industrial production method for: prototyping, small batch manufacture, cutting refractory materials and specialist applications such as micromachining. Within narrowly bounded limits, many models exist that can be used to predict the necessary machining control parameters such as cutting rate, power, pulse repetition frequency, etc. However, in an unconstrained machining process, chaotic phenomena can be observed to occur. The objective of this paper is to prove the existence of chaos, for the laser-material interaction, which can be described by Poincaré-Birkhoff-Smale horseshoes. Furthermore, to exploit the phase portrait of the process to predict the optimal laser machining control parameters.     

Enhanced coercivity in sponge magnets with three dimensionally ordered nanopores

Nanoporous magnets are new promising materials particularly useful in biological assays and ion separations. This letter deals with a simple method for making porous magnets composed of cobalt ferrite, where polymer colloidal spheres were used as sacrificial templates. Compared with the bulk congener the porous cobalt ferrite shows enhancements in coercive field and magnetization, which could be associated with the presence of nanopores ordered three dimensionally. Using the sponge magnet complete removal of magnetic Cu and Fe ions was achieved while partial removal was observed with porous silicate having the same size of nanopores.