A protective layer on As2S3 film for photo-resist patterning

We have developed an effective fabrication process for As₂S₃ planar waveguides. A bottom anti-reflection coating provides a layer that not only protects the As₂S₃ film from attack by the alkaline developer but also improves line edge roughness of photo-resist patterns which is a pre-requisite for waveguides with smooth sidewalls.     

Chalcogenide glass photonic crystals

All-optical switching devices are based on a material possessing a nonlinear optical response, enabling light to control light, and are enjoying renewed interest. Photonic crystals are a promising platform for realizing compact all-optical switches operating at very low power and integrated on an optical integrated circuit. In this review, we show that by making photonic crystals from a highly nonlinear chalcogenide glass, we have the potential to integrate a variety of active devices into a photonic chip. We describe the fabrication and testing of two-dimensional Ge₃₃As₁₂ Se₅₅ chalcogenide glass photonic crystal membrane devices (waveguides and microcavities). We then demonstrate the ability to post-tune the devices using the material photosensitivity. In one proposal we hope to introduce a double-heterostructure microcavity using the photosensitivity alone.     

Micromotor endoscope catheter for in vivo, ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography

A distally actuated, rotational-scanning micromotor endoscope catheter probe is demonstrated for ultrahigh-resolution in vivo endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. The probe permits focus adjustment for visualization of tissue morphology at varying depths with improved transverse resolution compared with standard OCT imaging probes. The distal actuation avoids nonuniform scanning motion artifacts that are present with other probe designs and can permit a wider range of imaging speeds. Ultrahigh-resolution endoscopic imaging is demonstrated in a rabbit with <4-microm axial resolution by use of a femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser light source. The micromotor endoscope catheter probe promises to improve OCT imaging performance in future endoscopic imaging applications.     

Hydrogen chemisorption on silicon (100) 2 × 1

Changes in the valence band density of states (DOS) of a (100) silicon surface that accompany he chemisorption of atomic hydrogen onto that surface are deduced from a study of the changes in the L_2,3VV Auger lineshape. Complementary changes in the conduction band DOS are inferred from changes in L_2,3VV-core-level characteristic loss spectra (CLS). The chemisorbed hydrogen layer is identified as the dihydride phase from low energy electron diffraction measurements. Upon hydrogen adsorption the DOS at the top of the valence band decreases and new energy levels associated with the Si-H bonds appear lower in the band. Assuming that the Auger signal from the hydrogen covered sample consists of a superposition of a signal from silicon atoms bonded to hydrogen in the dihydride layer and an elemental-Si signal from the substrate, a N(E) difference spectrum with features due only to the dihydride is obtained by subtracting the background corrected, loss deconvoluted L_2,3VV signal for a clean (100)Si surface rom the corresponding signal for the hydrogen covered surface. Comparisons of the energy position of the major peak in this difference spectrum with that of the main peak in a gas phase silane Si-L_2,3VV spectrum, and of the corresponding Auger energy calculated empirically, indicate a hole—hole interaction energy of ~8 eV for the two-hole final state in the gaseous system and zero for the dihydride surface system. Hydrogen induced changes in the conduction band DOS are less apparent than those of the valence band DOS with only the possibility of a decrease in the DOS at the bottom of the conduction band being inferred from the CLS measurements. Electron stimulated desorption of hydrogen from the dihydride layer is adduced from changes in the Auger lineshape under electron beam irradiation of the surface. Hydrogen induced changes in the near-elastic electron energy loss spectra (ELS) are also reported and compared with previously published ELS results.     

On the second dielectric virial coefficients of methane and the inert gases

The induced quadrupole contribution to the distortion polarization term in the dielectric virial coefficient (B) has been evaluated for methane and the inert gases neon, argon, krypton and xenon. It is shown to be a substantial fraction of the experimental value of B for these systems. For argon the full ‘ classical ’ value of B is estimated by making use of a previous calculation of the classical overlap correction to the point polarizable particle model. It is shown that the classical value of B is in substantial agreement with experiment for this case.     

Fish locomotion: kinematics and hydrodynamics of flexible foil-like fins

The fins of fishes are remarkable propulsive devices that appear at the origin of fishes about 500 million years ago and have been a key feature of fish evolutionary diversification. Most fish species possess both median (midline) dorsal, anal, and caudal fins as well as paired pectoral and pelvic fins. Fish fins are supported by jointed skeletal elements, fin rays, that in turn support a thin collagenous membrane. Muscles at the base of the fin attach to and actuate each fin ray, and fish fins thus generate their own hydrodynamic wake during locomotion, in addition to fluid motion induced by undulation of the body. In bony fishes, the jointed fin rays can be actively deformed and the fin surface can thus actively resist hydrodynamic loading. Fish fins are highly flexible, exhibit considerable deformation during locomotion, and can interact hydrodynamically during both propulsion and maneuvering. For example, the dorsal and anal fins shed a vortex wake that greatly modifies the flow environment experienced by the tail fin. New experimental kinematic and hydrodynamic data are presented for pectoral fin function in bluegill sunfish. The highly flexible sunfish pectoral fin moves in a complex manner with two leading edges, a spanwise wave of bending, and substantial changes in area through the fin beat cycle. Data from scanning particle image velocimetry (PIV) and time-resolved stereo PIV show that the pectoral fin generates thrust throughout the fin beat cycle, and that there is no time of net drag. Continuous thrust production is due to fin flexibility which enables some part of the fin to generate thrust at all times and to smooth out oscillations that might arise at the transition from outstroke to instroke during the movement cycle. Computational fluid dynamic analyses of sunfish pectoral fin function corroborate this conclusion. Future research on fish fin function will benefit considerably from close integration with studies of robotic model fins.     

Calculation of activities of ions in molten salts with potential application to the pyroprocessing of nuclear waste

The ability to separate fission products by electrodeposition from molten salts depends, in part, on differences between the interactions of the different fission product cations with the ions present in the molten salt "solvent". These differences may be expressed as ratios of activity coefficients, which depend on the identity of the solvent and other factors. Here, we demonstrate the ability to calculate these activity coefficient ratios using molecular dynamics simulations with sufficient precision to guide the choice of suitable solvent systems in practical applications. We use polarizable ion interaction potentials which have previously been shown to give excellent agreement with structural, transport, and spectroscopic information of the molten salts, and the activity coefficients calculated in this work agree well with experimental data. The activity coefficients are shown to vary systematically with cation size for a set of trivalent cations.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-Closed Monoreflections,Implicit Operations,and Countable Composition,in Archimedean Lattice-Ordered Groups with Weak Unit

In the category of the title, called W, we completely describe the monoreflections \(\mathcal {R}\) which are H-closed (closed under homomorphic image) by means of epimorphic extensions S of the free object on ω generators, F(ω), within the Baire functions on \(\mathbb {R}^{\omega }\), \(B(\mathbb {R}^{\omega })\); label the inclusion \(e_{S} : F(\omega ) \rightarrow S\). Then (a) inj e _S (the class of objects injective for e _S ) is such an \(\mathcal {R}\), with e _S a reflection map iff S is closed under countable composition with itself (called ccc), (b) each such \(\mathcal {R}\) is inj e _S for a unique S with ccc, and (c) if S has ccc, then A∈inj e _S iff A is closed under countable composition with S. We think of (c) as expressing: A is closed under the implicit operations of W represented by S (and these are of at most countable arity). In particular, the family of H-closed monoreflections is a set, whereas the family of all monoreflections is consistently a proper class. There is a categorical framework to the proofs, valid in any sufficiently complete category with free objects and epicomplete monoreflection β which is H-closed and of bounded arity; in W the β is of countable arity, and \(\beta F(\omega ) = B(\mathbb {R}^{\omega })\). The paper continues our earlier work along similar lines.