CFD simulation and analysis of emulsion droplet formation from straight-through microchannels

We recently proposed a technique for preparing monodisperse emulsions with a coefficient of variation below 5% from a silicon array of micrometer-sized channels perpendicular to the plate surface, named a straight-through microchannel (MC). This study involved three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to calculate the formation of an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion droplet from straight-through MCs with circular and elliptic cross sections. The CFD results demonstrated that the oil phase that passed through the elliptic MCs exceeding a threshold aspect ratio between 3 and 3.5 was cut off spontaneously into a small droplet with a diameter of approximately 40 microm. Sufficient space for water at the channel exit had to be maintained for successful droplet formation. The formation and shrinkage of a neck inside the channel caused an increased pressure difference inside the channel and an increased velocity value near the neck. The pressure and velocity values at the neck drastically changed, and the neck was cut off instantaneously just before the completion of droplet formation. This process was triggered by a gradually increased pressure difference between the circular neck and inflating oil phase. The findings obtained in this paper provide useful numerical and visual information about the droplet formation phenomena from the straight-through MCs. The CFD results were verified by the experimental results, showing that the CFD approach can help design a suitable channel structure.     

Cooling-induced increase of methane cluster size investigated under a Coulomb explosion scheme

In this letter, we discuss the increase in the average cluster size by lowering the stagnation temperature of the methane （CH4） gas. The Coulomb explosion experiments are conducted to estimate the cluster size and the size distribution. The average CH4 cluster sizes Nay of 6 230 and 6 580 are acquired with the source conditions of 30 bars at 240 K and 60 bars at 296 K, respectively. Empirical estimation suggests a five-fold increase in the average size of the CH4 clusters at 240 K compared with that at room temperature under a backing pressure of 30 bars. A strong nonlinear Hagena parameter relation （Г^＊∝ T0^-3.3） for the CH4 clusters is revealed. The results may be favorable for the production of large-sized clusters by using gases at low temperature and high back pressures.     

Strained layer quantum well semiconductor optical amplifiers: Polarization insensitive amplification

Polarization insensitive optical amplification was demonstrated in newly developed semiconductor optical amplifiers that have strained GalnAsP quantum well structures. We tailored the active region of the quaternary strained layer quantum well structure with a small biaxially tensile strain of 0.2% in the well layers for polarization insensitive operation.     

Formation of polyelectrolyte complexes

Interactions between polyelectrolytes carrying opposite charges in aqueous media may lead to either complex coacervation or the formation of interpolymer complexes, depending on the charge density and concentration of polymer components, ionic strength, temperature, and pH. The liquid-liquid phase separation referred to as complex coacervation was thought by Oparin to be an origin of prebiological systems. This article summarizes our recent results on the intermolecular interactions between charged polymer molecules, from the point of view of biological interests.     

SILEX-1装置上等离子体尾场加速电子初步实验

激光等离子体加速电子机制可以产生准单能的高能电子束, 近年来成为国际上的研究热点. 中国工程物理研究院激光装置已经能够达到286TW的输出功率, 为国内在该领域的研究提供了实验条件. 文章介绍了在SILEX-1装置上开展的激光等离子体加速电子的初步实验, 并对测得结果进行讨论, 为下一步实验的进行提供了准备条件.     

Permutation approach to finite-alphabet stationary stochastic processes based on the duality between values and orderings

The duality between values and orderings is a powerful tool to discuss relationships between various information-theoretic measures and their permutation analogues for discrete-time finite-alphabet stationary stochastic processes (SSPs). Applying it to output processes of hidden Markov models with ergodic internal processes, we have shown in our previous work that the excess entropy and the transfer entropy rate coincide with their permutation analogues. In this paper, we discuss two permutation characterizations of the two measures for general ergodic SSPs not necessarily having the Markov property assumed in our previous work. In the first approach, we show that the excess entropy and the transfer entropy rate of an ergodic SSP can be obtained as the limits of permutation analogues of them for the N-th order approximation by hidden Markov models, respectively. In the second approach, we employ the modified permutation partition of the set of words which considers equalities of symbols in addition to permutations of words. We show that the excess entropy and the transfer entropy rate of an ergodic SSP are equal to their modified permutation analogues, respectively.     

Sliding acceleration of water droplets on a surface coated with fluoroalkylsilane and octadecyltrimethoxysilane

Both fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) and octadecyltrimethoxysilane (ODS) were coated on oxidized silicon wafers using soaking and CVD method. Smooth coatings with Ra values of less than 1 nm were attained. The slope of the sliding acceleration against the inverse of the droplet mass showed an inflection point. That point shifted to the direction of smaller droplets with decreasing FAS ratio to ODS. The water droplets’ length was increased when the sliding velocity was increased. Fluoroalkylsilane addition to ODS increases the interaction between water and the hydrophobic surface. Results showed that the sliding acceleration of a water droplet depends strongly on the surface ratio of these silanes.     

Dynamic hydrophobicity of water droplets on the line-patterned hydrophobic surfaces

Static and dynamic hydrophobicities of water droplet on a patterned surface prepared using fluoroalkylsilanes with different molecular chain lengths were investigated. Contact angles on the patterned surfaces well agreed with values predicted using Cassie’s theory. On the same line width ratio, total retention force was governed by the fluoroalkylsilane with slow-sliding acceleration. The total retention force decreased with the decreasing width ratio of silane with slow-sliding acceleration on the surface. These results imply that the sliding acceleration of water droplets on a hydrophobic surface depends both on chemical composition and patterning structure.