Preparation of epitaxial compositionally graded (Ba1-xSrx)TiO3 thin films with enhanced dielectric properties

Epitaxial compositionally graded (Ba_1-xSr_x)TiO₃ (BST) (0.0x0.25) thin films were deposited on (100) LaAlO₃ substrates by pulsed laser ablation, the substrates having bottom electrodes made of 100-nm-thick conductive La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃ (LSCO). Extensive X-ray diffraction, rocking-curve, and -scan studies indicate that the graded films are (100)-oriented and exhibit good in-plane relationships of [010]_BST//[010]_LAO and [001]_BST//[001]_LAO. For the up-graded films with barium concentration (1-x) increasing across the film thickness in the direction from the film/substrate interface to the film surface, the full width at half maximum of the BST film (200) rocking curve and the surface roughness, examined by atomic force microscopy, were larger than those of the down-graded films with barium concentration decreasing from the film/substrate interface to the film surface. The dielectric properties of the graded films, measured using vertical structures, show that at room temperature, the dielectric constant (_r) and dissipation factor (cos) at 100 kHz were 380 and 0.013 for the up-graded films, and 650 and 0.010 for the down-graded films, respectively. The dielectric behavior was enhanced in the down-graded films, which was attributed to the fact that the pure BaTiO₃ layer in the down-graded BST films not only serves as a bottom layer but also acts as an excellent seeding layer for enhancing subsequent film growth, leading to better film crystallinity and larger grain sizes in the down-graded films. The graded BST films undergo a diffuse phase transition, giving a broad, flat capacitance-versus-temperature profile. With such a graded structure, it is possible to build a dielectric thin-film capacitor having a capacitance which has a low temperature dependence over a broad temperature regime. PACS 77.55.+f; 68.55.Jk; 81.15.Fg     

A boundary element method for the calculation of noise barrier insertion loss in the presence of atmospheric turbulence

Atmospheric turbulence is an important factor that limits the amount of attenuation a barrier can provide in the outdoor environment. It is therefore important to develop a reliable method to predict its effect on barrier performance. The boundary element method (BEM) has been shown to be a very effective technique for predicting barrier insertion loss in the absence of turbulence. This paper develops a simple and efficient modification of the BEM formulation to predict the insertion loss of a barrier in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. The modification is based on two alternative methods: (1) random realisations of log-amplitude and phase fluctuations of boundary sources and (2) de-correlation of source coherence using the mutual coherence function (MCF). An investigation into the behaviours of these two methods is carried out and simplified forms of the methods developed. Some systematic differences between the predictions from the methods are found. When incorporated into the BEM formulation, the method of random realisations and the method of MCF de-correlation provide predictions that agree well with predictions by the parabolic equation method and by the scattering cross-section method on a variety of thin barrier configurations.     

A 59Co NMR study to observe the effects of ball milling on small ferromagnetic cobalt particles

To demonstrate the potential of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for investigating detailed structural properties in ferromagnetic materials, three different particle sized cobalt (Co) powders have been ball milled for 24 h are accurately characterised by internal-field ⁵⁹Co NMR. The ⁵⁹Co NMR spectra show distinct resonance bands corresponding to the different Co sites, face-centred-cubic (fcc), hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) and stacking faults (sfs), in Co metal powders. The hcp+fcc→hcp phase transition encouraged by ball-milling was observed and quantitative values for each Co environment were obtained.     

Selective image encryption using a spatiotemporal chaotic system

A universal selective image encryption algorithm, in which the spatiotemporal chaotic system is utilized, is proposed to encrypt gray-level images. In order to resolve the tradeoff between security and performance, the effectiveness of selective encryption is discussed based on simulation results. The scheme is then extended to encrypt RGB color images. Security analyses for both scenarios show that the proposed schemes achieve high security and efficiency.     

Design and analysis of coplanar waveguide optical modulator using finite element method

An analysis is given on the finite element method (FEM) for calculating the various parameters of optical modulators and a computer program is written to solve the finite element equation. Based on this method, a Mach-Zehnder type electro-optic modulator with coplanar waveguide (CPW) electrode is designed and fabricated. When compared with the Fourier series method, small differences on the 3-dB bandwidth, characteristic impedance and half-wave voltage, etc. are obtained.     

All-Optical Wavelength Conversion with Amplitude Equalization and Pulse Shaping

A dual-wavelength-injection-locked (DWIL) Fabry-Perot (FP) laser is used as an all-optical wavelength converter and regenerator.Regenerated pulses have narrower pulse-width of 37ps.Power penalty and extinction-ratio improvement of 1.5dB and 4dB respectively were achieved.     

Polarization-Insensitive All-Optical Time-Division Demultiplexer Constructed with a Nonlinear Loop Interferometer

A polarization-insensitive 40-Gb/s time-division demultiplexer was demonstrated in a polarization-diversity loop configuration. The power penalty was measured to be 2.3 dB at a bit error rates of 10-9 for 10 Gb/s output signals.     

Utilization of four WDM channels with signal remodulation of OFDM-QAM for 10 Gb/s uplink passive optical networks

In this investigation, we experimentally investigate an extended reach (ER) time-division-multiplexed passive optical network (TDM-PON) using four wavelength-multiplexed channels to achieve 16 Gb/s downlink and 10 Gb/s uplink traffic. Each downlink signal uses the highly spectral efficient 4 Gb/s OFDM-QAM, and each uplink signal is generated by signal remodulating the downlink signal via a reflective semiconductor amplifier (RSOA) at 2.5 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ). In addition, the performance of the proposed ER TDM-PON has also been analyzed and discussed.     

A natural abundance Se solid-state NMR study of inorganic compounds

Various inorganic selenium-based compounds were analysed by ⁷⁷Se solid-state NMR, and a distinct difference in chemical shift ranges for compounds where selenium is present as selenide (Se²⁻) ionically and covalently bonded systems was observed. The selenides exhibit a shift range of approximately −700 to −100 ppm, as opposed to 700 to 1600 ppm for the compounds where there tends to be more direct covalent bonding to the selenium. The anisotropic hyperfine shift observed in NbSe₂ is shown to be axially symmetric, where the H₁₁ component is found to be normal to the Se3-trigonal plane.     

Honeycomb pattern formation by laser-beam filamentation in atomic sodium vapor

We have observed transverse pattern formation leading to highly regular structures in both the near and far fields when a near-resonant laser beam propagates without feedback through an atomic sodium vapor. One example is a regular far-field honeycomb pattern, which results from the transformation of the laser beam within the vapor into a stable three-lobed structure with a uniform phase distribution and highly correlated power fluctuations. The predictions of a theoretical model of the filamentation process are in good agreement with these observations.