Optical Design of a Space Retroreflector Using a Hybrid Search

Retroreflectors on satellites are used as targets for laser ranging and laser long-path absorption measurements of atmospheric trace species. To compensate for the velocity aberration, slight tuning of the design is necessary. The curvatures of mirrors, the angles between mirrors, and the direction of the retroreflector on the satellite must be tuned to optimize the optical efficiency of the retroreflector. An enumerative scheme is not applicable when the number of parameters is large. We proposed earlier a technique using a genetic algorithm for the optical design of a space retroreflector.¹⁾ In this paper, we have improved the method introducing a hybrid technique that is a combination of a genetic algorithm and simulated annealing.     

New method for calculating reflected wave fronts of acute retroreflectors with tuned dihedral angle

An acute retroreflector having dihedral angles of 45, 60 and 90 deg exactly reflects incident rays in the opposite direction. Beam pattern or wave front of the reflected light of the acute retroreflector can be controlled by tuning dihedral angles. We present here a new method for calculating the reflected wave front of the acute retroreflector, in which the wave front is calculated with high accuracy and in a shorter calculation time than by the conventional ray trace method.     

Polymerization of substituted phenylacetylenes with a novel,water‐soluble Rh–vinyl complex in water

A novel, water‐soluble Rh complex, (nbd)Rh[PPh₂(m‐NaOSO₂C₆H₄)] [C(Ph)?CPh₂] ( 1 ) was synthesized by the reaction of [(nbd)RhCl]₂, Ph₂P(m‐NaOSO₂C₆H₄) and Ph₂C?C(Ph)Li, whose structure was determined by NMR and IR spectroscopies. The Rh catalyst 1 induced the polymerization of phenylacetylene (PA) in water to give two kinds of polymers; one was soluble in organic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF) and CHCl₃, and the other was insoluble in common organic solvents. The polymerization of sodium p‐ethynylbenzoate (p‐NaOCO‐PA) homogeneously proceeded with 1 in water at 60 °C to give the polymer in high yield. Poly(p‐NaOCO‐PA) was treated with 1 N HCl and then reacted with (CH₃)₃SiCHN₂ to obtain poly(p‐MeOCO‐PA). The methyl‐esterified polymer was insoluble in THF and CHCl₃, which suggests that the formed poly(p‐MeOCO‐PA) has cis–cisoidal structure. The polymer obtained from the polymerization of [p‐CH₃(OCH₂CH₂)₂O₂CC₆H₄]C?CH with 1 in water was soluble in methanol, ethanol, and THF, and partly soluble in water. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2100–2105, 2004     

Organometallic Langmuir-Blodgett films for electronics and photonics

This review provides a brief introduction to the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique and to the utilization of ultrathin films in the fields of electronics and optics. The electrical and nonlinear optical properties of the Langmuir-Blodgett monolayer and multilayers of organoruthenium complexes, ferrocene derivatives, metal(4,5-dimercapto-1, 3-dithiol-2-dithiolene)₂ complexes, metallophthalocyanines, metalloporphyrins, metal(dibenzotetra-aza[14]annulene)s and siloxane polymers are presented. Possible applications of organometallic LB films in sensors, electroluminescence and electrochromic devices, optical switches, solar cells, infrared detectors and harmonic generators are discussed.     

Quantum as a heat engine—the physics of intensities unique to the origins of life

Experimental endeavor for addressing the origins of life when viewed from the physical perspective presents a new opportunity of developing physics further for its own sake. A case in point is the issue of intensities. The physics of the origins of life may more readily be approachable by way of the dynamics of intensities or intensive quantities such as temperature and force strengths, compared to the standard dynamics of extensive quantities such as molecule numbers, densities, masses and charges. What is unique to the dynamics of intensities is that it is already contextual in addressing the context under which the intensities in focus are generated and maintained. In particular, because of the contextual nature of temperature grounded upon the material context in which the contextual elements move almost randomly with each other, the occurrence of temperature gradients provides an impetus for transforming the material context. The physical origins of life are just associated with the emergence of the robust material context that can serve as a heat engine. One likely candidate for the material context serving as a heat engine that could emerge in the presence of temperature gradients near hot vents in the primitive ocean on the Earth might have been a citric acid cycle running with no help of enzymes of biological origin. Underlying the emergence of a robust heat engine is the pruning principle of the faster temperature drop going with the greater stored latent heat applied to any reacting molecules crossing the temperature gradients.     

Preparation and phase behavior of poly(4‐trimethylsilylstyrene)‐block‐polyisoprene

Three poly(4‐trimethylsilylstyrene)‐block‐polyisoprenes (TIs), the molecular weights of which were 82,000, 152,000 and 291,000 (TI‐82K, TI‐152K, and TI‐291K), were synthesized by sequential anionic polymerizations. The component polymers were a miscible pair that presented a lower critical solution temperature phase diagram if blended. The TI phase behavior was investigated with transmission electron microscopy. The order–disorder transition could be observed at a temperature between 200 °C (the ordered state) and 150 °C (the disordered state) for the block copolymer TI‐152K. The block copolymer TI‐82K presented the disordered state at 200 °C, whereas TI‐291K was in the ordered state at 150 °C. With the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter between poly(4‐trimethylsilylstyrene) and polyisoprene, which was evaluated by small‐angle neutron scattering for the block copolymers, the TI phase behavior could be reasonably explained by mean‐field theory. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 1214–1219, 2005     

Novel photocurable monomers: The synthesis of difunctional vinyl ethers with a phosphonate group and difunctional 1‐propenyl ethers with a phosphonate group and their photoinitiated cationic polymerization

Phosphorus‐containing vinyl ether monomers and 1‐propenyl ether monomers were prepared by the regioselective addition reaction of glycidyl vinyl ether (GVE) or 1‐propenyl glycidyl ether with diaryl phosphonates with quaternary onium salts as catalysts. The reaction of GVE with bis(4‐chlorophenyl) phenylphosphonate gave bis[1‐(4‐chlorophenoxy methyl)‐2‐(vinyloxy)ethyl]phenylphosphonate in a 68% yield. The structures of the resulting phosphorus‐containing vinyl ether monomers and 1‐propenyl ether monomers were confirmed by IR and ¹H NMR spectra and elemental analysis. Photoinitiated cationic polymerizations of the resulting phosphorus‐containing vinyl ether monomers and 1‐propenyl ether monomers were investigated with photoacid generators. The polymerization of vinyl ether groups and 1‐propenyl ether groups of the obtained monomers proceeded very smoothly with a sulfonium‐type cationic photoinitiator, bis[4‐(diphenylsulfonio)phenyl]sulfide‐bis(hexafluorophosphate), upon UV irradiation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 3105–3115, 2005     

Phase Matching Property of Cross Polarization Four Wave Mixing in BaTiO3 Crystal

Four wave mixing (FWM) is of considerable interest in generation of a phase conjugate beam with photorefractive crystals. The common methods of FWM are parallel polarization FWM and cross polarization FWM. In this paper, we analyze the phase matching property of the latter. First, we consider the phase matching condition, and derive equations representing the angler relationship of interacting beams. Then, we consider the phase mismatching which is caused by shift of the probe beam angle from the phase matching condition, and calculate the effect of the shift of this angle on the amount of phase mismatching. We also determine and closely examine the coupling constant.