Anisotropic phononic crystal structure with low-frequency bandgap and heat flux manipulation

This study presents a two-dimensional phononic crystal with heat flux manipulation and wide bandgaps of out-of-plane modes within the low-frequency range. The anisotropic matrix made of spiral-multilayered materials with different thermal conductivities, and the coating layer inserted with metal are designed for heat flux manipulation. Rubber-coated metal cylinders are periodically embedded in the anisotropic matrix to obtain the low-frequency bandgaps of out-of-plane modes. Numerical simulation is carried out to validate the heat and elastic characteristics of the spiral-multilayered anisotropic structure and reveal the effects of the laying angle and temperature on the bandgaps. Subsequently, a spiral-multilayered plate with periodic structures is studied, which shows an obvious vibration attenuation in the frequency ranges of the bandgaps and a deflected heat flux from the initial propagation direction. In the experimental investigation, the multi-phase spiral-multilayered anisotropic plate is simplified to a single-phase anisotropic plate made of aluminum. The characteristics of this type of anisotropic phononic crystal structure may pave the way for the design of a new kind of thermo-acoustic metamaterial serving in combined thermal and acoustic environments.     

Calculation of the Effect on the Reflection of the Plane Electromagnetic Wave for Non-Magnetized Plasma with Different Electron Density Distributions

In this paper, shift operator finite-difference time-domain (SO-FDTD) method is applied for the calculation of the dispersive medium. The high efficiency and accuracy of this method is verified by calculating the reflection of the plane electromagnetic wave impinging on a non-magnetized plasma slab with different electron density distributions. The results show that the average electron density only determines overall trends of the reflection, and different distributions affect the oscillating process of the reflection. If the average electron density maintains the same, the distribution of electron density with homogenous or inhomogeneous alternation will sharply take effects on the reflection. And magnitude of alternation of electron density affects the incident frequency directly when the reflection tends to uniform.     

Potential energy in a three-dimensional vibrated granular medium measured by NMR imaging

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the swelling of randomly end-cross-linked polymer networks in good solvent conditions. We find that the equilibrium degree of swelling saturates at Q(eq) approximately N(3/5)(e) for mean strand lengths &Nmacr;(s) exceeding the melt entanglement length N(e). The internal structure of the network strands in the swollen state is characterized by a new exponent nu = 0.72+/-0.02. Our findings can be rationalized by a Flory argument for a self-similar structure of mutually interpenetrating network strands, agree partially with the classical Flory-Rehner theory, and are in contradiction to de Gennes' c(*)-theorem.     

Controllable spontaneous emission from a double Λ-type four-level atom in an anisotropic photonic crystal

The spontaneous emission behavior of a double Λ-type four-level atom embedded in a photonic crystal (PC) with anisotropic dispersion relations is investigated. It is shown that some interesting phenomena such as the spectral-line enhancement, the spectral-line narrowing, the spectral-line suppression and the spontaneous emission cancellation can be observed by adjusting the density of states of the photonic-band-gap (PBG) reservoir and the combination of two pump intensities. The proposed scheme can be achieved by use of coherent pump fields into the transitions from the upper levels to the ground level in rubidium atom confined in a PC. These theoretical investigations may provide more degrees of freedom to manipulate the atomic spontaneous emission.     

Cooperative effect of La-doping and template on surface photoelectron characteristics of mesoporous nano-TiO2

A mesoporous La-doped nano-TiO₂ was prepared by the sol-gel method using polyethylene glycol as the template. A combination of surface photovoltaic (SPV) and photoacoustic technologies, aided by laser Raman technology, was used to probe the photoexcited charge transfer transition behaviors in the surface space charge region of the sample. The results confirm that the lanthanum doping was responsible for inhibiting the transformation from the anatase to rutile form and grain growth, thus strengthening the microstructure that was formed after removal of the template clearly. The experiment reveals that appropriate La-doping resulted in an obvious increase in the SPV response. By contrast, the remainder of the template had a somewhat negative effect on the SPV response of the samples. The effect of both the La-doping and the removal of the template on the nonradiative de-excitation process of the main band-gap can be negligible, in spite of the nonradiative de-excitation processes of the sub-band-gap of the La-undoped sample, in which the surface states possessed the donor characteristic, being more obvious than that of the La-doped samples. The results showed that the electron-phonon interactions on the surfaces resulting from the nonradiative de-excitation process were closely dependent on the effect of quantum confinement of the mesoporous nano-TiO₂.     

Intravascular 3.0 T MRI Using an Imaging-Guidewire: a Feasibility Study in Swine

This study was to validate the feasibility of using a magnetic resonance imaging-guidewire (MRIG) for intravascular 3.0 T MR imaging of deep-seated arterial walls of large animals. The functionality of a 0.032-in. MRIG was evaluated and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was calculated. Then, MRI of ten iliofemoral arteries of six pigs was acquired by MRIG and surface coil. The difference in the SNRs of the arterial walls between different coils was compared. Histology examined the potential thermal injuries of the imaged vessels. The MRIG functioned with the 3.0 T MR scanner. The average SNR of the arterial walls was significantly higher with the MRIG than with the surface coils (76.22 ± 34.76 vs. 12.63 ± 4.25, P < 0.01). Histology showed no evidence of thermal injuries at the vessel walls. This study validated the feasibility of generating intravascular 3.0 T MRI of deep-seated arterial walls in large animals, which should facilitate the translation of this technique from 1.5 to 3.0 T MR scanner.     

Study of photoconductivity and photoluminescence of organic/porous silicon complexes

In this paper, time-varying photoconductivity (PC) and the photoluminescence (PL) of different complexes were studied. Due to thick polymer layer hindering light penetrating into porous silicon (PS) layer, intrinsic PS luminescence in polymer/PS system disappeared. The physical origin of PL may be related to the recombination mechanisms involving surface defect states such as silicon oxide, siloxene. Due to carrier transfer controlled by different energy barrier, different devices prepared from different doped Si wafer showed opposite current-voltage characteristic.     

Theoretical analysis of optical coupling properties of the waveguide grating with novel rectangular structure

For the waveguide grating photocoupler with novel structure [Yu XQ, Zhang X, Wong KS, Xu GB, Xu XG, Ren Y, et al. A fabrication of coupling grating in the polymeric waveguide by using two-photon initiated photopolymerization. Mater Lett 2004;58:3879–83. [1]; Yu XQ, Zhang X, Xu GB, Zhao HP, He W, Shao ZS, et al. Fabrication of grating waveguide and coupling grating using two-photon initiated photopolymerization. Chem J Chin Univ 2004;25(10):1931–3 (in Chinese). [2]], the electric fields of the TE guided wave and the TE radiating wave are obtained by solving the Helmholtz equation in the spatial rectangular coordinates. And then the relations between the loss coefficient and the different structure parameters of the waveguide and grating are analyzed by using the mode coupling theories, and their corresponding numerical simulation results are given. In the end the result obtained for this novel structure and that for conventional rectangle structure are compared, and the difference and the sameness are obtained.     

Predicting Polymorphism of Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membranes by Their Morphologies

Although electrospinning of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been studied for more than 10 years, the crystalline phase differentiation of the electrospun mats is still normally through the combination of different characterization techniques, and the relationship between polymorphism and morphology of the fibers in electrospun PVDF membranes has never been reported. Here, we show their close relationships by conducting room-temperature electrospinning experiments on various polymer/solvent systems. The electrospun membranes full of bead-free fibers have a very high fraction of β-phase, F(β), over 90%, and high orientation, whereas the membranes comprising beads and/or a large number of beaded fibers most often result in a low fraction of β-phase (F(β) normally below 50%) and low orientation. On the other hand, electrospun membranes consisting of both bead-free fibers and a very limited number of beaded fibers showed a medium high fraction of β-phase, F(β) more than 70% but less than 90%. These findings suggest the feasibility of intuitively predicting the crystalline phase of electrospun PVDF membranes directly by their morphologies, which is obviously simple, inexpensive and convenient for future investigations.