Imaging in turbid media with intensity-modulated lasers

We describe the formation of a narrow beam for intensity-modulated electromagnetic radiation propagating through highly scattering materials. We propose to use this beam to reconstruct images, similar to X-ray back-projection techniques. For sufficiently high modulation frequency, the photon density wave is primarily carried by photons that suffer small or no large-angle scattering, which gives rise to the beam’s narrow divergence. The beam-narrowing concept is supported by large-scale numerical simulations to examine the quality of the imaging.     

On irreversibility of von Neumann additive cellular automata on grids

The von Neumann cellular automaton appears in many different settings in Operations Research varying from applications in Formal Languages to Biology. One of the major questions related to it is to find a general condition for irreversibility of a class of two-dimensional cellular automata on square grids (σ⁺-automata). This question is partially answered here with the proposal of a sufficient condition for the irreversibility of σ⁺-automata.     

Influence of focusing depth on the microfabrication of waveguides inside silica glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

We studied the influence of focusing depth on the index change threshold and damage threshold of silica glass irradiated by a focused 120 fs laser beam. Both thresholds increased with the focusing depth. The aspect ratio of the waveguide cross section can be selected by changing the focusing depth. A 5 mm long waveguide was written at the depth of 2100 μm, which was single mode at 632.8 nm and exhibited propagation loss of 0.56 dB/cm. The refractive index change was calculated to be ∼2.47×10^-3. The influence of the focusing depth should be considered in multi-layer devices as shown in the fabrication of a 3×3 waveguide array. PACS 42.62.-b; 42.82.Et; 81.05.Kf     

PEO-based composite lithium polymer electrolyte, PEO-BaTiO3-Li(C2F5SO2)2N

Polyethylene oxide (PEO) based polymer electrolytes with BaTiO₃ as filler and Li(C₂F₅SO₂)₂N as salt have been examined in lithium polymer batteries. The aluminum disolution potential in PEO-Li(C₂F₅SO₂)₂N was estimated to be 4.1 V vs. Li/Li⁺ at 80 °C, which was compared to that of 3.8 V vs. Li/Li⁺ in PEO-Li(CF₃SO₂)₂N. The electrical conductivity of the system was measured as a function of O/Li ratio. The highest conductivity was observed in O/Li=8. The conductivity was 1.65×10⁻³ S/cm at 80 °C and 1.5×10⁻⁵ S/cm at 25 °C. The interfacial resistance of Li/polymer electrolyte/Li annealed at 80 °C for 15 days was lower than 100 Ωcm². Paper presented at the 8th EuroConference on Ionics, Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal, Sept. 16 – 22, 2001.     

A Mössbauer spectroscopic study of an industrial catalyst for dehydrogenation of etylbenzene to styrene

Iron oxide catalyst with spinel structure used for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene is one kind of important catalyst in petrochemical industry. In this work several series of industrial catalyst were prepared with different components and different manufacturing processes. Mössbauer Spectroscopy has been used to determine the optimal components and the better manufacturing process for spinel structure formation. The results may prove useful for producing the industrial dehydrogenation catalyst with better catalytic property.     

An efficient lasing action from pyrromethene 556 dye-doped organically modified silicates

Organically modified solid-state silicates (ORMOSILS) doped with a new laser dye 1,3,5,7,8-pentamethylpyrromethene-2,6-disulfonate-BF₂ complex (pyrromethene 556) have been synthesized by a sol-gel method and the compositional effects on pore characteristics, fluorescence and lasing properties have been investigated. It is found that the use of dimethylsulfoxide and γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane could greatly change the structure properties of sol-gel derived ORMOSILS cage, and thus the fluorescence and lasing properties of the materials could improve significantly. A successful laser oscillation from this dye-doped ORMOSILS sample has been achieved upon pumping with a Q-switched frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. A slope efficiency of 54% with a useful lifetime greater than 10,000 shots has been demonstrated at a pump repetition rate of 1 Hz and a pump intensity of 1 J/cm² by using the new ORMOSILS cage on our newly designed laser system. Our results have shown that it is possible to obtain a high-efficiency with a long-lifetime for a compact new laser device by low cost dye-doped solid-state ORMOSILS.     

Assembly and Photophysics of Ternary Luminescent Lanthanide Molecular Complex Systems

In this paper, according to the molecular fragment principle, a series of eight ternary luminescent lanthanide complex systems were assembled, and whose compositions were determined with elemental analysis and infrared spectrum: Ln(MA)₃(L)·H₂O, where Ln = Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy; HMA = α‐methylacrylic acid; L = 1,10‐phenanthroline (phen), 2,2′‐bipyridine (bipy). The photophysical properties of these functional molecular systems were studied with ultraviolet‐visible absorption spectrum, and fluorescence excitation and emission spectrum. It was found that the heterocylic compounds (phen and bipy) act as the main energy donor and luminescence sensitizer for their suitable energy match and effective energy transfer to the emission energy level of Ln³⁺ ions. MMA ligand was only used as the terminal structural ligand to influence the luminescence. Especially terbium complex systems show the strongest luminescence for the optimum energy match and transfer between phen (bipy) and Tb³⁺ ion.     

Invex-convexlike functions and duality

We define a class of invex-convexlike functions, which contains all convex, pseudoconvex, invex, and convexlike functions, and prove that the Kuhn-Tucker sufficient optimality condition and the Wolfe duality hold for problems involving such functions. Applications in control theory are given.The author is grateful to Professor W. Stadler and the referees for many valuable remarks and suggestions, which have enabled him to improve considerably the paper.     

Partially Strictly Monotone and Nonlinear Penalty Functions for Constrained Mathematical Programs

We introduce the concept of partially strictly monotone functions and apply it to construct a class of nonlinear penalty functions for a constrained optimization problem. This class of nonlinear penalty functions includes some (nonlinear) penalty functions currently used in the literature as special cases. Assuming that the perturbation function is lower semi-continuous, we prove that the sequence of optimal values of nonlinear penalty problems converges to that of the original constrained optimization problem. First-order and second-order necessary optimality conditions of nonlinear penalty problems are derived by converting the optimality of penalty problems into that of a smooth constrained vector optimization problem. This approach allows for a concise derivation of optimality conditions of nonlinear penalty problems. Finally, we prove that each limit point of the second-order stationary points of the nonlinear penalty problems is a second-order stationary point of the original constrained optimization problem.     

Low-threshold interband cascade lasers operating above room temperature

Mid-IR type-II interband cascade lasers were demonstrated in pulsed mode at temperatures up to 325 K and in continuous mode up to 200 K. At 80 K, the threshold current density was 8.9 A/cm² and a continuous wave output power of 140 mW/facet was obtained.