Scattering from bandlimited fractal fibers

The scattering of electromagnetic or optical waves from tenuous dielectric fibers characterized by bandlimited fractal surfaces is considered. The role of several fractal dimensions is noted, and one suitable for this problem is identified. It is found that in the fractal regime, the Rayleigh-Gans differential scattering cross section as a function of the normalized size parameter exhibits a power-law relation reminiscent of that associated with light scattering from fractal clusters and small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering by porous material. This power-law relation is monotonically related to an appropriate fractal dimension and variance of the fiber surface     

Catalytic properties of composite amorphous carbon-platinum layers in fuel cells

Catalytic properties of composite amorphous carbon-platinum layers produced by magnetron cosputtering have been studied. The layers were characterized by electron microscopy, IR spectroscopy, ellipsometry, gravimetry, and spectrophotometric chemical analysis. The catalytic activity of the layers was studied in an air-hydrogen fuel cell by measuring its load and power characteristics.     

Quantifying Organization by Means of Entropy

With the aim to reduce disorder and improve efficiency, nodes in an ad hoc network run a self-organization scheme to cooperatively organize the network. Although metrics such as complexity or self-stability are commonly used for evaluation, to the best of our knowledge, none of them quantifies the efficiency to build and maintain an organization (order). We henceforth apply the notion of entropy to ad hoc type wireless networks facilitating a quantification of the internal organizational state generated by different self-organization schemes. Invoking node and link failure probabilities, we expose the dependency of the organizational state on the self-organization protocol of choice.     

Optical Endless Polarization Stabilization at 9 krad/s With FPGA-Based Controller

We demonstrate endless polarization stabilization with a control speed of up to 9 krad/s, over random Poincare sphere trajectories. These are in total >35 Mrad long, are composed in particular of difficult-to-track circles with all radii and orientations, and thereby include all possible worst cases. The maximum polarization mismatch and relative intensity errors are 0.13 rad and 0.43%, respectively. The controller runs on a field-programmable gate array and uses a commercial multistage LiNbO₃ polarization transformer as the control device.     

Ultrafast IR Laser Writing of Strong Bragg Gratings Through the Coating of High Ge-Doped Optical Fibers

Strong fiber Bragg gratings were written through the standard polymer coatings of "off-the-shelf" high numerical aperture single-mode optical fibers after a few seconds exposure with femtosecond pulse durations of infrared radiation through a phase mask. While writing through the acrylate coating, we obtained index modulations of up to 1.4 x 10^-3 and 7 x 10^-4 with and without H₂ -loading, respectively.     

DefibViz: A Visualization Tool for the Assessment of Electrode Parameters on Transthoracic Defibrillation Thresholds

DefibViz is a software application developed for defibrillation simulation and visualization. It exploits both surface techniques and methods for the interactive exploration of volumetric datasets for the analysis of transthoracic defibrillation simulation results. DefibViz has a graphical user interface for the specification of the shape, size, position, and applied voltage of a defibrillator's electrodes. An option is provided for using 3D slice plane widgets, which operate on the volumetric datasets, such that the distribution of the voltage gradient induced by an electric shock can be visually inspected in various tissues throughout the myocardium and torso. One goal of DefibViz is to enhance understanding of how electrode parameters relate to the change of the voltage gradient distribution throughout the heart, which may help lead to optimal defibrillator design. DefibViz is significant, in that, it is built by using an open-source graphics and visualization framework providing a platform for subsequent modifiability and extensibility. Moreover, it integrates simulation and visualization techniques, which previously required the running of several independent software executables, into an enhanced, seamless, and comprehensive software application.     

The Silicon Backplane Design for an LCOS Polarization-Insensitive Phase Hologram SLM

Polarization-insensitivity is achieved in a reflective spatial light modulator by laying a quarter-wave plate (QWP) at the incident wavelength directly over the mirror pixels of a silicon backplane, and forming a nematic Freedrickcz cell over the QWP to modulate the reflected phase. To achieve the highest drive voltage from the available silicon process, a switched voltage common front electrode design is described, with variable amplitude square wave drive to the pixels to maintain constant root-mean-square drive and minimize phase fluctuations during the dc balance refresh cycle. The silicon has been fabricated and liquid-crystal-on-silicon cells both with and without the QWP assembled; applications include optically transparent switches for optical networks, beam steering for add-drop multiplexers for wavelength-division-multiplexing telecommunications, television multicast, and holographic projection.     

Inclusions of carbon in ingots of silicon carbide grown by the modified Lely method

The problem of the appearance of carbon inclusions in single-crystal silicon carbide ingots grown by the modified Lely method (the so-called graphitization of the ingot) is analyzed. It is shown that the process of graphitization of the ingot is not related to a deficit of silicon in the growth cell; in contrast, it is excess of silicon at the growth surface that inhibits the ingot growth rate and gives rise to intense corrosion of the graphite fittings.     

Decrease in the group velocity of a light pulse in the Bose-Einstein condensate of a dilute gas

A semiclassical theory of electromagnetically induced transparency in a Bose-Einstein condensate is considered. A nonlinear Schrödinger equation that describes the interaction of the Bose-Einstein condensate with an electromagnetic field is derived. An analysis of the obtained solutions to this equation demonstrates a decrease in the group velocity of the light pulse.     

Photoluminescence of liquid-crystal azo derivatives in nanopores

Optics and Spectroscopy - The fluorescence of the nematic liquid crystal n-butyl-n′-methoxyazoxybenzene (BMAOB) in the form of a layer and in porous glasses with pores of different diameter...