Influence of the composition of the polymer matrix on the electrooptical properties of films with a dispersed liquid crystal

Polymer films with a dispersed liquid crystal were prepared by photopolymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers. The electrooptical properties of these films were studied. The influence exerted by the composition of the monomer mixture, cross-linking agents, and chain-transfer agent on the liquid crystal drop size and on the transmission of the polymer-liquid crystal films was examined.     

Electrohydrodynamic instability in some nematic cyanobiphenyls in an a.c. electric field

Electrohydrodynamic instability in homeotropically oriented nematic samples of 4'-n-octyl-4-cyano-biphenyl and 4'n-alkyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl, (n = 8.9) have been studied in an a.c. electric field. The domain patterns during the instability in these compounds in a very low frequency a.c. field are very similar to those in a d.c. field. The domain patterns observed at higher frequencies have been identified as 'maltese crosses' or 'crossed isogyres'. The electro-convective 'isotropic' flows near the electrode play an important role in the observed instability.     

Ozone measurement in visible region: an optical fibre sensor system

Ozone measurement based on the optical absorption of visible light at 603 nm using polymer optical fibres is investigated and tested. Comparisons with a commercial UV based sensor demonstrate the ability of the visible based sensor to measure high concentrations over a range 27-127 mg/litre. A resolution of 5 mg/litre is also demonstrated for this sensor.     

Performance analysis of information dissemination by flooding

Performance properties are established for the dissemination by flooding of a database that is initially distributed among the nodes of a communications network. An example of this general process is the dissemination of network status information as a component of the adaptive routing mechanism in a network like Arpanet. Bounds are given on the progress of the dissemination process at a sequence of times before the completion of the process, whereas earlier results only bounded the time until completion. The present bounds further extended earlier analysis by treating the diameter explicitly as a parameter. Specialized versions of the bounds are given for k-connected networks. The bounds yield a recognition property whereby a node can recognize that it has received the entire database without having a priori knowledge of the size of the database. An earlier assumption about a fixed time for correct message transmission over any edge is relaxed to assume only an upper bound on these transmission times     

Hot-carrier reliability of 20V MOS transistors in 0.13 μm CMOS technology

This paper presents results of reliability investigation of 20 V N-Drift MOS transistor in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. Due to high performances required for CMOS applications, adding high voltage devices becomes a big challenge to guarantee the reliability criteria. In this context, new reliability approaches are needed. Safe Operating Area are defined for switch, V_ds limited and V_gs limited applications in order to improve circuit designs. For V_ds limited applications, deep doping dose effects in drift area are investigated in correlation to lifetime evaluations based on device parameter shifts under hot carrier stressing. To further determine the amount and locations of hot carriers injections, accurate 2D technological and electrical simulations are performed and permit to select the best compromise between performance and reliability for N-Drift MOS transistor.     

Numerical simulations of a filament in a flowing soap film

Experiments concerning the properties of soap films have recently been carried out and these systems have been proposed as experimental versions of theoretical two‐dimensional liquids. A silk filament introduced into a flowing soap film, was seen to demonstrate various stable modes, and these were, namely, a mode in which the filament oscillates and one in which the filament is stationary and aligns with the flow of the liquid. The system could be forced from the oscillatory mode into the non‐ oscillatory mode by varying the length of the filament. In this article we use numerical and computational techniques in order to simulate the strongly coupled behaviour of the filament and the fluid. Preliminary results are presented for the specific case in which the filament is seen to oscillate continuously for the duration of our simulation. We also find that the filament oscillations are strongly suppressed when we reduce the effective length of the filament. We believe that these results are reminiscent of the different oscillatory and non‐oscillatory modes observed in experiment. The numerical solutions show that, in contrast to experiment, vortices are created at the leading edge of the filament and are preferentially grown in the curvature of the filament and are eventually released from the trailing edge of the filament. In a similar manner to oscillating hydrofoils, it seems that the oscillating filaments are in a minimal energy state, extracting sufficient energy from the fluid to oscillate. In comparing numerical and experimental results it is possible that the soap film does have an effect on the fluid flow especially in the boundary layer where surface tension forces are large. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical and experimental investigation of the interactions between a non‐uniform planar array of incompressible free jets

The interaction between multiple incompressible air jets has been studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical predictions have been first validated using experimental data for a single jet configuration. The spreading features of five unequal jets in the configuration of one larger central jet surrounded by four smaller equi‐distant jets, have been studied, for different lateral spacing ratios of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 and a central jet Reynolds number of 1.24×105 (corresponding to a Mach number of 0.16). Flow of five equal jets has also been simulated, for the sake of comparison. The jet interactions commence at an axial distance of about 3–4 diameters and complete by an axial distance of about 10 diameters for the lowest spacing ratio of 1.5. For larger spacing ratios, the length required for the start and completion of jet interaction increase. Peripheral jets bend more towards the central jet and merge at a smaller distance, when their sizes are smaller than that of the central jet. The entrainment ratio for multiple jets is higher than that for a single jet. Excellent agreement is observed between the experimental data and theoretical predictions for both mean flow field and turbulent quantities, at regions away from the jet inlet. The potential core length and initial jet development, however, are not predicted very accurately due to differences in the assumed and actual velocity profiles at the jet inlet. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.