Fast-switching effect using viscous chiral-nematic materials

We report on chiral-nematic mixtures containing viscous chiral dopants, composed of rigid rod-like chiral molecules, in order to solve the problem of backflow in the middle layers of the liquid crystal cells. During the study, the viscoelastic properties of the liquid crystal compositions have been optimised, as well as the helical twisting power of the chiral compounds, the anchoring energy and the pre-tilt angle of alignment materials, the ratio between the cell gap and the helical pitch (d/P₀). After optimisation, we prepared test cells with low operating voltage – from 1.5 till 5.0 V, fast response time (τ_on + τ_off) – less than 1 ms, wide operating temperature range from ?40°C till +100°C, and good thermal stability. It should be noted that the response time of the new electro-optical mode does not strongly depend on the cell gap, which is in contrast to other known operating modes. We have achieved rather linear than quadratic dependence of the response time when changing the thickness of the cell.     

Effect of fluorination on the phase sequence,dielectric and electro-optical properties of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric mixtures

Four multicomponent room temperature mixtures were formulated using a pyrimidine-based achiral matrix as host and four terphenyl-based ester chiral compounds as dopants. Among the four mixtures, two exhibit antiferroelectric and two other exhibit ferroelectric phases at room temperature. Dopant molecules differ from each other by position and number of fluorine atom substitution at the benzoate group of the molecular rigid core. Number and location of fluorine atoms in the dopant structure show significant effect on the phase sequences as well as on different physical properties. All the mixtures found to have moderate spontaneous polarisation, high tilt angle, very fast switching time and low viscosity which are important for liquid crystal-based display applications.     

Stability of the Sliding Mode in Nonstationary Automatic-Control Systems with Variable Structure

The paper addresses the stability of the sliding mode in nonstationary automatic-control systems of variable structure. The parameters of dynamic states are assumed to vary arbitrarily and continuously within a given bounded domain. The existence and stability conditions for the sliding mode on the switching hyperplane are established. They define nonstationary sets that contain phase velocity vectors directed away from the sliding hyperplane. The sets do not have common points with the switching hyperplane, except for the origin, for the known extreme values of the discontinuous coefficients of logical controls. This is the essence of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the stable sliding mode of the automatic-control system. The general results are used to analyze the stability conditions for the sliding mode in a nonstationary automatic-control system with a variable structure of the third order     

Preparative separation of anti‐oxidative constituents from Rubia cordifolia by column‐switching counter‐current chromatography

An effective column‐switching counter‐current chromatography (CCC) protocol combining stepwise elution mode was successfully developed for simultaneous and preparative separation of anti‐oxidative components from ethyl acetate extract of traditional Chinese herbal medicine Rubia cordifolia. The column‐switching CCC system was interfaced by a commercial low‐pressure six‐port switching valve equipped with a sample loop, allowing large volume introduction from the first dimension (1^st‐D) to the second dimension (2^nd‐D). Moreover, to extend the polarity window, three biphasic liquid systems composed of n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:2:1:2, 2:3:2:3, 5:6:5:6 v/v) were employed using stepwise elution mode in the 1^st‐D. By valve switching technique the whole interested region of 1^st‐D could be introduced to second dimension for further separation with the solvent system 5:5:4:6 v/v. Using the present column‐switching CCC protocol, 500 mg of crude R. cordifolia extract were separated, producing milligram‐amounts of four anti‐oxidative components over 90% pure. Structures of purified compounds were identified by ¹H and ¹³C NMR.     

Determination of anthelmintic drug residues in milk using ultra high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry with rapid polarity switching

A new UHPLC–MS/MS (ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry) method was developed and validated to detect 38 anthelmintic drug residues, consisting of benzimidazoles, avermectins and flukicides. A modified QuEChERS-type extraction method was developed with an added concentration step to detect most of the analytes at <1 μg kg⁻¹ levels in milk. Anthelmintic residues were extracted into acetonitrile using magnesium sulphate and sodium chloride to induce liquid–liquid partitioning followed by dispersive solid phase extraction for cleanup. The extract was concentrated into dimethyl sulphoxide, which was used as a keeper to ensure analytes remain in solution. Using rapid polarity switching in electrospray ionisation, a single injection was capable of detecting both positively and negatively charged ions in a 13 min run time. The method was validated at two levels: the unapproved use level and at the maximum residue level (MRL) according to Commission Decision (CD) 2002/657/EC criteria. The decision limit (CCα) of the method was in the range of 0.14–1.9 and 11–123 μg kg⁻¹ for drugs validated at unapproved and MRL levels, respectively. The performance of the method was successfully verified for benzimidazoles and levamisole by participating in a proficiency study.     

Simple electro-optic technique to generate temporally flat-top laser pulses

A simple technique is presented to generate temporally flat-top shaped laser pulses using electro-optic modulator (Pockels cell). It involves splitting of input laser pulse into two halves of equal intensity and then stacking together with appropriate optical delay to get a temporally flat-top laser pulse. It also allows generation of other pulse shapes by varying the relative intensity, delay, and phase between two halves of the input laser pulse. Temporally flat-top laser pulses of duration ~ 9 ns have been generated using ~ 7 ns duration incident laser pulses from a flash lamp pumped Q-switched Nd:glass laser oscillator. The rise and fall-time of the shaped pulse is limited by speed of electro-optic switch (Pockels cell), which is ~ 2 ns in the present case.     

All-optical switching with a biexcitonic double lambda system

A double lambda four-level system could be implemented with biexcitonic transitions on GaAs quantum well. We observed that the phase dependent biexcitonic transition could be explained by interference between one-photon and three-photon transition in a double lambda four-level system. An ultralow-light switch pulse could control 80% of biexcitonic absorption, which demonstrated all-optical switching with biexcitonic double lambda system.     

Electromechanical cracking in ferroelectrics driven by large scale domain switching

Experimental results indicate three regimes for cracking in a ferroelectric double cantilever beam (DCB) under combined electromechanical loading. In the loading, the maximum amplitude of the applied electric field reaches almost twice the coercive field of ferroelectrics. Thus, the model of small scale domain switching is not applicable any more, which is dictated only by the singular term of the crack tip field. In the DCB test, a large or global scale domain switching takes place instead, which is driven...     

Composition dependence of unipolar resistance switching in TaOx thin films

Amorphous TaO_x thin films were deposited at different temperatures, and the resistance switching properties of the Pt/TaO_x/Pt structure were investigated. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the amount of Ta₂O₅ in the film decreased and the content of Ta suboxides increased substantially when the growth temperature was increased. Unipolar resistance switching near the anode was stable only for TaO_x film grown at room temperature. The experimental results revealed the critical effect of the film composition on the resistance switching behavior of TaO_x films. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

不同开关频率下电压控制升压变换器中的Hopf分岔分析

由于电压控制升压变换器的传统平均模型中没有包含开关频率,从而无法分析开关频率的大小对电压控制升压变换器中Hopf分岔的影响. 通过建立电压控制升压变换器的含有开关频率的改进平均模型,分析了开关频率对电压控制升压变换器中Hopf分岔的影响,并设计硬件电路,给出电路试验结果. 研究表明:采用电压控制升压变换器的改进平均模型,可以有效地分析不同开关频率对电压控制升压变换器中Hopf分岔的影响; 随着开关频率的减小,电压控制升压变换器更易于发生Hopf分岔. 关键词： 改进平均模型 电压控制升压变换器 开关频率