Fibre raman amplifier properties for applications to long-distance optical communications

This paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental studies on optical amplification by stimulated Raman scattering (Raman amplification) in single-mode optical fibres, and discusses its possible applications to long-distance optical communications. The fibre Raman amplifier can be used as an in-line optical amplifier in both repeaterless and non-regenerative all-optical repeater configurations. In the former application, signal transmission of over 400 km has been predicted theoretically, although high-power pump sources are considered to be required. In the latter configuration, in which optical fibre losses are compensated for by Raman gains, it has been shown that extremely long-distance transmission over more than 1000 km is feasible in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, where the distance achievable is mainly limited by the accumulation of Raman noise. Recent experimental demonstrations including bit-error rate measurements on the Raman amplified signal, and laser-diode pumped amplification, etc., are also reviewed. The results confirm the effectiveness of fibre Raman amplifiers in future long-haul systems.     

Fabrication and transport properties of multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads

A multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads has been fabricated by a manipulation technique using a glass microcapillary, and the low temperature transport properties investigated. The two-terminal conductance of an individual tube shows Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid behavior G∝T^α at high temperature and dI/dV ∝V ^α at low temperature. However, no evidence of such a power-law behavior is obtained in the four-terminal conductance at the junction, where the conductance shows an almost metallic behavior ‘corrected’ by weak localization. Weak localization would essentially appear in electron states at the junctions of MWNTs.     

Formulation for XPS spectral change of oxides by ion bombardment as a function of sputtering time

XPS measurement revealed that the original state of TiO₂ was changed to Ti₂O₃ and TiO by ion bombardment. TiO₂ decreased and Ti₂O₃ increased at the initial stage. TiO increased at a later stage than Ti₂O₃. Each of them saturated after enough sputtering time.A formulation was proposed in order to explain the change of XPS spectra for oxides as a function of ion sputtering time. This formulation was based on reaction equations that contain two reduction processes (from TiO₂ to Ti₂O₃ and from Ti₂O₃ to TiO), and sputtering effects. Using four fitting parameters (two reduction coefficients, sputtering yield and information depth), the present formula was fitted to the experimental results. The fitting results agree satisfactorily with the experimental results. The calculation shows that the reduction coefficient from TiO₂ to Ti₂O₃ is about ten times larger than that from Ti₂O₃ to TiO. This calculation predicts that surface composition of an oxide that is changed by ion bombardment will reach a different value depending on its bulk composition. Moreover, the present formulation can determine the chemical states of compounds changed by ion bombardment.     

Local structure analysis of smoky and colorless topaz using single crystal Al NMR

The angular dependence of the ²⁷Al NMR spectrum was measured for single crystals of smoky and colorless topaz, Al₂SiO₄(F,OH)₂. Smoky topaz was obtained by irradiating high energy neutrons to colorless topaz. The quadrupole coupling constant e²Qq/h and the asymmetry parameter η were obtained from the analysis of the angular dependences of quadrupole splitting of the ²⁷Al NMR spectrum. The local structures around the aluminum atoms in smoky and colorless topaz were discussed from the magnitude and the direction of the electric field gradient. The directions of principal axes of the EFG tensor of ²⁷Al were close to the directions of Al-O and Al-F bonds. The difference in the bond lengths between Al(1)-F(1) and Al(1)-F(2) was found to affect the x and y components of the EFG tensor.     

Electron spin resonance studies of plasma-induced polystyrene radicals

Plasma-induced polystyrene radicals were first studied by electron spin resonance (ESR). The room temperature ESR spectrum was compared with those obtained by γ-irradiation, UV-irradiation, and mechanical fracture. It was found that even less than a few seconds of plasma-irradiation gave rise to a large amount of polystyrene radicals and the ESR spectrum consisted of two types of spectra, a triplet and a single broad line. The spectral feature of the triplet was nearly identical with that of γ-irradiated polystyrene. Thus, it was assigned to the structure of a cyclohexadienyl-type radical formed by a nearly random addition of a hydrogen atom to the aromatic ring. The single broad line, thought to be an outline of multicomponent spectrum, was assigned to an immobilized dangling-bond sites at the plasma-induced crosslinked portion of the polystyrene surface.     

Altered protein synthesis in rat kidney cells exposed to semiconductor materials

It is thought that the extensive industrial use of arsenic, gallium and indium, which have applications as the materials for III–V semiconductors, will increase human exposure to these compounds in the near future. We have undertaken the development of new biological indicators for assessing exposure to these elements. Element-specific alterations in protein synthesis patterns were expected to occur following exposure to arsenic compounds. We examined alterations in protein synthesis in primary cultures of rat kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells by sodium arsenite, gallium chloride and indium chloride, utilizing two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. After incubation with the chemicals for 20 h, newly synthesized proteins were labeled with [³⁵S]methionine. A protein with a molecular weight (M_r) of 30 000 was markedly induced on exposure to 10 μM arsenite or 300 μM gallium chloride, and synthesis of proteins with M_r values of 85 000, 71 000, 65 000, 51 000, 38 000 and 28 000 were also increased by exposure to arsenite and gallium chloride. No significant changes were observed upon exposure to indium. Some of these increased proteins could be heat-shock proteins.     

Purification and characterization of gamma-enolase from various mammals.

The gamma subunit of enolase (gamma-enolase) was purified from the brain tissues of cow, dog, goat, pig, rabbit, and rat. The purification was achieved in only three steps: ammonium sulfate-precipitation, DE 53 cellulose ion-exchange chromatography, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) in a preparative mode. The purification procedure was comparatively more simple than previously reported methods, and the yield of gamma-enolase was sufficient for subsequent structural and immunological analyses. In all mammals, the purified gamma-enolase migrated in sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE (SDS-PAGE) with a molecular mass of 46 kilodaltons (kDa), and the immunological cross-reactivity between those gamma-enolases was very strong. The structural homology of these gamma-enolases was examined by peptide mapping using cyanogen bromide cleavage and subsequent two-dimensional electrophoresis. The resulting peptide patterns were highly similar and in cow, dog, and goat, the patterns were almost identical. These results indicate that structural homology, that is, the species non-specificity of gamma-enolase, appears to be very high.     

Approximation of transient temperatures in complex geometries using fractional derivatives

It is shown that time-dependent temperatures in a transient, conductive system can be approximately modeled by a fractional-order differential equation, the order of which depends on the Biot number. This approximation is particularly suitable for complex shapes for which a first-principles approach is too difficult or computationally time-consuming. Analytical solutions of these equations can be written in terms of the Mittag-Leffler function. The approximation is especially useful if a suitable fractional-order controller is to be designed for the system.