Two-axis-scanning laser Doppler vibrometer for precision engineering

Laser Doppler vibrometer (LVD) has been the most favorite instrument for precision dynamics measurement due to its non-contact, high accuracy and high resolution. However, LDV can only give the dynamic data of a particular location on the entire feature. In order to get the whole field data, a laser beam-scanning mechanism has to be implemented. Currently, motor-driven scanning mirror is used to move the measurement probe from one point to another. The mechanical vibrations of the scanning mirror will reduce the measurement accuracy. This paper introduces a novel scanning LDV optical system embodied in an acousto-optic deflector scanning mechanism. It can improve the measurement accuracy since there is no mechanical motion involved. One main advantage of this system is that it generates a laser scanning beam in parallel that is different from the beam scanning in the conventional scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV). The new system has a board scanning range. The measurement target size ranges from few tens of millimeters down to 10 μm. We have demonstrated the capability of the novel system on scanning measurements of features as big as ultra-precision cutting tool to features as tiny as AFM cantilever. We believe that the novel SLDV will find profound potential applications in the precision engineering field.     

Solid-state diphotocyclization of iso- and terephthalaldehydes via dihalogen substitution

The supramolecular nonbonded C-H...X interactions between formyl hydrogens and ortho-halogen atoms (Br/Cl) have been exploited to achieve conformational control in the solid state of dimethyl-substituted iso- and terephthaladehydes (1-3) for unprecedented diphotocyclization. It is shown that the dihalogen substitution also contributes to the stability of the benzocyclobutenols relative to their precursor photoenols, so that the solid-state photolysis of dialdehydes 2b, 2c, and 3b leads to diphotocyclization to afford respectable yields of bis-benzocyclobutenols.     

Kinetic modeling of liquid-phase esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol using heterogeneous poly(o-methylene p-toluene sulfonic acid) as catalyst

Liquid-phase esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol to n-butyl acetate is studied in the presence of a polymeric catalyst, that is, poly(o-methylene p-toluene sulfonic acid). The performance of the proposed catalyst is compared with the other commercially available homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in terms of its activity. Experiments are conducted in an isothermal stirred batch reactor to study the effects of speed of agitation, temperature, and catalyst loading on the rate of reaction. A concentration-based pseudo-homogeneous (PH) kinetic model and activity-based kinetic models such as PH, Eley-Rideal (ER), and Langmuir-Hinselwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) models are developed. All the models considered in this study resulted in similar percentage deviation close to 4%. Further, kinetic models are validated through additional experiments, and it is observed that the simple concentration-based PH model is able to predict experimental data with least deviation compared to activity-based PH, ER, and LHHW models. The developed kinetic models are also tested using the Fisher-Snedecor test (F-test) and are found to be acceptable. By incorporating both modeling data and validation data, the overall absolute average deviations of different models are found to be concentration-based PH model 4.354%, activity-based PH model 5.006%, ER I model 5.189%, ER II model 5.403%, ER III model 5.437%, and LHHW model 6.104%, illustrating the superiority of the simple concentration-based PH model.     

Laser writing techniques for photomask fabrication using a femtosecond laser

Photomasks are the backbone of microfabrication industries. Currently they are fabricated by a lithographic process, which is very expensive and time consuming since it is a multi-step process. These issues can be addressed by fabricating photomasks by direct femtosecond laser writing, which is a single-step process and comparatively cheaper and faster than lithography. In this paper we discuss our investigations on the effect of two types of laser writing techniques, namely front- and rear-side laser writing, with regard to the feature size and the edge quality of a feature. It is proved conclusively that for the patterning of masks, front-side laser writing is a better technique than rear-side laser writing with regard to smaller feature size and better edge quality. Moreover the energy required for front-side laser writing is considerably lower than that for rear-side laser writing. Received: 22 May 2001 / Accepted: 14 September 2001 / Published online: 17 October 2001     

Fabrication of planar gratings by direct ablation using an ultrashort pulse laser in a common optical path configuration

Planar gratings have wide applications and to date, many methods for the fabrication of gratings have been reported. Ultrashort pulse lasers have been used for the machining of gratings primarily because they allow direct ablation and the manufacturing of sub-wavelength structures. In this paper, we present a novel direct ablation technique for the fabrication of planar gratings which makes use of the interference of ultrashort pulses in a common optical path configuration. This technique of grating fabrication not only simplifies the optical setup, but also immunizes the system to extraneous and inherent vibrations, thus enabling the manufacturing of planar gratings of good edge acuity. We have successfully fabricated planar gratings on a copper substrate. Received: 6 November 2001 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +65/77-904-674, E-mail: mvenkata@ntu.edu.sg     

Micromachining of circular ring microstructure by femtosecond laser pulses

In this paper, integration of interference phenomenon into femtosecond laser micromachining was reported as the femtosecond laser pulses were reshaped spatially to perform ablation. The generation of circular interference pattern was demonstrated by overlapping infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The interference pattern was subsequently focused on a copper substrate to ablate microstructures of concentric circular rings. The present technique is expected to open up new applications in the areas of rapid fabrication of micro-Fresnel lenses, hybrid microlenses and lens arrays.     

Quantum Phase Properties of Photon Added and Subtracted Displaced Fock States

Quantum phase properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states (and their limiting cases) are investigated from a number of perspectives, and it is shown that the quantum phase properties are dependent on the quantum state engineering operations performed. Specifically, the analytic expressions for quantum phase distributions and angular Q distribution as well as measures of quantum phase fluctuation and phase dispersion are obtained. The uniform phase distribution of the initial Fock states is observed to be transformed by the unitary operation (i.e., displacement operator) into non‐Gaussian shape, except for the initial vacuum state. It is observed that the phase distribution is symmetric with respect to the phase of the displacement parameter and becomes progressively narrower as its amplitude increases. The non‐unitary (photon addition/subtraction) operations make it even narrower in contrast to the Fock parameter, which leads to broadness. The photon subtraction is observed to be a more powerful quantum state engineering tool in comparison to the photon addition. Further, one of the quantum phase fluctuation parameters is found to reveal the existence of antibunching in both the engineered quantum states under consideration. Finally, the relevance of the engineered quantum states in the quantum phase estimation is also discussed.     

Estimation of thorium intake due to consumption of vegetables by inhabitants of high background radiation area by INAA

A study was conducted to estimate the thorium concentration in locally grown vegetables in high background radiation area (HBRA) of southern coastal regions of India. Locally grown vegetables were collected from HBRA of southern coastal regions of India. Thorium concentration was quantified using instrumental neutron activation analysis. The samples were irradiated at CIRUS reactor and counted using a 40% relative efficiency HPGe detector coupled to MCA. The annual intake of thorium was evaluated using the consumption data provided by National Nutrition Monitoring Board. The daily intake of ²³²Th from the four food categories (green leafy vegetables, others vegetables, roots and tubers, and fruits) ranged between 0.27 and 5.352?mBq?d^?1. The annual internal dose due to ingestion of thorium from these food categories was 46.8?×?10^?8 for female and 58.6?×?10^?8?Sv?y^?1 for male.     

Instantaneous phase shifting arrangement for microsurface profiling of flat surfaces

Phase shifting interferometry is a well-established technique for non-contact surface profile measurement. Though phase shifting technique has many advantages, it is marred by a few inaccuracies due to the vibration and mechanical movement of the phase shifter itself. Significant amount of work is reported to theoretically compensate these error sources. But for a few works, prominent achievements have not been reported in eliminating these error sources in phase shifting interferometry. In this paper, a novel optical layout, in combination with instantaneous phase shifting interferometry is described. Experiments were carried out with this setup on a super mirror with a λ/20 surface roughness, to demonstrate the validity of the principle.     

Modeling, design and analysis of low frequency platform for attenuating micro-vibration in spacecraft

One of the most important factors that affect the pointing of precision payloads and devices in space platforms is the vibration generated due to static and dynamic unbalanced forces of rotary equipments placed in the neighborhood of payload. Generally, such disturbances are of low amplitude, less than 1 kHz, and are termed as ‘micro-vibrations’. Due to low damping in the space structure, these vibrations have long decay time and they degrade the performance of payload. This paper addresses the design, modeling and analysis of a low frequency space frame platform for passive and active attenuation of micro-vibrations. This flexible platform has been designed to act as a mount for devices like reaction wheels, and consists of four folded continuous beams arranged in three dimensions. Frequency and response analysis have been carried out by varying the number of folds, and thickness of vertical beam. Results show that lower frequencies can be achieved by increasing the number of folds and by decreasing the thickness of the blade. In addition, active vibration control is studied by incorporating piezoelectric actuators and sensors in the dynamic model. It is shown using simulation that a control strategy using optimal control is effective for vibration suppression under a wide variety of loading conditions.