Abstract:By using a low-cost and facile hydrothermal method, a peculiar claw-like ZnO nanorod array is successfully synthesized. The hydrothermal growth is done in an aqueous solution with equimolar zinc acetate (ZAc, Zn(CH₃COO)₂·2H₂O) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA, C₆H₁₂N₄). The obtained ZnO nanorod array is characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results indicate that the nanorods are high-quality monocrystals. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum is performed to investigate the optical properties of this product.

Abstract:The highly ordered and vertically oriented pure TiO₂ nanotube arrays (TONTAs) are synthesized by anodic oxidation of titanium foils in fluoride-based electrolytes under different temperatures and voltages. Then TONTAs are treated at different temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that its structure is anatase at 500 °C with the temperature increasing to 700 °C, the most of anatase will transform to rutile, the nanotube arrays form granular titanium oxide, while at 900 °C, anatase will transform to rutile completely. The experimental results of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue solution show that the cobalt-manganese co-doped TONTAs have good photocatalytic degradation efficiency.

Abstract:Grating-based X-ray imaging system is an important tool to investigate the inner structure of thick samples. The key components of the system consist of three golden gratings. The high aspect ratio gratings are fabricated using the SU-8 material. Considering the grating linewidth broadening varies with exposure dose, the relationship between linewidth broadening and exposure dose is studied experimentally. A series of gratings with different periods and different duty cycles are designed by optimizing the linewidth and exposure dose. Finally, the gratings are successfully fabricated by combining UV lithography and electroplating.

Abstract:Optimization and simulation are performed for a polymer four-port microring optical router with three channel wavelengths, which contains four-group basic routing elements with two different ring radii. In terms of microring resonance theory, coupled mode theory and transfer matrix method, expressions of output power of basic routing element and optical router are derived. In order to realize single-mode propagation, low optical transmission loss and phase match between microring waveguide and channel waveguide, the device parameters are optimized. With the selected three channel wavelengths of 1550 nm, 1552 nm and 1554 nm, characteristics are calculated and analyzed, including output spectrum, insertion loss and crosstalk. Simulation results indicate that the device has 12 possible I/O routing paths, the insertion losses of three channel wavelengths along their routing paths are within the range of 0.02–0.61 dB, the maximum crosstalk between the on-port along each routing path and other off-ports is less than ?39 dB, and the device footprint size is ～0.13 mm². Based on the proposed structure, through proper selection on ring radius, the routing structure can also be used for other channel wavelengths. Therefore, the designed structure shows wide applications in integrated optical networks-on-chip (NoC).

Abstract:A novel resonant fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based acoustic emission (AE) sensor with relocatable, strain-insensitive and enhanced sensitivity structure is demonstrated for structure health monitoring (SHM) in this paper. With one end of the sensing FBG bonded to a polyimide (PI) plate acoustically coupled with the investigated structure via couplant and the other end free, the sensor can be easily redeployed around the monitored structure surface and get rid of the interference from the strain applied on the monitored structure. Experiment has been conducted to verify the characteristics of this FBG-AE sensor, whose results show that the sensor is insensitive to mechanical strain applied on the monitored structure. It is also shown experimentally that the sensitivity is enhanced by about 1.2 times than the conventional design, while the novel sensor possesses good resonant frequency response to the standard AE waves.

Abstract:A stable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with tunable wavelength spacing and equalized output power is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The fiber laser uses two fiber Fabry-Perot tunable filters (FFPTFs) as the wavelength filter. The main cavity is divided into two sub-cavities with imbalance cavity losses through a 30/70 optical coupler. The tunable wavelength spacing can be achieved by changing the center wavelength of the filters and the equalized dual-wavelength output power can be achieved by properly controlling the variable optical attenuator (VOA) inserted in the lower-loss cavity.

Abstract:For isotropic dielectric thin films, polarization effect is an inherent characteristic. As it will make the performance of optical-electric system go to bad, such polarization-dependent properties are often intolerable and should be eliminated in many applications. In this paper, based on a micro- and nano-optical structure whose period consists of four parts, a polarization insensitive filter is obtained by combining rigorous wave theory and multi-objective immune optimization algorithm. Its working wavelength is 1315 nm which is often used in laser systems. The results of our design show that TE and TM polarized waves have reflectivities of 0.482 and 0.485, respectively at designed wavelength of 1315 nm. And it denotes that two values are both close to the design values, their difference is only 0.003, and polarization deviation is also very little. Therefore, the designed filter can eliminate the effect of polarization deviation very well at 1315 nm wavelength.

Abstract:Eu³⁺-activated red-emitting Ba₂Gd₂Si₄O₁₃ phosphors are prepared via microwave (MW) synthesis and solid-state (SS) method. The structural and luminescent properties of phosphors are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Upon 393 nm excitation, compared with the sample sintered by SS method, luminescence enhancement is observed in the sample synthesized by MW method. The mechanism of MW synthesis process is discussed in detail. Results indicate that the PL enhancement is probably related to the concave-convex phosphor surfaces and uniform grains, which may reinforce scattering of excitation light. Our research may further promote the understanding of MW synthesis and extend the application of Eu³⁺-activated Ba₂Gd₂Si₄O₁₃ in white light-emitting diodes.

Abstract:The stable properties of N-doped p-type ZnO thin films with preferential nonpolar (100) plane orientation relative to polar (002) plane orientation are investigated. The two kinds of oriented thin films are fabricated by the methods of post heat treatment and double sources in situ, respectively. The Hall investigations demonstrate that N-doped p-type ZnO thin films with preferential nonpolar (100) plane orientation are more stable,and the results are also proved by build-in electric field model and electronic structure calculations of the films based on the first principle.

Abstract:The nonmagnetic element Ca-doped LiNbO₃ films were prepared on Si (111) substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicate that the Ca atoms enter the LiNbO₃ lattice in the form of Ca²⁺ ions. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) results show that the Ca-doped LiNbO₃ films have room-temperature ferromagnetism and a maximum saturation magnetization of 4800 A/m at the 3% of Ca atom doping concentration. The room temperature ferromagnetism of the Ca-doped LiNbO₃ films can be attributed to the occurrence of vacancies due to Ca doping and is the intrinsic property.

Abstract:Ag₃PO₄/AgCl hybrids have been synthesized via a facile ion-exchange method. The hybrids exhibit an enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) than the single Ag₃PO₄ or AgCl under a visible light irradiation. Such a behavior might be attributed to the increased number of high active sites and suitable energy band structure. The possible mechanism is also discussed.

Abstract:Combining the advantages of both the genetic algorithm (GA) and the chase decoding algorithm, a novel improved decoding algorithm of the block turbo code (BTC) with lower computation complexity and more rapid decoding speed is proposed in order to meet the developing demands of optical communication systems. Compared with the traditional chase decoding algorithm, the computation complexity can be reduced and the decoding speed can be accelerated by applying the novel algorithm. The simulation results show that the net coding gain (NCG) of the novel BTC decoding algorithm is 1.1 dB more than that of the traditional chase decoding algorithm at the bit error rate (BER) of 10^?6. Therefore, the novel decoding algorithm has better decoding correction-error performance and is suitable for the BTC in optical communication systems.

Abstract:In this paper, a coherent asynchronous optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) system is proposed, whose encoder/decoder is an all-optical generator. This all-optical generator can generate analog and bipolar chaotic sequences satisfying the logistic maps. The formula of bit error rate (BER) is derived, and the relationship of BER and the number of simultaneous transmissions is analyzed. Due to the good property of correlation, this coherent OCDMA system based on these bipolar chaotic sequences can support a large number of simultaneous users, which shows that these chaotic sequences are suitable for asynchronous OCDMA system.

Abstract:A simple and effective method employing a local micro-structured long period fiber grating (LMS-LPFG) for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index is proposed and investigated experimentally. The LMS-LPFG is formed by using the partial etching technique with hydrofluoric (HF) acid in a standard LPFG, in which there are discontinuities in the effective refractive index of cladding modes. Similar to the phase shift theory, a narrow passband and two stopbands are formed. The temperature and the surrounding refractive index (SRI) characteristics of the two stopbands and passband are studied. The temperature sensitivities of the two stopbands and passband are 0.05 nm/°C approximately. The SRI sensitivity of passband (?61.56 nm/RIU) is bigger than that of the two stopbands (?35.62 nm/RIU). Thus, with the sensitive matrix, we can simultaneously measure the changes of temperature and refractive index.

Abstract:An efficient channel estimation method called time-domain weighted average (TWA) algorithm is proposed for coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) systems. On the premise of calculating the associated weight of channel transfer function, a more exact channel characteristic is obtained by calculating the weighted average of the pilot transfer function in this algorithm. Compared with time-domain average (TA) algorithm, the TWA algorithm can reach the same bit error rate (BER) with fewer pilots, and it improves the performance of CO-OFDM systems.

Abstract:This paper investigates how to reduce the cost of wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDMPON) by comparing the transmission performance of bidirectional single feeder fiber and dual feeder fiber. Comparison is performed on the basis of power budgeting and cost of both arrangements. Simulation results using Optisystem show that the performance of a single feeder fiber is almost equivalent to that of a dual feeder fiber. Therefore, the single feeder fiber WDM-PON can efficiently replace the dual feeder fiber WDM-PON with the minimum deterioration in system performance and reduction in cost.

Abstract:We present an extra processing added to conventional least square (LS) channel estimation to further improve its performance in coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) system. The influence of noise, chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion on the performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed. The simulation results show that the improved algorithm has better performance and lower complexity.

Abstract:Aiming at the defects of passive optical network (PON) monitoring based on optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) technology, we research the non-OTDR monitoring technology. The coding scheme based on periodic encoder monitoring is discussed, and its limitation is analyzed. On this basis, the monitoring technology based on optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) is put forward. We analyze the feasibility of monitoring scheme based on PON of OCDMA, design a monitoring plan, and then use OptiSystem to simulate the design. The results of simulation and bit error rate (BER) analysis show that this monitoring technology can overcome the deficiencies of OTDR and distinguish the monitoring signals of different fiber branches clearly, which meets the demands for high beam split ratio of multi-user communication.

Abstract:A novel radio-over-fiber (ROF) system has been proposed and simulated, which is based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and asymmetrical filtering of optical carrier suppression (OCS) technique, so it can effectively suppress the fading effect caused by power periodic variation in traditional OCS system. Simulation results show that the 2.5 Gbit/s OFDM-modulated wideband wireless signal can be transmitted over 25 km single mode fiber (SMF) successfully.

Abstract:Watershed segmentation is suitable for producing closed region contour and providing an accurate localization of object boundary. However, it is usually prone to over-segmentation due to the noise and irregular details within the image. For the purpose of reducing over-segmentation while preserving the location of object contours, the watershed segmentation based on morphological gradient relief modification using variant structuring element (SE) is proposed. Firstly, morphological gradient relief is decomposed into multi-level according to the gradient values. Secondly, morphological closing action using variant SE is employed to each level image, where the low gradient level sets use the large SE, while the high gradient level sets use the small one. Finally, the modified gradient image is recomposed by the superposition of the closed level sets, and watershed transform to the modified gradient image is done to implement the final segmentation. Experimental results show that this method can effectively reduce the over-segmentation and preserve the location of the object contours.

Abstract:A novel adaptive switching filter (ASF) based on directional detection is proposed for denoising the images that are highly corrupted by impulse noise. The proposed algorithm employs an efficient noise detection mechanism. It first employs an efficient method to estimate the differences between the current pixel and its neighbors aligned with 28 directions. The current noise pixel is replaced by a median or a mean value within an adaptive filter window with respect to different noise densities. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can not only achieve very low miss-detection ratio and false-alarm ratio even up to high noise corruption, but also preserve the detailed information of an image very well.

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