Abstract:TiO2 nanorod arrays (NRAs) were prepared on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates by a facile two-step hydrothermal method. The nanorods were selectively grown on the FTO regions which were covered with TiO2 seeding layer. It took 5 h to obtain the compact arrays with the nanorod length of ~2 μm and diameter of ~50 nm. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of TiO2 NRAs are also investigated. It is demonstrated that the TiO2 NRAs indicate the good photoelectric conversion ability with an efficiency of 0.22% at a full-wavelength irradiation. A photocurrent density of 0.21 mA/cm2 is observed at 0.7 V versus the saturated calomel electrode (SCE). More evidences suggest that the charge transferring resistance is lowered at an irradiation, while the flat-band potential (Vfb) is shifted towards the positive side.

Abstract:In this paper, a novel liquid refractive index (RI) sensor based on fused tapered photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed. It is fabricated by fusing and tapering a section of PCF which is spliced with two single-mode fibers (SMFs). Due to the fused biconical taper method, the sensor becomes longer and thinner, to make the change of the outside RI has more direct effects on the internal optical field of the PCF, which finally enhances the sensitivity of this sensor. Experimental results show that the transmission spectra of the sensor are red-shifted obviously with the increase of RI. The longer the tapered region of the sensor, the higher the sensitivity is. This sensor has the advantages of simple structure, easy fabrication, high performance and so on, so it has potential applications in RI measurement.

Abstract:A tunable single-longitudinal mode erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on stepper motor and closed loop control is proposed and demonstrated. The system consists of an erbium-doped fiber (EDF), a tunable fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filter and a wavelength detector. The characteristics of output laser, such as output power, power stability and 3-dB linewidth, are investigated in the operation range of 1 531—1 569 nm. The repeated experimental results of the fiber laser show that the 3-dB linewidth is less than 17 ps, the side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) is up to 60 dB, the output power is up to 1.37 dBm, and the power variation is less than 0.61 dB.

Abstract:We present a low cost radio-frequency (RF) generator suitable for experiments with cold atoms. The RF source achieves a sub-hertz frequency with tunable resolution from 0 MHz to 400 MHz and a maximum output power of 33 dBm. Based on a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) chip, we implement a ramping capability for frequency, amplitude and phase. The system can also operate as an arbitrary waveform generator. By measuring the stability in a duration of 600 s, we find the presented device performs comparably as Agilent33522A in terms of short-term stability. Due to its excellent performance, the RF generator has been already applied to cold atom trapping experiments.

Abstract:Nano-hole patterned sapphire substrates (NHPSSs) were successfully prepared using a low-cost and high-efficiency approach, which is the laser interference lithography (LIL) combined with reactive ion etching (RIE) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) techniques. Gallium nitride (GaN)-based light emitting diode (LED) structure was grown on NHPSS by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Photoluminescence (PL) measurement was conducted to compare the luminescence efficiency of the GaN-based LED structure grown on NHPSS (NHPSS-LED) and that on unpatterned sapphire substrates (UPSS-LED). Electroluminescence (EL) measurement shows that the output power of NHPSS-LED is 2.3 times as high as that of UPSS-LED with an injection current of 150 mA. Both PL and EL results imply that NHPSS has an advantage in improving the crystalline quality of GaN epilayer and light extraction efficiency of LEDs at the same time.

Abstract:Thick SU8 microstructures with high aspect ratio and good side wall quality were fabricated by ultraviolet (UV) lithography, and the processing parameters were comprehensively studied. It proves that the adhesion of SU8 on silicon (Si) substrates is influenced by Si-OH on the surface, and can be improved by the HF treatment. Cracks and delamination are caused by large internal stress during fabrication process, and are significantly influenced by soft bake and post-exposure bake processes. The internal stress is reduced by a low post-exposure bake exposure temperature of 85 °C for 40 min. A three-step soft bake enhances the reflowing of SU8 photoresist, and results in uniform surface and less air bubbles. The vertical side wall is obtained with the optimized exposure dose of 800 mJ/cm2 for the thickness of 160 µm. Using the optimized fabrication process combined with a proper structure design, dense SU8 micro pillars are achieved with the aspect ratio of 10 and the taper angle of 89.86°. Finally, some possible applications of SU8 in micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device are developed and demonstrated.

Abstract:The transparent semiconductors of Ti and Ga-incorporated ZnO (TGZO) thin films were prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering onto glass substrates. The effects of discharge power on the physical properties of thin films are studied. Experimental results show that all nanocrystalline TGZO thin films possess preferential orientation along the (002) plane. The discharge power significantly affects the crystal structure and optical properties of thin films. When the discharge power is 200 W, the TGZO thin film has the optimal crystalline quality and optical properties, with the narrowest full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 1.76´10-3 rad, the largest average grain size of 82.4 nm and the highest average transmittance of 84.3% in the visible range. The optical gaps of thin films are estimated by the Tauc’s relation and observed to increase firstly and then decrease with the increase of the discharge power. In addition, the optical parameters, including refractive index, extinction coefficient, dielectric function and dissipation factor of the thin films, are determined by optical characterization methods. The dispersion behavior of the refractive index is also analyzed using the Sellmeier’s dispersion model.

Abstract:In order to improve the quality of detector, InxGa1-xAs (x=0.82) buffer layer has been introduced in In0.82Ga0.18As/InP heterostructure. Dislocation behavior of the multilayer is analyzed through plane and cross section [110] by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The dislocations are effectively suppressed in InxGa1-xAs (x=0.82) buffer layer, and the density of dislocations in epilayer is reduced obviously. No lattice mismatch between buffer layer and epilayer results in no misfit dislocation (MD). The threading dislocations (TDs) are directly related to the multiplication of the MDs in buffer layer.

Abstract:In this work, the Au/ZnO hybrid microstructure was fabricated by assembling Au nanoparticles (NPs) onto the surface of ZnO microrods, and an obviously improved ultraviolet (UV) emission of ZnO is observed in the hybrid microstructure. About 27-fold enhancement ratio of the UV emission to the green band emission of ZnO is achieved. The underlying enhanced mechanism of the UV emission intensities can be ascribed to the charge transfer and the efficient coupling between ZnO excitons and Au surface plasmon (SP).

Abstract:Amorphous chalcogenide thin films were fabricated by the pulsed laser deposition technique. Thereafter, the stacks of multilayered thin films for reflectors and microcavity were designed for telecommunication wavelength. The prepared multilayered thin films for reflectors show good compatibility. The microcavity structure consists of Ge25Ga5Sb10S65 (doped with Er3+) spacer layer surrounded by two 5-layer As40Se60/Ge25Sb5S70 reflectors. Scanning/transmission electron microscopy results show good periodicity, great adherence and smooth interfaces between the alternating dielectric layers, which confirms a suitable compatibility between different materials. The results demonstrate that the chalcogenides can be used for preparing vertical Bragg reflectors and microcavity with high quality.

Abstract:In this study, a simple spraying method is used to prepare the transparent conductive films (TCFs) based on Ag nanowires (AgNWs). Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is introduced to modify the interface of substrate. The transmittance and bending performance are improved by optimizing the number of spraying times and the solution concentration and controlling the annealing time. The spraying times of 20, the concentration of 2 mg/mL and the annealing time of 10 min are chosen to fabricate the PVP/AgNWs films. The transmittance of PVP/AgNWs films is 53.4%—67.9% at 380—780 nm, and the sheet resistance is 30 Ω/□ which is equivalent to that of commercial indium tin oxide (ITO). During cyclic bending tests to 500 cycles with bending radius of 5 mm, the changes of resistivity are negligible. The performance of PVP/AgNW transparent electrodes has little change after being exposed to the normal environment for 1 000 h. The adhesion to polymeric substrate and the ability to endure bending stress in AgNWs network films are both significantly improved by introducing PVP. Spraying method makes AgNWs form a stratified structure on large-area polymer substrates, and the vacuum annealing method is used to weld the AgNWs together at junctions and substrates, which can improve the electrical conductivity. The experimental results indicate that PVP/AgNW transparent electrodes can be used as transparent conductive electrodes in flexible organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

Abstract:A novel construction method of quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) codes is proposed based on Chinese remainder theory (CRT). The method can not only increase the code length without reducing the girth, but also greatly enhance the code rate, so it is easy to construct a high-rate code. The simulation results show that at the bit error rate (BER) of 10-7, the net coding gain (NCG) of the regular QC-LDPC(4 851, 4 546) code is respectively 2.06 dB, 1.36 dB, 0.53 dB and 0.31 dB more than those of the classic RS(255, 239) code in ITU-T G.975, the LDPC(32 640, 30 592) code in ITU-T G.975.1, the QC-LDPC(3 664, 3 436) code constructed by the improved combining construction method based on CRTand the irregular QC-LDPC(3 843, 3 603) code constructed by the construction method based on the Galois field (GF(q)) multiplicative group. Furthermore, all these five codes have the same code rate of 0.937. Therefore, the regular QC-LDPC(4 851, 4 546) code constructed by the proposed construction method has excellent error-correction performance, and can be more suitable for optical transmission systems.

Abstract:A physical-layer-impairment (PLI)-awareness based optical multicast mechanism is proposed for OpenFlow controlled optical networks. This proposed approach takes the PLI models including linear and non-linear factors into optical multicast controlled by OpenFlow protocol. Thus, the proposed scheme is able to cover nearly all PLI factors of each optical link and to conduct optical multicast with better communication quality. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can obtain the better performance of OpenFlow controlled optical multicast services.

Abstract:To meet the requirement of high-quality transmission of videos captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with low bandwidth, a novel rate control (RC) scheme based on region-of-interest (ROI) is proposed. First, the ROI information is sent to the encoder with the latest high efficient video coding (HEVC) standard to generate an ROI map. Then, by using the ROI map, bit allocation methods are developed at frame level and large coding unit (LCU) level, to avoid inaccurate bit allocation produced by camera movement. At last, by using a better robustness R-λ model, the quantization parameter (QP) for each LCU is calculated. The experimental results show that the proposed RC method can get a lower bitrate error and a higher quality for reconstructed video by choosing appropriate pixel weight on the HEVC platform.

Abstract:An aggregated channel model is achieved by fitting the Weibull distribution, which includes the effects of atmospheric attenuation, M distributed atmospheric turbulence and nonzero boresight pointing errors. With this approximate channel model, the bit error rate (BER) and the ergodic capacity of free-space optical (FSO) communication systems utilizing subcarrier binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation are analyzed, respectively. A closed-form expression of BER is derived by using the generalized Gauss-Lagueree quadrature rule, and the bounds of ergodic capacity are discussed. Monte Carlo simulation is provided to confirm the validity of the BER expressions and the bounds of ergodic capacity.

Abstract:This paper presents a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging system based on angular modulation (AM) and intensity measurement (IM) together to avoid the mechanical errors of the angle scanning device. The SPR resonant angle was found by angular scanning method and then the light intensity changes were collected at a fixed incident angle. Glycerol gradient solution (0%, 1%, 2%, 3% (weight percentage) glycerol dissolved in water) experiments were conducted, which indicate that the best fixed angle location is the middle of the linear range of SPR absorption peak and the central area signals are more uniform than those of the border areas. The sensitivity differences of different areas of SPR images are studied, and an optimized algorithm is developed.

Abstract:A large-scale spatial angle measurement method is proposed based on inertial reference. Common measurement reference is established in inertial space, and the spatial vector coordinates of each measured axis in inertial space are measured by using autocollimation tracking and inertial measurement technology. According to the spatial coordinates of each test vector axis, the measurement of large-scale spatial angle is easily realized. The pointing error of tracking device based on the two mirrors in the measurement system is studied, and the influence of different installation errors to the pointing error is analyzed. This research can lay a foundation for error allocation, calibration and compensation for the measurement system.

Abstract:To solve the problems with coronary stent implantation, coronary artery stent surface was directly modified by three-beam laser interference lithography through imitating the water-repellent surface of lotus leaf, and uniform micro-nano structures with the controllable period were fabricated. The morphological properties and contact angle (CA) of the microstructure were measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and CA system. The water repellency of stent was also evaluated by the contact and then separation between the water drop and the stent. The results show that the close-packed concave structure with the period of about 12 μm can be fabricated on the stent surface with special parameters (incident angle of 3°, laser energy density of 2.2 J∙cm-2 and exposure time of 80 s) by using the three-beam laser at 1 064 nm, and the structure has good water repellency with CA of 120°.

Abstract:As a novel diffractive optical element, photon sieve has good focusing properties. We propose a method to verify the focusing properties by using apodized photon sieves. The apodized photon sieve is obtained by using a Gaussian window function to modulate the general photon sieve. Focusing properties of apodized photon sieve are studied by numerical simulations and experiments. It shows that photon sieves have good focusing ability, and the focusing ability of the photon sieve on the focal plane is stronger than that on other image planes. The experimental results also demonstrate that photon sieves can be used to generate optical vortices. The existence of optical vortices is confirmed by the formation of fork fringes. This apodized photon sieve is expected to have some practical applications in focusing analysis, optical imaging, and optical communication.