Abstract:We realized the desired spheroidizing of NiCo2O4 nanomaterials by laser irradiating NiCo2O4 suspensions with different concentrations. The results reveal that the as-prepared samples are desired spheres with the maximal average size of 568 nm and the superior dispersity, which were obtained at the energy density of 0.30 J.pulse-1∙cm-2 and NiCo2O4 suspension concentration of 0.2 mg.mL-1. However, the phase segregation, which was induced by large amounts of solid redox of Co3+/Co2+ and Ni3+/Ni2+, also appears in the laser-irradiation process.

Abstract:The high temperature liquid is injected into the micro-size capillary and its light propagation behavior is investigated. We focus on two different liquid pumping methods. The first method can pump the high temperature liquid tin into the micro-size capillary by using a high pressure difference system. After pumping, a single mode fiber (SMF) connected with the optical carrier based microwave interferometry (OCMI) system is used to measure different liquid tin levels in the micro-size capillary. The second method can pump the room temperature engine oil into the capillary by using a syringe pump. This method can avoid the air bubbles when the liquids are pumped into the capillary.

Abstract:A terahertz (THz) polarizer and switch structure is proposed based on the phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO2). When VO2 is in the insulation phase, the resonance frequencies of the proposed structure are 1.49 THz and 1.22 THz for the x- and y-polarization, respectively. It can perform as a THz polarizer with extinction ratios of 52.5 dB and 17 dB for the y- and x-polarization, respectively; When VO2 transforms into metallic phase, the resonance frequency for x-polarization wave shifts from 1.49 THz to 1.22 THz, while that remains still for the y-polarization component. It means that the structure can work as a polarization-dependent THz switch with a high extinction ratio of 32 dB.

Abstract:A novel optical fiber hydrogen sensing system based on palladium (Pd) and sliver (Ag) is proposed. By direct current (DC) magnetron process, Pd/Ag alloy ultra-thin films were deposited on the substrate to eliminate the hydrogen embrittlement of sensor based on pure Pd. Several samples with different thin film thicknesses were fabricated at different substrate temperatures and tested in the optical fiber hydrogen sensor setup. We do a series of experiments for obtaining optimum sputtering parameters, such as optimum sputtering temperature and thickness of Pd/Ag alloy film. The humidity effect and reliability experiment for the optical fiber hydrogen gas sensor are reported in detail. The testing results demonstrate the Pd/Ag alloy is a promising material for optical fiber hydrogen gas sensor.

Abstract:A microwave photonic notch filter with a complex coefficient is proposed and demonstrated based on four wave mixing (FWM). FWM effect of two single-frequency laser beams occurs in a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF), and multi-wavelength optical signals are generated and used to generate the multi-tap of microwave photonic filter (MPF). The complex coefficient is generated by using a Fourier-domain optical processor (FD-OP) to control the amplitude and phase of the optical carrier and phase modulation sidebands. The results show that this filter can be changed from bandpass filter to notch filter by controlling the FD-OP. The center frequency of the notch filter can be continuously tuned from 5.853 GHz to 29.311 GHz with free spectral range (FSR) of 11.729 GHz. The shape of the frequency response keeps unchanged when the phase is tuned.

Abstract:We propose a novel non-contact rotational sensor based on a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) packaged in a core of a magnetic head, which converts the introduced strain from the circular magnetic railings ruler into the rotational information. A mathematical model is built for processing the data obtained by an interrogator, and the accuracy and resolution of the measurements are analyzed by altering the radius and period of the circular magnetic railings ruler, as well as the dimension of the sensor. The experimental results show that it is in good accordance with the theoretical analysis on rotational angle, and the fitting results indicate that the results obtained from the rotational sensor match very well with the real rotational velocity with a linearity of 0.998 and a standard error of about 0.01.

Abstract:To solve the rate-dependent hysteresis compensation problem in fast steering mirror (FSM) systems, an improved Prandtl-Ishlinskii (P-I) model is proposed in this paper. The proposed model is formulated by employing a linear density function into the STOP operator. By this way, the proposed model has a relatively simple mathematic format, which can be applied to compensate the rate-dependent hysteresis directly. Adaptive differential evolution algorithm is utilized to obtain the accurate parameters of the proposed model. A fast steering mirror control system is established to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the improved P-I model. Comparative experiments with different input signals are performed and analyzed, and the results show that the proposed model not only suppresses the rate-dependent hysteresis effectively, but also obtains high tracking precision.

Abstract:Combining the self-stimulated Raman scattering technology and saturable absorber of Cr4+:YAG, a 1.17 μm c-cut Nd:GdVO4 picosecond Q-switched laser is demonstrated in this paper. With an incident pump power of 10 W, the Q-switched laser with average power of 430 mW for 1.17 μm, pulse width of 270 ps, repetition rate of 13 kHz and the first order Stokes conversion efficiency of 4.3% is obtained. The Q-switched pulse width can be the narrowest in our research. In addition, the yellow laser at 0.58 μm is also achieved by using the LiB3O5 frequency doubling crystal.

Abstract:We propose and demonstrate a novel single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) capable of operating at fixed-wavelength lasing mode with a tunable range more than 54 nm, an ultra-narrow linewidth of 473 Hz and an ultra-high optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) more than 72 dB, or operating at wavelength-swept mode with tunable sweep rate of 10—200 Hz and a sweep range more than 50 nm. The excellent features mainly benefit from a triple-ring subring cavity constructed by three optical couplers nested one another and a fiber Fabry-Pérot tunable filter which can be driven by a constant voltage or a periodic sweep voltage for fixed or wavelength-swept operation, respectively. The proposed EDFL has potential applications in high-resolution spectroscopy and fiber optic sensing.

Abstract:A tunable erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with a cascaded structure consisting of in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and traditional MZI is proposed. The transmission spectrum of the in-line MZI is modulated by the traditional MZI, which determines the period of the cascaded structure, while the in-line MZI’s transmission spectrum is the outer envelope curve of the cascaded structure’s transmission spectrum. A stable single-wavelength lasing operation is obtained at 1 527.14 nm. The linewidth is less than 0.07 nm with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) over 48 dB. Fixing the in-line MZI structure on a furnace, when the temperature changes from 30 °C to 230 °C, the central wavelength can be tuned within the range of 12.4 nm.

Abstract:Microstructure and misfit dislocation behavior in InxGa1-xAs/InP heteroepitaxial materials grown by low pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) were analyzed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. To optimize the structure of In0.82Ga0.18As/InP heterostructure, the InxGa1-xAs buffer layer was grown. The residual strain of the In0.82Ga0.18As epitaxial layer was calculated. Further, the periodic growth pattern of the misfit dislocation at the interface was discovered and verified. Then the effects of misfit dislocation on the surface morphology and microstructure of the material were studied. It is found that the misfit dislocation of high indium (In) content In0.82Ga0.82As epitaxial layer has significant influence on the carrier concentration.

Abstract:Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTSSe) thin films were deposited on flexible substrates by three evaporation processes at high temperature. The chemical compositions, microstructures and crystal phases of the CZTSSe thin films were respectively characterized by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman scattering spectrum. The results show that the single-step evaporation method at high temperature yields CZTSSe thin films with nearly pure phase and high Sn-related phases. The elemental ratios of Cu/(Zn+Sn)=1.00 and Zn/Sn=1.03 are close to the characteristics of stoichiometric CZTSSe. There is the smooth and uniform crystalline at the surface and large grain size at the cross section for the films, and no other phases exist in the film by XRD and Raman shift measurement. The films are no more with the Sn-related phase deficiency.

Abstract:A hybrid polarization division multiplexed-differential phase shift keying-multipulse pulse position modulation (PDM-DPSK-MPPM) scheme for multi-hop free-space optical (FSO) communication is investigated. The analytical bit error rate (BER) of the proposed system in Gamma-Gamma turbulence channels is derived and verified using computer simulation. The results show that both multi-hop and hybrid modulation schemes are efficient techniques to improve the performance of FSO links. Compared with the traditional binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and MPPM, the hybrid scheme can improve the bandwidth-utilization efficiency and reliability of the system. Compared with the coherent demodulation of PDM-QPSK-MPPM, the system complexity is reduced at the cost of the degradation of BER performance, which can improve the practicality of hybrid modulation technology in FSO system.

Abstract:Due to the directionality of light, the hidden device problem and the obstruction cannot be ignored for carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA)-based uplink visible light communication (VLC). In this paper, we introduce multipacket reception (MPR) to handle the hidden device problem in VLC system. We model the traffic of the device with on/off Markov source. With the unsaturated traffic, we formulate a two dimensional (2D) Markov chain to model the CSMA/CA-based slotted random access procedure to evaluate the effects of hidden devices and obstructions on the performance of MPR-aided VLC system, which are mapped into the transition probabilities of the Markov chain. Then, we analyze the throughput and the reception power efficiency (RE) of MPR-aided VLC system with the obstructed optical channel. Numerical results show that the effect is negative when hidden devices or obstructions appear solely. But when they appear simultaneously, they will interact with each other to mitigate the negative effects.

Abstract:Ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy is used to detect the concentration of water chemical oxygen demand (COD). The UV absorption spectra of COD solutions are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The partial least square (PLS) algorithm is used to model COD solution and the modeling results are compared. The influence of environmental temperature and turbidity is analyzed. These results show that the influence of temperature on the predicted value can be ignored. However, the change of turbidity can affect the detection results of UV spectra, and the COD detection error can be effectively compensated by establishing the single-element regression model.

Abstract:An optical hydrogen sulfide (H2S) sensor based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy with the second harmonic (2f) corrected by the first harmonic (1f) signal (WMS-2f/1f) is developed using a distributed feedback (DFB) laser emitting at 1.578 µm and a homemade gas cell with 1-m-long optical path length. The novel sensor is constructed by an electrical cabinet and an optical reflecting and receiving end. The DFB laser is employed for targeting a strong H2S line at 6 336.62 cm-1 in the fundamental absorption band of H2S. The sensor performance, including the minimum detection limit and the stability, can be improved by reducing the laser intensity drift and common mode noise by means of the WMS-2f/1f technique. The experimental results indicate that the linearity and response time of the sensor are 0.999 26 and 6 s (in concentration range of 15.2—45.6 mg/m3), respectively. The maximum relative deviation for continuous detection (60 min) of 30.4 mg/m3 H2S is 0.48% and the minimum detection limit obtained by Allan variance is 79 μg/m3 with optimal integration time of 32 s. The optical H2S sensor can be applied to environmental monitoring and industrial production, and it has significance for real-time online detection in many fields.

Abstract:A measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) method with an air-water channel is researched. In this method, the underwater vehicle and satellite are the legitimate parties, and the third party is at the air-water interface in order to simplify the unilateral quantum channel to water or air. Considering the condition that both unilateral transmission distance and transmission loss coefficient are unequal, a perfect model of the asymmetric channel is built. The influence of asymmetric channel on system loss tolerance and secure transmission distance is analyzed. The simulation results show that with the increase of the channel’s asymmetric degree, the system loss tolerance will descend, one transmission distance will be reduced while the other will be increased. When the asymmetric coefficient of channel is between 0.068 and 0.171, MDI-QKD can satisfy the demand of QKD with an air-water channel, namely the underwater transmission distance and atmospheric transmission distance are not less than 60 m and 12 km, respectively.

Abstract:A novel unsupervised ship detection and extraction method is proposed. A combination model based on visual saliency is constructed for searching the ship target regions and suppressing the false alarms. The salient target regions are extracted and marked through segmentation. Radon transform is applied to confirm the suspected ship targets with symmetry profiles. Then, a new descriptor, improved histogram of oriented gradient (HOG), is introduced to discriminate the real ships. The experimental results on real optical remote sensing images demonstrate that plenty of ships can be extracted and located successfully, and the number of ships can be accurately acquired. Furthermore, the proposed method is superior to the contrastive methods in terms of both accuracy rate and false alarm rate.

Abstract:Fluorescent porous silicon was prepared as a stable biosensor chip substrate. The aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) molecules are attached in the pores of the porous silicon with a crosslink method, and when the molecules are added into the chip, the fluorescence intensity is reduced according to the concentration of the APTES. Controlled experiments are also presented with the small molecule that cannot be covalently coupled, and the results show that this kind of sensor chip has better specificity. Compared with other conventional methods, this method is simple, quick and label-free.