Paintable band-edge liquid crystal lasers.

In this paper we demonstrate photonic band-edge laser emission from emulsion-based polymer dispersed liquid crystals. The lasing medium consists of dye-doped chiral nematic droplets dispersed within a polymer matrix that spontaneously align as the film dries. Such lasers can be easily formed on single substrates with no alignment layers. The system combines the self-organizing periodic structure of chiral nematic liquid crystals with the simplicity of the emulsion procedure so as to produce a material that retains the emission characteristics of band-edge lasers yet can be readily coated. Sequential and stacked layers demonstrate the possibility of achieving simultaneous multi-wavelength laser output from glass, metallic, and flexible substrates.

Short-channel polymer field-effect-transistor fabrication using spin-coating-induced edge template and ink-jet printing

A method to fabricate polymer field-effect transistors with submicron channel lengths is described. A thin polymer film is spin coated on a prepatterned resist with a low resolution to create a thickness contrast in the overcoated polymer layer. After plasma and solvent etching, a submicron-sized line structure, which templates the contour of the prepattern, is obtained. A further lift-off process is applied to define source-drain electrodes of transistors. With a combination of ink-jet printing, transistors with channel length down to 400 nm have been fabricated by this method. We show that drive current density increases as expected, while the on/off current ratio 106 is achieved. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.

The low Reynolds number aerodynamics of leading edge flaps

Within the low Reynolds number regime at which birds and small air vehicles operate (Re=15,000-500,000), flow is beset with laminar separation bubbles and bubble burst which can lead to loss of lift and early onset of stall. Recent video footage of an eagle's wings in flight reveals an inconspicuous wing feature: the sudden deployment of a row of feathers from the lower surface of the wing to create a leading edge flap. An understanding of the aerodynamic function of this flap has been developed through a series of low speed wind tunnel tests performed on an Eppler E423 aerofoil. Experiments took place at Reynolds numbers ranging from 40000 to 140000 and angles of attack up to 30°. In the lower range of tested Reynolds numbers, application of the flap was found to substantially enhance aerofoil performance by augmenting the lift and limiting the drag at certain incidences. The leading edge flap was determined to act as a transition device at low Reynolds numbers, preventing the formation of separation bubbles and consequently decreasing the speed at which stall occurs during landing and manoeuvring.

Compressor wake/leading-edge interactions at off design incidences

In this paper, the effects of wake/leading-edge interactions were studied at off-design conditions. Measurements were performed on the stator-blade suction surface at midspan. The leading-edge flow-field was investigated using hotwire micro-traverses, hotfilm surface shear-stress sensors and pressure micro-tappings. The trailing-edge flow-field was investigated using hotwire boundary-layer traverses. Unsteady CFD calculations were also performed to aid the interpretation of the results. At low flow coefficients, the time-averaged momentum thickness of the leading-edge boundary layer was found to rise as the flow coefficient was reduced. The time-resolved momentum-thickness rose due to the interaction of the incoming rotor wake. As the flow coefficient was reduced, the incoming wakes increased in pitch-wise extent, velocity deficit and turbulence intensity. This increased both the time-resolved rise in the momentum thickness and the turbulent spot production within the wake affected boundary-layer. Close to stall, a drop in the leading-edge momentum thickness was observed in-between wake events. This was associated with the formation of a leading-edge separation bubble in-between wake events. The wake interaction with the bubble gave rise to a shedding phenomenon, which produced large length scale disturbances in the surface shear stress. Copyright © 2008 by ASME.

Single-particle probing of edge-state formation in a graphene nanoribbon

We investigate the effect of a perpendicular magnetic field on the single-particle charging spectrum of a graphene quantum dot embedded inline with a nanoribbon. We observe uniform shifts in the single-particle spectrum which coincide with peaks in the magnetoconductance, implicating Landau level condensation and edge state formation as the mechanism underlying magnetic field-enhanced transmission through graphene nanostructures. The experimentally determined ratio of bulk to edge states is supported by single-particle band-structure simulations, while a fourfold beating of the Coulomb blockade transmission amplitude points to many-body interaction effects during Landau level condensation of the ν=0 state. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Improvements to Concrete Column Detection in Live Video

The automated detection of structural elements (e.g. concrete columns) in visual data is useful in many construction and maintenance applications. The research in this area is under initial investigation. The authors previously presented a concrete column detection method that utilized boundary and color information as detection cues. However, the method is sensitive to parameter selection, which reduces its ability to robustly detect concrete columns in live videos. Compared against the previous method, the new method presented in this paper reduces the reliance of parameter settings mainly in three aspects. First, edges are located using color information. Secondly, the orientation information of edge points is considered in constructing column boundaries. Thirdly, an artificial neural network for concrete material classification is developed to replace concrete sample matching. The method is tested using live videos, and results are compared with the results obtained with the previous method to demonstrate the new method improvements.

Lift and the leading edge vortex

Leading edge vortices are considered to be important in generating the high lift coefficients observed in insect flight and may therefore be relevant to micro-air vehicles. A potential flow model of an impulsively started flat plate, featuring a leading edge vortex (LEV) and a trailing edge vortex (TEV) is fitted to experimental data in order to provide insight into the mechanisms that influence the convection of the LEV and to study how the LEV contributes to lift. The potential flow model fits the experimental data best with no bound circulation, which is in accordance with Kelvin's circulation theorem. The lift-to-drag ratio is well approximated by the function 'cot α' for α > 15°, which supports the tentative conclusion that shortly after an impulsive start, at post-stall angles of attack, lift is caused non-circulatory forces and by the action of the LEV as opposed to bound circulation. Copyright © 2012 by C. W. Pitt Ford.

Lift and the leading-edge vortex

Flapping wings often feature a leading-edge vortex (LEV) that is thought to enhance the lift generated by the wing. Here the lift on a wing featuring a leading-edge vortex is considered by performing experiments on a translating flat-plate aerofoil that is accelerated from rest in a water towing tank at a fixed angle of attack of 15°. The unsteady flow is investigated with dye flow visualization, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and force measurements. Leading-and trailing-edge vortex circulation and position are calculated directly from the velocity vectors obtained using PIV. In order to determine the most appropriate value of bound circulation, a two-dimensional potential flow model is employed and flow fields are calculated for a range of values of bound circulation. In this way, the value of bound circulation is selected to give the best fit between the experimental velocity field and the potential flow field. Early in the trajectory, the value of bound circulation calculated using this potential flow method is in accordance with Kelvin's circulation theorem, but differs from the values predicted by Wagner's growth of bound circulation and the Kutta condition. Later the Kutta condition is established but the bound circulation remains small; most of the circulation is contained instead in the LEVs. The growth of wake circulation can be approximated by Wagner's circulation curve. Superimposing the non-circulatory lift, approximated from the potential flow model, and Wagner's lift curve gives a first-order approximation of the measured lift. Lift is generated by inertial effects and the slow buildup of circulation, which is contained in shed vortices rather than bound circulation. © 2013 Cambridge University Press.

Liquid crystalline chromophores for photonic band-edge laser devices

We present results on laser action from liquid crystal compounds whereby one sub-unit of the molecular structure consists of the cyano-substituted chromophore, {phenylene-bis (2-cyanopropene)}, similar to the basic unit of the semiconducting polymer structure poly(cyanoterephthalylidene). These compounds were found to exhibit nematic liquid crystal phases. In addition, by virtue of the liquid crystalline properties, the compounds were found to be highly miscible in wide temperature range commercial nematogen mixtures. When optically excited at λ = 355 nm, laser emission was observed in the blue/green region of the visible spectrum (480-530 nm) and at larger concentrations by weight than is achievable using conventional laser dyes. Upon increasing the concentration of dye from 2 to 5 wt.% the threshold was found to increase from Eth = 0.42 ± 0.02 μJ/pulse (≈20 mJ/cm2) to Eth = 0.66 ± 0.03 μJ/pulse (≈34 mJ/cm2). Laser emission was also observed at concentrations of 10 wt.% but was less stable than that observed for lower concentrations of the chromophore. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.