Bi-doped BaF2 crystal for broadband near-infrared light source

Bi-doped BaF2 crystal was grown by the temperature gradient technique and its spectral properties were investigated. The absorption, emission and excitation spectra were measured at room temperature. Two broadband emissions centered at 1070 and 1500 nm were observed in Bi-doped BaF2 crystal. This extraordinary luminescence should be ascribed to Bi-related centers at distinct sites. We suggest Bi2+ or Bi+ centers adjacent to F vacancy defects are the origins of the observed NIR emissions. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

A photonic wire-based directional coupler based on SOI

A photonic wire-based directional coupler based on SOI was fabricated by e-beam lithography (EBL) and the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching method. The size of the sub-micron waveguide is 0.34 mu m x 0.34 mu m, and the length in the coupling region and the separation between the two parallel waveguides are 410 and 0.8 mu m, respectively. The measurement results are in good agreement with the results simulated by 3D finite-difference time-domain method. The transmission power from two output ports changed reciprocally with about 23 nm wavelength spacing between the coupled and direct ports. The extinction ratio of the device was between 5 and 10 dB, and the insertion loss of the device in the wavelength range 1520-1610 nm was between 22 and 24 dB, which included an about 18.4 +/- 0.4 dB coupling loss between the taper fibers and the polished sides of the device. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sintering-resistant hollow fibers of LaMgAl11O19 prepared by electrospinning

Lanthanum magnesium hexaaluminate (LMA) is very important ceramic material for catalytic combustion of natural gas. The sintering-resistant hollow fibers of LMA with diameters ranging from 1 to 3 mu m were fabricated from alcoholic solutions containing polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and aqueous solution of lanthanum, magnesium and aluminum nitrates. The interaction between PVP and nitrates were studied by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transmission-infrared spectroscopy. The forming mechanism of hollow fibers and the sintering ability of hollow LaMgAl11O19 fibers were discussed.

Optical intensity gradient by colloidal photonic crystals with a graded thickness distribution

Gradient colloidal crystals with a thickness gradient were prepared by the vertical deposition technique with vertically graded concentration suspensions. The thickness of the gradient colloidal crystal gradually changes at different positions along the specific gradient direction of the crystal. The thickness gradient was determined by the concentration gradient, depending on the initial colloidal concentration and the settling time. The optical transmission intensity at the dip wavelength can be tuned by changing the thickness of the colloidal crystals. The gradient colloidal crystals lead to a gradient of optical intensity at the dip in transmission light. The gradient of optical intensity at the dip increases as the thickness gradient of the colloidal crystal increases.

Influence of Local Magnetic Fields on P-Doped Si Floating Zone Melting Crystal Growth in Microgravity

A two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model is presented to study the influence of local magnetic fields on P-doped Si floating zone melting crystal growth in microgravity. The model is developed based on the finite difference method in a boundary-fitted curvilinear coordinate system. Extensive numerical simulations are carried out, and parameters studied include the curved growth interface shape and the magnetic field configurations. Computed results show that the local magnetic field is more effective in reducing the impurity concentration nonuniformity at the growth interface in comparison with the longitudinal magnetic field. Moreover, the curved growth interface causes more serious impurity concentration nonuniformity at the growth interface than the case with a planar growth interface.

DPIV and Interferometry Technique for Velocity Field and Concentration Fields Measurement in Crystal Growth

The property of crystal depends seriously on the solution concentration distribution near the growth surface of a crystal. However, the concentration distributions are affected by the diffusion and convection of the solution. In the present experiment, the two methods of optical measurement are used to obtained velocity field and concentration field of NaClO₃ solution. The convection patterns in sodium chlorate (NaClO₃) crystal growth are measured by Digital Particle image Velocimetry (DPIV) technology. The 2-dimentional velocity distributions in the solution of NaClO3 are obtained from experiments. And concentration field are obtained by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a phase shift servo system. Interference patterns were recorded directly by a computer via a CCD camera. The evolution of velocity field and concentration field from dissolution to crystallization are visualized clearly. The structures of velocity fields were compared with that of concentration field.

Effect of non-uniform magnetic field on crystal growth by floating-zone method in microgravity

The magnetic damping effect of the non-uniform magnetic field on the floating-zone crystal growth process in microgravity is studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the non-uniform magnetic field with designed configuration can effectively reduce the flow near the free surface and then in the melt zone. At the same time, the designed magnetic field can improve the impurity concentration non-uniformity along the solidification interface. The primary principles of the magnetic field configuration design are also discussed.

Depth dependence of nanohardness in a CuAlNi single crystal shape memory alloy

Instrumented nanoindentation was employed to study the depth dependence of nanohardness in a CuAlNi single crystal shape memory alloy that exhibits shape memory effect (SME). A Berkovich indenter and a cube comer indenter were used in this study, and the

Concentration distribution in solution crystal growth: effect of moving interface conditions

The linear diffusion-reaction theory with finite interface kinetics is employed to describe the dissolution and the growth processes. The results show that it is imperative to consider the effect of the moving interfaces on the concentration distribution at the growth interface for some cases. For small aspect ratio and small gravity magnitude, the dissolution and the growth interfaces must be treated as the moving boundaries within an angle range of 0 degrees < gamma < 50 degrees in this work. For large aspect ratio or large gravity magnitude, the effect of the moving interfaces on the concentration distribution at the growth interface can be neglected except for gamma < - 50 degrees.

Morphological Evolution During Synthesis of New AlPO4 Center dot H2O Crystal

A new crystal of aluminophosphate, AIPO(4)(.)H(2)O, is synthesized from two-batch aqueous solution under hydrothermal conditions. Three types of the crystal habits, i.e. the tetragonal double pyramid, the tetragonal prism and the plate-type tetragonal prism, are found from batch-A solution. Two types of the crystal habits, i.e. the hexagonal pyramid and the strip-type tetragonal prism, are found from batch-B solution. The change of crystal morphology is originated from the fluctuation of the synthesis conditions, such as the supersaturation, the temperature and the impurity content. It causes change of the step energies, the defect density and the step roughness, and further, change of the growth rates. Since the crystal morphology is sensitive to the mass transport mechanism, the crystal habits could be changed under the microgravity.

Magnetic field design for floating zone crystal growth

The magnetic fields produced by electrical coils are designed for P-doped Si crystal growth in a floating full zone in microgravity environment. The fields are designed specially to reduce the how near the free surface and then in the melt zone by adjusting the coil positions near the melt zone. The effects of the designed magnetic fields on reducing the Row velocity and the non-uniformity of the concentration distribution in the melt zone are better than those of the case of a uniform longitudinal magnetic field, obtained by numerical simulation. It is expected to improve the radial macro-segregation and reduce the convection in the crystal growth at the same time by using the designed magnetic field.

The convection during NaClO3 crystal growth observed by the phase shift interferometer

An optical diagnostic system consisting of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer with the phase shift device and an image processor has been developed for the study of the kinetics of the crystal growing process. The dissolution and crystallization process of NaClO3 crystal has been investigated. The concentration distributions around a growing and dissolving crystal have been obtained by using phase-shift of four-steps theory for the interpretation of the interferograms. The convection (a plume flow) has been visualized and analyzed in the process of the crystal growth. The experiment demonstrates that the buoyancy convection dominates the growth rate of the crystal growing face on the ground-based experiment.

Pressure Controlled Self-Assembly of High Quality Three-Dimensional Colloidal Photonic Crystals

A concise pressure controlled isothermal heating vertical deposition (PCIHVD) method is developed, which provides an optimal growing condition with better stability and reproducibility for fabricating photonic crystals (PCs) without the limitation of colloidal sphere materials and sizes. High quality PCs are fabricated with PCIHVD from polystyrene spheres with diameters ranging from 200 nm to 1 mu m. The deep photonic band gap and steep photonic band edge of the samples are most favorable for realizing ultrafast optical devices, photonic chips, and communications. This method makes a meaningful advance in the quality and diversity of PCs and greatly promotes their wide applications.

Study of Growth Mechanism of Lysozyme Crystal by Batch Crystallization Method

The lysozyme crystals were made by batch crystallization method and the distribution of aggregate in solution were measured by dynamic light scattering. The results showed that the dimension of aggregate increased with the increase of the concentration of lysozyme and NaCl, lysozyme molecules aggregated gradually in solution and finally arrived at balance each other. The higher the concentrations of lysozyme and NaCl were, the faster the growth rate of (I 10) face was. The growth rates of lysozyme crystal were obtained by a Zeiss microscope, and the effective surface energy (a) of growing steps were calculated about 4.01 X 10(-8) J.cm(-2) according to the model of multiple two-dimensional nucleation mechanism.