Compact 120 TW Ti: sapphire laser system with a high gain final amplifier

A 120TW/36fs laser system based on Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) has been successfully established in our lab. The final four pass Ti:sapphire amplifier pumped by an energetic single-shot Nd:YAG-Nd:glass laser was designed and optimized. With 24J/8ns pump energy at 532 nm, 300 mJ/220 ps chirped pulse was amplified to 5.98 J in this amplifier, and a total saturated gain of similar to 20 was achieved. The focused intensity of compressed beam could reach to 10(20) W/cm(2) with the M-2 of similar to 2.0. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PIXE and ICP-AES analysis of early glass unearthed from Xinjiang (China)

Early glasses (about 1066 BC-220 AD) unearthed from Xinjiang of China were chemically characterized by using PIXE and ICP-AES. It was found that these glasses were basically attributed to PbO-BaO-SiO2 system, K2O-SiO2 system, Na2O-CaO-SiO2 system and Na2O-CaO-PbO-SiO2 system. The results from the cluster analysis showed that some glasses had basically similar recipe and technology. The PbO-BaO-SiO2 glass and the K2O-SiO2 glass were thought to come from the central area and the south of ancient China, respectively. The part of the Na2O-CaO-SiO2 glass (including the Na2O-CaO-PbO-SiO2 glass) might be imported from Mesopotamia, while the other part might be locally produced. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Broadband near-infrared emission from transparent Ni2+-doped silicate glass ceramics

Transparent Ni2+-doped MgO-Al2O3-TiO2-SiO2 glass ceramics were prepared, and the optical properties of Ni2+-doped glass ceramics were investigated. Broadband emission centered at 1320 nm was observed by 980 nm excitation. The longer wavelength luminescence compared with Ni2+-doped Li2O-Ga2O3-SiO2 glass ceramics is ascribed to the low crystal field hold by Ni2+ in MgO-Al2O3-TiO2-SiO2 glass ceramics. The change in optical signals at the telecommunication bands with or without 980 nm excitation was also measured when the seed beam passes through the bulk gain host.(C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Intense infrared luminescence in transparent glass-ceramics containing beta-Ga2O3 : Ni2+ nanocrystals

Transparent glass-ceramics containing beta-Ga2O3:Ni2+ nanocrystals were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Intense broad-band luminescence centering at 1200 nm was observed when the sample was excited by a diode laser at 980 nm. The room-temperature fluorescent lifetime was 665 mu s, which is longer than the Ni2+-doped ZnAl2O4 and LiGa5O8 glass-ceramics and is also comparable to the Ni2+-doped LiGa5O8 single crystal. The intense infrared luminescence with long fluorescent lifetime may be ascribed to the high crystal field hold by Ni2+ and the moderate lattice phonon energy of beta-Ga2O3. The excellent optical properties of this novel material indicate that it might be a promising candidate for broad-band amplifiers and room-temperature tunable lasers.

Transparent Ni2+-doped lithium-alumino-silicate glass-ceramics for broadband near-infrared light source

Broadband infrared luminescence centred at around 1300 nm with full-width at half maximum of about 342 nm was observed from transparent Ni2+-doped lithium-alumino-silicate glass-ceramics embedded with beta-eucryptite crystallines. The room temperature fluorescent lifetime was 98 mu s. The transparent glass-ceramics may have potential applications in a widely tunable laser and a super-broadband optical amplifier for optical communications.

Broadband optical amplification in silicate glass-ceramic containing beta-Ga2O3 : Ni2+ nanocrystals

We demonstrate broadband optical amplification at 1.3 mu m in silicate glass-ceramics containing beta-Ga2O3:Ni2+ nanocrystals with 980 nm excitation for the first time. The optical gain efficiency is calculated to be about 0.283 cm(-1) when the excitation power is 1.12 W. The optical gain shows similar wavelength dependence to luminescence properties. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Structural Integration of Tellurium Oxide into Mixed-Network-Former Glasses: Connectivity Distribution in the System NaPO3–TeO2

FSodium phosphate tellurite glasses in the system (NaPO3)(x)(TeO2)(1-x) were prepared and structurally characterized by thermal analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and a variety of complementary solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Unlike the situation in other mixed-network-former glasses, the interaction between the two network formers tellurium oxide and phosphorus oxide produces no new structural units, and no sharing of the network modifier Na2O takes place. The glass structure can be regarded as a network of interlinked metaphosphate-type P(2) tetrahedral and TeO4/2 antiprismotic units. The combined interpretation of the O 1s XPS data and the P-31 solid-state NMR spectra presents clear quantitative evidence for a nonstatistical connectivity distribution. Rather the formation of homootomic P-O-P and Te-O-Te linkages is favored over mixed P-O-Te connectivities. As a consequence of this chemical segregation effect, the spatial sodium distribution is not random, as also indicated by a detailed analysis of P-31/No-23 rotational echo double-resonance (REDOR) experiments. ACHTUNGTRENUNG(TeO2)1 x were prepared and structurally characterized by thermal analysis,vibrat ional spectroscopy,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and a variety of complementary solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Unlike the situation in other mixed-network-former glasses,the interaction between the two network formers tellurium oxide and phosphorus oxide produces no new structural units,and no sharing of the network modifier Na2O takes place. The glass structure can be regarded as a network of interlinked metaphosphate-type P(2) tetrahedral and TeO4/2 antiprismatic units. The combined interpretation of the O 1s XPS data and the 31P solid-state NMR spectra presents clear quantitative evidence for a nonstatistical connectivity distribution. Rather,the formation of homoatomic P O P and Te O Te linkages is favored over mixed P O Te connectivities. As a consequence of this chemical segregation effect,the spatial sodium distribution is not random,as also indicated by a detailed analysis of 31P/23Na rotational echo double-resonance (REDOR) experiments.

Structural investigation on TeO2-BiCl3 glassy system

Glass systems of composition xBiCl(3)-(1-x)TeO2 (x=0.2, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6, respectively) have been investigated by means of DSC, infrared absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy in order to obtain information about the transformation of structure, thermal and optical properties in the formation of the glass network. The results confirm that the addition of BiCl3 network former increases the glass forming ability and the optical transmission range. And also from Raman results a structural evolution was observed where the number of structural units described as [TeO3] trigonal pyramids, [TeO3+1] polyhedra and ionic behavior bonds (NBO) increases at the expense of the [TeO4] trigonal bipyramids. Bi3+ ions exist in network structure as [BiO6] or [BiCl6] octahedral coordination. As upconversion luminescence glass host, this glassy system is desired for optical properties but the thermal stability will still be improved. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transparent Ni2+-doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass ceramics with broadband infrared luminescence

We report on transparent Ni2+-doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass ceramics with broadband infrared luminescence. Ni2+-doped MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass is Prepared by using the conventional method. After heat treatment at high temperature, MgAl2O4 crystallites are precipitated, and their average size is about 4.3nm. No luminescence is detected in the as-prepared glass sample, while broadband infrared luminescence centred at around 1315nm with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about 300nm is observed from the glass ceramics. The observed infrared emission could be attributed to the T-3(2g)(F-3) -> (3)A(2g)(F-3) transition of octahedral Ni2+ ions in the MgAl2O4 crystallites of the transparent glass ceramics. The product of the fluorescence lifetime and the stimulated emission cross section is about 1.6 X 10(-24) s cm(2).

Memory effect in a system of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs

Zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs matrices are fabricated by in situ postgrowth annealing diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As films with Mn concentration ranging from 2.6% to 8% at 650 degrees C. Magnetization measurements show that memory effect and slow magnetic relaxation, the typical characteristics of the spin-glass-like phase, occur below the blocking temperature of 45 K in samples with high Mn concentration, while for samples with low Mn concentration, ferromagnetic order remains up to 360 K. The behavior of low-temperature spin dynamics can be explained by the hierarchical model. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Lasing of CdSSe quantum dots in glass spherical microcavity

Glass spherical microcavities containing CdSSe semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) of a few microns in diameter are fabricated using a physical method. When a single glass microspherical cavity is excited by a laser beam at room temperature, very strong and sharp whispering gallery modes are shown on the background of PL spectra of CdSSe QDs, which confirms that coupling between the optical emission of embedded QDs and spherical cavity modes is realized. For a glass microsphere only 4.6 mum in diameter, it was found that the energy separation is nearly up to 26 nm both for TE and TM modes. With the increasing excitation intensity, the excitation intensity dependence of the emission intensity is not linear in the double-logarithmic scale. Above the threshold value, the linewidths of resonance modes become narrower. The lasing behavior is achieved at relatively low excitation intensity at room temperature. High optical stability and low threshold value make this optical system promising in visible microlaser applications. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Lasing of CdSSe quantum dots in glass spherical microcavity

Glass spherical microcavities containing CdSSe semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) of a few microns in diameter are fabricated using a physical method. When a single glass microspherical cavity is excited by a laser beam at room temperature, very strong and sharp whispering gallery modes are shown on the background of PL spectra of CdSSe QDs, which confirms that coupling between the optical emission of embedded QDs and spherical cavity modes is realized. For a glass microsphere only 4.6 mum in diameter, it was found that the energy separation is nearly up to 26 nm both for TE and TM modes. With the increasing excitation intensity, the excitation intensity dependence of the emission intensity is not linear in the double-logarithmic scale. Above the threshold value, the linewidths of resonance modes become narrower. The lasing behavior is achieved at relatively low excitation intensity at room temperature. High optical stability and low threshold value make this optical system promising in visible microlaser applications. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

An etched porous interface for on-line capillary electrophoresis-based two-dimensional separation system

The construction and evaluation of an on-column etched fused-silica porous junction for on-line coupling of capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) with capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) are described. Where two separation columns were integrated on a single piece of fused-silica capillary through the etched similar to4 to 5-mm length porous junction along the capillary. The junction is easily prepared by etching a short section of the capillary wall with HF after removing the polyimide coating. The etched section becomes a porous glass membrane that allows only small ions related to the background electrolyte to pass through when high voltage is applied across the separation capillary. The primary advantages of this novel porous junction interface over previous designs (in which the interface is usually formed by fracturing the capillary followed by connecting the two capillaries with a section of microdialysis hollow fiber membrane) are no dead volume, simplicity, and ruggedness, which is particularly well suited for an on-line coupling capillary electrophoresis-based multiple dimensional separation system. The performance of the 2D CIEF-CZE system constructed by such an etched porous junction was evaluated by the analyses of protein mixtures.

Determination of SARS-coronavirus by a microfluidic chip system

We have developed a new experimental system based on a microfluidic chip to determine severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-Cov). The system includes a laser-induced fluorescence microfluidic chip analyzer, a glass microchip for both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary electrophoresis, a chip thermal cycler based on dual Peltier thermoelectric elements, a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) SARS diagnostic kit, and a DNA electrophoretic sizing kit. The system allows efficient cDNA amplification of SARS-CoV followed by electrophoretic sizing and detection on the same chip. To enhance the reliability of RT-PCR on SARS-CoV detection, duplex PCR was developed on the microchip. The assay was carried out on a home-made microfluidic chip system. The positive and the negative control were cDNA fragments of SARS-CoV and parainfluenza virus, respectively. The test results showed that 17 positive samples were obtained among 18 samples of nasopharyngeal swabs from clinically diagnosed SARS patients. However, 12 positive results from the same 18 samples were obtained by the conventional RT-PCR with agarose gel electrophoresis detection. The SARS virus species can be analyzed with high positive rate and rapidity on the microfluidic chip system.

Glass wafers bonding via Diels-Alder reaction at mild temperature

In this paper, we introduced a novel bonding method of glass wafers by Diels-Alder reaction at mild temperature. After standard hydroxylization and aminosilylation, two wafers were modified by 2-furaldehyde and maleic anhydride, respectively. Then they were brought into close contact and tightly held with a clamping fixture. A strong bonding could be achieved by annealing for 5 h at 200 degrees C. Bonding strength is as high as 1.78 MPa and sufficient for most application of microfluidic chips.