Developments in transgenic fish in the people's Republic of China

In the People's Republic of China, genetically modified (GM) fish are being developed primarily to produce desirable alterations to growth rates or feed-conversion efficiency. Up to the present, no transgenic fish have been commercially approved for human consumption. This review introduces advances in the People's Republic of China in transgenic fish studies, biosafety studies of fast-growth GM fish, and the regulation of GM fish.

Moisture content in Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) tissues: a reference base for conversion factors between dry and wet weight trace element concentrations in cetaceans

Concentration of trace elements measured by dry weight basis has become more commonly used in recent studies on cetaceans than wet weight basis, which was used more in earlier studies. Because few authors present moisture content data in their papers, it is difficult to compare the concentrations of trace elements between various studies. Therefore, we felt that it would be useful if a reference conversion factor (CF) for tissue types could be found to convert between wet weight and dry weight data on trace element concentrations. We determined the moisture contents of 14 tissues of Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli), and then, calculated the CF values for those tissues. Because the moisture content of each tissue differs from other tissues, it is necessary to use a specific CIF for each tissue rather than a general CF for several tissues. We have also found that CIF values for Dall's porpoise tissues are similar to the same tissues in other cetaceans. Therefore CF values from Dall's porpoise can be reliably used to convert between wet and dry weight concentrations for other cetacean tissues as reference data. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid bioassay as indicator of potentially harmful effects for dioxin-like compounds in sample of Ya-Er Lake, China: Requirements for clean-up and comparison to chemical analysis

A rapid bioassay was established measuring the extracts of wildlife samples which were taken from Ya-Er Lake area, China. In extracts of these samples containing PCDD/Fs and PCBs, bioassay and chemically derived TCDD-equivalents (TEQs) were nearly identical. Our results indicate this bioassay is an excellent complement to chemical residue analysis and a useful tool in understanding the complex interactions of halogenated hydrocarbons. However, it must be mentioned that the proper prior clean-up method is very important for using the bioassay.

Degenerate four-wave mixing based all-optical wavelength conversion in a semiconductor optical amplifier and highly-nonlinear photonic crystal fiber parametric loop mirror

The idler is separated from the co-propagating pump in a degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) with a symmetrical parametric loop mirror (PALM), which is composed of two identical SOAs and a 70 m highly-nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (HN-PCF). The signal and pump are coupled into the symmetrical PALM from different ports, respectively. After the DFWM based wavelength conversion (WC) in the clockwise and anticlockwise, the idler exits from the signal port, while the pump outputs from its input port. Therefore, the pump is effectively suppressed in the idler channel without a high-speed tunable filter. Contrast to a traditional PALM, the DFWM based conversion efficiency is increased greatly, and the functions of the amplification and the WC are integrated in the smart SOA and HN-PCF PALM. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phosphor-conversion white light using InGaN ultraviolet laser diode

We fabricated a phosphor-conversion white light using an InGaN laser diode that emits 405 nm near-ultraviolet (n-UV) light and phosphors that emit in the blue and yellow regions when excited by the n-UV and blue light, respectively.The relationship of the luminous flux and the luminous efficacy of the white light with injection current was discussed. The luminous flux increased linearly with increasing current above the threshold of the laser diode, and at 80 mA injection current, the luminous flux and luminous efficacy were estimated to be 5.7 lm and 13 lm/w, respectively. The shift of the Commission International de I'Eclairage coordinates, color temperature, and color rendering index with current are very slight and negligible, which indicates that the blue and the yellow phosphors have an excellent stability and a highly stable white light can be obtained by this way. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Numerical analysis for four-wave mixing based wavelength conversion of differential phase-shift keying signals

We numerically investigate the main constrains for high efficiency wavelength conversion of differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) signals based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). Using multi-tone pump phase modulation techniques, high efficiency wavelength conversion of DPSK signals is achieved with the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effects effectively suppressed. Our analysis shows that there is a compromise between conversion efficiency and converted idler degradation. By optimizing the pump phase modulation configuration, the converted DPSK idler's degradation can be dramatically decreased through balancing SBS suppression and pump phase modulation degradation. Our simulation results also show that these multi-tone pump phase modulation techniques are more appropriate for the future high bit rate systems.

Wavelength conversion based on degenerate-four-wave-mixing with continuous-wave pumping in silicon nanowire waveguide

We present a comprehensive numerical study on the all-optical wavelength conversion based on the degenerate four-wave-mixing with continuous-wave pumping in the silicon nanowire waveguide. It is well known that the conversion efficiency and the 3-dB bandwidth can be greatly affected by the phase-matching condition. Through proper design of the waveguide cross-section, its dispersion property can be adjusted to satisfy the phase-matching condition and therefore effective wavelength conversion can be achieved in a large wavelength range. Generally, the group velocity dispersion plays a dominant role in the wavelength conversion. However, the fourth-order dispersion takes an important effect on the wavelength conversion when the group velocity dispersion is near the zero-point. Furthermore, the conversion efficiency and the 3-dB bandwidth can also be affected by the interactive length and the initial pump power. Through the numerical simulation, the optimal values for the interactive length and the initial pump power, which are functions of the propagation loss, are obtained to realize the maximum conversion efficiency. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of waveguide length and pump power on the efficiency of wavelength conversion in silicon nanowire waveguides

We point out the use of a wrong definition for conversion efficiency in the literature and analyze the effects of the waveguide length and pump power on conversion efficiency according to the correct definition. The existence of the locally optimal waveguide length and pump power is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. Further analysis shows that the extremum of conversion efficiency can be achieved by global optimization of the waveguide length and pump power simultaneously, which is limited by just the linear propagation loss and the effective carrier lifetime. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

High-quality GaNAs/GaAs quantum wells with light emission up to 1.44 mu m grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

High-quality GaNAs/GaAs quantum wells with high substitutional N concentrations, grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, are demonstrated using a reduced growth rate in a range of 0.125-1 mu m/h. No phase separation is observed and the GaNAs well thickness is limited by the critical thickness. Strong room-temperature photoluminescence with a record long wavelength of 1.44 mu m is obtained from an 18-nm-thick GaN0.06As0.94/GaAs quantum well. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

High average power and short pulse duration continuous wave mode-locked Nd : GdVO4 laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

Passive mode locking of a solid-state Nd:GdVO4 laser is demonstrated. The laser is mode locked by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). A low Nd3+ doped Nd:GdVO4 crystal is used to mitigate the thermal lens effect of the laser crystal at a high pump power. The maximum average output power is up to 6.5 W, and the pulse duration is as short as 6.2 ps. The optic-to-optic conversion efficiency is 32.5% and the repetition rate is about 110 MHz.

High-average-power and high-conversion-efficiency continuous wave mode-locked Nd : YVO4 laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

A high-power continuous wave (cw) mode-locked Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser was demonstrated by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). The maximum average output power was 8.1 W and the optic-to-optic conversion efficiency was about 41 %. At the maximum incident pump power, the pulse width was about 8.6 ps and the repetition rate was 130 MHz. Experimental results indicated that this absorber was suitable for high power mode-locked solid-state lasers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrogen passivation of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

The effects of hydrogen passivation on multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells are reported in this paper. Hydrogen plasma was generated by means of ac glow discharge in a hydrogen atmosphere. Hydrogen passivation was carried out with three different groups of mc-Si solar cells after finishing contacts. The experimental results demonstrated that the photovoltaic performances of the solar cell samples have been improved after hydrogen plasma treatment, with a relative increase in conversion efficiency up to 10.6%. A calculation modelling has been performed to interpret the experimental results using the model for analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures developed at Pennsylvania State University.

Theory and experiment of two-photon 'direct' interference for type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion with an ultrafast pulse laser pump

Fourth-order spatial interference of entangled photon pairs generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a femtosecond pulse laser has been performed for the first time. In theory, it takes into account the transverse correlation between the two photons and is used to calculate the dependence of the visibility of the interference pattern obtained in Young's double-slit experiment. In this experiment, a short focal length tens and two narrow band interference filters were adopted to eliminate the effects of the broadband pump laser and improve the visibility of the interference pattern under the condition of nearly collinear light and degenerate phase matching.

Absolute measurement of detector quantum efficiency using optical parametric down-conversion pumped by femtosecond laser pulses

Absolute measurement of detector quantum efficiency using optical parametric down-conversion has been extensively studied for the case of a continuous wave pump. In this paper, we have used the temporally and spatially correlated properties of the down-converted photon pairs generated in a nonlinear crystal pumped by a femtosecond laser pulse to perform an absolute measurement of detector quantum efficiency. The measured detector quantum efficiency is in excellent agreement with the measured value in the conventional way. A lens with a long focal length was adopted for efficiently increasing the intensity of the down-conversion entangled photon source.

Spatial interference effect of two-photon in femtosecond-pulse pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We have used the transverse correlated properties of the entangled photon pairs generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion, which is pumped by a femtosecond pulse laser, to perform Young's interference experiment. Unlike the case of a continuous wave laser pump, a broadband pulse laser pump can submerge an interference pattern. In order to obtain a high visibility interference pattern, we used a lens with a tunable focal length and two interference filters to eliminate the effects of the broadband pump laser. It is proven that the process of two-photon direct interference is a post-selection process.