Broadband external cavity tunable quantum dot lasers with low injection current density

Broadband grating-coupled external cavity laser, based on InAs/GaAs quantum dots, is achieved. The device has a wavelength tuning range from 1141.6 nm to 1251.7 nm under a low continuous-wave injection current density (458 A/cm(2)). The tunable bandwidth covers consecutively the light emissions from both the ground state and the 1st excited state of quantum dots. The effects of cavity length and antireflection facet coating on device performance are studied. It is shown that antireflection facet coating expands the tuning bandwidth up to similar to 150 nm, accompanied by an evident increase in threshold current density, which is attributed to the reduced interaction between the light field and the quantum dots in the active region of the device.

Experimental Investigation on Propane Hydrate Dissociation by High Concentration Methanol and Ethylene Glycol Solution Injection

The dissociation behaviors of propane hydrate by high concentration alcohols inhibitors injection were investigated. Methanol (30.0, 60.1, 80.2, and 99.5 wt %) and ethylene glycol (30.0, 60.1, 69.8, 80.2, and 99.5 wt %) solution were injected, respectively, as alcohols inhibitors in 3.5 L transparent reactor. It is shown that the average dissociation rates of propane hydrate injecting methanol and ethylene glycol solution are 0.02059-0.04535 and 0.0302-0.0606 mol.min(-1).L-1, respectively. The average dissociation rates increase with the mass concentration increase of alcohols solution, and it is the biggest when 99.5 wt % ethylene glycol solution was injected. The presence of alcohols accelerates gas hydrate dissociation and reduces the total need of external energy to dissociate the hydrates. Density differences act as driving force, causing the acceleration effects of ethylene glycol on dissociation behaviors of propane hydrate are better than that of methanol with the same injecting flux and mass concentration.

Electron injection assisted phase transition in a nano-Au-VO2 junction

The semiconductor-metal transition of vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films epitaxially grown on C-plane sapphire is studied by depositing Au nanoparticles onto the thermochromic films forming a metal-semiconductor contact, namely, a nano-Au-VO2 junction. It reveals that Au nanoparticles have a marked effect on the reduction in the phase transition temperature of VO2. A process of electron injection in which electrons flow from Au to VO2 due to the lower work function of the metal is believed to be the mechanism. The result may support the Mott-Hubbard phase transition model for VO2.

Experimental investigation of production behavior of methane hydrate under ethylene glycol injection in unconsolidated sediment

This article investigates the gas production behavior from methane hydrate (MH) in porous sediment by injecting ethylene glycol (EG) solution with the different concentrations and the different injection rates in an one-dimensional experimental apparatus. The results suggest that the gas production process can be divided into the four stages: (1) the initial injection, (2) the EG diluteness, (3) the hydrate dissociation, and (4) the remained gas output. Nevertheless, the water production rate keeps nearly constant during the whole production process. The production efficiency is affected by both the EG concentration and the EG injection rate, and it reaches a maximum with the EG concentration of 60 wt %.

Hydrogen-rich gas production from biomass air and oxygen/steam gasification in a downdraft gasifier

Biomass gasification is an important method to obtain renewable hydrogen, However, this technology still stagnates in a laboratory scale because of its high-energy consumption. In order to get maximum hydrogen yield and decrease energy consumption, this study applies a self-heated downdraft gasifier as the reactor and uses char as the catalyst to study the characteristics of hydrogen production from biomass gasification. Air and oxygen/steam are utilized as the gasifying agents. The experimental results indicate that compared to biomass air gasification, biomass oxygen/steam gasification improves hydrogen yield depending on the volume of downdraft gasifier, and also nearly doubles the heating value of fuel gas. The maximum lower heating value of fuel gas reaches 11.11 MJ/ N m(3) for biomass oxygen/steam gasification. Over the ranges of operating conditions examined, the maximum hydrogen yield reaches 45.16 g H-2/kg biomass. For biomass oxygen/steam gasification, the content of H-2 and CO reaches 63.27-72.56%, while the content Of H2 and CO gets to 52.19-63.31% for biomass air gasification. The ratio of H-2/CO for biomass oxygen/steam gasification reaches 0.70-0.90, which is lower than that of biomass air gasification, 1.06-1.27. The experimental and comparison results prove that biomass oxygen/steam gasification in a downdraft gasifier is an effective, relatively low energy consumption technology for hydrogen-rich gas production.

Optimization of multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses in air using a pinhole

The robustness and prolongation of multiple filamentation (MF) for femtosecond laser propagation in air are investigated experimentally and numerically. It is shown that the number, pattern, propagation distance, and spatial stability of MF can be controlled by a variable-aperture on-axis pinhole. The random MF pattern can be optimized to a deterministic pattern. In our numerical simulations, we configured double filaments to principlly simulate the experimental MF interactions. It is experimentally and numerically demonstrated that the pinhole can reduce the modulational instability of MF and is favorable for a more stable MF evolution. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Mode field diameter and nonlinear properties of air-core nanowires

Exact solutions of Maxwell's equations describing the lightwave through 3-layer-structured cylindrical waveguide are obtained and the mode field diameter and nonlinear coefficient of air-core nanowires (ACNWs) are numerically calculated. The simulation results show that ACNWs offer some unique optical properties, such as tight field confining ability and extremely high nonlinearity. At a certain wavelength and air core radius, we optimize the waveguide design to maximize the nonlinear coefficient and minimize the mode field diameter. Our results show that the ACNWs may be powerful potential tools for novel micro-photonic devices in the near future.

Broadly tunable SOA-based active mode-locked fibre ring laser by forward injection optical pulse

We present a broadly tunable active mode- locked. bre ring laser based on a semiconductor optical ampli. er ( SOA), with forward injection optical pulses. The laser can generate pulse sequence with pulsewidth about 12 ps and high output power up to 8.56dBm at 2.5 GHz stably. Incorporated with a wavelength- tunable optical bandpass. lter, the pulse laser can operate with a broad wavelength tunable span up to 37nm with almost constant pulsewidth. A detailed experimental analysis is also carried out to investigate the relationship between the power of the internal cavity and the pulsewidth of the output pulse sequence. The experimental con. guration of the pulse laser is very simple and easy to setup with no polarization- sensitive components.

Harmonic Millimeter Wave Generation and Frequency Up-Conversion Using Optical Injection Locking and Brillouin Selective Sideband Amplification

Harmonic millimeter wave (mm-wave) generation and frequency up-conversion are experimentally demonstrated using optical injection locking and Brillouin selective sideband amplification (BSSA) induced by stimulated Brillouin scattering in a 10-km single-mode fiber. By using this method, we successfully generate third-harmonic mm-wave at 27 GHz (f(LO) - 9 GHz) with single sideband (SSB) modulation and up-convert the 2GHz intermediate frequency signal into the mm-wave band with single mode modulation of the SSB modes. In addition, the mm-wave carrier obtains more than 23 dB power gain due to the BSSA. The transmission experiments show that the generated mm-wave and up-converted signals indicate strong immunity against the chromatic dispersion of the fibers.