Use of an open photoacoustic cell for the thermal characterisation of liquid crystals

In this paper, we describe the use of an open cell photoacoustic configuration for the evaluation of the thermal effusivity of liquid crystals. The feasibility, precision and reliability of the method are initially established by measuring the thermal effusivities of water and glycerol, for which the effusivity values are known accurately. In order to demonstrate the use of the present method in the thermal characterization of liquid crystals, we have measured the thermal effusivity values in various mesophases of 4-cyano-4 - octyloxybiphenyl (8OCB) and 4-cyano-4 -heptyloxybiphenyl (7OCB) liquid crystals using a variable temperature open photoacoustic cell. A comparison of the measured values for the two liquid crystals shows that the thermal effusivities of 7OCB in the nematic and isotropic phases are slightly less than those of 8OCB in the corresponding phases

Optical and Thermal Characterization of Dye Intercalated Montmorillonites and Rare Earth Doped Materials

Nondestructive photothermal methods as well as optical absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy are utilized to characterise three different materials, both thermally and optically. The possibility of using montmorillonite clay minerals, after textile waste-water treatment, is investigated for further applications. The laser induced luminescence studies and thermal characterisation of certain rare earth titanates prepared by self propagating high temperature synthesis method are also presented. Moreover, effort is made to characterise rare earth doped sol gel silica glasses with the help of these nondestructive techniques.

Effects of Thermal Modifications on the Rheological Characteristics and Protein Quality of Three Species of Fish of Varying Collagen Content

School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Fabrication of thin films and nano columnar structures of Fe-Ni amorphous alloys and modification of its surface properties by thermal annealing and swift heavy ion irradiation for tailoring the magnetic properties

Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Laser Induced Photothermal Investigations on Thermal and Transport Properties of Certain Selected Photonic Materials

Discovery of coherent optical sources four decades ago has revolutionized all fields of scientific development. One of the path breaking applications of lasers is the emergence of various thermo optic techniques to unravel some of the mysteries of light matter interactions.Thermo optic technique is a valuable tool to evaluate optical and thermal properties of materials in solid,liquid and gaseous states .This technique can also be employed effectively in nondestructive quality evaluation. In this doctoral thesis , the use of photothermal techniques based on photoacoustic and photothermal deflection phenomena for the study of certain class of photonics materials such as semiconductors, nano metal dispersed ceramics, composites of conducting polymers and liquid crystals is elaborated.

Enhanced pH and thermal stabilities of invertase immobilized on montmorillonite K-10

Invertase was adsorbed onto micro-porous acid-activated montmorillonite clay (K-10) by two procedures, namely adsorption and covalent binding. The immobilized enzymes were characterized by XRD, surface area measurements and 27Al NMR. XRD measurements revealed an expansion of clay layers due to immobilization which suggests that intercalation had taken place. Surface area measurements also support this observation. 27Al NMR showed that interaction of enzyme with tetrahedral and octahedral Al changes with the immobilization procedure. Sucrose hydrolysis was performed in a batch reactor. The immobilized enzymes showed enhanced pH and thermal stabilities. Optimum pH and temperature were found to increase upon immobilization. The effectiveness factor (η) and Michaelis constant (Km) suggest that diffusional resistances play a major role in the reaction. The immobilized invertase could be stored in buffer of pH 5 and 6 at 5 °C without any significant loss in activity for 20 days.

Thermal transport, photoconduction and electrical switching in selected chalcogenide glasses exhibiting carrier type reversal

Department of Instrumentation, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Characterization of Photonic Materials Using Thermal Lens Technique

The subject of Photonics is concerned with the generation,control and utilization of photons for performing a variety of tasks.It came to existence as a consequence of the harmonious fusion of optical methods with electronic technology.Wide spread use of laser based methods in electronics is slowly replacing elecrtons with photons in the field of Communication,Control and Computing .Therefore,there is a need to promote the R & D activities in the area of Photonics and to generate well trained manpower in laser related fields.Development and characterization of photonic materials is an important subject of research in the field of Photonics.Optical and thermal characterization of photonic materials using thermal lens technique is a PhD thesis in the field of Photonics in which the author describes how thermal lens effect can be used to characterize themal and optical properties of photonic materials.Plausibility of thermal lens based logic gates is also presented in this thesis.

Studies on the Surface Properties and Catalytic Activity of Metal Chromites on Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

Department of Applied Chemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Investigation of nonlinear absorption and aggregation in aqueous solutions of rhodamine B using thermal lens technique

Thermal lensing effect was studied in aqueous solutions of rhodamine B using 532 nm, 9 ns pulses from a Nd:YAG laser. A low intensity He-Ne laser beam was used for probing the thermal lens. Results obtained show that it is appropriate to use this technique for studying nonlinear absorption processes like two photon absorption or excited state absorption and for analyzing dimerization equilibria.

Studies of nonlinear absorption and aggregation in aqueous solutions of rhodamine 6G using a transient thermal lens technique

Dual-beam transient thermal lens studies were carried out in aqueous solutions of rhodamine 6G using 532 nm pulses from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. The analysis of the observed data showed that the thermal lens method can effectively be utilized to study the nonlinear absorption and aggregation which are taking place in a dye medium.

Experimental investigation of optical limiting and thermal lensing in toluene solutions of C70

Optical limiting and thermal lensing studies are carried out in C70–toluene solutions. The measurements are performed using 9-ns pulses generated from a frequencydoubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. Optical limiting studies in fullerene molecules lead to the conclusion that reverse saturable absorption is the major mechanism for limiting. Analysis of thermal lensing measurements showed a quadratic dependence of thermal lens signal on incident laser energy, which also supports the view that optical limiting in C70 arises due to sequential two-photon absorption via excited triplet state (reverse saturable absorption).

Open-cell photoacoustic investigation of the thermal effusivity of liquid crystals

We report the use of an open photoacoustic cell configuration for the evaluation of thermal effusivity of liquid crystals. Initially, the method is calibrated using water and glycerol as transparent liquid samples, and the role of thermal conductivity of these liquids on the photoacoustic signal amplitude is discussed. To demonstrate the application of the present method for the evaluation of thermal effusivity of liquid crystals, we have used certain multicomponent nematic liquid crystal mixtures, namely BL001, BL002, BL032, and BL035. Each of these liquid crystal mixtures contains four to nine components and are primarily based on the cyanobiphenyl structure. The measured values of thermal effusivity of BL001 and BL002 were found to be almost the same, but differ from those of BL032 and BL035, which implies a difference in composition of the latter two from the former two mixtures.

Realization of Optical Logic Gates Using the Thermal Lens Effect

A sensitive method based on the principle of photothermal phenomena to realize optical logic gates is presented. A dual beam thermal lens method using low power cw lasers in a dye-doped polymer can be very effectively used as an alternate technique to perform the logical function such as NAND, AND and OR.

Thermal lens spectrum of organic dyes using optical parametric oscillator

The wavelength dependence of thermal lens signal from organic dyes are studied using dual beam thermal lens technique. It is found that the profile of thermal lens spectrum widely differ from the conventional absorption spectrum in the case of rhodamine B unlike in the case of crystal violet. This is explained on the basis of varying contribution of nonradiative relaxations from the excited vibronic levels.