An Embedded Stress Sensor for Concrete SHM Based on Amorphous Ferromagnetic Microwires

A new smart concrete aggregate design as a candidate for applications in structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical elements in civil infrastructure is proposed. The cement-based stress/strain sensor was developed by utilizing the stress/strain sensing properties of a magnetic microwire embedded in cement-based composite (MMCC). This is a contact-less type sensor that measures variations of magnetic properties resulting from stress variations. Sensors made of these materials can be designed to satisfy the specific demand for an economic way to monitor concrete infrastructure health. For this purpose, we embedded a thin magnetic microwire in the core of a cement-based cylinder, which was inserted into the concrete specimen under study as an extra aggregate. The experimental results show that the embedded MMCC sensor is capable of measuring internal compressive stress around the range of 1-30 MPa. Two stress sensing properties of the embedded sensor under uniaxial compression were studied: the peak amplitude and peak position of magnetic switching field. The sensitivity values for the amplitude and position within the measured range were 5 mV/MPa and 2.5 mu s/MPa, respectively.

A compact diode-pumped injection seeded Nd : YAG laser with resonance-detection technique

A diode pumped injection seeded single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) Nd:YAG laser is achieved by using the resonance-detection technique in Q-switching operation. The pulsed oscillator laser uses a folded cavity to achieve compact construction. This system operates at 100 Hz and provides over 20 mJ/pulse of single-frequency 1064 nm output. The M-2 values of horizontal and vertical axes are 1.58 and 1.41, respectively. The probability of putting out single-longitudinal-mode pulses is 100%. The 355 nm laser output produced by frequency tripling has a linewidth less than 200 MHz. The laser can run over eight hours continually without mode hopping.

Structural role of fluoride in aluminophosphate sol-gel glasses: High-resolution double-resonance NMR studies

The local structure of Na-Al-P-O-F glasses, prepared by a novel sol-gel route, was extensively investigated by advanced solid-state NMR techniques. Al-21{F-19} rotational echo double resonance (REDOR) results indicate that the F incorporated into aluminophosphate glass is preferentially bonded to octahedral Al units and results in a significant increase in the concentration of six-coordinated aluminum. The extent of Al-F and Al-O-P connectivities are quantified consistently by analyzing Al-27{P-31} and Al-21{F-19} REDOR NMR data. Two distinct types of fluorine species were identified and characterized by various F-19{Al-27}, F-19{Na-23}, and F-19{P-31} double resonance experiments, which were able to support peak assignments to bridging (Al-F-Al, -140 ppm) and terminal (Al-F, -170 ppm) units. On the basis of the detailed quantitative dipole-dipole coupling information obtained, a comprehensive structural model for these glasses is presented, detailing the structural speciation as a function of composition.

Enhancement of ferromagnetic properties in In1.99Co0.01O3 by additional Cu doping

This paper reports room-temperature ferromagnetism in Co- and Cu-doped In2O3 samples synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. Structure and composition analyses revealed that Co and Cu were incorporated into the In2O3 lattices. Photoluminescence measurement revealed an additional emission at 520 urn from these doped samples. The magnetic measurement showed that additional Cu doping greatly enhanced the ferromagnetism of In1.99Co0.01O3 bulk samples. The implication of the effects of additional Cu doping is also discussed. (c) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electric field enhancement in guided-mode resonance filters

Electric fields inside guided-mode resonance filters (GMRFs) may be intensified by resonance effects. The electric field enhancement is investigated in two GMRFs: one is resonant at normal incidence, the other at oblique incidence. It is shown that the two GMRFs exhibit different behaviors in their electric enhancement. Differences between the electric field distributions of the two GMRFs arise because coupling between counter-propagating modes occurs in the first case. It is also shown that the order of the electric field of maximum amplitude can be controlled by modulation of the dielectric constant of the grating. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Nonpolarizing guided-mode resonance filter

A normal-incidence nonpolarizing guided-mode resonance filter is designed. There are two waveguide layers and one grating layer in the filter. By adjusting the distance between the two waveguide layers, the same resonance wavelength for both TE and TM polarization can be achieved. An antireflection design method is also used to decrease the sideband reflection of the filter. The results show that the filter has high reflection, more than 99.9% at 500 nm, and the FW-HMs of TE- and TM-polarized light are 2.16 and 0.15 nm, respectively. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Surface plasmon resonance transmission filters at 1053 nm based on metallic grating with narrow slit

Metallic gratings with narrow slits can lead to special optical properties such as strongly enhancing the transmission and considerably strengthening the polarized effect. A narrow-band filter suitable for application in optical communication is designed by sandwiching a metallic grating between two identical dielectric films. The maximum transmission can reach 96% after optimizing the parameters of films and grating at a central wavelength of 1053 nm. It is the first time, to our knowledge, that such high transmission has been reported since the discovery of the extraordinarily high transmission through periodic holes or slits; moreover, the extremely polarized effect is also found in P mode of this symmetric grating.