Wave-front analysis method of circular aperture sampling for collimation testing

A new type of wave-front analysis method for the collimation testing of laser beams is proposed. A concept of wave-front height is defined, and, on this basis, the wave-front analysis method of circular aperture sampling is introduced. The wave-front height of the tested noncollimated wave can be estimated from the distance between two identical fiducial diffraction planes of the sampled wave, and then the divergence is determined. The design is detailed, and the experiment is demonstrated. The principle and experiment results of the method are presented. Owing to the simplicity of the method and its low cost, it is a promising method for checking the collimation of a laser beam with a large divergence. © 2005 Optical Society of America.

Fast numerical methods for mixed, singular Helmholtz boundary value problems and Laplace eigenvalue problems - with applications to antenna design, sloshing, electromagnetic scattering and spectral geometry

This thesis presents a novel class of algorithms for the solution of scattering and eigenvalue problems on general two-dimensional domains under a variety of boundary conditions, including non-smooth domains and certain "Zaremba" boundary conditions - for which Dirichlet and Neumann conditions are specified on various portions of the domain boundary. The theoretical basis of the methods for the Zaremba problems on smooth domains concern detailed information, which is put forth for the first time in this thesis, about the singularity structure of solutions of the Laplace operator under boundary conditions of Zaremba type. The new methods, which are based on use of Green functions and integral equations, incorporate a number of algorithmic innovations, including a fast and robust eigenvalue-search algorithm, use of the Fourier Continuation method for regularization of all smooth-domain Zaremba singularities, and newly derived quadrature rules which give rise to high-order convergence even around singular points for the Zaremba problem. The resulting algorithms enjoy high-order convergence, and they can tackle a variety of elliptic problems under general boundary conditions, including, for example, eigenvalue problems, scattering problems, and, in particular, eigenfunction expansion for time-domain problems in non-separable physical domains with mixed boundary conditions.

An investigation of a method of underwater propulsion by direct gas injection

This report presents the results of an investigation of a method of underwater propulsion. The propelling system utilizes the energy of a small mass of expanding gas to accelerate the flow of a large mass of water through an open ended duct of proper shape and dimensions to obtain a resultant thrust. The investigation was limited to making a large number of runs on a hydroduct of arbitrary design, varying between wide limits the water flow and gas flow through the device, and measuring the net thrust caused by the introduction and expansion of the gas.

In comparison with the effective exhaust velocity of about 6,000 feet per second observed in rocket motors, this hydroduct model attained a maximum effective exhaust velocity of more than 27,000 feet per second, using nitrogen gas. Using hydrogen gas, effective exhaust velocities of 146,000 feet per second were obtained. Further investigation should prove this method of propulsion not only to be practical but very efficient.

This investigation was conducted at Project No. 1, Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.

An in vitro biomolecular breadboard for prototyping synthetic biological circuits

Biomolecular circuit engineering is critical for implementing complex functions in vivo, and is a baseline method in the synthetic biology space. However, current methods for conducting biomolecular circuit engineering are time-consuming and tedious. A complete design-build-test cycle typically takes weeks' to months' time due to the lack of an intermediary between design ex vivo and testing in vivo. In this work, we explore the development and application of a "biomolecular breadboard" composed of an in-vitro transcription-translation (TX-TL) lysate to rapidly speed up the engineering design-build-test cycle. We first developed protocols for creating and using lysates for conducting biological circuit design. By doing so we simplified the existing technology to an affordable ($0.03/uL) and easy to use three-tube reagent system. We then developed tools to accelerate circuit design by allowing for linear DNA use in lieu of plasmid DNA, and by utilizing principles of modular assembly. This allowed the design-build-test cycle to be reduced to under a business day. We then characterized protein degradation dynamics in the breadboard to aid to implementing complex circuits. Finally, we demonstrated that the breadboard could be applied to engineer complex synthetic circuits in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, we utilized our understanding of linear DNA prototyping, modular assembly, and protein degradation dynamics to characterize the repressilator oscillator and to prototype novel three- and five-node negative feedback oscillators both in vitro and in vivo. We therefore believe the biomolecular breadboard has wide application for acting as an intermediary for biological circuit engineering.

A novel three-dimensional imaging array recording and computational method by means of coded cameras reconstruction

In this paper, we propose a novel three-dimensional imaging method by which the object is captured by a coded cameras array (CCA) and computationally reconstructed as a series of longitudinal layered surface images of the object. The distribution of cameras in array, named code pattern, is crucial for reconstructed images fidelity when the correlation decoding is used. We use DIRECT global optimization algorithm to design the code patterns that possess proper imaging property. We have conducted primary experiments to verify and test the performance of the proposed method with a simple discontinuous object and a small-scale CCA including nine cameras. After certain procedures such as capturing, photograph integrating, computational reconstructing and filtering, etc., we obtain reconstructed longitudinal layered surface images of the object with higher signal-to-noise ratio. The results of experiments show that the proposed method is feasible. It is a promising method to be used in fields such as remote sensing, machine vision, etc. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Design of a highly stable, high-conversion-efficiency pumping source for optical parametric amplifier by extending efficient crystal length

The objective of this study is to improve the stability of pumping source of optical parametric amplifier. Analysis by simulation leads to the conclusion that the stability of the second harmonic can be improved by using properly the intensity of fundamental light and corresponding length of the crystal. By the method of the noncollinear two-pass second harmonic or the tandem second harmonic, the efficient crystal length is extended to a proper value, and the stability of the second harmonic output has been improved two times more than that for the fundamental light, and the conversion-efficiency is about 70% in experiment. When the variation of the fundamental light is about 10%, the variation of the second harmonic intensity has been controlled within 5%. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design guidelines and characteristics for a kind of four-layer large flattened mode fibers

A theoretical method to analyze a kind of four-layer large flattened mode (LFM) fibers is presented. The properties of the fiber, including the fundamental and higher-order modal fields, effective area and bending loss are discussed by comparison. At the same time, the reasons for the different characteristics are considered. The obtained results indicate that the effective area of the four-layer LFM fiber is about 1.3 times larger than that of the conventional standard step-index fiber and the fiber can suppress the higher-order modes via bending effectively. The four-layer LFM fiber has less efficient bend-induced filtering ability than the conventional step-index fiber; however, it has more efficient filtering ability than the three-layer LFM fiber. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Dynamic storage performance of two cyanine dye films and optimization design for a recordable compact disk

The optical constants of two cyanine dye films that we prepared were measured with a RAP-1-type (RAP is rotating analyzer and polarizer) spectroscopic ellipsometer. Toward making a simplified model for the wafers of a recordable compact disk (CD-R), we give their optimization designs developed with the cyanine dye films. in addition, the dynamic storage performances of two sample disks were tested by our dynamic storage testing system. Measurement results of the sample disks were obtained to test and verify our film designs. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes: 160.4890, 160.4760, 210.4810.

Robust design optimization of gas turbine compression systems

Gas turbine compression systems are required to perform adequately over a range of operating conditions. Complexity has encouraged the conventional design process for compressors to focus initially on one operating point, usually the most commonor arduous, to draw up an outline design. Generally, only as this initial design is refined is its offdesign performance assessed in detail. Not only does this necessarily introduce a potentially costly and timeconsuming extra loop in the design process, but it also may result in a design whose offdesign behavior is suboptimal. Aversion of nonintrusive polynomial chaos was previously developed in which a set of orthonormal polynomials was generated to facilitate a rapid analysis of robustness in the presence of generic uncertainties with good accuracy. In this paper, this analysis method is incorporated in real time into the design process for the compression system of a three-shaft gas turbine aeroengine. This approach to robust optimization is shown to lead to designs that exhibit consistently improved system performance with reduced sensitivity to offdesign operation.

Design and fabrication of color filters for projection display system

Color filters are key components in an optical engine projection display system. In this paper, a new admittance-matching method for designing and fabricating the high performance filters is described, in which the optimized layers are limited to the interfaces between the stack (each combination of quarter-wave-optical-thickness film layers is called a stack) and stack, or between stack and substrate, or between stack and incident medium. This method works well in designing filters containing multiple stacks such as UV-IR cut and broadband filters. The tolerance and angle sensitivity for the designed film stacks are analyzed. The thermal stability of the sample color filters was measured. A good result in optical performance and thermal stability was obtained through the new design approach. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Modelagem do comportamento estrutural de sistemas treliçados espaciais para escoramentos de estruturas de aço, concreto e mistas (aço-concreto).

A utilização de treliças para o escoramento de elementos estruturais de concreto armado e aço é considerada uma solução eficaz para o atual sistema de construção de engenharia civil. Uma mudança de atitude no processo de construção, associado com a redução dos custos causou um aumento considerável na utilização de treliças tridimensionais em aço com maior capacidade de carga. Infelizmente, o desenho destes sistemas estruturais baseia-se em cálculos muito simplificados relacionadas com vigas de uma dimensão, com propriedades de inércia constantes. Tal modelagem, muito simplificada, não pode representar adequadamente a resposta real dos modelos estruturais e pode levar a inviabilidade econômica ou mesmo inseguro desenho estrutural. Por outro lado, estas estruturas treliçadas estão relacionadas com modelos de geometria complexa e são desenhados para suportar níveis de cargas muito elevadas. Portanto, este trabalho de investigação propôs modelos de elementos finitos que representam o caráter tridimensional real do sistema de escoramento, avaliando o comportamento estático e dinâmico estrutural com mais confiabilidade e segurança. O modelo computacional proposto, desenvolvido para o sistema estrutural não linear de análise estática e dinâmica, aprovou as habituais técnicas de refinamento de malha presentes em simulações do método de elementos finitos, com base no programa ANSYS [1]. O presente estudo analisou os resultados de análises linear-elástica e não linear geométrica para ações de serviço, físicos e geométricos para as ações finais. Os resultados do presente estudo foram obtidas, com base na análise linear-elástica e não linearidade geométrica e física, e comparados com os fornecidos pela metodologia simplificada tradicional de cálculo e com os limites recomendadas por normas de concepção.

基于Berreman矩阵的双折射薄膜光谱响应特性计算

采用Berreman特征矩阵方法，通过数值计算研究了双折射薄膜的反射、透射等光谱响应特性。依据电磁场理论的电场分量、磁场分量的界面连续条件，推导了光波在各向异性双轴薄膜中的Berreman转移矩阵，用以分析含有各向异性介质层的复杂薄膜系统的光学性质。这些矩阵递推关系包含了界面处的多点反射，适用于一般的各向异性的多层膜系统，包括入射媒质或基底为各向异性的情况。在文中给出了各向同性入射媒质双轴各向异性膜层一各向同性基底薄膜系统的计算结果，验证了该计算方法的可行性，以此作为进一步研究各向异性薄膜和相关光学薄膜器

Design and fabrication of color filters for projection display system

Color filters are key components in an optical engine projection display system. In this paper, a new admittance-matching method for designing and fabricating the high performance filters is described, in which the optimized layers are limited to the interfaces between the stack (each combination of quarter-wave-optical-thickness film layers is called a stack) and stack, or between stack and substrate, or between stack and incident medium. This method works well in designing filters containing multiple stacks such as UV-IR cut and broadband filters. The tolerance and angle sensitivity for the designed film stacks are analyzed. The thermal stability of the sample color filters was measured. A good result in optical performance and thermal stability was obtained through the new design approach. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Design of high-efficiency diffraction gratings based on total internal reflection for pulse compressor

We present designs of high-efficiency compression grating based on total internal reflection (TIR) for picosecond pulse laser at 1053 nm. The setup is devised by directly etching gratings into the bottom side of a prism so that light can successfully enter (or exit) the compression grating. Dependence of the -1 order diffraction efficiencies on the constructive parameters is analyzed for TE- and TM-polarized incident light at Littrow angle by using Fourier modal method in order to obtain optimal grating structure. The electric field enhancement within the high-efficiency TIR gratings is regarded as another criterion to optimize the structure of the TIR gratings. With the criterion of high diffraction efficiency, low electric field enhancement and sufficient manufacturing latitude, TIR compression gratings with optimized constructive parameters are obtained for TE- and TM-polarized incident light, respectively. The grating for TE-polarized light exhibits diffraction efficiencies higher than 0.95 within 23 nm bandwidth and relatively low square of electric field enhancement ratio of 5.7. Regardless of the internal electric field enhancement, the grating for TM-polarized light provides diffraction efficiencies higher than 0.95 within 42 nm bandwidth. With compact structure, such TIR compression gratings made solely of fused silica should be of great interest for application to chirped pulse amplification (CPA) systems. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.