Generation of 140 fs pulse train with widely tunable repetition rate through cascaded fibre compression techniques

The authors present numerical simulations of ultrashort pulse generation by a technique of linear spectral broadening in phase modulators and compression in dispersion compensating fibre, followed by a further stage of soliton compression in dispersion shifted fibre. This laser system is predicted to generate pulses of 140 fs duration with a peak power of 1.5 kW over a wide, user selectable repetition rate range while maintaining consistent characteristics of stability and pulse quality. The use of fibre compressors and commercially available modulators is expected to make the system setup compact and cost-effective. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014.

Parametric resonance for vibration energy harvesting with design techniques to passively reduce the initiation threshold amplitude

A vibration energy harvester designed to access parametric resonance can potentially outperform the conventional direct resonant approach in terms of power output achievable given the same drive acceleration. Although linear damping does not limit the resonant growth of parametric resonance, a damping dependent initiation threshold amplitude exists and limits its onset. Design approaches have been explored in this paper to passively overcome this limitation in order to practically realize and exploit the potential advantages. Two distinct design routes have been explored, namely an intrinsically lower threshold through a pendulum-lever configuration and amplification of base excitation fed into the parametric resonator through a cantilever-initial-spring configuration. Experimental results of the parametric resonant harvesters with these additional enabling designs demonstrated an initiation threshold up to an order of magnitude lower than otherwise, while attaining a much higher power peak than direct resonance. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Characterization of diurnal photosynthetic rhythms in the marine diatom Skeletonema costatum grown in synchronous culture under ambient and elevated CO2

Photosynthetic performance was examined in Skeletonema costatum (Greville) Cleve. under 12: 12-h light: dark (LD) cycle at ambient CO2 (350 muL L-1) and elevated CO2 (1000 muL L-1). At ambient CO2, the cellular chlorophyll a content, the light-saturated photosynthetic rate (P-m), the initial slope of the light saturation curves ( a), the photochemical efficiency of PSII (F-v/F-m), the apparent carboxylating efficiency (ACE) and the photosynthetic affinity for CO2 [1/K-m (CO2)] all showed rhythmical changes with different amplitudes during the light period. The P-m had similar changing pattern in the light period with the ACE and 1/K-m (CO2) rather than with the alpha and F-v/F-m, indicating that rhythmical changes of photosynthetic capacity may be mainly controlled by the activity of C- reduction associated with CO2 uptake during the light period. The CO2 enrichment reduced the ACE and the affinity to CO2, and increased the a, cellular chlorophyll a content and P m based on cell number. By contrast, the changing patterns of all photosynthetic parameters examined here during the light period had almost the same for cells grown at ambient CO2 and elevated CO2, suggesting that the photosynthetic rhythms of S. costatum are not affected by CO2 enrichment.

Daily production and photosynthetic characteristics of Nostoc flagelliforme grown under ambient and elevated CO2 conditions

Diurnal photosynthesis of Nostoc flagelliforme was investigated at varied levels of CO2 concentrations and desiccation in order to estimate the effects of enriched CO2 and watering on its daily production. Photosynthetic activity was closely correlated with the desiccated status of the algal mats, increased immediately after watering, reached a maximum at moderate water loss, and then declined with further desiccation. Increased CO2 concentration enhanced the diurnal photosynthesis and raised the daily production. Watering twice per day enhanced the daily production due to prolonged period of active photosynthesis. The values of daily net production were 1321280 mumol CO2 g (d. wt)(-1) d(-1), corresponding to about 0.6-6.1% daily increase in dry weight. High-CO2-grown mats required higher levels of photon flux density to saturate the alga's photosynthesis in air. Air-grown mats showed higher photosynthetic affinity for CO2 and higher levels of dark respiration compared with high-CO2-grown samples.

RAPD and AFLP techniques for the analysis of genetic relationships in two genera of Decapoda

RAPD was used fur analysing three (sub-)species of mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis, E. japonicus, and E. japonicus hepuensis) and three populations of E. sinensis. The results show that their relationships on DNA level are similar to the classical taxonomic hypotheses (Dai, 1991). No diagnostic RAPD marker could be found, but there were statistically significant genetic differences among these taxa (P < 0.001) or populations (P < 0.001). That is, the intraspecific similarities were larger than the interspecific similarities; the intrasubspecific similarities were larger than the intraspecific similarities; and the intrapopulational similarities were larger than the interpopulational similarities. In AFLP analysis, no significant genetic difference has been found between E. sinensis and E. japonicus, but AFLP markers among four species of Macrobrachium (M. rosenbergii. M. nipponense, M. hainanense, and M. asperulum) were found. The DNA similarities among these four species of Macrobrachium are in accordance with morphological similarities.

Enhanced electroluminescence intensity of InGaN/GaN multi-quantum-wells based on Mg-doped GaN annealed in O-2

InGaN/GaN multi-quantum-well blue (461 +/- 4 nm) light emitting diodes with higher electroluminescence intensity are obtained by postgrowth thermal annealing at 720 C in O-2-ambient. Based on our first-principle total-energy calculations, we conclude that besides dissociating the Mg-H complex by forming H2O, annealing in O-2 has another positive effect on the activation of acceptor Mg in GaN. Mg can be further activated by the formation of an impurity band above the valence band maximum of host GaN from the passivated Mg-Ga-O-N complex. Our calculated ionization energy for acceptor Mg in the passivated system is about 30 meV shallower than that in pure GaN, in good agreement with previous experimental measurement. Our model can explain that the enhanced electroluminescence intensity of InGaN/GaN MQWs based on Mg-doped p-type GaN is due to a decrease in the ionization energy of Mg acceptor with the presence of oxygen. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Analysis of the additional modulation of semiconductor lasers using optical heterodyne techniques

In this letter, the power spectrum of a cooled distributed feedback laser module is measured using the self-heterodyne technique. Periodical oscillation peaks have been observed in the measurement. Further investigation shows that the additional modulation signal is coupled from the thermal electric cooler (TEC) controller to the laser driver, and then applied to the laser diode. The additional modulation can be eliminated by properly isolating the laser driving source from the TEC controller.

Annealing ambient controlled deep defect formation in InP

Deep defects in annealed InP have been investigated by deep level transient capacitance spectroscopy (DLTS), photo induced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS) and thermally stimulated current spectroscopy (TSC). Both DLTS results of annealed semiconducting InP and PICTS and TSC results of annealed semi-insulating InP indicate that InP annealed in phosphorus ambient has five defects, while lid? annealed in iron phospbide ambient has two defects. Such a defect formation phenomenon is explained in terms of defect suppression by the iron atom diffusion process. The correlation of the defects and the nature of the defects in annealed InP are discussed based on the results.

Frequency bandwidth estimation of TO packaging techniques for laser modules

Two simple methods for estimating the potential modulation bandwidth of TO packaging technique are presented. The first method is based upon the comparison of the measured frequency responses of the laser diodes and the TO laser modules, and the second is from the equivalent circuit for the test fixture, the TO header, the submount and the bonding wire. It is shown that the TO packaging techniques used in the experiments can potentially achieve a frequency bandwidth of over 10.5 GHz, and the two proposed methods give similar results.

Effects of techniques of implanting nitrogen into buried oxide on the characteristics of partially depleted SOIPMOSFET

Effects of techniques of implanting nitrogen into buried oxide on the characteristics of the partially depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (PMOSFETs) have been studied with three different nitrogen implantation doses, 8 x 10(15), 2 x 10(16), and 1 x 10(17) cm(-2). The experimental results show that this technology can affect the threshold voltage, channel hole mobility and output characteristics of the partially depleted SOI PMOSFETs fabricated with the given material and process. For each type of the partially depleted SOI PMOSFET with nitrided buried oxide, the absolute value of the average threshold voltage increases due to the nitrogen implantation. At the same time, the average channel hole mobility decreases because of the nitrogen implantation. In particular, with the high nitrogen implantation doses, the output characteristic curves of the tested transistors present a distinct kink effect, which normally exists in the characteristic output curves of only partially depleted SOI NMOSFETs.

Potential frequency bandwidth estimation of TO packaging techniques for photodiode modules

Scattering parameters of photodiode chip, TO header and TO packaged module are measured, and the effects of TO packaging network on the high-frequency response of photodiode are investigated. Based on the analysis, the potential bandwidth of TO packaging techniques is estimated from the scattering parameters of the TO packaging network. Another method for estimating the potential bandwidth from the equivalent circuit for the TO packaged photodiode model is also presented. The results obtained using both methods show that the TO packaging techniques used in the experiments can potentially achieve a frequency bandwidth of 22 GHz.

Development of current-based microscopic defect analysis method using optical filling techniques for the defect study on heavily irradiated high-resistivity Si sensors/detectors

Current-based microscopic defect analysis method such as current deep level transient spectroscopy (I-DLTS) and thermally stimulated current have been developed over the years at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the defect characterizations on heavily irradiated (Phi(n) >= 10(13) n/cm(2)) high-resistivity (>= 2 k Omega cm) Si sensors/detectors. The conventional DLTS method using a capacitance transient is not valid on heavily irradiated high-resistivity Si sensors/detectors. A new optical filling method, using lasers with various wavelengths, has been applied, which is more efficient and suitable than the traditional voltage-pulse filling. Optimum defect-filling schemes and conditions have been suggested for heavily irradiated high-resistivity Si sensors/detectors. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Hydrogen related defects in neutron-irradiated silicon grown in hydrogen ambient

Isochronal thermal-annealing behavior of NTD floating-zone silicon grown in hydrogen ambient (called NTD FZ(H) Si) is presented. The dependencies of resistivity and carrier mobility on annealing temperature are determined by room-temperature Hall electrical measurements. Using infrared absorption spectroscopy, hydrogen-related infrared absorption bands evolution for NTD FZ(H) Si were measured in detail. It is demonstrated that compared with NTD FZ(Ar) Si, NTD FZ(H) Si exhibits the striking features upon isochronal annealing in temperature range of 150 similar to 650 degreesC: there appears the formation of an excessive shallow donor at annealing temperature of 500 degreesC. It is shown that the annealing behavior is directly related to the reaction of hydrogen and irradiation-induced defects. The evolution of infrared absorption bands upon temperature reflects a series of complex reaction process: irradiation-induced defects decomposition, breaking of Si-H bonds, migration and aggregation of atomic hydrogen, and formation of the secondary defects. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of annealing ambient on the formation of compensation defects in InP

Positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) and photoinduced current transient spectroscopies (PICTS) have been employed to study the formation of compensation defects in undoped InP under different annealing processes with pure phosphorus (PP) ambience and iron phosphide (IP) ambience, respectively. The different annealing ambiences convert the as-grown n-type undoped InP into two types of semi-insulating (SI) states. The positron average lifetimes of as-grown InP, PP SI-InP, and IP SI-InP are found to be 246, 251, and 243 ps, respectively, which are all longer than the bulk lifetime of 240 ps, indicating the existence of vacancy-type positron-trapping defects. For as-grown InP, VInH4 complexes are the dominant defects. They dissociate into VInHn(0less than or equal tonless than or equal to3) acceptor vacancies under PP ambience annealing, compensating the residual shallow donors and turning the material semi-insulating. In forming IP SI-InP, diffusion of iron into V-In complexes under IP ambience annealing produces the substitutional compensation defect Fe-In, causing a shorter positron average lifetime. The PICTS measurements show that a group of vacancy-type defects has been suppressed by iron diffusion during the annealing process, which is in good agreement with the PAL results. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

SiGe/Si resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors for 1.3 mu m operation fabricated using wafer bonding techniques

A SiGe/Si multiple-quantum-well resonant-cavity-enhanced (RCE) photodetector for 1.3 mum operation was fabricated using bonding reflector process. A full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 6 nm and a quantum efficiency of 4.2% at 1314 nm were obtained. Compared to our previously reported SiGe RCE photodetectors fabricated on separation-by-implanted-oxygen wafer, the mirrors in the device can be more easily fabricated and the device can be further optimized. The FWHM is expected to be less than 1 nm and the detector is fit for density wavelength division multiplexing applications. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.