Photonic crystal directional coupler for all-optical switching,tunable multi/demultiplexing and beam splitting applications

In this paper, we introduce a new configuration based on the combination of photonic crystal directional coupler and nonlinear electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) phenomenon in solid-state materials. The proposed structure has the abilities of switching, tunable multi/demultiplexing and tunable power beam splitting. These applications are attainable in the same structure by modulating the refractive index of special regions via EIT effect. This effect causes a high reduction in the required optical control power for the desired refractive index change, compared to the other nonlinear methods. Band structure calculations and simulations of optical field propagation through the device are done by plane wave expansion and finite difference time domain methods, respectively. In the switching mechanism, extinction ratios of 11.38?dB in the linear regime (with the control signal being off) and 26.63?dB in the nonlinear regime (with the presence of control signal) are achievable. Also, the proposed structure operates as a two-channel multi/demultiplexer for wavelengths of 1550?nm and 1480?nm in the linear regime, for wavelengths of 1550?nm and 1600?nm in both linear and nonlinear regimes, and for wavelengths of 1480?nm and 1600?nm in the nonlinear regime (the nonlinear regime is the same as the nonlinear regime for the switching). Since different refractive indices are obtained by changing the power of the control signal, the wavelengths for multi/demultiplexer operation can be tunable. Finally, simulation results show that the suggested structure can operate as a tunable power beam splitter at the wavelength of 1550?nm.     

Controlling Hot Charge Carrier Transfer in Monolithic Al?Si?Al Heterostructures for Plasmonic On-Chip Energy Harvesting

The generation of hot carriers by Landau damping or chemical interface damping of plasmons is of particular interest to the fundamental aspects of extreme light-matter interactions. Hot charge carriers can be transferred to an attached acceptor for photochemical or photovoltaic energy conversion. However, these lose their excess energy and relax to thermal equilibrium within picoseconds and it is difficult to extract useful work thereof with thermodynamic efficiencies that are of interest for practical devices. Without a detailed understanding of the underlying plasmon decay processes and transfer mechanisms, proper material matching and design considerations for novel plasmonic devices are extremely challenging. Here, a multifunctional Al Si Al heterostructure device with tunable Schottky barriers is presented to control plasmon-induced hot carrier injection at an abrupt metal-semiconductor interface. Light absorption, surface plasmon generation, and separation of hot carriers arising from the non-radiative decay of surface plasmons are realized in a monolithic Schottky barrier field effect transistor. Aside from barrier modulation, a virtual p–n junction can be emulated in the semiconductor channel with the distinct merit that carrier concentration and polarity are tunable by electrostatic gating. The investigations are carried out with a view to possible use for CMOS-compatible plasmonic photovoltaics, with versatile implementations for autonomous nanosystems.     

Atomic Layer Deposition of Tunnel Barriers for Superconducting Tunnel Junctions

We demonstrate a technique for creating high quality, large area tunnel junction barriers for normal–insulating–superconducting or superconducting–insulating–superconducting tunnel junctions. We use atomic layer deposition and an aluminum wetting layer to form a nanometer scale insulating barrier on gold films. Electronic transport measurements confirm that single-particle electron tunneling is the dominant transport mechanism, and the measured current–voltage curves demonstrate the viability of using these devices as self-calibrated, low temperature thermometers with a wide range of tunable parameters. This work represents a promising first step for superconducting technologies with deposited tunnel junction barriers. The potential for fabricating high performance junction refrigerators is also highlighted.     

铁路客运专线吸声式声屏障降噪研究

声屏障是隔断客运专线环境噪声传播途径的降噪方式之一,工程上常用的计算声屏障插入损失的方法是基于演算性质的方法,很难实现声屏障的精确设计。为了预测铁路客运专线声屏障的降噪效果,利用边界元法建立铁路客运专线声屏障降噪预测模型,对声屏障插入损失进行数值计算。研究结果表明：（1）声屏障对高频噪声辐射的降噪效果比低频噪声的要好;（2）客运专线声屏障由于吸附材料的不同,它们的降噪效果表现得都不同。     

Implementation of a 3-D Hyperspectral Instrument for Skin Imaging Applications

The many bands acquired by typical multispectral, hyperspectral, and ultraspectral instruments are collected in either a scanning or staring fashion. Staring instruments, like that described in this paper, are popular because they are capable of producing spatially coherent images of a target scene; therefore, they are suitable for noncontact inspection applications. However, the wavebands need to be coregistered. A new application of hyperspectral instrumentation is proposed, where a sheet-of-light method, produced by a low-power laser light, is used to compute range measurements, and a hyperspectral instrument is used to acquire spectral information in the visible (VIS) range of the spectrum. The main advantage of this method is that a single hyperspectral tunable filter arrangement is used to sweep the image to get 3-D information and acquire hyperspectral spectral measurements of a scene. This paper describes the implementation of the image acquisition subsystem, which was done in LabView, and the method used to obtain coregistered radiometrically calibrated spectral imagery and range information. Test cases showed that the instrument may be used to retrieve height and spectral information of small areas and could be used for skin-imaging applications.      

Tunable four-wave mixing in low-mode-number optical fibers

Partially degenerate four-wave mixing for different pump wavelengths in step-index optical silica fibers with low mode numbers is considered. The frequency shifts that correspond to the phase match and the overlap integrals are calculated for a tunable pump. It is shown that when the interacting waves propagate in some combinations of the modes LP(01) and LP(11), four-wave mixing is possible for tunable pump wavelengths in the region from 0.4 to 0.9 μm, far from the minimum of the material dispersion.     

Spectral characterization of near-infrared acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) hyperspectral imaging systems using standard calibration materials

In this study, we propose and evaluate a method for spectral characterization of acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) hyperspectral imaging systems in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region from 900 nm to 1700 nm. The proposed spectral characterization method is based on the SRM-2035 standard reference material, exhibiting distinct spectral features, which enables robust non-rigid matching of the acquired and reference spectra. The matching is performed by simultaneously optimizing the parameters of the AOTF tuning curve, spectral resolution, baseline, and multiplicative effects. In this way, the tuning curve (frequency-wavelength characteristics) and the corresponding spectral resolution of the AOTF hyperspectral imaging system can be characterized simultaneously. Also, the method enables simple spectral characterization of the entire imaging plane of hyperspectral imaging systems. The results indicate that the method is accurate and efficient and can easily be integrated with systems operating in diffuse reflection or transmission modes. Therefore, the proposed method is suitable for characterization, calibration, or validation of AOTF hyperspectral imaging systems.     

Multifunctional devices and logic gates with undoped silicon nanowires

We report on the electronic transport properties of multiple-gate devices fabricated from undoped silicon nanowires. Understanding and control of the relevant transport mechanisms was achieved by means of local electrostatic gating and temperature-dependent measurements. The roles of the source/drain contacts and of the silicon channel could be independently evaluated and tuned. Wrap gates surrounding the silicide-silicon contact interfaces were proved to be effective in inducing a full suppression of the contact Schottky barriers, thereby enabling carrier injection down to liquid helium temperature. By independently tuning the effective Schottky barrier heights, a variety of reconfigurable device functionalities could be obtained. In particular, the same nanowire device could be configured to work as a Schottky barrier transistor, a Schottky diode, or a p-n diode with tunable polarities. This versatility was eventually exploited to realize a NAND logic gate with gain well above one.     

基于BP网络的苹果硬度高光谱无损检测

目的为了实现基于高光谱成像以及误差反向传播(BP)网络模型的苹果硬度快速无损检测。方法利用高光谱成像采集系统采集采后"富士"苹果的高光谱图像,然后提取整个苹果样本区域的平均反射光谱;利用连续投影算法(SPA)和竞争性自适应重加权算法(CARS)实现对标准正态变换预处理后光谱数据的降维;研究基于全光谱以及特征光谱的预测苹果硬度BP网络模型。结果采用SPA和CARS分别从256个全光谱中提取了18个和16个特征波长,明显提升了预测模型的运行效率,且SPA+BP网络模型具有相对较好的苹果硬度预测能力(rp=0.728,RPm=0.282 kg/cm2)。结论研究表明基于高光谱成像技术和BP网络建立的预测模型可快速无损预测苹果的硬度。     

Generation of tunable, narrow-band mid-infrared radiation through a 532-nm-pumped KTP optical parametric amplifier

We report generation of broadly tunable (2.5-4 μm), narrow-band (0.04-0.35 cm-1) pulsed infrared radiation through a nanosecond optical parametric amplifier based on potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) pumped by the second harmonic of a 10-Hz Nd:YAG laser. Input radiation at signal wavelengths of 615-662 nm was derived from a pulsed tunable dye laser system. Advantages of this device are simplicity, the broad range of infrared wavelengths to which a single dye in the dye laser provides access, and conversion efficiencies >10% at modest levels (<150 μJ) of input radiation.     

Stray light correction algorithm for multichannel hyperspectral spectrographs

An algorithm is presented that corrects a multichannel fiber-coupled spectrograph for stray or scattered light within the system. The efficacy of the algorithm is evaluated based on a series of validation measurements of sources with different spectral distributions. This is the first application of a scattered-light correction algorithm to a multichannel hyperspectral spectrograph. The algorithm, based on characterization measurements using a tunable laser system, can be extended to correct for finite point-spread response in imaging systems.     

Signalling of DNA damage and cytokines across cell barriers exposed to nanoparticles depends on barrier thickness

The use of nanoparticles in medicine is ever increasing, and it is important to understand their targeted and non-targeted effects. We have previously shown that nanoparticles can cause DNA damage to cells cultured below a cellular barrier without crossing this barrier. Here, we show that this indirect DNA damage depends on the thickness of the cellular barrier, and it is mediated by signalling through gap junction proteins following the generation of mitochondrial free radicals. Indirect damage was seen across both trophoblast and corneal barriers. Signalling, including cytokine release, occurred only across bilayer and multilayer barriers, but not across monolayer barriers. Indirect toxicity was also observed in mice and using ex vivo explants of the human placenta. If the importance of barrier thickness in signalling is a general feature for all types of barriers, our results may offer a principle with which to limit the adverse effects of nanoparticle exposure and offer new therapeutic approaches.     

The controlled fabrication and geometry tunable optics of gold nanotube arrays

Arrays of vertically aligned gold nanotubes are fabricated over several square centimetres which display a geometry tunable plasmonic extinction peak at visible wavelengths and at normal incidence. The fabrication method gives control over nanotube dimensions with inner core diameters of 15-30 nm, wall thicknesses of 5-15 nm and nanotube lengths of up to 300 nm. It is possible to tune the position of the extinction peak through the wavelength range 600-900 nm by varying the inner core diameter and wall thickness. The experimental data are in agreement with numerical modelling of the optical properties which further reveal highly localized and enhanced electric fields around the nanotubes. The tunable nature of the optical response exhibited by such structures could be important for various label-free sensing applications based on both refractive index sensing and surface-enhanced Raman scattering.     

Switchable and tunable multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser using graphene-polymer nanocomposite and asymmetric two-stage fiber Sagnac loop filter

A high-performance multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, using graphene-polymer nanocomposite as a multiwavelength equalizer and an asymmetric two-stage polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) Sagnac loop as a flexible comb filter. At first, the filtering characteristics of the PMF Sagnac loop filter (SLF) are investigated. Both theoretical and experimental results show that it can provide a flexibly switchable and tunable comblike filtering. Then, the two-stage PMF SLF is inserted into a graphene-assisted EDFL cavity for generating multiwavelength oscillation. The extreme-high third-order optical nonlinearity of graphene is exploited to suppress the mode competition of the EDFL, and a stable multiple-channel lasing is observed. By carefully adjusting the polarization controllers in the two-stage PMF SLF, not only can the lasing-line number per channel be switchable between single and multiple wavelengths, but also the wavelength spacing in the triple-wavelength condition can be tunable. In the case of triple wavelengths per channel, up to 12 wavelengths with four channels stable oscillations can be achieved. The multiple-channel EDFL can keep a high extinction ratio of >40 dB and a narrow linewidth of <0.01 nm.     

Wavelength-tunable spectral filters based on the optical rotatory dispersion effect

An optical arrangement for constructing wavelength-tunable spectral filters is presented that makes use of a set of dispersive polarization rotations to select wavelengths. A filter in the arrangement is initially mechanically tunable, requires no achromatic retarder, and can be further electrically tunable, switchable, or both, depending on the elements selected. Test measurements and results are presented and described. Modified arrangements with additional retarder(s) or liquid-crystal polarization rotator(s) are suggested and discussed.     

Atmospheric correction algorithm for hyperspectral remote sensing of ocean color from space

Existing atmospheric correction algorithms for multichannel remote sensing of ocean color from space were designed for retrieving water-leaving radiances in the visible over clear deep ocean areas and cannot easily be modified for retrievals over turbid coastal waters. We have developed an atmospheric correction algorithm for hyperspectral remote sensing of ocean color with the near-future Coastal Ocean Imaging Spectrometer. The algorithm uses lookup tables generated with a vector radiative transfer code. Aerosol parameters are determined by a spectrum-matching technique that uses channels located at wavelengths longer than 0.86 mum. The aerosol information is extracted back to the visible based on aerosol models during the retrieval of water-leaving radiances. Quite reasonable water-leaving radiances have been obtained when our algorithm was applied to process hyperspectral imaging data acquired with an airborne imaging spectrometer.     

The effect of metallic barriers in inhibiting copper ion transport in low-k dielectrics: Implications for time-to-failure

In this article we study the effect of metallic barriers in inhibiting copper ion drift/diffusion into low-k dielectrics through a mathematical analysis. We extend our previous drift/diffusion model for copper ion drift without barriers to include the effect of metallic barriers. The addition of the barrier changes the boundary condition at the barrier/dielectric interface and results in a time dependent flux and concentration at the interface. The results show that for a given dielectric, a metallic barrier needs to have both a lower ionic solubility and lower ionic diffusivity for optimal effectiveness.     

高光谱成像与应用技术发展

介绍了高光谱成像的需求与应用、光谱成像技术的现状与发展。高光谱成像已在产品分选、精准农业、环境监测、文物保护、刑事侦查、伪装识别等行业得到应用。传统的棱镜光栅色散型、连续可调谐滤光型、傅里叶变换干涉型等光谱成像分光方式成本高、体积大、速度慢,目前其光谱成像仪仍作为主要的研究设备。为促进产业化应用,需要发展体积小、成本低、速度快的光谱成像技术。计算层析、压缩编码、胶体量子点CQDs光谱成像技术仍需理论突破,短时间难以实用。积分视场、离散采样光谱成像技术原理简单、技术成熟,可用于空间分辨率要求不高的场合。复眼滤光式、像素滤光式光谱成像技术通过单片集成像素级滤光片,既能在权衡光谱分辨率与空间分辨率的基础上实现实时性,又能极大地减小体积、降低成本。     

Potential of airborne hyperspectral imagery to estimate fruit yield in citrus

Alternate bearing is a well-marked yield variability phenomenon that occurs in almost all tree-fruit crops. The potential benefits of applying various alternate bearing control measures on alternate bearing crops can only be realized when yield information on individual trees of particular crops is obtained. The objective of this study was to examine the potential of airborne hyperspectral imagery to estimate the fruit yield in citrus. Hyperspectral images in 72 visible and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths (from 407 to 898 nm) were acquired over a citrus orchard in Japan by an Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications (AISA) Eagle system. The canopy features of individual trees were identified using pixel-based average spectral reflectance values at various wavelengths from the acquired images, which were then used to develop yield prediction models. Yield prediction models were developed using five different techniques — (i) several vegetation indices (VIs), (ii) key wavelengths determined by simple correlation analysis (SCA), (iii) principal components (PCs) based on principal component regression (PCR), and (iv) PLS factors as well as (v) important wavelengths determined by B-matrix based on partial least squares (PLS) regression. The results indicated that the VIs used in this study were poorly correlated with fruit yield on individual trees. The key or important wavelengths determined by the two methods proposed in this study could provide reasonable prediction of fruit yield. Comparatively, the B-matrix method based on the PLS regression was superior to the simple correlation analysis in determining the key or importance wavelengths that are correlated to the fruit yield. However, the PCs extracted from the hyperspectral data were weak predictors of citrus yield. Greater prediction accuracy was obtained with the model based on PLS factors than with the models based on the key or important wavelengths. These results confirmed the hypothesized correlation between canopy features and citrus yield. The methods proposed in this study have considerable promise in estimating fruit yield on individual citrus trees. The yield information is valuable for planning harvest schedules and developing programs for application of tree-specific alternate bearing control measures and other management practices.