Transport properties of hybrid nanoparticle-nanowire systems and their application to gas sensing

Experimental data and theoretical modelling of the I-V characteristics of a gas sensor constructed from a mat of Au nanoparticle-coated GaN nanowires are presented. The principal mechanism for the response of the gas sensor to methane is explained in terms of the formation of a depletion layer within the nanowires due to the presence of the gold nanoparticles. The depth of the depletion layer is modulated by the potential induced by the physisorption of gas molecules onto the Au nanoparticles. A statistical model of the temperature-dependent I-V characteristics of bare and Au nanoparticle-decorated mats of GaN nanowires based on Poisson's equation has been used to determine the depth of the depletion layers of the nanowires. The room-temperature carrier concentration for the GaN nanowires was determined to be approximately 2.2 × 10(17)?cm(-3). The induced potential due to methane physisorption onto the Au nanoparticles that decorate the GaN nanowires was determined to be approximately -37?mV.     

太赫兹辐射源与探测器研究进展

太赫兹(THz)技术涉及电磁学、光电子学、半导体物理学、材料科学以及微加工技术等多个学科,它在信息科学、生物学、医学、天文学、环境科学等领域有重要的应用价值。THz振荡源与THz探测器则是THz频段应用的关键器件,也是THz技术研究领域的最前沿问题。本文简要概括了THz电磁波的重要特点、应用价值以及THz辐射源和探测器的最新研究进展。     

Errors in checking radiation sources and detectors due to spectral-measurement error

Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 2, pp. 22–24, February, 1991.     

Experimental investigations on fast gold-tin metal film second-sound detectors and their application

In order to optimize gold-tin metal film probes as bolometers for measurement of fast second-sound signals in He II, the influence of their composition and of annealing on their electrical properties at low temperatures was investigated systematically. Measurements of the dependence of the voltage-current characteristics on temperature were sûpplemented by electron microscopy of the film surfaces and by measurement of the resistivity of the composed films at room temperature as a function of the atomic percentage of tin. Fast interdiffusion, which took place after evaporating typically 1000 Å of tin onto 200 Å of gold, resulted in the development of different phases of the Au-Sn system in the layer. Due to proximity effects between grains of these phases the transition temperature of such a film is reduced to the temperature range of He II. Different types of weak-link behavior which may govern the current-induced breakdown of superconductivity are discussed. As an example of the application of the metal film probes, the circulation of a macroscopic vortex ring was measured using the flow-induced variation of the traveling times of second-sound shock waves. Values of up to several cm²/sec were thus obtained to an accuracy of some 10^?2 cm²/sec.     

Traceable radiometric calibration of semiconductor detectors and their application for thermodynamic temperature measurement

The non-contact measurement of temperature by using the emitted thermal radiation has been an innovative field of measurement science and fundamental physics for more than a hundred years. It saw the first highlight in Gustav Kirchhoff’s principle of a blackbody with ideal emission characteristics and culminated in Max Planck’s formulation of the law of thermal radiation, the so-called Planck’s law, forming the foundation of quantum physics. A boost in accuracy was the development of semiconductor detectors and the cryogenic electrical substitution radiometer in the late 1970s. Semiconductor detectors, namely photodiodes, deliver an electrical current proportional to the absorbed optical radiation. Due to the measurements of thermal radiation over a wide range of temperature and wavelength, thermodynamic temperature measurements with radiometric methods have set benchmarks to all, the electrical, dimensional and optical metrology. The paper describes the measurement of the spectral responsivity of semiconductor detectors traceable to the SI units and their application for thermodynamic temperature measurement by the absolute measurement of thermal radiation using filter radiometers with calibrated spectral irradiance responsivity.     

Flexible visible-infrared metamaterials and their applications in highly sensitive chemical and biological sensing

Flexible electronic and photonic devices have been demonstrated in the past decade, with significant promise in low-cost, light-weighted, transparent, biocompatible, and portable devices for a wide range of applications. Herein, we demonstrate a flexible metamaterial (Metaflex)-based photonic device operating in the visible-IR regime, which shows potential applications in high sensitivity strain, biological and chemical sensing. The metamaterial structure, consisting of split ring resonators (SRRs) of 30 nm thick Au or Ag, has been fabricated on poly(ethylene naphthalate) substrates with the least line width of ～30 nm by electron beam lithography. The absorption resonances can be tuned from middle IR to visible range. The Ag U-shaped SRRs metamaterials exhibit an electric resonance of ～542 nm and a magnetic resonance of ～756 nm. Both the electric and magnetic resonance modes show highly sensitive responses to out-of-plane bending strain, surrounding dielectric media, and surface chemical environment. Due to the electric and magnetic field coupling, the magnetic response gives a sensitivity as high as 436 nm/RIU. Our Metaflex devices show superior responses with a shift of magnetic resonance of 4.5 nm/nM for nonspecific bovine serum albumin protein binding and 65 nm for a self-assembled monolayer of 2-naphthalenethiol, respectively, suggesting considerable promise in flexible and transparent photonic devices for chemical and biological sensing.     

Synthesis of CdS hierarchical microspheres and their application in electrochemiluminescence sensing

CdS microspheres with hierarchical structures were prepared with sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) as structure directing reagent. SEM analysis indicated that the CdS microspheres were constructed with CdS nanosheets, which were further built up with assembled CdS nanoparticles. Optical investigation showed that the obtained CdS microspheres have an UV-vis absorption at 445 nm and photoluminescence (PL) emissions at 498 and 573 nm. The CdS hierarchical microspheres were immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode and the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) properties were investigated. The first application to sensing H₂O₂ was studied based on ECL from CdS hierarchical microspheres. A linear relation between the ECL intensity and H₂O₂ concentration, I = 2.4212 + 2.1713 c, was obtained with a detection limit of 1 × 10⁻⁸ mol·L^− 1.     

光纤传感用激光光源技术

光纤传感系统离不开激光光源,作为被测量信号载体的光波,激光光源本身的性能,如激光器的功率稳定性、线宽、相位噪声等参数对光纤传感系统的探测距离、探测精度、灵敏度以及噪声特性起决定性的作用,因此发展优质激光光源已成为近些年的研究热点。本文简要论述了激光光源在光纤传感领域的发展状况;重点介绍了窄线宽激光光源、可调谐激光光源以及宽带白光光源在光纤传感技术领域中的应用需求;概括了现有激光光源在光纤传感中所面临的主要限制因素和关键技术。为了进一步提高光纤传感系统的性能指标,获得可在任意波段、任意时刻实现的超窄、超稳理想激光光源将是未来光纤传感的一个主要研究方向。

     

Spectral calibration of radiometric detectors using tunable laser sources

This paper describes the analysis of laser-based responsivity measurements using the Tunable Lasers in Photometry setup at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. An approach based on digital signal analysis is proposed to remove interference-caused oscillations in highly resolved spectral data from laser-based measurements, yielding an improved reproducibility and comparability of results. Digital filters are used to selectively suppress the frequency components of interference fringes visible in the measurement data. We describe the algorithm used and discuss the associated uncertainty components of laser-based measurements. Finally, we give examples of the calibration of different detectors with and without interference effects.     

Statistical adaptive sensing by detectors with spectrally overlapping bands

It has recently been reported that by using a spectral-tuning algorithm, the photocurrents of multiple detectors with spectrally overlapping responsivities can be optimally combined to synthesize, within certain limits, the response of a detector with an arbitrary responsivity. However, it is known that the presence of noise in the photocurrent can degrade the performance of this algorithm significantly, depending on the choice of the responsivity spectrum to be synthesized. We generalize this algorithm to accommodate noise. The results are applied to quantum-dot mid-infrared detectors with bias-dependent spectral responses. Simulation and experiment are used to show the ability of the algorithm to reduce the adverse effect of noise on its spectral-tuning capability.     

Two-dimensional position sensing Si detectors: Current and charge pulse characteristics

The current and charge pulse characteristics of two-dimensional position sensing Si detectors (PSDs) employing resistive charge division have been measured by making use of pulsed photon systems. The detectors studied are discrete two-dimensional PSDs where individual gold and orthogonal aluminum strips are deposited on the front and back surfaces, respectively, of the silicon wafer. Resistive charge division is accomplished by two external resistor networks. Detector fabrication and the pulsed photon systems are described. The anomalous currents (i.e., polarity reversal with time) exhibited by these detectors, which we reported earlier, have been studied and their time characteristics determined. Calculations based on a simplified model of the detector predict these anomalous currents, and the results of the calculations are compared with measurements. The currents characteristic of two-dimensional detectors have measured time durations considerably longer than those measured for equivalent one-dimensional detectors. Further, the anomalous currents result in ballistic deficits which are greater than unity, an effect entirely absent for one-dimensional detectors. For detectors having fixed area and thickness, the requirement that these detectors exhibit near distortion-free position response for heavy ions in the presence of intense background fluxes (i.e., protons) imposes strong restrictions on the total resistance of the external resistor networks, which are discussed.     

Sono-chemical synthesis of ZnO nano-particles and their application in hydrogen sulphide gas sensing

Herein we describe synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles by using alkaline solution of ZnX2 (X = NO3, Cl) under ultrasound energy of 20 KHz. The reaction can be completed in about 1-2 hours. As prepared powders were analyzed by XRD measurement to find that the product is hexagonal phase pure ZnO. UV-Visible measurement of aq. solution showed absorption band at -365 nm and photoluminescence (PL) indicated multiple bands in visible region due to deep traps owing to high temperature sintering. The hydrophilicity can be imparted by use of a suitable polyelectrolyte. Freshly prepared samples showed good dispersion in aqueous and alcoholic medium. The thick films derived from the ZnO nano-particles showed excellent sensing for hydrogen sulphide gas.     

Discharge voltage behavior of electric double-layer capacitors during high-g impact and their application to autonomously sensing high-g accelerometers

Nano Research - In this study, the discharge voltage behavior of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) during high-g impact is studied both theoretically and experimentally. A micro-scale...     

Plenoptic camera wavefront sensing with extended sources

Abstract

The wavefront sensor is used in adaptive optics to detect the atmospheric distortion, which feeds back to the deformable mirror to compensate for this distortion. Different from the Shack–Hartmann sensor that has been widely used with point sources, the plenoptic camera wavefront sensor has been proposed as an alternative wavefront sensor adequate for extended objects in recent years. In this paper, the plenoptic camera wavefront sensing with extended sources is discussed systematically. Simulations are performed to investigate the wavefront measurement error and the closed-loop performance of the plenoptic sensor. The results show that there are an optimal lenslet size and an optimal number of pixels to make the best performance. The RMS of the resulting corrected wavefront in closed-loop adaptive optics system is less than 108 nm (0.2λ) when D/r₀ ≤ 10 and the magnitude M ≤ 5. Our investigation indicates that the plenoptic sensor is efficient to operate on extended sources in the closed-loop adaptive optics system.     

Metamaterials for Enhanced Optical Responses and their Application to Active Control of Terahertz Waves

Metamaterials, artificially constructed structures that mimic lattices in natural materials, have made numerous contributions to the development of unconventional optical devices. With an increasing demand for more diverse functionalities, terahertz (THz) metamaterials are also expanding their domain, from the realm of mere passive devices to the broader area where functionalized active THz devices are particularly required. A brief review on THz metamaterials is given with a focus on research conducted in the authors' group. The first part is centered on enhanced THz optical responses from tightly coupled meta-atom structures, such as high refractive index, enhanced optical activity, anomalous wavelength scaling, large phase retardation, and nondispersive polarization rotation. Next, electrically gated graphene metamaterials are reviewed with an emphasis on the functionalization of enhanced THz optical responses. Finally, the linear frequency conversion of THz waves in a rapidly time-variant THz metamaterial is briefly discussed in the more general context of spatiotemporal control of light.     

Optically tunable fluorescent carbon nanoparticles and their application in fluorometric sensing of copper ions

Nano Research - A series of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) with emission wavelength ranging from 483 to 525 nm were prepared by hydrothermal treatment of poly-3-thiopheneacetic acid (PTA) and NaOH....     

CO2-mediated synthesis of ZnO nanorods and their application in sensing ethanol vapor

High-purity ZnO nanorods have been synthesized via a two-step route using zinc acetate as a precursor without any surfactant and additive. In this method, ZnCO3 fibers were first formed in the CO2-ethanol solution, which directed the formation of ZnO nanorods by subsequent treatment in KOH aqueous solution. The as-prepared nanorods were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy. It was found that the as-obtained ZnO nanorods were single crystals with uniform diameter around 150 nm and length of 4 microm. The nanorod crystals were prismatic with hexagonal cross sections, consistent with the wurtzite lattice structure. Moreover, the sensing properties of the as-prepared ZnO nanorods were also investigated. It was demonstrated that they exhibited good performance for detecting ethanol vapor even at 380 and 250 degrees C.     

Effect of deposition time on sputtered ZnO thin films and their gas sensing application

Nowadays, advanced industrialization and population growth have led to increasing the environmental related issues. This paper reports the effect of deposition time on ZnO films deposited on to the glass substrate by using rf magnetron sputtering technique and their further use for gas sensing applications. Herein, deposition time is considered to be changed from 300 s, 800 s (S1, S2). The thickness of deposited films lies in the range of 130–180 nm. The synthesized films were characterized by various techniques in terms of structural, morphological, optical and gas sensing properties. The typical crystal size of ZnO films was found to be in the range of 15–27 nm. FESEM analysis revealed the growth of nanospheres was lies in the range of 80–120 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the ZnO bonding located at a wavelength of 430 cm^?1. The average optical transmittance of the film was about 90–95% in the visible range. The optical band gap of ZnO films was decreased from 3.31 to 3.29 eV. The detailed characterization study showed 800 s is an optimum deposition time for good optoelectronic properties. For gas sensing application, highest sensitivity was obtained at operating temperature of 205 °C. Prepared films have a quick response and fast recovery time in the range of 128 s and 163 s respectively. These response and recovery time characteristics were explained by valence ion mechanism.