The Multimeter at the Nanoscale

A multi‐tip scanning tunneling microscope (STM) specifically designed for charge transport measurements at the nanoscale is described. Complementing the instrument with a versatile measurement electronics creates a powerful tool to give insight into fundamental transport properties at the nanoscale. We demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument by measuring resistance profiles along freestanding GaAs nanowires, by the acquisition of nanoscale potential maps, and by the identification of an anisotropy in the surface conductivity at a silicon surface.     

Protecting and preserving clear barrier layers for flexible packaging materials In‐line thermal evaporation of organic topcoat layer

The end market for transparent flexible barrier films is larger than for metallized films. Presently, the market is still dominated by polymeric barrier layers but the used chemicals may be harmful for the environment. An alternative would be transparent thin layers deposited by vacuum deposition techniques using reactive processes. Ceramic materials like silicon oxide or aluminum oxide are used having a film thickness of just ～10 nm, a coating uniformity of +/?5% across and along the film at a barrier performance below 2.0 sccm/m²d for oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and below 1.0 g/m²d for water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) on PET substrates. In this paper, details will be provided about the deposition processes for these barrier layers using thermal evaporation, plasma‐assisted thermal evaporation as well as deposition by electron beam evaporation. An important factor for these high barrier transparent coatings is also to withstand the downstream processes in the whole packaging stream like slitting, lamination, printing etc. One solution is to protect the barrier layers by a Topcoat. For example, off‐line deposition of lacquers is used in field but the market penetration is low due to high process and material costs. An in‐situ Topcoat deposition is a smart solution to overcome this issue saving time and costs. Such an approach will be also described in the presentation and the impact on the performance of the final package will be discussed.     

Kältemittel‐Schnüffler

Testing refrigerant sniffers The technical generation of coldness is typically done by machines based on a closed thermodynamic process using a refrigerant. As refrigerants usually halogenated hydrocarbons are used since these have good thermodynamic properties. Unfortunately, the halogens are harmful to the environment: They destroy the ozone layer. Therefore, the machines must be tight and must not loose the refrigerant. To check a machine for leakage, mobile leak sniffers are available which can be reliably and quantitatively controlled by test leaks.     

Rotational Spectra of the Isotopic Species of Chloroform: Experimental and Ab Initio Structures

The millimeter-wave spectra of three different samples of chloroform (CHCl3, CDCl3, and 13CHCl3) have been measured between 145 and 470 GHz which corresponds to J values between 22 and 70. We report accurate rotational and centrifugal distortion constants for the ground vibrational states of 11 isotopic species. The experimental ro, rs, rIepsilon, rrhom, and rz structures have been determined using the determined rotational constants. The structure has also been calculated ab initio at the SCF, MP2, RQCISD, and B3LYP levels using triple zeta polarized basis sets. The experimental results are found in excellent agreement with the ab initio predictions. An approximate equilibrium structure has been obtained by combining the experimental results and the ab initio calculations: re(C-H) = 1.080 (2) ?, re(C-Cl) = 1.760 (2) ?, and anglee(HCCl) = 108.23 (2) degrees. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.     

Modelling the three-dimensional elastic constants of parallel-fibred and lamellar bone

The complex hierarchical structure of lamellar bone makes understanding structure–mechanical function relations, very difficult. We approach the problem by first using the relatively simple structure of parallel-fibred bone to construct a mathematical model for calculating Young's moduli in three-dimensions. Parallel-fibred bone is composed essentially of arrays of mineralized collagen fibrils, which are also the basic structural motif of the individual lamellae of lamellar bone. Parallel-fibred bone structure has orthotropic symmetry. As the sizes and shapes of crystals in bone are not well known, the model is also used to compare the cases of platelet-, ribbon- and sheet-reinforced composites. The far more complicated rotated plywood structure of lamellar bone results in the loss of the orthotropic symmetry of individual lamellae. The mathematical model used circumvents this problem by sub-dividing the lamellar unit into a thin lamella, thick lamella, transition zone between them, and the recently observed back-flip lamella. Each of these is regarded as having orthotropic symmetry. After the calculation of their Young's moduli they are rotated in space in accordance with the rotated plywood model, and then the segments are combined to present the overall modulus values in three-dimensions. The calculated trends compare well with the trends in microhardness values measured for circumferential lamellar bone. Microhardness values are, as yet, the only measurements available for direct comparison. Although the model is not directly applicable to osteonal bone, which is composed of many hollow cylinders of lamellar bone, the range of calculated modulus values and the trends observed for off-axis calculations, compare well with measured values. © 1998 Chapman & Hall     

Large deformation measurement by holographic interferometry

Summary The use of holographic interferometry for the measurement of large deformations is described. From the nature of holographic interferometry it is evident that large deformations exceed the wave length of the light source used by at least ten times of this size. To obtain holographically identifiable values of large deformations, a method of successive partial lighting is used. It shows how it is possible to keep all the advantages of the holographic method and use it even under conditions which apparently exceed its possibilities of application.     

Photorefractive processing for large adaptive phased arrays

An adaptive null-steering phased-array optical processor that utilizes a photorefractive crystal to time integrate the adaptive weights and null out correlated jammers is described. This is a beam-steering processor in which the temporal waveform of the desired signal is known but the look direction is not. The processor computes the angle(s) of arrival of the desired signal and steers the array to look in that direction while rotating the nulls of the antenna pattern toward any narrow-band jammers that may be present. We have experimentally demonstrated a simplified version of this adaptive phased-array-radar processor that nulls out the narrow-band jammers by using feedback-correlation detection. In this processor it is assumed that we know a priori only that the signal is broadband and the jammers are narrow band. These are examples of a class of optical processors that use the angular selectivity of volume holograms to form the nulls and look directions in an adaptive phased-array-radar pattern and thereby to harness the computational abilities of three-dimensional parallelism in the volume of photorefractive crystals. The development of this processing in volume holographic system has led to a new algorithm for phased-array-radar processing that uses fewer tapped-delay lines than does the classic time-domain beam former. The optical implementation of the new algorithm has the further advantage of utilization of a single photorefractive crystal to implement as many as a million adaptive weights, allowing the radar system to scale to large size with no increase in processing hardware.     

The role of topology in engineering design research

Aspects of the mathematical specialty of topology appear within several seemingly distinct areas of engineering design and engineering design theory. Indeed, the expression topology of a design is often used informally. In this article a primary intent is to demonstrate the diversity of applications of topology within engineering design. A complementary goal is to introduce the engineering design community to topology as a rich, formal, well-established mathematical discipline that may be of value for wider study. Upon reviewing some of these topological applications, it appears that topology holds promise as a basis for formalizing engineering design theory. This article considers topology as a basis for unifying design abstractions. The potential benefit may be the realization of commonalities between design aspects previously considered separately, where each now has its own attendant specialized, expensive analyses.