Use of 3D modelling and several ultrasound sensors to assess overflow rate.

A new instrumentation mode has been put in place in order to determine the overflow rate of five complex CSOs of the system in Sélestat (French), which are subject to self monitoring. 3D and 1D models have made it possible to predict the shapes of the water lines and suggest a location for the ultrasound sensors. In order to validate the instrumentation principle, three overhead sensors were placed on a weir. The overflow laws suggested are of the type Q(overflow) = a1h1b1 + a2h2b2 + a3h3b3. Early results of the overflow rate that have been obtained by applying the law are close to 10 % of the flow measured in the physical test bench. On the actual site, the ultrasound sensors were assembled on a rail covering the entire weir in order to be able to change their position in future after models calibration.     

Electroluminescence spectroscopy for reliability investigations of 1.55 μm bulk semiconductor optical amplifier

This paper demonstrates the complementary relation between functional parameters and electroluminescence spectroscopy for reliability investigations of 1550 nm Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers of 700 μm length active region. Ageing tests have been set to 270 mA-100 °C-1500 h and realized on two different wafers showing more impact on wafer 1 than on wafer 2. Our investigations are particularly focused on interpretation of electroluminescence spectra, from reference and aged SOAs of wafer 1, leading to an improvement of degradation mechanisms understanding. The shift rate to lower energies of the recombination energy peak at 1550 nm, as reported by electroluminescence spectra between reference and aged SOAs in relation with the decrease of optical power measured at 200 mA for the degraded SOA and completed by I(V) characterizations, suggest occurrence of non radiative deep centers near the buried ridge structure in relation with the cleaning process uniformity of interfaces before epitaxial overgrowth. These defects mainly trap majority injected carriers instead of minority carriers reducing the luminescence in the active zone. By monitoring the most sensitive failure indicator (pseudo-threshold current), lifetime distributions are also calculated to determine failure rate, between 150 and 200 FITs over 15 years for operating conditions (25 °C-200 mA) using experimental degradation laws and statistic computations, demonstrating the overall robustness of this technology.     

Synthesis of Nearly Monodisperse Iron Oxide and Oxyhydroxide Nanocrystals

Uniform magnetite, hematite, and goethite nanocrystals were prepared through an attractive method based on an oleic acid/alcohol/water system. By adjusting the synthetic parameters (base concentration, alcohol content, categories of alcohols, etc.), the controlled synthesis of uniform magnetite, hematite, and goethite nanocrystals can be easily achieved. Detailed investigations on the effect of the experimental parameters on the morphology of the final products and the phase transitions among the magnetite, hematite, and goethite phases were carried out. Finally, a method of doping other metal ions into magnetite was developed and the magnetic properties of magnetite doped with different metal elements were studied.     

Pixel-selected ray tracing

An acceleration method based on an idea that T. Whitted (Commun. ACM, vol.23, no.6 pp.343-349, June 1980) presented on ray tracing is discussed. He proposed making antialiased images by hierarchical adaptive oversampling. The present authors use hierarchical adaptive undersampling to reduce the number of pixels whose intensity must be calculated by ray tracing. To implement pixel-selected ray tracing (PSRT), homogeneous regions in images must first be found. Generally, adaptive undersampling can result in some image-quality defects, because small objects and parts of thin or wedge-shaped objects may disappear when they are located between the initially sampled pixels. PSRT has an improved algorithm that uses pixels with the correct object information from among the sampled pixels to find pixels with erroneous color and correct them. Moreover, PRST uses ray-object intersection trees for precise classification of the homogeneity of regions and for fast intensity calculation in homogeneous regions. Experimental results are presented. They show that PSRT is two to nine times faster than standard ray tracing     

Precision winding of fiber optic filament. II. Winding control

For pt.I see ibid., vol.39, no.3, p.258-67 (1992). The winding of fiber optic filament in the hoop, or precision, pattern is considered. Various automatic control options that have been designed and tested are described. The controllers are designed to regulate the fiber lag angle, which is the angle at which the feed filament approaches the take-up spool. Successful, flawless winding is directly related to accurate lag regulation. The contributions are distinguished by the fact that the automatic winding rate is 10 to 30 times greater than that achieved before by operator-assisted winding     

High repetition rate, wide-aperture KrF lasers for subpicosecondamplification

A high repetition rate, wide-aperture KrF laser with a magnetic switch has been developed. A dynamic response and a core loss of several magnetic materials were measured, resulting in a loss as low as 0.45 J/pulse for a voltage risetime of ~100 ns. A maximum output energy of 2.5 J in 20 ns (FWHM) was obtained with a total efficiency of 2.5% at 20 Hz. The cross section of the output beam was 65×50 mm². Spectral, spatial, and temporal profiles of gain and absorption coefficients were also measured, resulting in a peak gain of 8.5%/cm. An output energy of 410 mJ was extracted in 280 fs with two beams by using this laser as an amplifier     

Effects of measurement errors on microwave antenna holography

The effects of measurement errors appearing during the implementation of the microwave holographic technique are investigated in detail, and many representative results are presented based on computer simulations. The numerical results are tailored for cases applicable to the utilization of the holographic technique for the NASA's Deep Space Network antennas, although the methodology of analysis is applicable to any antenna. Many system measurement topics are presented and summarized     

The Effect of Ozone Gas-Liquid Contacting Conditions in a Static Mixer on Microorganism Reduction

The effect of gas-liquid contacting conditions in a static mixer on ozone transfer efficiency and reduction of Bacillus subtilis spores was studied in an experimental ozone contactor. An empirical mathematical model was developed that related the transfer efficiency in the experimental system to the superficial liquid velocity in the mixer, the gas-liquid flow rate ratio and the height of the down-stream bubble column. Spore reduction was determined primarily by the dissolved ozone concentration-time (C_avgt_m) product in the reactive flow segment and was independent of the gas-liquid contacting conditions in the static mixer. In an integrated ozone contacting system, the static mixer should be designed to maximize ozone mass transfer while the reactive flow segment should be designed for efficient microorganism reduction.     

On the mechanical behavior of aluminum alloys reinforced by long or short alumina fibers or SiC whiskers

This study was initiated to examine the dispersion of longitudinal and transverse waves in metal matrix composites in order to obtain the dynamic elastic modulus and to evaluate various models for predicting the composite's macroscopic elastic constants from the properties of its constituents. The materials chosen for this investigation were alumina continuous fibers on the one hand and alumina and SiC short fibers on the other hand, all embedded in an aluminum alloy matrix. In addition, some indications have been obtained experimentally for the acoustoelastic effect in the composite.     

A novel SAL-PINSCH quantum-well laser structure for a pinched beamdivergence

Summary form only given. An edge-emitting strained AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum-well laser structure is reported. It has a periodic index separate confinement heterostructure (PINSCH) optical confinement layers for a small beam divergence and high output power. Preliminary measurements of AR/HR-coated self-aligned ridge waveguide lasers show a CW output power of up to 350 mW and a 20° transverse beam divergence at a 980-nm lasing wavelength. This low beam divergence results in a high coupling efficiency of 51% into single-mode fibers. The expanded optical field in PINSCH confinement layers significantly pinches the transverse beam divergence and increases the maximum output power