Iron–Nitrogen‐Doped Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A highly active iron–nitrogen‐doped carbon nanotube catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is produced by employing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA‐CNT) with a high specific surface area and iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules. Pyrolyzing the composite easily transforms the adsorbed FePc molecules into a large number of iron coordinated nitrogen functionalized nanographene (Fe–N–C) structures, which serve as ORR active sites on the individual VA‐CNT surfaces. The catalyst exhibits a high ORR activity, with onset and half‐wave potentials of 0.97 and 0.79 V, respectively, versus reversible hydrogen electrode, a high selectivity of above 3.92 electron transfer number, and a high electrochemical durability, with a 17 mV negative shift of E _1/2 after 10 000 cycles in an oxygen‐saturated 0.5 m H₂SO₄ solution. The catalyst demonstrates one of the highest ORR performances in previously reported any‐nanotube‐based catalysts in acid media. The excellent ORR performance can be attributed to the formation of a greater number of catalytically active Fe–N–C centers and their dense immobilization on individual tubes, in addition to more efficient mass transport due to the mesoporous nature of the VA‐CNTs.     

A novel ferromagnetic thermo-stent for plaque stabilization that self-regulates the temperature

The purpose of this study is to investigate the vascular wall with a thermally self-regulating, cylindrical stent made of a low Curie temperature ferromagnetic alloy. Physiologic saline was circulated in the silicone model vessel implanted with the stent. The stent-temperature remained nearly constant for variable saline flows, saline temperatures, and magnetic flux densities. Stent implants of this type in human blood vessels could potentially enable thermotherapy and temperature determination without catheterization.     

Optical bistability and set-reset operation of a Fabry-Perotsemiconductor laser amplifier with two detuned light injections

Optical bistability in a Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser amplifier when two optical inputs detuned from the resonant wavelength of a semiconductor laser amplifier are injected is discussed. A split branch is found in the optical output versus input characteristics in addition to conventional optical bistability behavior. It is shown analytically and experimentally that set and reset can be achieved in the optical output of the semiconductor laser amplifier for each wavelength by applying two detuned optical pulses and using the split branch     

Improvement of responsivity of high-speed infrared detector using hot carriers in semiconductors

A room temperature, high-speed and high-sensitive infrared hot carrier detector using p-type Ge has been investigated at 10.6 μm. The detector is composed of a whisker antenna and a diode contact forming an ohmic contact on p-type Ge. This detector has the merit that one can easily have impedance matching between the antenna and the diode contact without any matching section, so that high sensitivity can be obtained. A voltage sensitivity 16 dB higher than that of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) point contact diode has been observed from this detector.     

Parametric instability of optical amplifier noise in long-distanceoptical transmission systems

In this paper, the optical amplifier noise accumulation in long-distance optical transmission systems is analyzed under the influence of the parametric process caused by the Kerr effect and group-velocity dispersion. By considering the input signal as a continuous-wave (CW) carrier and the optical amplifier noise as the small modulation, the general theory on the evolution of the optical amplifier noise along the system is proposed. This theory enables us to treat all of the noise enhancement effects, the so called parametric instability, discussed so far in a unified manner. The validation of the theory is finally confirmed by using extensive computer simulations     

Fourth-order dispersion compensation for 250-fs pulse transmissionover 139-km optical fiber

Record distance transmission of 250-fs pulses over 139-km optical fiber at 6-GHz repetition is realized by compensating chromatic dispersion up to fourth-order using a novel approach. The link is designed combining 108.5-km standard single-mode fiber (SMF), 17.5-km dispersion-shifted fiber, and 13-km negative-slope dispersion-compensating fiber to achieve both zero total chromatic dispersion and slope at the 1.55-μm carrier. Fourth-order pulse dispersion caused by the fiber dispersion curvature around 1.55 μm is then suppressed by adding the quadratic phase of opposite sign from excess SMF to produce 503-fs output. However, both higher quality and shorter 390-fs output is achieved after applying 6-GHz electrooptic phase modulation (3.5 π O-peak) to prestretched pulses and adding a further 50-m SMF to the link     

Theory of sonogram characterization of optical pulses

We derive a formula for retrieving the amplitude and phase of an optical pulse from its sonogram. When the transfer function of the frequency filter is known, the pulse amplitude and phase are completely retrieved from the sonogram without iterative calculations by using the derived formula. Based on this formula, we find that the width of a sampling pulse, which is used for cross-correlation measurement of the sonogram, must be much shorter than the width of the pulse under test, and that it is not necessarily possible to reconstruct the pulse when we use the pulse under test itself as a sampling pulse. Finally, we discuss possible schemes for sonogram characterization of optical pulses     

Complete analysis of sideband instability in chain of periodic dispersion-managed fiber link and its effect on higher order dispersion-managed long-haul wavelength-division multiplexed systems

We present for the first time a complete theoretical analysis of sideband instability (SI) that occurs when two kinds of fibers with different characteristics are concatenated to form a dispersion-managed fiber link. In the analysis, the following three cases are taken into account: case (a) when a dispersion-management period is larger than an amplification period, case (b) when the two lengths are equivalent, and case (c) when a dispersion-management period is smaller than an amplification period. We find that the SI gain peak appears at frequencies determined by the larger of the two variation periods. Moreover, for all three cases, the magnitude of the SI gain reduces with the increase in strength of dispersion management. Next, we focus on the fiber link using the combination of standard single-mode fiber and reverse dispersion fiber, which is widely used for simultaneously compensating second- and third-order dispersion. By computer simulation, it is shown that in wavelength-division-multiplexed systems, SI still induces significant degradation in channels located at frequencies where SI induced from other channels arises. By reallocating the channel frequency to avoid the SI frequency, the transmission performance is improved significantly.     

Measurement of linewidth and FM-noise spectrum of 1.52 ?m InGaAsP lasers

The linewidth of 1.52 ?m InGaAsP lasers was measured as a function of the output power. The result shows that the linewidth is about 15 MHz when the output power is 1 mW. The FM-noise spectrum was also measured in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 100 MHz. The measured spectrum consists of the 1/f-noise and white-noise components. The linewidth calculated from the FM-noise spectrum is in good agreement with the measured value.     

Development of Millimeter Wave Fabry-Pérot Resonator for Simultaneous Electron-Spin and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Measurement

We report a Fabry-Pérot resonator with spherical and flat mirrors to allow simultaneous electron-spin resonance (ESR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements that could be used for double magnetic resonance (DoMR). In order to perform simultaneous ESR and NMR measurements, the flat mirror must reflect millimeter wavelength electromagnetic waves and the resonator must have a high Q value (Q?>?3000) for ESR frequencies, while the mirror must simultaneously let NMR frequencies pass through. This requirement can be achieved by exploiting the difference of skin depth for the two frequencies, since skin depth is inversely proportional to the square root of the frequency. In consideration of the skin depth, the optimum conditions for conducting ESR and NMR using a gold thin film are explored by examining the relation between the Q value and the film thickness. A flat mirror with a gold thin film was fabricated by sputtering gold on an epoxy plate. We also installed a Helmholtz radio frequency coil for NMR and tested the system both at room and low temperatures with an optimally thick gold film. As a result, signals were obtained at 0.18 K for ESR and at 1.3 K for NMR. A flat-mirrored resonator with a thin gold film surface is an effective way to locate NMR coils closer to the sample being examined with DoMR.