Bidirectional ROF Links Using Optically Up-Converted DPSK for Downstream and Remodulated OOK for Upstream

We propose a novel radio-over-fiber system to provide full-duplex services by using optical differential phase-shift keying modulation format at the central station for downstream and on-off keying remodulation of the downlink carrier at the base station (BS) for upstream. The optical carrier suppression modulation scheme is employed to simultaneously generate and up-convert 40-GHz optical millimeter wave. As the same optical carrier is used for both uplink and downlink, no additional light source is required at the BS, which greatly reduces the cost and simplifies the overall system. Simulations and experimental results show that the bidirectional 2.5-Gb/s data is successfully transmitted over 40-km single-mode fiber (SMF-28) with less than 2-dB power penalty     

Enhancing renewable energy in the Arab States of the Gulf: Constraints & efforts

The development of renewable energy in the Arab States of the Gulf has been relatively low in spite of the large geographical potential for the use of these solutions. This market has been stifled by a combination of constraints, such as the absence of relative legal and policy framework, the high initial capital costs and the lack of commercial skills and information. Even though these states have not been interested in these energy solutions for many years, something seems to have changed recently, due to their accession to the Kyoto Protocol. The government, the private sector and the general public have started realizing the inevitability of putting climate change issues on the top of the list of priorities in the process of economic and social development. Apart from this, some renewable energy investments seem to be more available and effective solutions in the region, because of specified conditions and requirements in remote and isolated areas. The aim of this paper is to analyze in a coherent and integrated way the specific constraints hampering the development of renewable energy, to describe the relative efforts that are connected with the stated role of the renewable energy and to propose some useful recommendations for their future development.     

Synthesis and characterization of pure,urea and thiourea doped organic NLO l-arginine trifluoroacetate single crystals

Optically transparent l-arginine trifluoroacetate (LATF) single crystals by doping with organic materials urea and thiourea were grown by slow solvent evaporation technique. Powder X-ray diffraction confirms improvement in the crystalline quality for urea doped crystals. Urea doping in LATF also improves the percentage of transmittance. The vibrational frequencies of the grown crystals were assigned by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy. The thermal analysis (TG/DTA) indicated the better thermal stability for urea doped LATF crystals. EDAX analysis was carried out to calculate the percentage of elements present in doped and pure LATF. The hardness has been remarkably improved on urea and thiourea doped LATF crystals. The second harmonic generation (SHG) analysis showed 2.5 times than standard KDP for pure LATF and 2.2, 2.07 times than KDP for urea and thiourea doped LATF.     

Investigation of CdTex and Cd1-xZnxTe Schottky Barrier Diode Structure Based γ-Ray Detectors

Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) based detectors have been developed for hard X-ray and γ -ray detection. These semiconducting materials have high resistivity because of the wide bandgap and also have high photon absorption efficiency because of the large atomic number (Z_Cd = 48, Z_Te = 52). CdTe and CdZnTe substrates (7 mm × 9 mm × 0.5 mm) with different stoichiometry were taken for the fabrication of γ-ray detectors. The substrate was prepared by polishing the bulk crystals grown by the rotational Bridgman method. Crystals with maximum electrical resistivity were grown in this way. For fabrication of Schottky barrier diode structures, the Schottky contacts were made by electroless deposition for gold (Au) and thermal evaporation for Indium (In). The Au/CdTe/In and Au/CdZnTe/In Schottky barrier diodes were linked to the charge sensitive preamplifier by gold wires. Then, I-V measurement and detector efficiency like charge collection performance with energy resolutions were analyzed at room temperature by using ⁵⁷Co and ¹³⁷Cs gamma sources. The good energy resolutions of ⁵⁷Co (122 KeV) and ¹³⁷Cs (662 KeV) sources are obtained for both CdTe and CdZnTe diode detectors.     

Post micromachining of MPW based CMOS–MEMS comb resonator and its mechanical and thermal characterization

In recent years micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) based micro resonant sensors have been given a lot of attention due to their potential as a platform for the development of many novel physical, chemical, and biological sensors. That is why this paper covers post processing of the structures fabricated through Multi-Project-Wafer using 0.35 µm MIMOS CMOS technology with particular focus on dry etching of Si and SiO₂ from the front side of CMOS–MEMS chip that is optimized using aluminum coated carrier wafer and achieved results are debris free as compared to photoresist coated carrier wafer. The device is etched through from the front side to avoid parasitic capacitances and squeeze film damping by keeping minimum size of the die. The etching of SiO₂ as well as deep Si etch-through using the same plasma etcher (SS110A Tegal) is successfully demonstrated in this work. Finally, after the successful post CMOS micromachining of the device, resonance frequency i.e. 8164 Hz and quality factor i.e. 51.34, is determined. The joule heating effect due to the passing of current through the central shuttle of the device is characterized. The maximum temperature close to the anchors of the comb resonator where the piezoresistors are located is determined through temperature coefficient of resistance measurement using PE-4RF type probe station and it is found to be 37.62 °C.     

The potential role of renewable energy in Moldova

The European Union (EU) is developing an increasingly close relationship with Moldova, going beyond cooperation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political cooperation. This fact indicates that eventually the adoption of EU legislation in the energy sector is a necessity. Therefore, the provision of a clear picture of the country’s renewable energy potential is considered essential, bearing in mind the new EU Renewable Energy Directive, which sets a mandatory target of 20% of renewable energy sources by 2020 for each member state. The aim of this paper is to discuss the perspective of renewable energy in Moldova taking into account the current energy framework and to analyze, whether it is suitable to adopt similar methodologies and policy frameworks applied in other EU countries.