Polymer whispering gallery mode lasers

We study the emission properties of dye doped polymer microspheres. Under the weak excitation condition, emission exhibits resonant features characteristic to the spherical cavity modes. By the systematic analyses with the Lorenz-Mie calculation, we determine the mode indices of all the resonance lines. From the line width analyses, we determine the effective concentration of dye molecules. Under the pulsed pumping, we observe lasing. Spheres with dye molecule in the entire sphere show complicated spectra indicating the multi-mode lasing. We demonstrate the mode elimination by using a stratified structure. A 20 μm diameter sphere which has the dye doped shell shows very simple lasing by the lowest order number modes of spherical cavity mode. A small sphere of 5 μm in diameter shows single mode lasing behavior. The observed spontaneous coupling coefficient is about 30% which agrees with the calculated value.     

Melt rheology of ionomer filled with methyl methacrylate–grafted perlite

The shear viscosity, the shear compliance, and their shear rate dependence were determined by a Weissenberg rheogoniometer, and the effect of the grafted poly(methyl methacrylate) chains on the intensification of the interaction at the interface between the ionomer matrix and the filler was discussed. Results were as follows: (1) The relative viscosity of the ionomer filled with MMA-grafted perlite to the matrix ionomer and the yield stress increased with increase in the volume fraction of perlite, and these behaviors were more remarkable in the case of the perlite with larger quantity of grafted PMMA. (2) The effective thickness of the immobilized matrix layer on the filler surface in the Ziegel equation and the crowding factor in the Mooney equation showed larger values in the case of the filled systems of MMA-grafted perlite than in the case of the unmodified perlite. (3) At the same total volume fraction which was the sum of the quantities of the perlite and the grafted PMMA, the relative viscosity and the crowding factor showed respectively a maximum with the quantity of grafted PMMA. (4) The shear compliance of these filled systems decreased with perlite content. A little effect of the amount of grafted PMMA on the compliance was observed at the same volume fraction of perlite. According to these rheological properties, it could be concluded that the grafted PMMA chains were effective in increasing the interaction between the ionomer matrix and the perlite at their interface, particularly in the lower shear rate region.     

Carrier‐envelope phase‐stabilized chirped‐pulse amplification system

We demonstrated a carrier‐envelope phase (CEP) stabilized chirped‐pulse amplifier system. This amplifier system is composed of grating based pulse‐stretcher and compressor, a regenerative amplifier and a multi‐pass amplifier. We employed a new pulse‐pick‐up method to select CEP stabilized seed pulses. This pulse selection method is different from established practice which is based on pulse train timing, but is based on CEP of seed pulse. We measured amplitude‐to‐phase noise conversion coefficient of microstructure fiber and evaluated the additional out‐of‐loop error of carrier‐envelope offset (CEO) control. We also investigated the effect of beam pointing of the measured fringe shift in self‐referencing spectral interference method. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 157(3): 35–42, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20334 Copyright © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The lubricating properties of used engine oil

The lubricating properties of oil samples from four cars using either leaded or unleaded gasolene were examined using a cross-pin-type lubricant tester and a JIS four-ball tester. The zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZnDTP) content in the oil samples was determined by thin layer chromatography (TLC). The wear scar diameter increased with running distance up to 2000 km. At running distances above 2000 km, the wear scar diameter decreased for oil from cars using unleaded gasolene but increased for oil from cars using leaded gasolene. The load-carrying capacity also varied depending on the type of fuel used. The TLC spot characteristic of ZnDTP disappeared after running distances of 3000 km with both fuels. However, another spot, characteristic of lead dialkyldithiophosphate (PbDTP), appeared below the ZnDTP spot for oil from cars using leaded gasolene. These results indicate that the differences in the lubricating properties of oils from cars using leaded and unleaded gasolene are due to the formation of PbDTP.     

Interfacial tension of demixed polymer solutions over a wide range of reduced temperature

Interfacial tensions were measured for solutions of polystyrene-methylcyclohexane, polystyrene-heptamethylnonane and poly(dimethyl siloxane)-phenylethyl ether to investigate the behaviour of the interfacial tension from the critical point to a region far away from it. In the polystyrene-heptamethylnonane system, measurements were performed until the concentration of the polymer rich phase became about 70～80%. The molecular weight dependence of the interfacial tension was stronger away from the critical temperature than near to it. Data for polystyrene solutions with different solvents were connected by a scaling law. Recent scaling theories were compared with the results for poly(dimethyl siloxane) solution.     

Optimal surface chemistry for peptide immobilization in on-chip phosphorylation analysis

We investigated the optimal surface chemistry of peptide immobilization for on-chip phosphorylation analysis. In our previous study, we used a heterobifunctional cross-linker sulfosuccinimidyl-4-(N-maleimidomethyl) cyclohexane-1-carboxalate (SSMCC) to immobilize cysteine-terminated peptides on an amine-modified gold surface. The study revealed that the phosphorylation efficiency and rate were low (only 20% at 2 h) comparing with the reaction in solution. In this study, to improve the phosphorylation efficiency, the kinase substrates were immobilized via poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), a flexible, hydrophilic polymer. An improvement in cSrc phosphorylation was achieved (60% at 1 h) from using a PEG-inserted peptide and SSMCC. However, no phosphorylation could be detected when the peptide was immobilized with a PEG-containing cross-linker. Fluorescence-labeled peptide studies revealed that the use of longer cross-linkers resulted in lower immobilization density. We considered that the flexible PEG linker was preferable to secure high phosphorylation efficiency for the immobilized peptide, probably due to the improvement of cSrc accessibility and peptide mobility, but the immobilization protocol is critical for keeping high density of the peptide immobilization. In addition, such an accelerating effect of PEG linker against on-chip phosphorylation of an immobilized peptide may depend on kinase structures or the position of the active center, because no improvement of on-chip peptide phosphorylation was observed in protein kinase A. However, PEG linker also did not suppress the phosphorylation in protein kinase A. Thus, we concluded that SSMCC and PEGylated peptide will be a good combination for the surface chemistry of on-chip phosphorylation in peptide array.