Repetitively pulsed Nd-glass slab lasers

The possibility of obtaining high laser output energies at a 1.32-μm wavelength using thin LiNdLa phosphate glass slabs with a high Nd³⁺ concentration is discussed. In the experiments, 3×14×125-mm slabs were prepared from LiNdLa phosphate glass with a Nd-concentration of 1.2×10²¹ cm^-3. The facets of the slabs were not antireflection-coated. They were tested in a silver-coated quartz tube reflector of 25-mm diameter and pumped by 450-μs pulses from a flash lamp with a 120-mm arc length. In this construction the light, which passes through the slab, returns to it after reflection from the tube surface. Most of the radiation falls on the wider side of the slab at large angles of incidence, thus maximizing its path inside the slab. The quartz reflector was water cooled. The 150-mm laser resonator was formed by two flat mirrors. At 1.32-μm lasing wavelength an output mirror of r=95% reflectivity was used with less than 10% reflectivity at 1.32 μm     

An intelligent visualisation and decision support system for decentralised wastewater treatment plants.

Current sanitation concepts of decentralised wastewater treatment and reuse raise the issue of monitoring and maintenance of such systems. To guarantee high quality of the recycled water, systems with high requirements concerning process technology are essential. With increasing numbers of decentralised treatment systems spread over far distances it will become more and more impossible and uneconomic to have expert personnel on site. Therefore, new visualisation and intelligent information systems are necessary. The paper describes the structure and 3D-demonstrations as a base for information visualisation. Up-to-date visualisation techniques, facilitating the cognition of context-adapted information, make it possible to maximise the amount of information presented to the user without overwhelming her or him. Concerning diagnosis and decision support systems in the domain of wastewater treatment, several interesting approaches are presented, estimating their applicability for decentralised wastewater treatment systems. The intelligent decision support system presented here consists of a combined ontology- and case-based reasoning system in addition to a process monitoring system. It is responsible for plausibility checks, error diagnosis, solution proposals, and optimisation suggestions.     

The performance of depressed-cladding single-mode fibers withdifferent b/a ratios

Depressed-cladding single-mode fibers with a first cladding-to-core ratio (b/a) ranging from seven to one and relative refractive-index differences of the core from 0.25 to 0.35% and of the cladding from 0 to -0.2% are investigated experimentally with respect to the LP₁₁ mode cutoff properties, the mode-field diameter, the dispersion, and the bending attenuation. Numerical calculations based on actual profile parameters of the bend loss and the mode-field diameter agree well with experiment. It is demonstrated that low attenuation and bend losses independent of b/a can be obtained if the cutoff wavelength is kept constant by adjusting the core radius, the core index or the index of the first cladding     

Bestimmung der Abtragungsraten von Zirconium,Tantal und der Legierung Tantal-40Niob in fluoridhaltiger azeotroper Salpetersäure mit Hilfe der Radiotracer-Methode

The radiotracer technique as a means to investigate the corrosion of zirconium, tantalum, and a Ta-40Nb alloy in fluoride containing azeotropic nitric acid Zirconium and tantalum as well as the tantalum 40% niobium alloy are of considerable technical importance due to their high corrosion resistance against numerous corrosive media. With respect to corrosion testing in analytically pure azeotropic nitric acid in the temperature range between 20 and 121°C, corrosion rates were determined for zirconium: 7 · 10^?6 to 5 · 10^?4 mm/y, for tantalum: 10^?8 to 4 · 10^?6 mm/y, and for the Ta-40Nb alloy: 2 · 10^?7 to 8 · 10^?6 mm/y [1]. These corrosion rates will be markedly increased by adding small amounts of fluorides or by fluoride impurities. The radiotracer method after neutron activation was applied to determine the corrosion rates in azeotropic fluoride containing nitric acid. Even minute additions of fluorides strongly affect the corrosion resistance of zirconium. In the range between 0.15 and 10 ppm F^? and at a temperature of 108°C, corrosion rates between 5.3 · 10^?3 and 3.1 mm/y were measured. It was impossible to establish a limit for the fluoride concentration, below which the corrosion rate of zirconium will not be adversely influenced. The corrosion rates of tantalum and the Ta-40Nb alloy are considerably increasing above a fluoride concentration of 10 ppm. The highest corrosion rates measured were between 8.4 · 10^?3 mm/y at 50°C/280 ppm F^? and 1.4 · 10^?2 mm/y at 110°C/320 ppm F^?. Within the range of this investigation, the corrosion resistance of tantalum was higher than that of the Ta-40Nb alloy by one order of magnitude. The corrosion resistance of zirconium and tantalum was not influenced by any treatment of the samples before testing.     

A multiple-switch high-voltage DC-DC converter

Series connection of power devices has evolved into a mature technique and is widely applied in HV DC power systems. Static and dynamic voltage balance is ensured by shunting individual devices with dissipative snubbers. The snubber losses become pronounced for increased operating frequencies and adversely affect power density. Capacitive snubbers do not exhibit these disadvantages, but they require a zero-voltage switching mode. Super-resonant power converters facilitate the principle of zero-voltage switching. A high-voltage DC-DC power converter with multiple series-connected devices is proposed. It allows the application of nondissipating snubbers to assist the voltage sharing between the multiple series-connected devices and lowers turnoff losses. Simulation results obtained with a circuit simulator are validated in an experimental power converter operating with two series-connected devices. The behavior of the series connection is examined for MOSFETs and IGBTs by both experimental work with a 2 kW prototype and computer simulation. Applications can be found in traction and heavy industry, where the soft-switching power converter is directly powered from a high-voltage source     

Software-Defined Radio Prospects for Multistandard Mobile Phones

A multitude of existing and evolving cell phone standards, coupled with the need to react quickly to market requirements, is radically changing the system architect's task.Two alternative approaches to classic ASIC-centered and DSP-assisted designs have emerged: reconfigurable architectures and DSP-centered and accelerator-assisted architectures.     

Mixed-Cation Oxide Powders via Resin Intermediates Derived from a Water-Soluble Polymer

Submicrometer powders of complex oxides were prepared via resin intermediates based on a starch type of organic precursor. A commercially available water-soluble starch derivative was (for the first time) used as the organic base for solution synthesis of ceramic powders. Calcination of the charred, fluffy, amorphous resins at a temperature below 600°C for 4 h yielded perovskite powders of Sr-doped LaMnO₃ and Sr-doped La(Fe,Co)O₃. Sr-doped LaCrO₃ needed to be calcined above 750°C to ensure phase purity and to remove organic residue. Due to the low cost of starch derivatives, the process has the potential of being more economical than the commonly used Pechini's type process, which utilizes citric acid and ethylene glycol.     

Vision assistance in scenes with extreme contrast

The performance and architecture of a high dynamic range camera (HDRC) chip and the conceptional advantages for its adaptation to image processing systems in traffic environments are discussed. The HDRC chip was developed with 64×64 pixels using a standard digital 1.2-μm CMOS technology. It is shown that the implementation proves the functionality and indicates the system performance of a highly dynamic range camera is feasible     

Anaemia in juvenile chronic arthritis

Brush border myosin-I (BBMI) is a single-headed unconventional myosin found in the microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells, where it links the core bundle of actin filaments to the plasma membrane. An association of BBMI with anionic phospholipids has been shown to be mediated by a carboxy-terminal domain which is rich in basic amino acids. We have exploited this natural affinity of BBMI for negatively charged lipids to form two-dimensional (2D) crystals of this protein which are suitable for structural analysis by electron crystallographic techniques. The 2D crystals which we have obtained belong to one of two space groups, p22121 or p2. We present here projection maps calculated from images of negatively stained crystals for each of these crystal types to a resolution of 20 A and show that the asymmetric unit is the same in both crystal types.