Fabrication of Patterned Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Film for the Optical Waveguide by Microfluidic Lithography

Inorganic–organic hybrid materials for the optical waveguide were synthesized by the sol–gel process starting from the acid-catalyzed solutions of phenyltrimethoxysilane, methyltriethoxysilane, and tetraethylorthosilicate. The control of the refractive index in the organically modified silicate films was achieved by varying the content of phenyltrimethoxysilane incorporated as a refractive index modifier. A single spin-coating with the precursor solution produced a crack-free buffer layer of 22-μm thickness with a dense microstructure. For the fabrication of the patterned guiding layer on top of the buffer layer, the microfluidic lithography method was used. The patterned microlines of the linewidth of 20–35 μm with a sharp edge definition could form by filling the precursor solutions into the microchannels associated with the polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device. The patterned guiding layer was optically transparent as similar as the bare quartz glass at the wavelength above 500 nm and had a low propagation loss of 0.77 dB/cm at 1310 nm.     

Modeling Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Signals from a Flat-Bottom Hole in Immersion Testing Using a Multi-Gaussian Beam

This paper proposes an ultrasonic measurement model that can predict the pulse-echo signals from a flat-bottom hole in an isotropic, homogeneous solid specimen immersed in water in a computationally efficient manner. To develop such a model, a measurement model approach is adopted based on two important assumptions: the paraxial approximation for the transducer beam and the small flaw assumption for the flat-bottom hole. The modular model that results from these two assumptions contains three terms: a diffraction correction term, a far-field scattering amplitude term and a system efficiency factor term. The diffraction correction is defined based on a multi-Gaussian beam model which allows the rapid evaluation of the wave field incident on the hole. The far-field scattering amplitude of the flat-bottom hole is obtained using the Kirchhoff approximation together with the small flaw assumption. The system efficiency factor is determined by deconvolution of an experimental front surface reflection signal by a reference reflector model. Here, the contribution of each of these three terms to the overall measurement model are described in detail and the accuracy of the proposed model is verified by the comparison of the model-based predictions to experiments.     

The noise reduction of a DC motor using multi-body dynamics

The DC motor of a vehicle may cause noise and vibration due to high-speed revolution, which can make a driver feel uncomfortable There have been various studies attempting to solve these problems, mostly focusing on the causes of noise and vibration and a means of preventing them The CAE methodology is more efficient than a real test for the purpose of looking for various design parameters to reduce the noise and vibration of the DC motor In this study, a design process for reducing brush noise is presented with the use of a computer model, which is made by using a multi-body dynamics program (DADS) The design parameters to reduce the brush noise and vibration were proposed using a computer model They were used to reduce the noise and vibration of the DC motor and verified by the test tesults of the fan DC motor in the vehicle This method may be applicable to various DC motors     

Enhancement of detecting defects in pipes with focusing techniques

Ultrasonic guided waves have been widely utilized for long range inspection of structures such as oil and petrochemical pipes. However, weldments, support, insulation, and attenuation make it difficult to examine pipe-like structures. In order to overcome such difficulties, it is desired to focus ultrasonic guided wave at the area under interrogation. In this paper, we discuss two focusing techniques: angular profile tuning and signal based focusing. The angular profile tuning approach relies on a theoretical prediction of pressure field of ultrasonic guided wave produced by an ultrasonic transducer mounted on the pipe. And, the signal based focusing is focusing ultrasonic guided waves using cross-correlation analysis. To compare the performance of these two techniques, non-axisymmetric guided waves are focused to abnormalities such as a through-wall hole and a circumferential notch, using an ultrasonic guided wave array system that has been specially fabricated for this purpose. The advantages and limitations of these two focusing techniques are addressed.     

Optimal search-relocation trade-off in Markovian-target searching

In this study, a standard moving-target search model was extended with a multiple-search-speed option, whereby a trade-off is enabled between the increased detection chances owing to the searcher's better location and the increased uncertainty of the target's location resulting from the diminished search performance incurred in the relocation. This enhances the detection probability of the output search path and, thereby, the model's practicality. However, the scalability of the solution method is essential to its implementation, as the basic model is already NP-hard. We developed an efficient heuristic by combining the idea of approximate nondetection probability minimization and a hybridized shortest-path heuristic that exploits the fast-mixing property of the Markov chain. According to the results of an intensive experiment, the heuristic achieves a near-optimal trade-off within a very reasonable computation time.     

Microdischarge arrays: a new family of photonic devices

The optical and electrical characteristics of microdischarge devices and arrays fabricated in semiconductors and metal/polymer structures are described. Devices as small as (10 μm)² in emitting area (nanoliters in volume) and arrays as large as 30 × 30 have been demonstrated and operated at gas pressures up to and exceeding one atmosphere. This new generation of microoptical sources is capable of producing photons from the infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet and beyond and is well suited for integration with microoptoelectronic, fluidic, and mechanical systems     

Joint frequency offset and carrier phase estimation for the return channel for digital video broadcasting

This paper investigates the design of joint frequency offset and carrier phase estimation of a multi-frequency time division multiple access (MF-TDMA) demodulator that is applied to a digital video broadcasting-return channel system via satellite (DVB-RCS). The proposed joint estimation algorithm is based on the interpolation technique for two correlation values in the frequency and phase domains. This simple interpolation technique can significantly improve frequency and phase resolution capabilities of the proposed technique without increasing the number of the correlation values. In addition, the overall block diagram of a digital communications receiver for DVB-RCS is presented, which was designed using the proposed estimation algorithms.     

Vacuum-Assisted Microfluidic Lithography of Ceramic Microstructures

The method to fabricate complex shaped micro-patterned ceramic structures has been developed. Vacuum-assisted infiltrating the suspensions to the micro channels generated by the contact of polydimethylsiloxane mold to the substrate enables simple micro patterning of ceramics with complex structures in a relatively large area in short time. The use of well-dispersed ethanol-based suspensions of solid loading ∼20 vol% plays an important role in a successful pattern formation without defects. The current process, called microfluidic lithography, is applicable to the entire range of ceramic materials which can be processed to colloidal suspension with relatively low viscosity. It is demonstrated that the interdigitated ceramic structures with 50 μm in the width composed of Al₂O₃ and NiO on a Si substrate were fabricated in an area of 5 mm × 5 mm.     

An Effective Electrical Resonance-Based Method to Detect Delamination in Thermal Barrier Coating

This research proposes a simple yet highly sensitive method based on electrical resonance of an eddy-current probe to detect delamination of thermal barrier coating (TBC). This method can directly measure the mechanical characteristics of TBC compared to conventional ultrasonic testing and infrared thermography methods. The electrical resonance-based method can detect the delamination of TBC from the metallic bond coat by shifting the electrical impedance of eddy current testing (ECT) probe coupling with degraded TBC, and, due to this shift, the resonant frequencies near the peak impedance of ECT probe revealed high sensitivity to the delamination. In order to verify the performance of the proposed method, a simple experiment is performed with degraded TBC specimens by thermal cyclic exposure. Consequently, the delamination with growth of thermally grown oxide in a TBC system is experimentally identified. Additionally, the results are in good agreement with the results obtained from ultrasonic C-scanning.     

Novel chains constructed from heterotrinuclear units and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane formulated as [M2M′(O2CPh)6](bpa) (M = Co,Zn, M′ = Co,Cd): Their catalytic activity

Three novel heterometallic complexes containing two bridging ligands bpa and benzoate, formulated as [M₂M′(O₂CC₆H₅]_n(bpa)_n (bpa = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane, M₂M′ = Zn₂Co (1), Zn₂Cd (2), and Co₂Cd (3)), have been synthesized. All three compounds show one-dimensional structures containing linear heteronuclear coordination units linked by bridging bpa ligands. Reactivity study of the compounds 1–3 for the transesterification of a variety of esters has shown that they are very efficient and 2 is the best among them.