Leeward centerline and side fuselage entry heating predictions for the space shuttle orbiter

Heat transfer data measured along the leeward centerline and on the side fuselage of the Space Shuttle orbiter during STS-2 and STS-3 are compared with predictions of empirical heating techniques derived from wind tunnel tests. Steps required to extrapolate an existing leeward centerline theory to flight conditions are described. Generally favorable comparisons from Mach 24 down to approximately Mach 7 for both flights are presented. The side fuselage impingement heating method is currently under development, but some preliminary results are available. The method is briefly described and compared with wind tunnel and flight measurements. Side heating predictions are given for an STS-3 trajectory point near Mach 10 showing good agreement with flight data. There is evidence of embedded vortices emanating from the side fuselage impingement line which significantly enhance local heating rates at both wind tunnel and flight conditions

Enabling III-V-based optoelectronics with low-cost dynamic hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Silicon is the dominant semiconductor in many semiconductor device applications for a variety of reasons, including both performance and cost. III-V materials have improved performance compared to silicon, but currently they are relegated to applications in high-value or niche markets due to the absence of a low-cost, high-quality production technique. Here we present an advance in III-V materials synthesis using hydride vapor phase epitaxy that has the potential to lower III-V semiconductor deposition costs by orders of magnitude while maintaining the requisite optoelectronic material quality that enables III-V-based technologies to outperform Si. We demonstrate the impacts of this advance by addressing the use of III-Vs in terrestrial photovoltaics, a highly cost-constrained market. The emergence of a low-cost III-V deposition technique will enable III-V electronic and opto-electronic devices, with all the benefits that they bring, to permeate throughout modern society.Comment: pre-prin

III-V Solar Cells

III-V materials show a wide range of gaps making them ideal for the design of high efficiency solar cells. This chapter reviews relevant growth methods and material properties of these materials and discusses methods of combining heterogeneous materials, demonstrating the flexibility of design possible with these materials. The fundamental loss mechanisms of solar cells are analysed and quantified as a prelude to analysing high efficiency cell designs in single, tandem, and triple junction solar cells. The detailed analysis of loss mechanisms is used to obtain understanding of the limiting behaviour of these designs, and show that bulk cells remain dominated by non-radiative losses despite unity ideality factors. To conclude, this is contrasted with the operating regime of nanostructured solar cells which can be shown to operate in a radiatively dominated mode, and which therefore approach ideal solar cell efficiency limits.Comment: Draft of chapter in Materials Challenges: Inorganic Photovoltaic Solar Energy - RSC Energy and Environment Series v. 1

Electrically pumped 1550 nm single mode III-V-on-silicon laser with resonant grating cavity mirrors

This article presents a novel III-V on silicon laser. This work exploits the phenomenon that a passive silicon cavity, side-coupled to a III-V waveguide, will provide high and narrow-band reflectivity into the III-V waveguide: the resonant mirror. This results in an electrically pumped laser with a threshold current of 4 mA and a side-mode suppression ratio up to 48 dB

III-V-on-silicon anti-colliding pulse-type mode-locked laser

An anti-colliding pulse-type III–V-on-silicon passively mode-locked laser is presented for the first time based on a III–V-on-silicon distributed Bragg reflector as outcoupling mirror implemented partially underneath the III–V saturable absorber. Passive mode-locking at 4.83 GHz repetition rate generating 3 ps pulses is demonstrated. The generated fundamental RF tone shows a 1.7 kHz 3 dB linewidth. Over 9 mW waveguide coupled output power is demonstrated

Experimental demonstration of a novel heterogeneously integrated III-V on Si microlaser

In this work we present the first experimental demonstration of a novel class of heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon microlasers. We first show that by coupling a silicon cavity to a III-V wire, the interaction between the propagating mode in the III-V wire and the cavity mode in the silicon resonator results in high, narrow band reflection back into the III-V waveguide, forming a so-called resonant mirror. By combining two such mirrors and providing optical gain in the III-V wire in between these 2 mirrors, laser operation can be realized. We simulate the reflectivity spectrum of such a resonant mirror using 3D FDTD and discuss the results. We also present experimental results of the very first optically pumped heterogeneously integrated resonant mirror laser. The fabricated device measures 55 mu m by 2 mu m and shows single mode laser emission with a side-mode suppression ratio of 37 dB

Propagation of Fatigue Cracks under Shear Loading Modes II, III and II+III in the Near-Threshold Region

Práce je zaměřena na šíření únavových trhlin v módech II, III a II + III v prahové oblasti v kovových materiálech. Byly provedeny experimenty pro ARMCO železo, titan, nikl a austenitickou ocel na třech druzích vzorků pro zatěžování trhliny ve smykových módech. Byl použit zvláštní způsob vytváření iniciační trhliny, který eliminoval efekt zavírání trhliny na začátku smykového zatěžování. Ve všech zkoumaných materiálech byly efektivní prahové hodnoty v módu II přibližně 1,7 krát nižší než v módu III. Měřením úhlů lokálních odklonů a natočení lomových faset s použitím stereofotogrammetrie v SEM bylo usuzováno na tendenci trhliny k vyhýbání do lokálního módu I. Nejmenší úhly byly zjištěny u ARMCO železa pro trhliny v módech II i III, středně velké úhly u titanu a niklu a největší úhly (vyhnutí do čistého módu I) byly pozorovány u austenitické oceli. Tyto rozdíly lze vysvětlit různým počtem dostupných skluzových systémů v krystalových mřížkách daných materiálů. Poměry mezi naměřenými prahovými hodnotami v módu I, II a III byly srovnány s předpověďmi teoretických modelů. Byl navržen analytický vztah pro efektivní prahové hodnoty v módu II, který byl v dobré shodě s experimentálními výsledky. Pomocí efektivních prahových hodnot bylo vyčísleno kritérium pro vyhýbání do módu I, které vedlo ke kritickému úhlu odklonu 40° souvisejícímu s přechodem z lokálního smykového módu do otevíracího módu.The work is focused on fatigue crack propagation under modes II, III and II + III in the near-threshold region in metallic materials. Experiments were conducted for ARMCO iron, titanium, nickel and stainless steel on three types of specimens for shear-mode crack loading. A special technique of precrack generation was used which enabled a closure-free loading at the beginning of the shear-mode experiments. For all investigated materials the effective thresholds under the remote mode II loading were found to be about 1.7 times lower than those under the remote mode III. Tendency to local mode I branching was assessed by a measurement of local deflection and twist angles of fracture facets using stereophoto-grammetry in SEM. The lowest angles of both mode II and mode III cracks were identified for the ARMCO iron, the intermediate ones in titanium and nickel and the highest ones (pure mode I branches) were determined for the stainless steel. These differences can be explained by different numbers of available slip systems in crystal lattices of investigated materials. Ratios of measured effective thresholds in modes I, II and III were compared with results predicted by theoretical models. An analytical formula for effective mode-II thresholds was proposed and found in a good agreement with experimental results. The mode I branching criterion in terms of effective thresholds led to a critical deflection angle of 40° related to a transition from local shear to opening mode.

Natural attenuation of arsenic by sediment sorption and oxidation

Arsenic sorption onto aquifer sediments was investigated in anaerobic laboratory batch and column uptake experiments and characterized by As, Fe, and Mn X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to estimate the extent and mechanism of abiotic sorption and oxidation of As(III). Batch experiments at pH 6 showed that the amount of As(III) or As(V) sorption from synthetic background porewater to sediments was similar as a function of total As concentration, but slightly more As(V) was sorbed than As(III) with increasing As concentrations. Column experiments with As(III) solutions in the absence and presence of dissolved Fe^2+ showed more As uptake in the presence of Fe but also more Fe desorption during flushout with As-free solutions such that net As uptake was similar to, or less than that of, the Fe-free experiment. Fits to bulk Fe X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) spectra showed no change between unreacted and reacted sediments. Manganese XANES revealed small increases in absorption in the spectral region associated with Mn(II) after reaction, indicating sediment Mn reduction. However, XANES spectra showed that Mn is not present as Mn^(IV)O_2(s) but is probably substituted into other sediment minerals as a mixture of Mn(II,III). Quantitative analyses of As XANES spectra, which indicated mixtures of As(III) and As(V) after reaction with As(III) solutions, were used to estimate a fraction of As(V) in excess of native As(V) in the sediment (0.2 mmol kg^−1) that corresponds to sorbed As(III) oxidized to As(V). The spectroscopic and solution data indicate that the aquifer sediments have a limited abiotic capacity to oxidize As(III), which did not exceed 30% of the total amount of As sorbed and was estimated in the range of 0.025−0.4 mmol kg^−1 sediment. In the presence of dissolved Fe^2+, the precipitation of Fe(III) hydrous oxide phases will be an effective mechanism for As scavenging only if there exists sufficient dissolved oxygen in groundwater to oxidize Fe. Once the aqueous oxidative capacity is exhausted, dissolved Fe^2+ may compete with As(III) for the limited abiotic oxidation supplied by sediment Mn-bearing phases