A literature review of analytical techniques for materials characterisation of painted textiles - Part 1: categorising painted textiles, sampling and the use of optical tools

Many types of painted textile are represented in museum collections. Their flexibility, draping qualities, and heterogeneous, layered nature make painted textiles complex objects to conserve. What do we know about their materials and making? There has been limited research into painted textiles and particularly their analysis. Whilst much valuable information can be gleaned from paintings analysis, there are many distinct differences in materials behaviour between stretched paintings and painted textiles that need to be identified and addressed. This paper, together with Part 2, aims to raise the awareness of textile conservators, in particular, of potential analytical techniques to identify and characterise the materials, thus enhancing understanding and conservation of painted textiles. Part 1 focuses firstly, on the categorisation of different groups of painted textile providing a context for their study and secondly, it reviews sampling and optical techniques that can be used by conservators, highlighting some of the challenges they present

Dual color plasmonic pixels create a polarization controlled nano color palette

Color filters based upon nanostructured metals have garnered significant interest in recent years, having been positioned as alternatives to the organic dye-based filters which provide color selectivity in image sensors, as nonfading “printing” technologies for producing images with nanometer pixel resolution, and as ultra-high-resolution, small foot-print optical storage and encoding solutions. Here, we demonstrate a plasmonic filter set with polarization-switchable color properties, based upon arrays of asymmetric cross-shaped nanoapertures in an aluminum thin-film. Acting as individual color-emitting nanopixels, the plasmonic cavity-apertures have dual-color selectivity, transmitting one of two visible colors, controlled by the polarization of the white light incident on the rear of the pixel and tuned by varying the critical dimensions of the geometry and periodicity of the array. This structural approach to switchable optical filtering enables a single nanoaperture to encode two information states within the same physical nanoaperture, an attribute we use here to create micro image displays containing duality in their optical information states

A literature review of analytical techniques for materials characterisation of painted textiles - Part 2: spectroscopic and chromatographic analytical instrumentation

Part Two of this Literature Review of analytical techniques for materials characterisation of painted textiles focusses on the application of vibrational and x-ray spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques used in the analysis of painted textiles to inform understanding of their materials, methods of making and degradation. The principles of detection methods, technique limitations and advantages, and how they complement each other, are explained and advances in techniques applicable in the study of painted textiles are discussed, such as mapping in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman, surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Most informative work relating to painted textiles comes from close collaboration between conservators and scientists in interpreting findings and this literature review provides a useful starting point to further develop the capabilities of analytical techniques to enhance the study and conservation of painted textiles

V-Shape Liquid Crystal-Based Retromodulator Air to Ground Optical Communications

This paper describes the use of a 2D liquid crystal retro-modulator as a free space, wireless, optical link. The retro-modulator is made up of a retro-reflecting cornercube onto which 2 cascaded V-shape smectics liquid crystal modulators are mounted. The communication link differs with respect to more conventional optical links in not using amplitude (nor frequency) modulation, but instead state-of-polarisation (SOP) modulation known as Polarisation Shift Keying (PolSK). PolSK has the advantage over amplitude modulation, that it is less sensitive to changes in the visibility of the atmosphere, and increases inherently the bandwidth of the link. The implementation of PolSK both in liquid crystal based and in retro-modulated communication are novelties

Defining the 3D geometry of thin shale units in the Sleipner reservoir using seismic attributes

Acknowledgments The seismic interpretation and image processing was carried out in the SeisLab facility at the University of Aberdeen (sponsored by BG BP and Chevron). Seismic imaging analysis was performed using GeoTeric (ffA), and analysis of seismic amplitudes was performed in Petrel 2015 (Schlumberger). We would like to thank the NDDC (RG11766-10) for funding this research and Statoil for the release of the Sleipner field seismic dataset utilized in this research paper and also Anne-Kari Furre and her colleagues for their assistance. We also thank the editor, Alejandro Escalona and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and in depth comments that improved the paper.Peer reviewedPostprin

Modelling and Optimisation of Single Junction Strain Balanced Quantum Well Solar Cells

In an attempt to find the optimum number of wells for maximum conversion efficiency a pair of otherwise identical strain balanced samples, one containing 50 wells and the other 65 wells have been characterised. The 65 well sample is found to possess a lower predicted efficiency than the 50 well sample, suggesting that the optimum well number lies between these values. Devices grown using tertiary butyl arsine (TBAs) are found to possess comparable conversion efficiencies to the control cells grown using arsine and slightly superior dark IV characteristics, indicating that TBAs may be substituted for arsine without loss of device efficiency and may even be beneficial to cell performance. Several fundamental refinements to the existing quantum efficiency model of are explored. Firstly, expressions for the strained band gaps are derived. A value for the conduction band offset is . determined using the difference in energy between the heavy and light hole exciton peaks in low temperature photo current scans and found to be 0.55??0.03. The magnitude of the el-hhl exciton binding energy is also estimated from these scans and found to be in excellent agreement with the value obtained from a simple, parameterized expression for the exciton binding energy. Finally, an absolute calculation for the absorption coefficient is incorporated into the quantum efficiency model and values for the heavy and light hole in-planes masses are obtained. The model is found to underestimate the level of absorption in the intrinsic region by an amount consistent with estimates of the magnitude of the reflection from the back surface. The conversion efficiency of a sample predicted using SOL is compared to an independently obtained value. Good agreement is observed between the two results (25.3% and 25.7% for 317 suns AM1.5D). Additionally, an optimum structure for illumination by the AM1.5D spectrum was found to be a 120A well ofIno.lGaAs.Imperial Users onl

Breaking down banners: analytical approaches to determining the materials of painted banners

Background: This paper investigates a range of analytical techniques to yield information about the materials and processes used in making painted banners. A textile conservator, technical art historian and paintings conservator, and materials scientist have joined forces to develop a greater understanding of the potential of analytical findings in the identification of materials. Results: Visual examination using low level magnification and microscopy proved to be a crucial starting point and for identification of areas for further analysis. High magnification microscopy of cross sections was invaluable to gather information regarding the build-up of the layers, their interaction and condition. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of ion-milled samples showed that different areas of the banner had been prepared in different ways. SEM-EDX (scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) confirmed the presence of the main elements of pigments. Raman enabled identification of specific pigments. Raman also provided confirmation of specific materials (such as the paint filler). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) enabled the identification of oil and resin, confirmation of pigments and fibres. Thin layers made sampling and identification challenging. Presence of materials such as silk and lead white dominated some analysis making interpretation of other materials more difficult. Conclusions: Sample preparation had a significant bearing on the effectiveness of the analysis. Ion-milling provided high quality surface on the cross section samples that enabled material interfaces to be clearly seen. The challenges of finding effective wavelengths for analysis of samples using Raman were clearly evident in this study. Microscopy showed fibres blends, easily missed using FTIR, whereas FTIR was particularly effective in the identification of man-made fibres. While portable instrumentation may be useful, for in-depth understanding of the heterogeneous layered materials sample taking still remains crucial. Commercial makers used many typical grounds and pigments but these were used sparingly, in thin layers, in order to produce a flexible object and also perhaps to reduce costs. The textile was however of high quality, in this case silk. Unexpectedly, the preparation layers do not appear to be consistent across the banner; the reasons for this need further investigation

Statistical characterisation of bio-aerosol background in an urban environment

In this paper we statistically characterise the bio-aerosol background in an urban environment. To do this we measure concentration levels of naturally occurring microbiological material in the atmosphere over a two month period. Naturally occurring bioaerosols can be considered as noise, as they mask the presence of signals coming from biological material of interest (such as an intentionally released biological agent). Analysis of this 'biobackground' was undertaken in the 1-10 um size range and a 3-9% contribution was found to be biological in origin - values which are in good agreement with other studies reported in the literature. A model based on the physics of turbulent mixing and dispersion was developed and validated against this analysis. The Gamma distribution (the basis of our model) is shown to comply with the scaling laws of the concentration moments of our data, which enables us to universally characterise both biological and non-biological material in the atmosphere. An application of this model is proposed to build a framework for the development of novel algorithms for bio-aerosol detection and rapid characterisation.Comment: 14 Pages, 8 Figure