Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy experimentation and applications

This is an era of rapid production and fast growth. Reliable and fast analytical testing techniques are an essential part of manufacturing industries and testing and certifying authorities. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is one of the highly potential techniques to compete in this competitive arena for rapid elemental analysis which can be further used for real-time composition monitoring in the production line, post-production inspection, scrap sorting and even for classification of biological samples. In addition, remote and stand-off modes of operation increase the application potential of LIBS by many folds. It can be deployed in physically inaccessible or potentially unsafe areas. Compact LIBS systems have made its portability possible which implies ease of in-situ deployment

Thin Film Deposition: Solution Based Approach

The wet chemical processing opens the way to deposit thin film with the versatility and ease for a variety of materials. Liquid film deposition involves the application of a liquid precursor on a substrate which is then converted to the required coating material in a subsequent post-treatment step. Different non-vacuum solution based deposition techniques have been developed to grow thin films with high efficiency and functionality. Spin coating is one of an effective technique for thin film fabrication due to low cost, uniformity, less hazardous, and capability of easy scaling up. The typical process involves depositing a small amount of a fluid onto the center of a substrate and then spinning the substrate at high speed. Dip coating is another simple, cost effective route with feasibility to scale-up for commercial production. The dip coating process can be divided into three important technical stages, immersion, withdrawal and evaporation. The coating may be subjected to further heat treatment in order to burn out residual compounds and induce crystallization of the functional oxides. Spray coating is a promising technique to grow thin film in research and industry to prepare thin and thick films. It is an easy approach to fabricate thin film with uniform distribution at small scale from a few nanometers to micrometers in thickness. Inkjet printing is the emerging promising technique to develop large-scale, and flexible thin films. The inkjet printing process allow easy customization to grow variety of complex structures

Z-transform method for optimization of add-drop configuration system

This paper presents the new approaches of optimization the add-drop configuration system by using Z-transform method. Dark soliton was chosen as the input signal and Gaussian beam was chosen as the control signal for the model proposed. The incident light was said to achieve the maximum resonance with the ring resonator when the phase shift, f=2nm. The derivation, analyzation, and optimization of the system are typically very important especially for the communication technology

Trapping of gold nanoparticle and polystyrene beads by dynamic optical tweezers

Gold nanoparticles and polystyrene beads are very important to use in advanced nanoscopic optical trapping techniques to probe any biological system of interest. Multiple trapping of these particles with different diameters can be performed by an optical tweezers system employing dark soliton controlled by Gaussian pulse within a particular configuration of microring resonators. By controlling some parameters and input power of the system, dynamics of the tweezers can be tuned. Radiation pressure acting on the particles including gradient and scattering forces were theoretically measured as a function of normalized position from the center of the laser beam. In this work, the highest output signal in the form of potential well is recorded at 112.80 W corresponding to 1.6 pm wavelength. Sizes of the tweezers are found within the range of 20 nm and the highest value of the optical force is recorded at 895.70 pN. We have demonstrated that the gradient force component is dominant over particle size within Rayleigh regime, thus a good agreement with theory is found

Quantification of calcium using localized normalization on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy data

This paper focuses on localized normalization for improved calibration curves in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements. The calibration curves have been obtained using five samples consisting of different concentrations of calcium (Ca) in potassium bromide (KBr) matrix. The work has utilized Q-switched Nd:YAG laser installed in LIBS2500plus system with fundamental wavelength and laser energy of 650 mJ. Optimization of gate delay can be obtained from signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of Ca II 315.9 and 317.9 nm. The optimum conditions are determined in which having high spectral intensity and SBR. The highest spectral lines of ionic and emission lines of Ca at gate delay of 0.83 µs. From SBR, the optimized gate delay is at 5.42 µs for both Ca II spectral lines. Calibration curves consist of three parts; original intensity from LIBS experimentation, normalization and localized normalization of the spectral line intensity. The R2 values of the calibration curves plotted using locally normalized intensities of Ca I 610.3, 612.2 and 616.2 nm spectral lines are 0.96329, 0.97042, and 0.96131, respectively. The enhancement from calibration curves using the regression coefficient allows more accurate analysis in LIBS

Investigating optical properties of ITO thin film grown by RF sputtering

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films of different thickness were successfully grown on the corning glass substrate using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. All the sample were undergone heat treatment at temperature of 600 ºC for 4 hours inside a furnace. The measurement of the thickness have been performed using surface profiler and optical properties have been studied using UV-VIS spectroscopy in wavelength regime 200-2500 nm for determination of energy band gap. Energy band gap was calculated based on the optical transmittance and photon energy and being measured in range of 2.76 eV – 3.54 eV while the transmittance was approximately 90 %

Analyzing the effects of Business Network Partners for Successful Participation in Trade Shows

This thesis is an effort to analyze the importance of business network partners for successful participation in trade shows for small firms to grow more in international markets. This study would be helpful to demonstrate the value of trade shows. Trade shows provide the opportunities to introduce new products, expand network connection, and enhancing firm’s corporate image. To participate in any trade show may be a very lucrative process, but there are many challenges and tasks which are to be met to get the maximum share of international market. To analyse the effectiveness of business network for successful participation in trade shows, I have included one case study of trade shows, named Beauty World 2009, held at Frankfurt Germany. In this show, among the firms from all over the world, 16 small companies manufacturing beauty instruments, companies from my home city, namely Sialkot, Pakistan, also participated. Their experiences, participation, views and observation will also be used to analyze the importance of trade show for creating new business networks through this show. This research indicates the effectiveness of network member providing support to small and growing firms for successful participation in trade shows. With the help of these network members, trade shows can be used as exclusive platforms to introduce new firms, as well as products, to potential consumers. In general, we can indicate that existing network partners, if mobilized accordingly, have the ability to reduce the overall cost incurred at trade shows

Analyzing the effects of Business Network Partners for Successful Participation in Trade Shows

This thesis is an effort to analyze the importance of business network partners for successful participation in trade shows for small firms to grow more in international markets. This study would be helpful to demonstrate the value of trade shows. Trade shows provide the opportunities to introduce new products, expand network connection, and enhancing firm’s corporate image. To participate in any trade show may be a very lucrative process, but there are many challenges and tasks which are to be met to get the maximum share of international market. To analyse the effectiveness of business network for successful participation in trade shows, I have included one case study of trade shows, named Beauty World 2009, held at Frankfurt Germany. In this show, among the firms from all over the world, 16 small companies manufacturing beauty instruments, companies from my home city, namely Sialkot, Pakistan, also participated. Their experiences, participation, views and observation will also be used to analyze the importance of trade show for creating new business networks through this show. This research indicates the effectiveness of network member providing support to small and growing firms for successful participation in trade shows. With the help of these network members, trade shows can be used as exclusive platforms to introduce new firms, as well as products, to potential consumers. In general, we can indicate that existing network partners, if mobilized accordingly, have the ability to reduce the overall cost incurred at trade shows

Investigation of carbon thin films by pulsed laser deposition at different temperatures

Effect of temperature on the deposition of Carbon thin Film is reported in this paper. KrF Excimer laser (248 nm, 13-50 mJ and 20 ns) is focused at an angle of 45° on pure graphite target. Silicon (111) wafer, as a substrate is placed at distance of 15 mm from the target surface. The carbon thin films have been deposited at temperatures 20°C and 300°C. 10,000 pulses of KrF laser are irradiated to deposit each film under a vacuum ~ 10-4 Torr. Surface morphology is investigated by analyzing micrographs of Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Infrared Transformation Spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques are employed for the structure analysis and to study nature of bonding of deposited thin films at different temperatures. Results obtained from techniques AFM, XRD and FTIR support each other and explain the effect of substrate temperature on carbon thin films deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) method