Phase chirality and stereo-selective swelling of cholesteric elastomers

Cholesteric elastomers possess a macroscopic ``phase chirality'' as the director n rotates in a helical fashion along an optical axis $z$ and can be described by a chiral order parameter. This parameter can be tuned by changing the helix pitch p and/or the elastic properties of the network. The cholesterics also possess a local nematic order, changing with temperature or during solvent swelling. In this paper, by measuring the power of optical rotation, we discover how these two parameters vary as functions of temperature or solvent adsorbed by the network. The main result is a finding of pronounced stereo-selectivity of cholesteric elastomers, demonstrating itself in the retention of the ``correct'' chirality component of a racemic solvent. It has been possible to quantify the amount of such stereo-separation, as the basic dynamics of the effect

Ultra-Low Cost High-Density Two-Dimensional Visible-Light Optical Interconnects

© 2019 IEEE. Visible light communications have attracted considerable interest in recent years owing to the ability of low-cost light emitting diodes (LEDs) to act both as illumination sources and data transmitters with moderate data transmission rates. In this paper, we propose the formation of ultra-low cost visible-light integrated optical links by interfacing dense micro-pixelated LED arrays with matching multi-layered multimode polymer waveguide arrays. The combination of these two optical technologies can offer relatively high aggregate data densities ≥ 0.5 Tb/s/mm2 using very low cost components that can be directly interfaced with CMOS electronics and integrated onto standard printed circuit boards. Here, we present the basic system design and report the first proof-of-principle demonstration of such a visible light system employing 4×4 μLED arrays on a pitch matching four-layered waveguide array samples. Different interconnection topologies and light coupling schemes are investigated and their performance in terms of loss and crosstalk is compared. Data transmission of 2.5 Gb/s with a bit error rate within the forward-error correction threshold of 3.8×10-3 is achieved over a single μLED-waveguide channel using PAM-4 modulation and equalization. The results presented here demonstrate the potential of such ultra-low cost visible-light optical interconnects.UK EPSRC via the Ultra Parallel Visible Light Communications Project (EP/K00042X/1

Winter wheat, 1994

"July 1994.""Publication costs paid by Missouri Seed Improvement Association."The objective of the Missouri Winter Wheat Performance Tests is to provide wheat growers in Missouri with a reliable, unbiased, up-to-date source of information that will permit valid comparisons among improved wheat varieties. This information should help Missouri wheat growers select varieties best suited to their particular area and growing conditions. This report summarizes soft and hard winter wheat variety trials conducted throughout Missouri during the 1993-94 cropping season

Imprinted Networks as Chiral Pumps

We investigate the interaction between a chirally imprinted network and a solvent of chiral molecules. We find, a liquid crystalline polymer network is preferentially swollen by one component of a racemic solvent. This ability to separate is linked to the chiral order parameter of the network, and can be reversibly controlled via temperature or a mechanical deformation. It is maximal near the point at which the network loses its imprinted structure. One possible practical application of this effect would be a mechanical device for sorting mixed chiral molecules.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Active-matrix GaN micro light-emitting diode display with unprecedented brightness

Displays based on microsized gallium nitride light-emitting diodes possess extraordinary brightness. It is demonstrated here both theoretically and experimentally that the layout of the n-contact in these devices is important for the best device performance. We highlight, in particular, the significance of a nonthermal increase of differential resistance upon multipixel operation. These findings underpin the realization of a blue microdisplay with a luminance of 10⁶ cd/m²

Winter wheat, 2000

"July 2000.""Publication costs paid by Missouri Seed Improvement Association."The objective of the Missouri Winter Wheat Performance Tests is to provide wheat growers in Missouri with a reliable, unbiased, up-to-date source of information that will permit valid comparisons among improved wheat varieties. This information should help Missouri wheat growers select varieties best suited to their particular area and growing conditions. This report summarizes soft red winter wheat variety trials conducted throughout Missouri during the 1999-00 cropping season. No hard red winter wheat test was grown in 2000

μlED-Based Single-Wavelength Bi-directional POF Link with 10 Gb/s Aggregate Data Rate

We report record 10 Gb/s bi-directional data transmission over a single 10 m SI-POF, by employing blue micro-light-emitting diodes (μLEDs) at a single wavelength, APD receivers and a PAM-32 modulation scheme. The implementation of 10 Gb/s LED-POF links takes advantage of the bi-directional configuration, which doubles the overall channel capacity, and APDs which provide an enhanced link power budget owing to their improved sensitivity compared with conventional PIN photodiodes. Moreover, the high spectral efficiency of the PAM-32 modulation scheme employed, together with equalization techniques, enable the full utilization of the link bandwidth and the transmission of data rates higher than those obtained with conventional on-off-keying (OOK). Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of such a bi-directional link and simultaneous 5 Gb/s data transmission is realized in each direction, achieving an aggregate data rate of 10 Gb/s with a BER<10-3. The crosstalk penalty between the two directions of the link is measured to be less than 0.5 dB.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2015.244398

2 Gb/s μlED-APD based visible light communications using feed-forward pre-equalization and PAM-4 modulation

Feed-forward pre-equalization is investigated to extend the transmission capability of μLED-based links, providing better receiver sensitivities up to 5dB compared with post-equalization. Error-free 2Gb/s free-space VLC over 0.6m is demonstrated using a PAM-4 modulated blue μLED and an APD receiver.This work is supported by the UK EPSRC via the UPVLC Project.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ECOC.2015.734188

6.25 Gb/s POF link using GaN μLED arrays and optically generated pulse amplitude modulation

Optically-generated PAM schemes using μLED arrays are implemented for high-speed POF links for the first time. 6.25Gb/s PAM-16 transmission is demonstrated using 4 μLEDs, exhibiting 3.8dB greater power-margin than a link with a single μLED.This work is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via the Ultra Parallel Visible Light Communication (UP-VLC) Project.This is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in CLEO: 2015 (X. Li, N. Bamiedakis, J. Wei, J. Mckendry, E. Xie, R. Ferreira, E. Gu, M. Dawson, R. V. Penty, and I. H. White, "6.25 Gb/s POF Link Using GaN μLED Arrays and Optically Generated Pulse Amplitude Modulation," in CLEO: 2015, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2015), paper STu4F.7.). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/CLEO_SI.2015.STu4F.7 © 2015 Optical Society of America. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modifications of the content of this paper are prohibited