3,797 research outputs found
Alignment issues in photonic crystal device fabrication
An important requirement in the fabrication of photonic crystal structures is the correct relative alignment of structural elements. Accuracy should be in the order of some tens of nanometres. Some of the options for providing such accuracy are discussed. Examples are given of aligning defects with respect to a predefined 2D lattice, aligning access waveguides with respect to a small local photonic crystal structure, and the alignment of successive periodically structured layers in a 3D "woodpile" structure
Profit efficiency among Kenyan smallholders milk producers: A case study of Meru-South district, Kenya
Production inefficiency is usually analyzed by economical efficiency, which is composed of two components-technical and allocative efficiencies. This study provided a direct measure of production efficiency of the smallholder milk producers in Kenya using a stochastic profit frontier and inefficiency model. The primary data were collected, using IMPACT (intergrated modeling platform for mixed animal crops systems) structured questionnaire and includes four conventional inputs and socio-economic factors affecting production. The result showed that profit efficiencies of the sampled farmers varied widely between 26% and 73% with a mean of 60% suggesting that an estimated 40% of the profit is lost due to a combination of both technical and allocative inefficiencies in the smallholder dairy milk production. This study further observed that level of education, experience, and the size of the farm influenced profit efficiency positively while profit efficiency decreased with age. This implies that profit inefficiency among smallholder dairy milk producers can be reduced significantly with improvement in the level of education of sampled farmer
The NBS: Processing/Microstructure/Property Relationships in 2024 Aluminum Alloy Plates
As received plates of 2024 aluminum alloy were examined. Topics covered include: solidification segregation studies; microsegregation and macrosegregation in laboratory and commercially cast ingots; C-curves and nondestructive evaluation; time-temperature precipitation diagrams and the relationships between mechanical properties and NDE measurements; transmission electron microscopy studies; the relationship between microstructure and properties; ultrasonic characterization; eddy-current conductivity characterization; the study of aging process by means of dynamic eddy current measurements; and Heat flow-property predictions, property degradations due to improve quench from the solution heat treatment temperature
Towards the re-verification of process tank calibrations
Re-verification is needed to ensure that the calibration (the relationship between measured level and measured volume) that is obtained during commissioning hasn’t changed over time. This can be achieved, in part, by metering in solution and correlating with marks identified a priori. Mark identification and correlation are discussed and possible error sources are outlined
The connection between stellar granulation and oscillation as seen by the Kepler mission
The long and almost continuous observations by Kepler show clear evidence of
a granulation background signal in a large sample of stars, which is
interpreted as the surface manifestation of convection. It has been shown that
its characteristic timescale and rms intensity fluctuation scale with the peak
frequency (\nu_{max}) of the solar-like oscillations. Various attempts have
been made to quantify the observed signal, to determine scaling relations, and
to compare them to theoretical predictions. We use a probabilistic method to
compare different approaches to extracting the granulation signal. We fit the
power density spectra of a large set of Kepler targets, determine the
granulation and global oscillation parameter, and quantify scaling relations
between them. We establish that a depression in power at about \nu_{max}/2,
known from the Sun and a few other main-sequence stars, is also statistically
significant in red giants and that a super-Lorentzian function with two
components is best suited to reproducing the granulation signal in the broader
vicinity of the pulsation power excess. We also establish that the specific
choice of the background model can affect the determination of \nu_{max},
introducing systematic uncertainties that can significantly exceed the random
uncertainties. We find the characteristic background frequency and amplitude to
tightly scale with \nu_{max} for a wide variety of stars, and quantify a mass
dependency of the latter. To enable comparison with theoretical predictions, we
computed effective timescales and intensity fluctuations and found them to
approximately scale as \tau_{eff} \propto g^{-0.85}\,T^{-0.4} and A_{gran}
\propto (g^2M)^{-1/4}, respectively. Similarly, the bolometric pulsation
amplitude scales approximately as A_{puls} \propto (g^2M)^{-1/3}, which
implicitly verifies a separate mass and luminosity dependence of A_{puls}.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, accepted for A&
Towards spectral-domain optical coherence tomography on a silicon chip
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a widely used optical imaging technology, particularly in the medical field, since it can provide non-invasive, sub-micrometer resolution diagnostic images of tissue. Current OCT systems contain optical fibers and free-space optical components which make these instruments bulky and costly. A significant decrease in the size and cost of an OCT system is possible through the use of integrated optics, allowing for compact and low-cost OCT systems, especially suited for applications in which instrument size may play an important role. In this work, we present a miniaturized spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) system. We design an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) spectrometer in silicon oxynitride for the 1300-nm spectral range. The spectral range of the SD-OCT system near 1300 nm is specifically selected for skin imaging. We aim at 18-μm depth resolution (determined by the full width at half maximum values of the transmission spectrum of the AWG) and a 1-mm depth range (determined by the wavelength spacing per output waveguide). The free spectral range of 78 nm and wavelength resolution of 0.4 nm of the AWG are determined to meet these requirements. We use ahe fiber-based SD-OCT system with AWG spectrometer. The Michelson interferometer is illuminated using a superluminescent diode which has a Gaussian-like spectrum with a bandwidth of 40 nm and a central wavelength of 1300 nm. Via a circulator the light is coupled into a 90/10 beamsplitter. Polarization controllers are placed into both, sample and reference arm. The backreflected light is redirected through the optical circulator to the AWG spectrometer. The collimated beam is imaged with a camera lens onto a 46 kHz CCD linescan camera. The acquired spectra are processed by first subtracting the reference arm spectrum, then compensating the dispersion, and finally resampling to k-space. We achieve a depth range of 1mm. The measured signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 75 dB. The axial resolution (FWHM) is determined from a Gaussian fit to the point spread function in amplitude at various depths. A slight decrease in depth resolution is observed at higher depth ranges, which we attribute to misalignment and lens aberrations. As a demonstration of OCT imaging using the AWG spectrometer, an image of a layered phantom is recorded. The phantom consists of three layers of scattering medium (µs = 4 mm-1, refractive index n = 1.41) interleaved with non-scattering tape. We can observe all three scattering layers up to the maximum imaging depth of 1 mm
Focused Ion Beam Milling Strategies of Photonic Crystal Structures in Silicon
We report on optimisation of the side wall angle of focused ion beam (FIB) fabricated submicron diameter holes in silicon. Two optimisation steps were performed. First, we compare two different FIB scanning procedures and show the advantages of using a spiral scanning method for the definition of holes in photonic crystal slab structures. Secondly, we investigate the effect on the geometry, of parameters for reducing the tapering effect. Furthermore, we report on the initial results regarding effects of ion implantation during FIB milling on optical losses, both before and after an annealing step, showing over a decade reduction of optical loss
Oscillating red giants in the CoRoT exo-field: Asteroseismic mass and radius determination
Context. Observations and analysis of solar-type oscillations in red-giant
stars is an emerging aspect of asteroseismic analysis with a number of open
questions yet to be explored. Although stochastic oscillations have previously
been detected in red giants from both radial velocity and photometric
measurements, those data were either too short or had sampling that was not
complete enough to perform a detailed data analysis of the variability. The
quality and quantity of photometric data as provided by the CoRoT satellite is
necessary to provide a breakthrough in observing p-mode oscillations in red
giants. We have analyzed continuous photometric time-series of about 11 400
relatively faint stars obtained in the exofield of CoRoT during the first 150
days long-run campaign from May to October 2007. We find several hundred stars
showing a clear power excess in a frequency and amplitude range expected for
red-giant pulsators. In this paper we present first results on a sub-sample of
these stars. Aims. Knowing reliable fundamental parameters like mass and radius
is essential for detailed asteroseismic studies of red-giant stars. As the
CoRoT exofield targets are relatively faint (11-16 mag) there are no (or only
weak) constraints on the star's location in the H-R diagram. We therefore aim
to extract information about such fundamental parameters solely from the
available time series. Methods. We model the convective background noise and
the power excess hump due to pulsation with a global model fit and deduce
reliable estimates for the stellar mass and radius from scaling relations for
the frequency of maximum oscillation power and the characteristic frequency
separation.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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