Laser Micromachining of Active and Passive Photonic Integrated Circuits

Thesis Supervisor: Rajeev J. Ram Title: ProfessorThis thesis describes the development of advanced laser resonators and applications of laserinduced micromachining for photonic circuit fabrication. Two major advantages of laserinduced micromachining are direct patterning and writing on large areas of substrates at high speed following the exposure of laser light, without using complicated photomask steps. For passive photonic devices fabrication, a novel femtosecond laser with unprecedented low repetition rates of 4 MHz is demonstrated to generate high intensity pulses, as high as 1.25 MW with 100 nJ pulse energies and 80 fs pulse durations directly from this laser resonator, without using any active devices or amplifiers. These high intensity pulses are applied to transparent glass materials to demonstrate micromachining of waveguides, gratings, couplers, and three dimensional waveguides and their beam couplings. Active and passive semiconductor devices can be monolithically integrated by employing high energy laser pulses to locally disorder quantum well regions. The 45 nm bandgap shifts at 1.55 µm with a standard Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 535 nm are realized. Finally, unidirectional semiconductor ring lasers for high-density integration are developed as a potential application to photonic integrated circuits. Hybrid semiconductor S-crossover and retroreflected ring lasers, as prototypes for unidirectional operation, are built and result in up to 21.5 dB and 24.5 dB of counter-mode suppression ratio, respectively, which is in good agreement with theoretical predictions

Functional neural differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells using bFGF and forskolin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from adipose tissue have the capacity to differentiate into mesenchymal as well as endodermal and ectodermal cell lineage <it>in vitro</it>. We characterized the multipotent ability of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hADSCs) as MSCs and investigated the neural differentiation potential of these cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Human ADSCs from earlobe fat maintained self-renewing capacity and differentiated into adipocytes, osteoblasts, or chondrocytes under specific culture conditions. Following neural induction with bFGF and forskolin, hADSCs were differentiated into various types of neural cells including neurons and glia <it>in vitro</it>. In neural differentiated-hADSCs (NI-hADSCs), the immunoreactivities for neural stem cell marker (nestin), neuronal markers (Tuj1, MAP2, NFL, NFM, NFH, NSE, and NeuN), astrocyte marker (GFAP), and oligodendrocyte marker (CNPase) were significantly increased than in the primary hADSCs. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the mRNA levels encoding for ABCG2, nestin, Tuj1, MAP2, NFL, NFM, NSE, GAP43, SNAP25, GFAP, and CNPase were also highly increased in NI-hADSCs. Moreover, NI-hADSCs acquired neuron-like functions characterized by the display of voltage-dependent tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive sodium currents, outward potassium currents, and prominent negative resting membrane potentials under whole-cell patch clamp recordings. Further examination by RT-PCR showed that NI-hADSCs expressed high level of ionic channel genes for sodium (SCN5A), potassium (MaxiK, Kv4.2, and EAG2), and calcium channels (CACNA1C and CACNA1G), which were expressed constitutively in the primary hADSCs. In addition, we demonstrated that Kv4.3 and Eag1, potassium channel genes, and NE-Na, a TTX-sensitive sodium channel gene, were highly induced following neural differentiation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These combined results indicate that hADSCs have the same self-renewing capacity and multipotency as stem cells, and can be differentiated into functional neurons using bFGF and forskolin.</p

Laser micromachining of active and passive photonic integrated circuits

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-158).This thesis describes the development of advanced laser resonators and applications of laser-induced micromachining for photonic circuit fabrication. Two major advantages of laser-induced micromachining are direct patterning and writing on large areas of substrates at high speed following the exposure of laser light, without using complicated photomask steps. For passive photonic devices fabrication, a novel femtosecond laser with unprecedented low repetition rates of 4 MHz is demonstrated to generate high intensity pulses, as high as 1.25 MW with 100 nJ pulse energies and 80 fs pulse durations directly from this laser resonator, without using any active devices or amplifiers. These high intensity pulses are applied to transparent glass materials to demonstrate micromachining of waveguides, gratings, couplers, and three dimensional waveguides and their beam couplings. Active and passive semiconductor devices can be monolithically integrated by employing high energy laser pulses to locally disorder quantum well regions. The 45 nm bandgap shifts at 1.55 ptm with a standard Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 535 nm are realized. Finally, unidirectional semiconductor ring lasers for high-density integration are developed as a potential application to photonic integrated circuits. Hybrid semiconductor S-crossover and retro-reflected ring lasers, as prototypes for unidirectional operation, are built and result in up to 21.5 dB and 24.5 dB of counter-mode suppression ratio, respectively, which is in good agreement with theoretical predictions.by Seong-Ho Cho.Ph.D

Effects of Forestland Ownership Conversion on Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Case of South Korea

This research analyzed the effects of forestland conversion from private to public ownership on greenhouse gas emissions by quantifying the relationship between forestland ownership conversion and deforestation, and then examining the effects of the change in deforestation on greenhouse gas emissions in South Korea. Ex ante simulations forecast greenhouse gas emissions resulting from deforestation rates under the current level of national forestland and three scenarios of increased percentages of national forestland. The findings suggest that increasing the percentage of national forestland would mitigate the increase in the deforestation rate, which in turn would moderate the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.greenhouse gas emissions, Forestland Ownership, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q23, Q24, Q54,

Control Problems for Semilinear Neutral Differential Equations in Hilbert Spaces

We construct some results on the regularity of solutions and the approximate controllability for neutral functional differential equations with unbounded principal operators in Hilbert spaces. In order to establish the controllability of the neutral equations, we first consider the existence and regularity of solutions of the neutral control system by using fractional power of operators and the local Lipschitz continuity of nonlinear term. Our purpose is to obtain the existence of solutions and the approximate controllability for neutral functional differential control systems without using many of the strong restrictions considered in the previous literature. Finally we give a simple example to which our main result can be applied

GW Calculations on post-transition-metal oxides

In order to establish the reliable GW scheme that can be consistently applied to post-transition-metal oxides (post-TMOs), we carry out comprehensive GW calculations on electronic structures of ZnO, Ga2O3, In2O3, and SnO2, the four representative post-TMOs. Various levels of self-consistency (G0W0, GW0, and QPGW0) and different starting functionals (GGA, GGA + U, and hybrid functional) are tested and their influence on the resulting electronic structure is closely analyzed. It is found that the GW0 scheme with GGA + U as the initial functional turns out to give the best agreement with experiment, implying that describing the position of metal-d level precisely in the ground state plays a critical role for the accurate dielectric property and quasiparticle band gap. Nevertheless, the computation on ZnO still suffers from the shallow Zn-d level and we propose a modified approach (GW0+Ud) that additionally considers an effective Hubbard U term during GW0 iterations and thereby significantly improves the band gap. It is also shown that a GGA + U-based GW0(+Ud) scheme produces an accurate energy gap of crystalline InGaZnO4, implying that this can serve as a standard scheme that can be applied to general structures of post-TMOs. © 2014 American Physical Society.1991sciescopu

Comparison of the Plasma Metabolome Profiles Between the Internal Thoracic Artery and Ascending Aorta in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Using Gas Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry.

BackgroundThe left internal thoracic artery (LITA) has been used as the first conduit of choice in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) because of excellent long-term patency and outcomes. However, no studies have examined substances other than nitric oxide that could be beneficial for the bypass conduit, native coronary artery or ischemic myocardium. This study was conducted to evaluate differences in metabolic profiles between the LITA and ascending aorta using gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS).MethodsTwenty patients who underwent CABG using the LITA were prospectively enrolled. Plasma samples were collected simultaneously from the LITA and ascending aorta. GC-TOF-MS based untargeted metabolomic analyses were performed and a 2-step volcano plot analysis was used to identify distinguishable markers from two plasma metabolome profiles. Semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses were performed using GC-TOF-MS and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively, after selecting target metabolites based on the metabolite set enrichment analysis.ResultsInitial volcano plot analysis demonstrated 5 possible markers among 851 peaks detected. The final analysis demonstrated that the L-cysteine peak was significantly higher in the LITA than in the ascending aorta (fold change = 1.86). The concentrations of intermediate metabolites such as L-cysteine, L-methionine and L-cystine in the 'cysteine and methionine metabolism pathway' were significantly higher in the LITA than in the ascending aorta (2.0-, 1.4- and 1.2-fold, respectively). Quantitative analysis showed that the concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) was significantly higher in the LITA.ConclusionThe plasma metabolome profiles of the LITA and ascending aorta were different, particularly higher plasma concentrations of L-cysteine and H₂S in the LITA

Bone-added osteotome sinus floor elevation with simultaneous placement of non-submerged sand blasted with large grit and acid etched implants: a 5-year radiographic evaluation

PURPOSE: Implant survival rates using a bone-added osteotome sinus floor elevation (BAOSFE) procedure with simultaneous placement of a non-submerged sand blasted with large grit and acid etched (SLA) implant are well documented at sites where native bone height is less than 5 mm. This study evaluated the clinical results of non-submerged SLA Straumann implants placed at the time of the BAOSFE procedure at sites where native bone height was less than 4 mm. Changes in graft height after the BAOSFE procedure were also assessed using radiographs for 5 years after the implant procedure. METHODS: The BAOSFE procedure was performed on 4 patients with atrophic posterior maxillas with simultaneous placement of 7 non-submerged SLA implants. At least 7 standardized radiographs were obtained from each patient as follows: before surgery, immediately after implant placement, 6 months after surgery, every year for the next 3 years, and after more than 5 years had passed. Clinical and radiographic examinations were performed at every visit. Radiographic changes in graft height were calculated with respect to the implant's known length and the original sinus height. RESULTS: All implants were stable functionally, as well as clinically and radiographically, during the follow-up. Most of the radiographic reduction in the grafted bone height occurred in the first 2 years; reduction after 2 years was slight. CONCLUSIONS: The simultaneous placement of non-submerged SLA implants using the BAOSFE procedure is a feasible treatment option for patients with severe atrophic posterior maxillas. However, the grafted bone height is reduced during the healing period, and patients must be selected with care.ope