Analytical survey of development directions of social labour sphere of urban settlement

The article shows the relevance of implementing the development processes and expanding the infoshere within the international standards of statistical accounting. It reflects methodological approaches to analytical processing of information resources characterizing the conditions and trends in developing modern urban settlement. The article also provides the dynamics on the a number of indexes of social labour sphere in Rostov-on-Don. It shows the practicability of forming the conception of the strategic development of the urban settlement based on official information resources. The article provides the comparative assessment of the position of Rostov-on-Don as the capital of the Southern Federal District on a number of indexes of social labour sphere regarding million-plus cities of Russian and regional capitals forming a part of the Southern Federal District.peer-reviewe

Broadband dispersion measurement of ZBLAN, germanate and silica fibers in MidIR

We report the first ultra-broad band dispersion measurements in short-length ZBLAN, germanate and silica-based optical fibers in the near- and midIR wavelength ranges between 1.7 and 2.0 μ m and from 2.3 to 2.45 μm, using two ultra-broadband light sources: a broadband superluminescent Tm-doped fiber source and a novel femtosecond pulsed mode-locked Cr:ZnS oscillator. The measured second order dispersion characteristics of the fibers correspond to the theoretical predictions (numerical calculations)

Control of optical bistability and complex dynamics of a nonlinear interferometer

Transfer functions and dynamic characteristics of a Fabry-Perot interferometer with a multilevel resonant medium have been studied theoretically under conditions of two-frequency excitation when one of the light beams had no resonator feedback. An incoherent control method, using absorption of an independent light beam by molecules in excited energy states, has been proposed for the bistable and dynamic characteristics of a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer

Spin-orbital Conversion of Bessel Light Beams By Liquid Crystal Elements

For the first time, the spin-orbital conversion of the linearly polarized Bessel beams in the process of their propagation in the electrically-controlled liquid crystal cell has been realized experimentally. Variations in the polarization, phase, and spatial structure of the beam have been analyzed. It has been shown that, when a Bessel beam is propagating along the liquid crystal director, the generated beam is orthogonally polarized, whereas the topological charge is varied by two unities. Keywords: Bessel light beams, spin-orbital conversion; liquid crystal

Structured aqueous processed lignin-based NMC cathodes for energy-dense LIBs with improved rate capability

The cost and environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can be reduced substantially by enabling the aqueous processing of cathode materials. For the first time, we fabricate high-density, thick NMC111 cathode coatings using water as a solvent, and bio-derived kraft lignin as a binder material. The performance deterioration at high discharge currents is amplified by high mass loading and low bulk porosity. At porosities higher than 60%, the electronic conductivity limits the rate capability of the cathode, while for porosities lower than 30%, ionic conduction causes significant ionic polarization and consequently diminishes rate performance. The underlying lithium-ion diffusion limitation at current densities higher than 0.2 C is mitigated by creating line structures on the surface of the cathode. Structuring the half-dried cathode surface with ceramic blades is preferred over a stamp-like silicon wafer, and the line structures are easier to produce with high mechanical stability in comparison to pit structures. The lignin/water cells investigated herein restore after undergoing rate capability tests (5C), except those with pit structures or ultra-high thickness (>200 μm), due to the extensive crack formation during water evaporation which causes poor mechanical stability. Mechanical and laser structuring methods are compared on the surface of a PVDF/NMP-based cathode. Concerning the implementation in a large-scale battery factory, mechanical structuring is currently considered a processing of choice as it has no surface residuals or waste material. However, laser structuring with ultra-short pulses technique has the potential of outperforming mechanical structuring if the process is optimized to high precision to reduce residual and waste material, due to reproducibility and lower operational costs

Sub-surface modifications in silicon with ultra-short pulsed lasers above 2 µm

Nonlinear optical phenomena in silicon such as self-focusing and multi-photon absorption are strongly dependent on the wavelength, energy, and duration of the exciting pulse, especially for wavelengths >2µm. We investigate the sub-surface modification of silicon using ultra-short pulsed lasers at wavelengths in the range of 1950–2400 nm, at a pulse duration between 2 and 10 ps and pulse energy varying from 1 µJ to 1 mJ. We perform numerical simulations and experiments using fiber-based lasers built in-house that operate in this wavelength range for the surface and sub-surface processing of Si-wafers. The results are compared to the literature data at 1550 nm. Due to a dip in the nonlinear absorption spectrum and a peak in the spectrum of the third-order nonlinearity, the wavelengths between 2000 and 2200 nm prove to be more favorable for creating sub-surface modifications in silicon. This is the case even though those wavelengths do not allow as tight focusing as those at 1550 nm. This is compensated for by an increased self-focusing due to the nonlinear Kerr-effect around 2100 nm at high light intensities, characteristic for ultra-short pulses

Phase hologram formation in highly concentrated phenanthrenequinone–PMMA media

For phase holographic gratings in layers of polymethylmethacrylate, containing phenanthrenequinone in high concentration (nearly 3 mol%), a discrepancy between experimental (up to 9) and estimated (∼45) magnitudes of the thermal diffusion amplification coefficient has been revealed. Analysis of plausible reasons of the lower experimental efficiency of the diffusion amplification has been carried out. The influence of material deformations on the reflection grating formation process was investigated experimentally. It is shown that thermoactivated amplification of holograms under high phenanthrenequinone concentration and its profound modulation are depressed by the arising density ‘grating’

New dyes for guest-host mode

New guest-host dyes of red and purple colour suitable for fabrication of ultrathin film polarizer from polymerizable liquid crystals are developed. When the absorption spectrum of dye matches the photopic curve, samples with total film thickness below 50 μm show good visual contrast

Holographic volume gratings in a glass-like polymer material

We demonstrate a possibility to write efficient and thermally stable volume holographic gratings in a glassy polymer material based on PMMA and phenanthrenequinone with layers prepared, by casting the liquid solution of ingredients on a substrate and drying to a solid state. A high concentration of phenanthrenequinone (up to 4mol.%) makes it possible to use photosensitive layers of lower thicknesses (50–180 μm) for the recording of efficient holographic gratings. The exposing is followed by a thermal amplification of the grating due to diffusion of residual phenanthrenequinone molecules and fixation by an incoherent optical illumination. We present experimental temporal curves of the refractive index modulation and diffraction efficiency both under the exposure and the heating process. The behavior of the gratings under temperatures up to 140 ◦C has been studied