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At least 163 records · Page 9

Processing of Signals from Fiber Bragg Gratings Using Unbalanced Interferometers

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) have become preferred sensory structures in fiber optic sensing system. High sensitivity, embedability, and multiplexing capabilities make FBGs superior to other sensor configurations. The main feature of FBGs is that they respond in the wavelength domain with the wavelength of the returned signal as the indicator of the measured parameter. The wavelength is then converted to optical intensity by a photodetector to detect corresponding changes in intensity. This wavelength-to-intensity conversion is a crucial part in any FBG-based sensing system. Among the various types of wavelength-to-intensity converters, unbalanced interferometers are especially attractive because of their small weight and volume, lack of moving parts, easy integration, and good stability. In this paper we investigate the applicability of unbalanced interferometers to analyze signals reflected from Bragg gratings. Analytical and experimental data are presented.

Adamovsky, Grigory↗

Seven-core fibre Raman laser with intercore coupling

This paper reports results of a study aimed at producing a Raman fibre laser based on a multicore fibre with high-reflectivity fibre Bragg gratings inscribed in its peripheral cores using femtosecond laser pulses. We present spectral and power characteristics of a Raman laser whose output power at a wavelength of 1090 nm is 2.5 W. The laser emission linewidth has been shown to decrease as a result of the reduction in nonlinear effects owing to the larger effective mode area in the multicore fibre in comparison with a standard single-mode fibre Raman laser. (paper)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

In situ x-ray and electron scattering studies of oxide molecular beam epitaxial growth

We perform the first in situ synchrotron X-ray ray diffraction (SXRD) / reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) studies on the growth of complex oxide thin films by molecular beam epitaxy. The unique deposition chamber, located at the Advanced Photon Source, allows the preparation of complex oxide samples with monolayer precision and facilitates the formation of direct correlations between in situ X-ray studies and the more prevalent RHEED investigations. Importantly, because SXRD and RHEED probe different atomic-scale processes during thin film synthesis, their concomitant use enables the extraction of details concerning growth behavior than one cannot determine from either probe alone. We describe the results of such in situ studies on the epitaxial growth of perovskite LaNiO3on (La 0.18 Sr 0.82 )(Al 0.59 Ta 0.41 )O 3 (001). We find that during the earliest stages of growth, the RHEED and X-ray signals do not agree with each other, demonstrating that while regular RHEED oscillations may imply high quality growth, the film-substrate interface can undergo significant changes during deposition due to the occurrence of interdiffusion at the growth temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Interfacial Octahedral Manipulation Imparts Hysteresis-Free Metal to Insulator Transition in Ultrathin Nickelate Heterostructure

Much like epitaxial strain, engineering oxygen octahedral rotations (OORs) in perovskite oxide thin films can be a powerful means of manipulating their physical and chemical properties. Here, it is demonstrated that the fundamental character of the metal-insulator transition (MIT) can be sensitively controlled by the structure of the oxygen sublattice for NdNiO 3 thin films grown epitaxially on NdGaO 3 (110) substrates. The MIT is sharp and hysteretic for a Ni-O-Ni bond angle of 154.0° (6 nm thick film) like the bulk behavior, while it is diffuse and largely nonhysteretic for a bond angle of 149.5° (3 nm thick film), stemming from the smaller bond angle of the NdGaO 3 substrate. Using synchrotron X-ray diffraction to quantify the geometric framework of the oxygen sublattice, it is found that the influence of the substrate OORs propagates and decays after a few nanometers into the ultrathin film. The sublattice structure in the 6 nm thick film is similar to that for bulk NdNiO 3 , leading to the sharp and hysteretic MIT.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Double Bragg Diffraction of Bessel Light Beams on Ultrasound in Uniaxial Gyrotropic Crystals

Noncollinear double acousto-optical diffraction of Bessel light beams on ultrasound in uniaxial gyrotropic crystals is studied theoretically and experimentally. It is found that when a Bessel light beam propagates along the optic axis of a crystal, the diffracted light beams of the ±1 order are symmetric relative to the incident beam and have roughly the same intensity. Double Bragg diffraction is also observed when a Bessel light beam is incident at the Bragg angle and near the optic axis, but the intensities of the +1 and +2 order diffracted beams are significantly different.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Correcting intensity loss errors in the absence of texture-free reference samples during pole figure measurement

Even with the use of X-ray polycapillary lenses, sample tilting during pole figure measurement results in a decrease in the recorded X-ray intensity. The magnitude of this error is affected by the sample size and/or the finite detector size. These errors can be typically corrected by measuring the intensity loss as a function of the tilt angle using a texture-free reference sample (ideally made of the same alloy as the investigated material). Since texture-free reference samples are not readily available for all alloys, the present study employs an empirical procedure to estimate the correction curve for a particular experimental configuration. It involves the use of real texture-free reference samples that pre-exist in any X-ray diffraction laboratory to first establish the empirical correlations between X-ray intensity, sample tilt and their Bragg angles and thereafter generate correction curves for any Bragg angle. It will be shown that the empirically corrected textures are in very good agreement with the experimentally corrected ones. - Highlights: •Sample tilting during X-ray pole figure measurement leads to intensity loss errors. •Texture-free reference samples are typically used to correct the pole figures. •An empirical correction procedure is proposed in the absence of reference samples. •The procedure relies on reference samples that pre-exist in any texture laboratory. •Experimentally and empirically corrected textures are in very good agreement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Depth-Resolved X-Ray Nanoimaging of Coherent and Incoherent Energy Transport in Silicon Carbide

Understanding lattice dynamics is crucial for optimizing the process of creating functional structures, such as laser writing of color-center defects. However, existing structural probes have difficulty measuring structural dynamics with submicrometer depth sensitivity. Here, in this study, a depth-resolved ultrafast X-ray nanodiffraction technique is developed to track the lattice dynamics of silicon carbide (SiC) in three dimensions. Upon laser excitation of an aluminum layer that acts as a heat and strain transducer, a specular Bragg peak of SiC shows an overall increase in the X-ray diffraction intensity rather than a peak shift. The relaxation dynamics of the increased intensity are significantly different when probed on and off the Bragg peak. The fast subnanosecond relaxation probed at the maximum of the Bragg peak is a result of the propagation of a coherent strain wave along the depth direction, while a slow relaxation probed at the wings of the Bragg peak reflects a localized incoherent lattice heating. To further visualize these processes, spatiotemporal maps were obtained by scanning the relative position and delay between the laser pump and X-ray probe beams, which capture the propagation of the strain wave, as well as a stationary structural distortion close to the aluminum/SiC interface. These depth-resolved structural measurements disentangle energy dissipation mechanisms in laser-excited SiC, and they open opportunities for finer control of, for example, the formation of optically addressable defect complexes central to quantum information applications.

X-ray nanodiffraction↗

Spectroscopic investigations on oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes

The pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were oxidized by the ultrasonication process. The oxidized MWCNTs were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) and Fourier transform -Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopic techniques. The XRD analysis confirms that the oxidized MWCNTs exist in a hexagonal structure and the sharp XRD peak corresponds to the (002) Bragg’s reflection plane, which indicates that the MWCNTs have higher crystalline nature. The UV-Vis analysis confirms that the MWCNTs functionalized with the carboxylic acid. The red shift was observed corresponds to the D band in the Raman spectrum, which reveals that the reduced disordered graphitic structure of oxidized MWCNTs. The strong Raman peak was observed at 2563 cm{sup -1} corresponds to the overtone of the D band, which is the characteristic vibrational mode of oxidized MWCNTs. The carboxylic acid functionalization of MWCNTs enhances the dispersibility, which paves the way for potential applications in the field of biosensors and targeted drug delivery.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Distributed Bragg reflectors obtained by combining Se and Te compounds: Influence on the luminescence from CdTe quantum dots

We report on the optical properties of structures containing self assembled CdTe quantum dots (QDs) combined with Te and Se based distributed Bragg reflectors either in a half cavity geometry with a relatively broad cavity mode or in a full cavity geometry where the cavity mode is much narrower. We show that for both structures the extraction coefficient of the light emitted from the QDs ensemble is enhanced by more than one order of magnitude with respect to the QDs grown on a ZnTe buffer. However, a single QD line broadening is observed and attributed to an unintentional incorporation of Se in the vicinity of the CdTe QDs. We show that postponing the QDs growth for 24 h after the distributed Bragg reflector deposition allows recovering sharp emission lines from individual QDs. This two step growth method is proven to be efficient also for the structures with CdTe QDs containing a single Mn{sup 2+} ion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Lineshape spectroscopy with a very high resolution, very high signal-to-noise crystal spectrometer

We have developed a high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for measuring the shapes of spectral lines produced from laser-irradiated targets on the Orion laser facility. The instrument utilizes a spherically bent crystal geometry to spatially focus and spectrally analyze photons from foil or microdot targets. The high photon collection efficiency resulting from its imaging properties allows the instrument to be mounted outside the Orion chamber, where it is far less sensitive to particles, hard x-rays, or electromagnetic pulses than instruments housed close to the target chamber center in ten-inch manipulators. Moreover, Bragg angles above 50° are possible, which provide greatly improved spectral resolution compared to radially viewing, near grazing-incidence crystal spectrometers. These properties make the new instrument an ideal lineshape diagnostic for determining plasma temperature and density. We describe its calibration on the Livermore electron beam ion trap facility and present spectral data of the K-shell emission from highly charged sulfur produced by long-pulse as well as short-pulse beams on the Orion laser in the United Kingdom.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Micro- and nano-imaging at the diamond beamline I13L-imaging and coherence

The Diamond Beamline I13L is dedicated to imaging on the micron- and nano-lengthscale, operating in the energy range between 6 and 30 keV. For this purpose two independent stations have been built. The imaging branch is fully operational for micro-tomography and in-line phase contrast imaging with micrometer resolution. Currently a full-field microscope providing 50nm spatial resolution over a field of view of 100 µm is being tested. On the coherence branch, coherent diffraction imaging techniques such as ptychography and coherent X-ray Bragg diffraction are currently developed. The beamline contains a number of unique features. The machine layout has been modified to the so-called mini-beta scheme, providing significantly increased flux from the two canted undulators. New instrumental designs such as a robot arm for the detector in diffraction experiments have been employed. The imaging branch is operated in collaboration with Manchester University, called therefore the Diamond-Manchester Branchline.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Three-energy focusing Laue monochromator for the diamond light source x-ray pair distribution function beamline I15-1

The I15-1 beamline, the new side station to I15 at the Diamond Light Source, will be dedicated to the collection of atomic pair distribution function data. A Laue monochromator will be used consisting of three silicon crystals diffracting X-rays at a common Bragg angle of 2.83°. The crystals use the (1 1 1), (2 2 0), and (3 1 1) planes to select 40, 65, and 76 keV X-rays, respectively, and will be bent meridionally to horizontally focus the selected X-rays onto the sample. All crystals will be cut to the same optimized asymmetry angle in order to eliminate image broadening from the crystal thickness. Finite element calculations show that the thermal distortion of the crystals will affect the image size and bandpass.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Development and application of variable-magnification x-ray Bragg optics

A novel x-ray Bragg optics was developed for variable-magnification of an x-ray beam, and was combined with a module of the PILATUS pixel detector. A feasibility test of this optical system was carried out at the vertical-wiggler beamline BL-14B of the Photon Factory. By tuning the magnification factor, we could successfully control the spatial resolution of the optical system between 28 μm and 280 μm. X-ray absorption-contrast images of a leaf were observed at various magnification factors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

In-vacuum multi-modal monochromator for synchrotron-based hard x-ray micro-imaging

The original monochromator design we present consists in a high-vacuum vessel comprising three monochromators mounted side-by-side: a Lauë/Lauë, a Bragg/Bragg, and a double-multilayer monochromator. The selection of one monochromator type is done remotely by sliding laterally the crystal support in the monochromator vessel. In this way, exotic combinations such as Lauë/Bragg are also possible. Installation and commissioning of the new monochromator at ESRF beamline ID19 was carried out 2013-2014 (the multilayers not being installed yet). Beamline ID19 offers not only superb beam characteristics for phase-contrast imaging with a high level of sensitivity but also compared to other synchrotron X-ray imaging facilities a large beam of currently up to 7 cm × 1.3 cm. A wide energy range can be accessed in a fixed-exit mode (depending on the optics chosen the accessible energy range is between 10 keV and 200 keV). A beryllium exit window (10 cm × 10 cm active opening) completes the monochromator assembly.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Novel technique for spatially resolved imaging of molecular bond orientations using x-ray birefringence

Birefringence has been observed in anisotropic materials transmitting linearly polarized X-ray beams tuned close to an absorption edge of a specific element in the material. Synchrotron bending magnets provide X-ray beams of sufficiently high brightness and cross section for spatially resolved measurements of birefringence. The recently developed X-ray Birefringence Imaging (XBI) technique has been successfully applied for the first time using the versatile test beamline B16 at Diamond Light Source. Orientational distributions of the C–Br bonds of brominated “guest” molecules within crystalline “host” tunnel structures (in thiourea or urea inclusion compounds) have been studied using linearly polarized incident X-rays near the Br K-edge. Imaging of domain structures, changes in C–Br bond orientations associated with order-disorder phase transitions, and the effects of dynamic averaging of C–Br bond orientations have been demonstrated. The XBI setup uses a vertically deflecting high-resolution double-crystal monochromator upstream from the sample and a horizontally deflecting single-crystal polarization analyzer downstream, with a Bragg angle as close as possible to 45°. In this way, the ellipticity and rotation angle of the polarization of the beam transmitted through the sample is measured as in polarizing optical microscopy. The theoretical instrumental background calculated from the elliptical polarization of the bending-magnet X-rays, the imperfect polarization discrimination of the analyzer, and the correlation between vertical position and photon energy introduced by the monochromator agrees well with experimental observations. The background is calculated analytically because the region of X-ray phase space selected by this setup is sampled inefficiently by standard methods.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Bragg diffraction from sub-micron particles isolated by optical tweezers

We describe an apparatus using dynamic holographic optical tweezers which is capable of trapping and aligning a single micron scale anisotropic ZnO particle for x-ray Bragg diffraction experiments. The optical tweezers demonstrate enough stability to perform coherent x-ray diffraction imaging.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Mode splitting effect in FEMs with oversized Bragg resonators

Splitting of the fundamental mode in an oversized Bragg resonator with a step of the corrugation phase, which operates over the feedback loop involving the waveguide waves of different transverse structures, was found to be the result of mutual influence of the neighboring zones of the Bragg scattering. Theoretical description of this effect was developed within the framework of the advanced (four-wave) coupled-wave approach. It is shown that mode splitting reduces the selective properties, restricts the output power, and decreases the stability of the narrow-band operating regime in the free-electron maser (FEM) oscillators based on such resonators. The results of the theoretical analysis were confirmed by 3D simulations and “cold” microwave tests. Experimental data on Bragg resonators with different parameters in a 30-GHz FEM are presented. The possibility of reducing the mode splitting by profiling the corrugation parameters is shown. The use of the mode splitting effect for the output power enhancement by passive compression of the double-frequency pulse generated in the FEM with such a resonator is discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗