Traditional visible light communication (VLC) uses positive-intrinsic-negative photodiode (PD) or avalanche PD as the optical receivers (Rx). We demonstrate using a solar cell as the VLC Rx. The solar cell is flexible and low cost and converts the optical signal into an electrical signal directly without the need of external power supply. In addition to acting as the VLC passive Rx, the converted electrical signal from the solar cell can charge up the battery of the Rx nodes. Hence, the proposed scheme can be a promising candidate for the future Internet of Things network. However, a solar cell acting as a VLC Rx is very challenging, since the response of the solar cell is limited. Here, we propose and demonstrate using predistortion to significantly enhance the solar cell Rx response for the first time up to the authors’ knowledge. Experimental results show that the response of the solar cell Rx is significantly enhanced; and the original 2-kHz detection bandwidth of the solar cell can be enhanced by 250 times for receiving 500-kbit/s VLC signal at a transmission distance of 1 m. The operation principle, the generated voltage by the solar cell, and the maximum data rates achieved at different transmission distances are also studied.

Interest in using the higher harmonic generation of ultrasonic guided wave modes for nondestructive evaluation continues to grow tremendously as the understanding of nonlinear guided wave propagation has enabled further analysis. The combination of the attractive properties of guided waves with the attractive properties of higher harmonic generation provides a very unique potential for characterization of incipient damage, particularly in plate and shell structures. Guided waves can propagate relatively long distances, provide access to hidden structural components, have various displacement polarizations, and provide many opportunities for mode conversions due to their multimode character. Moreover, higher harmonic generation is sensitive to changing aspects of the microstructures such as to the dislocation density, precipitates, inclusions, and voids. We review the recent advances in the theory of nonlinear guided waves, as well as the numerical simulations and experiments that demonstrate their utility.

This paper presents the results of an experimental study in which guided ultrasonic waves are used for the contactless nondestructive testing of a plate immersed in water. In the experiment, narrowband leaky Lamb waves are generated using a focused transducer and are detected with an array of five immersion sensors arranged in a semicircle. The ultrasonic signals are processed to extract a few damage-sensitive features from the time and frequency domains. These features are then fed to an artificial neural network to identify the presence of hidden defects, i.e., defects devised on the surface of the plate not facing the probing system. We find that the noncontact inspection system and the signal processing technique enable the classification of the plate health with a success rate >75%.

Carbonation causes a physicochemical alteration of cement-based materials, leading to a decrease of porosity and an increase of material hardness and strength. However, carbonation will decrease the pH of the internal pore water solution, which may depassivate the internal reinforcing steel, giving rise to structural durability concerns. Therefore, the proper selection of materials informed by parameters sensitive to the carbonation process is crucial to ensure the durability of concrete structures. The authors investigate the feasibility of using linear and nonlinear dynamic vibration response data to monitor the progression of the carbonation process in cement-based materials. Mortar samples with dimensions of 40×40×160  mm were subjected to an accelerated carbonation process through a carbonation chamber with 55% relative humidity and >95% of CO2 atmosphere. The progress of carbonation in the material was monitored using data obtained with the test setup of the standard resonant frequency test (ASTM C215-14), from a pristine state until an almost fully carbonated state. Linear dynamic modulus, quality factor, and a material nonlinear response, evaluated through the upward resonant frequency shift during the signal ring-down, were investigated. The compressive strength and the depth of carbonation were also measured. Carbonation resulted in a modest increase in the dynamic modulus, but a substantive increase in the quality factor (inverse attenuation) and a decrease in the material nonlinearity parameter. The combined measurement of the vibration quality factor and nonlinear parameter shows potential as a sensitive measure of material changes brought about by carbonation.

We present an overview of research developments related to the nonlinear vibroacoustic modulation technique used for structural damage detection. The method of interest is based on nonlinear interactions of a low-frequency pumping wave and a high-frequency probing wave. These two waves are introduced to monitored structures simultaneously. Then the presence of damage is exhibited by additional frequency components that result from nonlinear damage-wave interactions. A vast amount of research has been performed in this area over the last two decades. We aim to present the state-of-the-art of these developments. The major focus is on monitoring approaches, modeling aspects, actuation/sensing, signal processing, and application examples.

Applicability of specific Lamb wave modes for delamination detection and quantification in a laminated aluminum plate is investigated. The Lamb modes were generated in the plate using a broadband piezoelectric transducer structured with a rigid electrode. Appropriate excitation frequencies and modes for inspection were selected from theoretical dispersion curves. Sensitivity of antisymmetric and symmetric modes for delamination detection and quantification has been investigated using the Hilbert–Huang transform. The mode conversion phenomenon of Lamb waves during progressive delamination is observed. The antisymmetric mode is found to be more reliable for delamination detection and quantification. In this investigation, the changes in the phase of guided Lamb wave modes are related to the degree of delamination, unlike other studies, where mostly the attenuation of the propagating waves has been related to the extent of the internal damage, such as cracks and corrosions. Appropriate features for delamination detection and quantification are extracted from the experimental data.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) based on guided waves allows assessing the health of a structure due to the sensitivity to the occurrence of delamination. However, wave propagation presents several complexities for effective damage identification in composite structures. An efficient implementation of a guided wave-based SHM system requires an accurate analysis of collected data to obtain a useful detection. This paper is concerned with the identification of small emerging delaminations in composite structural components using a sparse array of surface ultrasonic transducers. An ultrasonic-guided wave tomography technique focused on impact damage detection in composite plate-like structures is presented. A statistical damage index approach is adopted to interpret the recorded signals, and a subsequent graphic interpolation is implemented to reconstruct the damage appearance. Experimental tests carried out on a typical composite structure demonstrated the effectiveness of the developed technique with the aim to investigate the presence and location of damage using simple imaging reports and a limited number of measurements. A traditional ultrasonic inspection (C-scan) is used to assess the methodology.

This study aims at evaluating the feasibility of strain measurement and crack detection in thin unbonded concrete pavement overlays with pulse prepump Brillouin optical time domain analysis. Single-mode optical fibers with two-layer and three-layer coatings, respectively, were applied as fully distributed sensors, their performances were compared with analytical predictions. They were successfully protected from damage during concrete casting of three full-scale concrete panels when 5 to 10-cm-thick protective mortar covers had been set for 2 h. Experimental results from three-point loading tests of the panels indicated that the strain distributions measured from the two types of sensors were in good agreement, and cracks can be detected at sharp peaks of the measured strain distributions. The two-layer and three-layer coated fibers can be used to measure strains up to 2.33% and 2.42% with a corresponding sensitivity of 5.43×10−5 and 4.66×10−5  GHz/μϵ, respectively. Two cracks as close as 7 to 9 cm can be clearly detected. The measured strains in optical fiber were lower than the analytical prediction by 10% to 25%. Their difference likely resulted from strain transfer through various coatings, idealized point loading, varying optical fiber embedment, and concrete heterogeneity.

A method capable of characterizing artificial weathering damage in dimension stone cladding using access to one side only is presented. Dolomitic limestone test samples with increasing levels of damage were created artificially by exposing undamaged samples to increasing temperature levels of 100°C, 200°C, 300°C, 400°C, 500°C, 600°C, and 700°C for a 90 min period of time. Using access to one side only, these test samples were nondestructively evaluated using a nonlinear approach based upon noncollinear wave mixing, which involves mixing two critically refracted dilatational ultrasonic waves. Criteria were used to assure that the detected scattered wave originated via wave interaction in the limestone and not from nonlinearities in the testing equipment. Bending tests were used to evaluate the flexure strength of beam samples extracted from the artificially weathered samples. It was observed that the percentage of strength reduction is linearly correlated (R2=98) with the temperature to which the specimens were exposed; it was noted that samples exposed to 400°C and 600°C had a strength reduction of 60% and 90%, respectively. It was also observed that results from the noncollinear wave mixing approach correlated well (R2=0.98) with the destructively obtained percentage of strength reduction.

It is difficult to visually track a user’s hand because of the many degrees of freedom (DOF) a hand has. For this reason, most model-based hand pose tracking methods have relied on the use of multiview images or RGB-D images. This paper proposes a model-based method that accurately tracks three-dimensional hand poses using monocular RGB images in real time. The main idea of the proposed method is to reduce hand tracking ambiguity by adopting a step-by-step estimation scheme consisting of three steps performed in consecutive order: palm pose estimation, finger yaw motion estimation, and finger pitch motion estimation. In addition, this paper proposes highly effective algorithms for each step. With the assumption that a human hand can be considered as an assemblage of articulated planes, the proposed method uses a piece-wise planar hand model which enables hand model regeneration. The hand model regeneration modifies the hand model to fit the current user’s hand and improves the accuracy of the hand pose estimation results. Above all, the proposed method can operate in real time using only CPU-based processing. Consequently, it can be applied to various platforms, including egocentric vision devices such as wearable glasses. The results of several experiments conducted verify the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

The statistics of detector outputs produced by an imaging system are derived from basic radiometric concepts and definitions. We show that a fundamental way of describing a photon-limited imaging system is in terms of a Poisson random process in spatial, angular, and wavelength variables. We begin the paper by recalling the concept of radiance in geometrical optics, radiology, physical optics, and quantum optics. The propagation and conservation laws for radiance in each of these domains are reviewed. Building upon these concepts, we distinguish four categories of imaging detectors that all respond in some way to the incident radiance, including the new category of photon-processing detectors (capable of measuring radiance on a photon-by-photon basis). This allows us to rigorously show how the concept of radiance is related to the statistical properties of detector outputs and to the information content of a single detected photon. A Monte-Carlo technique, which is derived from the Boltzmann transport equation, is presented as a way to estimate probability density functions to be used in reconstruction from photon-processing data.

Li et al. and Yang et al. proposed (t,s,k,n)-essential secret image sharing methods to share a secret image into essential shadows and nonessential shadows. However, if the shadows have been distributed to the holders and extra shadows are required, the processes of regenerating and retransmitting shadows are necessary. In the proposed method, when receiving t essential shadows and k−t nonessential shadows, the total size of the adopted shadow is the same as the size of the secret image. Most importantly, the proposed method achieves less size of total required shadows (when using the minimal essential shadows) than what was proposed by Li et al. and achieves less size of essential shadow than the method contended by Yang et al. Moreover, we can have the additional shadows relate to other existing shadows without regenerating.

Miniature piezoelectric actuators are commonly used as a compact means to relay images for numerous endoscopic applications. These scanners normally consist of an electrically driven lead zirconate titanate (PZT) tube that oscillates an optical fiber at its resonant frequency. The diameter and length of the PZT and fiber, the attachment of the fiber to the PZT, as well as the driving signal determine the main characteristics of the scan—frequency and amplitude of vibration. We present a new, robust, and repeatable method for producing miniature PZT actuators. The described technology allows for continuous tuning of the scanner mechanical properties during the assembly stage, enabling adjustment of resonant frequency and subsequent amplitude of vibration without a priori knowledge of the fiber’s mechanical properties. The method consists of manufacturing high-precision fiber-holding plastic inserts with diamond turning lathes that allow for the fiber length to be quickly varied and locked during operation in order to meet the preferred performance. This concept of tuned PZTs was demonstrated with an imaging technique that combined two scanners oscillating in unison at the ends of a single optical fiber to relay images without the need to correlate the driving signal with a detector.

An approach to the spot-centroiding algorithm for the Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWS) is presented. The SHWS has a common problem, in that while measuring high-order wavefront distortion, the spots may exceed each of the subapertures, which are used to restrict the displacement of spots. This artificial restriction may limit the dynamic range of the SHWS. When using the SHWS to measure adaptive optics or aspheric lenses, the accuracy of the traditional spot-centroiding algorithm may be uncertain because the spots leave or cross the confined area of the subapertures. The proposed algorithm combines the Hough transform with an artificial neural network, which requires no confined subapertures, to increase the dynamic range of the SHWS. This algorithm is then explored in comprehensive simulations and the results are compared with those of the existing algorithm.

The modulation transfer function (MTF) is the tool most commonly used for quantifying the performance of an electro-optical imaging system. Recently, trapezoid-shaped pixels were designed and used in a retina-like sensor in place of rectangular-shaped pixels. The MTF of a detector with a trapezoidal pixel array is determined according to its definition. Additionally, the MTFs of detectors with differently shaped pixels, but the same pixel areas, are compared. The results show that the MTF values of the trapezoidal pixel array detector are obviously larger than those of rectangular and triangular pixel array detectors at the same frequencies.

We applied a wide-field time-resolved luminescence (TRL) method with a pulsed laser and a gated intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) for deciphering obliterated documents for use in forensic science. The TRL method can nondestructively measure the dynamics of luminescence, including fluorescence and phosphorescence lifetimes, which prove to be useful parameters for image detection. First, we measured the TRL spectra of four brands of black porous-tip pen inks on paper to estimate their luminescence lifetimes. Next, we acquired the TRL images of 12 obliterated documents at various delay times and gate times of the ICCD. The obliterated contents were revealed in the TRL images because of the difference in the luminescence lifetimes of the inks. This method requires no pretreatment, is nondestructive, and has the advantage of wide-field imaging, which makes it is easy to control the gate timing. This demonstration proves that TRL imaging and spectroscopy are powerful tools for forensic document examination.

The simulation and experimental results of the temperature tuning of an Er3+-doped fiber (EDF) Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) proposed for sensing applications were presented. The MZI was mechanically induced using two polypropylene long-period fiber gratings made with a pulsed CO2 laser. The proposed interferometer device showed four peaks of transmittance and multifiltering around the 1550-nm region, suitable for Telecomm systems. The numerical simulation is simple and is based on rate equations which allows for amplified spontaneous emission behavior prediction and mode propagation. The demonstrated fringe pattern makes the proposed device suitable for multiwavelength sensors based on EDFs.

The internal shape and alignment of accelerator discs is crucial for efficient collider operation at the future compact linear collider (CLIC). We applied a calibrated custom-made Fourier-domain short coherence interferometer to measure the height of 40 and 60  μm ultraprecisely turned steps (surface roughness Ra≤25  nm, flatness ≤2  μm) on an oxygen-free electronic copper disc. The step heights were quantified to be (39.6±2.6)  μm and (59.0±2.3)  μm. The uncertainties are quoted at 95% confidence level and include contributions from calibration, refractive index of air, cosine error, surface roughness, and thermal expansion in comparison to standard temperature of 20°C. The results were verified by measuring the same steps using a commercial white light interferometer Veeco—NT3300. Our instrument can ensure that the accelerator discs of the CLIC are aligned within the tolerance required for efficient collider operation.

A flexible new technique is proposed to calibrate the geometric model of line scan cameras. In this technique, the line scan camera is rigidly coupled to a calibrated frame camera to establish a pair of stereo cameras. The linear displacements and rotation angles between the two cameras are fixed but unknown. This technique only requires the pair of stereo cameras to observe a specially designed planar pattern shown at a few (at least two) different orientations. At each orientation, a stereo pair is obtained including a linear array image and a frame image. Radial distortion of the line scan camera is modeled. The calibration scheme includes two stages. First, point correspondences are established from the pattern geometry and the projective invariance of cross-ratio. Second, with a two-step calibration procedure, the intrinsic parameters of the line scan camera are recovered from several stereo pairs together with the rigid transform parameters between the pair of stereo cameras. Both computer simulation and real data experiments are conducted to test the precision and robustness of the calibration algorithm, and very good calibration results have been obtained. Compared with classical techniques which use three-dimensional calibration objects or controllable moving platforms, our technique is affordable and flexible in close-range photogrammetric applications.

We used an interferometric technique based on typical optical coherence tomography (OCT) schemes for measuring distances of industrial interest. The system employed as a light source a tunable erbium-doped fiber laser of ∼20-pm bandwidth with a tuning range between 1520 and 1570 nm. It has a sufficiently long coherence length to enable long depth range imaging. A set of fiber Bragg gratings was used as a self-calibration method, which has the advantage of being a passive system that requires no additional electronic devices. The proposed configuration and the coherence length of the laser enlarge the range of maximum distances that can be measured with the common OCT configuration, maintaining a good axial resolution. A measuring range slightly >17  cm was determined. The system performance was evaluated by studying the repeatability and axial resolution of the results when the same optical path difference was measured. Additionally, the thickness of a semitransparent medium was also measured.

Blade vibration measurement based on the blade tip-timing method has become an industry-standard procedure. Fiber bundle sensors are widely used for tip-timing measurement. However, the variation of clearance between the sensor and the blade will bring a tip-timing error to fiber bundle sensors due to the change in signal amplitude. This article presents methods based on software and hardware to reduce the error caused by the tip clearance change. The software method utilizes both the rising and falling edges of the tip-timing signal to determine the blade arrival time, and a calibration process suitable for asymmetric tip-timing signals is presented. The hardware method uses an automatic gain control circuit to stabilize the signal amplitude. Experiments are conducted and the results prove that both methods can effectively reduce the impact of tip clearance variation on the blade tip-timing and improve the accuracy of measurements.

The Alamouti code can obtain the diversity gain utilizing the transmitting signal orthogonally without the use of a complicated decoding scheme. The modified Alamouti code for the ultraviolet (UV) communication system is studied in theoretical analysis, MATLAB® simulation, and offline experiment. The theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that the usage of the Alamouti code in the UV communication system can achieve a higher diversity gain and reduce the system bit error rate more effectively than the single-input single-output and single-input multiple-output technologies. The experiments were performed to verify the simulation results. Next, we analyzed the discrepancy between the simulation results and the experimental results. These studies are helpful for UV multiple-input multiple-output communication system design and implementation.

Ray-tracing (RT) has long been the workhorse technique for analyzing light-emitting diode (LED) dies and packages and has led to significant improvements in extraction efficiency and beam shaping. However, to achieve further enhancements, nano-/microscale features such as patterned substrates and surface textures have been explored. The coherent effects arising from these near/subwavelength features are difficult to include in the RT of the packaged device. We show that under certain conditions these effects can have a significant impact on LED performance, especially if back-reflectors are present. Furthermore, we demonstrate that coherence must be accounted for even in structures that would otherwise be considered as having relatively large feature sizes, such as gratings with periods many times the wavelength. We present comparisons between the optical responses of prototypical periodically patterned substrates modeled with RT alone and with a mixed-level approach that combines RT and rigorous electromagnetic simulation, such as rigorous coupled wave analysis and finite-difference time-domain. Several examples with varying lateral periods are computed with both methods. It is shown that these results may differ, and that these differences can be significant if back reflection is present. We conclude that a mixed-level approach is an efficient and accurate method to model light extraction in modern LEDs.

We propose curved V-groove-based patterns for light guide plates (LGPs) and demonstrate their performance by calculating their uniformity and luminance. Instead of the linear V-groove patterns used in previous research, curved patterns with asymmetric V-groove cuts were applied to the LGPs. The feasibility of obtaining enhanced uniformity and luminance from LGPs with the proposed patterns was evaluated by varying the degree of asymmetry of the V-grooves themselves and the distance between the V-groove patterns. The suggested patterns provided more stable uniformity with a small number of patterns and a large distance between patterns. The number of V-grooves is directly related to the processing time, and the degree of asymmetry in the V-groove cuts corresponds to the processing error during fabrication. Therefore, the proposed patterns could be fabricated with a low tolerance and shorter processing time. Their use would contribute to the cost-effective fabrication of LGPs. Because LGPs using the proposed patterns exhibited uniform illumination, a small number of curved patterns composed of asymmetric V-grooves can improve the characteristics of edge-type backlighting.

This paper describes the design of a high-throughput and high-uniformity pushbroom imaging spectrometer and telescope system that is capable of Landsat swath and resolution while providing better than 10 nm per pixel spectral resolution over the full visible to short-wave infrared band. The design is based on a 3200×480  element×18  μm pixel size focal plane array, two of which are utilized to cover the full swath. At an optical speed of F/1.8, the system is the fastest proposed to date to our knowledge. The utilization of only two Dyson-type spectrometer modules fed from the same telescope reduces system complexity while providing a solution within achievable detector technology. Two telescope designs are shown to achieve the required swath and resolution from different altitudes. Predictions of complete system response are shown. Also, it is shown that detailed ghost analysis is a requirement for this type of spectrometer and forms an essential part of a complete design.

High-precision aspherical polynomial fitting is essential to image quality evaluation in optical design and optimization. However, conventional fitting methods cannot reach optimal fitting precision and may somehow induce numerical ill-conditioning, such as excessively high coefficients. For this reason, a projection from polynomial equations to vector space was here proposed such that polynomial solutions could be obtained based on matrix and vector operation, so avoiding the problem of excessive coefficients. The Newton–Raphson iteration method was used to search for optimal fitting of the spherical surface. The profile fitting test showed that the proposed approach was able to obtain results with high precision and small value, which solved the numerical ill-conditioning phenomenon effectively.

Optical forces on a Rayleigh particle near the surface of a dielectric slab waveguide are considered. A light wave of the lowest-order TE0 mode is used to excite the particle. The transverse and longitudinal forces acting on the particle are studied. The particle is always trapped near the surface of the slab, where the electric field intensity is high. The particle can be pushed away from or pulled toward the light source along the surface of the slab by tuning the frequency around a switching frequency. This phenomenon switches between scattering and gradient forces near the switching frequency of the dielectric slab waveguide.

We numerically and experimentally investigate high-speed quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) vector signal generation based on a single Mach–Zehnder intensity modulator employing a precoding technique. We experimentally demonstrate 16-Gbaud QPSK vector signal generation at 16-GHz carrier adopting optical carrier suppression with precoding technique, and it is the highest baud rate generated by this technology. The 16-Gbaud QPSK modulated vector signal is delivered over a 20-km large effective area fiber or 2-km single-mode fiber with a bit-error-rate less than the hard-decision forward-error-correction threshold of 3.8×10−3.

The eigenmode of resonators with symmetric circular mirrors used in solid-state lasers is investigated. Further experiments on output beam quality on a passive Q-switched zigzag slab Nd:YAG laser have been performed by adopting Hartmann–Shack and Zernike–mode reconstruction methods. By the means of peak-valley and root mean square errors of the wavefront distribution, each order of Zernike aberrations are achieved accurately. Moreover, the distribution of circle energy in the far-field and corresponding beam evaluation factors can also be obtained by further calculation. Experimental results indicate that the wavefront aberration is mainly concentrated in the first 10 Zernike aberrations, which mainly includes the defocus Z3, the low-order astigmatism Z5, the coma aberration Z6, and the spherical aberration Z10, because of the crystal thermal effect and the intracavity phase perturbation. The method can be used to further analyze the compensation of intracavity aberration and optimal design for such lasers.

Optical wireless communication (OWC) using visible lights, also known as visible light communication (VLC), has attracted significant attention recently. As the traditional OWC and VLC receivers (Rxs) are based on PIN photo-diode or avalanche photo-diode, deploying the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor as the VLC Rx is attractive since nowadays nearly every person has a smart phone with embedded CMOS image sensor. However, deploying the CMOS image sensor as the VLC Rx is challenging. In this work, we propose and demonstrate two simple contrast ratio (CR) enhancement schemes to improve the contrast of the rolling shutter pattern. Then we describe their processing algorithms one by one. The experimental results show that both the proposed CR enhancement schemes can significantly mitigate the high-intensity fluctuations of the rolling shutter pattern and improve the bit-error-rate performance.

We propose a bidirectional transmission system based on stimulated Brillouin scattering effect and injection-locked distributed feedback laser to achieve an optical single-sideband modulation for downlink transmission. We reuse the transmitted light through phase modulation for uplink transmission to avoid interference of both signals in a bidirectional transport. After a 25-km single-mode fiber transmission is completed, a sideband power ratio of >15  dB is observed in the downlink transmission, and the power penalty of the system is <1  dB. In our proposed bidirectional transmission system, the performances of bit error rate analysis are good.

The performance of 4×1 multiplexer (MUX) and 8×1 multiplexer (MUX) using GaAs–AlGaAs based optical microring resonator (OMRR) is presented. The 4×1 MUX is designed with two OMRR and 8×1 MUX is designed with three OMRR. The proposed structure of 8×1 MUX is further used to design 8-bit logic shifter circuit. The nonlinear property of OMRR is used as an optical switch in all the optical logic circuits. The performance of 4×1 MUX, 8×1 MUX, and 8-bit logic shifter circuit is analyzed using Z-domain model. The various important parameters of the proposed model, such as on–off ratio [τon-off(dB)], full-width half maximum (FWHM), Q-factor, extinction ratio [ξER(dB)], contrast ratio [χCR(dB)] amplitude modulation [ηAM(dB)], are also analyzed.

The optical properties and energy-transfer upconversion luminescence of Er3+- and Pr3+/Yb3+-codoped PbGeO3-PbF2-xF2 (x=Mg, Ba) glass and glass-ceramic under infrared excitation at 975 nm is investigated. In Er3+/Yb3+-codoped samples, green (525 and 550 nm) and red (662 nm) luminescence corresponding to the H11/22→I15/24, S3/24→I15/24 e F9/24→I15/24, respectively, was readily observed. In the Pr3+/Yb3+-codoped system, emission peaks around 485, 530, 610, and 645, which were ascribed to the P03−HJ3 (J=4,5,6) and P03−FJ3 (J=2,3,4) transitions, respectively, were observed. The population of the praseodymium P03 emitting level was accomplished through a combination of ground-state absorption of Yb3+ ions at F7/22, energy-transfer Yb3+(F5/22)−Pr3+(H43), and excited-state absorption of Pr3+ ions provoking the G41−P03 transition. The dependence of the upconversion emission on glass composition, pump power, and doping contents was also examined. Glassy and glass-ceramic samples were compared in order to determine the system with better luminescence efficiency.

Our proposed silicon-based guided-wave optical flow sensor consists of a diaphragm with a small opening used as an orifice and a waveguide across the diaphragm. The sensor operates based on Bernoulli’s theorem and the elasto-optic effect. A sensor, which had a 10×10-mm2, 50-μm-thick diaphragm with a 0.34×0.34-mm2 opening, was fabricated to demonstrate and confirm the sensor operation. Measured output power as a function of flow rate using oxygen gas agreed quite well with the theoretical prediction although slight deviation was seen in the high flow rate region. Moreover, according to Bernoulli’s theorem, sensitivity is strongly dependent on sectional area of opening. So, three sensors with different opening areas, such as 0.28×0.28, 0.34×0.34, and 0.55×0.55  mm2, were fabricated to examine such a dependence, which would be helpful to design the sensor. The measured sensitivity was found to be almost proportional to area of the opening, similar to the theoretical prediction.

An approach for multiobjective optimal design of a plasmonic waveguide is presented. We use a multiobjective extension of a genetic algorithm to find the Pareto-optimal geometries. The design variables are the geometrical parameters of the waveguide. The objective functions are chosen as the figure of merit defined as the ratio between the propagation distance and effective mode size and the normalized coupling length between adjacent waveguides at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm.

We investigate nanocrystals of ternary compounds CdXHg1−XSe with 0