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At least 1,405 records · Page 78

High-resolution and high-sensitivity phase-contrast imaging by focused hard x-ray ptychography with a spatial filter

We demonstrate high-resolution and high-sensitivity x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a weakly scattering extended object by scanning coherent diffractive imaging, i.e., ptychography, using a focused x-ray beam with a spatial filter. We develop the x-ray illumination optics installed with the spatial filter to collect coherent diffraction patterns with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We quantitatively visualize the object with a slight phase shift ({approx}{lambda}/320) at spatial resolution better than 17 nm in a field of view larger than {approx}2 Multiplication-Sign 2{mu}m{sup 2}. The present coherent method has a marked potential for high-resolution and wide-field-of-view observation of weakly scattering objects such as biological soft tissues.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Quantum graph as a quantum spectral filter

We study the transmission of a quantum particle along a straight input-output line to which a graph {Gamma} is attached at a point. In the point of contact we impose a singularity represented by a certain properly chosen scale-invariant coupling with a coupling parameter {alpha}. We show that the probability of transmission along the line as a function of the particle energy tends to the indicator function of the energy spectrum of {Gamma} as {alpha}{yields}{infinity}. This effect can be used for a spectral analysis of the given graph {Gamma}. Its applications include a control of a transmission along the line and spectral filtering. The result is illustrated with an example where {Gamma} is a loop exposed to a magnetic field. Two more quantum devices are designed using other special scale-invariant vertex couplings. They can serve as a band-stop filter and as a spectral separator, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An easy-to-implement filter for separating photo-excited signals from topography in scanning tunneling microscopy

In order to achieve elemental and chemical sensitivity in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), synchrotron x-rays have been applied to excite core-level electrons during tunneling. The x-ray photo-excitations result in tip currents that are superimposed onto conventional tunneling currents. While carrying important physical information, the varying x-ray induced currents can destabilize the feedback loop causing it to be unable to maintain a constant tunneling current, sometimes even causing the tip to retract fully or crash. In this paper, we report on an easy-to-implement filter circuit that can separate the x-ray induced currents from conventional tunneling currents, thereby allowing simultaneous measurements of topography and chemical contrasts. The filter and the schematic presented here can also be applied to other variants of light-assisted STM such as laser STM.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

k-space spin filtering effect in the epitaxial Fe/Au/Fe/GaAs(001) spin-valve

The hot-electron magnetotransport of epitaxial Fe/Au/Fe/GaAs(001) spin-valves is investigated by ballistic-electron magnetic microscopy. A magnetocurrent amplitude larger than 500% is observed at room temperature close to the Schottky barrier energy. Remarkably, this magnetocurrent is not significantly affected by the thickness reduction of ferromagnetic films, down to 5 atomic layers of the Fe(001) top electrode. This rather suggests a dominant interfacial spin-filtering effect. Finally, the magnetocurrent is strongly reduced when the effective mass of the semiconductor collector is increased. These observations are consistent with recent theoretical prediction of k-space spin-filtering effect in epitaxial spin-valves attached to a semiconducting lead.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Optoelectronic simulation of GaAs solar cells with angularly selective filters

We discuss the influence of angularly selective filters on thin film gallium arsenide solar cells. For this reason, the detailed balance model was refined to fit our needs with respect to Auger recombination, reflection, transmission, and realistic absorption. For calculating real systems, an approach was made to include optical effects of angularly selective filters into electron-hole dynamic equations implemented in PC1D, a one dimensional solar cell calculation tool. With this approach, we find a relative V{sub oc} increase of 5% for an idealized 100 nm GaAs cell, including Auger recombination.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Note: Broadly tunable all-fiber ytterbium laser with 0.05 nm spectral width based on multimode interference filter

A multimode interference filter with narrow transmission bandwidth and large self-imaging wavelength interval is constructed and implemented in an ytterbium doped fiber laser in all-fiber format for broad wavelength tunability as well as narrow spectral width of the output beam. The peak transmission wavelength of the multimode interference filter was tuned with the help of a standard in-fiber polarization controller. With this simple mechanism more than 30 nm (1038 nm–1070 nm) tuning range is demonstrated. The spectral width of the output beam from the laser was measured to be 0.05 nm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Characterization of the bistable wideband optical filter on the basis of nonlinear 2D photonic crystal

In our work, we investigated the wideband optical filter on the basis of nonlinear photonic crystal. The all-optical flip-flop using ultra-short pulses with duration lower than 200 fs is obtained in such filters. Here we pay special attention to the stability problem of the nonlinear element. To investigate this problem, the temporal response demonstrating the flip-flop have been computed within the certain range of the wavelengths as well as at different input power.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Electrically tunable spin filtering for electron tunneling between spin-resolved quantum Hall edge states and a quantum dot

Spin filtering with electrically tunable efficiency is achieved for electron tunneling between a quantum dot and spin-resolved quantum Hall edge states by locally gating the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) leads near the tunnel junction to the dot. The local gating can change the potential gradient in the 2DEG and consequently the edge state separation. We use this technique to electrically control the ratio of the dot–edge state tunnel coupling between opposite spins and finally increase spin filtering efficiency up to 91%, the highest ever reported, by optimizing the local gating.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Ambipolar and non-ambipolar diffusion in an rf plasma source containing a magnetic filter

By placing a magnetic filter across a rectangular plasma source (closed at one end with a ceramic plate and an rf antenna, and terminated at the opposite end by a grounded grid), we experimentally investigate the effect of conducting and insulating source walls on the nature of the plasma diffusion phenomena. The use of a magnetic filter creates a unique plasma, characterized by a high upstream electron temperature (T{sub e{sub u}}∼5 eV) near the rf antenna and a low downstream electron temperature (T{sub e{sub d}}∼1 eV) near the grid, which more clearly demonstrates the role of the source wall materials. For conducting walls a net ion current to ground is measured on the grid, and the plasma potential is determined by a mean electron temperature within the source. For insulating walls the plasma potential is determined by the downstream electron temperature (i.e., V{sub p}∼5.2T{sub e{sub d}} in argon), and the net current to the grid is exactly zero. Furthermore, by inserting a small additional upstream conductor (that can be made floating or grounded through an external circuit switch), we demonstrate that the plasma potential can be controlled and set to a low (V{sub p}∼5.2T{sub e{sub d}}), or high (V{sub p}∼5.2T{sub e{sub u}}) value.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Confocal filtering in cathodoluminescence microscopy of nanostructures

Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy allows optical characterization of nanostructures at high spatial resolution. At the nanoscale, a main challenge of the technique is related to the background CL generated within the sample substrate. Here, we implement confocal detection of the CL signal to minimize the background contribution to the measurement. Nano-phosphors were used as point sources to evaluate the filtering capabilities of our confocal CL system, obtaining an axial intensity profile with 2.7 μm full width at half maximum for the central peak, in good correspondence with theoretical expectations. Considering the electron interaction volume, we found that the confocal filter becomes effective for electron energies above 20 keV, when using a 25 μm pinhole (0.86 Airy units). To illustrate our approach, we present confocal CL imaging of gold nanowires and triangular shaped plates deposited on an indium-tin oxide covered glass substrate, comparing the images with those obtained in standard unfiltered CL detection. The results show that confocal CL microscopy is a valuable tool for the investigation of nanostructures on highly cathodoluminescent substrates, widely used in biological and optical applications.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Design rules for dislocation filters

The efficacy of strained layer threading dislocation filter structures in single crystal epitaxial layers is evaluated using numerical modeling for (001) face-centred cubic materials, such as GaAs or Si{sub 1−x}Ge{sub x}, and (0001) hexagonal materials such as GaN. We find that threading dislocation densities decay exponentially as a function of the strain relieved, irrespective of the fraction of threading dislocations that are mobile. Reactions between threading dislocations tend to produce a population that is a balanced mixture of mobile and sessile in (001) cubic materials. In contrast, mobile threading dislocations tend to be lost very rapidly in (0001) GaN, often with little or no reduction in the immobile dislocation density. The capture radius for threading dislocation interactions is estimated to be approximately 40 nm using cross section transmission electron microscopy of dislocation filtering structures in GaAs monolithically grown on Si. We find that the minimum threading dislocation density that can be obtained in any given structure is likely to be limited by kinetic effects to approximately 10{sup 4}–10{sup 5 }cm{sup −2}.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High-Q filters with complete transports using quasiperiodic rings with spin-orbit interaction

A high Q filter with complete transports is achieved using a quasiperiodic Thue-Morse array of mesoscopic rings with spin-orbit interaction. As the generation order of the Thue-Morse array increases, not only does the Q factor of the resonance peak increase exponentially, but the number of sharp resonance peaks also increases. The maximum Q factor for the electronic filter of a Thue-Morse array is much greater than that in a periodic array, for the same number of the rings.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

MEMS tunable optical filter based on multi-ring resonator

We propose a novel MEMS tunable optical filter with a flat-top pass band based on multi-ring resonator in an electrostatically actuated microcantilever for communication application. The filter is basically structured on a microcantilever beam and built in optical integrated ring resonator which is placed in one end of the beam to gain maximum stress on the resonator. Thus, when a DC voltage is applied, the beam will bend, that induces a stress and strain in the ring, which brings a change in refractive index and perimeter of the rings leading to change in the output spectrum shift, providing the tenability as high as 0.68nm/μN and it is capable of tuning up to 1.7nm.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The use of wavelet filters for reducing noise in posterior fossa Computed Tomography images

Wavelet transform based de-noising like wavelet shrinkage, gives the good results in CT. This procedure affects very little the spatial resolution. Some applications are reconstruction methods, while others are a posteriori de-noising methods. De-noising after reconstruction is very difficult because the noise is non-stationary and has unknown distribution. Therefore, methods which work on the sinogram-space don’t have this problem, because they always work over a known noise distribution at this point. On the other hand, the posterior fossa in a head CT is a very complex region for physicians, because it is commonly affected by artifacts and noise which are not eliminated during the reconstruction procedure. This can leads to some false positive evaluations. The purpose of our present work is to compare different wavelet shrinkage de-noising filters to reduce noise, particularly in images of the posterior fossa within CT scans in the sinogram-space. This work describes an experimental search for the best wavelets, to reduce Poisson noise in Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Results showed that de-noising with wavelet filters improved the quality of posterior fossa region in terms of an increased CNR, without noticeable structural distortions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Nonreciprocal photonic crystal add-drop filter

We present a versatile add-drop integrated photonic filter (ADF) consisting of nonreciprocal waveguides in which the propagation of light is restricted in one predetermined direction. With the bus and add/drop waveguides symmetrically coupled through a cavity, the four-port device allows each individual port to add and/or drop a signal of the same frequency. The scheme is general and we demonstrate the nonreciprocal ADF with magneto-optical photonic crystals. The filter is immune to waveguide defects, allowing straightforward implementation of multi-channel ADFs by cascading the four-port designs. The results should find applications in wavelength-division multiplexing and related integrated photonic techniques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Tunable terahertz multichannel filter based on one-dimensional superconductor-dielectric photonic crystals

By means of the transfer matrix method, the transmission properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of superconductor and dielectric have been systematically investigated within the terahertz frequency range (0.1–10 THz). It is shown that comb-like resonant peaks in transmission band can be formed without adding any defect layer in superconductor-dielectric PCs, which means that such a one-dimensional periodic structure can serve as a tunable terahertz multichannel filter by using the PCs passband. Furthermore, the influences coming from the period of the structure, the thickness of the components, the permittivity of the dielectric layers, temperature, and the normal conducting electrons on the filtering properties are also numerically investigated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Solid optical ring interferometer for high-throughput feedback-free spectral analysis and filtering

We describe a simple and inexpensive optical ring interferometer for use in high-resolution spectral analysis and filtering. It consists of a solid cuboid, reflection-coated on two opposite sides, in which constructive interference occurs for waves in a rhombic trajectory. Due to its monolithic design, the interferometer’s resonance frequencies are insensitive to environmental disturbances over time. Additional advantages are its simplicity of alignment, high-throughput, and feedback-free operation. If desired, it can be stabilized with a secondary laser without disturbance of the primary signal. We illustrate the use of the interferometer for the measurement of the spectral Mollow triplet from a quantum dot and characterize its long-term stability for filtering applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Spatial filter based light-sheet laser interference technique for three-dimensional nanolithography

We propose a laser interference technique for the fabrication of 3D nano-structures. This is possible with the introduction of specialized spatial filter in a 2π cylindrical lens system (consists of two opposing cylindrical lens sharing a common geometrical focus). The spatial filter at the back-aperture of a cylindrical lens gives rise to multiple light-sheet patterns. Two such interfering counter-propagating light-sheet pattern result in periodic 3D nano-pillar structure. This technique overcomes the existing slow point-by-point scanning, and has the ability to pattern selectively over a large volume. The proposed technique allows large-scale fabrication of periodic structures. Computational study shows a field-of-view (patterning volume) of approximately 12.2 mm{sup 3} with the pillar-size of 80 nm and inter-pillar separation of 180 nm. Applications are in nano-waveguides, 3D nano-electronics, photonic crystals, and optical microscopy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗