We show that optically induced force (OIF) that arises in a curve waveguide due to a change of the momentum of light wave because of a change of its direction is not a special kind of OIF. A conventional approach based on an analysis of OIF that arises in a homogeneous optical medium immersed in an alternate electrical field of light wave as well as an energetic approach can be used also.

Near-field radiative transfer is a promising way to significantly and simultaneously enhance both thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) devices power densities and efficiencies. A parametric study of Drude and Lorentz models performances in maximizing near-field radiative heat transfer between two semi-infinite planes separated by nanometric distances at room temperature is presented in this paper. Optimal parameters of these models that provide optical properties maximizing the radiative heat flux are reported and compared to real materials usually considered in similar studies, silicon carbide and heavily doped silicon in this case. Results are obtained by exact and approximate (in the extreme near-field regime and the electrostatic limit hypothesis) calculations. The two methods are compared in terms of accuracy and CPU resources consumption. Their differences are explained according to a mesoscopic description of nearfield radiative heat transfer. Finally, the frequently assumed hypothesis which states a maximal radiative heat transfer when the two semi-infinite planes are of identical materials is numerically confirmed. Its subsequent practical constraints are then discussed. Presented results enlighten relevant paths to follow in order to choose or design materials maximizing nano-TPV devices performances.

Light propagation in a coupled system of Tamm plasmon-polariton and nonlinear cavity mode is theoretically investigated through the nonlinear transfer matrix method. It is found that the asymmetric layered structure exhibits both pronounced unidirectionality and high transmission. This leads to all-optical diode actions. Compared with other similar studies, the designed structure is much simple only with seven periods. The unique feature is that the direction of on-off can be reversed depending on the working frequencies. The effect of metal loss is also considered in this study.

This paper presents a novel metamaterial constructed with wires, spheres and hollow slabs (WSHS), which simultaneously exhibits negative permittivity and permeability. An electromagnetic wave simulation is performed based on the proposed metamaterial and shows that a negative refractive index is achieved for this metamaterial. Adjusting the lattice constant of the unit cell is an easy way to manipulate the frequency of negative index of this structure. A left-hand material prism is designed composed of metamaterial unit cells and the simulation on the proposed prism proves the left-hand behavior of the designed metamaterial.

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an elemental analytical technique with various applications. The paper demonstrates the first LIBS measurements of human liver samples for the purpose of detecting the higher copper content related with the advanced stage of Wilson’s disease. These measurements were implemented using a Nd:YAG laser working at the wavelength of 532 nm and an echelle type spectrometer equipped with an intensified CCD camera allowing for a wide spectral range coverage (200–950 nm) and rapid camera gating (minimum gating time of 5 ns). Seven liver samples with suspected Wilson’s disease and five reference samples were investigated. The main parameter of interest was the Cu/C ratio obtained at first from spectra and secondly directly from an iCCD image. Our experiment is a pilot study, which shows LIBS analysis of human liver samples for the purpose of detecting the normal and higher copper content for the first time. The method proved to be a quick and a low-cost approach for the detection of pathological accumulation of copper in the affected tissue.

Influence of pulsed laser energy on emission characteristics of laser plasmas induced in various inert atmospheres and pressures is demonstrated by emission spectroscopy in the far vacuum UV zone (around 100 nm). In this context, argon and helium were employed and their pressures were controlled in the range 0.005–5.0 mbar. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser emitting in the near IR at 1064 nm was employed in the experiments. The laser energy was varied between 200 and 800 mJ and focused onto a reference steel sample within a vacuum-tight chamber. The radiation emitted from the line plasmas generated was recorded from a section located 2.5 mm from the target surface. Under any gas composition and pressure studied, line and background emission intensities as well as signal-to-background ratios showed significant dependence on the laser energy. For example, at 800 mJ the highest spectral line intensity was obtained in argon atmosphere at a pressure of about 0.5 mbar, while helium at the same pressure produced the largest signal-to-background ratio using lower laser pulse energy of 400 mJ. In any case, the nature and characteristics of laser plasma-based emission in the far vacuum UV are similar to those recorded in the UV-visible range.

Electromagnetic (EM) analysis of hydropower generators is common practice but rotor whirling is little studied. This paper suggests a novel semi-analytical method for estimating the steady state unbalanced magnetic pull (UMP) when the rotor centre is undergoing mixed eccentricities motion. The ability to estimate the UMP for mixed eccentricities motion in finite element method (FEM)-based modelling software packages is rare. The proposed methodology in its formulation takes advantage of the fact that a purely dynamic eccentricity motion including non-synchronous whirling and a purely static eccentricity motion can be more amenable to implement in existing FEM-based EM modelling software products for UMP estimation. After these initial separate UMP results are obtained, the proposed method can be applied for virtually any mixed eccentricities motion cases up to sufficiently large eccentricities for quick analysis instead of running the mixed eccentricities simulations directly in a FEM-based software package. Good agreement between the UMP from the actual EM mixed eccentricities motion simulations in a commercial FEM-based software package and the UMP estimations by the novel method is made for a wide range of eccentricities that may commonly occur in practice. A modified feature selective validation (FSV) method, the FSV-UPC, is applied to assess the similarities and the differences in the UMP computations.

The contact mechanism should be analyzed for an estimation of the performance of a traveling wave ultra-sonic motor (TWUSM), because the operation of this type of motor depends on the frictional force between the rotor and the stator. However, the nonlinearity of the contact mechanism of the TWUSM makes it difficult to proposed a proper contact model, a characteristic analysis method and an optimal design method. To address these problems, a characteristic analysis and optimal design method using a cylindrical dynamic contact model (CDCM), an analytical method, a numerical method and an evolutionary strategy algorithm (ESA) is proposed in this research. The feasibility and usefulness of the proposed characteristic analysis and optimal design method are verified through experimental data. Furthermore, the importance of the shape of the teeth and the reason for the improvement of motor performances by the chamfering at the teeth are proposed and verified in this paper.

Tunably controlling waveguide behaviors are always desirable for various kinds of applications. In this work, we theoretically propose the possibility to realize a tunable high-pass waveguide by magnetically controlling magnetorheological fluids inside. Through computer simulations and numerical calculations, we find that the low-pass or high-pass behavior of such waveguides can be manually switched. Furthermore, the cutoff frequency and transmission band of the waveguides can be smoothly controlled by an applied magnetic field. It is revealed that the underlying mechanism lies in the field-induced anisotropic structure of magnetorheological fluids. By combining soft materials, this work shows a way to obtain magnetocontrollable properties of waveguides, which may help to achieve tunable properties for other metamaterial-based devices like invisible cloaks and photonic crystals.

In this paper, a gyrotron oscillator operating at 0.42 THz is studied by Particle-in-cell simulation. Under the condition of a beam voltage of 12 kV, beam current of 160 mA and magnetic field of 7.665 T, the gyrotron can operate stably in the TE06 mode at the second-harmonic. Its output power of continuous wave (CW) is up to 82 W corresponding to an efficiency rate of 4.1%

Transformation thermodynamics has potential applications in heat flux management. The geometrical transformation used in the cloaking procedure requires materials that are inhomogeneous and thermally anisotropic. This requirement can be reduced by segmented cloaking, where materials with homogeneous and isotropic thermal properties are adopted. One of the issues when constructing a segmented cloak is reducing the number of segments and yet preserving the performance of the thermal cloak. In this study, the performances of linear and nonlinear segmented cylindrical cloaks are assessed, by comparison with the performance of a single-layer thermal cloak based on inhomogeneous and thermally anisotropic materials. The possibility of finding an optimal balance between the number of segments and the efficiency of the segmented cloak was investigated. The study shows that introducing a thin insulating layer inside the segmented cylindrical cloak improves its performance.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) blends with different percentages of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) irradiated with 10 MeV electron beam in the range of 50–250 kGy at room temperature. The effect of irradiation and EVA content on the mechanical and thermal properties of LDPE was studied. It was revealed that for all blends increasing the applied dose up to 150 kGy would result in decrease in the specific heat capacity (cp) and thermal conductivity (k) of LDPE and then raised slightly with further increased in radiation doses. The gel content showed that under the irradiation, the crosslinking density at each irradiation dose depends almost on the amorphous portions of the LDPE/EVA. The mechanical properties of LDPE/EVA blends were found to be influenced by the electron beam irradiation and EVA content. It can be deduced that the mechanical properties of LDPE are improved by blending with EVA and irradiated by electron beam. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to characterize the structure of LDPE. Result indicates small variation in crystalline content, which could be increased or decreased on the formation of important bond groups.

This paper concentrates on the effect of the AC and DC magnetic fields on plant growth. The effect of AC magnetic field with intensities of 2.25, 1.66 and 1.49 mT and DC magnetic field with intensities of 3.6, 2.41 and 2.05 mT in exposure durations of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 min on two groups of dry and wet Pisum sativum seedlings was studied. In each experiment 10 seeds were used; the experiments were repeated three times for each group and there was a sham exposed group for comparison purposes. The light cycle was 12 h light/12 h darkness and the temperature was 25 ± 1° C. The index of growth is considered to be the root and stem elongation on the sixth day. It was observed that AC magnetic field has a positive effect on the growth in all durations and intensities. Moreover, it is highlighted that during the experiments, the mean growth of dry seedlings significantly increased by a factor of 11 in AC magnetic field with the lowest intensity of 1.49 mT (p < 0.05). It was also shown that AC magnetic fields had a more positive effect on the growth of plants in comparison to DC magnetic fields.

Synthesis and characterization of new Ag+ ion conducting glassy systems: x[0.75AgI:0.25AgC1]: (1 – x)[Ag2O:P2O5], where 0.1 < x < 1 in molar weight fraction, are reported. The present glassy electrolytes have been synthesized by melt-quench technique using a high-speed twin roller-quencher. An alternate host salt: “quenched [0.75AgI:0.25AgC1] mixed system/solid solution”, has been used in place of the traditional host AgI. The compositional dependence conductivity studies on the glassy systems: x[0.75AgI:0.25AgC1]:(1 – x)[Ag2O:P2O5] as well as xAgI:(1 – x)[Ag2O:P2O5] prepared identically, indicated that the composition at x = 0.75 exhibited the highest room temperature conductivity (σ ~ 5.5 x 10−3 S cm−1). The composition: 0.75[0.75AgI:0.25AgC1]:0.25[Ag2O:P2O5] has been referred to as optimum conducting composition (OCC). The some basic ion transport parameters viz. ionic conductivity (σ), ionic mobility (μ), mobile ion concentration (n), ionic drift velocity (vd), ion transference number (tion) and activation energy (Ea) values have been characterized with the help of various experimental techniques. A solid state battery was fabricated and its basic cell parameters calculated.

Magnetoelectric properties of layered heterostructures (FM/PZT/FM)n (n≤ 3) obtained by ion-beam sputtering deposition of ferromagnetic metal (FM), where FM is the cobalt (Co) or permalloy Ni78Fe22, onto ferroelectric ceramic based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) have been studied. The polished ferroelectric plates in thickness from 400 to 20 μm were subjected to finished treatment by ion-beam sputtering. After plasma activation they were covered by the ferromagnetic films from 1 to 6 μm in thickness. Enhanced characteristics of these structures were reached by means of both the thickness optimization of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic layers and obtaining of ferromagnetic/ferroelectric interfaces being free from defects and foreign impurities. Assuming on the basis of analysis of elastic stresses in the ferromagnetic film that the magnetoelectric effect forms within ferromagnetic/ferroelectric interface, the structures with 2–3 ferromagnetic layers were obtained. In layered heterostructure (Py/PZT/Py)3, the optimal thickness of ferromagnetic film was 2 μm, and outer and inner ferroelectric layers had 20 μm and 80 μm in thickness, respectively. For such structure the maximal magnetoelectric voltage coefficient of 250 mV/(cm Oe) was reached at a frequency 100 Hz in magnetic field of 0.25 T at room temperature. The structures studied can serve as energy-independent elements detecting the change of magnetic or electric fields in electronic devices based on magnetoelectric effect.

Ozone was generated using dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure to treat sugarcane bagasse for bioethanol production. It was shown that interaction of ozone molecules with the pretreatment reactor wall (stainless steel) needs to be considered during bagasse oxidation in order to evaluate the pretreatment efficiency. The decomposition coefficients for ozone on both materials were determined to be (3.3 ± 0.2) × 10−8 for stainless steel and (2.0 ± 0.3) × 10−7 for bagasse. The results have indicated that ozone decomposition has occurred more efficiently on the biomass material.

An overview about the German cluster project Cool Silicon aiming at increasing the energy efficiency for semiconductors, communications, sensors and software is presented. Examples for achievements are: 1000 times reduced gate leakage in transistors using high-fc (HKMG) materials compared to conventional poly-gate (SiON) devices at the same technology node; 700 V transistors integrated in standard 0.35 μm CMOS; solar cell efficiencies above 19% at < 200 W/m2 irradiation; 0.99 power factor, 87% efficiency and 0.088 distortion factor for dc supplies; 1 ns synchronization resolution via Ethernet; database accelerators allowing 85% energy savings for servers; adaptive software yielding energy reduction of 73% for e-Commerce applications; processors and corresponding data links with 40% and 70% energy savings, respectively, by adaption of clock frequency and supply voltage in less than 20 ns; clock generator chip with tunable frequency from 83-666 MHz and 0.62-1.6 mW dc power; 90 Gb/s on-chip link over 6 mm and efficiency of 174 fJ/mm; dynamic biasing system doubling efficiency in power amplifiers; 60 GHz BiCMOS frontends with dc power to bandwidth ratio of 0.17 mW/MHz; driver assistance systems reducing energy consumption by 10% in cars

We computationally analyzed performance and power-gating (PG) ability of a new nonvolatile delay flip-flop (NV-DFF) based on pseudo-spin-MOSFET (PS-MOSFET) architecture using spin-transfer-torque magnetic tunnel junctions (STT-MTJs). The high-performance energy-efficient PG operations of the NV-DFF can be achieved owing to its cell structure employing PS-MOSFETs that can electrically separate the STT-MTJs from the ordinary DFF part of the NV-DFF. This separation also makes it possible that the break-even time (BET) of the NV-DFF is designed by the size of the PS-MOSFETs without performance degradation of the normal DFF operations. The effect of the area occupation ratio of the NV-DFFs to a CMOS logic system on the BET was also analyzed. Although the optimized BET was varied depending on the area occupation ratio, energy-efficient fine-grained PG with a BET of several sub-microseconds was revealed to be achieved. We also proposed microprocessors and system-on-chip (SoC) devices using nonvolatile hierarchical-memory systems wherein NV-DFF and nonvolatile static random access memory (NV-SRAM) circuits are used as fundamental building blocks.

A theory is presented which describes the variability of multilevel switching in scaled hybrid resistive-switching/CMOS nanoelectronic circuits. Variability is quantified in terms of conductance variation using the first two moments derived from the probability density function (PDF) of the RS conductance. For RS, which are based on the electrochemical metallization effect (ECM), this variability is – to some extent – caused by discrete events such as electrochemical reactions, which occur on atomic scale and are at random. The theory shows that the conductance variation depends on the joint interaction between the programming circuit and the resistive switch (RS), and explicitly quantifies the impact of RS device parameters and parameters of the programming circuit on the conductance variance. Using a current mirror as an exemplary programming circuit an upper limit of 2–4 bits (dependent on the filament surface area) is estimated as the storage capacity exploiting the multilevel capabilities of an ECM cell. The theoretical results were verified by Monte Carlo circuit simulations on a standard circuit simulation environment using an ECM device model which models the filament growth by a Poisson process.