No description available.

The measurement of strain is critical in many engineering design, test, and health monitoring procedures. Despite the promise of non-contacting and remote strain measurement, optical techniques have not been widely adopted by industry; the preference being the use of electrical resistance strain gauges. This is due to the perceived and real complexities of many optical techniques.

This thesis focuses on the design of a versatile, portable, and cost-effective fluorescence detection system for LOC devices. Components that are widely available are used, such as LEDs for excitation and a microcontroller for processing. In addition, a photoresistor is tested for the feasibility of being used as a fluorescence detector, instead of the more commonly used photomultiplier tubes. The device also focuses on upgradeability and versatility, meaning that most of the major components can be replaced as long as power requirements remain unaffected. This allows for future additions to the device once they are available, as well as giving the user the power to choose which add-ons are needed since not all users may have the same requirements. The performance of the device after testing with fluorescein dyes and stained yeast cells indicate that it is capable of executing simple tasks, such as determining the presence and concentration of an analyte if given a sufficient amount. It also provided similar readings to commercial fluorescence analysers, which proves its ability to function as a fluorescence detector device. The thesis also proposes a MEMS diffraction grating that can be used for wavelength tuning. By being able to selectively measure across a range of wavelengths, the capability of the device is increased. Examples include being able to detect multiple fluorescent emissions, which will complement the multicoloured excitation LED nicely. In addition, the device will not be limited to a predetermined set of filters. This effectively allows more fluorescent dyes to be used with the device since any wavelength in the visible range can be selectively filtered for. Simulations of the proposed diffraction grating were performed in ANSYS to confirm the validity of the calculated values. In addition, tests were performed on a slide fabricated with diffraction gratings using values as close to the calculated values as possible. All of the results indicate that there is great promise in the proposed diffraction grating design and that it should be further investigated.

This thesis focuses on the design of a versatile, portable, and cost-effective fluorescence detection system for LOC devices. Components that are widely available are used, such as LEDs for excitation and a microcontroller for processing. In addition, a photoresistor is tested for the feasibility of being used as a fluorescence detector, instead of the more commonly used photomultiplier tubes. The device also focuses on upgradeability and versatility, meaning that most of the major components can be replaced as long as power requirements remain unaffected. This allows for future additions to the device once they are available, as well as giving the user the power to choose which add-ons are needed since not all users may have the same requirements. The performance of the device after testing with fluorescein dyes and stained yeast cells indicate that it is capable of executing simple tasks, such as determining the presence and concentration of an analyte if given a sufficient amount. It also provided similar readings to commercial fluorescence analysers, which proves its ability to function as a fluorescence detector device. The thesis also proposes a MEMS diffraction grating that can be used for wavelength tuning. By being able to selectively measure across a range of wavelengths, the capability of the device is increased. Examples include being able to detect multiple fluorescent emissions, which will complement the multicoloured excitation LED nicely. In addition, the device will not be limited to a predetermined set of filters. This effectively allows more fluorescent dyes to be used with the device since any wavelength in the visible range can be selectively filtered for. Simulations of the proposed diffraction grating were performed in ANSYS to confirm the validity of the calculated values. In addition, tests were performed on a slide fabricated with diffraction gratings using values as close to the calculated values as possible. All of the results indicate that there is great promise in the proposed diffraction grating design and that it should be further investigated.

This dissertation presents novel applications of ligand-capped II-VI semiconductor nanocrystals (i.e. CdSe and CdTe).Hybrid polymer-nanocrystal thin films were prepared using a bottom-up electrochemical crosslinking method, where thiophene-functionalized CdSe NCs were wired to electron-rich 3,4-dioxy-substituded thiophene polymers. Both nanocomposite and effective monolayer (EML) films were achieved by controlling monomer feed ratios during the crosslinking steps. These hybrid thin films showed enhanced photoelectrochemical current efficiencies with a variety of solution acceptor molecules compared to polymer control films, which was due to sensitization by the CdSe NCs. The electronic structure of the polymer played a critical role in the potential (doping) dependent hole capture efficiency from photoexcited CdSe NCs. Furthermore, photocurrent efficiencies were correlated with nanocrystal size, which was a direct product of frontier orbital energy shifting due to quantum confinement effects.All-inorganic CdTe-CdSe nanocrystal solar cells were fabricated by a facile layer-by-layer procedure. A low-temperature sintering strategy was utilized to electronically couple the nanocrystal thin films, which maintained the individual electronic properties of the nanocrystals. The electrical characteristics of these solar cells displayed predictable trends in open circuit voltage with varying CdSe NC diameter.Novel CdSe NC diffraction gratings were prepared by a facile microcontact molding procedure. These transmission gratings showed exceptionally high diffraction efficiencies that were dependent on optimum grating morphologies and the refractive index contrast provided by the nanocrystals, which was size-dependent. These films also showed promise as coupling gratings for internal reflection elements.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to design a compact spectrometer with a transmission grating and a shiftable spectral range for the method of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The work in the theoretical part contains a basic description of spectroscopy and spectroscopic methods of LIBS, spectrometer and its individual parts. The practical part describes the spectrometer design procedure, introduces selected components and comments on the reason for their selection. Selected components are assembled into the final form of a spectrometer, which is further tested with the help of a simulation program to confirm its functionality. The result of the work is a comprehensive overview of the individual components of the spectrometer, aspects of its construction together with instructions and advice on its assembly, along with an example in the form of a designed set of commonly available catalog components.

In this research we study the effect of adding a single diffraction grating on top of a solar cell. We simulated the square diffraction grating, as well as triangular diffraction grating. The single square grating showed more favorable results, achieved 330% power improvement compared to 270% power improvement in the single triangular grating case. We simulated a triangle/triangle (top-bottom) and triangular/rectangular (top-bottom) grating cases. The Triangular grating achieved higher light absorption compared to rectangular grating. The best top grating was around 200nm grating period. We realized solar cell efficiency improvement about 42.4% for the triangular rectangular (top-bottom) grating. We studied the light transmitted power in a silicon solar cell using double diffraction triangular nano-grating. We simulated the solar cell behavior as it absorbs sunlight through its structure in various cases, results showed 270% increase of the weighted transmitted power when the top grating period (At) varies from 300nm to 800nm, and the bottom grating period (Ab) is at 500nm. We finally studied the effect of changing the location of the diffraction gratings with respect to the solar cell. We were able to increase the light efficiency by 120%. The study showed that the power absorbed by the solar cell is not sensitive to the grating location.

No description available.

Among various planar lightwave circuits for multiplexing/demultiplexing in an optical communication system, etched diffraction gratings (EDGs) have shown great potential due to their compactness and high spectral finesse. Conventional numerical methods for grating simulation cannot be used to simulate an EDG demultiplexer of large size (in terms of the wavelength). In the present thesis, the polarization-dependent characteristics of an EDG demultiplexer are analyzed with a boundary element method (BEM) for both an echelle grating coated with a metal and a dielectric grating with total internal reflection (TIR) facets. For EDGs with metal-coated facets, we use a more effective method, namely, method of moments (MoM). Futhermore, a fast simulation method for EDGs with TIR facets is presented based on the Kirchhoff–Huygens principle and the Goos-Hänchen shift. This simple method has a good agreement with a BEM over a wide range of practical parameters of the device. Several novel designs are presented in order to improve the performances of EDGs. (1) By making some appropriate roughness on the surface of the shaded facets, the PDL of the demultiplexer can be effectively reduced over a large bandwith. (2) For EDGs based on Si nanowire structures, we compensate the polarization-dependent wavelength dispersion (PDλ) in the whole operational spectrum by introducing a polarization compensation area in its free propagation region. (3) An EDG demultiplexer with suppressed sidelobe is designed. The designed EDG demultiplexer can give a crosstalk as small as 50 dB in theory. (4) By chirping the diffraction order for each facet, we minimize the envelope intensity for the other adjacent diffraction orders to achieve a negligible return loss in a large spectral width. (5) A design for EDG demultiplexers is presented to obtain both large grating facets and a larger free spectral range (FSR) using the optimal chirped diffraction orders for different facets. The influences of the fabrication errors (e.g., rounded effect, surface roughness and point defect in the waveguide) on the performance (such as the insertion loss, the polarization dependent loss and the chromatic dispersion) of an EDG demultiplexer are also analyzed in detail. Silicon nanowire waveguides and related EDGs are studied. An EDG demultiplexer with 10 nm spacing is finally fabricated and characterized. / QC 20100910

This thesis presents the theory design and fabrication of a diffractive grating coupler. The first part of the design process is to choose the period of the grating coupler based on the desired coupling angle. The second part of the design process is to choose the geometry of the grating that gives maximum coupling efficiency based on rigorous analyses. The diffraction gratings are fabricated by recording the interference between two waves in photoresist. The waveguide is fabricated from silicon nitride that is deposited by chemical vapor deposition. The diffraction grating recording assembly is described along with the grating coupler fabrication process. A grating coupler is fabricated with an input coupling efficiency of 15% at a coupling angle of 22.9°. The results also show that the light is being coupled into the nitride waveguide indirectly. The light is coupled first into a photoresist slab and then into the nitride waveguide through modal coupling and scattering. An analysis of the structure explains the coupling, and rigorous analyses are given to show that the measured results are in accordance with theory.