Le but principal de ce travail de thèse est de proposer un matériau précurseur d'oxydes métalliques (ZrO2, TiO2, HfO2) compatible avec la technique de photolithographie interférentielle DUV. Des oxoclusters de métaux (MOC) de transitions obtenus par complexation d’un ligand organique et hydrolysé partiellement ont été proposé comme briques élémentaires pour construire ces nanostructures. Le recours à des longueurs d'onde DUV (193 nm) permet d'exciter directement les MOC, ce qui conduit à une réticulation photoinduite, et confère à la résine un caractère de photoresist négatif. Une étude spectroscopique détaillée a permis de proposer un mécanisme de photoréticulation. Cette étude s'est appuyée essentiellement sur des techniques de suivi in situ de la réaction photochimique, par ellipsométrie spectroscopique et RT-FTIR. La nanostructuration a été effectuée essentiellement par lithographie interférométrique DUV (DUV-IL) à 193 nm et étendue à la stéréolithographie biphotonique. La DUV-IL a été choisie pour son potentiel d'écriture de nanostructures sur des surfaces relativement importantes, dans des conditions standard d'atmosphère et température. De plus, dans le cas des TiOC, les nanostructures peuvent être rendues inorganiques à température ambiante par un traitement photochimique supplémentaire. Dans le cas de ZrOC et HfOC, une étape supplémentaire de recuit thermique permet d'obtenir une structure de type MO2 cristallisée. / The main purpose of this thesis is to provide a material precursor of metal oxides (ZrO2, TiO2, HfO2) compatible with DUV interference photolithography technique. Transition metal oxoclusters (MOC) obtained by complexation of an organic ligand and a partial hydrolysis have been proposed as building blocks. DUV irradiation (193 nm) allows a direct excitation of the MOC, which leads a photo-induced crosslinking and gives to the material a negative photoresist character. A detailed spectroscopic study allowed proposing a mechanism of photocrosslinking. This study relied primarily on in situ techniques to follow the photochemical reaction by spectroscopic ellipsometry and RT-FTIR. The nanostructuring was performed by interferometric DUV lithography at 193 nm and could be extended to 2-photon stereolithography. DUV-IL was chosen for its potential to write nanostructures on relatively large areas, in standard atmosphere and temperature conditions. Furthermore, in the case of TiOC, the nanostructures can be fully mineralised at room temperature by an additionnal photochemical treatment. For ZrOC and HfOC, an additional thermal annealing step allows to obtain a crystalline structure MO2.

Les interactions entre les interfaces liquide/liquide et liquide/solide interviennent dans de nombreux domaines et procédés industriels. Cependant, ces interactions ont été très peu étudiées par le passé. Nous nous concentrons ici sur le drainage spontané de solutions aqueuses de sel ou de tensio-actifs pressées entre une goutte d'huile et une surface en verre. Expérimentalement, une goutte d'huile est immergée dans de l'eau et approchée d'une surface solide ; le film d'eau pressé résultant draine et adopte une forme “dimple” due au gradient de pression. Par la suite, le film d'eau relaxe vers son épaisseur uniforme d'équilibre.Les profils d'épaisseur spatio-temporels du film sont mesurés par microscopie d'interférences en réflexion. Nous avons étudié la dynamique de drainage ainsi que l'état d'équilibre du système en présence de sel et/ou de tensio-actifs. Tout d'abord, nous réalisons une description quantitative de l'ensemble de la dynamique de drainage. Trois régimes sont identifiés pour une solution aqueuse d'électrolyte : un régime dominé par la pression capillaire, un second mixte décrit par les pressions capillaire et de disjonction, et un troisième dominé par la pression de disjonction. Ces régimes sont modélisés dans le cadre de l'approximation de lubrification. En particulier, le rôle de la pression de disjonction est étudié avec précision dans la limite de la portée des interactions électrostatiques. Nous déduisons des lois analytiques simples permettant de décrire la dynamique de drainage, découplant ainsi les effets des pressions des effets géométriques. Par ailleurs, nous montrons que l'ajout de tensio-actifs ne modifie pas qualitativement les régimes de drainage, à l'exception de concentrations supérieures à la concentration micellaire critique. En effet, à de très faibles épaisseurs, l'huile mouille alors partiellement le solide, ralentissant ainsi le drainage de l'eau piégée au centre du dimple.Nous mesurons la condition aux limites à l'interface eau/huile. Nous confirmons ainsi l'effet Marangoni, mentionné dans la littérature, résultant du gradient de concentration d'espèces (impuretés ou tensio-actifs) adsorbés à l'interface. Nous montrons que l'interface eau/huile est en général de type solide et donc que la vitesse tangentielle est nulle à l'interface. Cependant, pour des concentrations faibles en espèces adsorbées, nous mettons en évidence pour la première fois un contre-courant à l'interface eau/huile résultant de l'approche de la goutte et d'une cinétique lente d'adsorption des tensio-actifs.Par la suite, nous nous concentrons sur l'état d'équilibre du système, soit par mouillage de l'huile sur le solide, soit par formation d'un film d'eau homogène stable. Dans le cas d'un film d'eau stable, l'équilibre résulte d'une égalité entre la surpression dans la goutte et la pression de disjonction du film. En variant le rayon de la goutte, nous montrons qu'il est possible de mesurer l'évolution de la pression de disjonction avec l'épaisseur du film. Cette évolution peut être entièrement décrite par les interactions entre les interfacées chargées. Pour de grandes surpressions de goutte, ou de petites longueurs de Debye, l'huile mouille le solide. Nous montrons que la dynamique de mouillage dépend fortement de la concentration en tensio-actif lorsqu'elle est inférieure à la concentration micellaire critique. La vitesse de la triple ligne de contact peut varier de quatre décades. Nous attribuons ces comportements à l'adsorption du tensio-actif aux interfaces eau/huile et eau/verre, et en particulier à la possible formation de monocouches ou bicouches sur le solide. / The interactions between liquid/liquid and solid/liquid interfaces are involved in many industrial processes and fields. However, they have been poorly studied in the past. We focus here on the spontaneous drainage of aqueous solutions of salt or surfactants squeezed between an oil drop and a glass surface. Experimentally, an oil drop immersed in water is driven towards a solid surface; the resulting squeezed water film drains and adopts a dimple shape due to the pressure gradient, and further relaxes to its equilibrium uniform thickness. The thickness profile of the film is measured in space and time by reflection interference microscopy. We have studied both the drainage dynamics and the final equilibrium state reached by the system in presence of salt and/or surfactants. First, we quantify and provide a full description of the drainage dynamics. Three regimes are identified in an aqueous electrolyte: a capillary dominated regime, a mixed capillary and disjoining pressure regime, and a disjoining pressure dominated regime. These regimes are modeled within the lubrication approximation, and the role of the disjoining pressure is precisely investigated in the limit of thicknesses smaller than the range of electrostatic interactions. We derive simple analytical laws describing the drainage dynamics, thus providing tools to uncouple the effect of the film geometry from the effects of the disjoining or capillary pressures. We show that the addition of surfactants does not qualitatively modify the drainage regimes, except at concentrations larger than the critical micellar concentration and very small film thicknesses in which the oil can partially wet the solid, thus slowing down the drainage of the remaining trapped water. In addition, we provide measurements of the boundary condition at the oil/water interface. We confirm the role of Marangoni flows, suggested in the literature and resulting from concentration gradients of species (impurities or surfactants) adsorbed at the interface. We thus show that a solid-like, no-slip boundary condition is generally met at the oil/water interface. However, for low concentrations in adsorbed species, we evidence for the first time a reverse flow at the interface resulting from the approach of the drop and the slow adsorption kinetics of surfactants. In a second part, we focus on the equilibrium state reached by the water film, i.e. either wetting of the solid surface by the oil drop or formation of a stable water film between the drop and the solid. In the latter case, equilibrium results from the balance of the capillary pressure in the drop and the disjoining pressure. By varying the droplet radius, we show it is possible to measure the variations of the disjoining pressure with the film thickness, and that they can be fully described by taking into account the interactions between the charged interfaces. For large capillary pressures or short Debye lengths, the oil wets the solid surface and we show the wetting dynamics is strongly modified depending on surfactant concentration below the cmc: the velocity of the oil/water/solid triple line varied over four decades. We ascribe the observed behaviors to surfactant adsorption at the oil/water and solid/water interfaces, and in particular to the possible formation of surfactant mono or bi-layers on the solid.

This thesis details the application of a medium frequency (MF) Doppler radar to observations of meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere. MF radars make possible a greater height coverage of the meteor region (70 to 160 km) than conventional meteor radars. However this type of radar has generally been under-utilised for meteor observations, primarily due to the less than ideal radio environment associated with MF systems. This situation demanded selection of the most appropriate radar meteor techniques and in this respect a variety of techniques are evaluated for application at this frequency. The 2 MHz radar system used in this study is located at the Buckland Park research facility (35.6 deg. S, 138.5 deg. E), near Adelaide, South Australia and is operated by the Department of Physics of the University of Adelaide. This radar has the largest antenna of any MF radar with 89 crossed dipoles distributed over an area of about 1 km in diameter. Beam forming is achieved by varying the phase to groups of elements of the array. The array was constructed in the 1960's, and while having several upgrades, a preliminary examination of the array and associated systems indicated that a significant amount of maintenance work would be required to enable the system to be used for meteor observations. It was also apparent that the software used with the radar hardware for atmospheric studies was not suitable for processing meteor data. Thus a major refurbishment of the radar hardware, as well as the development of appropriate software, was initiated. The complete radar system was divided into its constituent components of antenna array, transmitter, receiver and computer systems. The transmitter and receiver systems were examined and various improvements made including increasing total output power and enhancing beam steering capability. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) techniques were extensively used on the antenna array, as many feed cables showed the presence of moisture. New hardware in the form of a portable power combining system was designed, constructed and tested to further increase radar experimental capabilities. Techniques were developed that verified system performance was to specification. Extensive night time observations of sporadic and shower meteor events were made over a two and a half year period. A particular study was made of the Orionids shower as well as other meteor activity on the night of 22 October 2000. Using the upgraded beam swinging features of the array, a narrow radar beam was used to track the shower radiant in an orthogonal sense so as to maximise the number of shower meteors detected. From each echo, various intrinsic meteoroid parameters were determined, including meteor reflection point angle-of-arrival using a five-element interferometer, echo duration and height; meteoroid speeds were determined using the Fresnel phase time technique. Meteor echoes belonging to the Orionids radiant were selected using a coordinate transform technique. The speed was then used as an additional discriminant to confirm the Orionid shower members. A second radiant, observed at a slightly higher declination is classified as also part of the Orionid stream. The sporadic meteor component in the data set was examined and found to exhibit speeds much higher than expected for sporadic meteors at the time of the observations. However, these results are consistent with a selection bias based on meteoroid speed, that is inherent in radar observations. The Orionid observations indicate that the refurbishment of the radar system and the introduction of new software for meteor analysis has been successfully achieved and that radar meteor studies can now be carried out routinely with the Buckland Park 2 MHz radar. Moreover it has been shown for the first time that meteoroid speeds can be determined with a MF radar operating on a PRF as low as 60 Hz. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Chemistry and Physics, 2003.

<p>An investigation was initiated, targeting snapshot 3D image sensors, with the objective to match the speed and resolution of a scanning sheet-of-light system, without using a scanning motion. The goal was a system capable of acquiring 25 snapshot images per second from a quadratic scene with a side from 50 mm to 1000 mm, sampled in 512×512 height measurement points, and with a depth resolution of 1 µm and beyond. </p><p>A wide search of information about existing 3D measurement techniques resulted in a list of possible schemes, each presented with its advantages and disadvantages. No single scheme proved successful in meeting all the requirements. Pulse modulated time-of-flight is the only scheme capable of depth imaging by using only one exposure. However, a resolution of 1 µm corresponds to a pulse edge detection accuracy of 6.67 fs when visible light or other electromagnetic waves are used. Sequentially coded light projections require a logarithmic number of exposures. By projecting several patterns at the same time, using for instance light of different colours, the required number of exposures is reduced even further. The patterns are, however, not as well focused as a laser sheet-of-light can be. </p><p>Using powerful architectural concepts such as matrix array picture processing (MAPP) and near-sensor image processing (NSIP) a sensor proposal was presented, designed to give as much support as possible to a large number of 3D imaging schemes. It allows for delayed decisions about details in the future implementation. </p><p>It is necessary to relax at leastone of the demands for this project in order to realise a working 3D imaging scheme using concurrent technology. One of the candidates for relaxation is the most obvious demand of snapshot behaviour. Furthermore, there are a number of decisions to make before designing an actual system using the recommendations presented in this thesis. The ongoing development of electronics, optics, and imaging schemes might be able to meet the 3D snapshot demands in a near future. The details of light sensing electronics must be carefully evaluated and the optical components such as lenses, projectors, and fibres should be studied in detail.</p>

<p>A 6082 aluminium alloy has been characterized with regard to the influence of surface roughness on fatigue strength.</p><p>Fatigue life testing of smooth specimens was used to establish reference curves for the material in extruded and forged T6 condition. The extruded material was found to have better fatigue strength than the forged material, although the cyclic stress-strain response was similar for both. The forged material was tested in T5, T6 and T7 tempers, showing no significant difference in fatigue strength.</p><p>Surface roughness was created by circumferential grinding of cylindrical test specimens, and the surface topography was measured using a white light interferometry microscope. The measurements proved to be accurate, although errors were observed for certain surface features. Residual stresses were quantified by X-ray diffraction. Compressive residual stresses of around 150 MPa were found in both rough and smooth specimens. Load cycling did not significantly alter the surface residual stresses.</p><p>Stress solutions ahead of all major surface grooves were found using a linear elastic material model. Estimates of cyclic stresses and strains were calculated in the notch roots using different Neuber corrections of the linear solution. The results were compared to finite element analysis employing a bilinear kinematic hardening model. A generalized version of the Neuber correction was found to be within 20% of the nonlinear finite element results.</p><p>Several empirical models for the notch sensitivity factor were investigated. These were found to be unable to describe the notch influence on fatigue life and initiation life. In order to follow this approach, it was recommended that different test specimens should be used where the short fatigue crack growth could be monitored.</p><p>It was shown that microstructural fracture mechanics theories could be used to estimate the fatigue limit of rough surfaces. In some cases, initiation from material defects or weaknesses would override the influence of surface geometry. In one specimen, the initiation appeared to have started as at a de-bonded grain, while in other cases, initiation was thought to have started at larger second phase particles embedded in notch roots. Further work in this area should focus on statistical descriptions of surface roughness, inherent material defects, and their interaction.</p>

A 6082 aluminium alloy has been characterized with regard to the influence of surface roughness on fatigue strength. Fatigue life testing of smooth specimens was used to establish reference curves for the material in extruded and forged T6 condition. The extruded material was found to have better fatigue strength than the forged material, although the cyclic stress-strain response was similar for both. The forged material was tested in T5, T6 and T7 tempers, showing no significant difference in fatigue strength. Surface roughness was created by circumferential grinding of cylindrical test specimens, and the surface topography was measured using a white light interferometry microscope. The measurements proved to be accurate, although errors were observed for certain surface features. Residual stresses were quantified by X-ray diffraction. Compressive residual stresses of around 150 MPa were found in both rough and smooth specimens. Load cycling did not significantly alter the surface residual stresses. Stress solutions ahead of all major surface grooves were found using a linear elastic material model. Estimates of cyclic stresses and strains were calculated in the notch roots using different Neuber corrections of the linear solution. The results were compared to finite element analysis employing a bilinear kinematic hardening model. A generalized version of the Neuber correction was found to be within 20% of the nonlinear finite element results. Several empirical models for the notch sensitivity factor were investigated. These were found to be unable to describe the notch influence on fatigue life and initiation life. In order to follow this approach, it was recommended that different test specimens should be used where the short fatigue crack growth could be monitored. It was shown that microstructural fracture mechanics theories could be used to estimate the fatigue limit of rough surfaces. In some cases, initiation from material defects or weaknesses would override the influence of surface geometry. In one specimen, the initiation appeared to have started as at a de-bonded grain, while in other cases, initiation was thought to have started at larger second phase particles embedded in notch roots. Further work in this area should focus on statistical descriptions of surface roughness, inherent material defects, and their interaction.

<p>Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive optical imaging modality that provides micron-scale resolution of tissue micro-structure over depth ranges of several millimeters. This imaging technique has had a profound effect on the field of ophthalmology, wherein it has become the standard of care for the diagnosis of many retinal pathologies. Applications of OCT in the anterior eye, as well as for imaging of coronary arteries and the gastro-intestinal tract, have also shown promise, but have not yet achieved widespread clinical use.</p><p>The usable imaging depth of OCT systems is most often limited by one of three factors: optical attenuation, inherent imaging range, or depth-of-focus. The first of these, optical attenuation, stems from the limitation that OCT only detects singly-scattered light. Thus, beyond a certain penetration depth into turbid media, essentially all of the incident light will have been multiply scattered, and can no longer be used for OCT imaging. For many applications (especially retinal imaging), optical attenuation is the most restrictive of the three imaging depth limitations. However, for some applications, especially anterior segment, cardiovascular (catheter-based) and GI (endoscopic) imaging, the usable imaging depth is often not limited by optical attenuation, but rather by the inherent imaging depth of the OCT systems. This inherent imaging depth, which is specific to only Fourier Domain OCT, arises due to two factors: sensitivity fall-off and the complex conjugate ambiguity. Finally, due to the trade-off between lateral resolution and axial depth-of-focus inherent in diffractive optical systems, additional depth limitations sometimes arises in either high lateral resolution or extended depth OCT imaging systems. The depth-of-focus limitation is most apparent in applications such as adaptive optics (AO-) OCT imaging of the retina, and extended depth imaging of the ocular anterior segment.</p><p>In this dissertation, techniques for extending the imaging range of OCT systems are developed. These techniques include the use of a high spectral purity swept source laser in a full-field OCT system, as well as the use of a peculiar phenomenon known as coherence revival to resolve the complex conjugate ambiguity in swept source OCT. In addition, a technique for extending the depth of focus of OCT systems by using a polarization-encoded, dual-focus sample arm is demonstrated. Along the way, other related advances are also presented, including the development of techniques to reduce crosstalk and speckle artifacts in full-field OCT, and the use of fast optical switches to increase the imaging speed of certain low-duty cycle swept source OCT systems. Finally, the clinical utility of these techniques is demonstrated by combining them to demonstrate high-speed, high resolution, extended-depth imaging of both the anterior and posterior eye simultaneously and in vivo.</p> / Dissertation

Recent theoretical and experimental studies in a wide range of applications (ultrasonics, underwater acoustics, seismicoe) have demonstrated that Green's functions (impulse responses) can be extracted from cross-correlation of diffuse fields using only passive sensors. The technique, whose validity is supported by a physical argument based on time-reversal invariance, effectively uses a correlation process between the point source and points located in the focal zone. Indeed, the coherent noise source distributions can be considered as a timereversal mirror and the cross-correlation operations gives the field measured at one receiver after refocusing on the other receiver. Passive-only reconstruction of coherent Lamb waves (80-200 kHz) in an aluminum plate and thickness comparable to aircraft fuselage and wing panels will be presented. In particular, the influence of the noise source characteristics (location, frequency spectrum) on the signal-to-noise ratio the emerging coherent waveform will be investigated using a scanning laser Doppler velocimeter. This study suggests the potential for a structural health monitoring method for aircraft panels based on passive ultrasound imaging reconstructed from diffuse fields.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-228). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.