We study the characteristics of the dual frequency liquid-crystal (LC) optoelectronic devices in this literary. We fabricate the LC lens with the dual frequency liquid crystal in our experiment. In this study, we first prepare a parabolic polymer structure on the glass substrate to form a polymeric lens glass, then, fill the dual-frequency LC into the empty cell which consists of one ITO glass and the polymeric lens glass to fabricate a frequency modulation LC lens. Additionally, a hybrid surface alignment is also used for our LC lens. For the dual-frequency LC, a hybrid surface alignment is necessary to obtain a frequency modulation LC lens. Because of the polymeric lens, the electric fields are inhomogeneous distributions in the LC lens when a voltage is applied to the electrodes. In this situation, an inhomogeneous electric field is applied to the cell to create GRIN lens-like distribution of the gradient refractive index. Thus, the focusing effects occur when the light passes through the LC lens. Moreover, by changing the amplitude and frequency of the applied voltage, the focal length of the LC lens can be changed. We mainly discuss the optical property and the response time of the LC lens based on the voltage modulation and the frequency modulation. The experimental results reveal that the frequency modulation has more advantages, such as widen range of controlled focal length and faster response time, comparing with the voltage modulation.

The development of environmental continuous monitoring of physicochemical parameters via portable small and inexpensive instrumentation is an active field of research as it presents distinct challenges. The development of a PCB MEMS-based inexpensive CTD system intended for the measurement of environmental parameters in natural waters, is presented in this work. Novel PCB MEMS fabrication techniques have also been developed to construct the conductivity and temperature transducers. The design and fabrication processes are based on PCB MEMS technology that combines Cu-clad liquid crystal polymer (LCP) thin-film material with a direct write photolithography tool, chemical etching and metallization of layers of electroless nickel, gold, and platinum. The basic principles of a planar four-electrode conductivity cell and the resistive temperature device are described here as well as the integration and the packaging of the microfabricated sensors for the underwater environment. Measurement results and successful field evaluation data show that the performance of the LCP thin-film microsensors can compete with that of conventional in-situ instruments.

This dissertation shows a detailed investigation on reconfigurable low profile antennas using tunable high impedance surfaces (HIS). The specific class of HIS used in this dissertation is called a frequency selective surface (FSS). This type of periodic structure is fabricated to create artificial magnetic conductors (AMCs) that exhibit properties similar to perfect magnetic conductors (PMCs). The antennas are intended for radiometric sensing applications in the biomedical field. For the particular sensing application of interest in this dissertation, the performance of the antenna sub-system is the most critical aspect of the radiometer design where characteristics such as small size, light weight, conformability, simple integration, adjustment in response to adverse environmental loading, and the ability to block external radio frequency interference to maximize the detection sensitivity are desirable. The antenna designs in this dissertation are based on broadband dipole antennas over a tunable FSS to extend the usable frequency range. The main features of these antennas are the use of an FSS that does not include via connections to ground, their low profile and potentially conformal nature, high front-to-back radiation pattern ratio, and the ability to dynamically adjust the center frequency. The reduction of interlayer wiring on the tunable FSS minimizes the fabrication complexity and facilitates the use of flexible substrates. This dissertation aims to advance the state of the art in low profile tunable planar antennas. It shows a qualitative comparison between antennas backed with different unit cell geometries. It demonstrates the feasibility to use either semiconductor or ferroelectric thin film varactor-based tunable FSS to allow adjustment in the antenna frequency in response to environment loading in the near-field. Additionally, it illustrates how the coupling between antenna and HIS, and the impact of the varactor losses affect the antenna performance and it shows solutions to compensate these adverse effects. Novel hybrid manufacturing approaches to achieve flexibility on electrically thick antennas that could be transitioned to thin-film microelectronics are also presented. The semiconductor and ferroelectric varactor-based tunable low profile antennas demonstrated tunability from 2.2 GHz to 2.65 GHz with instantaneous bandwidths greater than 50 MHz within the tuning range. The antennas had maximum thicknesses of λ/45 at the central frequency and front to back-lobe radiation ratios of approximately 15dB. They also showed impedance match improvement in the presence of a Human Core Model (HCM) phantom at close proximity distances of the order of 10-20 mm. In addition, the use of thin film ferroelectric Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) varactors in the FSS layer enabled an antenna that had smaller size, lower cost and less weight compared to the commercially available options. The challenging problems of fabricating robust flexible antennas are also addressed and novel solutions are proposed. Two different types of flexible antennas were designed and built. A series of flexible microstrip antennas with slotted grounds which demonstrated to be robust and have 42% less mass than typically used technologies (e.g., microstrip antennas fabricated on Rogers® RT6010, RT/duroid® 5880, etc.); and flexible ferroelectric based tunable low profile antennas that showed tunability from 2.42 GHz to 2.66 GHz using overlapping metallic plates instead of a continuous ground plane. The bending test results demonstrated that, by placing cuts on the ground plane or using overlapping metallic layers that resemble fish scales, it was possible to create highly conductive surfaces that were extremely flexible even when attached to other solid materials. These new approaches were used to overcome limitations commonly encountered in the design of antennas that are intended for use on non-flat surfaces. The material presented in this dissertation represents the first investigation of reconfigurable low profile antennas using tunable high impedance surfaces where the desired electromagnetic performance as well as additional relevant features such as robustness, low weight, low cost and low complexity were demonstrated.

The process of forcibly dewetting a solid substrate from a bulk liquid so as to leave a thin residual layer on the surface is referred to as forced dewetting. This novel experimental approach helps to investigate interfacial species by minimizing the interference of the bulk liquid when coupled with spectroscopy. In this work, the scope of liquids investigating using this approach has been expanded from simple fluids to one type of complex fluid, a nematic liquid crystal, 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB).In order to better understand the interfacial behavior of the simple fluids, water, chloroform, and n-pentane vapors were adsorbed onto omega-terminated SAM-modifed Ag (11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, 11-mercaptoundenanol, and undecanethiol) surfaces under vapor-saturated conditions. The kinetics of solvent adsorption on each of these surfaces were investigated and the thicknesses of the adsorbed layer were compared to predictions from Lifshitz theory of long-range van der Waals interactions. Although the predicted thicknesses do not match the experimental values for adsorbed films, the predicted thicknesses do match those observed experimentally using forced dewetting. The correlation between these predicted and observed thicknesses implies that residual film formation under the conditions of forced dewetting used in this laboratory is dictated by interfacial forces alone.The surface adsorption behavior of 5CB was investigated using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy with the aid of localized surface plasmon resonances-surface plasmon polaritron coupling. The results clearly indicate that 5CB is adsorbed to smooth Ag surface in a facial orientation with pi-d orbital interaction suggested.Finally, forced dewetting studies of bare, -NH2-temintaed SAM, and -CH3-temintaed SAM modified-SiO2 substrates from 5CB were undertaken. Residual layer thicknesses were monitored as a function of substrate velocity. The transition from the regime in which interfacial forces dictate residual layer thickness to the regime in which fluid dynamic forces dictate thickness was observed for the first time and was evaluated in terms of the average 5CB director orientation. Unlike simple fluids, 5CB has strong interfacial interactions from surface anchoring depending on the chemical nature of the substrate, which makes the residual layer thicknesses at least 100 times larger than observed in simple fluids.

Interaction with mobile devices suffers from a number of shortcomings, most of which are linked to the small size of screens. Artificial tactile feedback promises to be particularly well suited to the mobile interaction context. To be practical, tactile transducers for mobile devices must be small and light, and yet be capable of displaying a rich set of expressive stimuli. This thesis introduces a tactile transducer for mobile interaction that is capable of distributed skin stimulation on the fingertip. The transducer works on a principle that was first investigated because of its potential application to the display of Braille. A preliminary study was conducted on an earlier version of the transducer. It concluded that subjects were able to identify simple Braille characters with a high rate of success. Then, a complete re-design of the transducer addressed the goal of integration in a handheld prototype for mobile interaction. The resulting device comprises a liquid crystal graphic display co-located with the miniature, low-power, distributed tactile transducer. Next, it was needed to measure the perceptual differences between the stimuli that the device could display. Our experiences with one evaluation approach raised questions relating to the methodology for data collection. Therefore, an analysis of the process was carried out using a stimulus set obtained with the device. By means of multidimensional scaling analysis, both the perceptual parameters forming the stimuli space and the evaluation technique were validated. Finally, two experiments were carried out with the objective to develop new mobile interactions paradigms that combined visual and tactile feedback. Both experiments modeled a list scrolling task on the device. The first experiment found a marginal improvement in performance when tactile feedback was employed. It also came at a higher attentional cost dedicated to operating the device. For the second experiment, the scrolling paradigm and the tactile feedback were improved. This lead to a decrease in the reliance on vision when tactile feedback was enabled. Results showed a 28% decrease in the number of key presses that controlled the visibility state of the scroll list.

Dendrimerai yra susintetinti tik maždaug prieš 20 metų. Pirmą kartą šis terminas buvo paminėtas D. A. Tomalios, pirmame straipsnyje apie dendrimerus. Tačiau dendritinės struktūros pavyzdžių mes esame matę kiekvienas. Tai galbūt viena iš labiausiai paplitusių topologijų mūsų planetoje. Daugybė pavyzdžių tokių struktūrų randama ir gyvoje, ir negyvoje gamtoje. Tai ir žaibo struktūra, sniego kristalas, išėdimo (rudžių) frakcija, taip pat medžių šakos ir šaknys, gyvų organizmų kraujagyslių ir nervų sistemos – visa tai dendritinės struktūros (1. Pav.) [15]. Tačiau gamta sukūrė mūsų Visatos materijos sudėtį per 10 – 13 bilijonų metų. Tuo tarpu žmonija molekules pradėjo sintetinti tik prieš 200 metų. Būtent todėl dabartinės galimybės sukurti ir kontroliuoti molekulės sudėtį ir dydį yra lyginamos su tuo, ką demonstruoja gamta. / This work researches two different families of the Liquid Crystal Dendrimers structural and optical features. Different Dendrimers are: G1, G2, G3, G4, G5 generations, with different external chain number: n = 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 which are connected to the peripheral part of the Dendrimer molecule. The measurements are made in three different ways: • Dendrimers dissolved in chloroform • Dendrimers being as a liquid crystal substance • Microscope photo examples The results of the research determines that in the different generation dendrimers’ absorption spectrum the first maximum fits the dendrimer molecule core absorption, the second – the internal part, the third – the absorption of the peripheral part. The results of the research as well determine that the maximum absorption of the internal part of the dendrimer molecule depends on the number of the external chain. This dependence let as come to conclusion that increasing the number of the external chain, the spectrum of absorption of the internal part of the dendrimer‘s molecule displaces to the long wave range. The forthcoming displace of the second family is bigger comparing to the first one. This let as come to the conclusion that the second family is more relevant to use the dendrimer as the substance to catch and/or transport the nano particles or molecules.

Šiame darbe tiriamos skystojo kristalo su integruotomis kobalto nanodalelėmis optinės savybės. Panaudotos medžiagos: skystasis kristalas 5CB (penkiakomponentis cianobifenilas) ir kobalto nanodalelės kurių dydis 10nm. Tiriami pavyzdėliai su skirtingomis kobalto koncetracijomis (0,05%, 0,092%, 1,04%) skystajame kristale. Išmatuoti sugerties ir LD intensyvumo spektrai bangų ruože nuo 250 iki 700nm. / In this work I studied optical and manetooptical features of liquid crystal (LC) with integrated magnetic particles in magnetic field. I observed three different samples of LC with cobalt nanoparticles. Samples were made of LC pentyl-cyanobifenyl (5CB) and ferromagnetic (cobalt) particles of about 10nm. Each sample has a different concentration of cobalt nanoparticles (0,05%, 0,092%, 1,04%). All observations were made with Perkin-Elmer UV-VIS-NIR lambda 19 and Jasco spectrometer at room temperature and wavelength ranges from 250 to 700nm. My results show that low magnetic field till 0,2T is required to change cobalt-LC suspension optical features. Shift to IR region a: 17nm, 28nm and 31nm depending from cobalt concentration are detected. Different magnetic field makes unequal influence to samples with various concentrations of cobalt nanoparticles. From experiment I found that increasing of magnetic field till 0,2T, it shifts the absorption line to longer wavelength. From results follows that the magnetically controlled optical characteristic is very promising for magnetically controlled LC devices and information processing.Pavel Cyganok Magnetooptical features of flexible system, nanoparticle – liquid crystal.

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