Laser spot welding on a stainless steel plate was investigated numerically and experimentally. A numerical method was applied to predict the dimensions of fusion zone and temperature distribution in the welding process. In the numerical approach, a three-dimensional heat source equation is used to model laser beam intensity distribution, which is assumed to be a Gaussian distribution in the radial direction and exponential decay in the penetration direction. The parameters of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welding include pulse energy, pulse duration, and incident angles of laser beam. Experiments were also conducted in the study. The characteristic lengths of welded spot were measured by metallographic method, and then, the dynamical behavior of the laser welding process was visualized by a high-speed video camera. Finally, the temperature variations during the laser-spot welding process were measured by an infrared pyrometer system. It is demonstrated that the numerical results by proposed model agree well with experimental observations in predicting the characteristic lengths of welded spots. From this study, it is found that weld dimensions is a strong function of incident angles of laser beam, laser energy, and pulse duration time.

Iron Silicide (FeSi) films deposited on silicon substrates with the native SiO2 layer have shown a Metal-to-Insulator Transition (MIT) of more than four order of magnitude change in resistance. Modification of the SiO2/Si interface due to Fe diffusion has been attributed to the formation of this effect. In this research a systematic experimental investigation has been carried out to study the effect of the growth parameters and substrate doping type in the transition. In addition, transport properties of continuous and discontinuous films have been investigated to understand the mechanism of this metal-to-insulator transition.Four probe measurements of films deposited in p- and n-type doped Si substrates with resistivity in the range of 1-10 Omega cm showed similar temperature dependent resistance behavior with transition onsets at 250 K and 300 K respectively. These results indicate that the current transport takes place via tunneling through the SiO2 layer into the Si substrate up to the transition temperature. Current appears to switch to the film after the transition point due to the development of high interface resistance. Discontinuous FeSi films on silicon substrates showed similar resistance behavior ruling out possibility of current transport through inversion layer at the SiO2/Si interface. To investigate the role of the magnetic ion Fe, transport measurements of FeSi films were compared with those of non-magnetic metals such as Platinum (Pt) and Aluminum (Al). Absence of Metal-to-insulator transition on Pt and Al films show that the presence of magnetic moment is required for this transition.Temperature dependent Hall voltage measurements were carried out to identify the carrier type through the substrate for FeSi films deposited on p- and n-type Si substrates. Results of Hall voltage measurements proved that the type of conductivity flips from majority carriers to minority after the transition.Metal-to-insulating transition behavior of FeSi films depending on different laser fluences has been also investigated. Our results revealed as laser fluence is increased observed transition of the FeSi films reduces rapidly showing a highest magnitude of transition of about 1 M Omega for the films deposited with lowest laser fluence (0.64 J/cm2) and a lowest of about 10 Omega for the films deposited with highest laser fluence (3.83 J/cm2). Ion probe measurements indicated that the average kinetic energy of the ablated ion in the plume is considerably increased with the increase of the laser fluence. Consequently, magnitude drop in the transition can be considered due to the deeper penetration on Fe ion through the SiO2 layer. Thickness dependence study carried out for FeSi films deposited with high and low laser fluencies indicated transition slightly drops as thickness is increased, concluding the current transportation through the film becomes dominant after the transition temperature.

Al based alloy powders (Al₈₅Ni₅Y₆Co₂Fe₂) are produced by spray atomization method. High energy ball milling is done to modify the surface topology and particle size for better electrochemical performance. X ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were conducted to characterize the microstructure of the alloys after ball milling. It is found that 5 hours ball milling gives the minimum crystallization and structure change. Thin film sample is also deposited on stainless steel substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method for electrochemical test. The capacity and reversibility for different samples are compared and discussed. A capacity of 200mAh/g is obtained for the battery with thin film sample as anode and a capacity of 140mAh/g is obtained for that with electrode from powder sample. Both of the batteries give up to 94% capacity retention after 20 cycles. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Ce travail de thèse porte sur la croissance par dépôt laser pulsé (PLD) et l’étude des propriétés dedifférents systèmes d’oxydes pérovskites. Ainsi, les hétérostructures LaAlO3/SrTiO3, SrVO3/SrTiO3,LaAlO3/SrVO3 ont fait l’objet de travaux de recherche. Ces études ont été menées afin d’analyser lespropriétés des interfaces de ces différents systèmes composés, notamment, de titane et devanadium, deux métaux de transition et ainsi d’étudier et de comparer les effets de l’orbitale 3d enpassant d’une configuration 3d0, pour Ti, à 3d1, pour V.Dans une première partie, les travaux réalisés sur le système LaAlO3/SrTiO3 sont présentés. Lacroissance des échantillons, les caractérisations structurales, de transport et de magnétisme sontdétaillées. A partir cette étude, des résultats majeurs ont été obtenus, concernant l’effet desconditions de croissance par PLD sur la stoechiométrie des films minces et les conséquences sur lespropriétés électroniques de l’interface, avec la mise en évidence de différentes phases électroniques.Dans une seconde partie, la croissance de films minces et ultraminces de SrVO3 par PLD et la mise enévidence expérimentale de la Transition Métal-Isolant (TMI) sont développées. Les mesures despropriétés structurales et de transport ont permis de déterminer l’origine de cette TMI. Enfin, lesmécanismes physiques de conduction dans ce système sont révélés à partir de modélisations.Enfin, la dernière partie est consacrée aux travaux réalisés sur les hétérostructures LaAlO3/SrVO3réalisées sur substrats de SrTiO3 et de LaAlO3. Pour ces systèmes, les caractérisations de transportainsi que les analyses chimiques menées dans le but d’étudier les propriétés des interfaces de cessystèmes et de les comparer avec le système LaAlO3/SrTiO3. Différents mécanismes de conductionont ainsi été mis en évidence, corrélés par une analyse chimique, pour les échantillons réalisés surSrTiO3, démontrant l’effet de la couche de LaAlO3. / This thesis work has been led to study the growth by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and theproperties of different perovskite oxide systems including heterostructures of LaAlO3/SrTiO3,SrVO3/SrTiO3 and LaAlO3/SrVO3. This work is motivated by the need to measure and analyze theinterface properties in these systems which are composed with transition metal elements titaniumand vanadium but with different electronic configuration, 3d0 for Ti and 3d1 for V that can modify theproperties.In a first part, growth and characterizations – structural, transport and magnetism – is presented.Major results are obtained and demonstrate the effect of growth conditions – oxygen pressure andlaser fluence – on LaAlO3 thin films stoichiometry and interface electronic properties finally provingthe existence of an electronic phase transition.In the second part, growth of thin and ultrathin SrVO3 films is detailed and an experimentalobservation of the Metal-Insulator Transition (MIT) is brought out. The origin of this MIT isdemonstrated by structural and Transport properties investigation. Furthermore, physicalmechanisms of conduction in this system are revealed through modelisation work.Finally, the last part is devoted to the work done on LaAlO3/SrVO3 heterostructures grown on SrTiO3and LaAlO3 substrates. Transport characterizations and chemical analysis realized in order to studythe interface properties and to compare with LaAlO3/SrTiO3. Different conduction mechanisms havebeen brought out which are correlated by chemical analysis – for samples grown on SrTiO3 – anddemonstrate the effect of LaAlO3 thin films in this hétérostructure.

We use photon-counting to measure nonlinear Thomson scattering from low-density electrons in an intense laser focus. The azimuthal and longitudinal polarization components of the second harmonic are measured across much of the full emission sphere. The data show, for the first time experimentally, emission structure in the ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ hemispheres, where the ‘North Pole’ aligns with the direction of laser propagation. To obtain these measurements, we installed an additional power amplifier on our Ti:sapphire laser system at BYU. The upgrade delivers ten times more energy to the laser focus than we had previously. This increase comes partly from the additional amplifier and partly from increased grating efficiency in our pulse compressor. We achieve an on-target pulse energy of 200 mJ at 35 fs. The focal spot size has radius w0 = 4 μm. This corresponds to an available peak intensity of over 1019 W/cm2, an order of magnitude above the onset of strong relativistic effects. The interaction region in the laser focus has a length of approximately 100 μm. Photons scattered from this region are collected using a 5-cm-focal-length lens and then focused onto the end of a 100-μm-diameter fiber by a second identical lens. The imaging system requires precise alignment with the laser focus, which must be maintained when rotating the photon-collection system along the longitudinal direction of the emission sphere. We developed an alignment procedure that ensures that the detector rotation axis aligns with region of space that is imaged onto the fiber. This region is then aligned to the laser focal spot.

No description available.

This work presents a study on stoichiometry and structure in perovskite-type oxide thin films and investigates the role of growth–induced defects on the properties of materials. It also explores the possibility to grow thin films with properties close or similar to the ideal bulk parent compound. A novel approach to the growth of thin films, atomic layer-by-layer (ALL) laser molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using separate oxide targets is introduced to better control the assembly of each atomic layer and to improve interface perfection and stoichiometry. It also is a way to layer materials to achieve a new structure that does not exist in nature. This thesis is divided into three sections. In the first part, we use pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to grow LaAlO3 (LAO) thin films on SrTiO3 (STO) and LAO substrates in a broad range of laser energy density and oxygen pressure. Using x-ray diffraction (θ-2θ scan and reciprocal space mapping), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) we studied stoichiometry and structure of LAO films as a function of growth parameters. We show deviation from bulk–like structure and composition when films are grown at oxygen pressures lower than 10-2 Torr. We conclude that the discussion of LAO/STO interfacial properties should include the effects of growth–induced defects in the LAO films when the deposition is conducted at low oxygen pressures, as is typically reported in the literature. In the second part, we describe a new approach to atomically layer the growth of perovskite oxides: (ALL) laser MBE, using separate oxide targets to grow materials as perfectly as possible starting from the first atomic layer. We use All laser MBE to grow Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) phase Lan+1NinO3n+1 with n = 1, 2, 3 and 4 and we show that this technique enables us to construct new layered materials (n=4). In the last and main section of this thesis, we use All laser MBE from separate oxide targets to build the LaNiO3 (LNO) films as near perfectly as possible by depositing one atomic layer at a time. We study the thickness dependent metal-insulator transition (MIT) in ultrathin LNO films on an LAO substrate. In LNO, the MIT occurs in thin films and superlattices that are only a few unit cells in thickness, the understanding of which remains elusive despite tremendous effort devoted to the subject. Quantum confinement and structure distortion have been evoked as the mechanism of the MIT; however, first-principle calculations show that LaNiO3 remains metallic even at one unit cell thickness. Here, we show that thicknesses of a few unit cells, growth–induced disorders such as cation stoichiometry, oxygen vacancies, and substrate-film interface quality will impact the film properties significantly. We find that a film as thin as 2 unit cells, with LaO termination, is metallic above 150 K. An oxygen K-edge feature in the x-ray absorption spectra is clearly inked to the transition to the insulating phase as well as oxygen vacancies. We conclude that dimensionality and strain are not sufficient to induce the MIT without the contribution of oxygen vacancies in LNO ultrathin films. Dimensionality, strain, crystallinity, cation stoichiometry, and oxygen vacancies are all indispensable ingredients in a true control of the electronic properties of nanoscale strongly–correlated materials. / Physics

Ultrashort pulse lasers focused in air result in plasma filaments that generate ultra-broadband secondary radiation that ranges from the megahertz to terahertz. The plasma currents responsible for the broadband radiation are the ponderomotive for the terahertz regime and the plasma wake surface wave (PWSW) for the gigahertz regime. Through experimental studies, I explore the optimization of microwave regime (1 - 67 GHz) of the spectrum. The experiments consider the effects of background gas and pressure in the filamentation region, pulse length of the laser, and wavelength of the laser on the plasma currents that produce the broadband radiated pulse. The results of the first experiment suggest that reduction of the electron-neutral collisions permits the growth of the PWSW and improve microwave amplitude. The second experiment demonstrates a growth in resulting microwave signal as a result of collisional processes driven by longer pulse durations. The final experiment demonstrates and order of magnitude increase in the microwave field amplitudes when the wavelength of a picosecond scale, terawatt class laser pulse is increased from 1.035 microns to 9.2 microns.

Lesões dentais por erosão têm sido cada vez mais presentes na prática clínica. A restauração direta com resina composta é uma das opções de tratamento para lesões severas, em que há comprometimento estético/funcional. Com o aprimoramento da tecnologia, a utilização do laser para pré-tratamento da superfície dentinária, antes do condicionamento ácido, tem sido considerada como método alternativo para melhorar a adesão das resinas compostas às superfícies erodidas. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo in vitro foi avaliar a influência da irradiação com laser de Er:YAG (2,94 ?m), de pulso super-curto, na adesão da resina composta à superfície dentinária erodida. Quarenta e seis discos de dentina foram obtidos a partir de 46 dentes terceiros molares humanos. A dentina oclusal planificada de 40 molares humanos teve metade de sua face protegida com fita UPVC (dentina hígida), enquanto na outra metade foi produzida uma lesão de erosão através da ciclagem em ácido cítrico (0,05 M, pH 2,3, 10 minutos, 6x/dia) e solução supersaturada (pH 7,0, 60 minutos entre os ataques ácidos). Metade das amostras foi irradiada com o laser de Er:YAG (50 ?s, 2 Hz, 80 mJ, 12,6 J/cm2) e a outra não (grupo controle). Em cada grupo de tratamento (laser ou controle) (n=10), um sistema adesivo autocondicionante foi utilizado e, então, confeccionados 2 cilindros de resina composta, tanto do lado erodido como no hígido (total de 4 cilindros), os quais foram submetidos à avaliação da Resistência de União através do ensaio de microcisalhamento (1 mm/min), após armazenamento em saliva artificial por 24 h. A análise do padrão de fratura foi realizada em microscópio óptico (40x). Por meio da Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV), a morfologia das superfícies dentinárias hígida e submetida ao desafio erosivo, antes e após o tratamento com laser de Er:YAG (n=3), foi avaliada. Os valores obtidos de resistência de união (MPa) foram submetidos ao teste ANOVA e de comparações múltiplas de Tukey (p<0,05) e as análises das eletromicrografias foram feitas de forma descritiva. A análise morfológica da superfície mostrou alterações significativas na dentina hígida irradiada e na submetida à ciclagem erosiva, irradiada ou não. Quanto à resistência de união, houve diferença entre os 4 substratos analisados, sendo: dentina hígida irradiada (12,77±5,09 A), dentina hígida não irradiada (9,76±3,39 B), dentina erodida irradiada (7,62±3,39 C) e dentina erodida não irradiada (5,12±1,72 D). Houve predominância de padrão de fratura do tipo adesiva. Com base nos resultados e nos parâmetros de irradiação utilizados neste estudo, pode-se concluir que a erosão reduz a adesão em dentina e que o tratamento da superfície dentinária com laser de Er:YAG de largura de pulso super curta aumenta a adesão no substrato erodido ou hígido. / Dental erosion injuries have been increasingly present in clinical practice. Direct restoration with composite resin is one of the treatment options for severe injuries, where there is aesthetic/functional impairment. With the improvement of technology, laser-irradiation for pre-treatment of dentin before surface etching has been considered as an alternative method to improve the adhesion of composite resins to eroded surfaces. The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate the influence of the irradiation with a super-short pulse Er:YAG (2.94 ?m) laser to the adhesion of composite resin to eroded dentin surface. Forty six dentin discs were obtained from 46 third molars. Forty samples of planned occlusal dentine, obtained from human molars, had half of their surface protected with plastic tape (sound dentin), while the other half was submitted to erosive cycles, consisted on immersion on citric acid (0.05 M, pH 2.3, 10 minutes, 6x/day) and supersaturated solution (pH 7.0, 60 minutes of acid attacks). Half of the samples was irradiated with the Er:YAG laser (50 ?s, 2 Hz, 80 mJ, 12.6 J/cm2) and the other was kept as control. In each treatment group (n = 10), a self-etching adhesive system was used and then two cylinders of composite resin were prepared, on both eroded and sound dentin (total of 4 cylinders). Microshear bond strength test was performed (1 mm/min), after 24 hours storage in artificial saliva. The analysis of the fracture pattern was determined by optical microscopy (40x). The morphology of sound and eroded dentin, before and after treatment with the Er:YAG laser (n = 3) was evaluated under Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Bond strength values (MPa) were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey multiple comparisons test (p<0.05). The analyses of electron micrographs were made descriptively. Morphological analysis of the surface showed significant changes in irradiated and sound dentin subjected to erosive cycling. As for the bond strength, there were differences among the groups, as follows: sound dentin submitted to irradiation (12.77 ± 5.09 A), non-irradiated sound dentin (9.76 ± 3.39 B), eroded dentin submitted to irradiation (7 62 ± 3.39 C) and non-irradiated eroded dentin (5.12 ± 1.72 D). There was a predominance for the adhesive mode of failure. It was concluded that the erosion reduces the adhesion to dentin and that treating the dentin surface with a super-short-pulse Er:YAG laser increases adhesion to both eroded or sound dentin.

This research deals with the synthesis and characterization (transmission electron microscopy and optical spectroscopy) of composite nanocondensates produced by pulse laser ablation (PLA) on Zn, Zn-Cu and Cu-Au targets in liquid or vacuum. First, wurtzite-type (W)-ZnO and