In the last few years, interest in polymer optical fibers (POF) has increased because of their low cost, easy handling and good flexibility even at large diameters. Moreover, optical cables do not have the problem of electromagnetic interference, which gives, for instance, the problem of cross-talk in copper telephone cables. In the usage of current communication and computer systems the yield has gained a big importance and it has seen from studies that light scattering loss is the only loss, which cannot be eliminated entirely. Besides, this loss causes its attenuation loss intrinsically and determines the lower limit of loss in the POF. In this work, the importance and the dependencies of light scattering were studied, and calculations were done in order to find more appropriate polymer for using as core material of POFs. For this aim, a computer program that calculates the light scattering loss of several amorphous polymers and plots the graph of isotropic scattering loss versus isothermal compressibility and total attenuation loss versus wavelength was written.

Ultra cold quantum gas is a convenient system to study fundamental questions of modern physics, such as phase transitions and critical phenomena. This master thesis is devoted to experimental investigation of the thermodynamics susceptibilities, such as the isothermal compressibility and the thermal expansion coefficient of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 87Rb atoms. The critical phenomena and the critical exponents across the transition can explain the behavior of the isothermal compressibility and the thermal expansion coefficient near the critical temperature TC. By employing the developed formalism of global thermodynamics variables, we carry out a statistical treatment of Bose gas in a 3D harmonic potential. After that, comparison of obtained results reveals the most appropriate state variables describing the system, namely volume and pressure parameter V and Π respectively. The both are related with the confining frequencies and BEC density distribution. We apply this approach to define the set of new thermodynamic variables of BEC, and also to construct the isobaric phase diagram V T. Its allows us to extract the compressibility κT and the thermal expansion coefficient βΠ. The behavior of the isothermal compressibility corresponds to the second-order phase transition, while the thermal expansion coefficient around the critical point behaves as β ∼ tr-α, where tr is reduced temperature of the system and α is the critical exponent on the basic of these. Results we have obtained the critical exponent α = 0.15±0.09, which allows us to determine the system dimensionality by means of the scaling theory, relating the critical exponents with the dimensionality. As a result, we found out that the dimensionality of the system to be d ∼ 3, one is in agreement with the real dimension of the system. / Amostras atômicas ultrafrias de um gás de Bose são convenientes para estudar questões fundamentais da física moderna, como as transições de fase e fenômenos críticos em condensados de Bose-Einstein (BEC). A minha dissertação dedica se à investigação das susceptibilidades termodinâmicas como a compressibilidade isotérmica e o coeficiente de expansão térmica de a traves da transição de um BEC de 87Rb. Os fenômenos críticos e os exponentes críticos a traves da transição podem explicar o comportamento da compressibilidade isotérmica e do coeficiente de expansão térmica perto da temperatura crítica TC. Ao empregar o desenvolvido formalismo das variáveis termodinâmicas globais, levamos a cabo o tratamento estatístico de um gás de Bose num potencial harmônico 3D. Depois da comparação dos resultados obtidos, revelam as mais apropriadas variáveis de estado descrevendo o sistema, chamadas parâmetro de volume e pressão, V e Π respectivamente. As duas estão relacionadas com as frequências de confinamento e a distribuição de densidade do BEC. Nós aplicamos esta abordagem para definir um conjunto de novas variáveis termodinâmicas do BEC, e também para construir o diagrama de fase isobárico V T. O anterior nós permite extrair a compressibilidade κT e o coeficiente de expansão termina βΠ. O comportamento da compressibilidade isotérmica corresponde a uma transição de fase de segunda ordem enquanto que o coeficiente de expansão térmica ao redor do ponto crítico comporta se como β ∼ tr-α, onde tr é a temperatura reduzida do sistema, e α o exponente crítico. Deste resultado nós obtemos um exponente critico, α = 0.15 ± 0.09, que permite determinar a dimensionalidade do sistema a traves da teoria de escala, relacionando os exponentes críticos com a dimensionalidade. Como resultado, encontramos que a dimensionalidade do sistema é d ∼ 3 que está de acordo como a dimensão real do sistema.

Ultra cold quantum gas is a convenient system to study fundamental questions of modern physics, such as phase transitions and critical phenomena. This master thesis is devoted to experimental investigation of the thermodynamics susceptibilities, such as the isothermal compressibility and the thermal expansion coefficient of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 87Rb atoms. The critical phenomena and the critical exponents across the transition can explain the behavior of the isothermal compressibility and the thermal expansion coefficient near the critical temperature TC. By employing the developed formalism of global thermodynamics variables, we carry out a statistical treatment of Bose gas in a 3D harmonic potential. After that, comparison of obtained results reveals the most appropriate state variables describing the system, namely volume and pressure parameter V and Π respectively. The both are related with the confining frequencies and BEC density distribution. We apply this approach to define the set of new thermodynamic variables of BEC, and also to construct the isobaric phase diagram V T. Its allows us to extract the compressibility κT and the thermal expansion coefficient βΠ. The behavior of the isothermal compressibility corresponds to the second-order phase transition, while the thermal expansion coefficient around the critical point behaves as β ∼ tr-α, where tr is reduced temperature of the system and α is the critical exponent on the basic of these. Results we have obtained the critical exponent α = 0.15±0.09, which allows us to determine the system dimensionality by means of the scaling theory, relating the critical exponents with the dimensionality. As a result, we found out that the dimensionality of the system to be d ∼ 3, one is in agreement with the real dimension of the system. / Amostras atômicas ultrafrias de um gás de Bose são convenientes para estudar questões fundamentais da física moderna, como as transições de fase e fenômenos críticos em condensados de Bose-Einstein (BEC). A minha dissertação dedica se à investigação das susceptibilidades termodinâmicas como a compressibilidade isotérmica e o coeficiente de expansão térmica de a traves da transição de um BEC de 87Rb. Os fenômenos críticos e os exponentes críticos a traves da transição podem explicar o comportamento da compressibilidade isotérmica e do coeficiente de expansão térmica perto da temperatura crítica TC. Ao empregar o desenvolvido formalismo das variáveis termodinâmicas globais, levamos a cabo o tratamento estatístico de um gás de Bose num potencial harmônico 3D. Depois da comparação dos resultados obtidos, revelam as mais apropriadas variáveis de estado descrevendo o sistema, chamadas parâmetro de volume e pressão, V e Π respectivamente. As duas estão relacionadas com as frequências de confinamento e a distribuição de densidade do BEC. Nós aplicamos esta abordagem para definir um conjunto de novas variáveis termodinâmicas do BEC, e também para construir o diagrama de fase isobárico V T. O anterior nós permite extrair a compressibilidade κT e o coeficiente de expansão termina βΠ. O comportamento da compressibilidade isotérmica corresponde a uma transição de fase de segunda ordem enquanto que o coeficiente de expansão térmica ao redor do ponto crítico comporta se como β ∼ tr-α, onde tr é a temperatura reduzida do sistema, e α o exponente crítico. Deste resultado nós obtemos um exponente critico, α = 0.15 ± 0.09, que permite determinar a dimensionalidade do sistema a traves da teoria de escala, relacionando os exponentes críticos com a dimensionalidade. Como resultado, encontramos que a dimensionalidade do sistema é d ∼ 3 que está de acordo como a dimensão real do sistema.

No / Rheological characterisation of hydroxyapatite -high density polyethylene (HA-HDPE) composites has been performed in terms of isothermal compressibility and wall slip. Addition of HA to the polymer melt decreases the compressibility of the melt. The unfilled HDPE was found to exhibit wall slip at shear stresses as low as 0.10 MPa. The flow curves of the composites showed three distinct regions: a gradient at low shear rates; a plateau region; and a gradient at higher shear rate. An increase in rheometer pressure seems to suppress the slip in composites. The 40 vol.-% HA-HDPE composite exhibited two critical shear stresses, one corresponding to wall slip, which occurs in the lower shear rate region of the flow curve, and the other corresponding to a plateau, which is identified with the stick-slip behaviour of unfilled HDPE reported in the literature. The plateau shear stress increased with filler volume fraction and this effect is attributed to the decreased compressibility of the melt. A good correlation with a negative correlation coefficient was found to exist between compressibility and shear stress in the plateau region. The slip observed in unfilled HDPE and at low shear rates in the 40 vol.-% HA- HDPE systems has been explained in terms of a low molecular weight polymer layer formed at the melt/wall interface. The large interfacial slip observed in the plateau region is attributed to complete disentanglement of adsorbed chains from free chains at the melt/wall interface at and beyond the plateau region.

No / The effect of matrix polymer and filler content on the rheological behavior of hydroxyapatite-filled injection molding grade high-density polyethylene (HDPE) has been studied. Studies of the flow curves revealed that the matrix and the composite exhibit three distinct regions in the flow curve, namely, a pseudoplastic region at low to moderate shear rates, a plateau and a second pseudoplastic region at high shear rates. The shear stress corresponding to the plateau (Tc) is dependent on both the filler concentration and the melt temperature. Addition of HA in the HDPE matrix increases the value of Tc and decreases compressibility of the melt. An increase in temperature also raises the value of Tc. From the nature of flow curves it is concluded that the matrix polymer largely decides the rheology of the composite.