Surface textures add another dimension to optical design. They can be used to redirect light, isolate spectral bands, and enhance optical fields. They effectively take up no space, so can be applied to any optical surface–from intermediary elements to substrates. Here I present three applications of textured surfaces for light harvesting. The first project places scattering textures inside a film that can be applied to windows to scatter infrared light towards solar cells at the edges. The collected energy is then used to power tinting films. The second project uses modular diffractive structures to increase the absorption in solar cells. Lastly, structured silver surfaces are used to enhance plasmonics fields and increase two-photon excitation fluorescence.

Near-field light confinement on scanning probe is the backbone technology for near-field imaging with subwavelength resolution that overcomes the diffraction limit by exploiting the properties of evanescent waves. The fusion of the photonics and the latest nanofabrication technology creates emerging frontier for near-field light confinement research with new design approach. The propagation of light can now be controlled by periodical structure at subwavelength scale with low loss in the artificially synthesized dielectric material. New light propagation patterns can now be implemented in subwavelength structure, such as directional free space light focus grating coupler, photonic bandgap material like photonic crystal by permitting light propagation at certain wavelength while prohibiting light outside of bandgap, and nano-slot light resonator for increased light-matter interaction at nanometer scale. Advances in this research area will have tremendous impact on electromagnetic modeling and biomedical technology for probe based subwavelength optical detection. My doctoral research focused on investigating highly efficient, nanofabrication compatible directional light coupling structure and near-field subwavelength light focus through photonic crystal material. The distinct significance of this research was placed on exploitation of the embedded metallic grating coupler of high free space directivity and subwavelength light processing circuit of enhanced near-field transmission rate, the two most dominating basic elements of the scanning optical imaging system. First, I designed a compact elliptical grating coupler based on embedded noble metal such as gold or silver that efficiently interconnects free space with dielectric rectangular waveguide. The dense system integration capability shows the application potential for on-chip interfacing subwavelength light processing circuits and near-field fluorescent biosensors with far-field detection of superb radiation directivity and coupling efficiency. Second, a novel all-dielectric light confinement probe designed by slotted photonic crystal waveguide provides a light confinement mechanism on the lateral plane. The resonating nano-cavities and the λ/4 nano-slot are used to enlarge the light throughput while as the nano-slot waveguide provides single subwavelength center lobe. The impetus of this research is the growing interests by near-field imaging researchers to obtain a low loss visible light confinement probe designs through mass production. / text

Student Number : 9104308Y - Msc Eng research report - School of Mining Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / African Explosives Limited (AEL) is involved with the Hybrid Stress Blast Model (HSBM) project in the characterisation of its bulk explosives and part of this involves the collection of unconfined detonation velocities (VoD). Historical methods of unconfined VoD measurements and earlier measurements taken for the HSBM project did not attribute significance to the strength of the light containment media used, which was either cardboard or PVC, in various wall thicknesses. The main focus of this exercise was to investigate this significance and to make recomendations to the HSBM on the choice of pipes for future tests. ANFO was used in order to avoid complexities of manufacturing and density variation, which arise with emulsion explosives. Plastic sleeves were used as a control in defining a medium of negligible confinement in order to compare the results in PVC and cardboard pipes. The cardboard pipes selected had wall thicknesses of 2mm and 4mm, while the PVC pipes had pressure ratings of 4 Bar and 9 Bar with wall thicknesses from 1.5mm to 8.5mm. The inner diameters ranged between 45mm and 253mm. The following findings have been made in this report. - Plastic sleeves were not effective in comparing the effects of confinement, but the results suggests that thin walled carboard pipes are probably very close to unconfined, even near the critical diameter. - PVC pipes affect VoD more than cardboard pipes and the confinement provided by both types of pipes increases with their wall thickness. - Critical diameter increases with weaker confinement and vice versa. - VoDs in the different types of confinement converge as diameter increases. - Future unconfined VoD tests should take cognisance of the findings of this project. A similar confinement investigation would be benificial to determine whether similar trends prevail with Emulsion and Emulsion-ANFO blend explosives. However if such an evaluation is not conducted, the minimum requirements for further tests should be to apply the confinement and diameter relationships as determined for ANFO during this investigation.